Navigating Difficult Guests with Professionalism and Composure

Introduction

In the world of hospitality, interacting with demanding or upset guests is simply one of those realities you have to expect, no matter how well-run your establishment is. There will always be guests who are feeling frustrated, agitated, or unhappy about something. However, your ability to manage these encounters in an even-handed, professional manner can make or break a guest’s experience with your property. This is why learning how to deal with a difficult guest is one of the most important skills you can master as a hotelier. When you have the skills to effectively address a guest’s concern, they can often leave your hotel happier than before they even arrived at the front desk.

What Causes Guests to Be Difficult?

Before you address an issue with a guest, try to look at it from their perspective. Try to determine if they may be reacting to some kind of outside factor. Sometimes, guests may be frustrated with something entirely unrelated to their time in your property; it’s just that the issue happened while they were staying there, which may be why you got caught up in it.

It’s always important to keep in mind that a guest’s poor demeanor isn’t always a reflection of their mood or a personal attack against staff members. Understanding this can help you better manage your expectations regarding the guest’s behavior, allowing you to respond with a clear head rather than an emotional one.

Remain Emotionally Composed

You need to keep your emotions under control when dealing with a difficult guest. No matter how you are feeling, try to keep these emotions bottled up or, at the very least, hidden behind a calm exterior. If you react to the guest emotionally, the encounter can escalate, and it will only make matters worse.

Always make sure to stay calm, maintain a steady, professional tone of voice and avoid words that sound like you’re being confrontational. Try to take a few deep breaths before responding to the customer’s complaint to make sure that the only response you’re giving is a professional one.

Give the Guest the Opportunity to Speak

In most instances, people who are expressing negative opinions want to be heard. Allow the guest the opportunity to fully express their concern.

You can accomplish this by listening attentively and providing non-verbal cues that you are listening. Maintaining a relaxed body posture, maintaining eye contact and asking questions will show that you are actually paying attention. If the guest thinks that you really care about what they have to say, it may help de-escalate the situation and reduce the tension.

Be Empathetic

It’s crucial that your employees display some empathy, as this goes a long way when dealing with a customer. It doesn’t matter if the issue is not your fault; just acknowledge what’s frustrating the guest.

Using phrases that indicate that you understand their frustration goes a long way to defuse the situation and show the guest that you care. Showing some empathy doesn’t mean that you need to agree with their complaints, but it does mean that you understand what they’re going through and you will take their concerns seriously.

Be Professional and Thorough in Your Communication

Clear and concise communication can make all the difference in how a guest views an interaction. It’s crucial that you communicate in a way that doesn’t sound like you’re making excuses or becoming defensive.

Keep your responses to the guest’s concerns simple and direct while always remaining polite. No matter how upset the guest is, keep yourself cool and keep yourself professional. Remember, when you maintain your temper and remain polite you are in control of the conversation. By being professional you show the guest that you are willing to solve the problem and not just add to the difficulty.

Focus on Solutions, Not Problems

Once you’ve listened to the guest’s concerns you want to make sure that you have a plan in place to address the situation. If the conversation continues to focus on the issues it is possible that you could end up creating even more dissatisfaction for the customer.

You want to provide the guest with some type of solution that addresses the issue at hand. Explain what you are going to do to resolve the situation. If there is no immediate solution, you should be as clear as you can about what you are doing in order to fix the issue, how long the process is going to take and what you will be doing to resolve the situation.

Know When to Involve Supervision

Not everything can be resolved from the front desk, so there will be instances when you may need to have a supervisor come in. The manager will be able to handle issues that are out of your control and can make decisions that can help resolve the guest’s issue.

The bottom line is that you need to know how to recognize when a situation is out of control. Make sure that when you do decide to escalate the issue that you continue to remain professional and do not let the guest feel as though they are being ignored or dismissed by your employee. Your goal should be for the guest to receive the appropriate attention that he or she deserves and needs.

Practice Good Body Language

Body language is just as important as what you’re saying. Your body language will be one of the first things a customer will take in as they approach the front desk.

Be sure to be relaxed, but attentive. Try to be respectful in your body language; avoid crossing your arms or making any moves that convey that you are agitated. Good body language shows guests that you’re ready and able to listen and address their concerns.

Don’t Get into Arguments

When it comes to your hotel business it’s always better not to get involved in arguments of any kind. Even though the guest may be wrong about what you’re telling them it doesn’t mean that it is necessary for you to get defensive.

Always try to take a neutral standpoint when discussing any concerns a guest may have. Your objective should not be to try and win the argument, but rather to resolve the issue with the least amount of frustration for everyone involved. This can go along way toward making sure your guests leave your property happy and feeling well-cared for.

Check-in Afterward

After the customer’s complaint has been resolved and the guest has been treated to whatever accommodations are necessary to fix the issue, it’s a good idea to check in and follow up. The guest should feel that they are being listened to.

You can do this by simply asking a few questions, and this can often make a customer who was upset feel as though their opinion matters and may lead to increased customer satisfaction. This is one small gesture that can go a long way toward building customer loyalty and increasing your guest’s chances of returning and enjoying another vacation experience.

Learn from the Experience

As the business goes along there will likely be difficult guests and there will be times that guests are unsatisfied. When these types of situations arise, you should always make an effort to learn from what happened, why it happened and what could have been done to prevent such an occurrence in the future.

Hotels that utilize this opportunity will be able to improve the experience of other guests. This means that the staff will be more efficient in addressing guest issues, management can be trained to better handle certain situations, and customers will feel as though they can trust that any issue that may arise while staying at the property can and will be dealt with in a fair and professional manner.