No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes! Our guests expect perfect service, and are unforgiving to any service breakdowns, correct?
False, our guests expect perfect service, but do understand that mistakes can happen, and it’s important that we recognize mistakes, when they do happen, as opportunities to get it right. Guests who have a complaint that gets resolved to their satisfaction are more likely to return than the ones that never had a complaint to begin with. It’s because we understand that no one is perfect, and if something goes wrong, we want the service provider to take ownership and turn the experience around to our satisfaction.
How can you achieve this at a hotel, where things go wrong on a daily basis? At first every glitch needs to be recorded and assigned to the appropriate department or individual for follow-up. It’s mandatory that whoever is assigned to follow-up on the complaint does so before the guest leaves your property and does so in a manner that is satisfying to the guest (while this is not always possible, nine times out of ten it is).
Most properties have a culture where mistakes are not openly shared out of embarrassment or fear of being blamed, and everyone is trying to sweep their mistakes under the carpet and hope for their guests not to complaint. Most guests do not complain to you at all, but that doesn’t mean that they’ll come back, or don’t tell all their friends about it or vent their frustration over their social media outlets. Everyone makes mistakes, and the most important thing is that we have a positive attitude, strive to make our guests happy and are willing to learn from our mistakes, so that they don’t happen again in the future. Not sharing our mistakes and trying to hide them, prevents us from following up with our guests and show them genuine care.
Most guests just want recognition and genuine care, and for someone to pick up the ball, regardless of who and why it was dropped to begin with, and take ownership, if something goes wrong. Guests don’t leave your hotel unhappy, because someone made a mistake, they do, because someone made a mistake and everyone else looked away, worrying about pushing the blame around and pointing fingers, rather than taking ownership.
Taking ownership and following up on your service glitches, turns your complainers into loyal brand advocates.
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