Concierge in Today's Environment
Do I really need the extra grocery run? Will I put my family at risk by going to the supermarket during Covid-19? How do I find out what are the Covid-adjusted hours for my local pharmacist? These are the questions residents face daily at a global scale.
COVID-19 has forced a dramatic shift in how businesses operate, forcing most of us, aside from frontliners, to adhere to social distancing practices. While these restrictions are understandably in our best interest to preserve public health, they can disrupt daily routines and add more stress to people’s already hectic schedules.
Can residents outsource these daily decisions to another party so that they can conserve their time and energy for family and their careers? The answer is yes, with concierge services reimagined for today’s needs.
What is a concierge?
The history of the term “concierge” dates back to medieval times, with the original concierges charged with the gatekeeping of entrances to buildings and acting as a guide for visitors to medieval castles. Today, the concierge is usually associated with friendly, helpful front desk staff who greet you at the entrance of hotels, resorts and luxury residences.
When we think of a concierge, we think of individuals who are resourceful in offering recommendations and quick in anticipating, as well as meeting, your needs. While the concierge has typically been associated with wealth and used to be accessible only to the wealthy, modernization has expanded the concierge’s role, making it more widely accessible.
What concierge services exist today?
Concierges are meant to be versatile, performing just about any function that is required of them. Modern concierge services help customers handle routine, administrative and ad-hoc tasks so they can devote their attention to other priorities. Additionally, customers can leverage the concierge’s expertise and network of resources rather than having to devote search costs to making decisions on their own.
The scope of duties of personal concierges are wide, ranging from making travel plans, booking reservations, planning events and handling the house chores such as grocery shopping. The flexibility of payments for concierge services is another plus point; Fees for concierge services can be structured on a monthly basis, on an on-demand basis or a combination of the above, giving further options for today’s customer to opt in for the services they need.
Concierge services are also relevant for more specialized and customized needs. COVID-19 has forced most residents, particularly the elderly, to stay home, limiting access to many essential services including medical facilities. To make matters worse, hospitals have been inundated with COVID-19 patients, further discouraging hospital visits by individuals with compromised health conditions. Medical concierge services grew to provide personalized care to clients with specific ailments and skip the wait-times in conventional hospital visits. This trend is likely to persist even after COVID-19, given the increased flexibility and convenience that consumers have grown to appreciate.
The future of concierge services
The increasing digitalization of services has also expanded concierge services to online channels. Clients are now able to obtain concierge services with just a few swipes of the screen or punches on the keyboard. In the hospitality industry, hotel concierge services already offered guests the ability to request room service, food and beverage or enquire about other information such as opening hours of the gym and restaurants. Today, this means being able to request for services instantly via an app, on the way back to the hotel from a sightseeing trip, without needing to pick up the phone and call reception.
As proponents of the digitalization of services, at URBN Playground we have developed our own in-house concierge app that facilitates easy access for our customers to the amenities and services offered by the properties we service. Our app enables our residents to book just about anything, such as health and fitness, rentals and accessories, home and pet care, event reservations, e-interior design, and shopping, amongst others. Our app also provides notifications or reminders to clients about their reservations of items of interests, to reduce the burden of decision-making or having to remember dates and events.
No longer a luxury for a few, but a necessity for all
While traditional concierge services have been designed only for the upper crust of society, the needs and demands of modern society have expanded the relevance of concierge services. Today, from the busy mother having to balance her job and her kids, to the busy executive who needs to entertain and host client meetings, to the medical patient seeking specialized medication and advice from home - almost any middle-class customer can access and benefit from concierge services.
Concierge services are no longer limited to physical interactions either: the use of apps enables multiple concierge services to be offered on a single platform, 24/7. In today’s fast-moving, rapidly-changing world, concierge services are no longer seen as a status symbol, but as a vital tool in helping us cope with our everyday life.