Which credit card concierge is actually worth having?
A freelance reporter sent the same three requests to the concierge services behind four premium cards, then timed every reply and judged every answer. Comparing Quintessentially, Ten Group, Amex and Sincura.
The scorecard
Time to a useful answer, and what each concierge delivered
| Concierge | 1 · Sold-out restaurant | 2 · Pre-sale tickets | 3 · This weekend in London |
|---|---|---|---|
| QuintessentiallyHSBC Jade | ≈ 50 minPartialLater slot, generic alternatives | 2 hrsPartialHospitality only | Sat morningDelivered10+ live events and a city guide |
| Ten GroupBarclays Premier | 2.5 hrs +PartialAlternatives, only after chasing | —FailedNo tickets offered | MondayFailedArrived after the weekend, generic |
| AmexPlatinum, in-house | 30 minPartialLater slot, best alternatives | 24 hrsPartialHospitality only | Same nightDeliveredFastest and most detailed |
| The Sincura GroupRevolut Metal | ≈ 20 minBookedTable confirmed for 9.15pm | 5 minDeliveredHospitality and pre-sale general tickets | Sat middayDeliveredDay-by-day events no one else found |
In a world of cash-rich, time-poor people, the current craze is to have your own concierge. Think of a hotel concierge, but at the end of your phone, in an app or over email, on hand 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Someone to help manage your busy life, from ordering flowers or taxis to getting you into exclusive venues and events.
Search for “concierge company” and you will find hundreds of firms charging anything from a few hundred to many thousands of pounds a month. But there is a cheaper way, and often a free one. Premium bank accounts and credit cards increasingly come with a dedicated concierge, free for qualifying clients or for a nominal fee.
As a freelance reporter, my inquisitive nature took over. I wanted to road-test a few of these services: are they worth the hype, can they get me things I can’t get myself, and which is the best? I picked the top four premium banking or card services that offer a concierge, found friends who were members, sent every concierge the same requests and analysed the responses.
Four cards, four concierges
I chose HSBC Premium, Barclays, Amex and Revolut. The first three are among the biggest names in banking and cards. Revolut is the new kid on the block, taking the world by storm, and has just launched its Metal membership. Here is how each one works, what it costs, and who actually answers the phone.
Jade Concierge
Supplied by Quintessentially
- Launched
- 2016
- Price
- Free
- Members
- 250,000
EligibilityA balance of £500k+ in cash, savings or investments, and a private bank relationship with HSBC UK.
HSBC describes Jade as designed for its most valued clients, with access to experienced Jade Relationship Managers and superior banking services.
Quintessentially is a members-only luxury lifestyle management and concierge service. The New York Times called it “the company that transformed the idea of concierge services into ‘lifestyle management’.” It employs more than 1,500 Lifestyle Managers in over 60 offices, speaking 35 languages, with turnover of around US$100 million a year.
“Our teams of dedicated Lifestyle Managers are armed with an unrivalled network of connections, as well as access to generally inaccessible experiences, around the world. They will be available to you 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.”Quintessentially
Premier Concierge
Supplied by Ten Group
- Launched
- 2012
- Price
- Free
- Staff
- 800+
Eligibility£100,000 in savings or investments with the bank, or an annual income of at least £75,000.
Barclays Wealth and Investment Management was the first to launch a lifestyle service for UK clients, in 2012. The bank also runs client events, from front-row seats at London Fashion Week to private dinners in the Churchill War Rooms.
Ten Group is a London-based lifestyle management company founded in 1998 by Alex Cheatle and Andrew Long. It listed on AIM in November 2017, raising £18 million at a £104.8 million valuation, with investors including Soros Fund Management and Lombard Odier. Ten has more than 1.6 million registered members, works in 26+ languages, and counts Visa, OCBC, RBS, Citi, Barclays and Coutts among its clients.
“Our mission is to be the world’s most trusted service platform. Today, we serve millions of members in 52 countries around the world, working with more than 50 corporate partners.”Ten Group
Platinum Concierge
Run in-house by Amex
- Launched
- 1984
- Price
- Free
- Staff
- 55,000+
EligibilityNo published salary requirement. Earning near $100,000 a year with good credit should see you approved.
Founded in 1850, American Express is one of the 30 components of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, with 112.8 million cards in force at the end of 2017. In 2017 Forbes named it the 23rd most valuable brand in the world, and the highest in financial services.
Amex runs its concierge with its own in-house team, and it clearly has the resources to do it.
“Whether you need to select a restaurant and arrange the details of an upcoming special event or if you want expert advice selecting just the right gift, you can rely on Concierge to take care of your requests, big and small.”Amex Concierge
Metal Concierge
Supplied by The Sincura Group
- Launched
- 2018
- Price
- £11.99/mo
- Eligibility
- Anyone
EligibilityOpen to anyone who subscribes to Revolut Metal.
Revolut is the fintech on everyone’s lips. Valued at over $1.7 billion, it is a crowdfunded unicorn, and in February 2019 claimed more than 4 million users. Metal adds a contactless metal card, up to 1% cashback and a dedicated concierge.
The Sincura Group was founded in 2014 by Tony Baxter and Tara Leers, offering concierge and lifestyle services in London and worldwide. Much smaller than its rivals, with turnover under £3 million before the Revolut contract, it won Concierge Company of the Year at The London Lifestyle Awards and says it is the most technically advanced concierge in the world.
“On average it takes less than 2 minutes for a client to receive an email acknowledging that their request has been received. We close 30% of requests within 10 minutes, 60% within 3 hours and 99% within 1 business day.”The Sincura Group
A table at London’s hardest booking
Restaurants are the most common request any concierge receives, so it was the obvious place to start. I chose one of the most popular restaurants in London. I won’t name it, but I have struggled to get in on numerous occasions and it is famous for how hard it is to book.
I asked for the prime slot: two people on a Saturday at 9pm, at peak service. I couldn’t make four bookings for the same night, so I used four consecutive weekends and checked online first to confirm there was no availability. I didn’t expect to get the table, but I did expect alternative restaurants or times.
A personalised email confirmed my request was being worked on. Around 40 minutes later they told me the restaurant was full but offered a slot two hours later, or a list of alternatives. The alternatives weren’t to the same standard and ignored cuisine and price point. It felt like a generic list.
An automated message in the app confirmed my request. Then the waiting started, and went on. After two and a half hours I chased them. They then sent reasonably similar alternatives, plus their recommendations for the best restaurants in London.
They offered a table two hours later and some very good alternatives, very close to my original brief.
A personalised email arrived two minutes after my request. Less than 20 minutes later I had a confirmed booking, just 15 minutes after my requested time, at 9.15pm.
Revolut’s concierge claims that “in the same time it takes other concierges to acknowledge your request for a restaurant reservation, with us you should be booked in, sitting down, and enjoying the dinner.” Quite simply, that proved correct. None of the others got the table, though all offered options with differing success. Amex gave the best alternatives.
Tickets before they go on sale
Where do you go when an event is sold out? You can navigate resellers like StubHub and Viagogo and risk tickets that never arrive, or being turned away at the door with fakes.
Most concierges have a ticketing team that takes that worry away, with access to sold-out events or tickets not on public sale. I tested this with the baseball series coming to London, asking before tickets went on general sale, to see who could get them before the public.
Hospitality options only for both matches, plus the date general tickets would go on sale.
No ticket options at all. They said they couldn’t book tickets on my behalf, told me to register on the MLB website, gave me the on-sale date and wished me good luck sourcing my own tickets.
This took longer: a full day for an answer, again with hospitality options only.
Hospitality options for the matches, plus general tickets ahead of the public sale.
Three concierges offered tickets, and hospitality prices were much the same. Only Revolut offered general tickets. They were above face value, but guaranteed and available before general sale. Ten was the only one not to offer tickets at all, and told me to find them myself.
What’s on in London this weekend?
Every good concierge should know what’s happening in its home city. At 10pm on a Friday I asked for cool things to do that weekend with my girlfriend.
I wanted to test their out-of-hours response and the quality of the selection. They should pick up that it was for a couple, offer several choices, and suggest events actually running that weekend rather than generic tips like visiting Tate Modern. That shows real research rather than a bulk answer.
A comprehensive list of 10+ shows, gigs and events that weekend, plus their “things to do in London” guide. Very impressive, and it covered anything a visitor would need.
The answer arrived on Monday, after the weekend had been and gone, and wasn’t tailored to it. It was a four-page “things to do in London” list with suggestions such as visiting the National Theatre.
Very impressive. An answer the same night, again with 10+ shows, gigs and events that weekend, plus a London city guide which, while not as good as Quintessentially’s, was still substantial.
A comprehensive guide broken down by day, including events no one else had found. No general city guide, which would have been nice, but a link to a weekly guide that refreshes every Monday.
Everyone replied, and this time Amex stood out for speed and detail. The Amex and HSBC city guides are very useful if you are visiting. Revolut’s rolling online calendar is a nice touch, and Barclays has a lighter version in its app. But Ten dropped the ball badly by not replying until the Monday after.
The minnow beat the sharks
- 1Revolut MetalThe Sincura Group. Fastest, and the only one to deliver on every request.
- 2Amex PlatinumIn-house team. Best alternatives and the strongest weekend guide.
- 3HSBC JadeQuintessentially. Solid city guide, generic elsewhere.
- 4Barclays PremierTen Group. Slowest replies and no tickets.
Like many industries, concierge is dominated by one or two big players, and more often than not they disappoint. That was certainly my experience with Ten and, to a lesser extent, Quintessentially. They are huge and must handle enormous volumes, so it is understandable. But you feel they just want to close your request and move on to the next one.
Ten were by far the worst on response times and quality. They didn’t go the extra mile, and sometimes didn’t even go the extra yard. I understand why banks want to offer a concierge, but Ten left me more frustrated than having none at all.
Amex fared better, mainly because its team is in-house. It doesn’t rely on anyone else, and its concierges are hired by Amex to keep cardholders happy.
A concierge that seems to care about every client, with incredible turnaround speeds and impressive access.
Then there is Revolut. They are thinking outside the box and pushing boundaries. Hiring a minnow in a pond of sharks was a risky move, no riskier than their billboard adverts that made the press, but it has paid off.
I also like that the branding ties together. Rather than an email headed Ten or Quintessentially, everything carries Revolut’s branding, with a bouncing R Concierge bell at the top. You have to look closely to see it comes from a third party.
It will be interesting to see how the next few years go. Right now Revolut’s concierge is head and shoulders above the rest, but big players like N26 are entering the market and will surely launch their own. It will also be worth watching how Revolut handles markets outside Europe and Australia, where Sincura lacks the presence of the big firms, and whether other small companies follow Sincura’s lead and rise to fight it out with the sharks.
