JHake10

Tried calling up and was told there was a 30 minute wait. I've only tried calling about 3-4 times in the last 2 years and its always the same. They upped the AF, now up the staffing.

GiantCow

Have you reached the concierge through that? To me that "Alternative Contact Methods" sounds like it goes to the standard customer service dept.

enlguy

What most of you don't realize is that these AMEX concierges aren't worth a penny they're paid. I'm an actual concierge at a luxury property in a U.S. destination, and I get constant emails from AMEX concierges who request my help on a future guest's behalf. A big part of my job is helping guests prior to arrival, as activities and dinners disappear as you near the date. That's not an issue. What is an issue is that these people are being paid to help their clients, yet all they do is send an email to the property and make the concierge on-property hate his life with a veritable inundation of the most ridiculous emails you can imagine. I can't even tell you how many hours have been wrapped up with these people until I finally have to tell them to simply do their own jobs.

Cardboard55

Not to be callous, but is this something I'm supposed to care about as a customer? If I make a request to any concierge, what I care about is that it gets achieved correctly, not HOW it gets achieved. If they get it done, it by definition is worth the price I'm paying, even if it happens to be annoying to you.

flyershmlyer

I think what they're saying, probably not clearly, is that:

Amex concierge doesn't have power and just forwards emails thru (probably true)
If you're dealing with hotel request, you might be much better off contacting hotel directly for any concierge requests than go thru Amex (also probably true).

That still doesn't address other areas Concierge should be good/have some power - restaurant reservations, etc.

Btw, is this FHR hotel? Do you get FHR requests?

5DMarkIIguy

So far, I found Amex concierges to be worthless for restaurant reservations oversea. They always ask where I stay, and then proceed to forward all my requests to the hotel concierge. Italy, France, Japan for example.
The only time they actually do something themselves are for restaurants in the states. And it's 50/50.

jbeans

I think in terms of restaurants, Amex only has pull with a few very specific restaurant groups. So far 99% of the restaurants I've requested in NYC and overseas they have not been able to help, with a recent exception of Carbone. They were able to get me a table on a Saturday night when no space was showing online. They seemed to mention that they have a special relationship with the Major Food Group.

Beltway2A

Several years ago, the concierge was able to score me a few reservations on sold out nights (one was even for a big group) across DC and NYC. These days, I've found them to be no better than OpenTable, and significantly less convenient.

I believe it's become Amex changed concierge providers within the last few years.

matrixwalker2012

In my experience, I've found google to be a far better concierge than Amex concierge can ever be. Then again, I value fine dining at about zero, and there are very few things I actually want, and for the few things I actually want, I can google/amazon/online buy it and have it on its way in a small fraction of the time it'd take me to explain to a concierge.

I've also found that many of the items I want are so highly specific and I almost always custom configure everything, and I'd probably end up micro-managing things so much that it's better for me to just go find it myself because I can then be assured that I will be getting exactly what I want.

levilevi

Its been said before, but I always email for a city/area guide before I go - they have them for most areas worldwide on demand - usually a 30-50 page PDF with highlights, attractions, restaurants, museums, etc. I was recently in San Diego with the family and requested kids activities too - got the standard SD guide and a separate Kids SD guide too. Helpful.

They seem to be regularly updated with hours, etc. Also - many guides have suggested itineraries in multiple variations (number of days, indoor/outdoor, etc) - the kids guide had multiple "weather" options too.

Is this service worth Platinum annual fee? No... there are other ways that fee is worth it. But certainly a nice feature to have if/when needed/wanted.

fliesdelta

To what address do you email, to request these guides?

Thanks!

Beltway2A

[email protected]

YOWgary

Amex concierge got me presale tickets, at cost, to a concert that was not part of Amex's "Front of the Line" program.

Jcrew

Just made couple reservations in Japan without a hitch!

Statman

Got me reservations this Friday at David Chang's new restaurant in LA (Majordomo) when it was fully booked for two months (I know because I called myself).