Members use lifestyle concierge to deal with emergencies when they travel because:
- Our lifestyle managers collectively speak over 20 languages and our services are available 24 hours a day, so we can deal with emergencies wherever, and whenever, they arise.
- We can arrange a key-holding service so that we can tackle any emergencies that crop up at home while you're away, whether it's a leaky tap or a broken burglar alarm.
- We have insider information on everything from where the best spa in Tuscany is, to how to get a battery for a laptop in Moscow.
Travel expert Hélène Falandry says: 'Things that can go wrong while travelling range from the aggravating (you've heard there's a lovely spa around the Tuscan village you're visiting, but you can't remember its name) to grave (finding a hotel room for your whole family near a snowbound airport). Our members call us to help them sort out all of these problems, as well as emergencies that might arise in their own homes – our key-holding service has been used to fix leaking pipes and send in pest control while members travel.
'The personal, 24-hour service gives members access to lifestyle managers that speak over 20 different languages, so we can help members go further in countries than they can on their own. We've helped stranded members by conducting conversations with taxi drivers in Istanbul, rung round and found the last club open for a stag night in Paris and placated an irate policeman in Moscow.
'Sometimes we help by contacting people at home: during the volcanic ash-cloud problem we drafted in extra staff to help some members fly home and we also kept their friends and family up to date. Another member was due to present to a conference in Düsseldorf and, on arrival, discovered that she had left her favourite shoes at home. She knew that it was absurd but just didn't want to present without them. She called us and, as we had arranged for someone to hold the keys to her home, we picked up the shoes and couriered them to her overnight.
'Our team loves sorting out the little things as much as dealing with the bigger issues, and we can offer more peace of mind than hotel concierges because we know our members better and they trust us to be independent in our advice. Business travellers have called asking for a laptop battery in Moscow (with an hour's notice), a BMW garage in Mexico City and clean shirts in Kabul.'
What we can do for you
- Global knowledge is local knowledge. Our language experts are native speakers so have first-hand experience of different cultures worldwide. This means that any advice we dispense is always from someone who's in the know.
- We exhaustively vet our suppliers before we use them. That means that we already have a relationship with the hotel or resort that a member has been booked into.
- We book trips for thousands of members and this buying power gives us considerable leverage to make demands on behalf of our members when things go wrong.
- Key holding can also avert disaster on the home front while members are away. One of our home specialists Roberto Crovini says: 'We have dealt with everything from burst pipes to removing a wasps' nest from a member's empty house. We can even arrange for a food delivery or a spring-clean while you're away to dispel the immediate onset of the post-holiday blues.'
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