From the Concierge's Desk

It's finally over...the long awaited Petronas Malaysian F1 Grandprix. Fisiscella number 1, followed by Alonso and third place falls to Button. It's not like I'm a big fan or anything, in fact, I'm not into this F1 thingy at all, to me, the most interesting part of a race would be the crashes (evil, isn't it? but you have to admit, it is cool). But this year it was not as happening as it was in the last years. Probably because the heat has died down a bit. Or maybe our race is the second race. Not so interesting to some.

Hotels were not as fully booked as it used to be for this time's F1, but as it is an event that happens once a year, as usual, most hotels had their room rates hiked up to what most would call the F1 Rates. And not only that, transportation companies also took this opportunity to rake in whatever profits they could for this 3 days by providing selling shuttle services, limousine services and others. Even the tour agents have started to F1 packages that includes rooming, F1 tickets and even the transfers included...

But this week was really interesting to me in terms of being a Concierge. You should have seen us. Our phones were ringing non-stop with inquiries from others seeking tickets to the race..."Ring-Ring" Hello? You got Topaz tickets? I need two. "Ring-Ring" Anyone got Diamond tickets? "Ring-Ring" I have one Emerald ticket left if any of your guest is interested. The joke of the week was, instead of working as concierges, it was as if we were manning the Sepang ticketing booths!

I wonder how it would be like if one day KL hosts an Olympic...whoah...that would be really cool!!

Vroom! It's that time of the year again...The Petronas Malaysian F1 GP will be in town again this weekend. A lot of events has been planned leading to this Sunday's (March 19) race day. DJ Tiesto and other International DJs will be in town...Lionel Ritchie just flew in yesterday for a one night concert for the Grand Prix's Gala Dinner in the Kuala Lumpur's Convention Centre. Malaysia's Hollywood star Michelle Yeoh and her famous husband,Jean Todt will also be there with the other drivers. Even our ex-Prime Minister, Tun Mahathir Mohammad will be attending the dinner.


As for us Concierges, we are beginning to feel the heat. Our phones have been ringing on and off non-stop with queries on the availability of certain hard-to-get tickets. We have also been busy making bookings for transportation arrangements for our valued guests to get to the circuit, either via taxi, private chauffered cars, hotel limos and even shuttle services.

Some advice for those planning to go to Sepang to watch the races this weekend. Bring a lot of drinking water (or beer too!), some sun protection lotion (for all who's afraid of getting dark) and please, no suit and tie...its gonna be really HOT over there..and fun too!! Just be prepared to walk a bit (from the parking area to the circuit and back) and also if you are driving, be very patient. Traffic is expected to be bad,... Take the F1 Shuttle services provided by the Express Rail Link from the KL Sentral. Apart from that, enjoy the race!

for more details, you may visit : www.malaysiangp.com.my

Just the other day, a lady approached the desk requesting for the address of the local telecoms company. As the telecoms company had so many branches and offices around town, I asked her what was it or who did she want to meet. Apparently she was from a telecommunications company in Switzerland that specializes in wi-fi and roaming products and she was with her CEO for a very short trip hoping to link up with the local telecom company that holds all the wi-fi rights in Malaysia so that they could set foot in Malaysia to provide their services. Obviously, they needed an appointment for such a thing. Therefore, I made several calls to the HQ to find out who was the exact person they could meet in this short period of time (they were supposed to zoom off the next day to the Philiphines) After being transfered from PR department to Marketing and back, finally I managed to get hold on one particular lady in Marketing. And an impromptu appointment was made and set. Soon after, I arranged for a taxi to zoom them off to the IT HQ in Cyberjaya, about 45minutes from the hotel. Did they strike a deal? Seriously, I don't know. But the big smiles that both the lady and her CEO had when they got back (after several hours) and the big THANK YOUs I got from them was rather promising. Another successful mission complete.

Just as I was leaving the hotel this afternoon after ending my morning shift, I overheard a conversation between a guest and a colleague of mine, with regards to queries on some a tour around Kuala Lumpur via helicopter...now if only I had not wanted so BADLY to go home (it was a very busy day, today) I would have loved to see the outcome of that request!!!