I am ashamed to admit that I’ve had the Chase Sapphire Reserve for over three years
but have never used one of it’s listed benefits -- the concierge service.
It wasn’t until a few weeks ago that I got a chance to try it out and see how well it
works.
Hey, how's it going everyone?
It’s Ernest from Trip Astute.
In this video, I want to explore the concierge benefit found on several premium travel cards,
and how you might be able to use it during your travels and everyday life.
Whenever I heard about the concierge benefits, I always use to laugh and wonder who actually
uses the service.
I would hear stories of people using it to get restaurant or activity recommendations,
and it just seemed like an outdated service.
I mean, with apps like Yelp or Tripadvisor, do we really need help finding things to do
or places to eat?
So, I had a chance to use the concierge service on my Chase Sapphire Reserve a few weeks ago
and I have to say, I was impressed.
I didn’t ask the concierge to recommend anything to me.
Instead, I was trying to get an earlier dinner reservation for a special occasion, and the
only options were 5:30 PM or 9 PM.
I made the reservation for 9 PM on OpenTable but then tried calling the restaurant to see
if they could accommodate us for a time closer to 7 PM.
They said that all their tables were booked and that there were no available tables other
than what’s shown on OpenTable.
I was going to try to find another place, but then I an idea … why not try Visa Infinite
Concierge service on my Chase Sapphire Reserve.
So I called the Sapphire Reserve customer service line, and they transferred me to the
Visa Infinite Concierge.
And I thought I would share my experience.
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One to thing to keep in mind is that the concierge services for non-American Express cards is
handled by either Visa or Mastercard, and not the issuer.
The Chase rep transferred me over to the Visa Infinite concierge, and I was on hold for
less than a minute.
After speaking to the rep at the Visa Infinite concierge and providing all the details of
what I was looking to do, they told me that they would follow-up within a few hours.
However, within 30 minutes of me calling them, I received an email confirming that my reservation
had been changed and that I was now booked for 7:15 pm instead.
It actually worked!
And it didn’t cost me anything extra.
Needless to say, the whole experience got me thinking about concierge services and how
I might be able to use them in the future.
To start off, there are many cards that offer concierge services.
The most popular ones are those found on premium travel cards like the American Express Platinum,
Chase Sapphire Reserve, Citi Prestige, US Bank Altitude Reserve, and Barclaycard Arrival
Plus.
Though you don’t have to have an American Express Platinum, Visa Infinite, or Mastercard
Elite card to get concierge services.
In fact, when I was researching this topic, I found that even most Visa Signature cards
have access to concierge services.
So, for example, if you have a Chase Sapphire Preferred, you should have this benefit as
well.
In terms of the differences between the Visa Infinite and Visa Signature concierge services,
I wasn’t able to get a straight answer when researching it.
I called Visa and was told that the Visa Infinite program has a more premium concierge service,
but when pressed on what that means, I didn’t get a concrete answer.
I even called the Visa Signature concierge desk, and it seemed absolutely the same as
the Visa Inifitinite line.
My guess is that the service is actually the same, but perhaps Visa Infinite customers
get priority handling over Visa Signature customers if there are two similar requests.
I imagine it’s the same with the World Mastercard vs World Mastercard Elite concierge service.
Though if you all have any additional data points, please let me know.
If you look online, you’ll see that people have mixed results when it comes to using
a concierge service.
I think it depends on your expectations and the type of request.
For example, getting a reservation on a Saturday night in a popular restaurant seems like a
reasonable concierge request.
Whereas, getting last-minute tickets to a sold-out event is going to be a more difficult
task, especially if you’re not willing to pay a premium price for the tickets.
I think the key is having low expectations so you’re pleasantly surprised if they are
able to deliver.
The type of requests that you ask the concierge ranges from basic recommendations and research
to more complex and challenging tasks.
However, I think there are valuable ways to use the service.
So let’s review specific situations and scenarios where using your card’s concierge
service can help you, not just in your daily life, but even when traveling.
This isn’t meant to be an exhaustive list, but more ways that I’m planning to use the
service the next time I am away from home.
1.
Getting dinner reservations: We’ve often struggled with getting a dinner reservation
when traveling.
This has always been the case whenever we’ve been to Sedona, Arizona.
It seems the restaurants in the area get booked up quickly unless you plan way in advance.
Seeing if the concierge can negotiate a reservation at a popular location is something I may try
in the future, especially if I haven’t had a chance to plan ahead.
Also, we’ve had situations where we struggled to make an appointment at a local restaurant
due to language barriers when traveling.
I think that using a concierge service for this situation would be extremely helpful
since they can link to representatives that speak the local language.
For example, this happened to us in a small town near Lake Como, Italy.
Luckily, we were able to ask our Airbnb host to help out, but in the event that there isn’t
anyone to help, your card’s concierge can be extremely useful.
2.
Getting event tickets and bookings: This is an obvious use of the concierge service.
However, I think it’s one that I may try in the future.
If you’re visiting a city like New York or Las Vegas, seeing a show can be a very
popular thing to do.
Though getting tickets to popular shows can be tough, and trying to find secondary market
tickets can be a pain.
So I’ll definitely be using this service in the future, especially if we’ve decided
to take a last-minute trip somewhere.
3.
Making appointments: A few years ago, I was traveling for work and did a CrossFit workout
in one morning.
Yeah, I used to be a crazy crossfitter … don’t judge me!
I ended up straining my back in the workout, and by the time I left the gym, I was barely
able to walk.
I ended up getting a last-minute massage therapy session to loosen up my back.
However, had I been in a foreign country, I might have struggled to book a therapist.
That’s where a concierge service can really help out.
Another situation where I wished I had used my concierge service was when I was traveling
in Costa Rica and asked my hotel to arrange transportation to the airport.
I was surprised when the hotel quoted me a price that was double the rate that I expected.
I ended up researching online and finding a few tour operators that offered shuttle
services to the airport for the price that I expected.
Though it took a while, and in retrospect, it would have been smarter to ask a concierge
service to book the transportation within a specific price.
So whether it’s booking a chiropractor appointment, private transport to the airport, or even
a haircut, it’s worth leaning on a concierge service, especially if you don’t have access
to one in your hotel or if there are any language barriers.
4.
Locating difficult items: Maybe you’re looking for something specific to purchase, but don’t
want to have to call every store in the area to see if they have it.
This is a perfect task to outsource to your concierge service.
You can even ask them to get the prices for each store so you can make a decision on which
ones to check out first.
5.
General location information and requests when you’re not staying at a hotel: Most
of us are probably used to using the concierge or front desk when traveling.
Though since Airbnbs are getting more popular, it can be tough since you often lose the convenience
of having a staff that can help you guide you in the area unless your host happens to
be present.
In this type of situation, I think using your card’s concierge service makes a lot of
sense, especially if it can save you time and effort for basic requests.
In summary, I would avoid using the concierge service for tasks that can easily be performed
by you, like looking up restaurants or things to do in the area.
Basically, anything that I can easily do on my own through a Google search or through
an app is probably not worth engaging the concierge team.
However, for more difficult tasks where there may be language barriers or just a shortage
of time and space, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask your credit card’s concierge for help.
And if it lets you spend more time enjoying your trip than worrying about the logistics,
then it’s invaluable.
Have you tried using your credit card’s concierge?
If so, what has been your experience?
Let me know in the comment section below.
I’m curious to hear whether you all are using this benefit.
If you’re interested in applying for a card with concierge service, or any other card
for that matter, we would love it if you used our link in the video description or on our
website.
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