SuicidTheory

It's been a while since I used them.
I tried on the christmas eve, I asked them to send flowers 2000 km away to the south of Italia, they called me back and said, sorry we didnt find anything to help you..

I went to Google, and It took me 15 minutes to find a website,
flowers were delivered 3 hours later...

I guess that they were just to busy to help me with this pretty simple matter.

knowledgeispower

Yeah I seem to have similar luck with Amex concierge. They seem to be mostly concerned with helping you book concert tickets, etc. I've had much more luck for trivial requests (or just travel related in general requests) with Visa concierge.

gooselee

Have you (or anyone else) had success with Visa Sig doing actual travel research for you?

For example, I'm taking a group of people to Florida in a few months. I'd like to see what hotels are available in a certain area with large suites and adjoining rooms, and what those hotels are charging for said accommodations. I *could* find and call each hotel myself to do all this, but I'd much rather task it out to a concierge service so I can quickly review the options, dig deeper into a couple "finalists" and then either book it myself or have the concierge book it for me.

When I call Amex to do this, as soon as they hear "hotel" they pass me off to PTS. PTS wants me to sit on the phone with them while they look up options on the Amex Travel website, tell me no suites are available, look up public hotel websites, and then have me hold while they call the hotel, inevitably asking me after each option "Would you like me to go ahead and book that for you?" Not really a time savings for me.

I don't really have a problem with giving Amex/PTS the business and commissions, but they've got to provide me with some value. They're more than willing/able to do this when I'm shopping for anything non-travel related - a couple years ago I sent four bullet points to the concierge vaguely describing a gift I wanted to buy Mrs. Lee (I knew the gift and desired features but had not selected a specific model/item). Within 48 hours I got a reply with a PDF listing several options across multiple stores and brands with pictures and pricing for each.

Is there any good way to get either them or the Plat Concierge to just do some travel-related research for me and then email me some options, similar to what they do so well when I'm shopping for gifts and merchandise?

Tibs

I hear you about PTS. I don't have time to sit on the phone and would love to give them guidelines and receive options like when we ask for a City guide for restaurants. I've had the concierge send me pdfs with off the path restaurants that are unique to the destination and have enjoyed it. All without sitting on the phone.

It looks like they want me to get one of their travel specialists from the way the website is laid out. I wonder if thats overkill. I am planning a trip to Europe for a week and want to get ideas that are catered to what I like to do, and may give them a shot and see how it works.

Sounds like I need a travel agent though, and you have a valid request that IMO the concierge should be able to do, just like they do with my activities and dining.

knowledgeispower

Yes Visa Sig has done it numerous times without hassle. They ask for a few criteria for the hotels and restaurants/activities and then go ahead and begin doing the research and send a pdf within a day or two. I found them to be pretty good, but YMMV depending on the rep, since some seem to be more thorough than others.

gooselee

Thanks. I may give Visa Sig a shot for this one.

Ideally I'd love for Amex to be able to do it so they can litter in FHR or Gold Card hotel pricing, but I suppose the Visa hotels are largely the same.

knowledgeispower

Why not try both and compare? Shouldn't take too long!

gooselee

Well, I already know Amex's answer: Please hold while we transfer you to PTS who will spend three hours walking you through everything verbally...

I wasn't about to try Visa if someone told me they would do the same, but it sounds like they won't. I'll drop a request their way tomorrow.

United747

The best I've gotten travel wise from the Plat Concierge is a travel guide for a city. The one I'm viewing now is about 36 pages for Mexico City and lists everything from restaurants to museums.

jft3

AMEX Concierge is subbed out to a third party company. I'm not sure they have access to any special AMEX pricing?

gooselee

Concierge can get Amex pricing on many things like event tickets, etc. I'm sure they have access to many pieces of information that are actually owned by Amex.

And of course, if PTS would bother to use methods that are actually convenient to use, they have full access to everything.

mia

Discussion continues here:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/ameri...-done-you.html