Just shy of three years old, he's an unlikely ambassador for Vancouver. Friendly, patient, and a little bit mischievous, he lounges in a bed near the concierge desk in the lobby of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver. His name is Beau, and he's a yellow Labrador who wears a Gucci collar and spends his days charming hotel guests and showing them the city.

"He's a failed Seeing Eye dog. He didn't make the cut," says concierge Debbie Harris, laughing affectionately. "But he's got such a cushy job now that I'm sure he's not too upset with himself." Harris tells the Straight that the hotel acquired Beau from B.C. Guide Dog Services about a year ago. He spends his days alongside Harris and goes home with her every night.

As a concierge, Harris can shape a visitor's stay into a memorable one. Concierges work at hotels throughout the city, advising guests on what to do and where to go. But as three concierges make clear, they do much more than that. From handling questions like where to buy a live chicken to serving as witnesses at weddings, they find no two days are the same.

One of the biggest challenges of the job is making people feel at home, and that's where Beau came in. Harris explains that the chain's Fairmont Waterfront pioneered the idea of a resident canine after canvassing guests on what they missed most when travelling. The Fairmont Hotel Vancouver acquired a dog named Mavis five years ago, and she proved so popular that Beau was added.

Each dog is permitted to go out for up to three walks per day, and guests enthusiastically sign up. "We give them a pooper-scooper bag and a few little treats and give them an idea of where to go in the city and what direction to go, and send them on their way," Harris says. "We've had a young couple the last three mornings…walking [Beau] around the sea wall, because they miss their dog. Then there are kids and families that want to take them. Then there's the corporate guest, the businessman, that wants to go out because he misses his dog."

Seeing Vancouver from the end of a leash simply makes some visitors' stays, and their happiness is Harris's goal. She's been a concierge with the hotel for 11 years and loves her job. "It's just very rewarding. I'd say 90 percent of the job is so positive. You're helping people see the city in its best form, sending them to the best places in town to make their trip the best."

Most of her day is filled with routine requests for sightseeing, directions, or restaurant recommendations. She loves meeting people and talking about the city, and says concierges must be social–and patient–by nature. "You have to have the same tone to your voice no matter what the question, no matter how many times you've answered it," she says amiably.

About 20 percent of the requests, she estimates, veer from the norm. She says there's really no limit to what a concierge will do for a guest, provided it's "not illegal or immoral". "We have a 'never say no' attitude," she says. "You never know what you're going to get asked, or who you're going to meet and what you're going to have to do."

For example, the day of the interview Harris had shopped and set up for a bride who wanted her room to be sprinkled with rose petals and a bath to be waiting, along with luxurious bath products, on her return from her wedding. Another time, when a guest in town for a job interview discovered that she had only packed running shoes, Harris ran out to purchase the exact pair of Salvatore Ferragamo shoes she had forgotten. Her team has accommodated requests such as sourcing 100 rain ponchos at the last minute and ordering a thousand cookies in the shape of Texas from a bakery.

Raymond Wong has had similarly quirky requests. A concierge at the Pan Pacific Vancouver since 2003, he relates that the hotel's concierge team once arranged for an Academy Award statue crafted out of cheese for a visiting producer. They've filled other extravagant desires, like requests for 10,000 roses.

"If you want to fly to the moon, we can fly you to the moon," Wong tells the Straight on the line from the hotel. "As long as it's ethical, anything is possible."

An extrovert with the gift of the gab, Wong is a natural for the job. "I love it," he says. "I enjoy the guest interaction, and multitasking and problem solving." He says it's very satisfying to recommend something and have a guest return happy, or to know that his suggestions have made a guest's trip easier. For example, the day of the interview he saved a lot of time for a guest who needed to get to Comox. The guest had arranged to go to Victoria, rent a car, and drive up the Island. Wong recommended that he take the ferry to Nanaimo, and booked him a car from there–a much more logical route.

At the Sutton Place Hotel, chef (head) concierge Geoffrey Argue loves his job so much that he's been doing it for 13 years. He's been with the hotel for 21 years and is also the Canadian chapter president of Les Clefs d'Or, an international organization for concierges.

Argue says he does everything from booking tours and airline tickets to renting guests a Lamborghini or Smart car. He has a stash of ties for guests who've forgotten theirs, and connections for wardrobe emergencies. The hotel has standing arrangements with stores like Harry Rosen and Holt Renfrew to open early or late for guests who've lost luggage and need an outfit now.

According to Argue, concierges don't go through specific schooling or training, but they usually have hotel, customer service, or hospitality experience. "It's a certain individual that is right for the job," he says, one that is outgoing, sincerely wants to help people, and knows the city well. "You must be very well versed in menus and restaurants," he says, because everybody wants to know where to eat. But "from the 85-year-old down to the 20-year-old, what they want for dinner and ambiance is going to be two completely different things," so you need to know how to talk to guests and read between the lines.

Since the Sutton Place has 165 apartments in addition to its hotel rooms, Argue caters to a lot of long-term celebrity guests. But if he's got gossip, he won't dish; staff discretion is "why people come to stay". He will say that "some [celebrity requests] might be a bit more challenging or a bit more grand…but their needs are the same as everybody else's. They want to eat dinner every night, they want to go shopping, they want to go to Whistler, Victoria, Tofino." He arranges private dining and shopping experiences for them.

Argue has had his share of unusual requests. In the wake of 9/11, when all the planes were grounded, his team helped an actor arrange for her breast milk to be transported by limo to her infant daughter in L.A. They redecorated another actor's apartment to make it look and feel like her New York residence. His team has located and flown up a specific coffee from Brazil for a guest. They've found a live chicken for a movie set, and chartered private jets for guests with emergencies.

"In 21 years, no day has been the same," Argue says. "You leave every day satisfied. Your brain is challenged every day."

He enjoys being part of guests' special moments, and has helped execute countless marriage proposals, as well as the weddings of couples who have spontaneously decided to get married in their hotel room, doing everything from finding the marriage commissioner to acting as a witness himself. "You're making people's memories for them," Argue says. And in the process, the best possible memories of Vancouver.