Customer service is something Katherine Garnier knows a lot about: as Patrick Guilbaud's front-of-house person she has been tending to the needs of Ireland's top business people for 20 years, remembering where people like to sit, knowing who not to put sitting next to whom. Good training, perhaps, for the job she's doing now on a break from being on duty at Guilbaud's.
She's working as a property manager on the Riviera, offering everything from helping clients organise major refurbs to acting as a girl Friday to people who need someone to keep an eye on their holiday villa. Katherine lived in Nice for about 10 years some years ago, and came back to live in the city for a while a few months ago.
The idea of offering her services as a property manager was sparked when she saw how a friend involved in renovations "was being ripped off by everyone - architects, electricians, gardeners, builders. I was horrified - and it was happening because the people couldn't speak French. People here seem to think you're subnormal if you can't."
But Katherine can, fluently, and she had a good engineer/builder contact, Bruno Miraglia, whose company has been in business for 50 years: now she and Bruno have developed a business partnership, finding architects, project managers, and builders for clients who want to do renovations. That's one part of her service, but it's more general than that.
For one customer, she sits in on site meetings; for a family with a villa, she checks to make sure that everything's ready for family holidays. "I realised there's a need for a complete property service, for someone who can be the eyes and ears of property owners, basically, to give them peace of mind that their house is secure, there are no leaks, no break-ins, that gardeners are doing their jobs, etcetera."
It's not just that she's bilingual, it's that her experience means she understands local nuances - e.g., if you phone people between noon and 2pm, most locals will think you're a bit of a savage, she says - and knows the right people who won't rip you off.
"I can provide names of lawyers, notaries, landscape gardeners, plumbers, electricians, advice on schools, insurance, form filling, you name it. . . " And of course, good restaurants.
0033 674185137
ksgarnier@hotmail.com
