The lifeblood of any Manhattan luxury hotel begins and ends with one staffer: the concierge. Black toilet paper in your room? No problem. A meetup with former President Bill Clinton’s cardiologist? Scheduled. Custom-made jeans finely tailored to your sizes? They’ll be in your drawer. On and on go the seemingly insurmountable asks.
Then there’s tickets for the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden in the NBA Finals.
Ahead of New York’s first Finals home game this century on Monday, concierges told Sportico that they were hustling for guests to score tickets. Online, stubs as of Monday morning started at $5,000, although five-star hotel guests are unlikely to only want to get in the door.
One concierge agency landed seats for a client at $176,000 each, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Some may not even be Knicks fans—these are largely out-of-towners we’re talking about—but Madison Square Garden promises to be the place to be (and be seen) this week. In recent years, standalone concierge agencies, also known as lifestyle management companies, have emerged to serve high net worth individuals year-round.
