A new term is emerging in the concierge industry: lifestyle management. It is a term that might be scaring people away from personal concierge services based on a misunderstanding of what it is. We want to set the record straight. ‘Lifestyle management’, in its original definition, is just a fancy term encapsulating what we do as concierge providers.
The term has been co-opted by the healthcare industry to describe the practice of adopting and maintaining healthy lifestyle choices in order to ensure good health. But when it was first developed back in the early 1990s, lifestyle management was simply the practice of outsourcing mundane personal and commercial tasks to professional service providers.
Lifestyle Management Sounds Better
In its simplest form, lifestyle management is nothing more than giving someone else your task list and expecting that person to get everything done. That’s what we do as concierge providers. You need help with tasks, give us a call. We can do anything you need done. That is really all there is to it.
If lifestyle management is so simple, why the fancy term? There is no good answer to that other than to say that modern culture is obsessed with coming up with new terms and phrases that make things seem more important than they really are. Think about it for just a minute.
Would you rather describe yourself as a trash collector or a maintenance engineer? The latter term sounds more palatable. That’s why travel agents are now vacation planners, department store cashiers are front-end hospitality specialists, and waiters are servers. That’s why that person who used to be called a concierge 30 years ago is now called a personal assistant.
It seems to us that the lifestyle management term is preferred because the industry has decided it just sounds better. Lifestyle management certainly sounds more professional than concierge service. Moreover, the word ‘concierge’ has a certain connotation that tends to appeal to the wealthy.
The Personal Concierge at Home
The concierge at a hotel provides all sorts of personal services that make a guest’s stay more enjoyable. But guess what? You are not likely to find a concierge at a hotel rated less than 4.5 stars. Budget hotels do not employ concierges because they add to the cost of running the establishment. As such, concierge service is reserved for luxury hotels.
Likewise, you might have an expensive high-rise condo building in downtown Manhattan complete with concierge service. The people who live there definitely are people of means. They have a personal concierge at home because, quite frankly, they can afford it. This further cements the impression that concierge service is only for the wealthy.
In reality, concierge service is for everyone. You do not have to be rich to avail yourself of the services offered by My Divine Concierge. If you think of us as a lifestyle management firm instead of a concierge provider, perhaps that removes the stigma associated with the concierge concept.
Whatever Works for You
At the end of the day, we don’t much care whether you refer to us as a concierge provider or a lifestyle management firm. Whatever works for you is fine with us. Just note that we don’t limit our services to the uber wealthy. We are here to provide the same level of reliable service to all of our customers regardless of socioeconomic position.
The term ‘lifestyle management’ is just a fancy term describing concierge services. It is a descriptive term in the sense that outsourcing some of your tasks to us makes it easier for you to manage your lifestyle in whatever way you see fit. We do what you either don’t have time to do or just don’t want to tackle yourself. Our services make it possible for you to pursue the kind of lifestyle you desire, whatever that might be.