Concierge Industry Coming of Age in South Florida.(Originated from The Miami Herald)

Jul. 21--Kay Cremeens found gas masks for a Saudi princess to send home. Andrew Lomars tracked down pedigree goats for a Colombian whose children were allergic to cow's milk.

And Ernesto Aragon remembers a time in Washington D.C. when a hotel guest forgot her jewelry and simply couldn't go unadorned to a White House function. An obliging local jeweler lent a necklace and matching earrings to the woman, who had impeccable credit.

Charming, efficient, resourceful chief concierges like Cremeens, Lomars and Aragon are at the top of a profession that's just come of age in the United States over the last decade. Concierges also are showing up more frequently beyond hotels. They're in office and apartment buildings, banks and department stores. In a community like South Florida where the service industry is a major source of jobs and employers fret over uncaring or untrained workers, the concierge is the epitome of service.

"I suggest every hotel have answers from A to Z for all guests," said Percival Darby, a hotel veteran and professor at Florida International University's School of Hospitality Management. "If I hear you tell my guests 'I don't know,' you're fired."

And when a guest asks a question, "it has to sound like it's the first time you answered it," said Cremeens, who presides over a staff of eight at the Mariott Harbor Beach in Fort Lauderdale. "We don't necessarily know everything, but we usually know how to find it."

Cremeens just stepped down from two years as head of the 125-member South Florida Concierge Association, which started with four members in 1987. That includes 75 concierges and 50 corporate sponsors -- businesses like restaurants, rental car companies and limousine services that want to catch a concierge's eye.

Cremeens, Lomars at the Grand Bay, and Aragon at the Biltmore are members of the international concierge union Les Clefs d'Ors, entitling them to wear the golden crossed keys on their lapels and leading guests to expect certain professional standards and experience.