Chapter 185 Pressure from the Board of Directors
"Top Hotel Hygiene Scandal Exposed"
"Platinum Haven Hotel Allegedly Uses Expired Rotten Meat to Defraud Customers!"
"I Was Secretly Filmed as a Guest at Platinum Haven Hotel."
Hot comments from netizens:
"This hotel is so disgusting!"
"Why is it Platinum Haven Hotel again? I keep seeing news about this hotel lately, I'm sick of it."
"This kind of hotel should be shut down immediately!"
"Victims unite, we must make the hotel compensate and apologize!"
I put down my phone and tablet. The screens showed over a dozen anonymous news articles that suddenly broke last night, each headline more shocking than the last.
The person behind this chose to release them in the middle of the night, then created buzz by hiring sockpuppets. By the time I got the news this morning, it was too late to suppress the trending topics.
I called some media contacts I had good relationships with. The person on the other end said frankly, "We took a job to smear you and Platinum Haven Hotel. Besides targeting the hotel, they also wanted to spread rumors about you - really nasty stuff, saying you're promiscuous and have inappropriate relationships with many men."
The person on the phone sounded awkward. I frowned, "Who's targeting me?"
The other person paused, then answered vaguely, "Anyway, it's someone our company can't afford to offend. Other peers can't refuse either. Of course, there are also people who just want to make money - after all, they're paying very well. We don't want to offend you and Lucas either. The online public opinion will probably build up for a few days. Sorry about this."
After saying that, afraid I'd keep asking questions, they hung up directly.
I didn't call back. I understood the message clearly - there was a group of people trying to spread rumors about my messy private life and smear the hotel at the same time. These news media didn't dare to maliciously spread rumors about me, so they could only go after the hotel.
After thinking for a moment, I used the internal line to call the PR manager over. "Handle this as peacefully as possible. First, respond using the hotel's official account. Internet users are very sensitive right now, don't provoke them. If the negative reviews keep increasing in a couple days, hire sockpuppets to guide the discussion and let netizens know someone is deliberately targeting Platinum Haven Hotel."
The PR manager replied, "Yes!"
"You can go now." I thought about it and called Lucas. When Lucas heard someone wanted to spread rumors about my messy private life, he got so angry his breathing became heavy.
"Those media outlets are still pretty sensible, you don't need to make things difficult for them." I was afraid Lucas would get upset and go after these news companies, which would only please whoever was behind this, so I didn't dare hide it from him.
Besides, given how much Lucas cared about me, he'd find out sooner or later anyway.
"Aren't you angry?" Lucas was silent for a moment, then said glumly, "Bella, I've noticed you're sometimes too calm."
"Being calm is better than being impulsive." I reassured him, "Dinner together tonight?"
"Sure." Lucas agreed right away.
Then I set this matter aside for now and started dealing with the vegetable supplier issue.
The guy was called Theodore King. He ran a large farm and had partnerships with many well-known hotels. The person who originally signed the contract with him was Gale.
I sent people to find Theodore but couldn't meet him. I made many calls to Theodore and his company, and it took some time before I finally reached Theodore.
His attitude was cold and arrogant, "Your hotel's reputation isn't great. It's affecting our farm's vegetables too - people are questioning if there's something wrong with them. Me ending our partnership doesn't count as breach of contract. I won't be providing any fresh vegetables to Platinum Haven Hotel anymore!"
After saying that, he sneered dismissively and hung up, then blocked me.
This news quickly reached the other directors' ears. I was running around busy, and still had to make time for meetings with them and deal with them.
Conference room.
Both sides of the long table were filled with people.
The atmosphere was oppressive, the air seemed frozen.
An elderly director looked at the chairman's seat at the head of the table - Gale's seat - and asked worriedly, "With something like this happening, Gale still isn't planning to come back? We invited him to join the meeting by video, but he didn't agree. He just said he's leaving everything to Isabella to handle, that he trusts Isabella."
A middle-aged man next to him sneered, "They're siblings, of course they trust each other. But why should we trust a young woman?"
Others were equally dissatisfied, deliberately discussing in front of me:
"Platinum Haven Hotel is Gale's life's work, something Gale worked so hard to create. I'm afraid it's going to be ruined in Isabella's hands."
"We should have opposed giving her real power from the start. She can't do anything right!"
Someone objected, "You can't say that! Wasn't the trade show Isabella organized very successful?"
"Besides the trade show, what other outstanding achievements does she have? She spends all day messing around with her medicines! This is a hotel, not a hospital, and definitely not a pharmaceutical research institute!"
I tapped the table and asked into the microphone, "Have you said enough? If you haven't, I can wait until you're done."
Immediately, everyone fell silent.
Because the day before, they had also used a board meeting as an excuse to call me over and discuss things in front of me on purpose, deliberately embarrassing me. I just left and had someone lock the conference room door, letting them discuss to their hearts' content.
The conference room had drinks and desserts, but no bathroom. After half a day, some people couldn't hold it anymore and softened their attitude, asking to open the door. I ignored them. Only after everyone's temper had worn down did I order the door opened to let them leave.
I wanted them to know that I come from a mafia family, and my way of doing things wouldn't be like an ordinary businessperson!
These directors weren't simple characters either, of course, but their interests were tied to me alone, so they didn't dare completely break with me.
I glanced at the silent crowd, waited three seconds, and said, "Go ahead, you called me here - what exactly do you want?"
"Of course it's about the suspension for inspection!" Director Rex was the first to jump out. "Do you know how much money we lose every day we're closed! Our family businesses are small, we can't compare to the Sorelli family's wealth. You might not care about the hotel's profits, but we do!"
His words had the intent of driving a wedge between me and the other directors. The others looked at me with scrutiny, doubt, and even schadenfreude.
"I'm already handling it. Since you're not satisfied, what do you think should be done?" I calmly asked him back.
Rex exchanged glances with the others, then slammed the table hard and stood up. "The hotel was always stable before, but right after you took over, it keeps getting attacked by public opinion, and the complaint rate has tripled! We've worked with Theodore for so many years without any problems, but how come after it's in your hands, he directly refuses to work with us anymore?"
Rex's gaze was sharp, his expression somewhat triumphant. "Since you're a doctor and good at treating patients, not management, why don't you hand over the hotel's operational authority to someone more suitable!"
The air was very quiet. Everyone understood - he wanted me to give up my power!