Page 15 of The Making of Jonty Bloom
“The room was too small. The bed was too lumpy. There was dust on the picture frames and the windows are filthy,” the man said with a distinctly triumphant tone in his voice.
Devan moved out of sight of the desk and lingered by Jonty’s promised display of brochures about the local area. He was intrigued to see how Jonty would handle this. Was he rude and sarcastic to everyone?
“And we didn’t see any whales on the tripyoutold us to go on,” the wife added.
Devan smothered his grin. And Jonty thoughthewas difficult?
“This place is not worth the money,” her husband said loudly.
“I’m sorry you feel that way,” Jonty said. “But I have to wonder why you left it until the last day of your weeklong stay to let us know about your problems with the room. I could have checked to see if we had a larger one and tested the bed out. I’d have arranged for your windows to be cleaned, although they were done not long ago. Because we face the sea, the windows do tend to get dirty quite quickly, but I know it’s disappointing not to have a clean piece of glass between you and the fabulous views.”
“What about the whale watching trip?” the woman said. “We were really disappointed.”
“I can imagine. But no boat that does the trips can guarantee sightings. The company I recommended are the best. But the whales are around or they’re not. It’s a matter of luck.”
“We didn’t pay all that money to be reliant on luck.” The guy was shouting now.
“Did you see any seals or dolphins?”
Devan heard the desperation in Jonty’s voice.
“Yes, but not whales. It was whales we wanted to see.”
“Did you try calling them?”
“What?” the woman asked.
“They communicate by clicks and whistles. That’s what I always do. Click and whistle.Andsing.” Jonty made the most awful wailing noise. “Sometimes they come when you sing like a whale or if you feed them Maltesers.”
Jonty, you liar.But Devan found himself smiling.
“Well, we won’t be staying here again. You’re not going to get a good rating on Tripadvisor,” the man snapped.
“Is there something I can do to help? I’m Vincent Rossi, the hotel manager.”
Where had he come from? But within minutes, the couple had a ten percent reduction to their bill, which instantly solved all problems. Devan glanced out of the window and saw the couple smirking as they left.
“What the hell, Jonty?” Rossi sighed. “Was that supposed to be a whale song? Dottie was freaking out in the lounge.”
“What do you mean supposed to be? It was. I’m just visualising the Pickerings on another whale watching trip. The others on the boat will be so impressed when they sing.”
Devan clapped a hand to his mouth.
“And whales do like Maltesers,” Jonty said.
“You are joking.”
“Well, once I tipped half a bag in by accident and a couple of minutes later a minke whale came up right next to us.”
“Keep your tall tales to yourself.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Go and see if anyone in the lounge needs a drink.”
Devan made his way to the basement to check out the pool and gym. The online photographs didn’t do them justice. The twenty-five-metre pool was much larger than most hotels provided, beautifully tiled, and there were two hot tubs outside on an attractively laid brick patio along with good quality chairs and loungers. The gym was large too, fitted out with a mirrored wall and top-of-the-range equipment that no one was currently using.
The events room was an impressive size with a line of windows facing the sea. The arched ceiling overhead was amazing, though pale yellow was an unfortunate colour choice and plaster was peeling away in several areas, which implied a leak or a problem with damp. A wander around the other communal areas told him they needed gutting and redesigning. A couple of walls knocked down maybe, or an extension on the left of the hotel. Devan took pictures and made notes on his phone. A new entrance would work better, make the place instantly appealing, assuming this was going to be a renovation and not a rebuild. He’d have to do more investigation before he was sure.
