How to Deal with Hotel Guest Complaints Correctly

First of all, we must find out the reasons for the guests' complaints. Aside from malicious complaints, in fact, all guest complaints stem from their unfulfilled expectations of the hotel. So, what do the guests want in the hotel? The author thinks that guests' expectations can be divided into three levels.

The first level is the basic demand level, including a clean and comfortable environment, immediate response to guests' requirements, and fair treatment. The second level is the experience level, including the friendly atmosphere, the feeling of being understood and being honest with each other. The third level is the level of self-realization, including the following feelings: sense of control, sense of accomplishment, sense of security, sense of being valued, sense of appreciation, sense of belonging, self-image recognition and realization.

The more you can't meet the basic requirements, the easier it is to cause complaints. It is not difficult to find that most of the complaints are due to the hotel's failure to meet the basic needs of guests. For example, health problems, the efficiency of employees in dealing with guests' requirements and so on. These problems are relatively easy to handle, and can generally be solved by correcting and appeasing the guests in time. The higher the level of guest demand, the higher the requirements for hotel staff, and the more serious the complaints and guest loss caused by unsatisfied demand. Therefore, hotel managers must understand that meeting the first-level needs of guests is only the beginning, and good management should be based on meeting the second and third-level needs of guests.

Understand the reasons for the guest's complaints and then see how to deal with them. There are two key points to emphasize here: First, a considerable number of guests complain not for material compensation, but for psychological satisfaction, such as the feeling of being recognized and understood. Second, guest complaints are not directed at anyone, and it is very important for employees to realize this, because it can ensure that employees can handle guest complaints with a good attitude.

There are many ways to deal with guest complaints, and here I introduce one of them-L.E.A.R.N mode. This is a guest complaint handling process used by international hotel groups, which is mainly divided into five steps: listening, empathizing, apologizing, handling and informing.

First, listen. This is the first step in handling complaints. The purpose is to understand the content of the guest's complaint, observe the guest's mood, give the guest an opportunity to vent their dissatisfaction and let the guest calm down quickly. Understanding the contents of complaints is the basis for solving problems. According to the content, we can know what the problem is, the time and place of the problem, the people involved, the losses caused and the demands of the guests, so as to give specific and effective solutions. In addition, the mood of the guests also determines how to solve the problem. If the guests are not very excited, they should be able to solve the problem without much action; If guests are emotional, employees should consider taking more actions to appease them. It is very important to give the guests a chance to vent their emotions. It is difficult for anyone to communicate when they are emotional. Giving guests the opportunity to vent their emotions properly can make it easier to deal with the latter problems. Of course, it depends on the occasion and cannot affect other guests.

At the same time, it should be noted that when the guests express their requirements, employees must concentrate, don't interrupt the guests, put down their work and keep eye contact with the guests, so as to meet the psychological needs of the guests who need to be cared for and understood. At the same time, listen patiently, on the one hand, collect information, on the other hand, make guests feel valued. After the guests express their demands, employees can start asking questions. On the one hand, they can ask questions about what the guests have not clearly expressed, and ensure that enough information is collected. On the other hand, asking questions is also a means to make guests feel valued.

If the "listening" step is done well enough, many minor complaints will be terminated in this step.

Second, empathy, that is, understanding each other's feelings. Employees should be able to understand and appreciate the guest's feelings when dealing with the guest's complaints, instead of putting the guest on their own opposite side and thinking that "you are here to find me trouble." If employees can show empathy, guests and themselves will find it easy to handle complaints. Guests will feel valued and recognized because their feelings are understood, and then will not ask the hotel for further compensation, or thus change the negative impression on the quality of hotel service. Here are some simple examples of expressing empathy: "I especially understand your feelings", "I can imagine your experience" and "this situation is unacceptable to anyone".

Third, apologize, that is, after fully collecting information and expressing empathy to the guests, apologize to the guests. Apologize should pay attention to the following points:

Don't pass the buck, don't pass the buck to others, because in the eyes of guests, every employee represents the hotel. He will only choose the way to complain before complaining, such as calling the front desk or going in person, instead of choosing what time it is and who is at work at the front desk. Therefore, once a guest complains, the employee is the hotel. Of course, employees at different levels have different authorizations when handling complaints, but this is not a reason for shirking. In case of insufficient authority, it is necessary to explain to the guests that they have insufficient authority and need to ask for instructions from their superiors.

Pay attention to body language and tone. Among the information expressed by a person, body language contains 55% information, and tone accounts for 38%. When dealing with guest complaints, you must pay attention to your body language and tone, and don't show impatience, opposition, disgust and other emotions. Negative actions, expressions and tone will only make guests more angry and make complaint handling more difficult.

Pay attention to the choice of words, use formal words that will not cause ambiguity when communicating with guests, and use respectful names when addressing guests. Don't use local dialects, and don't use buzzwords in the industry or in the team, which is easy to arouse guests' disgust.

Fourth, processing. The severity of the guest's complaint depends on the severity of the problem the guest encounters. Therefore, the hotel management should formulate a compensation plan and authorization mechanism for handling guest complaints, and establish a record system. The whole scheme can be divided into four parts: severity, list of problems, responsible person and compensation authority. Among them, the severity is divided into four grades from low to high. In the problem list (sample) section, each department should summarize the common problems they encounter from guest complaints. Regarding the compensation part, the hotel can decide how to compensate according to its actual situation.