Page 13 of A Taste of Paradise

‘I mean this isn’t the best start, is it? And if you were to jeopardise The Palms’ reputation in any way, we may well have to seek out an alternative guest relations manager.’

Yikes.

‘Grant …’

‘I’m sorry, but you need to figure this out, and soon. Otherwise, you may as well pack your belongings along with your predecessor.’

‘I understand,’ Erin stated sombrely. She could see the discomfort it gave him to say what he must, yet also knew Grant’s sentiment echoed that of those much higher up the line of management. She was about to get to her feet when there was a sharp knock at the door, and, soon after, the head of housekeeping appeared.

‘Yes, Wanda?’ Grant enquired.

‘Sorry to interrupt, but it’s kind of an emergency,’ the woman stated, looking hassled. ‘I don’t know how this happened, but it seems we’re missing about half of our bed linen supply. And we still have twenty more rooms to service today. I’ve never seen anything like this; how can that many sheets go missing?’

Erin raised an eyebrow. The hits just seemed to keep on coming at this hotel. It was as if the staff didn’t even have enough time to put out one fire before another one erupted.

This was not how things normally worked at high-end resorts. Most of the ones she’d previously been in ran like clockwork. But perhaps this was as good an excuse as any to prove her mettle to her superior, she realised, thinking quickly.

‘How many rooms are turning over out of the twenty?’ Erin asked.

Wanda seemed to be counting in her head to determine how many guest rooms would need to be made up for new arrivals.

‘Five.’

‘And do you have enough linen for those rooms at least?’

‘I should think so yes.’

‘Well, maybe for the remaining rooms, for now, make the beds but don’t change the linens, unless there’s reason to obviously. Instead, we could offer them all a resort credit, as part of our new Green Initiative?’ she suggested to Grant.

‘What Green Initiative?’ he asked, raising an eyebrow, but she thought he looked impressed all the same.

‘The one we’ve just introduced. Sound doable to you?’ she asked Wanda.

‘Sounds perfect.’ The other woman smiled and thanked her as she took off to inform the rest of the housekeeping staff of her instructions.

‘That is a good idea,’ Grant said to Erin. ‘As long as no one gets upset, of course.’

‘Of course. But if we’re trying to persuade Mr MacKenzie that we’re serious about our efforts, then we need to start somewhere, don’t we?’

‘Indeed.’

But still, Erin knew what the crux of this meeting was. Either she won Mack’s business, or she could well be out of a job.

Daniel MacKenzie had already bested her at climbing, thwarted her in business, and now, quite possibly, would cause the demise of her very short career in St Lucia.

But if he wouldn’t talk to her, wouldn’t even entertain her requests, how on earth was she going to save this?

Chapter 12

Unfortunately for Erin, ongoing job demands ensured she didn’t have time to even ponder it. A pair of newlyweds from the US were first-time visitors to the island and apparently due to arrive at the resort that afternoon.

The Palms’ honeymoon package included a Bentley pick-up service as standard, and the couple wasn’t at all pleased when, after an hour of waiting, no transportation appeared. When Erin took the new Mrs Beaumont’s angry call, she learned that their initial flight from Iowa had been delayed, which meant they’d had to scramble through two airport transfers to make it to St Lucia. And, upon arrival at Hewanorra, they had discovered that no car awaited. But when Erin searched for their reservation on the system, she found none at all. While tentatively enquired about, it seemed the Beaumonts’ reservation had never actually been finalised.

Mercifully, though, thanks to Lily’s quick thinking with that jilted groom from Ireland, a vacant honeymoon suite had now become available. The perfect serendipitous opportunity to highlight the resort’s excellence, and Erin’s guest relations competence. Having deftly allayed the couple’s concerns about being stranded in St Lucia without accommodation, she set to work arranging for the car to collect them, and the housekeeping service to get the suite ready.

Thankfully, all came together seamlessly.

When the newlyweds finally arrived, Erin met them with a tray of champagne and a bouquet of local flowers for the bride, who by her posture and absolute refusal to look at her new husband, was still seething at the day’s events. If she had to guess, she would bet that the hapless groom was to blame for the messed-up reservation and, despite the last-minute save, Erin figured there wasn’t going to be much romance in the Honeymoon Haven that night.