The hotel-style services you can enjoy

As downsizing has given way to rightsizing, a new breed of homeowner is exercising their right to outsource. From dog walking to gift buying, personal drivers to private chefs, today’s concierge services have become so much more than the glorified parcel-minding amenities of yore. Time poor homeowners are increasingly seeing the value of bringing the hotel lifestyle home by happily handing over daily tasks — and the real estate industry is taking note.

The global concierge services market was valued at US$647.30 million in 2022, and is predicted to hit $1.1 billion by 2032 according to Allied Market Research data. While there are no comparable Australian-only statistics, anecdotal evidence suggests our local market is set to explode as stretched-thin professionals seek out additional at-home help.

Interested in more stories like this? Order your copy of Autumn 2024 Kanebridge Quarterly magazine here.

Concierge on call

Comprehensive concierge services are now a hot commodity in lavish new residential developments, especially those targeting “rightsizers” relocating from big family homes to lock-up-and-leave apartments. Once just a smiling face in the lobby of upmarket inner-city unit blocks, the role of a concierge in 2024 goes beyond simply signing for packages and surveilling security cameras.

The Landmark in Sydney’s Lower North Shore is a $1.4 billion development offering residents access to its Club 500. The exclusive club includes traditional aides such as house keeping, restaurant bookings and car washing, with additional high end helpers like chauffeurs, event managers, interior decorators and personal shoppers.

The music room in the Landmark on Sydney’s Lower North Shore is just one of several services available to residents.

On the riverfront in Melbourne’s Docklands precinct, Seafarers (a joint venture between Riverlee and 1 Hotels) is part five-star hotel, part residential development giving permanent residents the opportunity to cash in on the hospitality. Homeowners at the $550 million project set to open in late 2024 can tap into all the guest services of the luxury accommodation.

“Residents will benefit from a blend of the best hotel amenities with curated residential offerings, including organic pantry stocking, botanical and pet care, eco-conscious housekeeping, private chefs, in-room massages and access to the hotel’s event programming,” says Riverlee’s development director, David Lee. “The breadth of services on offer combines convenience, luxury, and responsibility into an unparalleled residential experience.”

Lee says Australian’s desire for concierge services is increasing as the needs of local luxury property buyers continue to evolve.

“As a developer, we saw a need to cater to this demand and provide residents with access to the services that allow them more time to enjoy life and experience luxury within the comfort of their homes,” he adds. “As we navigate the new norm post-pandemic, integrated services have become an enabler of a more balanced lifestyle, and we recognise that people are looking for a complete lifestyle upgrade, which begins in the home.”

A life of service

Evan Cannan, operations manager with building management company Lefand, has been a professional concierge for more than two decades, first in five star hotels and now in a residential setting. Lefand will provide building services at new residential development Akoya, a 55s project in Greenwich, Sydney.

“The types of services and facilities are becoming more high end, especially over the past five to 10 years, compared with the concierges we remember from the 1980s and 1990s,” Cannan says. “These additional services mean apartments are achieving a higher price point, but with that comes higher strata fees.

“However, most buyers are happy to pay for it because they’ve reached that stage of their lives when they appreciate it.

“These people have seen the benefits of having a concierge within their office space, or they’ve travelled the world and experienced luxury concierges in places like Dubai and Singapore.”

The Akoya development by Lefand will have a virutal driving range, complete with bar.

Although there was once a great divide between a hotel concierge and an apartment concierge, Cannan says the lines have now blurred.

“A great concierge needs to have a wealth of information at their fingertips. Without even looking having to look it up they should be able to know the best restaurants in the area, what events are on and where, and just be able to advise residents with personal requests.”

He says the job calls for plenty of patience and discretion.

“I’ve had no limit of extraordinary requests over the years including one lady who used to send me off with her ATM card to get large sums of money out for her, but sometimes it’s as ordinary as looking something up on Google Maps when you know they could have found the information themselves,” he says.

Moving forward, Cannan predicts concierge services will likely be shaped by client demand as apartment buildings become vertical villages.

“Just looking at what’s available within services around the world, I think there’s still a lot more to come to Australia,” he says. “A good concierge service is regularly having those discussions with residents about what they want and don’t want.”

Helping hand at home

Brand new apartment developments aren’t the only bricks and mortar getting the concierge treatment. Melbourne-based real estate agency Kay & Burton launched its in-house concierge service two years ago with a handful of offerings. What started as a service organising removalists and connecting homeowners with tradespeople has morphed into more than 100 preferred partners and associates.

Cath Stubbings, director of Kay & Burton’s concierge team, says due to overwhelming demand for a suite of lifestyle requirements, the team has grown exponentially.

“It started with us wanting to service our clients with their property-related needs. As a result of finding trades for them we naturally started getting asked for more lifestyle-related things,” she says, adding that the evolution has stemmed from a desire for a better work/life balance.

Director of Kay & Burton’s concierge team, Cath Stubbings

“Many of our clients have fairly senior roles, or run their own businesses, and they’re reevaluating what’s the best use of their time. Those working quite long hours see the value of outsourcing tasks they may have normally done themselves.”

Since COVID lockdowns, Stubbings says her clients are spending more time travelling so are seeking a professional shoulder to lean on.

“We look after their home while they’re away, which involves anything from visiting the property regularly to checking mail, watering gardens, turning lights on and off, putting blinds up and down, meeting trades, arranging cleaners or even putting food in the fridge.

“The idea is when they return they’ve got a welcoming house to come back to and it gives them peace of mind.”

As the sector grows, Stubbings says the requests are also becoming more bespoke.

“Now we even have people asking us to stock their cellars,” she says. “There’s a trade on our platform specialising in building cellars so they liaise with the client to get an idea of what types of wine they like, what balance they want, and then go about sourcing those wines and building the cellar up from scratch.”

Stubbings says with the work from home phenomenon, the need for help at home will likely continue to grow.

“Over the next three to five years we’re going to see more people calling on a wide range of concierge services as individuals travel more or spend time building businesses,” she says.

“It’ll become more common to seek out people like us who can support you getting things done around the home.”

Must even steak be politicised? The American Heart Association recently recommended eating more “plant-based” protein in a move to counter the Health and Human Services Department’s new guidelines calling for more red meat.

Few would argue that eating a Big Mac a day is good for you.

On the other hand, growing evidence, including a study last month in the Journal of the American Medical Association, suggests that eating more meat—particularly unprocessed red meat—can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in the quarter or so of people with a particular genetic predisposition.

The APOE4 gene variant is one of the biggest risk factors for Alzheimer’s.

You inherit one copy of the APOE gene from each parent. The most common variant is APOE3; the least is APOE2.

The latter carries a lower risk of Alzheimer’s, while the former is neutral. A quarter of people carry one copy of the APOE4 variant, and about 2% carry two.

APOE4 is more common among people with Northern European and African ancestry. In Europe the variant increases with latitude, and is present in as many as 27% of people in northern countries versus 4% in southern ones. God smiled on the Italians and Greeks.

For unknown reasons, the APOE4 variant increases the risk of Alzheimer’s far more for women than men.

Women’s risk multiplies roughly fourfold if they have one copy and tenfold if they have two. Men with a single copy show little if any higher risk, while those with two face four times the risk.

What makes APOE4 so pernicious? Scientists don’t know exactly, but the variant is also associated with higher cholesterol levels—even among thin people who eat healthily.

Scientists have found that cholesterol builds up in brain cells of APOE4 carriers, which can disrupt communications between neurons and generate amyloid plaque, an Alzheimer’s hallmark.

The Heart Association’s recommendation to eat less red meat may be sound advice for people with high cholesterol caused by indulgent diets.

But a diet high in red meat may be better for the brains of APOE4 carriers.

In the JAMA study, researchers at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute examined how diet, particularly meat consumption, affects dementia risk among seniors with the different APOE variants.

Higher consumption of meat, especially unprocessed red meat, was associated with significantly lower dementia risk for APOE4 carriers.

APOE4 carriers who consumed the most meat—the equivalent of 4.5 ounces a day—were no more likely to develop dementia than noncarriers. (

The study controlled for other variables that are known to affect Alzheimer’s risk including sex, age, physical activity, smoking, alcohol consumption and education.)

APOE4 carriers who ate the most unprocessed meat were at significantly lower risk of dying over the study’s 15-year period and had lower cholesterol than carriers who ate less. Go figure. Noncarriers, however, didn’tenjoy similar benefits from eating more red meat.

The study’s findings are consistent with two large U.K. studies.

One found that each additional 50 grams of red meat (equivalent to half a hamburger patty) that an APOE4 carrier consumed each day was associated with a 36% reduced risk of dementia.

The other found that older women who carried the APOE4 variant and consumed at least one serving a day of unprocessed red meat had a cognitive advantage over carriers who ate less than half a serving, and that this advantage was of roughly equal magnitude to the cognitive disadvantage observed among APOE4 carriers in general.

In all three studies, eating more red meat appeared to negate the increased genetic risk of APOE4.

Perhaps one reason men with the variant are at lower Alzheimer’s risk than women is that men eat more red meat.

These findings might cause chagrin to women who rag their husbands about ordering the rib-eye instead of the heart-healthy salmon.

But remember, the cognitive benefits of eating more red meat appear isolated to APOE4 carriers.

Nutrition is complicated, and categorical recommendations—other than perhaps to avoid nutritionally devoid foods—would best be avoided by governments and health bodies.

Readers can order an at-home test from any number of companies to screen for the APOE4 variant.

The Swedish researchers hypothesize that APOE4 carriers may be evolutionarily adapted to carnivorous diets, since the variant is believed to have emerged between one million and six million years ago during a “hypercarnivorous” period in human history.

The other two APOE variants originated more recently, during eras when humans ate more plants.

APOE4 carriers may absorb more nutrients from meat than plants, the researchers surmise. Vitamin B12—low levels have been associated with cognitive decline—isn’t naturally present in plant-based foods but is abundant in red meat.

Foods high in phytates (such as grains and beans) can interfere with absorption of zinc and iron (also high in red meat), which naturally declines with age. So maybe don’t chuck your steak yet.

The hotel-style services you can enjoy — without leaving home

The apartment concierge goes mainstream as luxury developments take service to a new level

At least for people who carry the APOE4 genetic variant, a juicy steak could keep the brain healthy.