'What about the Europeans? Lots of those about here.' Billy jerked his thumb towards the lobby.
'Out there I heard German, French and Spanish.'
'The Spanish would be coming from the Argentine,' I said.
'We get lots of those. They, and the Europeans, come for the same reason because it's cheaper here. But they don't come first class or even tourist. They come on charter flights in package deals organized by the travel agents mostly German and Swiss. Neither the Americans nor the Europeans, with few exceptions, have a lot of money to throw around. So how do we handle the operation?'
'You tell me.'
'Okay.' I spread my hands.
'We give them the semblance of luxury stuff they can't get at home. Palm trees are cheap to buy, easy to plant and-grow quickly; and you don't get many of those in Cleveland or Hamburg. And they look damned good. We have a few bars dotted about the place; one on the beach, one by the pool, a couple inside.
We hire a local guitarist and a singer to give the live mood music Bahamian and Caribbean calypso stuff very romantic. We have a discotheque. We have a place to serve junk food and another for gourmet dining both are equally profitable. We have shops in the lobby; jewellery, clothing, local handicrafts, a news-stand and so on. So far those have been concessions, but now we're tending to operate them ourselves; I've just started a merchandising division.
And, as I said, we run a car hire outfit; that's part oi the tours division. On the beach we have a few sailboats and wind-surfing boards, and we hire a beach burn to act as life-guard and to show the clients how to use the stuff. That's free.
So are the teriteis courts. There's also use of an eighteen-hole golf course for a concessionary fee. There's a marina linked to the hotel so we also pull in the boating crowd. '
'It seems a customer can get most of what he wants on his vacation without ever leaving the hotel,' Billy hazarded 'That's it,' I said.
'That's why they're called resort hotels. But what we don't have in the lobby is a liquor store; if a tourist wants his booze he pays bar prices. We want to squeeze as many dollars and cents out of these people as we can while they're in our tender care.
And they are in our care, you know; they have a good time and they're not cold-decked. We have a creche and a children's playground that's more to keep the kids out of people's hair than for anything else and we have a doctor and a nurse. And there's no drill or razzmatazz they're just left alone to do as they please which seems to be mostly roasting in the sun. '
Billy grimaced.
'Not the kind of vacation I'd fancy.'
'Neither would I, but we're not tourists. So what happens when our man goes home?
His friends look at that deep tan and ask him about it.
'Gee!' he says.
'I had the greatest time. Free sail boating free tennis, cheap golf on the most superb course you can imagine. It was marvelous.'
Then he does a hip shimmy around the office.
'And, gee, that calypso beat!' That's what he tells his friends when the snow is two feet deep in the street outside the office, and they like the idea, so they come, too. Maybe the year after. '
Billy mused.
'Fast turnover and small margins.'
'That's the name of the game,' I said.
'That's why room occupancy is critical; we keep filled up or go broke.'
'Any trouble in that direction?' I smiled.
'We're doing just fine,' I said lightly. He grunted.
'I'd like to see your profit and loss account and your balance sheet.'
'If you come up with a firm offer I might give you a quick look.' I thought for a moment.
'I'll introduce you to a few- people and you can get a feel of the place. David Butler is a good man to talk to; he's top man in the Ministry of Tourism here on Grand Bahama.' I hesitated.
'There might be a problem there.'
'What problem?'
'Well, you're a southerner. Would you have any problem dealing with a black on equal terms?'
'Not me,' said Billy.
'Billy One might, and Jack certainly would; but they won't be involved out here.' Billy One was Billy's father, so called to distinguish him from Billy. Jack was his uncle and head of the Cunningham clan.
'Is this guy, Butler, black?'
'He is. There's another thing. Any hotels you build here must be Bahamian-built and Bahamian-staffed.'
'The Bahamas for the Bahamians is that it?'
'Something like that. No one else can hold down a job here if it can be done by a Bahamian.'
Billy jerked his head towards the lobby.
'Your hotel manager Fletcher; he's white.'
'So am I,' I said evenly.
'We're both white Bahamians. But the manager of the Sea Gardens that's our hotel on New Providence is black.'
Billy shrugged.
'It doesn't worry me as long as we have an efficient operation.'
'Oh, we're efficient.' I looked up and saw Debbie Cunningham coming into the bar.
'Here's your cousin.'
She was wearing a halter top and a pair of shorts which were well named a long-stemmed American beauty.
'I hope this is okay,' she said, and looked down at herself.
'I mean, do you have rules?'
'Not so as you'd notice. Our visitors can dress pretty much as they like up to a point.' I inspected her.
'I don't think you've reached the point ye t, though. Will you have a drink?'
'Something soft; a Coke, maybe.' I signalled a waiter and she sat down.
'Isn't this quite a place? Have you seen the pool, Billy?'
'Not yet.'
I checked the time.
'I'm going to be busy for the next hour. Why don't you give the place the once-over lightly and I'll meet you at the desk. We'll have lunch at home. If you need to know anything ask Jack Fletcher* ' That's fine,' said Billy.
'You've told me enough already so I know what to look for.'
I left them and went to my office to do some hard thinking. When Billy had told me the size of his proposed investment it had given me quite a jolt, although I had tried not to show it. Forty million dollars is a hell of a lot of money and that much injected into West End Securities could provide for a lot of expansion. The problem would be to avoid being swamped by it, and it was going to be quite a puzzle to put together a suitable package which would keep both me and the Cunningham Corporation happy.
If Billy had been surprised by the Royal Palm Hotel he was equally surprised by my home and he showed it. I took him through into the atrium where the swimming pool was. He looked around and said, 'My God!'
I laughed.
'Ever been in Rome in August?'
'Who goes to Rome in August?' He shrugged.
'But yes, I have -once,' and added feelingly, 'Goddamn hot. I got out of there fast.'
'And humid -just like here. When I built this place I had an architect dig into the plans of Roman villas; the ancient Romans, I mean. I had a feeling they'd be building for the climate. This is not a reproduction of a villa more an adaptation. With modern conveniences, of course; air- conditioning included. But my air-conditioning costs less to run than any of my neighbours' because the building design helps. We used some of that know-how when we built the Royal Palm; that big, tall lobby is a natural cooling tower.'
