according<\/a> to The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n\n\tSome may not even be Knicks fans\u2014these are largely out-of-towners we\u2019re talking about\u2014but Madison Square Garden promises to be the place to be (and be seen) this week. In recent years, standalone concierge agencies, also known as lifestyle management companies, have emerged to serve high net worth individuals year-round.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe dayshift concierge at the storied Waldorf Astoria on Park Avenue said she is working to accommodate one guest\u2019s ask for 14 tickets. She was confident she could deliver. \u201cService is at the core of what we do,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\n\tHotels were all quick to point out that they have partnerships with ticketing agencies and hospitality companies, many of whom have access to tickets not available on secondary markets.<\/p>\n
\n\tCharlie Loor, the chief concierge at The Peninsula on Fifth Avenue, said he\u2019s been in touch with the hotel\u2019s ticket broker, Prominent Tickets, a lot this past week. Loor, who has been in hospitality for 16 years, characterizes wealthy guests\u2019 requests as not so much \u201cCan I get?\u201d but \u201cI need.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t(By the way, Loor, who was recognized in 2017 with the Rising Star Award at the annual Hotel Excellence Awards and then honored with the Silver Plume Award for Concierge of the Year in 2018, says the black toilet paper and Clinton\u2019s heart surgeon were actual asks from guests over the years. He delivered on both.)<\/p>\n
\n\tThe NBA controls certain seats at its marquee event, while the Knicks postponed a previously scheduled presale for fans last week. The team put a pair of front-row tickets up for auction to benefit charity. The winning bidders, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP and Veritas Capital, ponied up $1 million for the tickets.<\/p>\n
\n\tThose in \u201cneed\u201d have been left to work every angle they can, from bankers to sports agents, who might know just the right guy. Days before tip-off, Loor said these tickets are \u201camong the hottest sporting tickets we\u2019ve seen in New York in recent years,\u201d though he added it \u201chasn\u2019t quite reached the level of Taylor Swift\u2019s Eras Tour.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAnd the requests don\u2019t end at the arena door. Visitors have also inquired about locating sold-out jerseys, customized merch and coordinated gear for the whole family, Loor said. For some guests, the hotels also set up custom viewing opportunities around the city.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe concierge at the Four Seasons on 57th Street, who would only allow himself to be identified as M.L., said he will go to its ticket agencies first to try to secure Knicks tickets but will try other avenues if that falls short.<\/p>\n
\n\tAs a native of Morocco who lives in New Jersey, he says he\u2019s feeling his own squeeze for sports tickets these days, trying desperately to see his home country\u2019s team in the World Cup. \u201cThose tickets are untouchable right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\n\tSo what if a guest asked for a meetup at some point with Knicks superstar Jalen Brunson? The Peninsula\u2019s Loor said: \u201cWe\u2019d get it done.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lifeblood of any Manhattan luxury hotel begins and ends with one staffer: the concierge. Black toilet paper…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":259289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[10663,2365,37011,9,56,63,65,64,2114],"class_list":["post-259288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-knicks","tag-luxury-hotels","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york","tag-ny","tag-nyc","tag-nyc-headlines","tag-nyc-news","tag-tickets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/259289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}