the underside of palaces informed by a concierge | EUROtoday

QWhat secrets and techniques conceal the alcoves of the good palaces? Behind the refined facades and splendid halls, everybody gravitates evening and day to fulfill the stays and typically essentially the most uncommon requests of the ultra-rich. Especially in relation to world celebrities… In a enjoyable work, soberly titled Palaces (ed. City), Mathieu Cammas, a former bellman who labored in a number of prestigious lodge concierge companies, determined to interrupt the secrecy and unpack his unpublished reminiscences, which in precept stay jealously guarded – a golden rule for very rich purchasers…

We be taught some nice issues in regards to the stars, like Madonna who in 2015 wished to put in a rehearsal room within the Formosa lodge, with dance flooring and partitions coated with mirrors so she may observe. All this for 3 days of presence in Paris… The palace is slowing down: it will take a month of labor earlier than the singer’s arrival and a month to revive every part after her departure. When we offered her with the quote, the singer ended up giving up…

Russel Crown lifeless drunk

Mathieu Cammas additionally remembers some embarrassing scenes, notably when the actor Russell Crowe, very tipsy, bellowed like loopy on a desk within the Grand Albion bar. The safety crew needed to shortly intervene to convey him again to his room… Big stress too with Justin Bieber storming the pool along with his mates smoking “XXL-sized joints”, remodeling the place into an actual aquarium the place you would “cut the smoke with a knife”. Here once more, the employees intervenes to chase them away diplomatically…

But the palm of Very Unbearable People (in French: “very unbearable people”), because the ex-hunter calls them, goes with out query to Mariah Carrey, identified for making her employees dwell hell – she even pays an assistant simply to carry her chewing gum when she barks his orders or provides interviews… One day, she urgently asks for an eyeshadow palette, our man does his analysis however notices that there are solely ones in London. ” Yes I know ! So what? Where is the problem? I’ll pay for your ticket,” says the star. The employee therefore goes back and forth during the day to collect the pallet… which she will not use during her stay.

An albino peacock

Impossible to say no to customers who pay rubbish. Mathieu Cammas must therefore go out of his way to satisfy all kinds of crazy demands: having a marriage proposal appear on the Eiffel Tower, hiring the French patrol for a private passage in the air – the army will refuse –, reserving two places in a swingers club, installing a private gym in the suites, finding an albino peacock to decorate a room… When it comes to pets, the anecdotes are legion: some want to come with their baby puma or even a domestic jaguar… One family even asked to buy a dog for three days to keep their daughter occupied: the management made them understand that this was not possible. “You just have to rent it!” » reply the customers.

Saudi princes are by far the biggest spenders, with suitcases of cash to pay for extras. The ex-groom says that they usually rent three entire floors to accommodate the family and their suite, with one floor remaining empty to ensure total confidentiality, with protection reinforced by a wave jammer installed on the balcony. The servants sometimes sleep on the floor, in the corridors, very close to the suitcases… The contents of the minibars are systematically emptied, to remain faithful to the precepts of the Koran. But in reality, many fill their fridges with bottles purchased on site, to avoid them appearing on the palace’s official bill, paid for by the royal family…

For Mathieu Cammas, born in 93 and hired there by chance, working in these establishments was a staggering and enriching period in every way – his salary could sometimes approach 10,000 euros per month with tips. And certain memories remain forever engraved in his memory, like the day when he sang with Céline Dion in his suite: while the employee thinks he is alone, after leaving a package, he begins to hum “Sous le vent”, the hit by Garou, when he suddenly sees the singer arrive, jeans and bare feet, who asks him to continue. “Come on, let’s sing together, just for fun!” » And the star to accompany him in a duet… “Karaokes like this, you do not have two in a lifetime”, he concludes…

To Discover



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Answer

To learn: Palacesby Mathieu Cammas, with Julia Freund (City- éditions, 272 p., 18.50 euros).