For Quintessentially Group founder, luxury is all about having the time to reflect
Ben Elliot started the bespoke concierge company in 2000, and 17 years on, he talks about the definition of luxury and how Chinese tastes are changing
Ben Elliot, the co-founder of concierge company Quintessentially Group, explains why technology is not the height of luxury, and what the elite in China are really looking for.
You wake up in the morning to emails from East Asia and stay up late for phone calls from the US. How long are your working hours?
I don’t actually count them. I tend to wake up very early, probably because I like to exercise first thing in the morning. My day usually starts at 5.30am, and I go to bed around midnight. My hours are long, but I don’t know anything different. My family helps to keep me grounded, especially my two children who are under the age of four. I have been doing this for most of my adult life, so my schedule feels normal.
When Quintessentially started in 2000, there were just three in your team. What was one of the hardest challenges you faced?
Everything was hard, because nobody knew who we were. The idea of a concierge at that time was a totally novel concept. Some people used to make huge requests just to challenge us, such as having tea with the queen on the same day. The funny thing is that the more Quintessentially has developed, the more normal all of this has become.