QUINTESSENTIALLY
59 Ninth Ave., Ste.
201 800-414-9840; quintessentially.com
Any competent assistant can book your Broadway tickets or hotel reservations. What’s special about Quintessentially, aside from a pleasing snap-to-it level of service, is the reach of the company’s connections. It’s not that they’ll just get you tickets or reservations. It’s that they’ll get you what’s most sold-out and in-demand: Spamalot tickets, say, or two seats at Masa, or everything you need to throw a party on twelve hours’ notice. Started by Ben Elliot (he’s Camilla Parker Bowles’s nephew) and his partner, Aaron Simpson, in London, the service has now expanded to New York, gaining a chic clientele—Gwyneth, Mick, Madonna—along the way. The gimmick is 24/7/365 service, offered at three levels. A flat $1,500 a year lets you talk to any concierge whenever you want. For $3,500 you get your own personal staff member, available during working hours. And if you’re really high-maintenance, $40,000 a year will get a full-on assistant who will cater to your whims any time of the day or night. (The fees are, of course, just for the service—you still have to pay for your tickets and dinners and such.) It’s aimed at “people who have a lot of money and not a lot of time,” says Caroline Homlish, who heads up the New York office. Sound like anyone you know?