Wendy Pt. 01

"Yet you see a problem," Jonathan said.

"You're not maximizing its potential," Wendy said. "You're not linking the dating website to your hotels and resorts, cross selling from one to the other. It's a natural synergy."

"That's sort of why I got into the hotels and resorts," Jonathan said. "I realized that people who date take vacations."

"But you're not doing anything overt to get them to take those vacations with you, at your properties," Wendy pointed out. "You should incorporate the Clandestine awards program into the dating website. You should also put ads, promotions for your hotels and resorts on the dating website. When we move everything to the new, uniform template, they'll see the connection. It's not at all obvious now. It doesn't have to be in-your-face advertising, but it needs to be there. You should also monetize the website by selling advertising space. No pop-up stuff, people hate that, but along the margins, at the bottom of the page. People mostly ignore it and aren't bothered by it, until they want what is being offered. You'd want to be very selective about what advertising you'd accept, though. You have a general image to maintain."

"Okay, I can see how that might be an advantage, but how do you see your awards program fitting in?" Jonathan asked.

"43% of the people on the dating website also have secondary profiles in the Adult Fun section," Wendy said, smiling. "These are the ones who really spend money. They're the ones looking for clandestine get-aways, romantic and sexy trips, usually just 2-3 nights. That's top dollar. You discount stays of a week or more. Right now, the site requires that a single photo be posted, a frontal nude. Most of the profiles I checked only had that single photo. I personally found the profiles with more photos to be more interesting. If I were shopping for that kind of an experience, I'd be more inclined to pick someone who showed a bit more of who they were. I'd offer awards points for each additional photo posted. I'd also make it nude photos only."

"Why?" Jonathan asked.

"Because anyone clicking through to the Adult Fun part of a person's profile is only doing it for one reason," Wendy replied. "The photos should reflect that. Non-nude pictures can be posted with the basic profile. The ones wanting a less stimulating experience, a normal date not necessarily based upon a sexual experience overtly, will be able to see them. The ones looking for more have already seen them. Besides, if you allow any kind of a photo to be posted there, awarding awards points for each photo, they'd dump thousands of bullshit photos. If you restrict it to nude photos only..."

"That's a great idea," Jonathan laughed.

"You should also offer a standing discount to any of your hotels and resorts to the Adult Fun members, say 10%," Wendy added. "Also, right now the Adult Fun aspect of the site is sort of hidden, or not easily found. Highlight it. Make it a prominent add-on possibility to the dating experience. Sell it. These are the people spending money on fun."

"Anything else?" Jonathan asked.

"Sort of," Wendy replied, blushing. "Who wrote the dating site, the code? Who put it all together? I'll bet it was a man."

"Why do you say that?" Jonathan asked.

"Because it's done from a man's point of view," Wendy replied, smiling. "And it was a man who didn't understand women all that well, I'd say."

"Now, that's interesting," Jonathan said, sitting forward. "Why do you say that?"

"Well, this is sort of embarrassing," Wendy replied, "but if I were a woman looking for a man, I'd want the choice of filters to be a bit different than the generic unisex ones that are there."

"What do you mean?" Jonathan asked.

"Well, there are filters for height, weight, eye color, hair color, race, sexual orientation, and age, but there's no filter for cock size," Wendy said, flushing.

"There isn't?" Jonathan asked, then laughed. "I confess that I've never really looked at it. Should there be?"

"For some people it matters," Wendy replied, her face hot. "You even have men who list themselves as bisexual and gay in the Adult Fun area of the website. Personally speaking, there's nothing more embarrassing than finding out that a guy is lacking in the equipment area, no matter how handsome or nice he is. Sometimes a person just wants to get good and laid and a small cock just doesn't cut it. There should be a minimum cock size drop-down filter in the search."

"Wow," Jonathan said, sitting back. "Of course, you're 100% correct. Why don't you get with Phil and make that change?" he suggested. "By the way, Phil wrote that website. He's been with me from the beginning."

"Oh, my," Wendy said, blushing. "I...it would be embarrassing for me to discuss something like that with him. I mean, has he ever been with a woman, or a man? He's a first-class coder and all that, but..."

"That's not a bet I'd care to make one way or the other," Jonathan said, laughing. "Can you make that change to the site?" he asked.

"Easily," Wendy replied. "It wouldn't take but 10-15 minutes."

"Why don't you do that?" Jonathan suggested. "I mean, you understand the problem and what's needed and it would save you from having to discuss it with Phil."

"Okay," Wendy agreed, smiling.

"I'm having a breakfast meeting tomorrow morning with the relevant people to discuss this awards program idea," Jonathan said. "I'd like you to be there."

"Great!" Wendy said.

"It'll be easy for you," Jonathan said. "We're doing it in the restaurant at your hotel."

"Even better," Wendy laughed.

"Until then, you're with Phil," Jonathan said.

"Not a problem," Wendy said, getting to her feet. "He's actually a pleasure to work with. He's 100% focused on the work and he understands what I'm talking about."

"I'd take a bet that he's not 100% focused on the work if you're sitting next to him," Jonathan said with a smile. "Even if he's only into men."

"On that note," Wendy said, getting to her feet and heading towards the door. "Thank you," she said, turning at the last minute. "I appreciate the compliment."

When Wendy went down to the restaurant the next morning, she found Jonathan with another woman, mid-30s, she thought, short black hair and eyes, dressed in a very professional business suit, an immaculately turned-out man in his 40s with brown hair and eyes, and another man in his 30s in a somewhat rumpled suit with wire-rim glasses, a receding hairline of thinning reddish hair, and limp hazel eyes.

Wendy had chosen her outfit carefully, opting for one of her new skirts, a soft lime green that came down to her upper thighs, and a pale green blouse that did very little to hide her full breasts and large pale nipples, which were rock-hard knots, the sheer material being very sensuous and stimulating as her breasts moved against it. She felt her cheeks flush as they stared at her open-mouthed as Jonathan got to his feet and pulled out a chair for her.

"Good morning," he said as she sat down. "You look simply gorgeous. Is that one of the outfits that Vera picked out for you?" he asked as he resumed his seat.

"Yes," Wendy replied.

"Wendy Rose, this is Tom Reese, head of our accounting department," Jonathan introduced, indicating the rumpled-suited man, Marge Hinson, our attorney, and Fred Johnson, our Properties Manager. Wendy is my new PA and I think that we're all going to enjoy working with her. Just for your information, she's got a BA in computer science and a Master's in economics. She's not just stone-cold beautiful, she's the real deal. I advise you to take her very seriously. She's going places."

A waiter immediately appeared and they indulged in empty small talk while their orders were taken.

"You've all read Wendy's proposal to institute some sort of a loyalty award program throughout the entire enterprise," Jonathan said as coffee was being poured. "Here's your chance to ask questions."

"How are you going to determine the type or amount of any rewards?" Tom Reese asked. "The management of such a system is certainly going to fall within my purview. What am I going to have to deal with?"

"The average awards system of this type in the United States of businesses that report such things is approximately 10% of the value of the services upon which it is based," Wendy replied. "The average increase in business of these businesses is approximately 18%, so you can see that it more than pays for itself."

"How would it get administered?" Fred Johnson asked. "Will it require any new training for staff?"

"Most likely, yes, though it would be minimal," Wendy replied. "The points awarded should appear on all POS - point of sale - receipts, so that system will need to be modified accordingly. When any POS interaction occurs, the client should be made aware of the amount of awards credits that they have accrued and they should be offered a chance to use them to settle their bill if they have enough. It is too cumbersome to offer to let them settle the bill in awards points and currency both. It's one or the other. Most people will do this, though there will be a small percentage who will want to let their awards grow so that they can use them for something really special, like a stay at one of our properties. These are our highest-value clients. They will be the repeat customers and the ones who will always seek out our properties for a place to stay when they travel. They will literally chase awards points."

"Like a frequent flier," Tom Reese said.

"Exactly," Wendy agreed. "The whole idea is to create increased loyalty from our clients and we'll do that by showing our appreciation for their business by ostensibly offering them a discount in the form of the awards points."

"Any problems for anyone so far?" Jonathan asked.

"It will be a lot of work for my people," Tom Reese said. "It will take months to go to each property and reprogram their systems."

"That's one of the reasons that I've proposed that we eliminate the stand-alone systems and go to one centralized system in the cloud," Wendy said. "Instead of each property working in isolation, all properties will work from one centralized system in the cloud. Any programming changes that need to occur with happen centrally, in one location, and propagate from there. It will eliminate the need for each property to maintain these systems. That in turn will create a savings in material costs and manpower salaries."

"That's quite ambitious," Tom Reese said. "What about all of the jobs that will be made redundant?"

"I'm going to offer a year's severance to anyone affected," Jonathan said. "That should ease the pain. We'll also do anything we can to help people find new jobs."

"Expensive," Tom Reese said. "Very expensive."

"It will pay for itself inside of two years," Wendy said. "And word of it will spread, making prospective job seekers want to work for us. We'll be able to cherry-pick the best and brightest people because they'll know that nowhere else will they be treated better or more fairly."

"You see any legal issues here, Marge?" Jonathan asked.

"None," Marge replied, shaking her head. "It sounds like a wonderful idea. It would certainly make for less chaos for me. Instead of having to deal with 41 different entities, I'd only have to worry about dealing with one in a sense. Most of the problems that we deal with legally pertain to the inconsistencies between the various properties. People feel as though they're not being treated fairly if one property does one thing and another property does something entirely different. They look for consistency and when they don't find it, it often ends up in some sort of a legal dispute. I welcome this idea."

"Me, too," Fred Johnson said. "It's about time we moved into the new world. The cloud's the answer. Most of my headaches are like Marge's. Each property is run as an independent fiefdom in a lot of ways. Standardizing everything would increase efficiency across the board. It would make everyone's jobs easier."

"Wendy also wants to bring the awards program to the dating website," Jonathan said.

"How on earth are you going to do that?" Tom Reese asked.

"That's a great idea," Fred Johnson said after Wendy had explained her idea. "It's a cash cow anyway. This would put it on steroids and that would feed our other businesses."

"I think that if you also spent some money advertising, that you'd see a big increase in business," Wendy said. "I've looked and most of your advertising is print and then only a few major travel and lifestyle publications. You have no real online presence on social media. You're relying too much on word-of-mouth referrals. There's a burgeoning demand for high-end relaxation. When we consolidate everything, we're going to have a tremendous amount of metadata that will enable us to create a regular communication interaction with our clients. Advertising on Facebook, getting into the airline magazines that everyone reads when they're flying, these types of things will target the affluent audience that we're looking for."

"This is basically a total restructuring of how we do business," Jonathan said. "We've been too content with our success, which has been significant. What we haven't been doing is growing. Our sales have been close to stagnant for four years. No real growth. We need to make a real change if we're going to take the next step forward. I think that Wendy's ideas have a lot of merit, but you're the people that I rely on to keep things rolling, so your support and agreement is essential if this is going to work."

"I say go for it," Fred Johnson said.

"What if it doesn't work?" Tom Reese asked. "We'd be spending a lot of money and losing a lot of good people. It would be hard to recover from that. The business would suffer for years."

"That's why it's important that we're all on the same page," Jonathan said. "It won't work unless we all believe that it can and will and are willing to work towards that end."

"I'm only trying to point out the downside," Tom Reese said. "If all of the factors that Wendy has laid out are correct, and I have no reason to think that they're not, I don't see why it shouldn't work. It would certainly be challenging in the short term."

"How long would it take to do this, make all of the changes?" Jonathan asked.

"Three months," Wendy replied to gasps of surprise. "Six at the outside."

"Why do you think that you can do it so quickly?" Tom Reese asked.

"Because it's mostly programming, computer programming," Wendy replied. "And that's what I do and I'm very, very good at it. I'd be working very closely with you and Fred. Nothing will be rolled out or implemented until it's been tested to death in the sandbox. That's an isolated area of a computer that can simulate real-life situations. I'd be using AI programming for that. The most time-consuming aspect will be the advertising. You don't have any sort of an advertising department per se, so we'd need to contract with an outside firm. That's not a part of our core business, so it makes no sense to try to create our own. In the end, it will be less expensive dollar-wise and emotionally to farm it out."

"Anyone not 100% for going forward with this?" Jonathan asked, looking directly at each of them and nobody saying anything. "Then that's what we're going to do. It's time for our baby to grow up and be an adult. Wendy's going to be point on this. Everything flows through her. We'll meet every Friday here for breakfast to update each other on where we stand with our specific changes. You're welcome to join us, Marge, but once you give me the legal go-ahead, there's no reason for you to have to join us."

"You couldn't keep me away," Marge laughed. "This is actually going to be fun. As long as I'm welcome to be a fly on the wall, I'd love to be here."

"Wendy, how is your project with Phil progressing?" Jonathan asked.

"Fine," she replied. "Right now, we're just getting copies of each property's website. That's going to take another day or two. I'm going to start writing the translation protocol and I've put out a couple of feelers for the artistic aspect of the website."

"Fred, talk to each of the property managers and give them a head's up about what we're doing," Jonathan said. "Find out exactly what problems each of them anticipates as a result of making these changes. Get a list of all of the affected personnel and get that to Tom so that he can start preparing the severance packages. When Wendy says that we're ready to go, I don't want anything holding us up. Any questions?"

"Clear as a bell," Fred replied, smiling cheerfully.

Wendy spent the rest of her day at a computer near Phil working on the translation protocol after first making the change to the dating website. When the end of the day finally arrived, she was more than ready to go home, all of the excitement from everything that had happened in the past few days starting to catch up to her.

When she went outside for the car that would take her to work after eating breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, she was surprised to find Mary in the car.

"Hi, Mary. What's going on?" Wendy asked after getting into the car.

"Jonathan called and gave us an assignment," Mary replied, smiling broadly.

"What kind of an assignment?" Wendy asked.

"I'm not allowed to tell you, yet," Mary replied, laughing. "He wants you to figure it out."

"How mysterious," Wendy said, laughing. "Am I going to like this?"

"He wants you to figure it out," Mary replied, laughing. "Remember when I told you that Jonathan was a great boss?" she asked. "I didn't say that because he lets me suck his cock, though god knows that's a part of it. He's a great boss and you're about to find that out for yourself."

"I can't wait," Wendy said, smiling.

Wendy quickly realized that they weren't going to the office, but were heading out of town, though not in the direction of Jonathan and Vera's home. When they pulled into a small executive airport, she turned to Mary with wonderment on her face.

"What on earth is going on, Mary?" she asked as the car pulled up next to a sleek private jet whose stairs were extended to the tarmac.

"I told you, it's a special assignment," Mary replied as they exited the car, Wendy following Mary, incredulous as they ascended the steps into the luxurious interior of the jet.

"Good morning, Ladies," a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with sky-blue eyes greeted them. "My name is Gretchen and I'll be your hostess for this flight. Please take a seat anywhere you like. We'll take off as soon as you're buckled in."

"Where are we going?" Wendy asked.

"I've been instructed not to divulge that information," Gretchen replied, smiling. "But I assure you that there's nothing sinister going on. Mr. Hooks just has his way of doing things."

"Is this Jonathan's plane?" Wendy gasped.

"It is," Gretchen replied, leading them into the main cabin where they sat in plush leather chairs and buckled in. "This is a Gulfstream G800."

Wendy was stunned, unable to comprehend someone owning such a plane. It was more luxurious than any hotel room she had ever seen, even more luxurious than Jonathan and Vera's home.

"This is great," Mary said, sighing.

"Have you done this before, flown on this plane?" Wendy asked.

"Only once," Mary replied. "But I'll never forget it. They took me with them to one of the resorts for a weekend. I got to suck his cock and eat her pussy while we were flying. It was the best day of my life."

"Oh, god, Mary, you are just too much," Wendy laughed, finally relaxing as she felt herself pressed back and down into the seat as the plane left the ground.

"And it's a jet, technically speaking," Mary said. "Plane sounds so ordinary."

"Well, this is certainly not ordinary," Wendy laughed as a soft bell chimed and the seatbelt light went out.