Page 102 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“I’m going to smooth things over with Vincent. I want to find somewhere I can rent for a month that you’ll like as much as me, that you’ll share with me, preferably somewhere that’s available now.”
“Is that all?”
Devan frowned. “Have I forgotten something?”
Jonty leaned over and kissed him. Hard. When Jonty pulled back, Devan smiled.
“Oh yeah,” Devan said. “I need to buy a big pack of Flakes.”
“So what’s first?”
“Look on the internet for a place to rent as I’m driving. If we have to go to a rental agency, we’re running out of time today.” Devan pulled out of the car park. “I’m going to call Hamish and warn him about Ravi.”
“Okay. Can I charge my phone?”
“Yep. Do you have a charger?”
“In my pocket.”
Devan made the voice activated call.
“Mr Smith,” Hamish said. “What can I do for you?”
“Just giving you a heads-up that news you might sell could come out sooner than you’d hoped. There’s been an incident at the hotel between my ex-fiancé and Jonty. Not Jonty’s fault in the slightest but Ravi Mohnish, my ex, knows why I’m up here and might decide to cause trouble.”
“I didn’t want to say anything until we’d agreed a price.”
“I know.”
McAllister huffed. “I’ll arrange to talk to the staff on Sunday morning.”
“I’ll try to have an offer in place by then. Two of my people will be here tomorrow. I’ll come in on Sunday morning. I want to speak to Marcus about his future.”
“Eleven o clock. I hope you’re going to make me an acceptable offer or all this will have done is unsettle my workforce.”
The call disconnected.
“Do you think you’ll be able to make an acceptable offer?” Jonty asked.
“Depends on whether McAllister has an inflated idea of how much the hotel is worth. While I’m driving, use my phone to search for a rental property. Yours will charge faster if you’re not using it. Somewhere close to the beach. And isolated.”
“Good idea. I don’t want anyone to hear you screaming.”
Devan laughed so hard he had a coughing fit.
“You do realise I’m taking that as a challenge,” Jonty said. “So furnished, yeh?”
“Probably easier, though we could use your stuff.”
“Most places are going to be furnished. What price range? Do you want me to try Airbnb?” Jonty hissed and made the sign of the cross with his fingers.
“I’d prefer not to use them, but look just in case. A lightning bolt next to the entry means it’s immediately available.”
“I guess Airbnb has put most hotels under pressure.”
“It’s an unfair market. It’s particularly hard for hotels to fill key dates and weekends. Airbnb fills up first before the public turns to us. It’s annoying that we have to conform to all sort of checks and regulations while a house can just be let out. We pay twenty percent VAT, have high business rates and heavy overheads, while people who let out their homes don’t have those to deal with. The upsurge of Airbnb will have affected McAllister’s too.”
“So how do you compete?”
