Turn Complaining Guests Into Loyal Customers

It’s an axiom in the customer loyalty field that one of the best opportunities you have to establish a loyal customer relationship is when a customer has an issue. How you resolve it will resonate with the customer for a long time.

Nobody expects perfect service - reasonable hotel guests know there will be issues here and there. How you handle the issue, and how you handle the guest, will be the difference between delighting a customer and alienating a customer.

Create a Solution

Whatever the situation, the most important principle in customer service, bar none, is to convey empathy with the customer’s situation. If the customer is complaining that there’s no free wi-fi in the room, even though all your online information clearly states that you don’t offer in-room wi-fi, the customer must feel that whichever employee she’s interacting with views the problem from her point of view, understands her disappointment and would love it if there were free wi-fi, but since there isn’t, the employee spends time helping her locate the closest free wi-fi hotspot, be it in the lobby, restaurant or a local cafe. The key is in creating a solution to the problem, even if it’s not the solution the customer expects.

In fact, there are few customer issues in hospitality where a caring, respectful, empathetic employee response and help will not disarm an upset customer. The bottom line is, if the employee appears to be genuinely caring and helpful, upset customers will be much more calm, understanding and forgiving.

Looking back on the incident they will usually come to see that they probably overreacted to the situation and will appreciate your kind, tactful response - even if the problem isn’t resolved 100% to their expectations.

Sure you can be “right” and say “Our material clearly states that we don’t offer free wi-fi in the rooms” but how much more impressive and memorable to the customer to have you commiserate and offer to do what you can to help them find some?