Concierges seek attention, respect with newsletter

Las Vegas is home to 14,000 more hotel rooms today than in November 1998. Lorley Musiol, president of the Southern Nevada Hotel Concierge Association, hopes this month's launch of an SNHCA newsletter will trigger a similar growth in association membership.

Dubbed Key News*Las Vegas, the newsletter is a joint effort of the SNHCA and Las Vegas-based companies Copywrite, Ink. and the Idea Factory. SNHCA officials hope the publication provides a conduit for information between concierges and local hotel management.

"We felt we needed to have our own voice to speak to both current and potential members, as well as hotel executives," said Musiol. "Two of the new luxury casinos, the Bellagio and Paris, each have 30 concierges. That's encouraging for us, as many of the major Strip hotels don't offer concierge service."

The SNHCA currently has about 60 members, who pay an annual $30 fee.

Musiol said major hotel-casinos offering V.I.P. or casino hosts in lieu of concierge service include New York-New York, Mandalay Bay, Mirage, Treasure Island and the Riviera; the MGM Grand hotel-casino only offers concierge service at its mansion properties.

The willingness of high profile, upscale hotel-casinos such as Bellagio and Paris to offer concierge services is simply an issue of supply and demand, said Musiol.

"By offering concierge services, those two new properties recognize that today's traveler to Las Vegas expects an exceptionally high level of service," said Musiol, a concierge at the Four Seasons Hotel. "Today's visitors not only know how to say and spell the word 'concierge,' but have come to expect our services at better quality hotels."

As editor of Key News*Las Vegas, Richard Becker said he expects the publication will tackle a wide array of hot button issues relating to the concierge business.

"We hope to look at several issues, ranging from ethics questions and protocol to how much to tip a good concierge," said Becker. "We also hope to include an interview with a working concierge in each issue. There's also been an influx of people who call themselves concierge, but aren't. We plan to write about issues like those that you likely won't see elsewhere."

Becker said he first encountered concierges while writing a freelance story about the industry for a local entertainment publication.

"I developed strong relationships with several SNHCA people," he said. "I've come to be quite familiar with the industry. Our (company's) role in this project is to oversee editorial content, while the people at the Idea Factory will take care of design, printing and advertising."

Initially, the publication will run eight pages and publish bi-monthly; Becker plans to print about 500 copies of the November issue.

Becker's Copywrite Ink. and the Idea Factory will share production costs. "There's no risk to the SNHCA as they're not funding the project," he said. Becker expects advertising revenue generated by the newsletter will increase over time.

"We're hoping to grow in size to at least 16 pages within six months," he said.

SNHCA's Musiol said these days Las Vegas concierges are kept busy trying to meet visitors' growing demand for several "hot tickets in town."

"Everybody wants to see 'O'," she said, referring to the successful show at the Bellagio hotel-casino. "Trying to keep up with the demand for those type of tickets is a big part of what we do. We hope this newsletter will help hotel executives realize just how important guest services such as those are to this industry."

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