Who do you turn to if you want a table at the Brit Awards? Or entry into one of London’s exclusive private members’ clubs? Or if you need a private jet at your disposal?
These are the questions being asked of London’s luxury lifestyle concierges, whose little black books are full of the right contacts to help fulfil any request. So what does this high-touch and discreet concierge world really look like? To understand, it’s worth considering a few different perspectives and practical needs.
Affluent individuals and their families understand that time is their most precious resource. They want convenience, as well as privileged access to private events that sometimes even money can’t buy. To this end, a trusted concierge is their secret weapon to unlock a world of exclusive experiences and VIP events. Concierges can even arrange luxury holidays with private jet and yacht chartering and detailed itineraries.
Of course, it’s not always about glitz and glamour; lifestyle and concierge services are much broader than that. Concierges are there to provide virtually anything lawful that will make life easier and more enjoyable.
The spectrum of services is very wide, ranging from day-to-day tasks (such as making restaurant reservations and arranging chauffeurs) to more long-term engagements like hiring household staff and arranging private tuition for children. The outsourcing of responsibilities and tasks is not limited to financial and business matters, and for many years such outsourcing has gained momentum within the high- and ultra-high-net-worth community globally – especially in places like London.
A relatively straightforward ‘insource’ concierge solution is simply to hire a personal assistant or manager. While that approach has merit in a purely domestic, single-location context, it can get quite complex in practice when trying to employ such an approach to a family’s foreign property and interests, including in particular non-UK residents with UK interests.
Non-UK residents face all manner of employment related obligations such as taxation, national insurance contributions, holiday and sickness cover to name but a few. With so much overseas wealth gracing our capital city, demand for these concierge and lifestyle services has grown dramatically over the last 20 years. By outsourcing such responsibilities to professional concierges, these headaches are removed.
As mentioned, the services that a concierge can provide are varied and extensive. They include:
1. Lifestyle
Arranging chauffeurs, chefs, personal trainers, theatre tickets, restaurant reservations, exclusive event access and satisfying extraordinary requests
2. Education
Private tutors, music lessons, summer camps, coursework and dissertation tutoring (e.g. Concierges’ black books normally include education consultants who are able to prepare children for university applications/interviews and assist in placing children in their desired school or university)
3. Business
A concierge normally has excellent links to specialist recruitment companies and can assist with the family’s local staffing requirements, no matter how bespoke
4. Personal assistance
Support with personal banking and establishing banking arrangements as well as referrals to relevant professional advisers. Assistance also extends to medical and health appointments
5. Travel
From planning and arranging detailed travel itineraries to yacht and aircraft charters, concierge professionals take complete care of the family’s travel needs, whether for business or pleasure
…And the list doesn’t stop there. The client’s imagination should be the only limitation. At The Private Office, for example, our vast array of contacts means we are able to assist with almost any request, no matter how obscure.
Beyond lifestyle management, concierge services can also include most aspects of property management. Indeed, this forms a core part of our offering at The Private Office. A proper concierge team should be adept to sourcing, purchasing, renting, selling, refurbishing and/or managing properties – whether those properties are for personal use or as investment.
About The Private Office
Established in 1995, IQ-EQ’s The Private Office is an exclusive property and lifestyle management company based in Mayfair, London. As a multi-family concierge and lifestyle provider, our team in London have been trusted with the needs of UHNW international clients for over 25 years. We pride ourselves on taking away all administrative and organisational stress and providing our clients with peace of mind, allowing them to concentrate on what is important to them.
We operate primarily within Mayfair, Belgravia, Knightsbridge and Kensington. Being in close proximity to the properties we manage enables us to provide the best possible service, promptly. However, we are always open to providing our services outside of these areas, taking each client’s requirements into consideration on a case by case basis.
Whether or not one would consider using concierge and lifestyle services is simple: ask yourself the question, ‘if money is no object, how much is your time worth?’
