A Complaint Is a Gift Corner
Complaints in the Hospitality Business
Effectively handling complaints in any industry is important, but it seems to be particularly critical in the hotel industry. Research from as early as 1985 suggests that when people have had a bad experience in a hotel and their complaint is not handled effectively, seventy-five percent will tell someone else. In fact, they'll tell twelve other people.
Here's what the research specifically reveals about hotel complaints:
Men will complain more about service failures than women. And this is the case even when gender differences are factored into who stays in the hotel.
By and large people complain more about equipment failures (room too noisy, bed not comfortable, toilet doesn't work) than they do about personal service failures (bell man took too much time coming to the room, front desk clerk was rude). This doesn't necessarily mean that the majority of the problems that guests face are about equipment failures. It just means they are more likely to complain about equipment failures.
Hotel guests tend to be less satisfied with the way that personal service failures are handled than the way that equipment failures are fixed.
"When" a customer complains makes a big difference in terms of satisfaction. If a customer complains during the check-in process, the way the event is handled by the hotel generally doesn't result in greater satisfaction. The way hotels frequently fix complaints during the check-in process is to upgrade the customer to a nicer room. This suggest that they are trying to "buy the customer" off, and this not be the best way to satisfy customers. This means that hoteliers need to focus on solving the kinds of complaints guests have before and when checking in. These probably include long lines at the check-in counters, poorly handled luggage issues, hotel transportation systems, reservations issues, etc.
Research about complaints in hotels also suggests that when hotels track complaints, they tend to indicate the nature of the complaint, and what was done to satisfy the customer. But rarely do hotels attempt to quantify the level of customer happiness or satisfaction with the complaint resolution. This strikes us as crucial, because this will undoubtedly determine whether the guest will return again. And if staff aren't tracking guest reactions, they probably aren't paying much attention to them. They are more likely focusing on the issue, rather than the guest.
We recommend that hotels look carefully at the personal side of their service. We have long maintained that hotels, in particular, will find it difficult to create perfect experiences for all their guests. As a result, hotels need to work very hard at creating socially pleasant situations for their guests as the "equipment" side of a hotel isn't so noticeable when people are having a good time. This is not to say that a certain standard don't need to be in place.
It does suggest, however, that loyalty with hotel guests is created by the personal feelings that they share with hotel staff. We know a top notch hotelier who has served as a general manager for some of the best hotels in the world. He's very clear when he says, "Ninety-five percent of our service failures are human related. Could our beds be better? Perhaps, though they are darn good," he says. "The loyalty with our guests and also the failure with our guests, however, is almost always people related."
Janelle Barlow, Coauthor A Complaint Is a Gift
