In the hospitality industry, customer satisfaction is the most important factor for business success. If your guests are happy, you’re happy, right? But, what do you do when they are unhappy or even angry? Dealing with angry customers is part of running a business. Being able to do it successfully is even more important for rental and vacation properties.
A negative review from just one disgruntled guest can tarnish your reputation and lower your ranking on rental sites. At BookingTeam.com, we focus on how property managers and owners can craft consistently excellent guest experiences, to avoid dissatisfied backlash from ever happening.
However, angry customers may still come to you, even if your business is not at fault for a mistake or a situation was never in your control. Be prepared to resolve angry customer conflicts with these tips:
1. Maintain your cool.
We know it’s tempting, but don’t fight fire with fire. Angry customers may get under your skin, but you have to be the bigger person in the situation. Take a breather if you need to before replying in an appropriate, professional manner.
2. Value their time.
Above all, show customers you value them and their time. You should be sending speedy replies when it comes to all your guest communications. However, for negative reviews and customer complaints, speediness is even more critical.
Guests will feel like their concerns aren’t being taken seriously or matter if your business doesn’t respond promptly. The response speed may differ depending on the severity of the complaint and channel used. For example, on Twitter, nearly three-quarters (72%) of people expect a response to a complaint within an hour of posting. Listen to them.
3. Listen to them.
Instead of automatically viewing a complaint as a nuisance or problem that needs to be solved, view it as valuable feedback. If a guest is angry or unhappy with a certain aspect of the booking process or their stay, it can give you insight into where your property is lacking.
4. Apologize and try to understand.
Acknowledge when you’ve messed up or a service or experience didn’t meet a customer’s expectations. Sometimes, it helps to just say sorry and acknowledge that an issue exists. Denying it can make you seem defensive and untrustworthy.
5. Show you’re solving the issue and rebuild trust.
Saying sorry may put you off to a good start, but isn’t usually enough. You have to show you are at least making amends or steps to correct the issue from happening in the future. How do you rectify the guest’s complaint? For instance, if a guest had to be relocated due to overbooking, did you provide the necessary compensations (a free night, transportation or complimentary meals)?
Customer perceptions form the backbone of a business. For rental property managers and owners, it is critical to know how to manage angry customers and any other stressful situations that may arise.
Luckily, you don’t have to do it on your own. BookingTeam.com’s suite of tools combined with our 24/7, on-demand team of booking professionals make it easier than ever to manage rental properties.
This is not only applicable to rental business, I own a pharmacy and grocery store. Often times, you come across some unhappy customers, I left a standing instruction to call me in a situation that the sales people cannot handle the issue with a customer.
One customer treated fairly can bring in 100 customers to the business. One disgruntled customer can equally chase away 100 potential customer. Customer management is very essential to running a successful business.
Totally agree. And for online businesses like holiday rentals, this is even more important. Happy guests often write reviews however unhappy guests Always write reviews.
You are right on this. Unhappy guest is most likely to make out time to right bad review of his/her experience.
I would much rather have a professional agency manage any property and deal with customers rather than myself.
@amarie indeed, you would save loads of time and make more money as your guests will get much better service if you as a host can focus 100% on hospitality. Teaming up like this is exactly our sharing-economy business model :) Steem on!
I know that's right!
This is good image :)))) I like it
Well written post. I have had to deal with customer complaints for years, and I always follow these same steps. The first step is not easy, especially when the customer is wrong. But the most important thing is to ensure you don't piss them off even more. You will never please everyone, but as long as you manage to convert the majority of negative comments into a positive outcome you're on your way to winning :)
That is correct! In hospitality a winning mentality is not about whos right or wrong, but about having the happiest guests. Even if the guest is wrong, they can really harm your business with a bad review.
Lol
If I have pain customer I just refuse my service ti him/her - that's it
I do not need that kind of drama
learn from the best - try to be a jerk in casino - they will ask you to leave and that will be end of it
After studying hospitality at a Swiss Hotel management school then working in high-end hotels and restaurants for over a decade I have a lot of thoughts on this subject. This post is good but misses something important. People over profit. Employees behind the front desk of a hotel, and probably many other retail/hospitality settings, often endure tremendous verbal abuse from irate guests. When a man calls down screaming and cursing because to AC unit wont keep the room at 68 degrees when its 110 outside! "I am sorry sir, let me take $100 off your rate and give you free breakfast" is never an appropriate response. People have learned that throwing fits gets them free shit. Rule #1 Don't scream and curse at me and I will give you much more! There is a fine line for sure. Guests may be spending lots of money in your establishment and certainly have expectations for you to meet. If all expectations are not met then the customer feels gypped. One trick then is just getting the guest to arrive with expectations you can actually fulfill! If the guest is living in a dream world from the beginning you will have problems. Even then most problems can be handled with an adult conversation and without the abuse that often happens in these settings. As a supervisor, nearly every night I had to step in on a situation not because my employees couldn't handle it but because I didn't want them to go through that abuse alone. Eventually I couldn't take it anymore. Maybe it just wasn't for me but the fake smile plastered on my face seemed even more disingenuous every month. So, I quit. If I ran a hotel many guests would be asked not to come back because of their behavior. Unfortunately that hotel would then probably fail.
always Maintain your cool
yup always remain cool and don't let him speak more because this will make his anger lower and also do what he says on that time so he will feel better and will get cool :)
Oh, I missed this post, now I can't get more rewards like you guys..
But I was sleeping :(
As they say in Russian "The client is always right", one should never forget about this. Thank you for an interesting and informative article.! Repostnu for good luck!
For angry guests I kindly ask them to leave my property, because they usually cant be satisfied
people who throw tantrums and scream generally dont understand that they cant do so in public, and are usually unable to have a proper conversation about the problem
You are doing it right. We need to stop rewarding people for throwing fits and verbally abusing employees.
"Whats that? You are screaming and calling me names? How about a free night then?" Terrible way to run a business if you ask me.
I hope you will consider a new tag I am proposing called #humanrelations for posts like this. I feel we are sorely in need of tag specifically for Social Skills, Body Language, Relationship Advice, Sales Techniques ect.
see this post: New Tag Campaign - #HumanRelations for more information.
(#notabot Genuine Alien Interaction)
I work as a paramedic and even I have to go through these steps. Thanks for laying it all out... dealing with the general public can be tough at times.
I have much respect for people working in the hospitality industry. It is often a thankless job. But great points of advice.
That No 1 is something one needs much of, because some customers seemed like they were sent to piss you off! Nice tips and thanks for sharing :)
You got my vote and a resteem :]
Great read, thank you for sharing! Steem the Dream!
Added into my list !! Nice suggestion I must say :)
hii booking team Great post, thank you for sharing! Steem the Dream!
Great advise and always easier said then done. Especially, when your listening to the same complaint you had and have no control over correcting. What do you recommend then?
nice one thanks for sharing bookingteam....
Hi friends, very good !!!!!
You will help me by voting in my post., Thank you !!! ;)
This is very good advice and everyone who works in the hospitality industry should read through it! In my opinion the most important thing is the paragraph of Maintain cool, cause for me, as a guest, it would be terrible if a person freaks out. It's always great to get the feeling that at least one person has everything under control, whenever you have a bad day or experience. :) Thank you for sharing this post with us and the useful help! I'm looking forward to your next post!
Very often, but sometimes it is the fault of the less than maximal servants, and this is a problem for those who feel, and you have given us the solution @bookingteam.com
Dealing with difficult or irate customers is probably one of the most challenging aspects of business. My company is in the service and production sector and we deal with over the counter customers all day. I have spent years teaching my staff how to deal with difficult and I have to say, they are simply fantastic now... perhaps even better than me hehehe :)
Your advice is absolutely SPOT ON! - I wish more people here in South Africa would follow this type of guidance, because the levels of customer service here are horrendous!!!! - It is one of the reasons why my little business has stood the test of time. We are well known for our amazing customer service.
Long may it last :)
Great post!
Much love from Cape Town, South Africa xxx
nice post bookingteam and for share this post..and coustmer deal is so irritate...i hate deals for coustmer..
This post made my day...!!!!!
Thanks for sharing it..!!!!
upvoted and followed...!!!!
Is also a psychology lesson. thank you very much
Im sure this subject could be talked about for a very long time .
https://steemit.com/travel/@jakkk/my-trip-to-attock-fort-in-pakistan-the-fort-is-a-memorial-of-great-mughal-empire
What if it's someone that is taking advantage of being the customers and is being rude on purpose at even the littlest thing, just to get something free out of it?
nice one
We should deal with them in polite way because polite words can change angry people.
It's 100% what you said. We never know what kind of they that costumer had to by a little bit more angry...
Great marketing tips for real estate people like me. Thanks for this article post. It comes in handy. :))
very good tips for handling the unhappy and angry costumers .:-)
We deal it with honorably and love it to remove angry and unhappiness of guests
Nice one. I have a beautiful story for you. Check my blog for complete episoded. This is just one.
https://steemit.com/story/@greatness96/finding-mr-perfect-husband-episode-20
Everything is great but sometimes guests come just to go on your nervs
Great advise
This post made my day !!!
Thanks for sharing it !!!!
Angry customers where angry before they even walked in, they just needed someone to dump all their crap onto....... its sad
I have a lot of experience in the field of Interactive Intelligence: when I use this phrase people usually will be like "what the f*** is that man!"
I coined it for my resume!
Interactive Intelligence includes: Presales or Research, Appointment fixing, Telesales, Customer service, Retention ,Survey or Feedback Collection even Debt collection! Any Interaction with the Cx has to be dealt with utmost care and precision to understand the prospect, source a prospect or a deal or retain a prospect or collect money from the prospect and the approaches for each is different! And that is why I call it Interactive Intelligence!
Now How to Deal With Unhappy or Angry Guests
And that is it!
And yes, Just so anyone interested might know, I write on Travel locations|World news| and a bit of Philosophy! you may like my latest post on the place nicknamed The Scotland of India!
https://steemit.com/travel/@alexkoshy/the-scotland-of-india-coorg-why-should-you-tour-india-vii
Alex Koshy
how you do if client insist you are wrong and he want to go other business. How you start to hold your client.
Ein wahrhaft interessanter Beitrag
Congratulations @bookingteam.com!
Your post was mentioned in the hit parade in the following category:
Well said, I really like this that you've laid out. And I definitely share the viewpoint with you. I also hope to leave my legacy here on steemit, and what I share here is what I would want to be remembered for. I think we can all look for something new! Thank you for being here. :)
very informative . thanks for sharing
tHIS IS GREAT POST AND VERY USEFUL THANK YOU FOR SHARING