At Your Service
For nearly 30 years, Bertine Hage has been accomplishing the highly improbable at the Hotel on a daily basis. A young émigré from the Netherlands, she joined the Four Seasons family in 1984. Her ascent to Chief Concierge seems shockingly fast — two years! — until you meet her. Possessed by a ‘we’re going to make this happen’ attitude that works like a reliable compass, she’ll tell you, “it’s always pointing on one direction, towards a successful outcome.”
It’s an assertiveness that has worked out well for Hage over the years, especially in the face of thousands upon thousands of requests both mundane and quirky. Then there are the odd few that serve as a reminder to concierge staff around the world of just what is possible.
Once, two freewheeling stockbrokers approached Hage with a request that was more a put-on. After letting it be known they were hosting a party at a nearby Italian restaurant, they revealed their nicknames: Croc and Bull. Jokingly they asked, would it not be fun to have a live crocodile and a bull in the restaurant's courtyard that night?
Shocking the two to no end, Hage and her staff agreed, and flew into action. A live caiman, in lieu of a crocodile, and a two-ton bull greeted guests that night, the former courtesy of the local film industry and the latter supplied by an accommodative slaughterhouse.
For Hage it was a phone call from Saudi Arabia that supplied her with her biggest challenge. At first reluctant to speak to Hage (or to any female), the assistant to a wealthy sheik finally laid out three requests: some books, a gold watch that told Saudi and Pacific Standard time, and a native Canadian princess.
Not just any princess, but a virgin. After ascertaining that it was for a tribal greeting at the airport, Hage hit the phones. After finding two princesses in a local tribe, she steeled herself to ask the chief if either was a virgin. He laughed: “Well, one is 40, so I think she’s out of the question; the other one is 12, so I wouldn’t bet my life on it, but I think we are pretty safe here!”
After the native Canadian teen welcomed the sheik with a bida-style necklace, the sheik then demanded the watch. Hage proudly handed over a $40,000 gold watch with inset diamonds, to which the Sheik sneered: “Take it back, this is a piece of junk!”
Looks like you can’t please them all.
