Here’s another installment of our series of stories courtesy of courteous concierges, who keep their cool when guests have rather strange requests or get into weird situations…

“This comic little story is from 2001, when I used to work as a rookie receptionist at Hotel Taverna. One day, I’d just arrived when my colleague came to let me know there was a gentleman looking for me. So, I went to my desk and with a polite smile I said in Hungarian: ‘Good evening, sir. My name’s Antal Virágh. How may I help you?’. The answer was short and I couldn’t make sense of it at all: ‘Pee-ooo-pee-pee’. I tried not to put on my stupid face, and instead asked the man again: ‘Excuse me, I didn’t quite catch that. Could you repeat it, please?’. ‘Pee-ooo-pee-pee’, came the answer again.

I soon got the feeling that he wasn’t going to be an easy customer. I obviously needed to decipher whether there was a language we could communicate in. So, I tried my German, Italian, and finally English, but to my entire language extravaganza, I only got the answer: ‘Pee-ooo-pee-pee’.

By this time, my colleague had been shaking with laughter in the opposite corner of the lobby for a while, and I must admit, I was swallowing back my laughs, too. Finally, the gentleman got his passport out and opened it on the personal data page. He was Mr. Popp… it was his name he had tried to spell for me a million times.”

Antal Virágh is a member of Les Clefs d’Or, the professional association of hotel concierges. According to their motto, “In Service through Friendship”, the concierge crew aim to “provide guests with the best service possible, not only ensuring that they feel at home during their stay, but also that they’ll miss the concierges when they’re gone”. Just make sure you say your name clearly…
www.clefsdor.hu