One of the most important factors in the success of any company is service recovery. All to often managers and trainers focus on many important service strategies but neglect effective service recovery. A company can provide 5 star service, but sometimes are not able to effectively or properly address a customer complaint from initial contact to the intended recovery.
An interesting article addresses an avenue to address customer complaints and gives a solid base on the process. Jim Hartigan with Hotel News Now reiterates many of the beliefs of my own when it comes to customer complaints/service recovery. According to Jim's article, the first step is to listen to the customer and listen to their concern in it's entirety without interuppting. I agree with this as listening to someone with your undivided attention let's them know that they matter. Secondly, Jim states that putting the emotion of the customer in your reaction and putting yourself in their place helps to diffuse the situation. I also agree with this as more productive communication can occur to expedite solving the problem. The third highlight he says is that only after hearing the guest's problems, understanding their feelings and offering a sincere apology with the solution is the most effective and proper handling of the situation. I agree. There are many times when managers do not completely understand the problem itself, do not understand the guests feeling in relation to the problem, and/or either do not apologize at all or give a "blow-off" apology.
This article is very informative and reminds us in the Hospitality Business that our guests must be taken care of properly.
The full article can be read at http://www.hotelnewsnow.com/Articles.aspx/9633/4-steps-to-handling-customer-complaints
Las Vegas Resilience 2012
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