Attache Press Release

Financial Post - Wendy Cuthbert

Peace of mind while on the road

Tea at Buckingham Palace, a private viewing of the Sistine Chapel, concert tickets for Celine Dion in Japan - Attaché has arranged it all.

Attaché in Toronto, is a travel concierge service that will take care of every travel-related concern - and then some. From booking dinner reservation in Paris to feeding the finicky cats while you're away, Attaché personal service assistants will take care of every possible hassle of planning and executing a vacation. There's no cookie-cutter approach at Attaché - everything is customized to a CLIENT'S needs. The driving philosophy, however, is effortless travel. "Our clients don't want to have to think".

Adventure travellers they're not. In fact, Attaché works very hard to take pesky unknowns out of the travel experience. While removing the unexpected might, to some, go against the very nature of travel, very few people would wax poetic about the pleasures of booking concert tickets. Besides, these 'travel connoisseurs' (as the company describes its clients) work hard for their money - many are entrepreneurs, devoting a substantial amount of time to their work.

They don't want to waste any time planning a trip. In fact, they don't' even have to leave their office or home - an Attaché consultant will come to them.

The cliché, "Everything has a price," is taken quite literally at Attaché. A menu outlines the fees for such services as booking a flight, making a ticket reservation and housesitting.

The tab can add up quite quickly - but that's not a worry for the upmarket audience Attaché covets. "They put experience above nickel-and-diming". Meanwhile, the assistants, many of whom come from a concierge background and so are familiar with the lifestyles and wants of this breed of traveller, carry pagers so they can be reached at any time. It's like having your very own minion.

While Attaché is marketed nationally (the company has a second office in CEO-rich Calgary), it's also featured in-store at Toronto's upscale clothier, Holt Renfrew. There, a concierge is at the beck and call of patrons and will, it appears, do almost anything - from finding the perfect dry cleaner for removing a nasty stain from a new Armani suit to hunting down exactly where in this city one can buy her favourite brand of balsamic vinegar.

Proof that, if money can't buy happiness, it can go a long way toward buying preciousness. For the traveller with more modest concerns and budgets, a service such as Housesitters fits the bill. The company, which started in 1981, sells housesitting (live-in or out) and pet care services. About 60% of Housesitters' clients are not pet owners, says Jamie Osborne, director of business development for the Toronto-based company.

He says many clients, particularly snowbirds who spend a lot of time out of the country, hire the company in order to make their homes look lived-in and to validate their insurance: Some policies insist frequent and mandatory inspections be made in order to make a valid claim.

Depending on the season and whether a booking is made in advance, a live-in housesitter will cost anywhere from $300 to $400 a week (eight days), he says.

A pet sitter, meanwhile, will often cost less than putting the animal in a kennel. Housesitter clients, come from many backgrounds, from weekend to corporate travellers. "It's fragmented," he says. But income level becomes even less important when a pet is involved.