Guests are an integral part of a hotel. Accommodating them and catering to their needs is the primary activity of a hotel.
In other words, managing guest complaints and requests is the core of a hotel’s activity.
Remove the guests from the hotel and there is no business activity left.
In hotels with less inventory the guest complaints and requests are managed manually with a simple log book purchased from Amazon.com.
The complication arises in hotels with larger inventory where the log book is futile.
This is where a guest complaint management software management software comes in handy.
In this article we will understand why hotels need a proper guest complaint and request management software to manage their guest complaints and requests.
1. Manual process is not enough
As I mentioned above a log book with the telephone operator is a common site in most hotels.
When the call lands at the desk the operator picks up the phone and addresses the guest, and before hanging up notes down their complaint or request in a log book.
After hanging up the guest call this operator then calls the employee from the related department and informs him or her about the guest’s complaint.
In some hotels this manual passing of the guest complaints is replaced by WhatsApp, but in any case it is totally manual, prone to error and wastes precious man hours which could have been used to service other guests.
A complaint management software in this case will lessen the burden on the operator by doing all the heavy lifting of assigning the ticket to the right person in the shift and notifying them.
All the phone operator has to do is to create a ticket in the software.
2. Guests need to be kept happy
Angry guests standing in the front office and yelling at the top of their voice is not a pleasant sight to the guests waiting to be checked in. However it is a common sight in a lot of hotels.
If we analyze why the guest is upset to this extent, most of the time the answer would either be that their complaints were not resolved on time or no one showed up to their room to address the complaint.
The staff is not to be blamed as well, as it is only human to forget one complaint in a busy shift.
A complaint management software like Geedesk would have averted this situation as it would have alerted the managers when an employee misses or delays a guest complaint.
Without it the managers have no idea of the mistake unless the guest posts a negative review on the internet or takes the effort of yelling at the front office staff.
3. Maintain brand standards
Brinding is very important in a service business like hospitality. The market is going to judge a hotel by how our customers speak about them in their private circles.
This is how word of mouth marketing works which by the way is the strongest source of new customers to a hotel.
A positive sentiment leads to more guests and a stronger brand value, while a negative or neutral sentiment leads to lower brand value and lesser guests.
Maintaining brand value in a hotel is pretty straight forward.
All it takes is,
- Address guest complaints promptly
- Fulfill guest requests without a lot of delay
It’s easier said than done, you may say. The more inventory, the difficult it is to serve all customers promptly without much delay.
A complaint management software will reinforce your brand standards and will alert the managers whenever the staff fails to address the guest complaints or requests in tandem with the brand standards.
4. Staff Accountability
The staff members who meet the guests on a daily basis are the champions who represent our brand at the grassroot level.
It is important that they strictly follow the brand standards while addressing guest complaints and requests. Else every effort by the hotel to grow their business will be futile.
A complaint management software objectively enforces accountability of the staff members and objectively enforces them to follow the brand standards.
The escalation alerts triggered by complaint management software to the managers prompts them to question the staff members of the delay which indirectly increases their accountability.
An accountable workforce is a potent force that seamlessly demonstrates brand standards at the grassroot level.
5. Reports based on data analytics
Data should be the backbone of your decision-making process, not just an afterthought.
Lean Analytics
Data analysis should be the most crucial aspect of any business. All the decisions that a hotel takes should be driven by data.
The guest complaints data within your complaint management software is very crucial because it indicates the problems that guests face inside the property.
So if the hotel works on fixing those issues, it drastically improves guests’ satisfaction.
To understand this better, let us consider an example.
A regular guest called Mr. Max visited our hotel in May 2024. During his visit he complained about some noise emanating from the air conditioner in his room.
The hotel has looked at this data and got the issue during a scheduled maintenance of the air conditioner in the room.
Now Mr. Max arrives at the property in July 2024 and requests the same room. Now not only is the noise complaint in the air conditioner fixed, the scheduled maintenance has also improved the air quality in the room. This directly creates customer delight and the mission is accomplished.
In a nutshell the reports and data within the complaint management software is as close to your guests as it can get. Using it to the advantage of improving the guest’s experience is how the ROI on complaint management software is realized.
6. To understand guest preference
As a hotel you should be maintaining your guest profiles. If you are not, you should have started work on this yesterday.
If you are not sure what guest profiles are then read our detailed explanation on guest profiles.
The guest complaints and requests when integrated with your guest profiles offer detailed information on each of the guest preferences, their likes and dislikes.
This detailed information about a guest will help the service teams provide an excellent service and also help the sales team upsell the right service packages to the guests that are customized based on their preferences and likes.
Remember data is the KING.
7. Maintain positive online review
A guests’ reviews online is directly proportional to the quality of service that they experienced during their stay in the property.
The quality of service is high when the guests’ complaints and requests are promptly addressed and vice versa.
There is no use in replying to the negative queries online. It is like trying to plug the holes in a boat after it has capsized.
So the ideal focus for hotels should be to prevent the negative reviews from occuring in the first place, and a complaint management software is a potent tool to make that happen.
Conclusion
In a highly competitive market it is important to provide the best service.
A complaint management software makes it totally easy for hotels to offer an amazing service to their guests.