What exactly is a janitor?

Although more and more people are becoming familiar with the term “concierge”, very few know where this profession based on customer service originated. The word “concierge” comes from the French Count Descierges, the “keeper of the candlestick,” a term that referred to the servant who catered to the whims of visiting noblemen in medieval castles. Eventually, the name “concierge” came to mean the keeper of the keys in public buildings, especially hotels. There is even a famous prison in Paris called La Conciergerie, in honor of the warden who kept the keys and assigned cells to the inmates. “

The Merriam-Webster online dictionary offers this definition … French, from Old French, prob from (supposed) Vulgar Latin conservius, alteration from Latin conservus slave companion, from com + servus slave. 1 – A resident of an apartment building, especially in France, who works as a doorman, owner’s representative, and janitor. 2 – A generally multilingual hotel staff member who handles luggage and mail, makes reservations, and organizes tours

Finally, a client of mine from Mexico tells me that in his country, the word “concierge” means Concierge !!!

Regardless of origin, hotels around the world were the first to embrace the idea of ​​concierge and offer the service to their guests. Today, independent janitorial companies have brought this ancient service to the modern world so that now everyone has access to it.

So what exactly is a janitor? I think the short version here is that it is just another word for personal assistant.

The concierge industry itself is only in its 20s and began with a few brave pioneers who took the idea of ​​hotel concierge and decided to bring it to the corporate world. I’ve been in the field since 1998 and when I started there were maybe 50 or more janitors in the US Today it’s a multi-billion dollar industry with thousands of companies around the world.

Now you can find concierge everywhere … in hospitals, shopping malls, corporations, apartment buildings, office buildings, airports, universities, associations, churches and so on. I could sum up the state of the industry in two words … extraordinary growth.

We all do a balancing act every day, and since most of us don’t have a personal assistant to make phone calls and run errands for us, we try to squeeze them in on the weekend and at lunchtime during the week. week. In fact, many people feel that there are simply not enough hours in the day to get everything done. Right?

Well help has arrived!

The number of businesses serving time-hungry people is skyrocketing, as is customer demand for those businesses. Why? Easy. People are trying to compress 36 hours into a 24 hour day.

These are some of the services currently offered by the concierge throughout the country:

Search for tickets for concerts and special events

Transport services

Business referral service

Restaurant recommendations and reservations

Dry cleaning pick up / drop off

Grocery shopping

Pet Services

Elderly care

Modified House Session

Travel and vacation planning

Meeting and event planning

These are just a few of the many services a concierge can offer. The sky is the limit here! There are dozens and dozens of things you can do here.

Concierge services are also an excellent benefit for work and life, as corporations begin to offer these services to their employees and clients. Real estate management companies are setting up a lobby concierge and offering it to their apartment buildings, offices, and neighborhoods. Concierges are being added at hospitals, universities, shopping centers, airports, and more. Travel agencies, meeting planners, and real estate agents are adding them to their list of services. It is certainly the wave of the future.

The really great thing about this business is that there are so many sources of income that you can add to it!

Good luck!