Turbulence Read online

  “Okay, not that ceremony, but maybe a smaller one.”

  “No, thank you. It was most appreciated, but none, smaller or not.”

  Before I was shown to my suite the bags had been sent up, and in his office I agreed to hold the meeting regarding the customs problem in my suite in two hours.

  Five

  The suite was exquisite and the furniture was most unusual with all of the wood pieces made from local hardwood and bamboo. The modern windows were sheathed with wooden indoor shutters and subtly highlighted with red and gold carved designs clearly Chinese inspired. The oriental carpets were magnificent, and the baths had tile mosaics that radiated luxury, with the very latest American fixtures, including an oversize hexagon tub with massage jets.

  At the appointed time, Helmut and Kim Yang, the assistant general manager, arrived. Kim was tall for a Korean, and quite slim, and like his manager dressed impeccably, but with a bit less flourish than his boss. He had been in college in the United States for four full years and graduated with a degree in business, but other than those years, he had lived his entire life in South Korea where he first learned basic English. He was clearly a bright young man, in his late twenties, and quite a politician I found out in the subsequent meeting.

  He was a personality offset somewhat to Helmut Reiger, who is Swiss with German genes and has an authoritarian manner, which serves him well in being able to get things done, but respected at the same time. While Helmut is respected for his knowledge and the ability to pass it on to his subordinates, he is not considered a buddy to the employees. Kim, on the other hand, is the perfect complement to staff and softens the authoritarian side of management when necessary. In addition, it was most apparent that Kim was an important asset for all of us, especially his advice on cultural pluses and minuses between Americans and South Koreans, and was therefore essential to the problem that we needed to resolve.

  I had needed to tour the hotel property, including those areas that were especially designated as foreign entities by custom agents. I understood completely what they were doing and I could do the tour right after we discussed in detail the problem.

  “In the interest of time, we needn’t go through every item since I have been in touch with Helmut about the what and when, but what I want to know from you, Kim, is the why. Why do you think they are doing this to us? Is it normal, has it happened in other properties, and what do they hope to accomplish?”

  “Well, Mr. Logan, it’s hard to say. First of all, there is the subject of bribes, and in our country it is receding but still a problem. It could be a means to raise a bit of cash from a company that can afford this kind of opulence.”

  “Yeah, I can understand that. I just left a country where I witnessed the police removing license plates from cars outside a very plush hotel. When I asked our local partners what they were doing, they explained that that is a way for police personnel to pick up some money, by showing up when the owner goes looking for his plates. They appear and suggest either a traffic ticket or a return of the plates with an immediate fine. The owner always chooses the plate return.”

  “That’s the kind of thing I’m talking about, but this also could be a more serious matter,” Kim said.

  “Like what?”

  “Well, we, I mean Harrison Hotels, agreed to buy local whenever possible, when we went into this venture. Now right away, even before opening, we are buying out of the country, and that’s a slap in the face to South Korea. Harrison is saying to them that we don’t think your product is good enough, and now you’ve injured national pride.”

  Whoa, here it comes, just like in Mexico as I suspected.

  “Well, as Helmut has made clear, that’s not our intention. We want to offer the very best in quality to our guests and we haven’t found it here as we did in the items we purchased elsewhere.”

  “Exactly,” said Helmut, “and we especially want the best right now, because if we don’t have it when we open, we don’t get a second chance to make a good first impression.”

  “Look,” I said, “we can debate this infinitely, but we’re short on time, and in this respect, we’re in the position of asking for their understanding, and that’s not very promising. Let’s look at the other side. What’s our hammer?”

  “Excuse me? What do you mean our hammer?”

  “Kim, sorry, I’m talking about the stick, not the carrot. What do we have that we can threaten them with? That usually takes a lot less time than the carrot.”

  “Oh, yes, I got it. Let’s see,” mused Kim.

  “What about the party that we have all that food for?” asked Helmut.”

  “That’s it,” said Kim, excitedly jumping up. “the president of South Korea, along with everybody that’s anybody, will be at the party. That’s the hammer. I think they will cave before we do. They’re facing a greater prestige loss than we are.”

  “Great, now we have something to talk about. Our time problem is now the custom agent’s problem. The pressure is on them, not us. We can also say to his superiors, whoever they are, we can work something out, but not now before the party. If you don’t let us bring our food and consumables out of customs, storage, whatever, we’ll have to cancel our grand opening party. I love it.”

  And I meant it. I also love when things come together like that. The rest of the problem is now just timing and the selection of the entity to which we deliver the hammer.

  I thanked Kim and told Helmut that I would meet him in his lobby office in about an hour. I needed to find Mr. Park and arrange to be measured again, if needed, for the incredible overnight manufacture of a suit or two. I made a note to update Russ first thing, due to our thirteen-hour time difference.

  Having reunited with the super efficient Mr. Park, who, in addition to his extravagant praise of his new surroundings, diplomatically suggested that while he can produce the improbable, it would be near impossible to have a full suit completed by the next morning due to the afternoon hour. However, observing my present suit, he suggested that he could produce a sport coat to go with the mohair pants I’m wearing by the time I wake in the morning and have the bellman deliver it on notice. Then, based on my wishes, he would have the proper time to make any suit or suits that I wished during my stay. I delightedly agreed, picked out the proper fabric for the sports coat, and promised I’d be back tomorrow or the next day to spend a longer appointment with him.

  I picked up Helmut and began the tour of the property. We went directly to the kitchen to observe every walk-in refrigerator and freezer crisscrossed with tape bearing Korean characters that clearly meant “South Korean Customs, Do Not Enter,” or some such prohibition. The only refrigerators or freezers allowed usage were the chef’s reach-in appliances that were stocked for a short duration in order to feed employees and do some training during the period before opening. There were also some dry food storerooms where locked doors carried the same “Do Not Use” custom department warnings. This situation was clearly disastrous and ready to implode in short order. No wonder Helmut, and subsequently Russ, was so concerned. I had seen enough and didn’t need any more exposure.

  “Helmut, lets see the rest of the hotel, from top to bottom. I want to see all the guest facilities and the back-of-the-house throughout. We’ll get together first thing in the morning to plan our meeting with the appropriate government officials.” While I had architectural drawings, renderings, layouts, and pictures transmitted regularly, and had walked the rough concrete floors on my last trip where the various areas were to be installed, I was genuinely impressed with the actual final results.

  It was truly a magnificent luxury property of which Harrison and Rainbow should be very proud, and that pride could be amply shared with the wonderful artisans who did such a quality job. In my almost twenty years in the business, I was associated with a number of as-built properties, but I never spent much time inspecting this one due primarily to the halfway-around-the-world distance. Even the Hawaii property that was double the siz
e I had visited regularly, but the distance seemed short compared to going to Asia. Obviously, I had no need to worry. It turned out great.

  I was especially taken with the public areas on both the lobby floor and the lower level. On the lobby level was the perfect upscale Fifth Gate restaurant with oriental decor similar to the guestrooms, except even more ornate. The banquet halls and ballroom were splendid, and the sheer size and abundance of pure crystal chandeliers were breathtaking. In the lower lobby, besides the shop area, were a coffee shop called Tomorrows, a modern American type facility, and the famous-to-be discotheque called Yesterdays where we hoped to unveil our blond beauties.

  Taking leave of Helmut, I was back in my suite that would serve as my office with the exquisite hand-carved desk, and telephone and fax available. I had received a fax and voice mail from Al, sounding greatly concerned regarding a message I had left earlier on his private residence suite voicemail regarding Maria. I was unable to reach him due to the time disparity and his duties, so I had told him to call me at the earliest moment. Both messages from him wanted me to know that he would expect me to call when convenient for me, including any time of the day or night, because he obviously sensed my anxiety. I checked my watch and mentally computed that it was midday in Acapulco. I called Al’s office, listening to the familiar international double buzz. Maria answered and I asked for Al. He was instantly on the phone.

  “Hello, Al, glad we connected. Everything all right there?”

  “Just fine here, but apparently, you have a problem. What’s up?”

  I asked him to call me back from his suite and gave him my private suite line. In a few minutes, he did so and I moved right to the issue, without niceties. “Something happened to me en route from Mexico to Dallas that indicates somebody in Acapulco knew my itinerary, and only three other people in the world knew it. You, Russ, and Maria. Don’t press me now for the details, Al, just give me everything you know about Maria.”

  “Uh, since I didn’t know what was bothering you, and I still don’t, I don’t have much to tell you about her, but anyway, here’s what I know. After you hired me, I looked around to find a Mexican woman who was educated and spoke English well, and got a recommendation from a hotel friend of mine in Mexico City about a secretary who had worked for him previously. She had left him on good terms to work for an American manager in one of the nicer hotels, who was then replaced, and his replacement brought his secretary with him. She had another job, but not in the hotel business, and was unhappy.

  I contacted her in Mexico City and she was willing to talk to her husband about moving here. I was ecstatic when she said she was willing to move. I made her a great offer and she accepted conditional on her husband’s consent, even though I was prepared to also offer him a job to get a woman who had her skills, knew English, and was well recommended. But she told me he didn’t like working in a hotel. That’s all I know. I didn’t check any further because it was a solid recommendation and she had all the skills. Why is her background so important to you?”

  I really liked Al. He was one of the best professionally. There were absolutely no problems with his operation, and to the extent I could, I considered him a friend, but I just couldn’t answer him now. Maybe I could later, because truthfully, I didn’t really know.

  “Look, I don’t know how or if you can find out, but I’d like to know, if you could, what he does for a living. Maybe my itinerary was mentioned, I don’t know. All I do know is that no one else in the company, or personally, knew that I was going to San Francisco through Dallas.”

  “Boss, that’s a tough order, but you know me, I’ll try to find out in an offhand manner. I mean, she never did tell me what he did or if he found a job. Because we once had a conversation about it, maybe I could ask her direct, but I’m sure she’ll want to know why all of a sudden I’m interested. If there’s no good reason, I sure don’t want to lose her, she’s really irreplaceable.”

  “I understand, Al, but it’s really important to me. I’d appreciate it.”

  “Gotcha. I’ll see what I can do, and I’ll be in touch.”

  “Okay, good enough. I might be here until the opening, which will be next week. But anything you have, contact me at this special number for both phone and fax.”

  Immediately after the call, I began to think that the time pressure we discussed in our meeting here earlier, is also time pressure to the cartel people who lost a small fortune, but it’s miniscule compared to the exposure of their plan that means billions. Okay, let’s consider the worst scenario. What if her husband had some connection to those people, then they would know that I was with Harrison out of New York, that I went to South Korea, and that somehow I have the drugs.

  If that crazy scenario was right, they would know where to find me in New York, where I worked, and probably where I lived. Man, even though I’m halfway around the world, this is really scary, and I’m not the least experienced in this kind of thing and have no answers. I’m beginning to reconsider talking to Len, my friend who is on the NYPD, and maybe taking the risk of asking his advice. It’s a big risk, but getting no advice and proceeding blindly is possibly a much greater one. I need to chew on it.

  Russ knows I’m here and I’m sure he wants to know my progress, and I need to call him. I note it is morning the previous day in New York and I dial him at his time.

  “Mr. Martin’s office,” a cheery voice greets me.

  “Hi, Jeanette, it’s Kevin Logan. Is the boss in?”

  “Hi, Kevin, how’s Asia and the new hotel?”

  “Both are beautiful.”

  “Good. I’ll ring him.”

  “Hello, Kevin, I was afraid you got lost.”

  “No, got here midday, and going at it most of the day. I’m calling to give you a progress report.”

  “Great. Shoot.”

  I told him about our meeting, and as a result of it, what we consider our plan for the subsequent refrigeration and freezer inspection, as well as the great job done at the hotel.

  “Well, it’s risky, especially if you’re not sure who you’re presenting to. It’s all based on who blinks first, but clearly you have little alternative given the time before opening.”

  “Yeah, they’ve left us no choice. We would have to beg them to restock the chef’s reach-ins in a couple of days to complete our kitchen training, and we’re not going to do that. We’re hoping after our meeting tomorrow morning that we’ll have a Blue House meeting the following day. In the meantime, Kim will pull out all the stops in finding the right person, I don’t care if it’s the president.”

  “I don’t think you need to go that far, but do what you need to. You’ve only got a little over a week left.”

  “Yea, you are coming, aren’t you? And your Rainbow guy will be there, right?”

  “Yes to both questions, and how about you?”

  “Me what?”

  “You have an invitation, right?”

  “Yes, but I’m not sure I’ll still be here. It depends on what happens here and other needs elsewhere. This trip was not in my plans as you know.”

  “Suit yourself, you know what’s pending, and I guess Jim and I will represent the companies, anyway.”

  “Good. I’ll call you in a couple of days and let you know what’s what,” relieved to know I could get out of here quickly if I had to.

  Six

  My room service breakfast arrived on time, table served with white starched linen and eggs and sausage in a silver chafing dish over a low butane flame. Fruit and a more than ample silver coffee pot completed it. The server handed me a fax that had been slipped under the door and on the floor when I opened it. It was from Al. He, of course, resided in his resort hotel, and like my suite, had his own private phone and fax. He had excused himself from his office and from the daily rounds required of all my general managers.

  In the morning and later at unexpected times each day, the GM was required to visit every back of the house facility, from the boiler room to
the rooftop penthouse, including kitchens, housekeeping, laundry, back dock, front desk, and back offices. The same was expected of every front of the house area, including room corridors, vacant rooms, maid service in progress rooms, the lobby, function rooms, restaurants, and bars, even the pool facilities and garage. I was pleased to know that most good managers loved to do the tours and told me that it was instructive and extremely helpful at staff meetings, as well as letting the hourly employees know you’re on top of things. Office managers belong in offices, not hotels.

  Al had spent most of the day doing what I had asked, and while the report was preliminary, he had made so many friends both in and out of the hotel community, he was not considered a gringo and therefore had effectively gathered some facts fairly quickly. The information was disquieting. While Maria’s reputation proved to be exactly what we thought she was, the jury was out on her husband. To the best of knowledge, he did not have a record here or in his previous time in Mexico City. He was not a troublemaker nor a drunk and largely kept to himself. Juan, as he was called, had not been associated with any wrongdoing, but had one major black mark, completely circumstantial, and maybe unfairly so, perhaps from begrudging acquaintances.

  He didn’t have a particular job he went to on a regular basis, but at the same time, he and his wife lived very comfortably. That was all Al could find out in the short time that he sent out inquiries, quite careful not to expand the investigation lest Maria hear of it. Al promised to find out more, including finding a way to ask Maria directly what he does for a living.

  There was no question that the drug culture in Mexico had invaded every facet of Mexican existence. It was a ubiquitous sword of Damocles hanging over everyone, mostly over the good hardworking citizens that tried to live a decent life. But there was hardly anyone who had not been affected by it.