“Absolutely soulless”: La Quinta guest allegedly checks in with outsourced employee via screen

A video of a guest allegedly checking into a La Quinta hotel via a virtual front desk has sparked backlash online, with folks accusing the chain of outsourcing U.S. jobs to cut costs. The clip appears to show a hotel worker on a screen assisting from overseas, possibly India, prompting criticism over the rise of remote labor and discussions surrounding the outsourcing of customer-facing American jobs.

American jobs vs. the virtual front desk

On Aug 1, 2025, popular right-wing X account @WallStreetApes posted a video claiming to show an outsourced hotel front desk job at a La Quinta in Miami. The footage gained over 2.8 million views and thousands of angry comments.

“Miami hotel has outsourced their front desk to India,” wrote OP. “Guests are checked in virtually on video call with an Indian representative.”

“More American jobs outsourced overseas. At some point this should just become illegal. If you make money in America, you should hire Americans.”

In the video, the worker on screen asks the guest if they need one or two keys, then begins the automated process to take their signature. A computer voice instructs the guest on how to sign and gives the standard disclaimers and hotel policies.

“Does adding all these layers of complication really cost the company less than just paying a guy to stand at a desk?” asked X user @ReviewsPossum.

According to a Radix report, as of 2024, 66 percent of U.S. companies outsource at least one department, amounting to 300,000 jobs every year. The “outsourcing industry” has expanded by four percent each year since 2021 and is expected to continue growing.

This is bad news for U.S. workers, who are already facing a grim future. The July jobs report suggested to experts that Trump’s tariffs, which just went into effect, inspired employers to pump the breaks on hiring to save money.

A spokesperson for Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, which owns La Quinta Inn, told The New York Post that the company is investigating the situation.

“This is a franchised location, meaning the hotel is independently owned and operated, and as such, we don’t control staffing,” the spokesperson told The Post. “That said, this franchisee’s use of this equipment is not brand approved nor is it being marketed to other franchisees. Further, our brand standards require hotels to have a team member physically stationed at the front desk at all times.”

“What in the actual hell is this?”

Many X users are predictably upset to see another job taken away from American workers. Companies have outsourced phone-based customer service jobs for decades, but seeing it on screen is a new development.

“Why aren’t we tariffing these foreign phone centers, if not simply outlawing them?” asked @TheTigerPundit. “It’s shipping American jobs overseas, just like when we buy anything else from a foreign nation.”

“What in the actual hell is this?” wrote @GroupSteinhauer. “Outsourcing of American jobs must be tarrifed and taxed to oblivion asap. Or we won’t have any good jobs, or customer service, left in America soon.”

“I will never f*cking interact with your ’employees’ if you can’t hire locally,” said @hereticmf. “Fuck off, this job belongs to a young man or woman who lives in town. Absolutely soulless.”

“The irony is people will hate the Indians who are just doing a job while completely ignoring the American bosses and shareholders who actually made the decision to outsource these jobs in the first place,” @___110010100___ pointed out.

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