Customers can contact Quintessentially's travel specialists to find to book their next trip (Photo: Quintessentially)
Genies are hard to come by but fortunately you don’t need to search for magic lamps to have your every wish fulfilled. For an annual membership fee, luxury lifestyle management service Quintessentially Malaysia will tap its global concierge network to do everything, from organising experiences to handling emergencies around the world, on your behalf.
Illegal and immoral demands aside, there is no limit to requests. Quintessentially, founded in London a decade ago and since introduced in over 60 cities, makes the impossible possible, taking care of everything, from planning a dream wedding and curating a wine cellar or art collection to finding your perfect home or securing your child a prestigious education.
Pulling the strings you do not have the time or reach to pull is a global team of 1,500 lifestyle managers. “Members are assigned a local dedicated lifestyle manager when they sign up and over an in-depth initial conversation and engagements that follow, we build a comprehensive profile about their needs, interests and preferences,” says Quintessentially Malaysia general manager Mak Yuen Joon. “It’s tailored to be always relevant to you. We know which seats you prefer at sports matches or the theatre or flights, and if you’d like access to invite-only fashion shows or exclusive products or experiences. You only have to mention once that you’re vegetarian and we’ll arrange appropriate dining reservations for you anytime you travel anywhere.”
Collaborating with counterparts on other continents distinguishes Quintessentially from its peers. “Our Russian team helped us organise tickets and five-star accommodation for members during World Cup 2018 when accommodation was in short supply,” Mak elaborates. “Our global partners facilitate requests that might otherwise be tough to coordinate without knowledge of local customs, culture or language. We empower you or your PA — if something needs to be done in Paris and language proves to be a barrier, for instance, our French office steps in.”
Quintessentially Malaysia director Teoh Wei-Xiang experienced the service’s ability first-hand and was immediately convinced of its viability in Malaysia. A friend, Niro Cooke, owns the Sri Lankan and Maldivian franchises and lent a helping hand when Teoh realised he had forgotten to make reservations for his girlfriend’s birthday at an exclusive restaurant in Bangkok with a month-long waiting list.
“It always starts with a problem, doesn’t it?” laughs Teoh, a serial entrepreneur and non-executive director of fintech company MoneyMatch. He would go on to invest in the Malaysian chapter with Cooke and partners Ta Wee Dher and Benjamin Bong. “High net-worth individuals are great at managing their business needs but are time-poor and lack discipline in lifestyle management; personal things are often tackled only at the last minute. I travel several times a month and am very particular about certain things — when conducting business lunches or dinners, for instance, I need to arrive at a restaurant early to work out seating arrangements. Quintessentially takes all of that off my hands now.
“This is the value of what we do; we understand the needs of our members and complement their lifestyle with a personalised — and this is the key word — experience,” he continues. “I have multiple credit cards and plans that provide access to things like airport lounges and concierge services but while they are excellent at what they do, I always felt like I had to go through a call centre. We put a human voice and touch to problem-solving. As a venture capitalist, I’m also always looking for sustainable investments. We realised the high-net-worth individual segment is not one to be easily disrupted by technology. It facilitates the experience, sure, but it comes down to people at the end, and our lifestyle managers are our best assets.”
Training is rigorous and centralised with lifestyle managers often having a background in hospitality while barriers to entry are similarly high for interested investors to ensure the smooth running of operations and upholding of international standards of service across regions. Client profiles are treated with strict confidentiality and an after-hours support team means clients can relay requests 24/7 even after their dedicated lifestyle manager is off the clock.
It is not all pleasure and everyday practicalities either. Teoh relates an incident in another market in which Quintessentially facilitated the hiring of a helicopter to bring a member’s son home for emergency treatment when he was diagnosed with chlorine poisoning.
“We have requests we call gems, big demands that border on the impossible,” he says. “But we have a never-say-no attitude and when we cannot accomplish something, we have alternatives ready. Globally, one of these is wanting a giraffe at a party; laws on exotic animals meant the giraffe couldn’t travel, so the team brought the party to the giraffes instead, organising it at a zoo, I think. We keep it as real as possible by grounding expectations.”
At home, a client wanted to find 30 bottles of 25-year-old Macallan in a short time. There was a limited number available here, so Quintessentially Malaysia reached out to its regional partners, found the requested volume in Singapore and worked out the options for logistics, taking into account Customs and transport.
On another occasion, it arranged for a client’s mother to handpick bird’s nests in Sarawak as a birthday treat and for a business event, it successfully secured two bottles of Hardy Noces Dor, a 50-year-old grand champagne cognac, within an hour.
“You can trust us to explore all possible avenues in meeting your needs,” says Mak, who was an associate account director at Ogilvy & Mather Hong Kong. “A great working relationship boils down to trust, which we encourage with our professionalism and reliability. But more than that, we genuinely enjoy what we do. We recently worked with the Parisian team to orchestrate a member’s pre-wedding photo shoot and they did an excellent job, securing a hotel suite with a view of the Eiffel Tower, and ornate locations with a great wedding photographer. The pictures were beautiful, which was very rewarding.”
Quintessentially Malaysia is just a year old and currently operates on a single-tier membership system. Clients are largely aged between 30 and 50 and range from old moneyed families to entrepreneurs who recently acquired wealth.
“Their needs vary according to demographics, of course, and we’re happy to take on anything thrown at us,” says Teoh. “Getting something exclusive or difficult done always comes down to who you know. Your personal network might not be wide enough and even then, there are only so many times you can call in a favour. There are no obligations or complications with us. We’re discreet, efficient and proactive, allowing you to fully concentrate on things that demand your attention while we take care of the rest.”
This article first appeared on Nov 5, 2018 in The Edge Malaysia.
