Being in the lodging industry means you understand how important it is to provide the best services possible. While having happy and content customers is usually a nice thing, the difficult part begins when you have angry guests and don't know how to address their consumer complaints. Or, how do you deal with dissatisfied guests while maintaining your reputation?

In this blog, we'll provide our top strategies for dealing with consumer complaints in the lodging industry.

Common Consumer Complaints in Lodging Industry

Before we discuss how to deal with unhappy customers in your industry, you should be aware of and knowledgeable about the following types of consumer court complaints:

1. Poor customer service 

Poor or inadequate customer service is one of the most commonly cited consumer complaints in lodging industry. Front desk supervisors, pool attendants, housekeepers, waiters, and fitness instructors must all be courteous and well-trained. They must be able to understand and pay attention to the customer's concerns.

Sometimes it might be a simple problem such as a water supply issue in their bathroom. The first step in this circumstance is to apologise to the guest and resolve the issue as soon as possible. Take any such client complaints seriously, whether they are legitimate or not. Simply handle the issues with patience and understanding.

2. Untidy rooms

Rooms may be dusty or unclean due to early check-ins, late checkouts by previous guests, or other similar factors, whether the hotel is budget-friendly or a five-star luxury establishment.

The bathroom is probably filthy, the sink is filthy, and there are hair strands in the tub or on the mattress. Even housekeeping makes the mistake of overlooking items left in the closet by previous visitors on occasion. These could be some of the challenges that visitors to your hotel may encounter.
 

3. Poor food quality

Today's hotel guests demand excellence in every aspect of their stay, including the food. To prevent future issues, complaints about food should be made directly to the staff members who are in charge of making and delivering the meals. 

4. Delayed services

Maybe their room service supper was late or cold, they couldn’t get a spa treatment, or the front desk refused to perform anything that concierge offices don’t do. Service complaints are mostly fake or, at the very least, inaccurate.  

Each one, however, should be taken seriously for the sake of visitors and the resolution of any actual problems that develop.  

5. Foul smells 

This is a very obvious problem, and you can’t blame the visitor for complaining. Nobody wants to stay even a few minutes, or one night, in a stinking room. If you receive this complaint, make sure that it is sorted out as soon as possible by having a cleaning crew go to their room and wash it clean.  

6. Lack of communication

One of the most prevalent customer complaints in lodging industry is a lack of communication between hotel staff and clients.  

Hotel services might close for a variety of reasons, and visitors will be disappointed if a service or facility they had planned to use is no longer available. To avoid this issue, hotel management should do everything possible to inform existing and prospective guests about the status of closed services. 

Most customers’ travel plans are highly impacted by their budget; therefore, they are likely to be upset if they discover extra fees after booking their trip. 

7. Theft of personal items

Theft is a serious problem in every society and should be addressed as such. When a visitor accuses a hotel employee of stealing their belongings, hotel management should move with caution and adhere to rigorous hotel rules as well as an agreed-upon resolution mechanism.     

8 . Staff avoiding DND signs

A “Do Not Disturb” sign should be respected in all hotels. Customers pay for the right to have their own comfortable space, and having hotel personnel observe the do not disturb sign whenever it is displayed is an important part of that.

Discuss the importance of honouring the sign with your personnel, and make sure that one is in each and every room. 

How to Handle Consumer Complaints in Lodging Industry?

In spite of inescapable issues with the guest experience, your staff members should handle complaints promptly, professionally, and honestly to achieve visitor satisfaction overall.    
Here are some excellent tips doe using best practices in your hotel business when resolving client complaints. 

• Knowing your customers’ issues and hearing their side of the story is always crucial for handling consumer complaints in lodging industry. The only way to find the best remedy is to listen to and understand your customers’ problems. 
   
• Your guests always expect you to be kind and courteous, which is the most important characteristic. The guest might be very unhappy with you, but you must stay calm to prevent things from getting worse.   
   
• When your hotel receives a complaint, staff members should pay attention to the guest, be cordial, and make an effort to understand the problem from the client’s point of view.    
   
• Although not all staff are accustomed to handling consumer complaints in lodging industry, you might help by educating them. Make sure everyone is aware of your policies for handling complaints and that they can contact a high-up if necessary. 
   
• Team members should make sure that guests are informed of the remedy and are kept up to date on the overall resolution of the issue when putting your hotel’s guest complaint resolution technique into practice. 
   
• Using criticism to enhance the general customer experience is one of the best methods to handle a complaint. Always strive to develop your firm by using customer feedback to enhance your offerings.  

Conclusion 

You already know that your hotel guests expect to have excellent customer service and a comfortable stay, but there might undoubtedly be some glitches from your side. So, if you know the techniques to rectify these mistakes and how to handle the customer’s issues, you can easily deal with them. However, if you require expert assistance in dealing with consumer complaints in lodging industry, Online Legal India is here to help you.