RE: onwards and upwards9 Jan 2019 22:03
If the business model works, there is plenty of profit to be had.
https://www.tenconcierge.com/en/
Membership starts from £130 per month.
That is £1,560 a year = £130 x 12
That is for non-affinity members, i.e. anybody who wants to pay, can get it.
£1,560 is comparable to the American Express Centurion set up, but that one is invitation only.
HSBC Jade members get access through our own portal, but it's clear that the service is provided by TEN.
Wouldn't HSBC Private Bank customers feel insulted if they had to use a portal for Jade members, a lesser breed? So I assume there is a www.concierge.privatebank.hsbc.com portal for those Private bank account holders.
I assume there are different levels of membership, and charging structure.
Does Coutts pay TEN £2,000 a year membership fee, for a private bank account holder, so TEN can make as much commission as TEN can?
We give you rich client to fleece, and we pay you as well?
Coutts can't be that dumb.
If Coutts manages your money, the funds it buys for you pays Coutts a commission.
So, if Coutts invests £100k for you in a fund called Global Active Oppoortunities, GAO deducts £5,000 in upfront charges, and hands £2,000 to Coutts.
The way I expect it to work with a concierge service is this:
A member charters a plane to take his family to Courchevel, from his estate in Yorkshire.
TEN has charter companies that will play ball, i.e. pay commission/kickback, which they call partners.
The member can get to a local airport easily, but they need to get to Grenoble by plane, followed by helicopter transfer to Courchevel. Sky and Snow Ltd. charges £30,000 for this service normally. On paper, the member pays £30,000 to Sky and Snow Ltd, and TEN seems not to make a penny. 10% kickback means Sky and Snow Ltd. pays £3,000 to TEN. As part of the customer fleecing agreement, TEN then pays £1,500 to Coutts.
The FCA might be clamping down on opaque charging structures where investment is concerned, but there is nothing to stop banks gouging customers through concierge services. The hotel booking system is full of hidden commission structures, too. Booking.com still makes plenty money after they give me a Genius Discount. It's easy, when they already bumped the price up beforehand.
I knew from other incentives and perks that HSBC has no intention of spending a penny on me.
They do, however, try to fleece me like I'm a sheep, at every opportunity.
The idea that they will pay £1,560 membership for me is utterly absurd.
The really sad thing is, an idiot could pay £1,560 a year to join, for the privilege of getting fleeced.
Took me a while, but I think this is their business model.
It's basically estate agent V2.0 . The conceierge is the ultimate middle man.
They don't own or operate trains, planes and automobiles.
They don't change a single bedsheet in hotels.
They just take a cut.
What would you do?
Start a competing concierge business, or buy some
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