How The First Concierge in the US is a Futurist - Tom Wolfe, Fairmont San Francisco

Josiah: 0:00

Tom Wolfe is one of the most fascinating people I've met in hospitality. Chief Concierge at the Fairmont San Francisco, he has a wealth of wisdom about how to provide remarkable hospitality and he's just hilarious to talk with. In this episode, you'll hear why he considers himself a futurist - and what he learned about providing hospitality from working at some of the best hotels around the world.

One thing before we get into this conversation. We ended up recording in the patio of the incredible penthouse at the Fairmont San Francisco, and while the sun and views were beautiful, we do have some nice San Francisco soundscape in the background. Do you hear a little cable car?

Tom: 0:58

Yes, you will. You will. This is the beautiful thing. Anybody who wants to come here and complain about the cable car noise and the bell ringing, these are the same people who will complain if we start playing America The Beautiful, okay?

Josiah: 1:12

Just can't make everybody happy. You just can't do it. So, that being said, I do hope you'll stick around because there's a lot that we can learn from Tom today. Here he is explaining why he sees himself as a futurist.

Tom: 1:24

I embrace everything that is new and exciting and his technology. I am still dying to take...that's not a good way to put it. I am still very anxious to take my first ride in a vehicle that has no driver.

Josiah: 1:39

Oh, one of the self-driving Cruise?

Tom: 1:42

Exactly I mean, could you ask for more?

Josiah: 1:45

It feels like we're living in the future, doesn't it?

Tom: 1:46

A driver that doesn't talk and I don't want no stinking artificial intelligence driver saying what's your sign?

Josiah: 1:54

It is funny...that is one of the unique parts of living in San Francisco. It feels like we have early access. It almost feels like we're living 10 years in the future

Tom: 2:07

We invented Uber for one thing. I mean because people say are Uber cars easy to get here? Yeah, we invented them here. Right, you're probably going to find one.

Josiah: 2:18

Well, it's funny is that that show where we first met, what stood out to me was how many gadgets you had and how dialed you were on recording the video and the audio. I'm so interested though, like why do you spend so much time kind of figuring out kind of what's happening with regards to....

Tom: 2:37

I'm sorry, I forgot there's a dignitary going out here...they decided to go out to McDonald's for lunch.

Josiah: 2:45

I'm sorry for the motorcade noise.

Tom: 2:49

You know, as far as all of that goes, I latched on to Apple when they first came out with the first power book. My wife bought that for me when we were living in New York, right after I'd moved back from Japan and I was working at the Plaza Hotel in New York. And the first PowerBook really weighed a lot and it looked like it was military spec because it was the kind of battleship gray. But it was state of the art. Nobody had ever done something that small or that light quote unquote and I was just totally sold on it from that point forward. As a kid, I just couldn't get enough of messing with stuff. I loved to take things apart. I loved to look at electronic stuff. In my basement, I had a whole workshop with old TVs and radios, and my dad and I would go around to these radio repair shops and I'd say you got any old radios you don't want and you know, 50% of the time they'd give me a radio that still worked. Of course, it was like a 1940 Philco radio or something like that, which I wish I still had. That would be quite something. Well, my dad liked to say my son is mechanically inclined and he was very proud of that. And then my mother would be over in the corner kind of not muttering but kind of whispering to herself he's destructive, he's destructive, but she was right and he was right. I love to take things apart Sometimes. I couldn't get them back together. Sorry, mom.

Josiah: 4:31

That's the only way you learn, though that's how you learn how things work. Well, I want to hear about your work as a concierge. I feel like talking about technology, talking about a concierge. What do you think about technology in the context of being a hospitality provider? Where is it useful? Where does it become too much?

Tom: 4:52

Whatever you could do to make it a better experience for your client is the way to go. So if it's a machine that will allow me to do something in 30 seconds that used to take me 30 minutes sign me up. Okay, sign me up. I don't know what it is, but I want it. A classic example would be the what's it called, the restaurant app called Open Table, and I'm not giving them a free plug. I just happened to. They came to me and said we've got this app where you can just go online and make restaurant reservations. And the fellow made like you started to make his pitch and after he'd been about 30 seconds into it, I said yeah, I want to sign me up. He said don't you want to hear more? No, I said listen, just sign me up. Okay, I knew immediately that's the futurist part of me. I could see that that was the way it was going to go. This was just when the internet was kind of getting started and people were scared. They said I don't want to be replaced by a machine. Well, it's not a machine that's going to be getting replaced. You know what it is. It's this dirty old yellow page that you got here and I threw it across the room at one of our meetings, you know, luckily didn't hear anybody say this internet is going to be a lot, might lot, easier to operate and it will make your life better, therefore making your clients like better. That's kind of where that started from and I still, I still believe that to this day. Of course, somebody will come up with Rube Goldberg stuff too, occasionally. You know, I was the first and only concierge to ever have a Google Glass. 

Josiah: 6:49

oh wow, that's a that's a blast from the past! We're going back about ten years now

Tom: 6:52

That was a very futuristic technology ... totally futuristic technology and, as my son put it so eloquently, he said he's got the voice like that right. "Google comes up with concepts, Apple creates products." I thought, well, you can make a commercial out of that.

Josiah: 7:15

Right there you know well, he should work for Apple, I feel. But it's interesting you mentioned that because for me it's fascinating to watch a? I unfold, even in the past six months, in many regards, San Francisco is the hub of a lot of this activity and it's interesting to go back. I'm finding it fascinating to look at the history of every new innovation wave that rolls out, and you mentioned something like the yellow pages or the Internet or Google. That's everybody. It seems like it's the same song and dance you know it's going to take away our jobs and AI does feel more capable, but at the same time, I wonder if maybe hospitality is more about a human connection that makes you resilient?

Tom: 7:52

Absolutely it still is, and that's going to get more valuable as time goes on. Treasure the people you've got, especially if they're good at what they do because these are the people who are going to be the leaders, human continuation or human continuum, if you prefer. Like that human continuum, is not about all the technology and everything else. It's about having that to make life easier while retaining the human touch and the human contact, the person who can say to you, uh, you know, you don't really need that umbrella today. Now you do that to a hundred people, twenty of them will be soaked with rain when they come back. So you don't use that line anymore, Mr. Wolf, right, okay what I?

Josiah: 8:45

I find that uh interesting to kind of think about that, that notion of just the, the intersection between hospitality and technology, it just especially in the environment that we're in, that there's it's a very kind of tech heavy environment but, you've also worked, uh, you know, with, at and with some of the most iconic hotels in the world. I would have to talk a little bit about what led you to your first role as a concierge, because this role, the concierge, fascinates me to know. And what was your journey to first becoming a concierge?

Tom: 9:16

I've always been an avid reader. My family was very literary and I read the book look home or danger, written by none other than Thomas Wolf, who's from the nineteen twenties. I read that when I was like seven years old. It took me a while to uh yeah, there's a good line that is a good line record.

Josiah: 9:38

uh, alright so we're talking a little bit about your role to it, first becoming concierge. You mentioned reading this. Author Thomas Wolk.

Tom: 9:45

Yes, yes, yes, okay. So I loved to read was the point. I just loved to read and I read travel books and everything. So I knew what a concierge was, even though we didn't have any in the USA, but I knew it from reading my Temple Fieldings Guide to Europe. That was a great book. That was like one guy writing his read on the world. If you ever get a chance to find a copy of Temple Fieldings Guide from like the 60s, it's so wonderful because it's so subjective and it names names. And he absolutely trashed the Ritz Hotel where I worked. But he did that evaluation before I came to work there, obviously.

Josiah: 10:32

And then when you arrived, I'm sure it was different. It was different.

Tom: 10:35

But when I found myself in London, I worked at the reception counter and I was very good at that. I mean, I'm sorry to bat my own back, but I really was good at what I did. What made you good at that? I think it was the fact that I liked people and I liked speaking to them. But I wasn't a wise guy when I did it. I always knew how to keep. Although I love to have fun and joke and everything, I held back a little bit on where I am now. Now I'll crack a joke with anybody you know, really, and once in a while they'll even laugh, so that's a good thing. But the being over there and seeing the Colossiers in action, who I was introduced to, and they were like my gosh, they were like the mayor of the lobby. In fact, at the Ritz, where I worked, the Colossiers desk was elevated. Yes, wow, that was not unusual there. I think it was the Creon in Paris they had an elevated desk. So this is where the term looking down your nose somebody came from, because first of all, you're elevated, so you're already a foot or two above them, so you really are looking down your nose when you're speaking to that client. It's kind of like a gun site, you know, yes, and how about you?

Josiah: 12:03

But this role was literally looked up to so much they actually elevated the whole area.

Tom: 12:09

They elevated the whole thing. And what amazed me, though, it wasn't so much the staging, it was simply the knowledge that these folks had. I mean, you know, the little old lady would come up and say I'd like to go on the next, trying to brighten, please. Very good, madam, Did you want the Brighton bell that leaves in 45 minutes? No, that's a bit too soon. What have you got after that? Well, there's the Bournemouth bell. But you wanted Brighton, didn't you, madam? You know, and this is, and I thought not only is the answer correct, without even consulting a guidebook but these delivery of it, the sophistication of it, oh, you won't, you won't want to be doing that, not today. It's Darby Day today, or you know some such thing they knew instinctively about. Same as me now, years later, saying that might be a bit of a challenge today because of beta breakers. That's really the same verbiage that I heard, you know, 50 years ago or more in London, and that kind of idea of being the fount of all knowledge and knowing everything and being able to relate it in a very lucid way, but a charming way and a sophisticated way, and having your own kind of, for one of a better word, rap, you know, to talk to people. That was what really attracted me. That's the a little bit the showbiz side of it.

Josiah: 13:55

Well, and this is where it's interesting to hear the different threads throughout your life and your career connect from studying radio to the performance to your impersonations, and what stands out to me is being a compelling concierge. It's not just knowing the information that seems table stakes, but it's the delivery, is an art, and it's the delivery of this information that almost becomes an element of the hospitality experience.

Tom: 14:22

Very well put, and one of the words I like the most in Italian is personaggio, personaggio. Now, well, who's a personaggio? It means personality, sure, but give me an example of someone who is a personaggio. All right, how about this one, Pavarotti? I mean, that guy walks into a room and he owns the room automatically, mainly because of his size. Okay, these are people who personaggio is one word, and in French there's a wonderful word called allure. Now, allure is we have that in English oh boy, does that lady have allure? We could say that about Marilyn Monroe, who definitely had allure. It means kind of attraction, but allure in French has a little bit more esoteric meaning to it. A racehorse. A racehorse can have allure. It's when you walk into someplace and immediately you go. Oh, there's a magnetism, that just a charisma that's just kind of reached out and grabbed you from that person, the queen mother God rest her soul who I met when I was at the Ritz. She had that allure and I'll never forget. When I met her at work at the Ritz, I had a wonderful, wonderful meeting with her. Just by chance, she came up to thank me for dinner that she'd had in the dining room with 35 people that were with her and there was 20 staff standing with me and she picks me. I ain't no personaggio, I was just a 25-year-old American. What?

Josiah: 16:00

a story. Is this something you feel people can develop, or is it something that you're either born with it or you're not?

Tom: 16:06

That's a good point. Is it something you're born with? Something you're born with has a very arrogant taste to it. It means you'll never have it, you'll never have it and you'll never have it is one of the things that I hate the most in life. You'll never do this, you'll never do that, because that's what people have told me over the years, and every time they told me that it has kind of made me not only want to do it, but do it, and then come back to that person years later and say how you doing? And have them say what have you been? I say do all the things you told me I couldn't do. Really and that's my lesson to anybody. Anybody who is young and starting out in life You'll get lots and lots of advice. A lot of it will be lousy advice like you'll never do that, don't even think of doing that. Forget about that. You follow your heart and do what you want to do, because whatever you want to do, you can do it, guaranteed. Just put your mind to it.

Josiah: 17:09

I love that, and so what's really interesting to me is to hear you know kind of you being attracted to this role of a concierge, you having some of these early roles. What happens next? How does your career progress from there?

Tom: 17:21

Well, I guess I'm at the point where I could it'd be a bit arrogant for me to call myself this, but I might be able to be considered an elder statesman, which I think is great, that's a great thing, or an éminence grise. An éminence grise is a more active kind of elder statesman. That's somebody an éminence grise. I always picture that as the, the old guy who's pulling the curtains at the you know the, the, the at the opera, someplace like that, you know, behind the scenes, queuing somebody in, and I love both of those roles. I love the history and heritage of our city. I love the, especially the heritage and history of this fabulous hotel, this magnificent hotel, and I want that to continue to live. And if I can leave that as a legacy, I can look over my shoulder and say well done you. Frank Lloyd Wright I was starting to say his. As far as being a futurist, he had his car fixed so that had no rear-view window. No rear window. Why is that your Aminance? It's because I never want to look backward, only forward. A good way to live. Well, he was a personaggio, you know, in every sense of the word, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Josiah: 18:50

Yeah, man, that's so fascinating. I guess maybe two bring this to life. I'm curious about you kind of think about the work that you do here at the Fairmont. With so many people visiting San Francisco, I imagine you get an interesting mix of people who are here for the first time, people who have been coming here for years. What do you do to help them kind of see and appreciate, maybe starting with the beauty of this hotel and then kind of the city at large, but starting with this hotel, how do you introduce them to kind of the history of this property?

Tom: 19:21

Well, I spent a year making a video of the Fairmont history and it's still up there on YouTube. I think it says the Fairmont History 2015, which is when I made it and I put together all of the stuff I had in my archives and I did a voiceover and I had music and everything and it really tells the story of how the hotel began and how it went through the depression and all the rest of the things and, you know, came out to be the present day Fairmont. Not terribly unlike the beginning Fairmont, because if you go to the lobby, that marble floor you stand on is the original yeah, that's the one that was there from the beginning and we covered it over with carpeting Back in the 1940s when Dorothy Draper came in and did this whole big makeover after she'd done the Greenbrier, Dorothy Draper being the first preeminent decorator of the United States. The whole aspect of the history of it is available on that video. I even made a self-guided video and I modeled after the one the kind of audio tour of the Vatican and I have this nice music coming in and what was it? Welcome to the Fairmont Hotel, you know. And that's fun too, because people are always asking to go on tours of the Fairmont and we purposely don't allow big tour buses coming in anymore. We don't want to have 40 and 50 people trooping through while someone is trying to enjoy their martini Unless, of course, that person wants to buy a round of drinks for everybody in the room, then we might welcome them. We'll think about it.

Josiah: 21:21

That's fascinating, and so it's being conscious of your other guests, and so, as we're thinking about providing hospitality, we also need to think about, okay, you know, what is going to be the implication of my other guests. Yeah, and I guess this is a bit of a broad question, but I'm curious when you think about remarkable hospitality, how would you define that? What is remarkable hospitality?

Tom: 21:44

Remarkable hospitality is very simple. It's something that when you go home and you're nursing your dry martini at home and suddenly a thought comes into your head, or maybe a picture on the TV comes on oh, isn't that the national in Havana? Just by seeing a corner of the dining room, yeah and yeah, of course, it is right, and because remember when they made that special drink for us on our anniversary and you know, having something that is a memory that's going to stay with you forever. Here's an example A client came to me. His daughter was celebrating her 13th birthday in fact, today, I think, is the actual day and he wanted to give her tickets to a concert by a certain very popular artist.

Josiah: 22:42

Very hard tickets to get.

Tom: 22:43

I wouldn't mention names like Taylor Swift or anything. But you know that wouldn't be right. But so I made a very elaborate envelope with kind of my calligraphy presentation on it and called her up in the room and said could you come down here to the Colt Sierra? She asked we have a very important envelope for you and I presented it to her, and of course dad and mom are watching this and inside was her little pass to the. Well, you know, this takes, oh my god, to a whole different level.

Josiah: 23:16

Yeah well, there's something about remarkable hospitality, the creation of memories, right? And so what I'm hearing from you is an attentiveness to your guests and then thinking about not only how do you deliver what they asked where these very, very hard to get tickets but even the presentation of that. So you're thinking about the details, you're thinking about the whole experience.

Tom: 23:37

The presentation is vital. It's so important how you present something. I mean you can hand somebody something or you can create a little moment, a micro-moment of time for them. I'll never forget when I saw blah blah, blah, or when I was introduced to Tony Bennett, or when I saw the Dalai Lama. You know these little little things that will just live forever. And when I look over my shoulder, that's what I see.

Josiah: 24:09

But it's awesome to hear that and I feel that requires a lot of care, a lot of time, a lot of thought, because, especially for people who are well traveled, they experience some incredible hospitality. So to meet that bar of being memorable is very high right, and so it requires a lot. How do you? What keeps you motivated to do this day after day? You know for years, how do you stay? How do you keep that mindset?

Tom: 24:35

Well, I know that every day is going to be a different one. I never know what challenges might await me. I was supposed to be on a Zoom call with about two dozen of my European concierge colleagues and I came in early to do that, of course, I was met with a case of a missing cake that had gone missing and I spent an hour tracking it down, finally found it, handed it to the person for whom it was intended, and I sent a little note to them. I said sorry, I had to deal with the case of a missing cake, but I didn't feel bad at all. I felt great because I felt I'd made my day now. Now, from this, that was my baseline. Now my whole day is going to be perfect because you know what it's about karma, isn't it? Karma has everything to do with it. When you do good for somebody, that will come back to you. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but it will come back to you, because to be a great concierge requires you to have a big heart where you give, give, give all the time, and a head that stays normal, that doesn't get big. That's the one you don't want to be big People get bigheaded about it. The mayor calls them up and asks them something. Wow, I'm so important. The mayor just called me. Forget it. Okay, do the right thing for everybody and it will come back to you. The golden rule Am I talking through my hat?

Josiah: 26:03

as my dad used to say. But it's a good reminder for all of us because, at least for me personally, I can get tied up in my to-do list or these meetings and you have a lot of things on your plate. That's a good example where there's a trade-off. I have an important meeting, but I need to take care of someone. In your hierarchy of how you view important things, taking care of someone is going to supersede that. I feel like we have heard a lot about. Was there anything you were hoping I would ask you about, or things that you wanted to talk about that we didn't get to?

Tom: 26:39

Well, I would simply say this in a general sense to everybody out there, in radio land or wherever you might be Keep an open mind wherever you go and make every day a learning experience. I worked in Japan for five years and I had a staff of about 20 lovely, lovely, lovely young ladies. I converted them from being "social directors" to becoming concierge. One of the big lessons I had was the city is your classroom. What a city to be a classroom Tokyo. Are you kidding? Oh my gosh. I mean, try finding something. Just try finding a place. That's always fun. I figured it out. I figured out the system. I'm not going to share it at this moment. Another story for another time, Exactly. But don't be afraid to, because Japanese people, by their nature and I'm not painting a broad brush, or I'm just saying culturally they tend to be somewhat reticent. They don't like to ask questions, they don't like to. They feel very bad if they don't have the exact answer for you. I said no, you've got to tell them your opinion, and opinions are what count. Now you want to give you an opinion and turns out it's the wrong opinion? Then fine, then I'll step in and I'll save you. Okay, Say, oh, that place. You know what? My colleague is exactly right, and you're exactly right, Because just two days ago, that restaurant changed hands. Totally false, of course, but oops, you cover for them.

Josiah: 28:12

but this is an important leadership lesson Right, you have to cover for your people, and I think that makes a big impact in terms of the culture of people working on your teams. Where they feel I can take risks, I can express my opinion, because I know the person I'm working for is has my back.

Tom: 28:29

Right that having your back is critical, and this is what managers who are coming up need to remember in our profession, in my opinion. If I can pontificate a little bit, please take care of those who are working for you. They don't have the knowledge and experience you have. You're there to help mentor them. They are your protégés. So protégé, protect them that's where that word comes from. Protect them, take care of them, have their back. If they stumble and fall, you'd be there to pick them up and dust them off and say come on, kiddo, get back in the ring.