These Heroic Guests Starting Running Their La Quinta Hotel When Staff Disappeared
The temporarily abandoned hotel was managed by a group of self-starter hotel guests.
Sometimes, the "worker shortage" is not just corporate propaganda trying to convince people to accept working for lower wages than they deserve. Sometimes, it is very, very real. Recently, that "shortage" was very much felt at a La Quinta hotel in Nashville. Three travelers had to step in and take over the duties of running the hotel, when literally no one showed up to work at the hotel other than a housekeeping attendant.
For hours between just before 5 am until 11 am, the trio of friends who were in town for a birthday trip managed the front desk, served the continental breakfast, helped customers, and even served as communication between police and guests. Chaotic circumstances aside, this was a pretty impressive feat considering that they had all just finished a night at casino beforehand.
Police arrived and told the three that they could "do whatever they needed to do," according to Kenzie, one of the three friends. Kenzie also told one commenter that the reason so many people were upset and at the front desk was because "a bunch of money was being taken from peoples cards and the employee dipped out."
For whatever reason, the person who was scheduled to work did not show up. To make matters worse, there was a general manager's conference happening for Wyndham employees in California (La Quinta is now owned and operated by Wyndham)—and that was where the La Quinta's general manager was located. When the friends managed to reach the general manager, she had no idea what was going on.
Eventually, someone did come in to work at 11 am, and the trio was ultimately booked at a different hotel. The saga didn't end there though, as they were initially given room keys to an occupied hotel room.
These travelers can now, at the very least, add "hotel management" and "keeps calm in a crisis" to their resumes now.
The long, winding story can be seen in the viral TikToks below.