This document discusses how capturing service recovery opportunities while guests are still staying at a hotel can prevent negative reviews and increase loyalty. It notes that addressing issues in real-time through guest feedback allows hotels to quickly solve problems and show guests they are valued. The document promotes a tool called Helix that provides real-time alerts on guest satisfaction to help hotels proactively address any service failures before guests check out.

1. S E R V I C E R E C O V E R Y
O P P O R T U N I T I E S
B Y M I C R O M E T R I C S
H O W T O C A P T U R E

2. Imagine This...
A guest arrives at your property at 6 PM
on Sunday night. They have dinner in the
hotel’s restaurant, a drink at the lounge,
and then head upstairs to get some sleep
before their 9 AM meeting the next day.
They check out promptly, gather their
luggage and leave.
At a glance, this seems like a harmless
stay. However, within 48 hours after
check-out, that same guest leaves a poor
review on TripAdvisor...

3. “I requested a quiet room and was put
right beside the ice machine. The room
was dirty and carpet had stains. Will not
return.”

4. This common scenario leaves
hoteliers frustrated.
Had the guest said anything
during their stay they could
have fixed it, but now they
are in the tight spot of
fighting the review and
trying to make amends post-
stay.
When there is a service
failure, managers must
scramble to find solutions
that will reach that former
guest and encourage
engagement.

5. Service recovery opportunities exist everywhere, but learning about them after
your guest leaves makes them invariably more difficult to manage.
This is why it’s so important to convert a negative customer service experience
into a positive one while the traveler is still a guest in the hotel.

6. What Drives
Customer Loyalty?
Service failures are inevitable in every industry, and studies show that
bad customer service is costing businesses even more money today
than in previous years. This lost revenue is coming from customers
who swear off a brand and move on to a competitor because of a bad
customer service experience.
In fact, two-thirds of consumers have left a business primarily because
of poor customer service.

7. Willing To
Switch
Modern consumers have generally
shown a greater willingness to shop
around for the service provider that
best suits their needs, and will only
become loyal customers if their
standards are consistently being
met.
With so many different options
available to consumers, brands
need to work to keep their
customers from exploring other
options.

8. 30%
One factor that plays an important part in earning a guest’s loyalty is
their emotional connection to the hotel, and more specifically, the
hotel’s employees. However, this kind of customer-employee dynamic
is somewhat rare.
While customers are likely to keep using a
service if they feel connected with someone who
provides that service, studies show the average
consumer only feels a connection with 30% of
the companies they do business with.

9. One of the biggest drivers of this feeling is the perception that the
company cares about them, and capturing service recovery
opportunities proves to guests that they are valued.

10. Customers have also cited long wait
times, the inability to speak to an
advisor and a lack of appreciation as
reasons for leaving a business, three
areas hoteliers need to focus on.
Hotels are particularly dependent on
good service recovery since online
reviews can dictate the future of the
business — for better or worse.
Whether the response is negative or
positive depends on how hotels handle
service failures.

11. How to Prevent
Service Failures
While service failures reduce loyalty, a
prompt and meaningful response can
build a relationship and increase loyalty.
Quickly solving a guest’s problem lets
them know that they are the hotel’s top
priority — and that feeling of
appreciation helps build a valuable
rapport between the guest and
employee.
There are three factors that will affect a
guest’s perception of a service recovery
effort: a fair process, a sincere apology,
and adequate compensation.

12. Even better than a response to an existing
problem is a proactive effort to prevent
problems before they occur. There are ways to
proactively handle guest experience issues, but
they require timely solutions that engage with
guests in a subtle way.

13. Guest feedback is an
invaluable tool for hoteliers,
since identifying potential
opportunities to reset
service faux pas in real time
is absolutely critical.
In this case, had the
manager known about the
stains and the ice machine,
they could have quickly
captured opportunities for
service recovery.
This would have sent a clear
message to the guest that
the hotel cares about their
travel experience, even
when issues are not brought
to their attention face-to-
face.

14. Helix by MicroMetrics
Check in with guests before they check out. Learn more about how
Helix provides real-time alerts and engagement that fuels in-stay
service recovery opportunities at
micrometrics.com/helix

15. Resources
Customer
Thermometer
Forbes