Matt West, head concierge at the Mandarin Oriental Hyde Park, talks to Michelle Mannion
7am Typically I start work now. If I’ve got an important arrival or a group departure, I may have to be here at 3am – with certain celebrities I’ll stay overnight because I’m not sure of the exact arrival time. But I like to get in at 7am because that’s when the night team finishes and the day team starts, so it allows me to catch up with both. It’s so important for a manager to speak with their staff. I check everything’s okay, and have a gossip as well. This is especially important in the hotel trade because we work crazy hours so we become each other’s friends and confidantes. I also pick up the arrivals list and the daily log, which tells me how many guests I’ve got in, how many I’ve got going out, and if any VIPs are arriving.
7.30am I go to my office and have a quick look at the newspaper – it’s good to keep up to date because sometimes the guests want a gossip as well. I check my emails – I usually get 20-50 overnight. A lot of guests will contact me direct – the longer you’ve worked somewhere [West has been at the Mandarin for ten years] the more you get to know people and the more comfortable they feel dealing with you. So much is done by email now – usually a guest will turn up and we will already have arranged their theatre tickets, restaurants and booked a car to meet them.
9am The general manager and department heads have a morning meeting. We’ll run through the day and go through the arrival list. I’ll then brief my team, which comprises 27 people – the concierge, doormen, baggage masters and porters.
10am I’ll get on the desk, but I may also be doing disciplinary tasks, hiring, appraisals or action plans. There’s a lot of paperwork – the position has really changed in the past ten years. It’s a full managerial position now, whereas before the head concierge was normally the one with the loudest voice who could shout at the porters.
At least 80 per cent of our guests use the concierge. My team are very experienced so it’s rare that I need to come and take over, but there are a few things I can help with – I can push an extra button when they’ve tried everything. People see a head concierge and think they sell theatre tickets. They think I’m Arthur Daley, that I’m just interested in getting the dodgy tickets – that I turn up at 10am, sell a few, book someone into the Ivy and get down to Wentworth for the 2pm tee-off. Because in fairness, they see what I want them to see – I don’t want people to think I have a hard job because that means I’m running around stressing all day, and that’s not the image I want to portray. It’s like a duck going across the water – you don’t realise the legs are going crazy underneath.
The fun parts of the job are when you make magical things happen for people. That’s what really turns you on as a concierge. Some of the most unusual things I’ve been asked to do are to have a red phone box shipped to Dubai, and to get an African grey parrot that spoke English for a Saudi prince’s son. Where do I draw the line? Boys, girls and drugs. It has to be legal.
You’re as good as the people you know, but it’s about the relationship you have with them. You have to go out and get to know them – sometimes I’ll go to five clubs in one night to have a chat with everyone. Then, when you make that call, it makes it so much easier.
12.30pm-1pm I’ll usually have lunch in the canteen each day with a different team member. I’ve got an all-male team at the moment. Historically it’s quite a male-dominated field but more women are coming into it. In the afternoon, I may meet with the rooms division manager, who I report to. There is also a weekly operations meeting and a monthly departmental one. Or I might see one of our contractors, or someone from a local restaurant.
5pm If I’m in at 7am I try to get out about now. I think every head concierge will be at work when they need to be, and I’m always at the end of the phone. At least two to three nights a week I’ll have events to attend – there’s always something going on. I could live on canapés if I wanted to.
