The quote “First Impression Is Your Last” is overridden by the contradictory one- “You Are Only As Good As Your Last Show” in the world of hospitality services.

Guests may forgive a bad first impression if their last experience was exceptional. However, a bad last impression can erase all the goodwill built up from previous interactions.

If there’s anything more important than customer acquisition for a hotel, then it’s repeat customers, i.e., loyal customers who keep coming back for more because repeat customers are-

1. Low acquisition cost
2. Help rectify the fault and identify the defaults
3. Bring more business via referrals, user-generated content, and word-of-mouth marketing
4. Generate more revenue as they are more likely to upgrade to more expensive packages, stay longer, and are easy to upsell to, thus boosting repeat purchase rate
5. Provide a steady flow of customer feedback and information that hotels can utilise to curate personalized marketing, personalized upgrade packages

According to smile.io, 40% of a store’s revenue comes from repeat customers representing 8% of the total customer base.

But what actually makes a one-time customer become a regular at a hotel?

Hint: It’s not just excellent hospitality.

It’s prompt and effective complaint resolution.

In fact, well-handled complaints can boost post-recovery customer satisfaction and loyalty above pre-complaint levels.

And yet, managing guest complaints in hotels still remains the most ignored, complicated, and misunderstood department today. And the complaints, they stay unresolved.

So, what does the guest complaint management in the hospitality industry look like today?
Let’s take a look

Top 4 Trends in guest complaint management in the hospitality industry.

1. Omni-Channel Presence

Just the way hotel bookings have gained an omnichannel presence, the customers want and expect to be able to raise complaints via multiple channels, including email, chat, voice, social media platforms, etc.

The Good & Bad Of Social Media In Guest Complaint Management In The Hospitality Industry
While hyper-focused marketing, customer acquisition, and UGC have added great traction to the hospitality businesses all around the world, there’s a downside to it. Just like sharing a positive experience, it’s easier for the customers to share their negative mishappenings or incidents.

Here’s an example from a ruling hospitality chain-

While going through such complaints on Twitter, we noticed that most of these negative posts are still very much unresolved by the hotels.
Such unresolved complaints tarnish the hotel’s image in the long-term.

Customers are 4X more likely to switch to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price or product-related, as per HospitalityNet.

Of course, the hotels must be highly vigilant in monitoring the social media landscape, respond to complaints in real-time, and resolve them. This not only adds to the business’s credibility but shows on-ground presence and backing.

2. High On Technology

Despite being a pioneer in feedback collection and complaint resolution, the hospitality industry is finally having its Eureka moment to the potential of technology in guest complaint management.

Obviously, it’s not possible to manually track all the queries, complaints, and feedback across all the platforms. The response time escalates multifold, and so does the resolution.

This is why the hotel industry is transitioning to automated guest complaint management via software. Guest complaint management software can also help in:

1. Time-bounding customer requests and complaints
2. Automated complaint assignment to the department/employee best suited
3. Customizable escalation process with multi-level addressal of various requests flowing in, i.e., maintenance requests and cleanliness complaints can be escalated to the Admin department while F&B requests to the Head Chef.
4. Comprehensive report analysis to analyze guest complaints, identify the most recurring issues, send requests to schedule preventive maintenance, and prepare for peak seasons.
   

Here’s an example of the reports compiled by the guest management software-

Apart from using customer relationship management software for the management of guest complaints, hotels are also actively integrating social and traditional media listening tools, the likes of Meltwater, Cirrus, etc.

70% of guests want to use technology to speed up service time.

Social media listening tools help in tracking the overall sentiment analysis, a boon for the hospitality industry to gauge the overall audience’s mood.

It’s imperative for businesses to amalgamate the complaint collection mechanism (social media listening) with guest complaint resolution tools.

3. Personalization Is The New Black/ Holy Grail

Yes, gone are the days when personalization was imperative just for effective marketing.

Hotels are leveraging the power of personalization while managing guest complaints.

Today, customers in the hospitality landscape expect personalized marketing, personalized experience, and personalized complaint resolution.

Here are a few things you can do to personalize your guest complaint management approach-

1. Use the guest’s name and use it correctly, with correctly spelled and pronounced titles/salutations
2. Keep it sincere yet elaborate. E.g. “Thank you for your complaint, We have rectified it and noted your food preferences down. The next time we see you, it will be taken care of to the best.”
3. Express gratitude for their visit, and hope to see them again soon.

Let’s consider this example- A guest complains that their sheets are dirty. The manager apologizes for the inconvenience and offers to replace the sheets. The manager also asks the guests if they would like to speak with the housekeeping supervisor to discuss their mattress and comforter preferences.

When it comes to efficient guest complaint management in the hospitality industry, half the battle is won if you can track, escalate, and assign the complaints in real time. The sheer complicatedness of managing guest complaints in hotels makes it a troublesome job that can’t be taken for granted. No wonder hotels are quickly incorporating Guest complaint management software.

Taking your hotel business to new heights is possible only when your customers become your regular and loyal guests. While preventive measures like providing self-serve options can help reduce guest complaints, it’s impossible to negate them. It’s always advisable to keep a guest service recovery plan in place

If you’re looking for a guest complaint management software that-

1. Record guest complaints/requests on a priority basis- low, medium, and high
2. Automatically assign escalated tickets to the appropriate departments
3. Send prompt alerts and comprehensive analytical reports
4. Intelligent analytics and insights for you to analyze guest complaints and requests

Then Geedesk is the solution your hotel business needs.