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Handling Guest Complaints

Danielle Mae O. Diongzon, Athina Jrecce Florida, Irvin Michael Niño Galdo,

Justine Gersamio, and Airene Guzarem

Tourism Management Department, College of Arts and Sciences, Cebu Normal University

Prof. Elec3 – Professional Tour Guiding with Travel Writing and Photography

Dr. Ruby S. Melchor

February 28, 2023

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Handling Guest Complaints

Objectives:

The objectives of this report are to:

1. Discuss how to handle guest complaints;

2. Understand why guests complaints; and

3. Keeping the Customer, when a company settles a customer’s complaint in a positive manner,

it possesses the opportunity to increase customer loyalty by using the LAST method.

Introduction

Without a strategy or structure, handling complaints is extremely risky. It's far preferable to

handle complaints in accordance with a plan! No matter what position you hold in the modern

corporate world, you must possess the ability to deal with consumer complaints successfully.

We all deal with clients on some level because they might be both internal and external to the

company.

A guest could have any number of grievances. Some complaints are based on actual issues,

such as cleanliness or maintenance issues, while others could be more focused on their

experience. Possessing a system gives you the ability to exert control over the situation and

steer it in your favor. According to Litmos Heroes, There are four step plans called the LAST

complaint plan. Listen, apologize, solve, and thank the guests. The reason it is known as the

last complaint plan is because the letters LAST are an abbreviation for the actions we must take

to handle and manage the complaint. Avoid interrupting a guest as they are airing a complaint.

Write down the specifics of the complaint and let them know we're listening through verbal or

visual clues. It's crucial that we consider their point of view. Like what they say "Put yourself in
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another’s shoes and walk a mile”. Now that we already have a broad understanding of the

guest's complaints, the next thing we have to do is to apologize. Whatever the circumstance, we

must apologize to the customer to let them know we are sorry for their experience. Next to

apologizing is to offer a solution. A win-win situation should ideally be the goal of your solution.

By making the complaint into an opportunity and aiming for a successful outcome, this is

accomplished. And lastly, we should not not underestimate the power of gratitude. The customer

will feel comforted by the fact that the problem is unlikely to recur in the future.

Customer complaint handling - University of nottingham. (n.d.). Retrieved February 27, 2023,

from https://training.nottingham.ac.uk/Public/Complaint-Handling-Workbook.pdf

Customers Complaints

A consumer who has a negative experience with staff or customer service representatives is

likely to voice their displeasure. For instance, they might have dealt with CSRs that didn't pay

close attention to their issue, had a high tone of voice, or kept them on hold for an excessive

amount of time. Here are the top 10 most common complaints;

1. Product is out of stock

2. Broken/defective product

3. Product doesn’t meet expectation

4. Preferred payment not accepted

5. Long hold times

6. Disinterested customer service

7. Having to restate the issue

8. Issue not resolved on first call

9. Not following through on promises

10. Lack of follow up after the issue is resolved

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L.A.S.T. Method

The L.A.S.T method is a way to make you be polite especially in times of problem with the

customers. It will help the performance to enhance in handling customers at any customer

service job. L.A.S.T. stands for;

L (listen) - When our customer is dissatisfied their immediate need is for someone to listen to

their complaint. Sometimes just getting off their chest can have a big effect on removing the

anger and frustration they may have. When listening to a customer’s complaint it is important

not to interrupt. It is also really important that we empathize with their point of view. Like what

they always say, “Put yourself in the customer's shoes”.

A (apologize) - Regardless of the situation, you need to apologize so that the customer

understands you are sorry they have been made to feel the way they do. Even if you do not

agree with the customer you must apologize and be down to earth as always.

S (solution) - It is when your target must always be to resolve the customer complaint. Ideally

you want to offer a solution which is a win-win scenario. This is to attain by turning the complaint

into an opportunity and striving for a positive outcome.

T (thank you) - On the successful resolution of the customer complaint, you should thank the

customer for bringing the issue to your attention. This will reassure the customer that the same

issue is less likely to happen again.

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Conclusion

Therefore, we have to consider ourselves lucky that the guests are prepared to give up their

time and money to let us know they have a problem instead of just walking away. A complaint is

a gift, so we have to make sure we thank them for it. By practicing and applying LAST, we would

be able to gain confidence in handling guest complaints. For now, we have to keep our eyes

and ears open for guest complaints so that we can respond to them as soon as possible.

References

https://www.engvid.com/how-to-give-great-customer-service-the-last-method/#:~:text=You%20w

ill%20learn%20many%20polite,dealing%20with%20an%20angry%20customer.

https://roicallcentersolutions.com/blog/why-do-customers-complain/#:~:text=Poor%20Customer

%20Service%20Experiences,on%20hold%20for%20too%20long.

https://squareup.com/au/en/townsquare/common-customer-complains-how-to-deal-with-them