Lodges rethink the concierge: From selfies to sustainability

Do you want to improve your vacation selfie game? Don’t worry, Eduardo Vallin is here for you.

As the “Instagram Concierge” at the Hotel W Punta de Mita in Mexico, Vallin helps his guests to find and take the best social media-worthy photos while they are basking in the holiday glow.

“One of my favorite things to do is watch the images come to life,” said Vallin. “I enjoy getting to know the person through their Instagram aesthetic and interests, then creating a personalized tour, and finally seeing the finished product on their Instagram.”

He’s just one of many creative concierge jobs that hotels and resorts have introduced in recent years.

In Aruba, the Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort recently introduced a “carbon offset concierge”; Jareth Vermeulen helps guests offset the environmental impact of their flights to the climate-neutral hotel by purchasing CO2 emissions offsets. The guests can do this themselves or get help from Vermeulen. Although the position is new, Vermeulen, as sustainability manager, offers sustainability tours through the property.

“It was really fun to mingle with the guests and understand why they chose Bucuti & Tara Beach and also their passion for sustainability,” he said.

Why this trend towards specialized concierge services?

For hotels, it’s a way to stand out from the crowd and convey a vision by focusing on issues like climate change, said Emanuel Schreiner, founder of RVS Hotel Consulting.

As for customers, “Personalization isn’t just a travel trend; Hotel guests want to experience unique moments, tailor-made for their vacation, ”continues Schreiner. “Having highly specialized staff who take care of the most extravagant aspects of their trip will definitely add value for guests. In the long term we will see whether the demand actually corresponds to all of these special offers. “

Ewald Biemans, owner and CEO of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, said he started the carbon offsetting concierge because some travelers feel guilty for the emissions caused by air travel. Offsets can help guests enjoy a guilt-free vacation, he said.

“Global warming and climate change appear in almost every review of the hotel,” said Biemans. “Three years ago, most people didn’t even know what climate change or global warming was. Today it is a household name. “

Another reinterpretation of the concierge position: The Hyatt Regency Portland in Oregon is planning to have a “Concierge of Selt” from November to help guests find unique and less-hyped tours and experiences.

“What makes Portland great are the little, some call them weird, out-of-the-way destinations and characters that make the city so popular,” said Jamie McKinney, the new concierge. “We both wanted a way to highlight these quirky entities that don’t always rise to the top of Yelp, but are so critical to the vibrancy and effectiveness of tourism in our city.”

McKinney said the position is being created in response to feedback from travelers interested in exploring the “real” Portland.

“The places that the locals actually go to,” she said.

For example, guests may want to learn more about the elusive Bigfoot, so send them to the North American Bigfoot Center, where displays show a range of Bigfoot information and artifacts.

“In exploring these tours, I relied on my local expertise and my natural tendency to explore and dig deeper, which allows me to see the best of the strange side of Portland,” she said.

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Follow Kristi Eaton on Twitter at Twitter.com/KristiEaton.