Not Your Dad's Concierge
Before a recent trip to New York City, I logged on to Yahoo's Trip Planner to see what cool venues other travelers had recently uncovered. The service, which went fully live a few weeks ago, allows you, among other things, to view the itineraries other travelers have taken to your destination.
A trove of tips came tumbling at me, including one for the Paris Theater, an excellent venue for vintage films on West 58th Street, and for Gobo, a fine vegan restaurant with locations on the Upper West Side and in the West Village. I got a few other suggestions from Tripadvisor.com. And for restaurant tips I turned to chowhound.com
In all, I collected enough new ideas to keep me busy for weeks. But the process of gathering material from online resources made me wonder: Are hotel concierges outmoded?
Mind, you, concierges have come through for me in the past, big time. In Zurich, the concierge at the Baur Au Lac got me a ticket to the Opera Ball, where I rubbed shoulders with Tina Turner. More recently, the concierge at Base2Stay in London helped me figure a quick and cheap way to get to Heathrow Airport. But if you do the right planning, are they really needed?
Anyone have tales of when a concierge came to the rescue? Or of how an online information service provided an unusally great insider tip?
By Gary Lee |
February 21, 2007; 10:04 AM ET
| Category:
Gary Lee
,
Hotels
Previous: Update: The Latest From JetBlue |
Next: Wednesday Deals!
View or post comments
Posted by: hemisphire | February 21, 2007 12:50 PM
No matter how carefully I've planned out a trip, it's still nice to have someone who can tell me how to get to that great destination I found on the internet. I mean, maybe the bellhop can perform the same function, but so far, I've definitely found the concierge useful for not getting lost.
Posted by: Julia | February 21, 2007 1:49 PM
PLEASE VISIT MY WEBSITE ON TRAVEL...
YTB.COM/3804TRAVEL
YTBTRAVEL.COM/3804TRAVEL
YOU MY REACH ME @sgiles7700@aol.com or
301-890-9180 240-460-0975
Please give me feedback.
Posted by: Sandy Giles | February 21, 2007 6:03 PM
Sandy: Your comment seems only vaguely related to the blog item if at all. Or were you trying to get free advertising for your site?
Posted by: Gary | February 21, 2007 6:38 PM
The comments to this entry are closed.
Concierges were invaluable in Barcelona and Paris at making restaurant reservations for me. That said, I go nowhere now without checking tripadvisor.com for hints (although when properties get rated the worst and the best by different people, I go with my gut).