Then she looked at the roses.
“Are those for Daddy?”
“Yes.”
“Can I put them in the vase?”
Clara smiled.
“Always.”
At 8:00 that morning, Clara walked into the hotel’s executive conference room.
The general manager, Robert Hayes, was already there.
So was the regional director.
The head of human resources.
The operations manager.
And Patrick.
Karl was sitting at the end of the table.
Nobody looked comfortable.
Clara placed a folder on the table.
Robert cleared his throat.
“Ms. Vance, I want to apologize personally.”
Clara nodded.
“I appreciate that.”
“We’re investigating what happened.”
“No.”
Robert paused.
Clara opened the folder.
“You’re not investigating what happened.”
She slid several documents across the table.
“You’re investigating why what happened was possible.”
Robert looked down.
The documents included guest complaints.
Employee turnover reports.
Internal performance reviews.
Customer satisfaction scores.
Housekeeping reports.
And something else.
A financial summary.
The hotel’s revenue was still strong.
But its employee turnover had increased by nearly thirty percent over the previous year.
Customer complaints about front-desk interactions had doubled.
Several corporate clients had recently downgraded their contracts.
One large company had even moved its annual conference to another hotel.
Robert stared at the numbers.
“Where did you get these?”
“From your own system.”
Silence.
Clara continued.
“Your occupancy numbers are healthy.”
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