In 1983, Ritz-Carlton did something bold.

They gave every employee the power to spend $2,000 to solve a guest’s problem, and no approval was needed.

At first, it sounds expensive. But when the average Ritz guest is worth $200,000, that $2,000 was an investment, not a cost.

But for Ritz-Carltom, it was never about money. It was about trust.

They knew their staff had the skills. Now, they had the freedom to match. That’s how you get stories like:

• A forgotten item personally delivered by plane
• An entire beach closed off to find a lost wedding ring
• A child’s toy returned with photos of it “on an adventure”

Your hotel doesn’t need a $2,000 rule. It could be $200 or even $50.

‍The number doesn’t matter. What matters is giving your team the power to create moments guests will never forget.

As Ben Wolff put it in his X thread:

‍"Travelers don’t want transactions. They want experiences worth remembering. They want to feel like their experience is all that matters."