The Lifestyle with American Express
For one afternoon in September, a select group of lifestyle journalists got to experience the lifestyle with American Express — a world of white-glove service and access to luxury experiences through the Platinum Concierge Service.
BDO senior VP and Consumer Lending Group marketing head Ma. Nannette R. Regala welcomed us to Edsa Shangri-La Hotel’s Chi Spa to begin our experience of the Platinum Concierge Service — a service available to American Express Platinum Credit Card, The Platinum Card®, and the Cathay Pacific American Express® Elite Credit Card Cardmembers.
Our taste of this lifestyle started with a limousine pick-up from our homes or offices and we were taken to Edsa Shangri-La Hotel’s Chi Spa, an unbelievably quiet space of relaxation and wellness. Being inside the spa, you forget that you are actually in the middle of the very busy Ortigas central business district. The gardens are lush, the massage rooms are well-appointed, and the hushed atmosphere reflects the five-star Shangri-La signature.
There are spas and then there is the Chi Spa, a place that embraces a holistic approach to physical and spiritual well being with an extensive treatment menu that combines traditional Chinese and western massages. It has private massage rooms and steam rooms with spacious dressing rooms, soft music and relaxing scents.
After light snacks and a wellness session with Chi Spa’s experts, who taught us ways to improve our health and short tricks we could steal from our busy everyday schedules, we were led to the massage rooms where we chose from several kinds of body scrubs and massage treatments. I picked oatmeal body scrub (which smelled both heavenly and yummy) and a deep-tissue massage using virgin coconut oil.
With every stroke of the masseuse’s hands on my back, the stresses of the day — of the month even! — just melted away. It was relaxing, it was sleep-inducing, it was as if deadlines didn’t exist in my world.
From Edsa Shangri-La, we were whisked to the new Marco Polo Hotel, also in Ortigas Center. The hotel’s VU’s Bar has amazing views of what seems like the whole of Metro Manila. With great cocktails and food, we sat down in comfortable club chairs with the American Express teams from BDO and the American Express office in Singapore to talk about the Platinum Lifestyle.
American Express International Inc., Partner Card Services VP for Business Development, Bank Partners Sanjiv Malhotra says that what we experienced that afternoon is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Platinum Concierge Service offers.
“Restaurant reservations, concert tickets, limousine booking, and worldwide flower deliveries are the services that most of our Platinum Cardmembers avail themselves of, but there is so much more,” Sanjiv says. “For instance, you want to watch the F1 in Singapore and tickets are sold out, you can call our concierge service, and they will scout alternative ticket sources for you. Our concierge service has a global network that works together to make things happen.”
And these services are not limited to the Cardmember’s home country or where the card is issued. BDO senior vice president Ma. Nannette R. Regala relates a personal experience she had with the concierge service. “Restaurants are a particular reason for people to call. I did it abroad when my whole family was traveling to Hong Kong and they expected me to make the reservations — me, who works 10 hours a day!” she says with a laugh. “My dad made a special request that we have a meal at Spring Deer restaurant in Hong Kong. So before we left Manila, I called up our Platinum Concierge Service and asked them to make a reservation for 14 people. All the information I provided was Spring Deer restaurant on Moody Road in Kowloon and they were able to make a reservation for us. So when we got to Hong Kong, my dad — being old school he was a little skeptical — asked our hotel concierge to check if we did have a reservation at Spring Deer. Of course we did! He was very impressed.”
Cardmembers are so used to calling up the concierge service that they ask for help not just booking a place, but even planning important life events. One such local customer asked the concierge to help plan his wedding proposal — and they did!
“One amazing story that I cannot forget,” says Sanjiv, “was about an Asian girl who was taking up her master’s degree in London and her mother was in Hong Kong. During their children’s exam days, traditional Chinese parents give very nourishing food to their children. Apparently for this family it was double-boiled chicken soup made in a particular way. The mother is in Hong Kong and she called the concierge and said she wanted to get her daughter some double-boiled chicken soup — in London! Our concierge service managed to find a restaurant in London and had it delivered to the daughter.”
Another story that typifies the vast network that is utilized is when a Filipino Platinum Cardmember made a request to search for a certain mobile phone model that was no longer available here. “Our concierge service found a unit in Sydney, Australia, and made arrangements to purchase it and have it delivered to Manila.”
What about an Hermes Birkin bag where the waiting list is legendary? Yes, it has happened and they did get it for an American Express Cardmember. A Michelin-star restaurant that’s booked solid for the short time you’re in that city? That has happened too — a table for two suddenly materialized for their American Express Platinum Credit Card Cardmember. The Platinum Concierge Service will find all possible options to provide whatever a Cardmember requests, whenever possible.
Of course, the Cardmember pays for the bookings and related costs using their American Express Cards — like courier and cost of the product or meal or concert — but the service itself is free of charge.
These are things people can do for themselves but given that they are American Express Platinum Credit Card Cardmembers, the assumption is that they are very busy people or just can’t be bothered to do it.
“The experience of dealing with our Platinum Concierge Service is very different. These are highly trained people who know how to deal with the top level. The network of American Express is amazing. They are used to dealing with unique requests and they find a way. If the information is available, we tell you. If it’s not readily available, we will still call you back.”
In cases of emergency, the concierge service can play a crucial role too. “Lawyers and doctors, these are people that you hope you won’t need when you’re abroad,” says Sanjiv. “These are things that are not easy to prepare for on your own, but our Global Assist can help you because they have contacts in all the countries.”
Nannette says that one local Cardmember was abroad when he got sick in his hotel room. He called up the concierge service who found a doctor in that country and sent him to his room.
Speaking of emergencies, the biggest differentiation for American Express is its ability — and initiative — to look after its Cardmembers who may be caught in the middle of a disaster, whether natural or manmade.
Sanjiv says, “American Express is very unique, we have just one network, all transactions flow through our network, so we can identify transactions that were made in the last two to three days in an area where there could be a disaster and check if our Cardmembers are still there. Our Cardmembers come from all over the world. Like for the typhoon in Tacloban last year, let’s say an Australian Cardmember used his card yesterday and today the typhoon struck in the Philippines. We call Australia who would then contact the Cardmember to check if they need assistance.”
In a world of luxury travels, Michelin-star restaurants and fabulous vacations, it’s still the human touch of the Platinum Concierge Service that makes its Platinum lifestyle unique.
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The Platinum Concierge Service is available to American Express Platinum Credit Card, The Platinum Card, and the Cathay Pacific American Express Elite Credit Card.
