Journals of a Hotel Manager

All staff members suffered to a certain degree from the flood.  To many, the most unlikely victim was our GM Alfred.  He had started work only a couple of months prior to the flood. It was his first posting as a general manager as well. Alfred was a lovely man, very smart and funny. For a financial controller who was earning the big bucks in the corporate office, he was brave enough to tackle hotel operations and eventually became a general manager.

While I had more operational experience, Alfred was by far older and wiser when dealing with owners and insurance companies. We fought the owners together, shed tears of hopelessness together, and shared glasses of wine while living in an empty hotel together.

Alfred began to like wine and liquor a little too much as the stress elevated. He also began to behave strangely such as refusing to turn up at meetings and not getting any sleep at all.  Only later I found out that he had bribed a concierge to bring him constant supplies of wine and vodka to his room.  When I was transferred out a year after the flood, the hotel was still struggling to reopen. Like many staff who came to say farewell, Alfred cried like a baby when I left. That was the last time I ever saw him.

Alfred battled on for another 18 months to reopen the hotel. But as soon as the hotel was reopened, he resigned without explanation. The word through the grapevines was that his drinking problem got out of hand and the president asked Alfred to leave. His marriage fell apart and the last I heard was that he was in the Bahamas running a dingy little B&B, living with a local girl half his age.

I feel very bad for Alfred.  The staff at the hotel still regarded him as the best GM because through the dark days of hopelessness it was Alfred who stayed with them.  I understand what constant stress can do to a man and sometimes I wonder if I didn’t take the transfer offer and I had stayed behind as well, would Alfred fare better today?  I feel guilty about how Alfred ends up today.  I wish him all the very best.