Behind Every Great Les Clefs d’Or Concierge, There’s An Amazing Story
Condé Nast Traveler recently collected a few stories about Les Clefs d’Or members who were able to make “anything possible” for their hotel guests. Here are a few of them:
“A lovely couple called and asked me to set up an appointment for their marriage license, blood tests and arrange a Justice of the Peace to come to our hotel and marry them literally moments before they were to board a plane for their honeymoon. It was such fun to set up their suite with flowers, candles and music, and have the ceremony performed right there. My husband played photographer, and together we were the witnesses on their marriage license. It was wonderful and I felt like we truly contributed to their happy memories!”
“A CEO traveled to NYC to ring the bell at the New York Stock exchange to celebrate his company’s public stock offering. He was traveling by private plane from the West Coast, but his assistant called in a panic because he had left his garment bag on the back door of his office. By the time she reached me, it was Sunday night at 9pm and all of the stores were closed. He needed to check in to the New York Stock Exchange by 7:30am to be ready to ring the bell. His assistant gave me the brands of suits he wore, his size and his preferred colors. I reached out to our contact at Barneys, they opened the store after closing, and sold us 3 suit options, plus ties and shirts. We then arranged for a tailor to meet our guest upon his arrival at 1am for a fitting, who worked through the night to have them ready for the guest to try on at 6am. All went well and our ecstatic guest looked very dapper ringing the bell as his company went public.”
“A guest who was going to stay with us to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary reached out to me in advance to arrange for a very special, very personal, very customized anniversary celebration. His request: please arrange for a live pony and a small corral to be set up in the hotel’s outdoor garden, along with a butler in white tie and tails holding a silver tray with Veuve Clicquot Champagne on ice and two chilled champagne flutes. He also asked for a videographer to be available to record the entire event. I was able to arrange the entire set up at 4PM on the requested afternoon. The guest and his wife then appeared in black tie and ball gown, where upon he placed his wife on the pony, then paraded the pony around the corral twice at which time the butler walked slowly towards the pony with the silver tray, champagne and two chilled flutes. We later found out that this had something to do with how they originally met!”
“One of the most personal stories I can remember is the time I officiated a wedding with two gentlemen guests because they could not get married in their home state. It was so emotional to say the least, and proof that we’ll do whatever we can to help our guests!”
“A guest visiting during the Thanksgiving Holiday asked me if I might be able to arrange for a Native American Indian to come to his suite on Thanksgiving morning to perform a “Bow & Arrow” ceremony for he and his family. I quickly phoned the National Museum of the American Indian in New York City and they were most helpful. I was able to arrange for two Native American Indians, dressed in full ceremonial native costume, to come to the hotel Thanksgiving morning to perform the ceremony.”
Yes, there are thousands of great stories being lived each and every day. That’s why we love to say, thanks to our great Les Clefs d’Or concierges around the USA, anything is possible!