Addressing Guest Complaints in the Hospitality Industry Abstract Services in the hospitality industry are centered on the guest. Hence, being able to identify different kinds of guests and anticipate their needs is important to the management of efficient services related to hospitality. Moreover, in this modern era of consumer activism and media crusades, no service failure, especially in the hospitality industry, can be taken lightly. While dealing with and resolving customer complaints as soon as they come to the notice of the organization is an imperative, equally important is a thorough and systematic analysis of guest feedback and complaints. This provides the management with the requisite insight as to the reasons behind specific complaints and enables them to decide upon effective measures to lessen if not negate service failures. In addition, a professional analysis and interpretation of guest data helps organizations locate and identify hidden trends, making it easier to trace the source of service failure or mistake. Keywords: Guest, guest complaints, word of mouth, guest’s motivation, managing complaints.

1. Addressing Customer
Complaints in the Hospitality
Industry
Kefalas Soteris, Ph.D
Hospitality and Tourism
Consultant

2. COMPONENTS OF STUDY
Introduction
Who Is the Guest?
Identifying the Guest?
Guest’s Needs
Factors Influencing Guest Expectations
Guest Expectations and Service
Complaint Situations
Diversity of Modes Guests use to Register their
Complaints
Managing Cimplaint Situations
Conclusion
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3. Introduction
Services in the hospitality industry are
centered on the guest.
Hence, being able to identify different
kinds of guests and anticipate their needs
is important to the management of efficient
services related to hospitality.
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4. The Guest
In the hospitality sector, the guest is the
person for whom all the facilities and
activities have been designed and carried
out.
The guest is the recipient of hospitality
services and he/she also acts as the judge
with respect to quality of service.
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5. Identifying the Guest
External guests are outside the
organization and consume the final benefit
of the organization.
– In any industry, there are a number of
intermediate external guests, like distributors
or the representatives of a producer.
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6. Identifying the Guest (Cont.)
Internal guests are those who are inside
the organization itself. They are the staff
when they use certain services in other
departments or sections within the same
organization.
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7. Guest’s Needs
According to Juran, there are three level of needs:
– First level needs are those that drive the customers to
buy a product or service.
– Second level needs are those that realize the general
motives into practical requirements. This stage converts
the conceptual and theoretical needs to practical
requirements.
– Third level needs are those that are in the form of
measurable services. At this stage, the needs of the guest
are materialized into effective services or products that
satisfy the guest’s motivations.
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8. Factors that Influence Guest
Expectations
Parasuraman et al. have identified four main factors
that influence guest expectations:
Word of mouth is the first factor that determines the
expectations of the customer. This can be defined
as what a guest hears from other guests.
The second factor is the personal needs of the
guest. These expectations arise as a result of
situations and specific requirements. These
requirements may vary according to the moral,
physical or mental states of the guest.
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9. Factors that Influence Guest
Expectations
Previous experiences may also influence
the expectations of the guest.
The expectations of the guest function as
external communication - like advertising.
This factor provides a direct message from
the organization to the guest. These
messages could be related to the service
or product quality, mode of service,
service cost and others.
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10. Guest Expectations and Service
According to Lewison, guest expectations can be
categorized into essential, expected and optional.
Essential services are such services that are
central to a hospitality business. Such services are
the bare minimum that is required to sustain a
hospitality business.
Expected services have a direct correlation with
guest expectations. These are services that guests
expect a hospitality facility to render or provide and
are in addition to the expected services furnished by
a business.
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11. Guest Expectations and Service
The services that a business offers
beyond the essential and expected
services qualify as optional services.
Optional services make a business more
competitive and endow it with a reputation
for uniqueness and ingenuity.
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12. Complaint Situations
Singh classifies consumers as passives, irates, terrorists
and activists:
Passive complainers are people who seldom raise any
complaints. They do not care if there are flaws in the
service, they may not be familiar with the complaint
procedure or they may have language or culture
problems.
Irate guests are those who may or may not complain to
the company about the service failure, but will spread the
service failure to others by negative word of mouth. Such
guests have more tendencies to switch to other
companies.
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13. Complaint Situations (cont.)
Terrorists are complainers who spread
the service failure through media and tend
to invite other complainers through public
media.
Activists are the guests who complain to
the third parties. They enjoy the
confrontation either concurrently or
subsequently.
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14. Diversity of Modes Guests use to
Register their Complaints
Registering a complaint at the time the
discrepancy in service is experienced or
observed.
Writing a letter or using available digital
media like telephone or email to register
their complaints.
Filing a legal suit or contact a consumer
rights organization.
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15. Managing Complaint Situations
Managerial concepts like Six Sigma, Total
Quality Management and Zero Defect
have successfully been adopted by the
hospitality industry.
Questionnaires and comment forms give
guests the opportunity to vent their
grievances and facilitates a professional
redressing of such anomalies.
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16. Managing Complaint Situations
Extending compensation packages in the form of
apologies, charge reduction, complementary
services, etc. proportionate to the magnitude
and gravity of the complaint submitted by a
guest is an effective way of conveying a sense
of commitment to an aggrieved guest.
A courteous and decorous attitude of the guest
care or front staff responsible for handling
complaints further streamlines the overall
process of service recovery.
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17. CONCLUSION
In this modern era of consumer activism and
media crusades, no service failure, especially in
the hospitality industry, can be taken lightly.
Barring major system failures, the resources
lying at the disposal of a professionally managed
service organization are usually ample to
compensate for and take care of guest
grievances.
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18. THANK YOU