Pioneer concierge celebrates 25 years

October 17, 2007 By SANDY THORN CLARK

Back in the ‘70s when Olga Pierce was fulfilling the ego-driven requests of celebrities including Pavarotti, Sophia Loren, Rex Harrison, Paul Newman, Robert De Niro, Robert Redford and Patrick Swayze, she didn’t envision turning her skills as a concierge at the now-defunct Whitehall Hotel & Club into a successful business.

Now, the founder of Concierge Unlimited International, with offices in the Opera House in the West Loop, is celebrating her 25th year as president of the 50-employee firm that provides independent concierge services in the private, corporate and residential sectors.

Fostering unique relationships and performing good deeds are key elements to CUI’s success, says Pierce, enjoying a breakfast of poached eggs and an English muffin in Zest, the second-floor restaurant in the Mag Mile’s Intercontinental Hotel.

A pioneer in the concierge industry, Pierce launched her concept - the first in the world - following the 1982 closing of the exclusive, members-only Whitehall. At the insistence of her faithful clients, she continued her role as problem-solver extraordinaire with a private client base that included executives from USG, Storck USA, Standard Oil (now BP America), Donahue & Associates, Frain, Camins & Schwartzchild, John Phipps & Associates, and Smith Barney. Olga Pierce Corporate real estate accounts with Fifield Companies and Bennett & Kahnweiler followed.

By 1989, Pierce placed the world’s first corporate concierge at the Time-Life Building, with Time, Life, People and American Hydrotech among the clients.

CUI’s corporate client roster has grown to include AT&T, Baker & McKenzie, Boeing, Citicorp, Citadel, Clifford Law Offices, Energy BBDO, General Electric, JF McKinney & Associates, J.P. Morgan Chase, Leo Burnett, Marsh, Morton International, Prudential, The Private Bank, ROC Group, Seyfarth Shaw, Walton Street Capital, and William Blair.

Real estate clients include BentleyForbes, Broadway Partners, Cape Horn Group, CB Richard Ellis, Duke Realty, Golub & Company, Grubb & Ellis, Harbor Group International, The John Buck Company, Lincoln Property Company, MB Real Estate, Prime Group Realty Trust, Tishman Speyer, Transwestern, and Zeller Realty.

Today’s success is years removed from the time when Jacques Cousteau, wearing his signature turtleneck, refused to wear a tie required for seating in a Gold Coast hotel dining room and then-concierge Pierce, whose five languages include French, had to hastily mediate Cousteau’s book signing to an adjacent area. And it’s years removed from the time when Pierce was unable to get a listing for her business - begun in her two-bedroom condo - in the Yellow Pages. “Not only did Yellow Pages not have a ‘concierge’ category, but they didn’t even know how to spell it,” Pierce recollects, chuckling.

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Pierce says initial opposition to her concierge concept came from an unlikely source: “Resentment came from the executives’ administrative assistants. They would say, ‘I do reservations. I order flowers. I get tickets.’ They said they did all of the tasks I was proposing [for concierges to perform] over and above their job descriptions. Basically, they were saying, ‘I get my brownies and raises for what I do beyond my regular call of duty.’ But I kept pushing my concept.”

Her reputation reached new heights when she was able to secure a block of rooms in the sold-out Drake Hotel for Princess Diana’s last appearance in Chicago in 1996. After determining that the “top-secret” guest coming to Chicago was royalty, Pierce asked the Drake - the only hotel in Chicago approved by Buckingham Palace - for 35 rooms seven months in advance for a yet-to-be-identified guest and entourage saying, “Trust me. If you do this, you will have such fame.”

Pierce, who credits CUI’s “international highway of resources reacting to the speed of the moment” as her most valuable asset, says she is driven by the needs of her clients.

In the concierge business, timing is everything, the entrepreneur explains. To prove her point, she notes that CUI:

Arranged a softball game in fully-reserved Grant Park and an after-game party for 50 at Navy Pier’s Beer Garden one hour after the request.

Secured an emergency meeting space for 85 people and rented chairs and tables in 25 minutes.

Had 150 helium balloons ordered, printed with the company logo, inflated, tied and delivered first thing the next morning for a company party.

Located, purchased, and hand-delivered an extremely rare, first-edition book within two hours of the call.

Two days before a wedding, rescued a groom-to-be by locating and purchasing exquisite blue topaz earrings as something “blue” for his bride to wear.

Obtained a special-edition Chicago Cubs baseball hat and Ernie Banks-autographed baseball for a Singapore-based client in one hour.

Pierce, who lives on the Gold Coast, takes immense pleasure in providing whatever her clients request - whether it be purchasing 50 plastic flamingoes to strategically place along a pathway from an office building’s elevator to the birthday celebrant’s office or securing Santa Claus for a surprise visit to a last-minute luncheon board meeting.

“In our business, every client is a celebrity,” she states, embellishing on her philosophy. “And being told ‘no’ is unacceptable. We’re about finding a way.”

Just as Olga Pierce found a way for her concierge business to be listed in the Yellow Pages - long before googling and long before spellcheck.

For more information, visit www.conciergeunlimited.com.