Category: Concierge

The term real estate concierge warrants a few different kinds of services. Traditionally, we think of concierge service as hotel concierge, and when it comes to high rise buildings a hotel-like concierge service can be on the list of amenities.  We have commonly seen it emerge as an option in San Francisco with luxury high rise buildings and it seems to create an atmosphere that residents love. For example, The Harrison, located at 401 Harrison Street, San Francisco in SoMa offers their residents  “The Harrison Attache,” a personalized concierge service that adds to the ambiance of a luxury lifestyle. The service is similar to having a personal assistant, as it includes scheduling reservations for San Francisco’s hottest restaurants, sporting games, and clubs. Additionally the service covers day to day tasks like dry cleaning, daycare, interior design options, a handyman, housekeeping and so much more!  If this is the concierge service you’re looking for, we have you covered! Not only has the Rob and Carey team done past transactions at the Harrison, we have also sold in various different luxury condominium buildings. See our past transaction at the Harrison here and click here to see a collection of Condominium buildings in San Francisco that offer Concierge Services to their residents.

Since joining the San Francisco Compass Team, another meaning to concierge services has emerged and is taking the real estate market by storm. A concierge service that is essentially free of cost, and we are extremely excited to offer it to our clients. Exclusive to Compass, Compass Concierge was announced in 2018 and the company is working every day to make the program as efficient and as effective as possible. The CEO, Robert Reffkin, recently announced the guaranteed approval guidelines for the program which we explain under How Does Compass Concierge Work.  Now what exactly is real estate concierge?

Compass Concierge makes preparing your home for the market much more accessible and financially feasible.  Home concierge service is where Compass services and resources will cover the initial costs of your home renovations, ranging from replacement of old floors to handyman services and everything in between. In turn, this service allows the seller to make the necessary home improvements to increase the value of their home and decrease the time it sits on the market. This is a 0% interest home renovation loan, which allows some stress to be removed from the home preparation process. Home concierge is emerging in the realm of real estate, but Compass Concierge is the first of its kind in the industry and the rate of success is remarkable. To see in more detail how Compass works visit the How Does Compass Concierge Work tab and learn why you should be using concierge real estate services because concierge realty is here and you don’t want to miss it. Additionally, to learn in depth about the services we offer visit the Compass Concierge Services page.

Whether your listing could benefit from some light de-cluttering or a fresh coat of paint and staging, the Rob and Carey Team with the Compass Concierge program is here to assist our sellers by saving them time and making their investment shine for the next owner. You only get one chance to sell it, so make sure to maximize the potential and inspire your prospective buyers!

You are the owner of an apartment and you wish to rent it for short periods during your absences? You may need to hire a concierge service agency to take care of most of the tasks you need to do. But what exactly is the added value of this type of company and what services can they provide to you and your tenants?

Why the name Airbnb conciergerie?

Due to the growing popularity of the American behemoth, Airbnb has become over time a synonym for short-term rental accommodation, even when it is not necessarily rented via this platform. As this expression has become part of everyday language, it is easier for short-term rental agencies to define themselves as such.

This is all the more legitimate for GLAMAPARIS as the agency holds the status of superhost on Airbnb and this since 2019.

What is the role of an Airbnb concierge company?

Each concierge agency has its own particular way of operating and it is not necessarily relevant to draw up an exhaustive list of the services that this type of company offers. However, a certain number of tasks are shared by all of them, as they are necessary steps, without which the usefulness of such an agency would be quite limited.

The marketing of your property

In chronological order, the first operation required for a concierge agency is to inform potential clients of the existence of your property. In order to do so, the agency will gather as much information as possible about the apartment or house in order to describe the experience that the tenants will have during their stay. The agency will also have to collect the most representative photos, either by asking them to you, or by taking them themselves, the goal being to enhance the value of the accommodation while being honest about the reality. It is useless to be excessive on the supposed qualities of the place, it will only provoke disproportionate expectations from the customers who will not be satisfied.

Once this is done, a holiday rental concierge will have to publish the ad to display the accommodation with both the text and the photos on the different rental platforms on which it wishes to position itself: Booking, VRBO, Airbnb… If the concierge company has a website on which it records reservations (like GLAMAPARIS), the new apartment will also appear there.

Finally, a welcome kit including hygiene and food products (salt, pepper, oil, vinegar…) as well as more upscale items (bottle of champagne or wine, pastries) are elements that are regularly found in housing managed by concierge services.

The organization of the households

The maintenance of your property is obviously one of the major reasons why owners call upon a concierge service. In fact, the organization of cleaning before and after a rental is systematic. Clients may also request additional cleaning of their property during their stay, which a concierge will be able to provide.

Likewise, the linen can be renewed automatically if the rental exceeds a certain number of days or if the tenants request it.

The maintenance of your apartment

An Airbnb concierge service like GLAMAPARIS offers many services to owners, including regular attention to the apartments we manage. The reason for this is the high standards we strive to meet in terms of the quality of the apartments we offer. This is all the more important since in cities like Paris, in the vast majority of cases, it will be a primary residence, which you will occupy for most of the year. It is therefore the duty of an agency to ensure that tenants, as well as owners, can live there comfortably.

Whether it’s for small repairs, water damage or ordering an appliance, a concierge is regularly called upon to handle these types of situations and can be a decisive asset when time becomes pressing.

We love a good concierge at a hotel. Ask for almost anything and they can produce it; it’s like having your own personal Genie. Your wish is my command. Some luxury apartments and condos, like those at 2160 Century Park East and many other places in Los Angeles offer this kind of service. The term real estate concierge warrants a few different kinds of services.

When you are selling your home, there are so many things to do in order to get it ready BEFORE we can put it on the market. In short, we do those things for you.

First we do an initial walk through to assess the property and its condition for the sale. This includes identifying any aesthetic needs and making recommendations, obtaining estimates from vendors for any specific tasks like:

• Painting, from minor touch ups all the way to painting the entire home
• Staging, working with the clients’ existing furniture, or bringing in additional staging items
• Landscaping, sprucing up existing landscaping – adding colored flowers, plants, etc.
• De-cluttering the home, removing large items and putting them into storage
• Trash removal of any unwanted or old items
• Refinishing of hardwood floors or making minor touch ups of scratches
• Scheduling Termite inspection

We coordinate all of this work to be done with vendors according to your schedule. The before and after photos really show the difference. This property is on Oakhurst Ave in West LA.

Before the close of escrow homes need to comply with city/county regulations, so we schedule a retrofit inspection to check on various items like:

• Low flow toilets
• Smoke & carbon monoxide detectors
• Water heater strapping
• Earthquake gas shut-off valves

(Sometimes homes are better sold “As Is” due to their condition and are identified/marketed as such.)

We also research how the property is currently holding Title, and identify any issues on signing documents – Trust and/or Probate documents needed, etc.

We also provide services for relocation, for both sellers and buyers. We are always staying educated on the array of options, and we are here to provide all the help you need.

Along with our personal services, we’ve cultivated a team of caring and knowledgeable experts who will help with all of the intricacies of the process. For example, our Residential Solution Agent for Seniors will lead the way to all of the wonderful options that are available. We are full service and family-oriented. Wherever you want to go, we have the knowledge and passion to take you there.

We love a good concierge at a hotel. Ask for almost anything and they can produce it; it’s like having your own personal Genie. Your wish is my command. Some luxury apartments and condos, like those at 2160 Century Park East and many other places in Los Angeles offer this kind of service. The term real estate concierge warrants a few different kinds of services.

When you are selling your home, there are so many things to do in order to get it ready BEFORE we can put it on the market. In short, we do those things for you.

First we do an initial walk through to assess the property and its condition for the sale. This includes identifying any aesthetic needs and making recommendations, obtaining estimates from vendors for any specific tasks like:

• Painting, from minor touch ups all the way to painting the entire home
• Staging, working with the clients’ existing furniture, or bringing in additional staging items
• Landscaping, sprucing up existing landscaping – adding colored flowers, plants, etc.
• De-cluttering the home, removing large items and putting them into storage
• Trash removal of any unwanted or old items
• Refinishing of hardwood floors or making minor touch ups of scratches
• Scheduling Termite inspection

We coordinate all of this work to be done with vendors according to your schedule. The before and after photos really show the difference. This property is on Oakhurst Ave in West LA.

Before the close of escrow homes need to comply with city/county regulations, so we schedule a retrofit inspection to check on various items like:

• Low flow toilets
• Smoke & carbon monoxide detectors
• Water heater strapping
• Earthquake gas shut-off valves

(Sometimes homes are better sold “As Is” due to their condition and are identified/marketed as such.)

We also research how the property is currently holding Title, and identify any issues on signing documents – Trust and/or Probate documents needed, etc.

We also provide services for relocation, for both sellers and buyers. We are always staying educated on the array of options, and we are here to provide all the help you need.

Along with our personal services, we’ve cultivated a team of caring and knowledgeable experts who will help with all of the intricacies of the process. For example, our Residential Solution Agent for Seniors will lead the way to all of the wonderful options that are available. We are full service and family-oriented. Wherever you want to go, we have the knowledge and passion to take you there.

Being a real estate agent is hard. There are many aspects of an agent’s day to day that technology tries to simplify but often leads to making it more complicated. With different technologies brings multiple learning curves and ultimately different places to go to if you need help.

This creates a complex web of systems that do not always communicate with one another causing headaches and frustration for something as simple as remembering your login password!

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go to one place, like your managing broker or someone at your office, for the solution to your problem?

With showings being one of the most important parts of an agent’s business, the technology to facilitate showings needs to be easy to use, integrated, and have assistance from people you are familiar with.

That is why Showingly created our Brokerage Suite product. We wanted to empower brokerages with a tool integrated with their agent’s day to day. Making it easier for brokerages to provide help beyond contracts to their agents. The ultimate goal of Brokerage Suite is to bring the power back to the brokerage and provide a better service for agents.

Starting with showings, we created the capability for brokerages and their admins to plug into their agents’ showing process. Agents can now talk to their brokerage about scheduling showings, approving or denying showings, and even configuring their listings. This helps bring the support back in house with people you are familiar with, building trust between agents and brokers. All while incorporating a market differentiator over other brokerages.

Being plugged into your agent’s showings also brings business changing data. Team leaders, imagine being able to see showing statistics of all your agents listings. With data points like exact times people are entering and exiting your property, days of the week most showings are done, amount of showings done, location, and amount of property views.

We can provide custom insights catered to you and your market. Based on all of this data, using our AI, we can provide valuable insights about how to help your agents position their listings best to stand out and close quicker. While other data points like average number of showings before a contract can help buyers agents create predictability for their clients and their business.

“Brokerage Suite provides brokerages with powerful tools and analytics to amplify their firm’s value-add to agents and clients.”

Being in the showing management space for a few years has taught us a few things. Technology is rapidly advancing in the real estate space and the differentiator for agents is ease of use and support. Combining technology with a suite of tools for brokerages backed by Showingly’s white glove customer service and onboarding process, Brokerage Suite is shaping up to be THE product for both agents and brokers in the showing management space.

Brokerage Suite offers a one of a kind software solution that enables brokerages to provide a concierge service for their current and future agents. With a secure easy to use interface, Brokerage Suite is the MUST HAVE tool for brokerages to stand out from the rest and rapidly grow their business.

Do you ever wake up and feel like there should be someone to do your errands while you sit back and relax? To plan your entire holiday or a date, instead of you sitting in front of the computer screen for hours? Do you want an expert to be your personal assistant or your lifestyle manager?

Well, there are companies which provide such services. Their employees will do anything for you as long as it’s legal, moral and ethical.

Welcome to the era where concierge services have become a big and really profitable business model.

What Is A Concierge?

Some say that the word ‘concierge’ is derived from the Latin word ‘conservus’, which translates to ‘fellow slave’, while some say that it has evolved from the French ‘comte des cierges’, which means ‘the keeper of the candles’, which was essentially the main duty of concierges during the Middle Ages. Nonetheless, concierges’ meaning and duties have changed over time. They now perform almost every task for top-level managers, VIP customers of banks and hotels, superstars, or anyone who has enough money to outsource their work to them.

So, what is a concierge?

A concierge is an individual or company specializing in personal assistance or any other assistance services like household management, lifestyle management, transportation, travel and vacation planning, etc., and provides personalized services to its clients (usually high-net-worth clients) at a variable price.

The idea is to save the client’s time by performing their routine or specialised tasks.

The Concierge Services Business Model

Concierge services are a fairly recent addition to the luxury industry, all thanks to the constantly changing business environment, technological advancement, and the long working hours of the working professionals. Such limitations have resulted in a lack of time in the life of the people. They now wish for either more time or someone who can do the work for them while they free their time for the things that matter. The concierge services business model capitalises on this need.

Earlier, concierges used to be restricted to hotels or luxury apartment buildings and assisted guests by making restaurant reservations, arranging spa services, recommending places to visit, booking transportation, etc. But now, these individuals and companies have moved ahead and specialised in many tasks ranging from lining up tickets for concerts or special events, planning a holiday trip, doing the shopping errands, restaurant recommendations and reservations, etc.

The business models of different concierge service providers differ in the types of service provided and to whom it is provided. Some concierges help employers maintain good employer-employee relations, some deal in handling customer grievances, some concierges provide personal travel planning services, while some provide all these services by acting as personal assistants or lifestyle managers.

Here are few concierge services business models that are prevalent today:

Concierge Medicine

Concierge medicine (also called boutique medicine, retainer-fee practice, direct care, and membership medicine) is a prevalent concept where the customer pays a flat/annual fee or a retainer in exchange of enhanced personalised care and better access to their doctors.

The concept was started in 1996 when a doctor from Seattle decided to ask his patients to pay an annual fee or a retainer in exchange for highly attentive medicine. The practice became famous in a short while and was accepted by a lot of doctors from all over the world.

The concierge medicine business model is a win-win model for both the doctors and the patients as the doctor doesn’t have to manage a huge number of patients to make their ends meet, and the patients get timely and personalised care and treatment from their doctor.

The retainer fee of such service range from few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars per year. This may or may not be in addition to other charges and may or may not be covered by health insurance policies.

Lifestyle Management / Personal Concierge

Lifestyle management is a specialised service where the client outsources his personal tasks like daily errands management, pet sitting, house sitting, reservations, special events management, shopping etc. to a commercial firm or a professional.

These concierge brands use their expertise to save time and provide exceptionally personalised luxurious service to their high-net-worthed clients.

Hotel Concierge

The hotel concierge is one of the oldest and most prevalent concierge services provided to VIP and high-net-worth clients. These concierges provide services like making recommending and making restaurant reservations, arranging spa services, booking transportation, procuring tickets for special events, attending and assisting client’s guests etc.

Travel Concierge

The increasing popularity and affordability of travelling around the world have led to an addition of a new business model in the concierge industry: the travel concierge (or the trip concierge). The firms providing such services excel in travel planning and stand out by providing real-time information and 24×7 VIP support to their clients.

These companies know everything about the legal, social and cultural aspects of travelling in other countries and reserve/book everything beforehand for a seamless travel experience.

The Future Of Concierge Services

Mobile devices and the internet have changed the way concierges work. Today, a person residing in New York can ask his personal assistant residing in India to plan his trip to Egypt. All this can be done seamlessly with just one text message.

The industry is also not untapped and under-marketed anymore. The developed technology has included AI to concierges, which has led to this industry opening gates to medium-level income clients.

Google Assistant has all the plans to become your personal concierge. Assist is a famous automated assistant for messaging and voice. Haptik is building conversational AI for the world. Even Amazon has capitalized on this new trend with the introduction of Alexa.

With the new rise in the demand and supply of concierge services, the future of concierge services looks to be very good.