Empowerment

Sometimes the best way to understand a concept like empowerment is through example. So here is a brief story.

Last month I stayed at the Towne Place Suites in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. When I am on a short business trip as I was this time, I frequently carry only one piece of luggage that hauls everything – my clothing (I travel very light and don’t concern myself with making a fashion statement as most of my friends know), my PowerBook, and my files. So other than my dirty laundry, I typically do not leave anything in my room.

At about 1:45AM on the second and final night of my stay, someone trying to enter my room awakened me. I had engaged the safety latch on the door before retiring, so whoever was trying to enter left when they felt the door stopped by the latch. Now that my heart rate had increased to about 200 beats per minute, I called the front desk to report what happened. The night manager, Zenobia Taylor, told me it was her who tried to enter to determine what cleaning my room needed because the computer showed me as having been checked out. I assured her I was, in fact, still an occupant and tried unsuccessfully to get back to sleep. Realizing that any attempt at sleep was going to be futile, I got up about 5:30, showered, dressed, and packed up to really check out this time. And then I found that my laundry had been removed from my room the previous day.

Sleep-deprived and now really crabby, I stormed into the office, to hurl a few choice words at whoever was there. Zenobia was still on duty. She pre-empted my tirade by apologizing for trying to enter my room earlier that morning and adding that she would comp me for that night’s stay. Having calmed down considerably, I told her about the missing laundry. She assured me that she would do her best to find my clothes as well as determine why the day manager had checked me out. She got my cell phone number and promised to get back to me before the end of her shift.

Within an hour she called me. First, the housekeeping staff, not seeing any luggage, assumed that I had checked out even though I had not officially done so, and thinking I had forgotten my laundry, threw it in the trash. Then Zenobia told me that she had located my laundry would have it cleaned, and that I could pick it up at the hotel on my way to the airport.
I think this is a great example of what an empowered employee can do. Not once did Zenobia say, “I’ll have to call my supervisor. She handled the situation promptly and professionally, and left me feeling everything was fine. Thanks, Zenobia! And I will stay at this place again!