Page 6 of His Revenge
3
Brad
“Bud, the new interns are here,” Chris Maze, my VP of Ops, grunts.“You ready to greet them?”
I gazed out my office window, ignoring him.Chris is always on my ass about something or other, but that’s his job.He’s the one who really runs Excel these days, whereas I’m a figurehead who presses the flesh and makes deals.Would I switch job descriptions with Chris?In a heartbeat.I fucking hate the charity dinners, fundraising, and political machinations required of a powerful developer in the Minneapolis area.Yet I built Excel using this skills, and this is why I’m at the top, and not him.
“Yo,” Chris says, a tad impatient now.“Do you want to go meet them, or not?If not, I’ll tell them that you’re occupied, and we’ll send another senior figure to say hello.It’s not a big deal.They’re sure to be a bunch of teen morons who barely know up from down.It’s fine.”
I grunt, swiveling my chair around to stare at my VP.
“I’ll go,” I say.
He nods.
“Sure, boss.It’ll only take ten minutes max, and then we can break and talk about the Blackwood deal.I think it’s the future of hotel construction.”
My heart sinks because the Blackwood deal is thelastthing I want to discuss, and yet I know that Chris believes there’s promise to their proposal.Basically, Blackwood is a chain of hotels with mid-tier properties in major urban areas.They offer the usual shit, including standard rooms, doubles, executive suites, and the like.But their new deal is to construct hotels with all of the above, in addition to a new concept: single-occupancy rooms.
Yeah, it’s the new trend these days.Evidently, there are a lot of solo travelers, and a corresponding rise in demand for rooms that include only a twin-size bed.I almost laughed when the proposal first landed on my desk.
“Are you fucking kidding me?”I asked.“Who sleeps in a twin these days?Nine-year-old boys?”
Chris merely shrugged.
“Evidently, this is what a certain segment of customers want.They’re traveling on their own, and have the means to pay for a standard room.But the second bed often goes unused, and they’re looking for value.Thus, the single-occupancy hotel room.”
I squinted, taking in the mock-up.The sketch of a proposed SOR was decent enough, although the child-size twin still made me guffaw.
“But this room is a fucking shoebox,” I snorted.“What is it?Two hundred square feet, including the bathroom?”
Chris nodded.
“Yeah, or less.One seventy five in some cases.”
I squinted at the mock-up some more, and then laughed because it wasn’t just the bed that was small.It was everything, including the bedside table, the lamp, and even the painting on the wall.
“So who’s going to stay here?Someone five foot five and under?What the fuck?Should we throw a Snoopy comforter on the twin to make our customers feel at home?This is a fucking dollhouse.Nobody six feet tall could sleep in this thing.”
My number two maintained his equanimity.
“Again, there are travelers who want value, and they see no reason to book a standard room when a Snug Single is available.And Blackwood is proposing extra-long twins for rooms, which means the mattress is eighty inches long.It’s big enough.”
“Eighty inches is fucking tiny,” I say with disdain.“Plus, who came up with the name Snug Single?Is that what they’re calling it?”
“Yeah, that’s what Blackwood is branding it for now.At least temporarily,” Chris responded.“We can change it if we don’t like it.”
I let out another guffaw.
“Goddamn.A Snug Single.What the fuck is the world coming to?Adults sleeping in children’s beds.Seeking them out, even, for what?A hundred dollar discount?”
My second in command shook his head.
“Not even.Maybe fifteen percent off a standard, so a four hundred dollar night would be discounted to three hundred and forty bucks.”
I feel a migraine coming on, and close my eyes while pressing my fingers to my forehead, trying to quell the pressure in my skull.Snug Singles are obviously a fucking shitshow, but I’d be a fool to close the door based on my personal disdain.Not everyone is a billionaire with loads of cash to spare.As a result, I get up.
“Okay, let’s get this shit over with.Downstairs to meet the new interns, and then Blackwood Snug Singles.Fuck me.”
