American Express Membership Rewards - Centurion Concierge, any good experience?

I am wondering what type of services you got with their Concierge service? I have a black card holder for about a month now, haven't been too happy with their service. I was on the CITIconcierge service, they don't even need you read the card # everytime. Besides the hotplates, I really don't see much benefit with this. Anyone got any Miracle or great experience w/ the Concierge service?

I am wondering what type of services you got with their Concierge service? I have a black card holder for about a month now, haven't been too happy with their service. I was on the CITIconcierge service, they don't even need you read the card # everytime. Besides the hotplates, I really don't see much benefit with this. Anyone got any Miracle or great experience w/ the Concierge service?

I've said it before...

4th row Orchestra seats to "Wicked" with two days notice

Best table (under the Buddha) at Megu, hours notice, multiple times

2nd row, Prince, one week's notice

Champagne (without requesting it and compliments of the Concierge) at a steak place in Boston during a friend's bachelor party - I made the dinner reservations through Concierge...

Etc., etc., etc...

Anyone got any Miracle or great experience w/ the Concierge service?

Just last night, actually. I found out a friend from the US was going to be in London, and I was going that way on my way to the airport. This was at 4pm. I phoned the Centurion concierge, said that I needed a table for this evening, preferrably French, ideally informal, hopefully SW1 (convenient for both of us, her staying out in Acton, and me on my way to LHR) and I needed the table between 7 and 8.30. Bear in mind this is a Saturday evening two weekends before Christmas.

I got a phone call back within an hour, table for 7.15pm at Le Cercle (http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,1587,1222687,00.html) , which is just off Sloane Street. Fantastic 'tasting menu' style French food with a really nice atmosphere: I never even knew it existed. I like being able to say 'I trust you to book something for me' and know that I'm generally going to be happily surprised.

Just last night, actually. I found out a friend from the US was going to be in London, and I was going that way on my way to the airport. This was at 4pm. I phoned the Centurion concierge, said that I needed a table for this evening, preferrably French, ideally informal, hopefully SW1 (convenient for both of us, her staying out in Acton, and me on my way to LHR) and I needed the table between 7 and 8.30. Bear in mind this is a Saturday evening two weekends before Christmas.

I got a phone call back within an hour, table for 7.15pm at Le Cercle (http://shopping.guardian.co.uk/food/story/0,1587,1222687,00.html) , which is just off Sloane Street. Fantastic 'tasting menu' style French food with a really nice atmosphere: I never even knew it existed. I like being able to say 'I trust you to book something for me' and know that I'm generally going to be happily surprised.

I am still not too happy with them, had to requested them to Switch my Dedicated Concierge, but 2 days after I spoke with the Concierge Manager, they lost the request, so complianted to a Customer Services Manager, and 2 Days later, still no solid Response. Is this typical with them? Or I am just expecting too much?

I tried using them to get tables this weekend (with 4 days advance notice) for Per Se, WD-50, Gramercy Tavern, Spice Market or Cafe Gray. NO luck whatsoever. They said they were fully committed. The cannot pull any strings for me.

Do you know if Centurion uses the same people from Platinum conceirge? This seems to be the case when I call... also I think they also outsource the concierge service to a company called Circle. :confused:

I tried using them to get tables this weekend (with 4 days advance notice) for Per Se, WD-50, Gramercy Tavern, Spice Market or Cafe Gray. NO luck whatsoever. They said they were fully committed. The cannot pull any strings for me.

4 days notice during X-Mas season at Per Se? Not through Centurion. That requires a whole different connection...

Is this typical with them? Or I am just expecting too much?

I think you are expecting a little too much, at the end of the day, the people on the end of the phone are just people, not gods.

From what I’ve seen, the staff try hard, return calls when you need them to and take care of the little things that you can not be bothered with, like when you are on the way back from staying with a friend in an overseas country and want to send them a thank you gift for having you stay. You simply ring Amex and say, Hi, I stayed with a friend Blah they live at Blah - can you send them something nice as a thank you that costs about $X. This saves you time and therefore money. This is what the product is for, it is not there to run your life or increase your social status or "get you in" to places.

With bookings on Sat night for restaurants, I simply say "I want something French that is casual" or some other vague description of what I feel like and I always get what I want. It is unreasonable to expect them to fulfil a request like "I want to goto x restaurant, at 7pm and sit on the third table from the entrance by the window" - it simply wont happen and there is no point getting upset when it does not. The benefit they offer is doing the legwork of calling 10 different restaurants to find you one with a spare table and booking you a car to and from the restaurant, they do not offer a get in anywhere, anytime service.

If you are expecting any more than this, you will be disappointed and the card really isn’t for you. The card is really made for (even though it is not given to) people who don’t really need to ask to get into places or who really don’t care about getting into places, rather just care for an easier lifestyle. In making your life easy, the card truly excels.

I find that I use my PA during the day for things and Amex at night, when it is just rude to awaken my PA and it is something that can not wait until the morning. I also treat Amex like my PA. Would I be upset if my PA could not get me into XYZ one night – no – so I am also not upset if Amex can not fulfil the same task.

Basically you just need to manage your expectations – the product exists to make your life easier, not better.

With bookings on Sat night for restaurants, I simply say "I want something French that is casual" or some other vague description of what I feel like and I always get what I want. It is unreasonable to expect them to fulfil a request like "I want to goto x restaurant, at 7pm and sit on the third table from the entrance by the window" - it simply wont happen and there is no point getting upset when it does not.

Amen. As a Centurion cardmember, I find that American Express moves heaven and earth within their sphere of competence - including arranging for a courier to deliver cash to me in Venice on a Sunday morning in a lost card situation - but outside of that stuff, I look on the lifestyle benefits as more of a substitute for doing my own research than a 'magic wand' to wave when I have something specific in mind.

Amen. As a Centurion cardmember, I find that American Express moves heaven and earth within their sphere of competence - including arranging for a courier to deliver cash to me in Venice on a Sunday morning in a lost card situation - but outside of that stuff, I look on the lifestyle benefits as more of a substitute for doing my own research than a 'magic wand' to wave when I have something specific in mind.

I think you've hit the nail on the proverbial head... Amex concierges are in fact not Gods. They can do great things, and they have much better connections than "normal people," because that's their JOB. If you spent all day trying to find tickets to plays or restaurant tables, you'd meet people, too, and get better connections than the guy who eats at a fancy place on a month. It's basic logic.

What I find best about Concierge is that they're blackberryable. I can email my personal concierge as I'm walking to a meeting, and say something like, (as I did last week,) "Hey, Kevin... need dinner at Megu, 2 people, under the buddha, 8pm tonight, need 4 tickets to Aerosmith, I think they're playing at the garden in may, keep an eye out for Idina Menzel's last performance in Wicked, need six orchestra seats, (up to $xxx per seat) and finally, your red sox still suck."

He knows my preferences, knows what I like, and that's all I have to do - He also has a copy of my address book, (updated through Yahoo,) so I can say "Kevin, birthday flowers to person's name.

So if I call at 8pm and say, "I need the head table at Tao at 8:04," he probably can't help me. (and btw, AmEx concierges have a back door phone number to Tao...)

But - and this is the important thing, they know what to do when they can't - and if you play the game the right way, you get what you need. Example: Don't say, "I need reservations at Tao in the next 15 minutes for six," but rather, "Hey, I'm with five friends, and we want to go someplace fun for dinner tonight. Can you help us out?" And the end result is that you'll usually wind up somewhere fun, with all your friends, and you'll still look like a hero because you got it.

End result - They're not miracle workers - but they're good at what they do - and if you realize that, and base your requests off of that, you'll be very pleased with their service.

-Peter

PS: If you REALLY want a table at Tao on 4 minutes notice, marry Lindsay Lohan. I hear she has a black card, too! ;)

Do any UK holders have dedicated concierges?

I don't use the concierge service very often but when I do, it would be good to have someone I can get hold of on a dedicated e-mail address rather than calling up the general number and having to give my security details every time.

Do any UK holders have dedicated concierges?

I don't. My father, who is a Charter Member, doesn't either - I don't think so anyway. I'll ask him when I see him over Christmas.

Have had good luck getting restaurant reservations, theater tickets, etc. Recently, I got a call at 4 pm from a client needing a jet to take 5 people from Louisville to NYC. I called Centurion and my own personal assistant (we are old enough that I can call her my secretary and she doesn't mind!) and asked for quotes. Centurion came through in less than an hour about 12% ($1,000) higher than the quote my secretary got but including a limo and snacks. My secretary's quote came from a shot in the dark 800 number call as our usual source could not help on such short notice. It came with referrences and the plane seated 8 (our numbers grew) so we used it. Still, I was very pleased with Centurion's responsiveness.

Centurion travel is another story. Mostly I avoid it. When I use it, I grade it fair at best.

Was headed to Lake Las Vegas this past weekend, and asked for suggestions and reservations at a nice restaurant. She suggested one and assured me it would be great, only we showed up to find that we had been booked at the Hyatt's coffee shop (even though they had an upscale restaurant adjoining it). Needless to say, I was not impressed.