Sandra Ferrarese
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Ask Sandra Ferrarese what makes a good concierge, and chances are her answer won't include spending too much time behind the front desk. For the native porteña, it’s just as important to engage with the city first-hand, keeping a finger on the pulse of what makes Buenos Aires tick.
Indeed, Ferrarese and her colleagues at Four Seasons Hotel Buenos Aires log countless “research” hours in the city and beyond, developing new ideas in preparation for the high tourist season. Every month, the team visits at least 15 attractions throughout the city – from new restaurants and boutiques to city tours, yoga classes and art exhibitions – compiling impressions and sharing them with each other.
It’s engrossing but enjoyable, says Ferrarese: “My eyes are always open, and I’m always on my toes. It’s a full-time passion.” Among her recent discoveries is a funky boutique in the Palermo district that sells rough stone jewellery, and a shop near her home that carries anything and everything for the nautically inclined.
Ferrarese was inspired to her calling early on, when she watched a hotel concierge in action during a family vacation to southern Argentina. While still in high school, she landed a temporary job working an EMI-Odeon convention, helping a Buenos Aires hotel host the Rolling Stones. From then on she was hooked, working her way from night shift on the front desk to daylight at the concierge desk until the hotel switched flags to Four Seasons in 2001.
A few years ago, Ferrarese’s efforts were rewarded when she became one of the first female concierges from Argentina to join the prestigious Les Clefs d’Or, the international organization of hotel lobby concierges.
