ive heard vertu is currently not very good. interestingly, i believe quintessentially was the concierge before the current one. vertu can be a good value though, depending on the concierge. although im not sure how long it lasts?

chairman PA has no appeal to me. personal assistants are not really the same as concierges. while they might occasionally be very helpful with finding something, im not paying $400 a year for that.

access and hotel benefits, thats what i want from a concierge

I don't think that Chaiorman PA charges 400/yr....

For access and hotel benefits, you should be able to flash the Black Card and they will magically appear.....

VIPdesk sure looks like circles to me, which means they dont sell individual memberships. hence chairman card.

can people who dont want to pay X for Y just not post in threads discussing them?

Amex Plat for tier 1 & 2 and Centurion concierge for tier 3.


was this the case at one time?

1st amendment....

AmEx uses Circles for their concierge service also. Therefore, the level of concierge service for the Merrill+1 and +2 should equal the quality of the AmEx Platinum product. The Merrill+3 should equal the quality of the AmEx Centurion product.

Ive used Vertu concierge for about 18 months, they are very efficient, and provide a "good" effort. They are able to research, find goods/services, advise on travel issues, attempt to get access to special events.

I have found them a worthy addition - basically they are similar to Centurion, but without the specific programs/upgrades. I tend to use both, and have had similar results with both, but I do like the "programs" for Centurion, and fact it is "more exclusive" - though often this seems to be more in my mind than reality.

Your phonecall is answered 24/7 in either the US or England.

Cost is about $1000 USD per year, and you get a year free. They also have a VIP level, which gives you a dedicated personal concierge - this costs about $7000 USD. I havent tried this - but am considering it.

huh? you pay $1000 a year on top of the $6000 phone?

or are you saying you went directly to the concierge vertu is currently partnered with?

Quintessentially's hotel benefits don't quite seem to be worth $1500 to me.

I'll probably get JD through one of their partners.

Going to call InsiderNYC and ask about some of their stated benefits now.

Wow. Certainly not what I was expecting. They're from $6000 a year ($500 a month, 3 months to start, then month to month) That puts them between PCI/bluefish and MINT/Preferred. They list some VIP events/parties on their website, and it seems that many of the parties do not incur additional costs, as opposed to AMEX for example. BUT for the big ones, it sounds like the more you spend with them, and the farther in advance you make the request are the factors they use when getting in some of their clients. The $500/month is actually an hourly rate too. 5 hours at $100/hr . I remember MINT being $30/hr for the lengthier PA type services in addition to the annual fee. InsiderNYC views almost everything, including dinner reservations in terms of an hourly basis.

Way the Vertu Concierge works is you get one year included when you purchase the phone. following the 1st year, you can renew at either the standard or VIP level. You can also not renew, and still use the concierge for Vertu technical support.

ouch.

FYI: Chairman Card Personal Assistants utilize VIPdesk as their concierge service. It is the same for most Mastercard Concierge services, as well as teh Carte Blanche. Service level may depend on the type of affinity card you have, but not sure.

Circles is utilized by American Express and Merrill+ that I know of.

Can the standard ML+3 card holder get access to special events using the concierge? I only use them to look up things...Could they get me upgrades at hotels, or comps at casinos or something, or is that still only linked to the amount of money I lay down at that place? IE, maybe someone can tell me the best way to USE the chairman and/or ML+3 concierge's?

example for circles - amex plat wanted $2750 for miami vice LA premiere.

credit card concierges do not get hotel upgrades. amex has FHR and additional cent benefits for that.

quintessentially and some other concierges offer hotel upgrades, some of which are better than /not offered by FHR / virtuoso.