Page 3 of Sunset Cove
“No.” His scowl deepened. “Just a guest threatening to leave a one-star review.”
“Oh no! What happened?”
He shook his head, and Dan stopped by to take his order. “Just coffee, thanks.” Chip sat back. “Nothing to worry about. He was caught smoking in his room – lit part of the duvet on fire. We had to charge him the two-hundred-dollar cleaning fee, and I had half a mind to drag the duvet into the lobby for him to add to his review.”
Claire winced.
“What?” Chip said. “Would you have preferred if I handled it a different way?”
“No, I wouldn’t say that, I just – ”
“What?” He crossed his arms.
Claire bit her lip. “It’s nothing. I don’t have any experience in hospitality, as you know.”
“Yes, I know.”
She forced a smile. “I’m not sure if Steve told you, but I ended up hiring a consultant – Ken Gallon? Have you worked with him before, or maybe read his book?”
Chip shook his head. “Never heard of him.”
“Oh, well, he recommended that I read a few books about hospitality. They talk about different ways to handle challenging situations.”
“Do they?” he said, accepting his coffee with a nod.
Claire paused. This wasn’t how she’d hoped this meeting would go. “Maybe we can set up a time to talk about that later? I’m sure that you’ve had a lot of experience in dealing with difficult customers.”
“Yes, I have.” Chip took a sip of his coffee before setting it down in front of him. “But if that’s how you think I would best spend my time, then I guess that’s what I’ll be doing.”
All right then. Clearly Claire was not doing well in keeping the hotel’s right-hand man happy. “No – please. I wantyouto tell me what we need to do. I was hoping to learn a lot from you.”
“Look,” he said, leaning forward. “I’m going to level with you. Things at the hotel don’t look good.”
She sat back. “What do you mean?”
“It’s not been a great time for hotels the last few years, if you haven’t noticed.”
Claire nodded. “Oh, of course.”
“I’m not trying to say that Steve painted an overly rosy picture of our financial situation here. He genuinely believed in the place. To be honest, he probably thought it would all work out, like it always had. I couldn’t get him to listen to me.”
“I’ll listen to you,” Claire said quickly. “Really.”
He reached into his bag and pulled out a file. “Take a look for yourself. I’ve prepared some reports. There’s a list of expenses, a few pages on the budget, and the projected occupancy for the coming year. At the end there’s a list of suggested improvements –”
“Oh yes, I’ve got some ideas for improvements, too,” she said, pulling her notebook out of her purse.
He narrowed his eyes at the notebook, reading off her first suggestion. “New curtains? It’s going to take more than that to keep this place going.”
Claire nodded, covering her silly notebook with the papers he’d just given her. She flipped to the end of the packet, eager to see the improvements he’d listed.
Eager wasn’t the most honest word – she was also afraid. She’d spent most of her money buying the hotel, and though she’d set aside some money for improvements, the idea frightened her. Spending money was always hard for her, especially because for most of her life, she’d hardly had any.
“You look overwhelmed,” said Chip. “Do you want me to talk you through some of this?”
“That would be great,” said Claire, looking up with a smile.
Dan appeared at the end of the table. “Excuse me, Miss Cooke?”
