A spot on the red carpet at the Oscars and a round of golf at Augusta: The luxury concierge that can get you inside the world's most exclusive events

  • Flag in the Sand says it has fulfilled a number of lavish requests
  • One customer paid £60,000 to golf at the course where The Masters is held 
  • It has also arranged access to events such as the Cannes Film Festival
  • Firm has helped clients gain entry into Oscars after parties

By Simon Cable for MailOnline

Published: 09:58 EST, 6 July 2015 | Updated: 11:44 EST, 6 July 2015

It's among the world’s most legendary - not to mention exclusive - golf courses.

With just 300 memberships, only ever offered by invitation, the closest most amateur golfers will ever get to stepping on to the first tee at America’s famed Augusta National will be when they tune into the annual Masters tournament on television each year.

However, a luxury concierge company which claims to be able to offer travellers access to any event in the world, says it has even managed to secure a round of golf at the famously private course for one of its wealthy clients.

One customer paid around £60,000 for a round of golf at exclusive August National, where the Masters is held

One customer paid around £60,000 for a round of golf at exclusive August National, where the Masters is held

Perhaps understandably, the experience didn’t come cheap, costing the individual in question around £60,000.

But the company, UK-based Flag in the Sand, say it is just one example of the seemingly impossible requests they have been able to fulfil for holidaymakers demanding trips aboard the world’s most luxurious yachts, tables in the finest restaurants, reservations for the most in-demand penthouse suites and even red carpet access to high-profile showbusiness events including the Oscars and Cannes Film Festival.

'If you are a golf fan, you will know that playing at the Augusta is the Holy Grail,’ said Flag in the Sand’s owner Adam Thomas.

‘It's one of the most popular things on the wish-list of the world’s wealthiest guys and girls, but it is almost impossible to do. It is a private club which only has around 300 members across the world and the course isn’t open for that long each year.

'That has been our biggest challenge. We have done it and we do do it, but while it is commonly asked for, it has also been turned down, primarily because of the price. You can pay up to £100,000 for that depending on who you play with – big money for a round of golf.

‘But for those at that level of wealth, to have that one-upmanship on their peers at the racket club or when they are sat on the back of their yacht in the sun, it is a game-changer for them.’

Flag in the Sand says it has arranged access to events such as the Oscars and Cannes Film Festival

Flag in the Sand says it has arranged access to events such as the Oscars and Cannes Film Festival

Mr Thomas reveals that entry to Augusta is only secured by finding a member or previous winner of the Masters tournament who may be willing to invite an individual onto the course to play with them - a serious achievement when you consider that current members include former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Microsoft founder Bill Gates. However, the fee is always donated to charity, he adds.

‘It is about contacts,’ said Mr Thomas, a 34-year-old entrepreneur who has been running Flag in the Sand for the past two years. 'We’ve not really been asked for anything that we can’t deliver.

'Travel is a big part of what we do and luxury holidays make up 50 per cent of the business we now do. There are clients who rather than using us as a concierge service will simply use us as a high-end travel agent. Ten years ago there was a travel element to what we did, but it wasn’t anything near to what we do now.'

'We worked recently on a couple of very high-end, bespoke tours to Vietnam and Cambodia where they had their own private boat to get to the Mekong Delta and the best hand-picked personal tour guides to accompany them.

‘We are now also seeing increasing popularity from the high net worth end of the market for trips to go and walk the red carpet at the Oscars.

'We can organise for clients to walk the red carpet with the stars, attend the ceremony with all of the nominees and have the full experience of being around the glitz and glamour and the world’s most famous people. Then we organise for them to have access to one of the event’s VIP after-parties – typically either the Vanity Fair party or Elton John’s party are the most popular.

‘It is the ultimate red carpet event, and you are looking at around $20,000 [£13,000] – or more if you want access to the after-parties. But you simply can’t buy these tickets - they are never going to be for sale online.'

Earlier this year the company arranged a similar experience for clients at the Cannes Film Festival in France. They sourced a 40-metre (131ft) Sunseeker yacht and organised for hair and make-up artists to be taken out to the boat ahead of the ceremony to help the guests glam up.

The group were brought to the harbour, picked up in an official Cannes limousine and taken to the edge of the red carpet before watching the opening production and being driven to the official after-party. The experience cost around £5,000 ($7,750) per person.

In addition to high-end requests, Mr Thomas says the company is frequently inundated with demands to secure last-minute bookings at the world’s most exclusive restaurants, or sold-out sporting events and music concerts at venues across the globe.

'If a client calls us on a Friday at 4pm and says: “I need to make up with my wife or my partner and want to take him or her to Zuma restaurant in London” we can do it. It normally takes three of four weeks to get a reservation there. But if you need a table at Zuma that night, I can get you a table at Zuma that night.’

The company helped a businessman source two rare cars - a LaFerrari (pictured) and Porsche 918 Spyder

The company helped a businessman source two rare cars - a LaFerrari (pictured) and Porsche 918 Spyder

He adds that one businessman recently asked him to source two rare super cars - a LaFerrari and a Porsche 918 Spyder - which the company promptly located in Hong Kong and Germany.

'The client was thrilled by that,’ added Mr Thomas.

'We have 10 years’ worth of contacts internationally across a whole range of specialities – travel, sport, film and music for example. We have a large allocation of debenture seats at lots of venues, but when you are looking at events like the Oscars or the Cannes Film Festival, or a Dior Fashion show in Paris where you might want to buy the clothes straight off the runway – couture clothes which are never going to go on sale in the shops – that is down to having specific contacts at fashion labels, film companies, picture houses.'

Mr Thomas says that the company has grown from an initial group of around 100 friends who used to ask him for his help in gaining access to luxury holiday accommodation, to around 1,000 people including billionaire businessmen and celebrities seeking entry to the most prestigious events.

Unlike other concierge services, Flag in the Sand does not charge its members a subscription fee - typically around £10,000-a-year (£6,400) for similar companies - instead preferring to offer their services to anyone who calls.

Customers are then graded on the amount of business they do with the company, with regular clients often given access to some events for free should they require last-minute tickets to a sold-out music concert for example.

They explain that a sizeable chunk of their business also comes from other concierge companies looking to fill their own requests.

'This is a growing industry - there was a slight downturn from the corporate side of it during the recession, but we have now seen a rapid rise from individual and private clients who want to spend money and do new things as well as much more confidence from the corporate side of the industry,’ said Mr Thomas.

The business primarily works with clients in the UK, Europe, the US and increasingly in Asia and Australia.

‘There are of course many countries in the world where we have never been asked to help anybody and it would be unchartered territory,’ adds Mr Thomas. 'However, ten years of creating a very powerful contacts book allows us access to almost anything that we need. Just because I don’t have a mountain guide in the far stretches of Mozambique, it doesn’t mean that somebody else I work with doesn’t.

'One of our very wealthy, well-known UK businessmen asked us four days before the Mayweather v Pacquiao boxing match in Las Vegas to get him a direct flight with first-class seats and wanted to sit centrally within the first ten rows of the arena. We organised that for him.

'During the World Cup in Brazil, we were asked for a private suite at the final for four very well-known celebrities. We weren’t able to get the private suite but we got them into the Bossa Nova studio – a glass-fronted box on the half-way line packed with dignitaries served by Michelin-starred chefs.

'I known what experiences like this are supposed to look like, I know what they are supposed to feel like. It is the small things that make a difference. I’m lucky enough to have been used to it myself. For me, when our clients ask us to find them a nice chalet to go skiing, whether they ask me or not, I’ll make sure their fire is lit an hour and a half before they return.

'We have less high-profile clients who may call up twice a year for their husband or wives’ birthday or Christmas present and simply want to sit in a really good seat to watch Michael Buble at the O2 which has already sold out, right up to celebrities and billionaires.

'We also have corporate clients ranging from small boutique businesses right up to FTSE 100 companies. Both of these will want to do smaller things that aren’t particularly expensive, but there is a reason why they need help – typically because it is sold out.

‘Then there are the extremely expensive, very unique, bespoke experiences that you just can’t buy or will never be for sale. They have to be put together through extensive contacts from our little black book if you like.'

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