Nov. 6--Convincing hotel managers that friendly greetings and troubleshooting are vital for the bottom line has never been more important for South Florida's concierges, who met at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts Monday to map out ways they could weather the current economic storm. 

"General managers need to understand the concierge is the personality and face of the hotel," said Miguel Pena, chief concierge at the Wyndham Grand Bay Coconut Grove. 

Pena was one of 70 concierges who met for the Southern Florida, Gold Coast and Palm Beach Concierge Associations' third annual meet-and-greet. 

"Concierges are ambassadors. Without us, the hotel's just a large building full of rooms," he said. 

Concierges, the hospitality industry's version of a maitre d', are among those most vulnerable to hotel cutbacks. Most attendees at Monday's meeting were working fewer hours -- some were clocking just three days per week -- and had been assimilated into the reservations department or the front desk. 

The transfer can sting. Concierges depend heavily on tips: their base salaries can start as low as $15,000 to $20,000, but gratuities, in general, pump earnings up to between $30,000 and $40,000. 

Still, the concierges at Monday's meeting had managed to escape layoffs. 

"One of the first places in South Florida that managers reduced labor was at the concierge desk," Richard Hayduk, vice president and resident manager of Palm Beach's Breakers Hotel, told the crowd. "Hotels are buildings sitting on expensive real estate. Payrolls need to be adjusted." 

A publicist who works closely with concierges said that many felt underappreciated long before the slowdown. 

"Concierges are not all that respected in their hotels," said Rae Soder of Concierge Choice, a company that provides concierges with nightclub and restaurant information to relay to guests. "They're treated like fluff." 

Concierges not only make guests feel at home, Soder said, but help spur the local economy by referring guests to restaurants and attractions. 

If concierges want to make their importance known, Hayduk said, they need to quantify their work by tracking how many additional room-nights they generate, how many in-house restaurant reservations they book, and how many guests they bring back. 

"Hotel managers are increasingly leaning toward the numbers, and presidents are being replaced by CPAs. But you can't argue with numbers," he said. "Count how many reservations you make. Make your everyday duties more important and relevant to the general managers. Convince them you're a necessity, not a luxury." 

John Hearns, general manager at Marriott's Harbor Beach in Fort Lauderdale, urged concierges to generate business by calling former guests and inviting them back. Rafael Villa, general manager for the Fortune House hotel in Miami, said concierges needed to be more flexible by "cross training," specifically by filling in at the front desk, reservations department and with the sales team. 

Many concierge desks, like the one at Marriott Biscayne Bay, have been assimilated with the front desk since Sept. 11. 

Pena, who helped facilitate Monday's event, said cross-training efforts should go both ways. 

"For one day, the managers should walk in our shoes, doing everything we do, at the spur of the moment," he said. "Then they'll see if this is a position they can let go." 

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