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That’s Rich!

Ever wonder how the wealthy spend their dough? Meet one Phoenix man who caters to the rich and famous, then check out some services that target Valley VIPs.

Tending to a rich person’s every need takes a special kind of person. Tending to a rich person’s needs 50-plus hours a week takes a saint.
 Steve Morris (not his real name) is director of guest services at a prestigious Phoenix-area resort and has had so many odd requests from wealthy guests that he says they don’t even faze him anymore.
“Rich people. They are definitely… particular,” Morris says. “They leave their house and they come and stay at the resort and think they should get everything they have at home, and if we don’t have every little thing, they get irritated. And sometimes they scream and call us idiots.”
And sometimes they want a bowl of blue M&Ms.
At least, that’s what a certain celebrity wants whenever he stays at the resort. Other high-profile or extremely wealthy guests fill out contracts with outrageous requests just to test the wait staff, Morris says.
For instance, let’s say a rock band takes up eight rooms in the resort, with one person staying in each room. The band’s contract might ask Morris to put three bottles of water in the first room, six bottles in the second, nine bottles in the third, and so on. No rhyme or reason, just because they can, he says.
A big trend now, especially among celebrities, is to order everything organic and/or gluten-free, Morris adds. These requests can make Morris’ schedule unpredictable.
“There are days I have to stay hours late because some guy needs a box of unsalted slivered almonds or whatever else,” he says. “I’m so immune to it that I don’t even think about it anymore. People assume that we have everything in the world on stock, but we don’t.”
With enough notice, Morris and his team can grant almost any request, but many high-end guests check in without notice and expect their detailed demands to be met right away.
“When you’re at an oversized resort and you’re trying to feed 1,000 people and you have Joe Shmo who wants something the hotel doesn’t carry, you find yourself running out to the store pretty often,” he says.
And if Morris can’t tend to your every need, there are plenty of other places in the Valley that can. Check out the following luxurious services the Valley has to offer to those with some – OK, a lot of – coin to spare.