How to Handle Hotel guest complaints and Deal With Angry Guests

Being in the hotel industry, you must know that delivering the best services is prominent. While it’s always good to have happy and satisfied guests, the challenging task begins when you come across angry guests and don’t know how to handle the hotel guest complaints? Or, how to deal with those unhappy guests and ensure that your reputation is upheld?

You see, a sole instance of poor service might lead your guests to switch to your competitors. Treating every customer with the utmost respect and listening to their complaint helps in serving them a better guest experience.

Practising such not only leaves the guests happy and fascinated but also doubles the chances of them visiting you again.

As a hotelier, you are in the business of managing all sorts of guests. You may find some of the guests being calm in their manner to express their displeasure whereas others may just start yelling at you while addressing the complaint.

However, in the worst case, they may add a complaint on social media platforms, thus hampering the hotel’s reputation. So handling such customers can be a complex job. And in this blog, I am discussing just that.

You’ll get a clear picture of how to cope with such situations, ensuring that your guests are happy and your hotel’s reputation is on the top level.

What are the most common guest complaints in hotels?

Before we tell you how to deal with the angry guests at your property, you need to know and analyze the various types of guest complaints in hotels.

1. Poor Customer Service

One of the most commonly heard complaints is – poor or unsatisfying customer service. Be it a front-desk manager, pool staff, housekeeping, restaurant staff or your gym trainers; it’s crucial that your entire hotel team is well-trained and polite. They must be able to understand and listen to what the customer feels.

Additionally, room-service is such a facility that people don’t come across daily and so when they do, it’s obvious for them to expect nothing but excellence!

A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price or product-related. 

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Sometimes, there might be nothing but a simple water supply issue in their bathroom. In such a situation, the very first thing to do is to apologize to the guest and get it fixed on an urgent basis.

When any such service complaints arise, whether they are genuine or not, take them sincerely. All you need to do is examine the complaints with proper attention and understanding. 

Ensure your guests that it won’t occur again and do everything you can to take care of the problem. Doing this might keep the angry hotel guest away from leaving a bad online review.

We also have a guide that will help you respond to customer reviews the most appropriate way. Do check it out.

Tip #1: Even if your staff isn't rude, do apologize and try to rectify the situation in a good manner.

2. Dirty Rooms

May it be a low-end hotel or a 5-star luxury property, there’s always a possibility of rooms being dirty or unclean due to the late checkout of previous guests or early check-ins or can be any other such reasons too. 

Chances are that the bathroom is not clean, or the washbasin may be dirty, hairs in the tub or on the bed. At times even the housekeeping fails to collect the things left in the closet by previous guests. These can be some of the things that might bother your hotel guests. 

Here you’d think that – What to do to avoid this? 

It’s simple. The front-desk manager must request the immediate room guests to wait for a while till the room gets clean. Also, train your housekeeping staff to present the best when it comes to hygiene. 

Tip #2: Keeping your guests informed about the current activities, especially when it is linked to them; will surely leave a good impact on their minds. 

3. Low Food Quality

With the millenials ruling over the present generation, it has become mandatory to focus on the best-served taste and have them experience the local taste they might have heard before and now, way more excited to grasp. 

We all know that food plays a vital role in our day-to-day life.

Imagine one fine Sunday when you expect everything to be on the good side, what if your mother or your wife fails to serve the taste you wished for? There are chances of food being overly salted or no salt at all or it can be anything else. You'll go mad at them, right? There you go! 

When you can yell at your mother or wife for spoiling your Sunday mood, think of the guests who came on vacation or for a Business meeting?

Address your chef if there are any complaints for the food. In the case of food served cold, confront your staff about the delay in serving the food to the guests.

Tip #3: In this case, ask your head chef to take the replacement order on priority, not keeping your guests waiting for the food.

4. Foul Smell

Surely, your guests didn’t walk in for your foul-smelling hotel rooms. You can avoid such small complaints by performing cleaning tasks twice a day and maybe more whenever required. Ask your housekeeping to follow up with the guests once they get the room cleaned.

Moreover, your staff can always ask them to share how they feel about the rendered services and if there’s anything you can help them with. 

Train your hotel housekeeping staff and the cleaning department in such a manner where these types of situations don’t even take place. Here, hygiene must top the priority list when it comes to dealing with humans.

Tip #4: To avoid such complaints you must often check on the small things. For example, whether the room fresheners are filled, dustbins are cleaned and many such little things.

5. Unfriendly Staff

Though how well operated your hotel is, there’s this common thing the guest experiences with your staff. More often it happens that the guests think your hotel staff is carrying an unfriendly attitude or finds him/her rude while communicating.

It may be true, but even when it isn’t the case, ask your staff to be very polite and calm while dealing with rude hotel guests.

It is your foremost duty to respect your guests; which eventually gives a good value to your brand.

The best thing you can do when such issues arise is to listen kindly to customers’ complaints and examine the same. Just in case if the guest gets angrier and starts yelling about sharing such an experience on social media, offer them some discount or free access to any of the amenities. Make sure you do your best not to let your guests put a negative review on social media.

Tip #5: In the case of the worst scenario, listen to customers’ complaints with utmost patience and ask for an apology on behalf of your hotel staff.

6. Malfunctioned or Damaged Electronics

Well, who doesn’t make use of gadgets or electronics when on a vacation? We often have this belief that people don’t make use of gadgets during their holidays but it doesn’t stand true in most cases. Your guests may use the television during their leisure time in the room.

So when any of the guests raise a complaint about the damage or the malfunctioning of gadgets, it is the whole and sole responsibility of the hotel management to get the electronics repaired or replaced in time.

Get the malfunctioned electronics replaced with the working ones and serve the guests with the best.

Tip #6: The management should monitor all the hotel belongings and make sure it is easily accessible to the guests. 

7. Shortage of Complimentary Stuff

You as a hotelier must surely be aware of the complimentary items offered to the guests during the stay.

Having your guests complain about the shortage or absence of complementary items like shampoo, soaps, towels, hangers; can leave a bad impression on the customer’s minds.

You need to know that this won’t score well, keeping your hotel’s reputation in mind. To avoid such, make sure you provide the best complimentary stuff to the guests for their use.

Tip #7: Keep a note of things your competitors offer as complimentary to their guests and make sure you provide them for FREE too.

Running a hotel business is quite challenging for a variety of reasons. There are tons of moving pieces and no matter how accurately you operate, it looks like there’s always going to be a customer mourning about something. Recheck this list to make sure you know all the common hotel complaints.

Now, after knowing what are the common complaints the hotel guest makes during the stay, your next immediate task is to know;

How to Deal with Angry Guests and Their Complaints in a Hotel?

This was all about common guest complaints and how to cope with them.

However, there are times when things don’t work out the way we want them to. Guests turn furious and make it hard for the hotel staff to manage.

So, what to do in those cases? How to handle hotel guest complaints? How to deal with such infuriated guests? Various other questions hit our minds.

In this section, I am explaining all of it. The points mentioned below are supremely important when you are dealing with rude hotel guests. So, read on and find it out for yourself.

1. Apologize

The hotel industry is prone to guest issues and complaints way more frequently. For any sort of complaint, make an apology in the first place. Regardless of the complaint being genuine or fake, what concerns is your response to the same.

Departing your guests with a delighting smile on their faces is all you work for. Even your customers feel appreciated when they’re taken care of, instead of the management just treating them with no special attention or treatment. 

2. Care to listen

Handling angry guests in a hotel isn’t easy, but it isn’t any rocket science either.

So, when you’re in conversation with an angry hotel guest, make sure you’re keeping all ears. Do not cut them off when they are talking. Listen to them carefully. 

Your response to unhappy guests, especially to the guests within your hotel premises will be marked by many other spectators. It is a must job for you to always react friendly and treat your guests well.

The primary thing the guests expect from you is to be polite and have kind manners. As discussed earlier, dealing with happy and satisfied guests is easy, but when it comes to an angry hotel guest; then all you need to do is listen calmly. 

This will not only help you understand what their actual concern is but also drive a sense in them that the other party is professional enough.

Also, train and encourage your hotel staff to keep calm when guests raise a complaint.

Not to mention, start talking once they are done, putting all their arguments. Let your guest explain the situation first and once he/she is done with their part, review the entire fact and try to fix it at the very moment.

This sounds like a very basic thing, but not everyone holds such type of communication etiquette which is prominent in a sensitive industry like hospitality.

3. Avoid arguments, remain calm, and be polite

In many cases, complaints may take a longer time to resolve. The only thing you can do in such cases is avoid arguing. 

Arguing can result in nothing but the worst situations. 

KEEP YOUR CALM, even if their arguments and complaints seem unfair. Note that no matter what, THEY ARE STILL YOUR GUESTS.

Treat them with respect and give them their space and time to voice their concerns. Because, if you act rude, it’s the hotel that will get a bad name, which is not at all good for business.  

Further, this etiquette is not only for the frontdesk but also for the entire hotel staff. Because you never know when things go out of track in which department. 

Word to the wise: Keep in mind, guests are always on the edge of finding your faults. Avoiding arguments can surely keep you safe from being trapped in a deadlock.

4. Make sure your body language is not aggressive

It’s not what you say, it’s how you say it.

This might seem clichéd, but it’s true to the highest level possible.

Body language is another factor that matters A LOT; especially when you’re handling an angry guest in the hotel.

There are certain personality traits that every hotel staff must possess. They must take serious efforts in keeping their body language in check.

There are times when an infuriated guest goes all out, and you may not even realise that it’s triggering and manipulating your body language. And guess what, if your body language is aggressive it might make your guest feel angrier.

So, if you don’t want to hurt your business, learn how to manage your silent signals; even during escalated situations.

5. Empathize and acknowledge their frustrations

Okay, they have talked enough and you have listened enough.

What’s next?

Do something about it.

First things first, when you’re dealing with rude guests, you have to empathize with them and acknowledge their anger. You have to make them feel that their concern is valid and you’re absolutely not ignoring it.

6. Never pass on the guest to another department

I am sure most of you have experienced it.

You got a complaint and try to reach out to the frontdesk. But when you explain to them, they say that it’s not their task and you should rather reach out to some other department.

THIS IS A RED FLAG. PERIOD.

This is the last thing want to do when a guest tries to voice their concern. Also, it is a trigger and makes the situation even worse.

What you can do is, even if it’s not your job, you can help the guest reach out to the concerned person.

How about saying, “Sorry for the inconvenience, Sir/Madam. Let me call the concerned person and help you sort this out.” Or, you can rather take it upon yourself and say, “Thank you for sharing your concern, I will get it in contact with the concerned department and resolve this ASAP.”

The bottom line is that you have to be able to offer a quick solution.

This not only makes your guests feel better but also turns the entire infuriated situation the other way around. If you successfully resolve their query, they are sure to appreciate you for your proactive measures.

I have experienced it first-hand. So, you can take it from me.

7. Comfort with best offerings

At times the situations go worse and all you’re left with is nothing. If there’s no way to fix the guest’s complaint, then comforting them with the best offerings is all you can do. Go through your hotel policies and see what best you can offer to unhappy guests.  

You can serve them with a discount on the total bill, offer great value deals on their next stay or add one FREE night stay at the hotel with the current stay depending on your hotel policy.

Consider talking to them and knowing their expectations from you. You don’t need to fulfil the same if not possible, but just taking an opinion can make a difference.

8. Avoid taking things personally

I used to work with an airline call centre. I would take more than 100 calls a day and I can’t even tell what sort of things I had to hear. The words people used when they were angry were just, hands down, abusive.

I didn’t enjoy working there at all. However, there’s one thing I learn – stay grounded and patient and NOT TO TAKE ANYTHING PERSONALLY.

This might sound silly to many, but it’s a legit fact. If a guest creates a scene, starts yelling or complaining, it’s mostly they are not happy with the hotel; that the services rendered are not up to the mark.

Here, the management at the hotel must train the staff members not to take the complaints and guest queries personally and to fix the query or the complaint and update the management on the same ASAP.

9. Come up with a conclusion

Once you’ve heard the guests’ complaints, ask them which solution fits the best in any case. After you’ve asked them for their choice of a solution, go and check with your hotel’s management if it is appropriate and whether it fits the hotel policies.

Also, don’t forget to keep the guest updated about the same and make sure they don’t feel ignored or unattended. There can be many solutions to one problem, all you need to do is pick up the best one and resolve the same for your guest.

10. Follow up

As per the previous discussion, once done checking with the hotel’s management; inform the guest about the ultimate solution you can offer. Do keep in mind that your purpose doesn’t change here.

Don’t let your customers think that you’re ordering them. Instead, communicate in a manner where they feel that their suggestions are equally important to you. In the end, just make sure you roll over a bad situation to a good and profitable one.

11. Thank the guest for bringing the matter to light

Remember, acknowledgement? This is also a part of that aspect.

Do say ‘thank you for bringing the matter to light’ when a guest raises a query.

There are times when hotels don’t get to know about certain issues until and unless they are pointed out by guests. So, when you come across such instances, do let the guest know that it will be fixed on a priority basis.

12. Take feedback

Next up, do ask your guest if there’s anything they would like to let you know.

You have to make your guests feel that their experience is your priority and you’re willing to take all the required measures to ensure just that.

So, make it a habit of taking feedback even after offering a solution to the angry hotel guest.

Not to mention, the points mentioned above are legitimate enough to help you overcome such troubles. Just make sure, you are encouraging your employees and treating them well.