Yesterday I met with the Chairman of the hotel 'complex' that I am in. I say complex because there is a business centre on site, a snack bar, a foreign currency exchange point, a place to book religious pilgrimages (e.g. to Mecca) and quite a popular restaurant that does take away - as well as bedrooms of course.
I was advised to meet with him because apparently he has a soft spot for our organisation, and can be quite generous. I am already on a reduced room rate, but the Country Director hinted that I might be able to get it down even lower. So I went to 'greet' him, and while I was there made my case for a discount... I will be staying here for a few weeks, I'm eating most of my meals here, we give them a lot of business etc etc. He was very friendly, but non-committal about the rate reduction at first, saying that he would need to speak to his general manager as he leaves that kind of thing to him. So, I smiled and carried on chatting. After a while the conversation turned to the fact that I married a Nigerian and that my husband is Igbo. Well, it all changed after that! He was very happy, said he wanted to be able to help me, I should meet his wife, and that anything I needed I should come straight to him.
As I left his office he said 'Now, let me think, what can I do for you? Do you have your meals paid for by your company?'. I said no... and so he said he will tell the restaurant to give me free breakfast for a week! I hope that he also might remember to reduce the room rate as well. I think I'm getting into this bargaining / negotiating business!
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