Wendy Pt. 02

"I think that's a great idea," Wendy laughed. "I'll bring it up at the Friday breakfast meeting."

"You're running in too many different directions at once," Mary observed. "Why don't you let me help you? There has to be something that I can do."

"You have enough to do already," Wendy said. "I don't want to upset Jonathan by taking advantage of you and having you slide on the things that he expects you to do. I'll figure it out and manage somehow."

"You're taking too much on your shoulders," Mary admonished.

"That's what I signed up for," Wendy sighed.

"So, what do you each have to report?" Jonathan asked at the Friday breakfast meeting when they had finished eating. "Tom?"

"That FreshBooks system that Wendy talked about is something else," Tom said. "It's amazingly easy to set up. It won't be a problem to have each property's individual information included. It's all about the filtering. Another week or so and everything should be programmed, thanks to Wendy. In the meantime, it's easy enough to create the training videos. The program is so intuitive that I can't imagine it will be difficult for people to make the transition. It is sure going to make my life easier."

"That's great news," Jonathan said, smiling. "Fred?"

"I sent a memo to each of the property managers about new photos," Fred replied. "Probably another week or two until we have them all. Now that the shock of everything has worn off, they're more optimistic and less nervous. I'm sure that some of them felt as though their jobs were threatened."

"Wendy?" Jonathan asked.

"First of all, I've spent hours with the advertising people," Wendy said. "We've contracted with Fortune 500, Condé Nast Traveller, Highsnobiety, Robb Report, dolcevita, Prestige, Elite Traveler, Haute Living, AD100, Town & Country, and The Billionaire for advertising space, always in the first 10 pages. Hotel properties will have single, full-page ads - I need the new photos for that - and the resort properties will have 3-page spreads. We've also got the same thing with all of the major airlines that fly to any of our property cities, advertisements in their airline magazines. That will roll out in 2 months. It's pretty expensive, but I'm certain that it's going to pay for itself in no time. We're targeting luxury and business travelers for the most part. That's our market."

"I had an idea based on that that I wanted to run by all of you," Wendy said nervously. "When Mary and I went to the Cancun resort, something that really stood out was that the food was good, but it wasn't really special. You have 7 hotels that have Michelin-starred restaurants. Since our target market is luxury and business travelers, it occurred to me that we should place more emphasis on the quality of our restaurants, but in order to do that, we'd need to upgrade the menus, to try to strive for Michelin quality in all of our properties."

"That won't be easy," Fred said.

"No, it won't be easy and it won't happen unless we have someone experienced enough to make it happen," Wendy agreed. "To that end, I suggest that we hire someone, someone whose name and reputation is tops in the field, to oversee the menus of all of our properties."

"That will be expensive," Fred said, shaking his head.

"Probably," Wendy agreed, "but we need to make our restaurants a reason that people will want to stay with us. The occupancy numbers that you got for me show me that the 7 properties with Michelin stars have the highest occupancy rates. That means that the food matters. We need to be able to boast of our restaurants in the advertising, make people realize that not only will they have luxurious accommodations, but that they will also have access to some of the finest dining available. This is even more important in the resort properties. We average 1-3 night stays in the hotel properties, but a week in the resort properties. They also have the lowest occupancy rates. They're also the highest profit margins, so we need to do something to increase occupancy rates and food would be a good way to do that."

"Won't the quality control improvements help that?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes, but only marginally," Wendy replied. "More than anything, it would help cut down on complaints. That's not enough to drive growth. We need to give people a reason to stay with us. Everyone loves food, so it's a no-brainer. The properties themselves are located in dream locations. We need everything associated with them to reflect that dream, too."

"That makes perfect sense," Fred said, "but like everything, it's a matter of cost."

"Just increasing occupancy 1% would more than pay for it," Wendy said. "I'm looking at an 8-10% increase in occupancy at a minimum, perhaps even more."

"What about the quality control issue?" Jonathan asked.

"I actually gave this to Mary to figure out," Wendy said, smiling, "since it's her fault that the whole thing came up. We have two choices. We could hire someone specifically for that, but I can't help but wonder how effective that would be. I can see someone becoming jaded or falling into a rut of familiarity doing the same thing over and over again. The other alternative would be to do it ourselves."

"How?" Fred asked. "We don't have the personnel."

"Ah, but we do," Wendy said, smiling. "We're talking about 41 total properties that would only need to be visited once a year each. Why don't we offer weekends at our properties to our employees as a perk in exchange for them doing a QC evaluation? We could design a checklist of things that they'd need to look into. Since it would always be different people, we wouldn't have to worry about waning enthusiasm and it would also create some excitement, increase morale."

"How would you decide which employees to send?" Fred asked.

"That would be up to the department heads to figure out," Wendy replied. "Let them figure out a way to nominate people, always someone different so that everyone feels as though they have a chance at some point."

"I think that's a brilliant idea," Marge laughed.

"You say that Mary came up with this idea?" Jonathan asked.

"Yes," Wendy replied, smiling. "She's smart with a lot of common sense and far more talented than you realize. She's also got a great attitude."

"That she does," Jonathan said, smiling. "Any comments?" he asked.

"It's a great idea," Fred said, smiling. "I like the idea of non-professionals doing the QC evaluations. We'd be getting feedback from a more guest-representative source, people seeing things the way our guests would be seeing them. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of just a single person doing it."

"Anything else, Wendy," Jonathan asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Yes, but this one's a bit different," Wendy said nervously. "When I analyzed the occupancy numbers for all of the properties going back two years, one thing really stood out. The most expensive units, the suites, which also have the lowest profit margins, have the lowest occupancy numbers. The Presidential Suite here at Destinations has only averaged 23 rental days a year for the past 2 years. We make far more money on the regular rooms and they're also booked more frequently, just over 80%. Why don't we sell most of the suites as condominiums, keep a few for rentals because there is some demand?"

"What!?" Fred gasped. "We're not in the real estate business."

"Maybe we should be," Wendy countered. "We'd be selling the most desirable units from a residence standpoint and getting rid of literal dead weight. We'd ask top dollar. Considering the amenities that our properties offer, it should be an easy sell. This would only be the hotels, not the resorts."

"But that...that...that's crazy!" Fred said, shaking his head.

"Think about it," Wendy said. "We'd save money by not having to maintain the units beyond what would be normal for the building. The owners would be taking care of that or they could contract with us for the service. We'd have a serious infusion of cash to help offset the costs of the other changes that we're making. And there's the prestige factor. The people that could afford to buy the units would essentially be living in a 5-star hotel. They'd have access to all of the same facilities that our guests have, the pools, the gyms, the salons and shops, the restaurants."

"How would you market it?" Jonathan asked.

"That's the best part," Wendy replied, smiling. "We wouldn't. We'd hire someone else to do it. The top real estate companies are Keller Williams, RE/MAX, Century 21, and Coldwell Banker. I wouldn't use any of them. While they may have some experience with luxury properties, their main market is more plebian. I'd choose Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices. Their primary market is luxury and they're the largest in that market. This is a market that they know better than anyone. Offer them the exclusive rights to market the units that we choose to sell in exchange for a lower commission rate. The norm is 5%. We should try to bargain them down to 3% for the exclusivity."

"From a money standpoint, I like it," Tom said. "A lot. We actually lose money on a lot of the units you're talking about. It would improve our profit and loss ratios, be better for our bottom line."

"You'd make more money, Fred," Jonathan said, smiling. "Your annual bonus is based on our profitability. If that were to go up..."

"You like this idea?" Fred asked.

"I do," Jonathan replied, nodding. "It's a brilliant idea. Why didn't any of us come up with it? Wendy is 24 years old with no experience, yet she's seen ways to improve the business that none of us have. Do you see any legal issues, Marge?"

"Not really," Marge replied. "We'd need to have some sort of an indemnification for any accidents or mishaps that happen inside the sold units, but other than that, it's pretty straightforward. Since it would only be a small percentage of the units, there would be no need for a condominium board or anything, so there would be no impediment to running the properties as you see fit."

"You've got a lot on your plate already, Wendy," Jonathan said. "Can you also fit finding someone to take charge of the restaurants and being the point person on selling the units?"

"Not without some help," Wendy replied, shaking her head. "I'm already struggling with everything."

"I think that I need to think about all of this before I make a decision," Jonathan said. "My gut says that it all makes sense, but give me some time to really look at it. The things that you've proposed this morning make your other ideas pale in terms of the impact that they'd have on everything."

"Pretty amazing for a PA, I'd say," Marge said, smiling.

"I'd say we're done here, then," Jonathan said.

"Christ, I should hope so," Fred sighed, shaking his head.

Wendy was sitting at her desk with her head in her hands, wondering if she had bitten off more than she could chew when Mary entered her office with lunch for the two of them.

"You okay?" Mary asked as she sat down in one of the chairs facing the desk and pushed Wendy's lunch over to her.

"Just thinking about eyes being too big for the stomach," Wendy replied with a sigh.

"Good thing I brought you lunch then, isn't it?" Mary asked, laughing. "What's up?"

Wendy filled her in on the breakfast meeting.

"You told them that it was my idea?" Mary asked, her eyes wide. "Why would you do that?"

"Because it was your idea," Wendy replied.

"What if they don't like it or they try it and it doesn't work?" Mary asked. "I'll be hung out to dry."

"Do you think that it's a bad idea or that it wouldn't work?" Wendy asked.

"No," Mary replied. "It's a great idea. Free vacations! Everyone's going to want a piece of that pie. I should have told you my third alternative."

"What's that?" Wendy asked.

"That you and I be the QC team," Mary replied, smiling. "That way we could take nice vacations together all the time."

"I have too much on my plate as it is," Wendy said, laughing. "Though it would be fun."

Just then Jonathan entered from his office.

"You did really well this morning, Wendy," he said, taking a seat on the sofa. "Standing up to Fred and defending your position wasn't easy."

"He hadn't had time to really think about it and see the advantages," Wendy said. "When he does, he'll like it. It's actually better for him personally, as well as the company. He's good people and I enjoy working with him. He's been nothing but helpful whenever I've asked for anything."

"I'll be that you're looking forward to the weekend," Jonathan said, smiling.

"I really am," Wendy agreed.

"Would you like to have dinner with Vera and I this evening?" Jonathan asked.

"Really?" Wendy asked, smiling.

"You must be getting sick of eating the same restaurant food by now," Jonathan said. "We're having Reggae prepare one of his special meals."

"God, I'd love to," Wendy said.

"Perfect," Jonathan said, getting to his feet. "Would you like to join us, too, Mary?" he asked.

"Gosh, yes," Mary replied, smiling broadly.

As the limousine pulled away from the building heading towards Jonathan and Vera's house, Wendy and Mary were sitting on either side of him.

"Would you like us to suck your cock?" Mary asked, groping him through his trousers and then reaching for his zipper.

"Wendy mentioned at our meeting this morning that you had a good attitude," Jonathan replied, laughing. "I agree."

Wendy just stared in amazement as Mary extracted Jonathan's cock from his trousers, then bent over and took it into her mouth.

"Come on," Mary said after a minute, looking up at Wendy. "You know that you enjoy sucking cock every bit as much as I do."

Wendy flushed, then bent over to join her when she saw the smile on Jonathan's face, licking the shaft of his cock and alternately sucking on the head. They were just pulling through the gates of his property, the head of his cock between their lips, when he groaned and his cock began pulsing, shooting streams of cum into their mouths.

"That was great," Jonathan said when they finished sucking him off and gulping down his cum, zipping his cock back into his trousers.

"I'll say," Mary agreed, licking her lips, a big smile on her face as Wendy flushed.

"Good afternoon, sir," Clarence greeted them as they entered the house. "Mrs. Hooks is in the living room."

"Thank you," Jonathan said, heading in that direction, trailed by Wendy and Mary.

Entering the living room, Wendy skidded to a halt, her mouth dropping open as she took in the sight of a naked Vera on a massage table with an equally naked René holding her ankles up and apart as he fucked her with the biggest cock that Wendy had ever seen, and the first black one.

"That looks like fun," Mary said, bending over to kiss Vera.

"Mary!" Vera exclaimed, smiling. "I know how much you love René's cock. I'm sure that he'll be happy to share it with you after dinner. You, too, Wendy," she said when Wendy approached the table, René not missing a stroke as he continued to fuck her. "It's good to see you again."

"It's so big," Wendy said in a whisper, staring in disbelief at the huge black cock sluicing in and out of Vera's tiny pussy, her pussy distending as it gripped the cock each time it pulled back.

"Yes, and it feels wonderful," Vera said. "Good day, Jonathan?" she asked when he bent over to kiss her.

"Very good day," Jonathan replied, smiling as he fondled her breasts, pinching and pulling on her hard, dark nipples. "Wendy turned the world upside down again. Fred was almost apoplectic."

"Oh, I'd loved to have seen that," Vera laughed. "I can't wait to hear about it."

"I'm going to cum, Mrs. Hooks," René announced.

"That's okay," Vera said. "I'm sure that Mary is just dying to eat me afterwards."

"Oh, definitely," Mary said, laughing, reaching down to rub Vera's tiny clit as René groaned, just the head of his cock in her pussy as he began to cum.

Wendy could see the cum leaking from around his cock, then Mary bent over and began sucking on the junction of his cock and Vera's pussy, stunning Wendy when she took his cock into her mouth when he pulled it from Vera's pussy and sucked on it, taking the entire thing into her mouth, her throat bulging with the outline of it as she sucked him clean, then turned to glue her mouth to Vera's swampy, cum-filled pussy, loudly slurping on the cum cocktail that filled her.

"Oh, my, that was nice," Vera sighed when Mary finally stood up licking her lips, her eyes shining with excitement. "It's so nice to see you again, Mary," she said as she sat up.

"I've missed eating you," Mary said, smiling, "though I enjoy tasting you on Jonathan's cock when I suck him each morning."

"I think that I'll change into something more comfortable," Jonathan said.

"Have Clarence bring us rum cocktails, would you?" Vera asked as she slid off of the table and picked up a silk robe and put it on, barely long enough to cover her ass. "Thank you, René," she said as he dressed, then began closing up the massage table. "That was wonderful as usual."

"It's always a pleasure, ma'am," he said, smiling. "My cock loves your pussy."

"And my pussy loves your cock," Vera said, laughing with him at an old joke. "I'll want to watch you fuck these two beautiful young girls after dinner."

"I look forward to it," René said, smiling.

"Just wait until you feel that cock in your pussy," Mary said when René left the room.

"It will split me in two," Wendy said, shaking her head.

Jonathan returned wearing Bermuda shorts and a loose T-shirt, the most informal Wendy had ever seen him, other than stark naked, followed immediately by Clarence who was carrying a tray with a large pitcher containing a reddish liquid, as well as four glasses filled to the brim with crushed ice. Setting the tray down, he poured the four glasses full, then handed one to each of them, starting with Vera.

"Cheers!" Mary said, clinking rims with the rest, then taking a big gulp. "Oh, wow, that's great!" she gasped, her whole face lighting up.

"I've never tasted anything like it," Wendy said, smiling. "So delicious. What is it?" she asked.

"Appleton Estates 25-year-old Jamaican rum with orange, pineapple, guava, passionfruit, and strawberry juices," Clarence explained.

"It's so delicious, it's easy to forget yourself," Jonathan warned. "The rum packs a punch. Just fair warning. You have the whole weekend to recover."

Wendy was feeling a bit lightheaded when Clarence called them in to dinner, having had two glasses of the rum punch. Dinner started with platters of raw clams and oysters, served with a Duck Hunter sauvignon blanc from New Zealand. The main course consisted of Alaskan king crab legs and South African lobster tails, served with a Caesar salad that Reggae came from the kitchen to make tableside. It was accompanied by a Domaine de Bellene, Les Charmes Dessus, Santenay chardonnay. Dessert was key lime pie served with a Graham's Six Grape ruby port.

"This is what we need in our restaurants," Wendy said, sighing with contentment as she sat back after finishing her dessert. "When you eat out, you always want to eat a meal and think that it's the best one you've ever had. The wines really make it happen. We should add that to our restaurant updating, great wines to go with the food. I don't think of these things because I've never been able to afford to think about them, but you, your socioeconomic class, this is what their lives are and what they want and that's the stratum of clientele that we're after, that we're all about."

"Do you see what I love about her?" Jonathan asked, smiling at Vera.

"I do, but enough work already," Vera said. "We're here to have fun, not work. I'd much rather have my face between those lovely long legs of hers than talk about work."

"No argument from me," Jonathan said, laughing.