Does a concierge service suit a house you only use a few weeks a year?
Yes, it is the very case it was designed for. An empty house never stops ageing: the garden grows, the pool clouds over, the pipes dry out and damp works on the walls, and nothing flags any of it to an owner living far away. So we visit the house at a rhythm agreed in advance, air it, switch the systems back on and read the meters. Every visit produces a written report, with dated photographs. This mission can be signed on its own, without any letting, and several owners entrust it to us first, while they decide whether to let, sell or simply keep the house in good order for themselves. The day you come, it is open, cool and ready: that is the only test we set ourselves, and it is the one you check as you walk through the door.
Read our article on maintaining a villa from abroad
How is discretion maintained day to day?
By written rules rather than by a promise. Keys are inventoried, at least two people on the team know each property, and every entry leaves a written trace: we know who came, when and why. Each provider receives what their task requires and nothing more, and you receive a dated, written report of each visit to the house. No photograph of the house is published without your agreement. The mandate says what we may commit, up to what spending limit, and what needs your decision; we sign nothing in your place, and we do not speak about you to neighbours or to platforms. Discretion lies in these details, not in a hushed tone: because they can be checked, an owner can hand us the access to their house without having to take our word for it.
Read our article on handing the keys to a concierge company
Who supervises the household staff when you live abroad?
A single point of contact on our side, who answers to you for the whole team. Caretaker, gardener, housekeeper, cook: each knows what to do, how often and who to report to, and instructions are written down rather than passed on by word of mouth, which is what gives a house its regularity. Whether the team is the one you already had or another, the framework is the same, and it rests on these instructions rather than on individuals. The report of each visit reaches you in writing, with dated photographs, and a spending ceiling agreed in the mandate decides what we commit without calling you. Beyond it, a quote is sent to you. You neither recruit nor settle a disagreement thousands of miles away: the decisions that are yours are set out in advance, with what they cost.
Can you let the house a few weeks a year without losing control of it?
Yes, as long as you decide what is let, and to whom. Your own weeks are blocked before a guest can take them, and the calendar opens only the dates you have chosen. Every enquiry is qualified before it is accepted: we turn away the group looking for a party house for one night, because a stay of that kind pays once and its consequences last a season. We work as co-host on your account, which stays in your name, with the listing, its history and its reviews: our departure would take nothing from the house. Each stay is prepared before arrival and checked at departure, and the monthly report matches stays, expenses and reviews. An occasional letting changes nothing about what you ask of us: that the house is looked after, and that it stays yours.
What services do you arrange for your stays and your guests?
The ones you ask for, with no catalogue imposed. The airport transfer with a driver waiting in the arrivals hall, the chef who comes to cook at the house, a guide for the medina or the Atlas, treatments at home, a reception: we organise, and you choose. We propose the providers suited to the request and to the dates of your stay, and you choose. These services are invoiced at the provider’s rate, with no margin or commission on our side, and are kept apart from the management of the house. What makes them tailor-made lies less in their number than in the person who answers: they know the house, your habits and the names of your guests, and a request made from abroad succeeds because someone already knows where the house is and who holds the key.
Do a riad in the medina and a villa in the Palmeraie need the same concierge service?
No, and the difference shows from the first visit. A villa in the Palmeraie lives by its garden, its pool and its caretaking: the outdoor areas age fastest, and regular upkeep costs less than repair. A riad in the medina lives by its surfaces and its access: tadelakt cannot take descaler, zellige cannot take steam, damp works on the walls, and an arrival is made on foot through a derb, with someone waiting at the end. The two call for different craftsmen, different visits and different instructions to the staff. The same team can look after both, but it does not look after them in the same way. That is why we do not offer a single flat package: we visit first, draw up the inventory, and then propose what the property needs, no more and no less.
Read our article on tadelakt and zellige in a riad
Is a luxury concierge service more expensive than an ordinary one?
Not as a matter of principle: what a concierge service costs follows the workload, not the adjective on its web page. What makes the figure vary lies in the house: its size, its garden, its pool, the number of visits it needs and the kind of surfaces to maintain. A prestige house often asks for more on those points, and that is where the quote differs, not in a markup on the same work. The real question is what the percentage measures: two offers showing the same rate can rest on different bases, before or after platform fees, with or without a fixed fee. We quote after a visit, line by line, and the expenses committed for the house are re-invoiced at their exact amount, with no margin on our side. Figures are published in one place only, on our pricing page.
Read our survey of what Marrakech concierge companies charge
