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General Education OfficeIHM.316 / ILA2401

English for the Hotel Business

Unit 7: Customer Care

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“it does not matter who is right when a service failure occurs”Professor Alex Susskind

Cornell Hospitality QuarterlyNovember, 2010

http://youtu.be/tcliR8kAbzc

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ObjectivesThe objectives of this unit are….

1. Language Focus: Dealing with Complaints

2. Vocabulary Focus: Guest Feedback and Utilization

The purpose of this unit is to practice dialog and gain understanding of what makes guests unhappy and how to improve quality.

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ObjectivesIn today’s lesson you will learn how to:

• Use strategies to deal with customer complaints (e.g., LAST)

• Describe different types of guest complaints

• Use the Present Perfect Passive to describe service failures

• Use the term ‘should have’ for solutions to problems

• Use intensifying adverbs to assist emphasis in apologies

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Sometimes, there are things thatwe can do to avoid complaintsin the first place…..

Find five improvements thatcould be made to the reception.

Remember:

“Safety First”

1. Baggage in front of desk2. Power cable - vacumn cleaner3. Frayed Carpet4. Baggage in front of Fire Exit5. Power cable on coffee machine

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Dealing with Complaints1. Take ownership of the problem or issue and _____________.

2. ___________ the amount of time it takes for a guest to complain and properly

resolve complaints from the operators view.

3. _________ on trying to _____________ the issue from the guest perspective

4. Offer the guest a _____________of what happened but never give excuses

5. Offer an ___________ to the guest; and

6. ____________ with the guest to make sure that the remedy and recovery process

met or exceeded the guest’s expectations

Professor Alex SusskindCornell Hospitality Quarterly

November, 2010sincerely apologize

recognize

understand

focus

relevant explanation agreeable remedy

follow up

focus

sincerely apologize

recognize

understand

relevant explanation

agreeable remedy

follow up

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Yum! Brands and Ritz Carlton give discretion to employees and allow $1000 to resolve

complaints or service failures

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Good Customer Relationships are built to

Listen Apologise Solve Thank

Dealing with Complaints

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Dealing with Complaints

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Dealing with Complaints

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Top Traveller Complaints Know the different types of guest complaints.1. Bed Bugs• A very serious complaint and one that the hotels dread. These horrid creatures can be

found in carpets, woodwork, beds and travelers luggage. They can last up to one year without your blood as food.

2. Dirty Hotel• Lack of thorough cleaning, refurbishing, or good maintenance makes any hotel

unpleasant and uncomfortable to stay in.

3. Lost Reservation• Traveling all the way to your destination expecting to check – in your hotel and relax,

only to be disappointed by a lost or canceled reservation is one of the worst things a hotel can do to its customers in regards to quality service.

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Top Traveller Complaints

4. Unhelpful Staff• Laziness, lack of caring, incompetence, corruption… these are all problems hotel have

with staff that customers complain most about.

5. Next to the Lift or Convenience Room• Having a room with thin walls next to the elevator/lift, or next to the convenience room

for ice-maker or vending machines, will make one very annoyed guest.

6. Overcharged Bill/Check• Extras such as a paid movie or a short from the mini-bar can go on the wrong room bill

so easily. Also be careful when at the hotel bar as the room name and number that you shouted out to the barman can now be used by an unscrupulous person to charge his drinks to.

7. Bad Room Service• Over-or-undercooked food, food delivered late, no one to answer the phone in room

service department are just some of the complaints guests have about room service.

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Top Traveller Complaints

8. Hidden Charges• Extra charges for phone use, cancellations, changes to the reservation, and taxi-cab

use are very annoying for hotel guests.

9. Bad Quality Restaurant• A five-star hotel with a substandard restaurant has got some problems. While the

restaurant is typically a separate organization, the restaurant is usually one of the first points of quality that a guest judges the hotel on.

10. Inaccurate Star Rating• The problem is that there is no single regulatory body which controls star ratings. It is

therefore possible, in fact probable, that many hotels decide themselves what star rating to be. The main discrepancies lie in the one to three star range.

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Top Traveller ComplaintsUse the word bank to identify the different types of complaints.

bed bugs dirty hotel lost reservation unhelpful staff next to lift hidden charges bad room service overcharged bill

bad quality restaurant inaccurate star rating

1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

7.

8.

9. 10.

lostreservation

bedbugs

unhelpfulstaff

badquality

restauranthidden

charges

inaccuratestar

rating

dirtyhotel

nexttolift

overchargedbill

badroom

service

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Listening1) Listen to the conversation between a guest and a receptionist.

a) Make a list of the things the guest is complaining about.b) What does she want to do?c) What is the outcome?

2) Now listen to the second conversation. What is the outcome this time?

3) Listen to both conversations again. In what ways does the receptionist behave differently in the second conversation?What does she offer to do?

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The scriptRECEPTIONIST: Good evening. Can I help you?

GUEST: Well, I hope you can. I'm in room 607 and frankly, it's disgusting. I'm extremely

annoyed.

RECEPTIONIST: OK. Mrs Jenkins, isn't it?

GUEST: Yes.

RECEPTIONIST: Now, what exactly is wrong?

GUEST: Well, for a start, the room is very small - I requested a large room.

RECEPTIONIST: Actually, room 607 is one of our larger rooms.

GUEST: Is it? Well, I'm bitterly disappointed, I'm afraid. Also, it's very dirty: the bath hasn't been

cleaned and the sheets haven't been changed.

RECEPTIONIST: Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Mrs Jenkins. It must be most upsetting for you. I'm quite

sure there's been some mistake. I'll send someone up immediately to look at it.

GUEST: Well, really I'd like to move room now.

RECEPTIONIST: I understand. We are very busy, but I'll see what I can do. Why don't

you wait in the lounge bar while I sort this out. I'll arrange for a complimentary drink for you.

GUEST: Well, OK, then.

RECEPTIONIST: I really am most sorry, Mrs Jenkins, for the inconvenience you've suffered.

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The scriptRECEPTIONIST: Good evening. Can I help you?

GUEST: Well, I hope you can. I'm in room 607 and frankly, it's disgusting. I'm extremely

annoyed.

RECEPTIONIST: OK. Mrs Jenkins, isn't it?

GUEST: Yes.

RECEPTIONIST: Now, what exactly is wrong?

GUEST: Well, for a start, the room is very small - I requested a large room.

RECEPTIONIST: Actually, room 607 is one of our larger rooms.

GUEST: Is it? Well, I'm bitterly disappointed, I'm afraid. Also, it's very dirty: the bath hasn't been

cleaned and the sheets haven't been changed.

RECEPTIONIST: Oh, I'm terribly sorry, Mrs Jenkins. It must be most upsetting for you. I'm

quite sure there's been some mistake. I'll send someone up immediately to look at it.

GUEST: Well, really I'd like to move room now.

RECEPTIONIST: I understand. We are very busy, but I'll see what I can do. Why don't

you wait in the lounge bar while I sort this out. I'll arrange for a complimentary drink for you.

GUEST: Well, OK, then.

RECEPTIONIST: I really am most sorry, Mrs Jenkins, for the inconvenience you've suffered.

Personalizing shows attention/care

Use of ‘terribly’ intensifying adverb

Use of ‘actually’ implies ‘reality’ – knowledge / authority

‘Upsetting for you ‘ shows empathy, – consider guest perspective

‘quite sure’ – confidence/authority

‘some mistake’ – possible explanation – accept responsibility

‘I understand’ – empathy / guest perspective

‘gesture / offer’ – partial agreeable remedy

‘most sorry’ – superlative apology ‘recognize guest perspective’ – strong emotional verb

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Understanding Complaints

Look at this picture and answer the questions.

1. What type of guest complaint is happening here?

2. Why do you think the employee is acting this way?

3. What should the manager do?

unhelpful staff

afraid of losing his job

be more available to guests

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Understanding ComplaintsWhy do employees provide bad service to customers?

Ignoring your problems is key to providing good customer service.

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Language StudyPresent Perfect PassiveLook at these examples from the conversation , where something needed to be done but wasn’t:•The bath hasn’t been cleaned. ( no agent )•The sheets haven’t been changed.

Match up the nouns and verbs and make similar sentences1 bed 4 bin a dust d vacuum2 carpet 5 shelvesb makee empty3 floor 6 wash-basin c clean f sweep

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Language StudyLook at the picture of a hotel at the start of the summer season. It is inVery bad condition. Discuss what hasn’t been done. Look at the garden, the walls, the paintwork, etc.

These verb mayhelp:cutmendrepairfixre-plasterweedpainttile

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Language StudyShould have (done)Look at the examples from the conversation.• They should have cleaned it. (agent as pronoun)• You should have complained earlier.

Use the same examples that were used in the Present Perfect Passive language study to make similar sentences:

Example:They should have made the bed.

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Language StudyShould have (done)Develop each of these statements with a should have statement.Example:This room is filthy.You should have cleaned it.

b) Why didn’t you tell us?c) Why did that old lady carry her heavy suitcase herself?d) You’re going to be late for work.e) I didn’t know it was going to rain.f) The hotel turned out to be worse than the one we stayed in last year.g) I missed the last bus and had to walk home.h) We’ve been robbed!

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Responding to ComplaintsLook at some sample situations guests might complain about,

and the typical responses needed to resolve the issue.

I’ll change it immediately.

I’ll send some up.

I’ll see what I can do.I’ll send someone up to fix it.

I’ll get them changed.I’ll bring you some immediately.

I’ll get someone to have a look at it.

Order new soup from the kitchen.Tell housekeeping to send towels.Ask to keep the noise down.Tell maintenance to fix the heating.Tell housekeeping to change the sheets.

Order tea from the kitchen.Tell maintenance to fix the shower.

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Word Study• When a speaker wants to emphasize an adjective or make it

stronger (especially during an emotional exchange such as complaining and apologizing), it is common to use anintensifying adverb, e.g., “I’m extremely sorry.”

However not all combinations of adverb and adjective are possible.

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Word Study1) Which adjectives can be used with which adverbs? Tick the appropriate boxes. Some of the combinations were used in the conversations you heard earlier.

sorry sure disappointed

annoyed

unacceptabl

e

filthy

extremely

absolutely

very

terribly

quite

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Word Study2) Complete the following sentences with an appropriate

adverb/adjective combination from the ones previous.a) I’m _________ _________ that I didn’t make any international phone calls

from my room.b) We were ________ ________ with the hotel, considering that so many

people had recommended it to us.c) The standard of the food was terrible. It was _________ ________ .d) The swimming-pool obviously hadn’t been cleaned for ages. It was

____________ _________ .e) I’m ________ _________ that it’s so noisy. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable

because we’re having essential repairs done.f) The chef is obviously a perfectionist. He gets ________ ________ if the

slightest thing goes wrong.

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ListeningYou are going to listen to a woman talking about a disastrous time she had when she stayed in a hotel.a) What things went wrong during her stay?b) Listen again. Are the following statements True or False?

a The woman had seen an advertisement for the hotel in a shop window.

b The couple went to the hotel to celebrate a birthday.

c The man at the front desk had probably been arguing.

d They were given the key to room 106.

e The woman complained about the size of the bathroom.

f They didn’t complain in the restaurant.

g They didn’t sleep very well because they heard a screaming noise.

h They quite enjoyed their breakfast.i They went to another hotel after checking out.j The murder took place in room 107.

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SummaryToday you have learned how to:• Use strategies to deal with customer complaints (LAST)

• Describe different types of guest complaints

• Use the Present Perfect Passive to describe service failures

• Use the term ‘should have’ for solutions to problems

• Use intensifying adverbs to assist emphasis in apologies