PERKS—All-Star Celeb Treatment Just Way of Doing Business

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The L.A. Zoo isn’t the only place in town where celebrity gains access or wealth generates perks.

Catering to the rich and famous is a time-honored tradition a way to boost business for many L.A.-area stores, museums and restaurants that see courting VIPs with perks ranging from the simple to the bizarre as a way to build their reputations or attract donor dollars. And most of the perks are far more benign than a dance with a dragon at the Zoo, which turned out to be a painful and well-publicized experience last week for San Francisco Chronicle Executive Editor Phil Bronstein.

Welcome to a world where stores open when you please, your hairdresser makes house calls, and hotel minibars are stocked with your favorite snacks.

From custom-made pajamas for certain hotel guests at The Peninsula Hotel in Beverly Hills to a stroll with a tiger at the Wildlife Waystation in the Angeles National Forest, there is little these places won’t do for the elite.

When actress Dyan Cannon visits the nonprofit Waystation animal refuge, she can take a walk with a chimp or a tiger, said founder and Director Martine Colette.

“(If) Dyan comes down here and she wants to go for a walk, we go for a walk,” Colette said, adding that Cannon is a major Waystation supporter.

The Los Angeles Zoo last week was reviewing its policy of providing celebrities and potential donors with VIP visits after Bronstein, husband of actress Sharon Stone, had a toe chomped by a Komodo dragon.

Bronstein’s injury, which was the talk of San Francisco last week, struck a sensitive chord among L.A. businesses catering to the rich and famous. On a routine basis, restaurateurs, club owners and museum directors must decide whether to give preferential treatment to VIPs, and if so, how much?

“We pride ourselves on being the best, and that means we don’t say ‘No,'” said Gabrielle Reims, a spokeswoman for The Peninsula.

Special touches include free luxury car rentals, monogrammed pillows and access to the back entrance. To accommodate individual preferences, the hotel will do anything from install black-out curtains on windows to outfit a room with furniture provided by the guest. Special touches include free luxury car rentals, monogrammed pillows and access to the back entrance. To accommodate individual preferences, the hotel will do anything from install black-out curtains on windows to outfit a room with furniture provided by the guest.

The Peninsula even has someone’s favorite iced tea flown in from overseas.

“It is expensive (to provide these services) but when people are paying $3,000 a night, you absorb the cost of some iced tea here and there,” Reims said. “This kind of attention to detail keeps people coming back.”


Catering to the client

Among those businesses who have built a name on catering to the rich and famous is Harry Winston Inc., the international jeweler whose Beverly Hills store is known for loaning glittering gems to Academy Award nominees on Oscar night.

The store will fly sales representatives abroad to meet with clients and tends to VIPs during non-business hours, said Dawn Moore, West Coast sales director for Harry Winston.

“Whenever we know someone likes something in particular, we always have it available for them,” she added. “That’s what makes for good client relations, that you’re sensitive and thoughtful to their luxury needs.”

That thoughtfulness has even been extended to pets. The store once decked out Geena Davis’ dog in $5 million worth of canary diamonds for a personal photo session, Moore said.

For Ali Soltani, vice president of David Orgell, a Rodeo Drive shop that sells luxury gift items, making special accommodations for famous clients is a way to build up his business.

He sometimes flies customers overseas to view merchandise and provides two private rooms in his store. “Their celebrity hampers their ability to purchase… so we accommodate them,” Soltani said. “That’s how we keep the clients, we maintain the standards they require.”

Many merchants go to great lengths to ensure the privacy of renowned customers.

After pop star Michael Jackson was hounded by fans while perusing the porcelain sculptures at the Lladro showroom in Beverly Hills, the store began attending to him and other stars on the third floor, which is closed to the public.

“When (celebrities) walk into the store, it really disrupts business,” said store manager Randy Soto. “It’s just easier for us to have them on the third floor.”

Not all business owners provide their clients with private showrooms, but that doesn’t mean they don’t go out of their way to get stars in the door.

“We are absolutely willing to close the store for these people,” said Robin Geerts, manager of Christofle, a silver shop in Beverly Hills. “We know they’re serious, so we want to give them our full attention,” she said of celebrities and other “serious” customers.


Feeling special

Making the rich and famous feel special is critical to keeping them as customers. When billionaire Marvin Davis walks into Spago Beverly Hills, a purple oversized chair designed by Barbara Lazaroff, wife of Chef Wolfgang Puck, awaits him.

“You just know there are certain things that people like or what their favorite things are and you cater to them,” said Jannis Swerman, a spokeswoman for Wolfgang Puck Fine Dining.

Catering to one of his star clients, Hank Maarse of Jacob Maarse Florists in Pasadena carries the Barbra Streisand rose, a lavender hybrid created for the performer.

But Streisand isn’t the only one who gets special treatment at Jacob Maarse.

He recalled getting a call one night from someone who had forgotten Cher’s birthday and asked to have a bouquet of white lilies and roses prepared and delivered to the performer. Maarse fulfilled the request, even though it required driving to Palm Springs.

“This kind of business, a lot of it built on word of mouth,” he said. “If you do something like this… (the word) is kind of spread around.”

For that truly special feeling, American Express Co. offers its richest customers the Centurion card, a piece of plastic that allows holders to make multimillion-dollar purchases, no questions asked.

“What makes the Centurion card unique is that you can literally go and buy an island (with it),” said Stanley Washington, vice president of the western region of American Express Establishment Services.

The Centurion and its many benefits, such as free upgrades on the Concorde and 24-hour personal concierge service, “gives us a branding or a trademark that’s our own,” Washington said.

Not every business is looking to trade perks for higher revenues.

Familiar with the star treatment, actress Connie Stevens said she isn’t trying to drum up business when she makes special accommodations or has presents on hand for some of the rich and famous who visit her Los Angeles spa, The Garden Sanctuary.

“I just think of the things that I would like to have,” she said.

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