Chapter 183 What Can You Guarantee
After learning about what happened that day from Indigo, the customer service staff on duty emphasized that there were no stains when they changed the sheets.
Leopold said, "Call the staff who were on duty that day to the conference room. I have a few questions to ask. By the way, which room was the guest in?"
When asking for the guest's room number, Indigo looked embarrassed. After a few seconds of hesitation, he finally admitted, "She's already left."
"When?"
"She took the early morning train today."
Leopold frowned, his eyes cold as frost. When he glanced at Indigo, it made him shudder. Indigo clenched his hands at his sides before defending himself under Leopold's intense pressure:
"The guest insisted on leaving. I couldn't force her to stay, could I?"
Leopold seemed amused by his response. "You let her leave without calming her down?"
The last sentence had a rising tone, clearly showing his dissatisfaction with how Indigo handled it.
"Without talking to her face-to-face, how do you plan to handle the public opinion crisis?" Leopold asked back.
Indigo broke out in a cold sweat. "We have her phone number in our system. Before she left, she said to call her if we needed anything."
Leopold asked, "After the guest left, did you call to calm her down?"
Indigo pressed his lips together. "I called, but she didn't answer."
Great! Just great!
Leopold had just bent down to get in the car when he looked deeply at Indigo. "Send me her phone number."
On the way to the hotel, Leopold reopened the blogger's account, trying to determine the guest's current location from the photos she had shared. Seeing that she had posted a photo of eating at a restaurant in Eldoria just an hour ago, he felt relieved that she hadn't left yet.
The silence in the car was suffocating. Indigo felt resistant to Leopold's arrival. After all, he was the manager of the overseas hotel, but the company sent the former manager to handle the crisis, which clearly questioned his abilities. At least they only asked him to handle the aftermath and didn't make him hand over management authority.
People were selfish. When it came to their own interests, reason tok a back seat.
Leopold could sense that Indigo wasn't happy about his arrival, but had no choice but to follow the company's decision.
Indigo took a phone call, then hung up and told Leopold, "The staff just found her Bluetooth earphones while cleaning the room."
Leopold changed his plan and had Indigo tell customer service to pack up the Bluetooth earphones properly, then he dialed the guest's number.
The phone rang for a long time. Just one second before Leopold thought it would automatically disconnect, someone finally answered.
"Who is this?"
"Hello, I'm Leopold Wipere, the manager of Celestial Waters Hotel. Our staff just found your Bluetooth earphones while cleaning the room. If it's convenient, can we bring them to you now?"
Two seconds of silence on the other end. "Okay."
She gave an address, which Leopold wrote down before hanging up. Indigo, who had been watching his expression the whole time, asked, "She agreed to let us deliver them?"
Leopold nodded.
"That's great." Indigo's face lit up.
The guest's willingness to give her address meant her attitude had softened. As long as he handled it well, he could resolve this incident. So he planned to try talking to her again.
Indigo said with a smile, "Mr. Wipere, how about this?"
Before Indigo could continue, Leopold shut down his idea. "I don't think so."
Indigo was speechless, then pretended to be trying to share the burden, saying, "What I mean is, since I've already been in contact with her, a familiar face might be easier to talk to than a stranger."
"Really?" Leopold smiled mockingly. "Someone who couldn't handle one chance properly, you still have the nerve to ask for another?"
Although the driver in front couldn't understand what they were saying, he could still sense Leopold's unfriendly tone. He glanced back through the rearview mirror at Indigo's flushed face.
Indigo lowered his voice. "Last time, the guest was too emotional. I kept trying to calm her down, but she wouldn't listen to me. It won't happen this time."
Leopold asked word by word, "What makes you so sure?"
Indigo's tone was firm, his eyes determined. "I can definitely get her forgiveness and make her delete the video."
Leopold handed him his phone. "I'll give you a chance. If she answers your call, you can handle this."
Indigo took it seriously. Leopold understood Indigo's feelings, but some things can't be achieved through effort alone. This is the reality that first impressions and disgust can't be forgiven.
This was what we often say: when you disliked someone, even their breathing was wrong.
Indigo dialed the number from before. After the other party answered, as soon as Indigo gave his name, she hung up on him without mercy.
Along with the harsh, busy tone, Leopold said lightly, "Ready to give up?"
At this moment, Indigo felt utterly humiliated and awkwardly returned the phone to Leopold.
"Mr. Talbot, I admit you're very capable. Your previous hotel became the top seller that year. Back then, I was just a lobby manager at Silverwood Hotel. I looked at your poster with admiration and even secretly vowed that I would make a hotel achieve the highest annual sales too."
Indigo's eyes flickered, not expecting Leopold to suddenly bring this up.
In his heart, he felt he was a senior executive with long tenure at Celestial Waters Hotel. In terms of qualifications and experience, he wasn't inferior to Leopold in any way. If Leopold didn't have that special status, he definitely wouldn't have gotten a higher position than him.
Leopold continued, "Since you've reached a top position, you need top-level thinking. Never try to change anyone, and that includes yourself."
Indigo understood Leopold's meaning. A guest who had already rejected him wouldn't change her attitude toward him.
He realized belatedly, "What if the guest won't see you either?"
Leopold looked at the buildings outside the car. "Money can solve ninety-nine percent of problems."
Indigo said, "I offered compensation, but she said she didn't want it."
A gleam flashed in Leopold's eyes. "Everyone has a price point. If she didn't accept, it means your compensation didn't meet her expectations."
Indigo's thinking was still stuck on trying to pay the lowest compensation possible for the company to maximize profits.
"We can't let her demand whatever she wants just because she has that video. If we pay this time, what about the next guest? What if they copy her and make a video of dirty bedding, then come to us for more hush money?"
Leopold said, "This isn't the guest's problem. It's our management and service problem. Before I left, I remember the plan I gave you mentioned that replaced bedding should go through high-temperature multi-step disinfection and washing, the laundry room should have full surveillance coverage, and after each sheet is washed, it should be scanned and photographed for records. Did you supervise the implementation?"
Indigo was speechless. "Work has been really busy. I haven't had time to look at the plan you left."
Leopold said, "You didn't. Since you didn't implement it, you can't provide evidence that the guest deliberately dirtied the sheets, and you didn't notice and address her concerns right away, which led to her angrily posting the video online."
Indigo insisted, "She didn't complain to me, didn't even call to complain."
Leopold asked again, "Did she mention it to the service staff on that floor that day?"
Emotional venting always started outward. She would find a hotel service staff member to express her dissatisfaction, with the goal of getting the attention of higher-level personnel.
"This shows your low sensitivity to public opinion crises."
Indigo paused, seeming to remember that a cleaning person had mentioned that a guest in a certain room said the sheets weren't clean and asked to have them changed quickly.
After Leopold spoke with the hotel service staff on duty that day by phone, he confirmed the sheets were indeed clean and had them send him a photo of the dirty sheets.
Looking at the photo, Leopold stared at the egg-sized stain on the white sheet, his gaze deepening.
Indigo said, "Such a big stain, how could the staff cleaning the room not see it? This guest is clearly trying to scam us."
Leopold put away his phone. "Do you have proof?"
Indigo fell silent.
"Without proof, you can only accept your bad luck."
The car returned to the hotel. They picked up the guest's earphones and brought some prepared fruit before heading to the hotel where the guest was staying.