Taste of Prague Podcast, Ep 5 - Concierge Petr Zezula

When we started Taste of Prague food tours back in 2011, we had absolutely no prior experience with tourism. How it worked, how did the product get to the customer, who do you promote to, how to work with the individual stakeholders, who were the gatekeepers and the movers. But soon enough, having made friends in the industry and meeting and sharing experience with like-minded people who ran tours, too, one word started popping up quite a lot. The ultimate player in the industry. The guy sitting at the very top. The one and only. The capo di tutti capi. Petr Zezula, the managing concierge at the best hotel in town, the Prague Four Seasons, and the President of the Czech Chapter of Les Clefs d’Or organization.

But meeting Petr eye to eye, capo di tutti capo would probably be the last thing on your mind. He is friendly yet dignified, projects a sense of calm and is soft-spoken, and he’s a great listener with a keen and authentic interest in what you have to say. One would even say introverted. But just a few words into the conversation, and you’ll realize Petr is an incredible wealth of knowledge, the person who always knows what to, what the protocol is, and whom to call. And he has this sense of self-confidence that one assumes can only come from years of experience, while being open to new ideas he has not been confronted with.

And perhaps because he resigned from the position and left the Four Seasons a year ago for deeply personal reasons, we had the unique opportunity to talk to him and ask him about the role of the concierge, his own career, and what he misses and does not miss from his old job. We think this episode is a rare insight into the world of a high-ranking concierge and their world that, at times, seems to be rooted in the old, better days of 1960s Bond movie. (Without the sexism, obviously.)

Some of the topics we have discussed

- How is a concierge different from a front desk manager / receptionist in a hotel?

- What are the duties of a concierge?

- Why don’t all hotels have a concierge position?

- What was Petr’s route leading up to become the manager concierge at Prague’s Four Season hotel?

- Can a concierge ever say „no“ to a guest?

- Did he ever get starstruck as a concierge of the Prague’s hotel choice of the stars?

- If a concierge will do anything that is „legal and moral“, who, in today’s globalized world, decides what is moral?

- Are concierge standards in a big collection of hotels like the Four Seasons set up globally, or are local deviations permitted?

- How does being a member of Les Clefs d’Or help a concierge?

- Do concierges from different Prague hotels know each other personally? Do they ever meet?

- If a concierge is only as good as his or her contacts, how do you build your contacts?

- What have been the biggest changes in the world of the concierge in the past ten, fifteen years?

- How have the guests changed? Have the always-on apps and review sites made the concierge’s life easier, or more difficult? Have these apps threatened the very existence of the concierge position?

- Is a big hotel like the Four Seasons immune to the stress of dealing with negative online reviews from guests?

- What is the future for the concierge?