A serious concierge desk is defined as much by the mandates it refuses as by the mandates it accepts. The market for luxury services is unregulated, and the absence of an external standard makes it the desk's own responsibility to publish the line.
This is ours.
What we will not arrange
Illegal acts under the law of the principal's home jurisdiction or the receiving jurisdiction
This is the obvious line and the easy one. We do not facilitate, conceal, finance, or transit anything that is illegal under either jurisdiction. The conversation ends.
Reputational laundering
We do not produce events, introductions, philanthropic placements, or social access designed to soften a publicly contested reputation. Where the principal is contested for actions we believe to be ethically wrong — environmental damage, exploitation of vulnerable populations, political violence — we decline.
We do not require the principal to share our views. We do require that the work we do is real concierge work, not a public-relations exercise dressed as concierge.
Bypassing legitimate immigration, customs or financial controls
We do not coordinate movements that aim to evade declared customs at borders, formal immigration controls at entry, or financial-sanctions regimes. Lawful tax structuring is the work of the principal's tax counsel and is not concierge work; we coordinate logistics around it without participating in it.
Pressure on third parties
We do not contact journalists, regulators, prosecutors or counterparties on behalf of the principal in ways that could be read as intimidation. We are concierge; we are not crisis communications.
Conflicts that compromise another client
We do not accept a new mandate that requires us to act against the interest of an existing or recent client. We will sometimes decline a mandate without explanation when the conflict is not the new client's business to know.
Disclosure of identifiable client information for marketing
We do not allow our brand to attach to a named principal's mandate. We do not show a famous family's wedding in a portfolio. We do not name a head of state's visit in a case study. Our portfolio is private and is shared in confidential conversations after a relationship is established.
What we will accept that some peers will not
To be balanced — there are also categories of work we accept that more conservative desks decline.
- Late-decision logistics. Decisions made in the morning for an evening departure are part of normal concierge work for our principals. We staff for it.
- Multi-residence continuity across politically sensitive jurisdictions. As long as the activity is lawful and not a sanctions evasion, the cultural complexity of the principal's residence pattern is not a concern.
- Religious and observance accommodation at any level of strictness. We are equally comfortable with Hajj coordination, kosher catering at Pesach, fasting schedules during Ramadan, vegetarian provision for Hindu observance, and silent retreats. The accommodation is the work.
Why we publish this
A standing concierge relationship is, ultimately, a relationship of trust. Trust is reinforced by predictability about what we will and will not do. The unpredictable concierge is the dangerous concierge. The unwritten ethic is the unenforceable ethic.
We would rather be the desk that refuses the bad mandate openly than the desk that accepts it and resents it later. The mandates we accept are the ones we can do well across years.
To begin a conversation about a mandate, contact us privately.
