It’s that ‘guests are always right’. 

In fact, I was told the same thing on orientation day. But, when I started working in the hotel industry, I faced various conflicts with guests that changed the dynamics of this belief. 

I used to wonder (and I still do), how to deal with guest conflicts, especially when they are not right. It’s not only me, thousands of hoteliers are bothered by these questions and Google it.

If you are one of them, this blog is the perfect place to find answers for your questions. 

Origin of “Guests are Always Right”

It all started around the mid 19th century, when some of the influential entrepreneurs used this saying to promote high quality of customer satisfaction in their audience. Among them Harry Gordon Selfridge, Marshall Field, and John Wanamaker were the prominent ones.

The core purpose was to give customers the product or service that would justify their investment, and make them happy. The hospitality industry being a guest centric sector adopted this saying, and since then it is consistently followed by every hotelier.

Why Was It True During Old Times?

Let’s be honest, don’t you think guests in the yesteryears were actually more sincere? I am not saying that they aren’t good now. But you’d agree that these days guests often try to outsmart hotels. 

Let me explain with an example. Before the dawn of the internet era, finding a hotel to stay was an arduous task. So, when a guest would stay at any property s/he would complain (genuine ones) either to the hotelier or the travel agent.

Moreover, traditional marketing strategies were used to reach different audiences, and the concept of hotel rating was limited to the star categorisation. Basically, the idea of online reputation hadn’t gained any grounds then. . 

And now?

We all are aware of what’s happening these days. With multiple booking and reviewing websites in the picture, the guests have got some savage weapons in their arsenal. Add social media to it, and bingo! You’ve got yourself the perfect ammunation to destroy any hotel’s online reputation.

So, is there any way to deal with guest conflicts? Yes, there are not one but various tricks to handle such issues. Let me explain to you in the next point.

How to Resolve Conflict Situations With Guests?

I’ve listed 7 common scenarios where guests are not right. Without any further ado, let’s check those cases and understand how to deal with guest conflicts.

1. Fake Reviews For Freebies

Initially when TripAdvisor (TA) entered the market, people were using it to share and see the reviews of hotels at any place before booking it on an online platform. The reason was TA’s customer centric approach. 

The feedback posted by travelers could not be deleted. For that reason, the hoteliers had to either respond or connect with the author and ask him/her to moderate it. If not done, it would affect their TA ranking. 

Gradually, people started misusing it by giving fake reviews, thereby compelling hoteliers to give freebies for deleting it. This could be a free stay or discount on their next booking.

This type of reviews are not limited to the guests. Sometimes hotel marketers create a fake ID and post such feedback to lower the rank of their compset. I know it sounds unethical, but as they say – all’s fair in love and war.

As a matter of fact, doing business these days is no less than a battle. There’s a quote which summarises it all:

“World business means competition from anywhere; advancing technology encourages cross-industry competition. Consequently, strategic planning must consider who our future competitors will be, not only who is here today.”  

Eric Allison

When I used to work for a reputation management company, the most common complaint we heard from hotel owners was – how to deal with fake reviews on OTAs.

Here’s the solution to it.

Solution

First of all, identify the author of the review. I am saying this because it will help you understand the scenario behind the review.

Once you are aware about the author and the reason behind the feedback, respond to it with all the relevant proofs. This would assist the readers in understanding the situation better.

Alternatively, you can flag out the review, if you find it irrelevant (can be from your competitor).

2. Unnecessary Commotion to Garner Attention on Social Media

Everyone wants to be in trend and for that, there is no better platform than social media. In one of my previous blogs, I had shared an incident where a guest complained to the hotel that there was Jerry (a mouse) in his room, and if the staff could bring in Tom (a cat) to deal with it.

Soon it caught the attention of netizens and social media had the hotel’s hashtag trending for days with several memes being posted on those platforms. However, at times such situations could lead to negative marketing. 

Sometimes, guests create commotion to garner attention from the locals. This happens not only in hotels but restaurants as well.

As a result, they get publicity on social media, as people generally tend to record such videos and upload them on their social media accounts. Talking about the property, it became a victim of negative marketing.

Wondering how to manage and resolve such conflict situations?

Solution

Well in case of such mishaps at your property, I would recommend initially asking the person to step aside or sit in the lobby area to avoid crowding and commotion. Then, check with him/her, root out the problem and rectify it. 

If the guest is still adamant about his point and keeps on causing unwanted chaos, bring your security to aid. However, avoid manhandling, as it can turn the situation from bad to worse.

3. Create Ruckus For Getting Discounts

I’m sure you might have come across such scenarios where guests share the bad experience they had during their stay. Generally, you tend to apologise and assure them that when they visit your property next time, you’d give them the best service.

Some hotels offer such guests certain discounts for retention. However, this trick had its own cons.

Numerous guests started using it to get discounts or additional benefits like free breakfast or something else. Even I went through such a situation.

A couple of years ago I was working in a well-known hotel. One fine day, I was returning to the reception after escorting guests to a room, and suddenly I heard a commotion from  the lobby.

On reaching there, I figured out that it was one of our guests arguing with my colleague. She had an issue that the room allocated to her was not clean. The bathtub had a couple of hair strands and that’s why she demanded a discount on her bill.

We told her that she should have informed the same during check-in, as we could have changed the room, and raising this issue now is futile. But adamant that she was, we had to finally agree on a certain discount to avoid further chaos.

I know, it was a loss for us. But I did figure out how to resolve such conflict situations with guests.

Solution

Start with creating robust hotel policies for such guests. Don’t wait for feedback till guests’ check-out. Whenever you see them, just ask if everything is fine or any issue they are facing during their stay. 

You can also take a cue from Booking.com’s policy. They have made credit card details as a mandate for creating any booking on the site.

Similarly, you can charge a room amount for guests who are suspected to create such nuisance in the property. Apart from that, blacklisting such people from visiting your property is the best way to deal with guest conflicts and avoid the same in future.

4. Misunderstanding Between Guests and Staff

While working in a hotel we are accustomed to using certain jargon and acronyms in our regular communication like CP, EP, and MAP Plan. However, most of them are unknown to guests.

Hence, a slight difference in pronunciation can pass on incorrect information to them, leading to a big misunderstanding. 

Apart from that, the tone used does matter a lot. Sometimes guests raise their voice in an argument and you being a hotelier can’t do the same as it could tarnish your property’s image.

Even if you try to reason with such people, whatever you say would be used against you. But what if the guest is wrong, should you still choose to remain silent or take action?

Solution

While dealing with this kind of guest conflict, be diplomatic, don’t lose your temper, stay calm, and stick to your point. 

Explain the situation to the particular guest and if there’s a misunderstanding, clear it at the moment itself. Do not delay it. 

If the guests misunderstood a certain policy or abbreviation, walk them through it and let them know this time they were wrong.  Also, learn from that and implement it for your forthcoming bookings. 

5. Taking Services and Amenities For Granted

It is noticed that often guests take hotel services and amenities for granted considering it as a part of their booking amount or sometimes out of travel habits. 

For instance, many guests take towels with them, or steal some other hotel amenities, consume food items in minibars and then deny it. These are just some examples, but the reality is way more than that. 

Many of them cause considerable damage to the property like dirtying the swimming pool, spoiling linen with food stains, breaking valuables in anger, changing room layout as per their convenience. 

This makes me wonder if really the saying ‘guests are always right’ holds true.

Solution

The only solution I would suggest here would be penalising guests for such activities. During check-out, if your housekeeping staff comes across something that has caused damage to property financially, simply charge the culprit behind it.

Do not forget to mention this in your hotel’s policy and update it on online booking platforms also. 

6. Arrogant Guests With Absurd Demands

Let me tell you about an incident I encountered during my internship. We had a group booking which was supposed to check-out early in the morning. 

I was working at night, so I took the responsibility of doing it. Had I known that my morning was going to begin with such a bang I would have never opted for it.

A guest approached me and demanded to give him a bill without taxes. Now that was impossible, as a PMS prints the entire bifurcation of the total billed amount. 

Just 15 minutes into the argument, the guy tore the bill, threw it in my face, and asked for the bill again. Since I learnt that guests are always right, I was obliged to do what he said. 

I printed the bill again, gave it to him, and the entire sequence was repeated. Trust me, if this would have happened to you guys at 5.30 in the morning, I’m sure you would have bashed up the guy. 

However, as I was about to lose my cool, our front office manager came to my rescue and handled the situation from there.

I don’t know what happened later on, but I did feel terrible that day.

This is just a case that happened with me, I am sure you would be coming across various such absurd and unrealistic demands from guests. Let me tell you how to deal with such guest conflicts.

Solution

I read somewhere that:

 “There’s no sense in getting all riled up every time someone gives you a hard time. In the end, the universe tends to unfold as it should.”

Anonymous

Well, I do believe it. Whenever you come across situations when guests are wrong and making impossible demands, just tell them that it won’t be possible spontaneously. 

However, you’ll consider the suggestions offered and make changes, which they can experience during their next visit. 

It will work at least for the moment and save you from such arrogant guests. This is one of the easiest ways to deal with guest conflicts.

7. Intoxicated Guests Creating Nuisance

Drunk guests in hotels are a common thing. 

One thing that I’ve learned over the years is to never argue with an intoxicated person. It’s because the majority of time it leads to a big mishap where someone is injured.

Moreover, they don’t even listen to you, so explaining them is futile. So, how to deal with them?

Solution

Simply call your security personnels, and ask them to escort guests safely to the room. If they are a part of an event, connect with the host and arrange a cab to drop that person home. 

If possible send a staff with them to ensure safety of the guests. However, if the situation goes completely out of hand, it’s better to call the cops. 

I know you wouldn’t like commotion in front of other in-house guests, but it’s a matter of safety and security.

The post How to Deal With Guest Conflicts at Your Hotel? appeared first on eZee Absolute.

You see, a sole instance of poor service might lead your guests to switch to your competitors. Treating every customer with the utmost respect and listening to their complaint helps in serving them a better guest experience.

Practising such not only leaves the guests happy and fascinated but also doubles the chances of them visiting you again.

As a hotelier, you are in the business of managing all sorts of guests. You may find some of the guests being calm in their manner to express their displeasure whereas others may just start yelling at you while addressing the complaint.

However, in the worst case, they may add a complaint on social media platforms, thus hampering the hotel’s reputation. So handling such customers can be a complex job. And in this blog, I am discussing just that.

You’ll get a clear picture of how to cope with such situations, ensuring that your guests are happy and your hotel’s reputation is on the top level.

What are the most common guest complaints in hotels?

Before we tell you how to deal with the angry guests at your property, you need to know and analyze the various types of guest complaints in hotels.

1. Poor Customer Service

One of the most commonly heard complaints is – poor or unsatisfying customer service. Be it a front-desk manager, pool staff, housekeeping, restaurant staff or your gym trainers; it’s crucial that your entire hotel team is well-trained and polite. They must be able to understand and listen to what the customer feels.

Additionally, room-service is such a facility that people don’t come across daily and so when they do, it’s obvious for them to expect nothing but excellence!

A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price or product-related. 

HospitalityNet

Sometimes, there might be nothing but a simple water supply issue in their bathroom. In such a situation, the very first thing to do is to apologize to the guest and get it fixed on an urgent basis.

When any such service complaints arise, whether they are genuine or not, take them sincerely. All you need to do is examine the complaints with proper attention and understanding. 

Ensure your guests that it won’t occur again and do everything you can to take care of the problem. Doing this might keep the angry hotel guest away from leaving a bad online review.

We also have a guide that will help you respond to customer reviews the most appropriate way. Do check it out.

Tip #1: Even if your staff isn't rude, do apologize and try to rectify the situation in a good manner.

2. Dirty Rooms

May it be a low-end hotel or a 5-star luxury property, there’s always a possibility of rooms being dirty or unclean due to the late checkout of previous guests or early check-ins or can be any other such reasons too. 

Chances are that the bathroom is not clean, or the washbasin may be dirty, hairs in the tub or on the bed. At times even the housekeeping fails to collect the things left in the closet by previous guests. These can be some of the things that might bother your hotel guests. 

Here you’d think that – What to do to avoid this? 

It’s simple. The front-desk manager must request the immediate room guests to wait for a while till the room gets clean. Also, train your housekeeping staff to present the best when it comes to hygiene. 

Tip #2: Keeping your guests informed about the current activities, especially when it is linked to them; will surely leave a good impact on their minds. 

3. Low Food Quality

With the millenials ruling over the present generation, it has become mandatory to focus on the best-served taste and have them experience the local taste they might have heard before and now, way more excited to grasp. 

We all know that food plays a vital role in our day-to-day life.

Imagine one fine Sunday when you expect everything to be on the good side, what if your mother or your wife fails to serve the taste you wished for? There are chances of food being overly salted or no salt at all or it can be anything else. You'll go mad at them, right? There you go! 

When you can yell at your mother or wife for spoiling your Sunday mood, think of the guests who came on vacation or for a Business meeting?

Address your chef if there are any complaints for the food. In the case of food served cold, confront your staff about the delay in serving the food to the guests.

Tip #3: In this case, ask your head chef to take the replacement order on priority, not keeping your guests waiting for the food.

4. Foul Smell

Surely, your guests didn’t walk in for your foul-smelling hotel rooms. You can avoid such small complaints by performing cleaning tasks twice a day and maybe more whenever required. Ask your housekeeping to follow up with the guests once they get the room cleaned.

Moreover, your staff can always ask them to share how they feel about the rendered services and if there’s anything you can help them with. 

Train your hotel housekeeping staff and the cleaning department in such a manner where these types of situations don’t even take place. Here, hygiene must top the priority list when it comes to dealing with humans.

Tip #4: To avoid such complaints you must often check on the small things. For example, whether the room fresheners are filled, dustbins are cleaned and many such little things.

5. Unfriendly Staff

Though how well operated your hotel is, there’s this common thing the guest experiences with your staff. More often it happens that the guests think your hotel staff is carrying an unfriendly attitude or finds him/her rude while communicating.

It may be true, but even when it isn’t the case, ask your staff to be very polite and calm while dealing with rude hotel guests.

It is your foremost duty to respect your guests; which eventually gives a good value to your brand.

The best thing you can do when such issues arise is to listen kindly to customers’ complaints and examine the same. Just in case if the guest gets angrier and starts yelling about sharing such an experience on social media, offer them some discount or free access to any of the amenities. Make sure you do your best not to let your guests put a negative review on social media.

Tip #5: In the case of the worst scenario, listen to customers’ complaints with utmost patience and ask for an apology on behalf of your hotel staff.

6. Malfunctioned or Damaged Electronics

Well, who doesn’t make use of gadgets or electronics when on a vacation? We often have this belief that people don’t make use of gadgets during their holidays but it doesn’t stand true in most cases. Your guests may use the television during their leisure time in the room.

So when any of the guests raise a complaint about the damage or the malfunctioning of gadgets, it is the whole and sole responsibility of the hotel management to get the electronics repaired or replaced in time.

Get the malfunctioned electronics replaced with the working ones and serve the guests with the best.

Tip #6: The management should monitor all the hotel belongings and make sure it is easily accessible to the guests. 

7. Shortage of Complimentary Stuff

You as a hotelier must surely be aware of the complimentary items offered to the guests during the stay.

Having your guests complain about the shortage or absence of complementary items like shampoo, soaps, towels, hangers; can leave a bad impression on the customer’s minds.

You need to know that this won’t score well, keeping your hotel’s reputation in mind. To avoid such, make sure you provide the best complimentary stuff to the guests for their use.

Tip #7: Keep a note of things your competitors offer as complimentary to their guests and make sure you provide them for FREE too.

Running a hotel business is quite challenging for a variety of reasons. There are tons of moving pieces and no matter how accurately you operate, it looks like there’s always going to be a customer mourning about something. Recheck this list to make sure you know all the common hotel complaints.

Now, after knowing what are the common complaints the hotel guest makes during the stay, your next immediate task is to know;

How to Deal with Angry Guests and Their Complaints in a Hotel?

This was all about common guest complaints and how to cope with them.

However, there are times when things don’t work out the way we want them to. Guests turn furious and make it hard for the hotel staff to manage.

So, what to do in those cases? How to handle hotel guest complaints? How to deal with such infuriated guests? Various other questions hit our minds.

In this section, I am explaining all of it. The points mentioned below are supremely important when you are dealing with rude hotel guests. So, read on and find it out for yourself.

1. Apologize

The hotel industry is prone to guest issues and complaints way more frequently. For any sort of complaint, make an apology in the first place. Regardless of the complaint being genuine or fake, what concerns is your response to the same.

Departing your guests with a delighting smile on their faces is all you work for. Even your customers feel appreciated when they’re taken care of, instead of the management just treating them with no special attention or treatment. 

2. Care to listen

Handling angry guests in a hotel isn’t easy, but it isn’t any rocket science either.

So, when you’re in conversation with an angry hotel guest, make sure you’re keeping all ears. Do not cut them off when they are talking. Listen to them carefully. 

Your response to unhappy guests, especially to the guests within your hotel premises will be marked by many other spectators. It is a must job for you to always react friendly and treat your guests well.

The primary thing the guests expect from you is to be polite and have kind manners. As discussed earlier, dealing with happy and satisfied guests is easy, but when it comes to an angry hotel guest; then all you need to do is listen calmly. 

This will not only help you understand what their actual concern is but also drive a sense in them that the other party is professional enough.

Also, train and encourage your hotel staff to keep calm when guests raise a complaint.

Not to mention, start talking once they are done, putting all their arguments. Let your guest explain the situation first and once he/she is done with their part, review the entire fact and try to fix it at the very moment.

This sounds like a very basic thing, but not everyone holds such type of communication etiquette which is prominent in a sensitive industry like hospitality.

3. Avoid arguments, remain calm, and be polite

In many cases, complaints may take a longer time to resolve. The only thing you can do in such cases is avoid arguing. 

Arguing can result in nothing but the worst situations. 

KEEP YOUR CALM, even if their arguments and complaints seem unfair. Note that no matter what, THEY ARE STILL YOUR GUESTS.

Treat them with respect and give them their space and time to voice their concerns. Because, if you act rude, it’s the hotel that will get a bad name, which is not at all good for business.  

Further, this etiquette is not only for the frontdesk but also for the entire hotel staff. Because you never know when things go out of track in which department. 

Word to the wise: Keep in mind, guests are always on the edge of finding your faults. Avoiding arguments can surely keep you safe from being trapped in a deadlock.

4. Make sure your body language is not aggressive

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

This might seem clichéd, but it’s true to the highest level possible.

Body language is another factor that matters A LOT; especially when you’re handling an angry guest in the hotel.

There are certain personality traits that every hotel staff must possess. They must take serious efforts in keeping their body language in check.

There are times when an infuriated guest goes all out, and you may not even realise that it’s triggering and manipulating your body language. And guess what, if your body language is aggressive it might make your guest feel angrier.

So, if you don’t want to hurt your business, learn how to manage your silent signals; even during escalated situations.

5. Empathize and acknowledge their frustrations

Okay, they have talked enough and you have listened enough.

What’s next?

Do something about it.

First things first, when you’re dealing with rude guests, you have to empathize with them and acknowledge their anger. You have to make them feel that their concern is valid and you’re absolutely not ignoring it.

6. Never pass on the guest to another department

I am sure most of you have experienced it.

You got a complaint and try to reach out to the frontdesk. But when you explain to them, they say that it’s not their task and you should rather reach out to some other department.

THIS IS A RED FLAG. PERIOD.

This is the last thing want to do when a guest tries to voice their concern. Also, it is a trigger and makes the situation even worse.

What you can do is, even if it’s not your job, you can help the guest reach out to the concerned person.

How about saying, “Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir/Madam. Let me call the concerned person and help you sort this out.” Or, you can rather take it upon yourself and say, “Thank you for sharing your concern, I will get it in contact with the concerned department and resolve this ASAP.”

The bottom line is that you have to be able to offer a quick solution.

This not only makes your guests feel better but also turns the entire infuriated situation the other way around. If you successfully resolve their query, they are sure to appreciate you for your proactive measures.

I have experienced it first-hand. So, you can take it from me.

7. Comfort with best offerings

At times the situations go worse and all you’re left with is nothing. If there’s no way to fix the guest’s complaint, then comforting them with the best offerings is all you can do. Go through your hotel policies and see what best you can offer to unhappy guests.  

You can serve them with a discount on the total bill, offer great value deals on their next stay or add one FREE night stay at the hotel with the current stay depending on your hotel policy.

Consider talking to them and knowing their expectations from you. You don’t need to fulfil the same if not possible, but just taking an opinion can make a difference.

8. Avoid taking things personally

I used to work with an airline call centre. I would take more than 100 calls a day and I can’t even tell what sort of things I had to hear. The words people used when they were angry were just, hands down, abusive.

I didn’t enjoy working there at all. However, there’s one thing I learn – stay grounded and patient and NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY.

This might sound silly to many, but it’s a legit fact. If a guest creates a scene, starts yelling or complaining, it’s mostly they are not happy with the hotel; that the services rendered are not up to the mark.

Here, the management at the hotel must train the staff members not to take the complaints and guest queries personally and to fix the query or the complaint and update the management on the same ASAP.

9. Come up with a conclusion

Once you’ve heard the guests’ complaints, ask them which solution fits the best in any case. After you’ve asked them for their choice of a solution, go and check with your hotel’s management if it is appropriate and whether it fits the hotel policies.

Also, don’t forget to keep the guest updated about the same and make sure they don’t feel ignored or unattended. There can be many solutions to one problem, all you need to do is pick up the best one and resolve the same for your guest.

10. Follow up

As per the previous discussion, once done checking with the hotel’s management; inform the guest about the ultimate solution you can offer. Do keep in mind that your purpose doesn’t change here.

Don’t let your customers think that you’re ordering them. Instead, communicate in a manner where they feel that their suggestions are equally important to you. In the end, just make sure you roll over a bad situation to a good and profitable one.

11. Thank the guest for bringing the matter to light

Remember, acknowledgement? This is also a part of that aspect.

Do say ‘thank you for bringing the matter to light’ when a guest raises a query.

There are times when hotels don’t get to know about certain issues until and unless they are pointed out by guests. So, when you come across such instances, do let the guest know that it will be fixed on a priority basis.

12. Take feedback

Next up, do ask your guest if there’s anything they would like to let you know.

You have to make your guests feel that their experience is your priority and you’re willing to take all the required measures to ensure just that.

So, make it a habit of taking feedback even after offering a solution to the angry hotel guest.

Not to mention, the points mentioned above are legitimate enough to help you overcome such troubles. Just make sure, you are encouraging your employees and treating them well.

The post How to Handle Hotel guest complaints and Deal With Angry Guests appeared first on eZee Absolute.