Chapter 29
The hits kept on coming. Erin had spent the previous evening with Molly going over the photographs she’d taken of her mother’s usual room, but frustratingly, nothing in particular seemed to ring a bell as a potential hiding place for a deposit box key.
It seemed that they had no choice other than to wait for Shay Brady to vacate the room, which wouldn’t be for another week. Until Molly could locate the hiding spot, there was nothing either of them could realistically do other than keep an eye out for anything further untoward.
And for Erin to keep fighting fires at The Palms as they happened.
Upon checking guest registration details of the rooms affected by yesterday’s water leak, she’d discovered that one of the evacuated occupants was none other than the VIP influencer from the UK.
A recent note from Grant on the reservation stressed that the bill for this particular guest’s stay should be complimentary, as per standard hotel policy for influencers.
Which Erin vehemently disagreed with, but that was another story.
And all well and good except for the fact that there were three other rooms attached to the same reservation. This particular clothes horse, whoever she was, clearly had one helluva entourage …
The manager wasn’t intent on comping them all, surely?
Quickly looking up Naomi Sparks online, Erin saw that ‘SaturdaySparkles’ seemed like a pretty basic mid-range fashion account, with an equally middling following. There was nothing at all travel- or hotel-related in her content that warranted a free stay at The Palms.
Heck, Sparks had already been here almost a week, and hadn’t posted a single picture of the hotel even. Erin was also pretty confident that the woman in these images was indeed the one she’d had to divert from the pool the other day.
Regardless, she made a mental note to explore this so-called ‘standard’ policy with the general manager a little further. If the hotel was automatically giving free stays to every randomer who rocked up with an iPhone, then they’d be out of business in no time anyway.
But then Erin noticed something else in the reservation notes about an upcoming birthday celebration. Which made her recall those elaborate proposal plans she and Lily had talked about before, and which perhaps might better explain Grant’s generosity.
Even so, given the level of fuss, Erin had assumed that the guest involved was a VIP in the truest sense and the upcoming proposal a major affair – a huge viewer uplift that might prove equally so for the hotel’s reputation.
And now, as she stood outside Naomi Sparks’ room with a fruit basket and bottle of champagne by way of apology for yesterday’s inconvenience, if nothing else she was curious to see if her impressions were correct.
‘Guest services, hello?’
The door was opened by a dark-haired woman with a pleasant expression who looked exactly like the one Erin had been researching online.
‘Ms Sparks,’ she began politely, ‘Erin Howard, guest relations manager. I wanted to drop by personally to apologise for yesterday and to offer this small token from us all at The Palms to make up for the inconvenience.’ She went to hand over the basket, but when the woman looked confused, felt she needed to follow up.
‘The water leak? As a rule, we would never request that a guest leave their room except in case of exceptional circumstances and …’ The remainder of her sentence trailed off when all of a sudden a thought struck her, and as her brain raced ahead with the implications, Erin willed herself to refocus on the current task.
‘Oh, of course! I’d forgotten about that actually.’ Naomi Sparks smiled. ‘Truly no apology needed, these things happen, I’m sure. And no harm done. Please, come in,’ she said, ushering Erin inside. ‘Thank you so much for this, you are very kind.’
She took the basket and seemed to be looking for somewhere to set it down. A difficult task given all surfaces in the immediate area were strewn with various papers and folders, almost as bad as the Beaumonts, Erin noted.
What was it with people supposedly on vacation that they couldn’t leave the office behind?
‘Forgive the mess,’ the other woman said as if reading her mind. ‘Greg, my partner – he’s in the shower – had to take a lot of work with him on this stay, sadly. But we’re loving it here so far, and your hotel is truly amazing, thank you again.’
‘I’m really glad to hear that. And anything at all I can do to make it better, please do ask.’
‘Honestly, being here is enough. It’s a joy to be able to travel after the last few years.
I’m here with family and it’s so special to be able to spend quality time with them, especially in such glorious surroundings.
’ Naomi waved out to the view beyond the patio.
‘Makes you realise how much we take for granted really,’ she added wistfully, then turned back to Erin.
‘I’d imagine you’re all glad to be back to full occupation too?
Or maybe you appreciated the break from us marauding tourists,’ she chuckled, and Erin was struck by how warm and self-deprecating she was.
Refreshingly so.
‘It’s wonderful to be fully back to normal yes, and while I’m not new to the hotel business, I am to St Lucia …’
The two chatted easily for a bit, Naomi even offering a coffee from the in-room espresso machine, and Erin felt heartened by how down to earth she was, to the point that now she felt inclined to want to comp this nice lady.
This was no foot-stomping freeloading diva trying to capitalise on her online following; she was a genuinely appreciative guest who you could tell truly loved being here.
The kind of visitor The Palms needed to nurture.
When Erin heard the shower water go off in the bathroom, she figured it was her cue to leave.
‘I’d better get back to it,’ she said, smiling at Naomi.
‘Apologies again for yesterday and the other day at the pool too,’ she added cringing a little at the memory.
‘I assure you, things are usually like clockwork here, but we’ve had a run of it lately.
’ Then she paused and looked back. ‘To make up for it, management is very happy to offer you a complimentary stay. While we’d love to include your travel companions in that, I’m afraid … ’
Naomi’s eyes widened, though not in delight but, Erin recognised, sheer embarrassment.
‘Goodness, no, you don’t need to consider doing something like that just for a couple of silly little hiccups. I wouldn’t dream of accepting, in any case.’ She smiled. ‘Honestly no need to apologise, I assure you everything’s perfect.’
‘As long as you’re certain …’ Erin smiled and turned toward the door, again inwardly praising Naomi’s appealing demeanour, when something on one of the loosely strewn documents nearby caught her eye.
A graphic she recognised, having seen it somewhere else recently. A logo of some kind? But she couldn’t immediately place it.
As she and Naomi said their goodbyes and she closed the door behind her, Erin’s mind was already on her next task and the brainwave she’d had on the way in.
Perhaps a means of turning one of their recent hiccups into a gift horse. And, even better, a surefire way of helping Molly finally get her hands on that key.
‘I can’t believe they offered to gift our stay,’ Greg enthused, stepping out of the bathroom and rubbing his hair with a towel. He’d overheard.
‘I know, isn’t it crazy? As if we’d even dream of—’
‘And you refused?’ His face was dark, Naomi noticed.
‘What? Of course I wouldn’t accept a free two-week stay because of something silly? The hotel trade is still getting back on its feet after the last few years, Greg; the last thing they need is—’
‘Oh, for crying out loud, Naomi, you can be really stupid sometimes.’
‘Excuse me?’ She frowned but then noticed his expression soften as, still bare-chested, he came to sit beside her on the bed and rested a hand on her leg.
‘They’re not offering us a free stay because of a stupid water leak, babe, they’re offering it because they’ve obviously figured out who you are.’
She wrinkled her nose. ‘You mean the social media stuff? Don’t be silly, why would a hotel like this care about that?’
‘You truly have no idea, do you? Like I told you before, all marketing is pretty much influencer-led these days. Businesses are falling over themselves to be featured. We’re sitting on a goddamn goldmine here, Naomi, and you don’t even realise it.’
‘Greg, I have no intention of using social media to angle for freebies. I’m a grown woman and can well afford to pay for stuff myself.’
‘Yeah, but you’re not paying for it, are you?’ he pointed out archly.
She coloured a little. ‘Well, not this, no, but I presume you meant it when you offered to bring Mum and Dad and the others. It was a birthday treat, you said.’
‘It was, but this place costs a pretty penny all the same. Who would say no to a free stay at a luxury resort – especially when it’s offered on a platter like that? Not to mention this place is notorious for it, actually; it’s one of the reasons I …’ Then he stopped short.
She looked at him, warily. ‘One of the reasons you what, Greg?’
But Naomi could already guess what he was about to say. He hadn’t chosen this hotel because of its rustic charm or because he felt it would be somewhere she or her family might like. Greg had picked The Palms because it had a track record of gifting free stays to influencers?
This was a growing trend with him lately. All this free stuff that kept appearing at their door, and the only thing Naomi had to do in return was feature it on her social media channel.
Teeth-whitening gel making outlandish claims she couldn’t verify … fake tan she wouldn’t in a million years dream of using … cheap jewellery that fell apart at the drop of a hat, fast fashion too … lately she was starting to feel like a one-woman version of those late-night shopping channels.
It all felt so … grubby and greedy. Probably the true reason she’d felt so embarrassed about Will and his daughter looking her up online – she knew it would surely come across like she was some kind of freeloader.
But to think that Greg had specifically chosen this resort – had maybe even arranged the entire trip to St Lucia – not as a way for them all to relax and reconnect, but in the hope of coasting their way to yet another freebie because of Naomi’s so-called ‘influence’ was … disgusting.
But, she supposed, it certainly explained why he’d spent so much time encouraging her to take endless photos and videos of the hotel, when all she wanted to do was switch off the phone and relax.
Or potentially why there was no sign of that proposal she was so certain was coming.
Was he anticipating some sort of freebie for that too? Naomi shuddered at the notion.
‘Think about it, babe,’ he said now. ‘We get to travel the world, stay in all the best places – and all we have to do in return is take a few pictures and showcase how great a place is. Granted this one is a bit of a dump, sure, but you have an eye for this stuff, and you know how to make it look amazing on camera.’
‘I don’t have to make this place look amazing. It is amazing! The staff are lovely and so obliging, like that manager Erin now. It feels so unspoilt, charming and …’
‘It’s a dump, Naomi. And compared to everything else around here, I doubt it’ll stay the course for too much longer.
So we might as well make the most of it while we can.
’ He shook his head. ‘I still can’t believe you turned down the offer of a free stay, though …
I’ll talk to the manager myself, make sure we get it. ’
Naomi stared at the man she was so sure she wanted to marry, wondering how on earth he believed that something like this, something so calculating and grabby … was reasonable.
Because surely Greg knew as well as anyone that there was no such thing as a free lunch.