Elite concierge offer Houston guests the ultimate hook-ups

Thursday, January 26, 2017
HOUSTON (KTRK) -- Whether you're looking for nightlife recommendations or a restaurant reservation, often the easiest way to get to know a city is with a few swipes on a phone app.

However, for the approximately million people who will be looking for the best Houston has over the ten day Super Bowl experience, it might take a little more than a Yelp recommendation or OpenTable reservation.

Well, that is unless you know Michelle Smith, Director of Concierge Services at the Four Seasons Hotel Houston. More importantly, she's a member of Les Clefs d'Or.

"It's an elite networking group where we can really open any door that you want opened because of who we know," said Smith of the society of concierges to which she belongs.

Smith is one of only seven Les Clefs d'Or members in Houston and just 17 in Texas, based at mostly four and five-star hotels. So long as you've booked a room, Smith can hook you up.

"The world is your oyster, whatever you ask of us, we will do," she said.

With Smith as the lead, she and her team have been preparing for the requests of the Super Bowl's crowd since Houston was announced in 2013 as host city for game 51.

If there were ever any questions of whether concierge were still relevant in an app-based world, here's just some of the requests Smith has fulfilled for her guests:

-Meet a Houston Texans player
-Go to a boxing class with a Dynamo player
-Meet a Houston Rockets player
-Get a private tour of the Menil art collection
-Arrange for a private dinner at the Cullen Hall of Gems at the Houston Museum of Natural Science
-Send private shoppers to Neiman Marcus to put together an ensemble for a night out or event
-Arrange for an exotic car rental, think Ferrari or even a DeLorean

Smith even has the way in to one of Super Bowl week's hottest parties by Maxim.

"I can give you the code," she said with a wink.

No request is too outlandish, like this one from a guest in town for the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo.

"Last year we actually had a guest come up to us, he drove in the front drive, he had his truck and his prize bull in the back and he needed to have a bath and he needed it immediately," recalled Smith. "So he said 'where can I wash my bull?' So we took him to the car wash."

Granting guests requests takes legwork. Like most Les Clefs d'Or members, Smith has made a career out of schmoozing those in-the-know, with 13 years experience in Houston specifically.

"I don't look at being a concierge as a job, it's more of a lifestyle," Smith said. "My team and I, there's not a night that goes by that we're not out there experiencing the city."

The end goal is making sure every guest gets the best out of H-town.

"All we want to do is create epic memories for our guests so they come back," said Smith.
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