Savannah romance

[Varindar Asyt]

While the region of Trandosha in which Forak was situated would look like a desert to some extent, it was, in fact, a savannah that would lead them well into the jungle forests of the planet the further away one went from the city. Even so, to some people such a scenery was exotic to them, especially if one lived in an urban region for their entire lives. With the new package being sold, she would have to be really careful of what she was slated to sell. One of the couples that was showing interest towards that product was, in fact, wondering whether or not to go for the full monty of going to a five-star hotel on Trandosha, knowing that they could potentially go somewhere else of similar prestige but on another planet within that same price range, or they could go somewhere else on the planet at a much lower price, for rates ranging from as low as 25 credits/night at a 1-star hotel (but 1-star properties are seldom used for honeymoons, even on a planet like Trandosha), 75 credits/night (average for a 2-star property on Trandosha) to 125 credits/night (most 3-star properties on that planet charged around that price, of which there were only a handful, with no 4-star hotel on the planet and the Crown Nebula being the only Trandoshan 5-star hotel). I really do hope that they aren't fixated on a specific type of room, or on dates: it's likely that they're in for unpleasant surprises if they're fixated on either, let alone both, especially if they wish to book the Imperial Suite, she thought, while realizing that the Imperial Suite is, in fact, large enough for eight. But at the same time, she had to get her loan back in order. And she'd rather have free advance repayments - she knew some banks charged businesses that tried to repay their loans early but that's usually the sign that their loans were, in fact, working.

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ATTN: [member="Melvand Zrimmir"]

I feel that my current banking situation is holding my business back, especially since my current bank's lending limits seem to be a little low for what I'm contemplating. I am even offering you the opportunity to book a room at the Crown Nebula Hotel; should you accept to take it, I would like the price of your stay at the Crown Nebula Hotel on Trandosha applied against the price of taking out the mortgage to get the last three floors of the hotel built. Oh and I would also like to look into your commercial bank accounts, as well as the terms you are able to offer for commercial loans.

Varindar Asyt
General Manager, Crown Nebula Hotel

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[Melvand Zrimmir]

[member="Varindar Asyt"]

Us at Zrimmir Universal Banking Union would be more than happy to have you and your business join our bank. I myself will attend to this, to assure you of our dedication to our clients. I shall arrive in three days, then we can discuss your new banking arrangements.

Melvand Zrimmir,
Zrimmir Universal Banking Union

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Normally, Zrimmir would send a subordinate to do one of 'these' jobs. But he had been on Cato Neimoidia for six straight weeks, all of which he had been working. Although this trip wasn't so much an exception to that, it would be nice to spend some time relaxing at a five star resort, even if it was on a world like Trandosha.

When his shuttle landed, he shielded his eyes from the hot sun of Trandosha, remembering the tropical planet's climate. Zrimmir walked flanked by no one, knowing, or at least hoping, he was safe from those pesky hunters that infested the planet. Finally he approached the entrance of the hotel, wondering where the owner was.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

Let me check what room he just booked: the Autumn Hills suite on the second floor, she thought, while [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] was, in fact, staying one night at the executive suite. Before check-in time arrived on the third day from the receipt of the Neimoidian's message, she collected all the relevant financial information for this, such as forecasts for the business brought by building the additional floors in the property, how much said business was adding to both fixed and variable costs of operating the hotel, and the same went for the bar, the restaurant, the beauty and the fitness divisions of the hotel, under whose purview the swimming pro-shop fell. construction times and quotations, bank account statements, as well as the relevant bank reconciliations, month-on-month, and also the quarterly financial statements (even though the hotel's shares weren't publicly traded, she still followed IFRS). Once she saw the Neimoidian guest at the front desk, she was wondering whether that guest was, in fact, the banker taking a trip to Trandosha on business for the hotel. She prepared to take out the keys to that room before she could actually get the guest to its room:

"Welcome to the Crown Nebula Hotel. What can I do for you today?"

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Vrimmir was slightly annoyed by her lack of recognition, and let it be heard in his voice, "I am Melvand Zrimmir, CEO of Zrimmir Universal Banking Union."

He waited for her reply, almost glaring at the hotel owner. It wasn't entirely her fault, but the Trandoshan heat wasn't doing [member="Varindar Asyt"] any favors.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"All right, Mr. Zrimmir, your room will be the Autumn Hills suite on the second floor"

On the one hand she put all the documentation she feels is necessary to the banking business in a suitcase, so that the documents remained together as she brought them in the guest's room, on the other hand, she just handed [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] the keys to the Autumn Hills suite and entered his check-in in the room tracking system. She also had the feeling that she would likely get better terms on the loan if she transferred her account there, but she'd rather not bring that up with him at first. Yet, she resented the low lending limit her current bank imposed her, despite the great credit dossier she had: included in the documentation was her past loan statements. Once that suitcase, made of faux-Trandoshan hide, was filled with all the documents she felt were needed to conduct the banking business, she was ready to undertake her trip to the guest's room in this hotel. Then and only then would she feel comfortable talking about the items relevant to the financial future of the hotel: she definitely didn't want it done at the front desk since she could feel other guests could cause her problems.

"I'm Varindar Asyt, the general manager of the Crown Nebula Hotel. I shall guide you personally to your room"

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir was glad to get the process underway when [member="Varindar Asyt"] showed up to lead him to his room. His mind wasn't entirely on relaxation however, as he walked through the resort, he was looking at everything he passed. Gauging the average value of the establishment, the land it was on, and judging, from what little he saw, how well it was doing. Sometimes there was more to business then just numbers, and even a numbers man like Zrimmir knew this, so he tended to pay attention to the little details.

"Thank you very much, Ms. Asyt."

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Here, the Autumn Hills room"

Once the door was open, and he could set foot in the suite he booked for the night, [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] would realize that much of the suite's décor was, in fact, revolving around the theme of autumn on temperate-weather planets: colors ranging from green to red, with yellow and orange being part of the wallpaper's palette, artwork that depicted landscapes of gently rolling hills at that time of the year on different planets, such as Randon, M'haeli and Yutan, and the carpeting being grass-green. At the same time, she would like to lay out the documents that she feels are important to ensure that she will, in fact, be getting the best lending terms to get the loan taken out: forecasts of revenues per room by construction phase, appraisal report, inspection report, quarterly financial statements, with the most important ones being the statement of cash flows and the statement of comprehensive income. Of course, she also had to supply the credit report as well: she neatly organized all that documentation so that she could get the most out of the Neimoidian's limited time.

"Now that we have arrived at the room, I have to say that I feel a little hamstrung by the low lending limits of my current bank, and also that I can't borrow money for longer than two years or so. Two million credits will only allow me to get one floor built on that amount of money and perhaps invest a bit of money, getting all three final floors built requires about five million"

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir looked around, feeling a bit put off by the theme of the room. He did not understand that the room would literally be autumn when he reserved it, but he could get over the surprise. Setting down his bag, he turned to see [member="Varindar Asyt"] laying out her business plans. Although he wasn't entirely in the mood, now was as good as ever to start talking business. He listened intently to her request, until she said the price,

"Two million!? Five million!? What are you making these floors out of, hardened spice?"

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"It's not simply for construction: the money in the loan in question also pays for all the furniture, fittings, artwork as well as seed money to pay for the first three months of operation, while this extra space's ability to generate revenue matures and they get rented out more" she explained, while she could sense the Neimoidian's surprise.

True, [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] was a little surprised to hear her asking for that much money, but she could probably sell the Crown Nebula for ca. 6-7 million if the Order ordered her to liquidate it, and adding three floors would virtually double the revenue space, well, double the total space. But any hotelier that ran the hotel through an expansion of that nature would realize that the initial buzz of an expansion doesn't last, and the hard part is to operate the room after the buzz of opening additional rooms for business has passed, and it can often prove to be the undoing of other hotels if they can't keep costs under control when it occurs: that's what befell the Chain Chomp Roulette on Dathomir. The first three months of these new rooms can be a real challenge for a hotelier, and she knew it. Better not assume that the guest volumes will actually be sustained in full beyond the first two weeks: I made my forecasts with that into account, with three months until the occupancy stabilizes, she thought, realizing that the quotation was the key document that he would need to read before any loan terms would be given to her.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir looked on grimacingly as she explained, but she was right. Luxury hotels weren't cheap. When she finished, Zrimmir took a deep breath and replied,

"So you are looking to apply for a new loan with us at Zrimmir Universal Banking Union? Over lending limits? Well," Zrimmir opened his bag and pulled out his personal datapad. He activated it and began tapping its screen until he found what he wanted to display. Then, he handed it to [member="Varindar Asyt"].

"For businesses, we offer three major loan packages, short-term, medium-term, and long-term loan packages*. The amount is of course not limited to the packages, we offer up to fifteen million credits for corporations, however not all business qualify for such a high rate."


*To see the details, look at ZUBU's market page.

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"I think the hotel can repay the loan within five years. One question: early repayments. It's entirely possible that, especially if the rooms actually did get booked at a high rate, I could desire to repay part of the loan when the business is good. Under which conditions are early repayments permitted?"

If I repaid the last 2-million loan within a year or so, then 5 millions to be repaid within five years won't be that troublesome. It still comes out to 110,000 credits/month; while there is no origination fee, unlike my old bank, the interest rate is much higher, she thought, realizing that it comes out at 12% APR, unlike the 5% APR she was getting at her old bank, with the hotel's former owners repaying their loans on time, but the actions taken under the Ta'jar Blood Gang were the main reason why she sought a change of banking scenery. [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] offered higher lending limits, which was a good thing, and generating 110,000 credits per month in extra revenue from the extra space alone would mean that the new rooms would need to be occupied about 25% of the time, assuming a 275-credit nightly profit per bay. But only after the business of the loan would she be ready to tackle the business of the hotel's bank account. It paid no interest whatsoever, so perhaps she could actually get some interest for a change. And potentially term deposits, too.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir finger tented and replied to [member="Varindar Asyt"]'s question with ernest,

"Early payment is accepted under most circumstances, which what you are referring should be accepted, however there is a cost. Every early payment faces a six percent fee, meaning that six percent of what you are paying early does not count to repaying your loan. This is described in the fine print of every loan package we offer to corporations and businesses. I hope that answers your question."

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Yes, it does answer my question"

It almost sounds worse than my old bank: being hamstrung by low lending limits and short-range loans - and the spaceport on Chalacta was dealing with the same bank - was the price to pay for not having early repayment charges. Unless, perhaps I could transfer the loan at that bank, and retain the interest rate, in which case my old bank is on the hook for the 6% early repayment charges. Origination fees there are 1200 credits plus 2.25%, and assuming I can repay in two years, I'm still saving nearly 600,000 credits over the loan's lifespan by transferring the loan, she thought, while she had another question for [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] regarding savings accounts she could always consider opening a savings account for the hotel, in which case any money in there would be considered a short-term investment for accounting purposes. Usually a bank will accept a loan transfer for loans from other banks exceeding the old limit provided a clean bill of credit health. Hopefully the interest rates are worth the short-term investment cost, while wondering how much balance to keep in there to pay for the maintenance fees. Then she can think of opening a savings account.

"The documentation you have here on display concerning savings accounts seem to be geared towards individual clients, but are businesses eligible for the same terms on savings accounts?"

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir waited impatiently as [member="Varindar Asyt"] did the math in her head and spoke, he was hoping to get the business over with soon, he desperately wished to rest. Finally, when she finished speaking, Zrimmir answered as quickly as he could,

"The saving accounts we offer are not differentiated by individual, corporation, or other classification. Those are the prices for everyone. Are you interested in opening an account with us?"

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Yes; in fact I would be opening a crystal-level savings account along with taking out the loan"

Now, she didn't feel the hotel had valuables to store inside a vault, but a 3% interest rate on the money inside the account, paid every two months, for a maintenance fee of 2,000 credits and an origination fee of 20,000? She usually kept enough money in the hotel's checking account to pay for one month's operating expenses, which include local income and property taxes - in a business context, Trandoshan taxation usually made businesses pay on a monthly basis, so any leftover money, after the capital expenditures are accounted for, would be deposited into that account. For the time being she currently could deposit 600,000 credits in the savings account, but hopefully, in the future, she would see the money grow into millions especially if those extra 41 rooms get rented out a lot on top of the existing rooms. Hopefully [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] will actually get a good night's sleep especially with the new client being gained in the process. And the paperwork should be good to go, too. True, in today's banking environment, banks seem all too eager to lend money to any first-time entrepreneur, just that I inherited the management of the business from a criminal gang, she thought.

 

[Melvand Zrimmir]

Zrimmir nodded and wrote in [member="Varindar Asyt"]'s request into his datapad, so that his underlings would begin the process of establishing an account in Asyt's business' name. He smiled thinly and asked,

"Is there anything else, or is our business concluded for the day, Ms. Asyt?"

 

[Varindar Asyt]

"Our business is concluded for the day. With that said, you may order room service if you desire, or make use of the remaining amenities of the hotel. Please let me know if there's anything I can do for you regarding your stay at the hotel"

So the origination fee is worth paying if I expect more than 40% of the principal to be repaid outside the regular schedule before the loan runs out, she thought, while relieved to actually have a bank account that she could use for the purpose of park money in a short-term investment, for a 2000-credit yearly maintenance fee and a 20,000-credit origination fee. Now that her banking business was concludedm she could leave [member="Melvand Zrimmir"] to his own devices in the room. But not without picking up the piles of documents of course. She should be good to get the loan approved, and, of course, the 600,000 credits transferred to this short-term investment; however, she does not feel she would be ready to eat with her banker unless the banker asked for it first. Oh and how relieved she truly feels to have her financial ducks in a row, for the hotel's present and future. For reaching the size the Ta'jars ultimately wanted it to have, but who were hamstrung by the need to launder money over actually running the hotel as such. She thus returned to her office to put these documents back in their place and then to the front desk to continue on with the shift.