“You wanted anonymity.”
“I wanted normal service.”
She nodded.
Simone looked toward Victor.
“Front desk reports to you?”
“Yes.”
“What is the procedure for a reservation that appears invalid?”
Victor swallowed.
“Verify confirmation code.”
“Search by name.”
“Search by payment card if authorized.”
“Check central reservations.”
“Contact front-office manager.”
“Offer comparable accommodation if there is a legitimate system failure.”
“When does security enter?”
Victor looked toward her.
“If the guest becomes threatening.”
“Was I threatening?”
“No.”
“You weren’t there.”
“No.”
“So you cannot know firsthand.”
He corrected:
“Based on the video I reviewed, no.”
Good.
At least precise.
Simone nodded.
“When is staff allowed to destroy a guest’s printed document?”
“Never.”
“When are they allowed to move luggage with their feet?”
“Never.”
“When are they allowed to touch a guest’s handbag?”
“Only with permission or in an emergency.”
“Good.”
She leaned back.
“So the procedure exists.”
Victor nodded.
Simone looked toward Adrian.
“Then this is either an individual failure or a cultural one.”
Adrian said:
“We’ll investigate.”
“No.”
Everyone looked at her.
Simone continued:
“You will cooperate with an investigation.”
“You will not investigate yourselves.”
Corporate counsel nodded through the screen.
Simone turned toward Amelia.
“How many formal guest complaints alleging discriminatory treatment have been filed in the last three years?”
Amelia looked toward Helen.
Helen looked toward Victor.
Nobody answered.
Simone smiled without warmth.
“That silence is interesting.”
Victor said:
“I’d need to pull records.”
“You had acquisition diligence.”
“Complaints were aggregated.”
“Aggregated how?”
“Service categories.”
“What categories?”
“Check-in dissatisfaction.”
“Staff attitude.”
“Security interactions.”
“Billing.”
Simone stared.
“You do not code discrimination allegations separately?”
Helen answered:
“Not systematically.”
“Why?”
“We’ve never had enough volume to—”
Simone interrupted.
“How would you know the volume if you don’t code it?”
Silence.
She looked toward counsel.
“Add that to the audit.”
The attorney nodded.
Simone continued:
“I want three years of guest complaints.”
“All raw text.”
“No summaries.”
“Employee disciplinary records involving guest interactions.”
“Security incident reports.”
“Reservation override logs.”
“Service recovery credits.”
“Any internal messages containing terms related to fraud, suspicious guest, dress code, executive floor access, or police contact.”
Victor looked alarmed.
“That’s enormous.”
“Yes.”
“We can prioritize—”
“No.”
Simone’s voice remained calm.
“I did not spend four hundred eighty million dollars acquiring an asset to prioritize away the part that embarrasses management.”
There it was.
The number.
Micah would have loved it.
Nobody else did.
Adrian shifted.
“Simone.”
First name.