Keys can let you in or keep you out
Tighter-lipped than a clam
Ireally don’t want to offend those of you who might be Roman Catholic, but if there is anything that rivals the sanctity of the confessional, it’s the refusal of the frontof-house staff at five-star hotels to speak about the shenanigans of their guests.
Yes, there are things that get past the gatekeepers of secrecy in the hospitality industry.
Quite a lot of people heard about a rather inebriated teenage pop star running amok with a golf cart in the garage of an elite establishment after a concert at Cape Town Stadium a few years ago, but the point is that the story leaked through guests rather than hotel employees.
And nobody can clam up like a hotel concierge … except, sometimes, when they get together, but even then there are rules: they are a tight-knit group and all might know who is subject of a disparaging story but names are never mentioned.
For a nosy journalist like me, this can be frustrating, but the hilarity of some of the tales is such that identities are often irrelevant.
No names, no pack drill, but there’s the story about the flashy young West African businessman who checked in with his glamorous but excessively temperamental girlfriend. Their stay, I’m told, oscillated from extreme luvvy duvvy-ness to vicious public squabbling.
One episode of the latter culminated in the young lady hurling a million rand “kiss and make up” engagement ring into the canal that flows through the Victoria & Alfred Waterfront.
Similarly, a woman who had married into a royal family flung a very expensive necklace into the sea at Oudekraal.
In both cases, the concierges at the hotels involved were requested to hire divers to recover the jewels. The salvage efforts were unsuccessful in both cases, but that, according to Nardus Buys,
Receiving my Golden Keys has been the high point of my career
was all in the line of work for the men and women regarded by the top hotels as their “go to” guys.
If you get to Cape Town and want dinner at The Test Kitchen (even though there’s a waiting list of six months), your concierge will make it happen. Tickets for a soldout concert? Piece of cake!
Efficiency and absolute discretion are the stock in trade skills for a concierge, says Buys, who sports a pair of cast golden keys with the motto Clefs d’Or on his uniform lapel. It’s the badge of what is perhaps the most exclusive tourism and hospitality organisation in the world … the SAS (Special Air Service) of the hotel industry.
Hotels regard having a Golden Keys member as a head concierge as possessing a Michelin star for guest services. The association publishes a register of its members so discerning tourists can make an informed decision about where to stay on their travels.
“Our motto is ‘service through
friendship’ and, in many cases, we remain in contact with guests after departure.”
Members of Les Clefs d’Or (Golden Keys) – the association was founded in 1929 in Paris – work together to help their guests. As such they wield considerable influence and many regard them as the mafia of the hotel world.
Membership is small. “We numbered about 6 000 worldwide before Covid, but that number has dropped to about 4 500,” says Buys, who is head concierge at the 12 Apostles in Cape Town.
“You cannot apply to join; you must be proposed and seconded by two other members. You then go through a validation process before a decision is made on your acceptance to the society.
“Receiving my Golden Keys has been the high point of my career.”
Buys received this recognition as concierge of the Hilton Hotel at Heathrow in London.
Membership is restricted to “active” concierges interacting personally (as opposed to virtually) with guests. “There used to be five of us in Cape Town but three lost their positions due to the pandemic and we had to take their keys away.”