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Working the Concierge Desk at Vienna's Hotel Sacher, Where "We Never Say No"

Michelle Khare · ▶ 34:47 · 13 min read
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Overview

Michelle Khare's premise is simple. Vienna's Hotel Sacher is famous for luxury and discretion. Its top room reportedly costs €10,000 a night and comes with secret doors and a personal butler. Its concierges belong to a society whose members wear crossed golden keys on their lapels, and the rumor is that you can ask one of them for anything. Khare set out to test that rumor by working at the hotel for a week. One staff member's story at the start of the video sets the tone: a gentleman once arrived having brought a lion from Africa and wanted a room, "and of course we give him the room." As the staff put it, "Everything is possible."

13 min read
1:22

Arriving on an Unplanned Anniversary

Khare says the more she researched the hotel, the more she realized how exclusive it was. She kept finding footage of it from different decades, and she compared the trip to The Suite Life of Zack & Cody and The Grand Budapest Hotel. The production was told that every guest's face would have to be blurred, because the people who stay there are important and very private.

The trip also landed on the third anniversary of Khare and Garrett Kennell, the video's director. She admits she was "a little down" about working through it. It wasn't planned that way; it was the only week that fit before what she calls "seven marathons." The hotel had evidently done its homework. Their room, described as "part of the presidential section" rather than the presidential suite itself, had their names custom-embroidered on the pillows, champagne waiting after the long flight, a framed copy of their wedding photo, and a "happy wedding anniversary" message. Khare asked whether the staff had researched them to find out. Training was set to begin at 8 a.m. the next morning.

5:23

The Golden Keys and the Hotel's Legacy

Her main guide was Thomas, a member of Les Clefs d'Or, the Golden Keys. Thomas explained that only a few thousand people in the world belong to the society and described it as "a small family." If he calls a concierge in Venice who is also a member, that person will help him, and he will help them in return. Khare called it "a little bit of a secret society," and Thomas agreed. In the video's narration, his work consists of knowing each guest's name, likes, dislikes and special requests, down to favorite flowers, newspapers, and whether they want a special tea in the morning.

The video sketches the hotel's history. Sacher began as a high-end pastry shop selling the family's signature confection, the original Sachertorte. According to the narration, the recipe remains a national secret and the original formula is locked in a climate-controlled vault. The shop grew into a hotel run by Anna Sacher, who was known for her fondness for cigars and her French bulldogs. Under her management, it became one of Europe's most famous hotels and inspired a feature film, several television productions and many books.

Thomas still wears the golden keys of his late mentor in that person's honor, and he hopes to pass the legacy on to Konstantin, a younger concierge. Together they help manage the 152-room hotel. Each day starts with a morning meeting in which staff are briefed on the VIPs in house. Because check-in time on a Friday was approaching and the weekend rush was starting, every arriving guest and their special needs were read out to the staff, with privacy flagged as a high priority. Thomas said that level of detail and personalization is what makes Sacher special.

8:04

The Front Door and a 42-Minute Ferrari

After the meeting the staff scattered quickly, and Khare asked where she should go. The answer was "everywhere." So many guests were arriving that Thomas wanted her to fill in wherever support was needed. She started at the front door with Tina, who greets and sees off guests. Tina described the role as the guest's first impression and said she is "in love with my job."

The first real test was parking a guest's Ferrari in the hotel's garage, about half a mile away, within eight minutes, through Vienna's busy streets and with no damage. A crowd gathered to watch. Khare struggled to work out how to start the car and shift it into drive, and she called the experience "my nightmare." She noted she has done protective driving training with the Secret Service and the FBI, but said this was different: someone else's expensive car, in a country where she had never driven. She missed the turn, said she was "prioritizing safety," and then couldn't find a place to turn left for what she estimated was three miles, joking that they were "driving to Italy." At the garage she couldn't reach the ticket machine, the barrier arm wouldn't respond, and she had trouble seeing to park. The total was 42 minutes. Meanwhile the hotel was backing up, and every position needed her help at once.

12:36

Bell Staff: Carrying Responsibility, Not Luggage

Next came the bell staff with Tia, who has worked at Sacher for three and a half years. Tia said that because they are a girl, "bell girl is okay." The narration distinguishes two roles. A bellhop helps guests bring luggage to their rooms, while a bell boy is an entry-level role that fulfills any personal task a guest requests. Tia's summary of the job: "we are not carrying luggage. It's like we are carrying a responsibility. So we have to bring it fast."

The errands came quickly. There were products to ship to an address in Romania, a pack of Winston Slims for one guest, and a pre-ordered flower bouquet to pick up, all done in a manual-transmission car that Khare had trouble driving. She said she hadn't realized the job involved running around the city like this. Tia explained that people on the street recognize the Sacher uniform and sometimes ask for photos; the pair ended up taking one with a tourist. Asked whether working there is an honor in Austria, Tia said everyone in the country knows Sacher and the Sacher cake, so "definitely."

Then a guest disliked their room, and the luggage had to move from room 624 to room 330 within eight minutes. Khare called it "Alice in Wonderland" timing. The guests were waiting at the door. Tia admitted to sometimes feeling nervous when a guest isn't in a good mood but called it part of the job: you have to get along with guests, including ones you disagree with. Khare found these interactions stressful. She could tell the guests were "very particular and important people," and she worried about even setting the luggage down correctly. When she suggested that people assume Sacher's clientele can be demanding or difficult, the staff member agreed: "That's true."

Room deliveries follow a protocol. You ring the bell three times, waiting ten seconds between rings, and then knock. When the cigarettes reached the guest, Khare remarked that she "seemed like she really needed those," and the staff member agreed she was having a rough day. By this point Khare said that however hard she tried to please guests, it never seemed like enough.

17:23

Pegasus, Proposals and a Handshake

Konstantin, who has been at the hotel for a year and a half, described some of the stranger requests. One guest asked for a horse that could fly. Konstantin's reply: "We can do a lot of things, but not a Pegasus." Another guest had no idea what to do for his proposal to his girlfriend, so Konstantin planned the entire thing.

When Khare asked whether the Golden Keys have a secret handshake, Konstantin said he had heard rumors but didn't know whether it really existed. He added that the concierge business has many secrets that need to stay within the society. Since neither of them was a full member, they made up their own handshake around the crossed keys: "We never say no, but we open the door."

Khare connected this to the mantra on the Golden Keys website, "Service through friendship." Her reading was that real service isn't transactional but a relationship, and that this is the actual skill of a Golden Keys concierge. She said that being on the receiving end of the anniversary setup in her room had made this "the coolest anniversary ever," despite her earlier worries about working through it. Konstantin said that is the point: making memories special for guests with small gestures like that.

Konstantin also explained how they came to the hotel. Their mother, who watched shows about Sacher, once joked that they should "apply at Hotel Sacher." They came with the goal of becoming a concierge and only told their mother after getting the job. Later they invited her to stay. She felt very intimidated, and Konstantin tried to make her comfortable by telling her she belonged there as much as anyone. Khare said she hoped that at some point that week she could give someone even a fraction of that joy. She publicly asked Les Clefs d'Or to admit Konstantin when they apply next year and complained that the junior keys are tiny. She then gave Konstantin a minted "Challenge Accepted" coin and a pair of oversized keys.

22:40

Getting the Hang of It

Khare says that as she got closer to the staff, the work got easier. At the door she handled passersby asking for directions, such as the line for the torte café, and received a tip. She reports that on this day she parked a car within the eight minutes, finished errands without problems, and carried and laid out guest luggage without a complaint. Her favorite part of these challenges, she said, is the point where she becomes friends with the people she works alongside.

24:00

The Final Challenge: A Forgotten Birthday

The last assignment was to staff the concierge desk and handle guest requests. A guest, Mrs. Schmidt, called with a crisis: she had forgotten her husband's birthday, which was the day before. She wanted something "very Vienna" at 6:30 p.m. that was private and unique, and she specified that it should not be in a restaurant. Khare had less than five hours.

Thomas let her use Google, and her search turned up three main options: the Spanish Riding School, the Vienna Opera, or an art museum. Thomas offered one hint, that he knew this guest well and they love art. Konstantin's proposal story inspired Khare to aim for a big romantic gesture. She knew Klimt's The Kiss hangs at the Belvedere, and having heard there is always a crowd around it, she wanted to try for a private room near the painting after closing, with catering brought in. Thomas asked whether the couple really wanted dinner or just drinks and small bites. Khare acknowledged she was "doing overkill" and had assumed dinner. They settled on the museum moment followed by a Michelin-star reservation around 8 p.m., which would also serve as the backup if the museum fell through.

The Michelin restaurant was sold out; on the computer, the tables showed red. But two tables, numbers 11 and 7, were blocked off, and Thomas explained that the Golden Keys give them access to such tables: "If you have the golden keys, everything is possible." Watching Thomas call on connections across the city, Khare said, put "service through friendship" in perspective. In her view, the relationships he has built over years are what make this kind of magic possible.

Before calling the museum, they settled the details: roses, and of course the Sachertorte. Thomas suggested Khare deliver the cake herself as a surprise. On the call, Khare explained that a guest had forgotten her husband's birthday and asked whether a private room next to The Kiss would be available after the 6:30 p.m. closing. The Belvedere said yes. Khare warned it would be expensive, and Thomas replied that it was the Belvedere, after all. Mrs. Schmidt approved the plan and the cost. Thomas asked whether Khare could feel it, and told her that this feeling is the job: if you do something that makes the guest happy and you feel happy too, then it's good.

The finishing touch was a bouquet. Khare ran to a florist that was about to close and asked for roses matching the colors of The Kiss. She admitted to being nervous. She had never met Mrs. Schmidt, yet she cared a great deal about fixing a relationship she had no personal connection to. She concluded that extreme empathy for the guest is part of the concierge's role.

31:33

The Twist

At the Belvedere, with the room set up and Thomas holding the familiar sign, the staff kept urging Khare to open the cake box. She resisted because it was meant for the guests. Inside was the reveal: there were no guests. "You planned your own anniversary dinner." Mrs. Schmidt didn't exist, and the private evening beside The Kiss was for Khare and Garrett. The staff congratulated her on doing the job and told her, "you're the concierge now."

33:51

"I'm the Mother for the Guests"

The video ends with Thomas explaining why he loves the work. He creates moments for guests, "the small things, but also the big things." When people ask what he does and he can't simply say "concierge," he says he is "the mother for the guests," because a mother does everything for her child and he does everything for the guests. For him, Hotel Sacher is a different world: when he puts on his suit, it feels like magic, and he wants to pass that magic on to the guests. That, he says, is why the staff are proud to hold their positions: to make people happy.

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