The motto of the customer always being right has been around since the inception of the hospitality industry. The idea behind the sentiment is that you want every guest to walk out the door happy. That is great if a guest can be satisfied, but there are people that are simply intent on being unhappy or that want to have a problem. What do you do with those guests?
First and foremost, let me say that in most cases, you should be doing everything in your power to make sure that guest walks out of your property with a smile on his or her face. 99.9 percent of the time, there is a solution to the problem. There are going to be times, though, that no solution is going to make this particular guest happy. When do you cut your losses?
Get to the Root of the Problem
Before any problem can be solved, you have to find out what caused it and who is at fault. When dealing with an irate customer, this can be quite challenging. The customer needs to know you are there to help, that you want to help, but you cannot do so until you find out what caused the problem as well as what his or her expectation was in this particular case.
Ill-informed or Mistake
Once you get to the root of the problem, there are really only two possible causes of that problem. Either the guest was ill-informed or someone made a mistake. Now, if the guest was misinformed or misunderstood something, that does not mean they are wrong. Remember, perception is reality, so in their mind, they were right due to their perception of what they were told.
The solution in that case is fairly simple. First, fix the problem. Second, take the time to explain to the guest what the actual policy is. And, don’t pass the buck. Don’t put the blame on someone else but rather own the problem. For instance, tell the guest “I am going to take care of this for your right now and make sure we do a better job of training our associates, this was our mistake, but we are going to make it right.”
In that scenario, you are taking the hit but more than likely, you have also earned the respect of the guest by standing up for your staff member. Furthermore, you have hopefully ensured the next interaction that guest has with that staff member will not be uncomfortable. If anything, the guest can empathize with the staff member for not having been trained properly.
The same solution applies if it was must a mistake. Just make it right and then some. Upgrade their room, comp their meal, offer them the shuttle to the airport instead of taking a taxi. After all, if you only fix the mistake, you are only giving them what they should have already had anyway. You actually do owe them something.
Never Say “Can’t”
From a customer perspective, there is nothing more infuriating than someone telling you “I can’t do anything about…” For me, the moment I hear can’t, my blood boils, because there is always something that can be done. You may not be able to rectify that specific problem, but there is something that can be done to have that guest feeling better about their situation.
When They Are Dead Wrong
The worst possible scenario is when the guest is just dead wrong. He or she is just picking in order to get something for nothing. You have to weigh out giving the guest what they want versus the wrath a complaint with corporate or a bad review will bring down on your property. The funny thing here is that guest is probably going to get what they want anyway at that point and you are going to get dinged in the process.
Is that free breakfast the guest says they were told they were going to get worth a 1-star review on TravelAdvisor.com? Is that glass of wine they say tasted corked worth the bad corporate survey?
Is the guest always right? The answer to that is, simply, “No.” But that does not mean you don’t give them what they want anyway. In all honesty, most of the complaints you get will be genuine. While there are those guest that are working the system, it just seems like more because those particular guests always seem to hit you at the worst possible time.
As I stated earlier, perception is reality, and no matter how diligently you make your case, that particular guest feels as though he or she was wronged. Above all else, it is up to you to make it right.
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