Colin Foster, Virtual ServiceAfter more than a decade spent crafting and perfecting our technologically-advanced alternative to a live doorman, Virtual Doorman, a New York-based provider of remote doorman and security services, has been expanding with new features every year, including an exclusive partnership with Abigail Michaels and an enhanced mobile app. To date, we serve residents in more than 200 New York City buildings, providing an extensive menu of customized services – including video security, electronic access control and alarm monitoring – at a fraction of the cost of full-time staff. The service is available for buildings of between one and 150 units.
One of the primary reasons for our success has been our ability to continually evaluate our service platform and adjust accordingly. We recently announced an exclusive partnership with Abigail Michaels, New York City’s premier provider of at-home, five-star hotel quality concierge services. This provides residents of Virtual Doorman buildings with “Red Hat Concierge” service – the same superior concierge service provided by many of New York’s most luxurious hotels and condominiums with on-site staff. Red Hat Concierge services include arranging for travel, catering, personal training, massage and spa services, dog walking, theater tickets as well as countless other tasks.
Red Hat Concierge is, in fact, more an experience than a service. It effectively revolutionizes what today’s luxury, urban lifestyle means by putting a diverse array of on-call concierge services at the tip of residents’ fingers. The classic “white glove” treatment can now be accessed at every Silver or Gold level Virtual Doorman building. With every service and convenience we add, Virtual Doorman becomes more valuable to our customers and that’s our goal.
In addition to Abigail Michaels, we also unveiled an enhanced mobile app that allows residents to access services directly from their smartphones. The new app, available for iOS and Android devices, allows residents on-the-go access to the ever-growing list of services that sets us apart—in essence putting their doorman in their pocket and enabling them to manage their lives while on-the-go. Users can remotely allow visitor and guest access, receive packages and deliveries and view related logs. With one click, residents can also contact building managers from the app, order key fobs, and even contact us directly to schedule a range of Red Hat concierge services.
The launch of this app comes following a significant investment of time, money and energy and reflects our commitment to constantly adding services and convenience for our Virtual Doorman clients. We’ll continue to increase our suite of services and look forward to developing new ways to make amenities associated with modern, urban living available to more people.
While we currently have a primary presence in New York City, we can be found in all of the boroughs, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Baltimore and San Francisco, with plans to expand further into California, Boston, the Washington, D.C.-area, Chicago and gated communities across the country.
Thanks in no small part to our ever-expanding service platform; we have been incredibly active in Queens, where we are now the service of choice for hundreds of rental apartments, cooperatives, and condominiums.
In addition to our success in Queens, we just launched in Baltimore’s historic Federal Hill at Heath Street Lofts, an early twentieth century manufacturing warehouse converted to 59 luxury residential homes.
As more and buildings become amenity-driven with a higher tech, more modern approach to the services provided, including video security and alarm monitoring, vendor and guest access, and hotel-like concierge services, residents have come to see that the technology we offer, paired with our back office support and command center, make it ultimately superior to a traditional doorman.
Colin Foster is the president of Virtual Service, New York, N.Y.
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