How to be a Great Concierge By Justititin Sondgeroth, San Diego Hotel Associatitition IN CALIFOrNIA, We Are so fortunate to have six major hotel concierge associations. The San Diego Concierge Association (SDCA), founded in 1985, was one of the first in the state created by concierges to help educate each other and grow as individuals. Starting with only a few concierges—like Nancy Hirsch of the la Valencia hotel and leslie claus our founding president—they created a lasting organization that has fostered the growth of hundreds of concierges. This camaraderie is essential in the personal growth of every concierge within the association, which now represents 31 hotels and over 70 concierge members. The purpose of the sdca is to educate our members through monthly meetings and familiarization outings. It also holds our members to a higher level of ethics by signing our code of conduct—a promise of true moral character to our guests every year. SDCA’s monthly meetings are so valuable for networking with fellow concierges and great concierge is not just created with a snap of the finger or ding of the bell; it takes a village to build the best concierge possible. This metaphorical village is embodied several ways first and foremost with a strong and organized local hotel concierge association, job characteristics that every concierge innately has, and being at the forefront of information and having your finger on the pulse of your city. Being a concierge is such a unique career with every day being a totally new experience. One day there may be an adventure finding the impossible purple octopus stuffed-animal for a young visitor and the next day you are creating the most perfect magical moment for that special someone to say, “YES!” So how do we as professional hotel concierges make this intense, stressful, and amazing career look so easy? SuMMeR 2015 California Hotel & Lodging Association 21
CHLA Lodging News Summer 2015
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