Although more and more people are becoming familiar with the term “concierge,”very few know where this customer-service-based profession originated.

The word “concierge” evolved from the French comte des cierges, the “keeper of the candles,” a term that referred to the servant who attended to the whims of visiting noblemen at medieval castles.

Eventually, the name “concierge” came to stand for the keepers of the keys at public buildings, especially hotels. There is even a famous prison in Paris that is called The Conciergerie, in honor of the warden who kept the keys and assigned cells to the inmates.