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WHIMS OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS
The "world’s best concierge," at the Four Seasons New York, keeps the jet set happy and pampered. We spent 24 hours behind the scenes watching how she does it.

Text: MANON CHEVALIER

1 | 2 | OCT 03

7:30 A.M. Josephine Danielson opens the hotel’s front door. You’d never know she spent the previous day in a limo with her team, scouting out Manhattan for new restaurants, bars and other trendy spots to recommend to her jet-setting clientele. Or that she got home in the wee hours with a not-so-wee headache, her Filofax overflowing with business cards from the city’s entertainment elite. Briskly working the lobby in her black pantsuit, adorned with a pin depicting les clefs d’or (crossed gold keys, the universal symbol of her trade), Josephine greets everyone she meets. "It’s like Hollywood here – it’s always showtime!"

8 A.M. "Good morning, everyone! Anything special on the agenda?" Josephine asks as she arrives at the concierge desk, with its commanding view of the hotel lobby. The monumental I.M. Pei-designed space is imposing: onyx ceiling, limestone columns, pale wood walls and ivory marble floor. Josephine excuses herself to attend an early briefing to review the day’s schedule: notable guests, special events, unforeseen requests. Kenneth Abisror, the assistant chef concierge, is already hard at work, advising a guest on where to walk in Central Park. The guest’s chihuahua, Zouzou, is decked out like a rock star.

9:15 A.M. Josephine returns to the concierge’s desk. The telephone won’t stop ringing. Limousine reservations – among the more than 100 the staff will make in a typical day – are flooding in. Wall Street traders will do anything for a lunch reservation at L’Impero or Craft. An Australian couple begs for a pair of tickets to that night’s performance of the Broadway smash Hairspray. Mission accomplished? "Most of the time. We have our little secrets," Josephine replies. And guests with the means to fork over up to US$3,000 for a one-night stay in one of the hotel’s suites with all the deluxe service that entails.

11 A.M. Josephine hands out Listerine breath-freshening strips to her team of concierges and grooms; no detail escapes her scrutiny. "God is in the details!" she declares. "I had Spanish parents, and that’s how I was raised: Never leave anything to chance; be a good listener; and, most important of all, treat people kindly. Excuse me," she says, turning to speak to a guest. "Good day, sir. How may I help you?" Before her is a young Japanese man, clad in Vuitton and clearly preoccupied. "My girlfriend is over at Saks, not suspecting a thing," he whispers. "I want to ask her to marry me. In a horse-drawn carriage. Can you arrange that? I’d like white flowers, fur blankets and the Céline Dion CD with the theme song from Titanic." Josephine replies, "Consider it done. Would you like the instrumental version as well?"

11:30 A.M. A woman is on the verge of a nervous breakdown, frantic about a package she’s supposed to have received. "Do something!" she cries. Josephine defuses the situation, and the woman departs, reassured. "You learn pretty quickly how to keep guests’ tantrums from backfiring on you. Otherwise, you don’t last long," she explains. She’s barely five-foot-three, but Josephine commands respect. She seems to know everything there is to know about everything and everybody. She has probably saved the occasional couple’s marriage – and maybe even a career or two.

1 | 2 | OCT 03