SCENES FROM A CONCIERGE’S DAY

Q: What are the most challenging requests you’ve received?
A: A guest wanted to purchase an SUV and have it shipped to England. I contacted a few local dealerships, negotiated aggressively, and sent the prices to the guest. The gentleman ended up buying a Toyota and, luckily, arranged on his own to have the car shipped home. My wife was surprised that I had done such a good job of dickering with the salespeople to get such a good price, because on my own I’m usually not such a great shopper!

On another occasion, I had a couple call me from the airport an hour or so before their flight was to leave. Their son had lost his Game Boy^®. Luckily, their room had not yet been cleaned and I found it right away. I offered to bring it to them at the airport, but realized that at that time of day a taxi would just get stuck in traffic. So I hopped on the subway and met them outside the terminal 25 minutes later. That was one happy little boy.

Q: Ever been asked to track down something unusual?
A: A Scottish gentleman at the hotel was getting married and was in a panic because he could not find his kilt. I called the last two hotels that he had stayed at and was able to locate the kilt in the Lost and Found department at a hotel in Maine. I persuaded the manager to send the kilt to our hotel in a town car and it arrived just in time for the wedding ceremony.

On another occasion, one of our regular guests from Arizona called and asked me to ship him an entire clambake, including lobsters, for 15 people. It was tricky because everything had to be timed just right, so that the lobsters and clams would be fresh when they arrived. I found a local company that puts together clambakes to go. Then I called one of our sister properties in Arizona and arranged to have a car pick up the clambake at the airport and drive it to the guest’s home.

Q: Do you have any animal stories from the hotel?
A: We do accept pets at the hotel, but ask guests to register their pets. One guest forgot to tell us about the pet ferret he’d left in his room. When the housekeeper entered his room the ferret escaped. Somehow the ferret made its way down to the mezzanine level. I don’t know if doors were open in the hallways or if the ferret took the elevator, but the ferret ran into a function room where a cocktail party was going on. It caused quite a commotion. Finally someone from engineering threw a blanket over the ferret and scooped it up. We kept it in a big cardboard box until his owner showed up to claim him.

Seamus Murphy was a bellman at the Omni Parker House hotel for 20 years, and has been a Guest Services Manager at the hotel for the past eight years. “It may sound corny,” he says, “but I view the hotel as one big get together—and I’m the host of the party!”