During their stay at the hotel, some guests who are not satisfied with the quality of service or the attitude of the staff will show discomfort and complain. The front desk staff is the first person to receive and deal with all guest complaints. Whenever receiving a complaint, the front desk needs to quickly find the optimal solution to make the guest satisfied. Receptionists need to demonstrate to guests that all their complaints are appreciated and taken into account. And one thing to remember is that not every difficult guest complains will bring disadvantages to the hotel. Complaints, on the other hand, are an opportunity for hotels to reconnect with their customers by re-calibrating the service. If the hotel solves it well, it will improve the relationship between the accommodation establishment and guests, and the difficult politician will become an enthusiastic and effective advertiser for the hotel. Here are the principles and tips Ghotel.vn gives to the front desk

► Principles to be applied when dealing with customer complaints

– Don’t blame each other

– Do not interrupt the guest, so let the guest present to reduce anger

– Do not show anger or irritation to guests

– Do not argue right – wrong with guests

– Can provide immediate solutions but must not exceed the assigned authority

– If the problem is beyond the hotel’s resolution, the front desk must notify the guest immediately

► Customer complaint handling process

– Step 1: Greeting customers and suggesting help

– Step 2: Receive customer complaint information

• Apologize to guests politely, sincerely for the inconvenience they have encountered

• Ask and record guest name – room number

• Ask and record specific customer complaints

• Ask guests for additional complaints

– Step 3: Find the most effective solution

• Inform guests about the solution and time to resolve

• Notify relevant departments to fix immediately

– Step 4: Notify the reason to the customer

– Step 5: Give a specific solution

– Step 6: Implement the solution

• If the customer’s complaint exceeds the authority to deal with, the front desk needs to record the incident and notify the superior for handling.

• If time is needed, the guest must be informed the time limit the front desk can consider – resolve the situation.

• If the problem belongs to the relevant departments, quickly contact the staff in charge to coordinate the handling, if not resolved, must report to the superior.

• Must contact the guest again and explain to the guest in detail the cause, the work done, the solution and the result of the incident handling

– Step 7: Monitor and check customer satisfaction

– Step 8: Apologize to guests and learn from experience

Reception staff should note, all guest complaint information must be recorded in the diary. And unresolved complaints in the shift must be recorded in the shift handover book for the next shift staff to actively handle.

► Useful tips when dealing with customer complaints

– Apologize and invite the guest to a suitable place to talk

When a customer comes to the front desk to complain about the hotel service, the first thing the receptionist needs to do is apologize to the guest: “Sorry to make you so upset!”. An apology doesn’t mean you’re wrong, it shows you respect the customer. If you argue and quarrel with customers at that time, the real part belongs to the hotel only. When the customer is angry, you have to be the one to control it.

Then gently invite guests to a suitable place to talk. The image of guests standing and screaming at the front desk will affect other guests and automatically some people will think “this hotel has a problem”.

– Listen to guests speak

After inviting guests to a suitable venue, you should make a glass of water and listen to the guest speak. Absolutely do not interrupt the guest. Because in anger, guests have a need to express, want to say everything they think. You should pay attention to listen to realize where the root of the problem lies in order to have an appropriate solution. Sometimes the problem is not within the scope of the reception management, but you also have to listen to present it to the  Manager for a solution.

– Caring about the customer’s feelings

Of course, when guests have complained, no matter how big or small, due to incidents or people, a part of the fault still lies in the hotel. You can’t say the customer was wrong or complaining wrong. What you should say after listening to the guest is to offer a solution to the problem or if the problem is beyond your control, you should ask your supervisor.

Once you’re sure the guest complaint has been resolved, you should contact the customer again to see if they’re satisfied with the resolution: “Are you satisfied with the resolution? Do you have any requirements for the hotel?”. The front desk shouldn’t let customers who have complained about the service do not solve it properly.

– Do more than what customers expect

With complaints that do not affect too much, the hotel can give guests a small gift to make guests happy such as: fruit, candy box, popcorn, etc. But if the guest’s complaint is due to some major error, For example, if the water heater is repaired and repaired several times, it still doesn’t work, then in addition to having to  move the guest to another room , you should suggest the hotel to apply  some compensatory service such as: restaurant voucher , spa…  to make guests feel more satisfied.

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