Meet Pascal Paluel-Marmont: Pascal Paluel-Marmont, founder of Clé Privée

How to find your way around a concierge market which is attracting more and more players?

Pascal Paluel-Marmont - It's not that simple. What's more, I think this is just the beginning of a global movement that will intensify. One of the first clues is whether the service is provided in-house, as in our case, or outsourced. For fairly simple requests, such as flight searches, these outsourced services can work. But if you're prepared to share your tastes in order to benefit from a personalised service, it's best to turn to a real specialist. And here, there are very few pure players.

Hasn't the proliferation of services on offer overused the term "concierge"?

P. P.-M. - The notion of concierge services has lost its meaning, it's true. And so has the word luxury. That's why we insist on the notion of a personal adviser, a travel companion. Concierge services are a profession. It's a totally personalised service in which the advisor is virtually the user's friend and confidant. It's an old-fashioned, vintage idea of service, in a very late 19th century spirit.

What makes a concierge service different from a kind of VIP travel agency?

P. P.-M. - Concierge services are only part of what we offer. For example, we also put investors and entrepreneurs in touch with each other. In the Gulf countries, people are often too reserved to ask for meetings and they appreciate it when an intermediary takes care of it.

What return on investment can your customers expect?

P. P.-M. - The word concierge means a lot of things, but it's still a job to get the best rates, to find the best deal. And that takes up a lot of time. We're there to save time and energy for our customers, who don't always have the cards in their hand to negotiate the most favourable prices. Today, we're drowning in a plethora of online offers. Not everyone has the network to read this offer, to know, for example, that there has been a change in price parity at Booking.