“Line up for me and light a prayer candle at Longshan Temple!” “I want to buy a Lamborghini racing car that hasn’t been imported to Taiwan and costs over NT$20 million (US$622,000).” “Go to Tokyo or Hong Kong for me and buy 30 NT$50,000 Hermès Kelly handbags!” Whatever their honored cardholders ask for, platinum card concierges will carry out the order. There are plenty of people willing to fork out thousands or even tens of thousands of New Taiwan dollars to pay someone an hourly rate for queuing up on their behalf, all for the sake of grabbing limited-edition items.
Platinum card concierges also provide free services, such as planning itineraries for overseas trips, arranging visits to famous sites, looking up transport information, and suggesting performances, cultural events and in-depth travel experiences, as well as weather forecasts, exchange rates and advice about safety, health etc. All it takes is a phone call and platinum card customer service will have the information for you in next to no time.
The thing is, most people don’t know how to take advantage of these added-value services. According to figures provided by the Taipei office of emergency assistance company International SOS, which has signed contracts with several banks to offer concierge services for more than 10 million platinum card holders in Taiwan, they only receive about 10,000 phone calls a month asking for travel advice, meaning that only about one percent of eligible cardholders avail themselves of this free service each year.
“Actually we don’t just serve the wealthy. We can fix things for ordinary people, too,” says Keynes Chen, general manager of the Taiwan branch of International SOS. Chen recounts how one cardholder called in to say she had heard that a cultural experience of “being Japanese for a day” was being offered in Tokyo. The platinum card concierge checked and found that this free activity really was on offer, and helped make a booking for the client. The cardholder proceeded to take a trip to Japan and try out special experiences like wearing a kimono, and it didn’t cost her a cent.
Chen says there was another cardholder who wanted to stay at Dubai’s sail-shaped Burj al Arab Hotel but couldn’t afford the room rate of NT$60,000 to NT$70,000 a night. A platinum card concierge found out that there is a hotel across from the Burj al Arab that shares its beautiful sea view, but whose room rate is one tenth as expensive, allowing the cardholder to fulfill his dream.
For wealthy people, on the other hand, money is no object when seeking help. Some people have paid over NT$8,000 extra for someone to go to Taipei’s Longshan Temple and buy a prayer candle with a number near the top of the list, even though the charge for a candle is just NT$500. When an office worker in her 30s asked the customer service center to buy 30 Hermès Kelly handbags for her, they dispatched people to three major Asian cities to line up and buy the bags. The woman was happy to pay several thousand New Taiwan dollars extra in hourly fees for queuing up.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG)
「幫我到龍山寺排隊點光明燈！」「我要買一輛台灣沒進口、價值兩千多萬元（六十二萬兩千美元）的藍寶堅尼跑車！」「幫我到東京、香港排隊買三十個五萬元愛馬仕凱莉包！」只要尊貴卡友開口，白金秘書都使命必達，不少人也樂於付出數千元或數萬元的排隊鐘點費，只求搶到限量商品。
白金秘書也提供免費服務，出國旅遊的行程規劃、參觀景點、交通資訊、表演文化、深度體驗等建議，或是天氣、匯率、安全及健康等資訊，只要一通電話，白金秘書就可迅速提供訊息。
只是這些好康的服務，多數民眾卻不知道善加利用。與國內多家銀行簽定合約、為上千萬名白金卡以上用戶提供白金秘書服務的國際ＳＯＳ救援組織台北中心統計，每月只有約一萬通旅遊諮詢服務電話，等於每年只有約百分之一的卡友使用這項免費服務。
「其實我們不只為有錢人服務，也為一般人解決疑難雜症！」國際ＳＯＳ救援組織台灣分公司總經理陳楷植說，曾經有位卡友來電表示，聽說日本京都有「當一天日本人」的文化體驗，白金秘書查詢果然找到這項免費活動，並幫忙預訂，卡友開心赴日旅遊體驗穿和服等特殊經驗，一毛錢也沒花。
陳楷植又說，也有卡友想住杜拜帆船飯店，可是花不起一晚六、七萬元的房價，白金秘書發現帆船飯店對面有一家飯店，同樣有美麗海景，房價只要十分之一，讓卡友一圓夢想。
不過有錢人找白金秘書「相救」則是不計代價，有人為了到龍山寺點光明燈，多花了八千多元買到前端號碼牌，才能用五百元點燈。三十多歲的女性上班族要求買三十個凱莉包，白金秘書動員人力到亞洲三大城市排隊才買齊，這位小姐也樂於額外付出數千元的排隊鐘點費。
（自由時報記者李文儀）
The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has forced policymakers in Asia to face questions over the security of other maritime chokepoints, including the Strait of Malacca, which is the world’s busiest waterway for international trade. WHAT IS THE MALACCA STRAIT? The 900km long Malacca Strait, bounded by Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore, provides the shortest sea route from East Asia to the Middle East and Europe. It carries nearly 22 percent of the world’s maritime trade, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). This includes oil and gas shipments from the Middle East to the energy-hungry economies of China,
It seems like every year, new foods or drinks start trending and suddenly show up everywhere. A decade ago, avocado __1__ restaurant menus, while oat milk became the must-have addition to your coffee in cafes around five years back. The latest trend to hit this list is the pistachio. This flavorful green nut now features in everything from chocolate bars to Indian curries. While pistachios have long played a central role in certain regional cuisines, their recent global __2__ can be traced to Dubai. There, a specialty chocolate shop went __3__ on TikTok for one of its chocolate bars
One reason pistachios have taken the food world by storm compared to other nuts is their soft, green color. When ground down into a cream or butter, the green hue __6__ nicely with golden pastries or dark-brown chocolate, making it perfect for Instagram photos and TikTok videos. Their labor-intensive cultivation and __7__ also contribute to their image as a premium ingredient. Thus, buying a pistachio-based product often feels like a __8__ treat. Pistachios also stand out for their distinct flavor and health __9__. They have a subtle, sweet, earthy flavor that goes well with both sweet desserts and
Cameras are everywhere — in our pockets, on our walls and even in space. They capture emotions, preserve history and reflect culture. Through these devices, photography is now essential to modern life, influencing how we perceive ourselves and the world. To understand the root of their power, let’s explore the camera’s remarkable journey. The story begins with the camera obscura, a dark room with a tiny hole. Light passing through the opening projected an inverted image on the opposite wall. Renaissance artists used this principle to paint accurate scenes. However, these images couldn’t be preserved as photographs. That changed
RSS