Kate Morel’s Top Tips to Deal with Guest Complaints
Kate Morel is one of our industry’s leading consultants and well-known ambassador. With a hospitality experience in hotels, motels, restaurants, cottage rentals, and especially glamping, we asked Kate to share some advice around one of hospitality’s more difficult subjects: complaints and difficult guests.
When running a hospitality business it’s inevitable that at some point we will have a dissatisfied, upset, or even angry customer. Depending on the size of the business concerned, we might be dealing with this situation ourselves, calling in a senior, or passing it onto Customer Services. In essence, however, no matter who deals with the situation, and regardless of the customer being right or wrong, we need to keep cool-headed and resolve the problem efficiently and professionally. There are two core measures that we should take to facilitate better customer service in these matters:
a. As helpful as I hope this article will be, I would always recommend first-hand hospitality training to deal with complaints and difficult or aggressive customers. It’s an investment that will pay for itself over time.
b. No matter how small the business, it’s also good practice to have a complaint resolution procedure that takes such matters through a linear process, including deadlines for actions throughout, responsibilities, and a follow-up.
Every complaint and difficult situation are different and we have to apply different responses in different measures in every case, drawing on personal experience and discretion. However, there are useful tools that can effectively diffuse a complaint or deal with a difficult customer. Here are my top ten ‘tried and tested’ pointers:
1. I’m All Ears
Firstly – listen – because a frustrated customer sometimes needs to vent, and actively listening to their grievance gives them the necessary space to express their feelings. Also, by doing this, we will fully understand the problem and be better informed to resolve it. Listening techniques such as ‘reflecting’ and ‘paraphrasing’ reiterate key points and are useful when a customer isn’t communicating clearly (see pointer 5). However, occasionally a customer might also labour the issue, so using other pointers in this list politely guide them toward the resolve phase.
2. Apologise
Where a customer has a genuine complaint, the least we can do is to acknowledge it with an equally genuine apology. This provides validation to the guest and can often completely diffuse frustrations, we can then move on to resolving the matter without further unpleasantness. Some might think an apology isn’t always required, perhaps if the complaint is not genuine and the customer is trying any number of underhand tactics to get a discount or refund.
However, it’s still possible and preferable to offer an apology such as ‘I’m sorry you feel that way’ (which in itself, actually, implies no liability) because as professionals, remaining impartial and courteous is part of the job.
3. It’s Not Personal
Assuming we have not been offensive or personally evoked the situation, we need to keep firmly in our minds that the guest is not upset or angry with us personally. This can be a difficult aspect of working in hospitality to cope with and requires a strongly developed sense of emotional objectivity which for most, usually comes with time and experience.
4. Keep Calm & Carry On
Particularly when faced with unreasonable complaints or aggressive customers, keeping calm can be a challenge, however, it’s never appropriate to argue with a guest. Situations can quickly escalate if we add fuel to the fire, so we keep focused on resolving the problem, even if that sometimes means getting a belligerent customer to leave the site.
5. Obtain & Note the Facts
Bear in mind that some people don’t communicate well if they’re non- confrontational or very upset, it is then down to us to help them express what the problem is. Conversely, angry people can throw us off-track, and others can be manipulative when trying to get their own way.
There are many other situations but basically, we need to establish and record the facts, which is also essential (and a legal requirement in most countries) when dealing with incidents involving an injury claim.
6. Empathise
This, like pointer number 2, is another action that can quickly diffuse most complaint situations. It provides validation and when a guest feels reassured that they’ve been heard, it’s easier to put the matter right.
Also, if a guest is genuinely upset or distressed it’s not possible to proceed until they are in a less emotional state. In this circumstance the customer usually has a genuine reason to be upset (or at lease believes they do) and I’ve found the best thing is to ‘be with them’ rather than take an official stance. Once they’ve calmed down, we can then move on to address the problem.
7. Solution Focused
An emphasis on achieving a satisfactory solution is obviously the key factor in dealing with problems, it also makes the customer realise they’re in good hands. It’s another validation tool and sometimes simply asking ‘how can I put this right?’ can stop an unhappy customer in their tracks.
If they respond asking for compensation that’s way beyond the actual problem, we will need to employ some negotiation skills. Staying focussed on providing a solution can also be an effective way to concentrate when we’re finding the situation stressful.
8. Take Responsibility
When the hospitality provider is at fault, we need to take responsibility and engage with the matter openly, honestly and fairly. Before even being asked, we offer to compensate the guest in a way that’s commensurate with the problem in hand (maybe sometimes a little more) and conduct ourselves throughout with professional dignity.
9. Handling Aggression
It’s a sad fact that more people seem to think it’s OK to be rude and abusive. If a customer is behaving in a way that is acutely unreasonable or aggressive and showing no signs of backing down, the
only recourse is to ask them to leave and end the interaction. If they won’t budge, walk away. If necessary, engage support from a manager, or if you have it – security, or in extreme cases – the police. But don’t get too alarmed here, situations rarely become that unmanageable.
10. Mission Impossible
We cannot always bring a complaint or difficult situation to a reasonable solution. Some guests, no matter what you do, how hard you try, how much you listen, apologise, empathise or compensate – will still not be satisfied. This can be hard for some business owners to accept, especially when the customer left that one really bad review in your otherwise perfect star rating! Hold your head up, add a polite reply and allow the 99% to tell your story – reviews like that stand out for what they are.
The glamping industry has its own unique challenges – we are still a developing industry. Rose-tinted journalism is setting high guest expectations, along with many new glampsite owners entering hospitality for the first time. With high hopes and an emotional investment, some new owners can find complaints and difficult guests demoralising. If you’re one of them, remember that we can’t please all the people all the time – complaints and difficult people are an unavoidable part of working in hospitality.
Having said that, legitimate complaints aren’t necessarily bad news because they provide valuable feedback and highlight where we should be improving our service and accommodations. They can also be something of a wake-up call when we’ve slipped into bad habits, or become complacent.
Overall, if we are doing a good job and working hard to offer a great experience, we will not have to deal with problems like this too often, but when we do, it pays to be prepared.
