Looking to increase your vacation selfie game? Don’t worry, Eduardo Vallin has it covered. As “Instagram concierge” at the W Punta de Mita hotel in Mexico, Vallin helps guests locate and take the best social media-worthy photos while they bask in that vacation glow.
“One of my favourite parts of the job is seeing the pictures come to life,” Vallin says. “I enjoy getting to know the person through their Instagram aesthetics and interests and then creating a personalized tour, then finally seeing the finished product on their Instagram.”
His is just one of a variety of creative concierge jobs that hotels and resorts have introduced in recent years.
In Aruba, Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort recently introduced a “carbon offset concierge”; Jareth Vermeulen helps guests offset the environmental impact of their flights to the carbon-neutral hotel by purchasing carbon emissions offsets. Guests can do this on their own or have Vermeulen assist them. Though the position is new, Vermeulen had been offering sustainability tours of the property as sustainability manager.
“It’s really been enjoyable to mingle with the guests and understand the reason why they choose Bucuti & Tara Beach and also their sustainability passion,” he said.
Why this trend toward specialized concierge services? For hotels, it’s a way to stand out from the crowd and convey a vision by focusing on topics like climate change, says Emanuel Schreiner, founder of RVS Hotel Consulting.
As for customers, “personalization is not just a travel trend; hotel guests want to experience unique moments, tailor-made for their vacation,” Schreiner adds. “Having highly specialized staff that is able to cater to the most extravagant aspects of their travel will definitely create added value for the guests. We will see in the long run whether the demand actually meets all these particular offerings.”
Ewald Biemans, owner and CEO of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, says he created the carbon offset concierge because some travellers feel guilty for the emissions that come from air travel. Offsets can help guests enjoy a more guilt-free vacation, he says.
Another new take on the concierge position: The Hyatt Regency Portland in Oregon has introduced a “concierge of weird” to help guests find unique and little-hyped tours and experiences.
“What makes Portland so great is that it’s the small, some call them weird, off-the-beaten-path destinations and characters that make the city so beloved,” says Jamie McKinney, the new concierge. “We both wanted a way to highlight these quirky entities, which don’t always rise to the top of Yelp, yet are so crucial to the liveliness and the effectiveness of tourism in our city.”
McKinney said the position is being created in response to feedback from travellers wanting to explore the “real” Portland – “The places that locals actually go to.”
For example, guests might want to learn about the elusive Bigfoot, so she will send them to the North American Bigfoot Center, where displays feature an array of bigfoot information and artifacts.
“In scouting these tours,” she says, “I’ve relied on my local expertise and my natural inclination to explore and dig deeper, allowing me to uncover the very best of the weird side of Portland.”