How to Deal With Guest Conflicts at Your Hotel?

Do you know what’s the first thing every hotel management student learns after joining college? No?

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.