What does a Personal Assistant or a Concierge do?

Are you still thinking about why you need a Personal Assistant? and most important, actually what is the difference between what a Concierge and a PA do?

Even the list of tasks of what a Personal Assistant or Concierge do is endless (as long as legal and ethical), here is a short-list to convince you.

For Alberta La Grup, the most important is that your PA will be devoted to assist to your individual needs and dreams. Your PA will handle your needs on a daily basis, attending not only your domestic concerns and family needs but also your personal experiences or interests based on a really personal interaction, absolute discretion, efficiency and exclusivity;  your PA will have the understanding and trust that add extraordinary value to your personal needs; by being proactive attitude your PA will know what to do, when to do it, and probably the most important, what not to do.

A good Concierge service is reactive and could help on a virtual basis; a concierge do not need a real knowledge of your lifestyle. A concierge service is not such as personal as a PA is, and because of this, concierge is a perfect service for solving problems when you are travelling and have no staff on hand.

However, either a concierge or a PA they share the same attitude of discretion and they treasure the same: an impressive agenda of contacts and experts, not only in their city but worldwide.

*This list is based on real examples.

Personal Assistance 

• Someone to whom you have enough confidence to keeping your house keys,alarm code
• Someone you would ask to open the door of your house, when you are not in the city, and send you any document from your desk.
• To hire or to fire domestic service, personal chef, a baby sitting
• Someone that could prepare the protocol for the domestic service and follow it up; To take care of your shoe-polish, your clothing, your socks to be folded as you like, your cushions to be placed in the sofa as you desire,
• A client asked us for an urgent notary to sign some documents related to some transactions of buying and selling stocks… it was a Friday, a bank holiday in the country… we found a notary and we managed to open the notary’s office so that our client could sign his documents without paying anything extra
• We sent some medical tests to a hospital in the USA by courier. Our client had travelled with their ill mother to visit a medical specialist, and it was very, very difficult to get an appointment. The appointment was at 10am. The tests were lost. Someone had received them at the hospital but they were unable to find them…. fortunately, after 3 hours on the phone calling  from thousands of kilometres away, and with a considerable time difference, we managed to find them at 5 in the morning… at 10am, when the visit to the doctor was…it was as though nothing had occurred.
• Someone who can bring Cinnamon rolls with pieces of dried fruit and almonds free, for your children’s breakfast
• Where to buy furniture and home-décor in current designs, inspired by Gaudí and Modernism.
• Someone who is able to bring you the passport that you lost and who can travel in a bank holiday to the place where you are enjoying several days off in north of Europe
• Your PA will call your doctor and will ask exactly what do you need to know about your health
• Someone available, anytime, 365 days a year

Concierge

• Where to find espadrilles made by hand with Japanese material
• An ecological dry cleaner or anyone specialized in haute couture dresses dry cleaning
• Repairing a suitcase, sharpening knives, a presser for your linen, your silk…
• A dentist at home- who speaks your language!
• Would you need a Thai massage specialist to come at home at 10pm?
• Where to get an authentic French manicure in chic style
• The best physiotherapy in Europe- Guaranteed!
• Is there a gastro-jeweller’s in the city
• Someone that will bring the best roses in the city for your wife
• Where to sip a café, in a florist
• Who will deliver breakfast at home with 100% organic products- including Vegan luxury cakes…
• Where to buy gourmet products from Finland, America, France, England, Italy, Russia…
• The best supermarket with organic produce, that is also a playing area for your children
• To recommend places to get lost in the city- without leaving it!
• The place in Barcelona in which you can enjoy a tea ceremony
• A visit to a gallery of Contemporary Jewellery
• Where to find a skate customization workshop in the city
• Having a coffee in an antique cod-fish store, transformed into a charm café
• A place where to enjoy a gin-tonic or a delicious cocktail, surrounded by safe boxes which only 10 years ago, were the vaults in a bank