Down to Earth in Beverly Hills

It’s known as “ ‘Pretty Woman’ syndrome,” but it’s not attractive for business. A field poll conducted last year by students from UCLA’s Anderson School of Business found that the phenomenon is alive and well in Beverly Hills.

What is it?

”. . . The perception that people in stores in Beverly Hills are haughty and snooty,” said Tom Korey, president of the city’s Chamber of Commerce, which commissioned the UCLA poll. “Just like Julia Roberts’ experience with rude salespeople on Rodeo Drive in the movie ‘Pretty Woman.’ We are trying to counter that perception.”

At 2 Rodeo, the upscale outdoor mall modeled after a stepped Italian piazza, the marketing folks have borrowed a strategy from Wal-Mart, a decidedly different kind of retailer.

Late last year, they recruited a multilingual former concierge, Gregg Donovan of Santa Monica, to greet tourists under the clock at the corner of Rodeo Drive and Via Rodeo Drive. Decked out in a red-and-black frock coat, top hat, long black tie and white gloves (along with 2 Rodeo goods such as Versace sunglasses and Cole-Haan shoes), Donovan, 40, can say hello in 30 languages.

“My first priority is to get a smile--and I’m successful on 99 out of 100 people,” said Donovan, smiling. Ear attuned to the murmured conversations of passersby on a recent afternoon, Donovan rattled off: Konichi Wa! (Japanese) Hasayo! (Korean) Hur mor du! (Swedish) and Kalimera! (Greek) to visitors who seemed pleased to hear their native tongue in a strange land.

“I’m an amateur linguist,” he said. “That’s one of the reasons I took this job.” (He found it through the L.A. Concierge Assn.’s placement service.)

A former concierge at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades and the Biltmore Hotel downtown, Donovan once spent four years working as a personal valet to comedian Bob Hope. Later, while working as a concierge at an international conference center in Edinburgh, Scotland, he led an ultimately successful campaign to have Hope knighted.

“It occurred to me after they knighted Norman Schwarzkopf,” he said. “So why not Bob Hope? He was born in England, you know.”

The goodwill ambassador is an idea that could pay off, according to Roy Adler, who teaches marketing at Pepperdine University.

“It is certainly possible to change your image from rude to friendly,” he said. “The cost is low, it provides a pleasant and unique experience, so you’re going to get better repeat business.”

To address the “Pretty Woman” syndrome citywide, the Beverly Hills chamber has even started holding customer service workshops for business owners and front-line workers. “We live in a day where a billion-dollar-a-year executive might wear jeans, and a street sweeper, a tux,” Korey said during a recent workshop.

Donovan greets all visitors as if they were real-life Blake Carringtons, even if they’re dressed like Jed Clampetts.

The charming, if slightly contrived look of the piazza attracts a constant stream of visitors. Built in 1990, the 2 Rodeo mall includes 24 two- and three-story buildings with Italian facades that include the shops of such upscale designers and retailers as Cartier, Jose Eber, Gianfranco Ferre, Christian Dior and Gianni Versace, as well as two restaurants. The two Japanese investors who bought 2 Rodeo five years ago put it up for sale earlier this year, but no offers have been received, said 2 Rodeo Marketing Director Parool Campbell.

In addition to Donovan’s greeting duties, he has another diplomatic mission: observing consumer behavior.

And there’s a lot to observe.

Roughly 12 million people a year pass through the intersection at Rodeo Drive and Wilshire Boulevard, according to the California Office of Tourism.

“We’re trying to turn traffic into sales,” said Campbell. During a break for tea, Donovan jots observations about the languages he’s hearing, about where people are shopping and which tour bus companies pull up.

Later, Campbell will send a thank-you note to the bus company. “Tourists have a limited time to shop and they have in mind what they want to buy,” she said. “Sometimes, if they’re on a bus particularly, they may only have a few minutes.”

Not every visitor to Rodeo Drive is looking to spend money. “Everyone wants to know where the celebrities are,” said Donovan, who has recently pointed out such stars as Warren Beatty, Sharon Stone, Anthony Hopkins, Dennis Hopper and designer Donatella Versace to shoppers.

“And they want to know where the hotel is where ‘Pretty Woman’ stayed,” he said. “I just turn around and say ‘Right there: the Beverly Wilshire.’ ”