Last-minute private planes, a wedding in a day and a birthday present that made a man cry. Photo / Getty Images
An occasional series profiling New Zealanders who have lived lives less ordinary yet largely unknown.
A wedding in a day, a private plane, a month-long stay to recover from surgery, a last-minute booking at a top international restaurant: for some, money is no issue. It's about the "priceless" delight of having the impossible made possible.
In New Zealand, there is arguably no one who knows this to be truer than a man named Gustavo Concha, the Hilton Auckland's chief concierge for 21 years.
Speaking to the Herald from the hotel's serene setting, that ship-like structure moored at the tip of Auckland's Princes Wharf, Chilean-born Concha recalls a special date in his two-decade tenure: May 5, 2005.
"We had a guest arrive on the 4th from Canada. They came to the desk around 7.30 in the morning and they said, 'We've got a special request. We would like to get married - tomorrow'."
Concha doesn't flinch. He smiles and tells them, "Leave it with me. Let me see what I can do".
A man of many contacts, Concha arranges a celebrant, a dress, a tuxedo. And for wedding bands: a tattoo artist.
"They didn't want rings, they wanted to have tattoos. So that was done on the morning before the wedding."
In the afternoon, Concha and his team set up the terrace of the Hilton's fine dining restaurant, FISH.
"We had the entire house-keeping department as part of the wedding. I was one of the witnesses, my general manager was the other witness and we got it done," says Concha, who was personally invited to the couple's "official wedding" years later, though he was unable to attend.
Concha, 52, arrived in New Zealand on the B.E. Esmeralda, a Navy training ship from Chile, in 1989. Docking at the same spot where the Hilton Auckland now stands, Concha fell in love with New Zealand and decided to stay. Initially studying engineering, a chance encounter with a hotel guest looking for a translator sparked a change of tack.
"Basically that was my opening and I said, 'I'd love to work in hotels. So since 1996 I've been involved in concierge work. Then in 2001 I joined the Hilton Auckland as their chief concierge.
"I love helping people. It's priceless," he says, the delight evident in his voice. "Especially when you see someone happy. It may sound cliche but it's true. Every day it's like a newspaper: you know how many pages a newspaper will have. I know how many hours I'll work, but I don't know what's going to happen."
Cases in point: The man who decided on the last day of the 2003 America's Cup that he'd quite like to watch the final race from the air.
"Of course, all the helicopters for Helitranz and Helilink were in use. So I managed to get a company in Hamilton to fly to Auckland and they were happy to take our guest."
"Sometimes," says Concha, "We need to think outside the square."
Then there was the couple from Miami who wanted to see New Zealand in the space of five days.
"I said to them, 'It's possible. But it would be ideal if you flew in a private plane'. They said, 'Get me a private plane'. I said, 'No problem'."
While most people wouldn't have a private plane or pilot to drop a last-minute request to, Concha isn't like most people.
"In previous years I'd worked with a gentleman who was one of my senior porters. And he was studying to become a pilot. So, I called him and said, 'Have you got your licence?' He said, 'Yes, I have'.
"So he came to the hotel wearing his pilot's uniform with a big map of the whole of New Zealand."
From here Concha's guests were flown to " ... Huka Lodge, then to Wellington, then Blenheim and from there they flew to Azur Lodge in Queenstown, where they were well looked after by another New Zealand Les Clefs d'Or Concierge," he says of the international association of hotel concierges.
"So they managed to see the country in five days, just because we got a private plane for them. It was a lot cheaper than a helicopter, I must say.
"For a high percentage of our clientele, money's not an issue. It's about delivering."
And "delivering" can look very different, depending on the guest.
There was the man who was reduced to tears when Concha arranged and delivered a bouquet of birthday flowers to his room on behalf of his mother.
And the man who underwent a medical treatment in Auckland and wanted to convalesce at the Hilton, rather than stay on at a hospital.
"He was a special guest who had stayed with us quite regularly for about 20 years. I knew which was his favourite room so we set it up pretty much as a hospital room for him, so he could stay with us ... It was a wonderful experience. He stayed about a month."
While Concha works with guests from all over the world, he is extremely well-travelled himself and has become known among fellow concierges as "Mr Hilton, New Zealand", representing the country at the Les Clefs d'Or International Congresses.
It's a network that has served him well, especially when he's been presented with "impossible" requests.
"I had a guest who was going to San Francisco and he wanted to dine at The French Laundry," he says of the three-starred Michelin restaurant with a six-month waiting list.
"In 2006 I met a concierge from the Grand Hyatt so I reached out to her and said, 'This is the situation, is there any way you can help me?' She said, 'Of course I can, my husband works there.' So I got a reservation at 8pm on Saturday.
"He couldn't believe it," says Concha, recalling his guest's stunned reaction.
"This is all about the network you have. Especially we concierges, it doesn't matter which hotel you work at. It's all about helping people. Even in New Zealand, we have a very strong and united membership because you know what we've been through the past two-and-a-half years."
And while the pandemic has been the hardest period in all his time as a concierge, Concha foresees a boom on the horizon.
"I've been talking to international concierges and many people want to come to this part of the world. They've been stuck in America for two-and-a-half years. And then you have people in Europe who can't wait to get out. And in the winter time, and especially what's going on with the war ... so New Zealand and Australia, we're going to be very busy. I tell everyone to get ready – it's coming."
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