Understanding Hotel Guest Satisfaction and Dissatisfaction
Hotel customer satisfaction is something that all hotels strive to achieve when it comes to their guests. Each individual guest have their very own preferences and dislikes and having said that, with the ability to listen and understand your guest better and on a more personal level, it will give hotels a chance to offer their guests services that would bring out the maximum satisfaction from them. This particular strategy ultimately leads to eventual long term customer loyalty that will pay off for the business of the hotel in the long run. Many studies have also shown that the key to any hotel's business are satisfied guests and dissatisfaction from guests towards hotels are all too common these days. Guest Dissatisfaction basically happens when guest perceptions do not coincide with their expectations. Such instances can include hotels not listening adequately to their guests and therefore not being able to deliver as required or hotel staff not willing or capable in fulfilling adequate services. So why is guest satisfaction so highly encouraged and why is it so important?
Guest Satisfaction And Its Impact On The Hotel Industry
Being in the hotel industry myself I have noticed many instances when guest are unhappy and we never see them again. Not only new first time guests but long serving hotel guests who have been with us for many years get upset with an aspect of the hotel's service and switch to a rival company. In the hotel industry this results in a major loss to profits for the hotel and furthermore it damages its reputation as well because future potential customers start avoiding the hotel based on unhappy guest experience and reviews.
From personal experiences with working in the hotel industry, I have noticed that guests can get really annoyed when their complaints or queries go unheeded or unsolved as we are not there when they need us maybe due to lack of manpower or the inability of staff to solve their problem. Customer satisfaction only improves and they become happier when we are there to actually listen to them and their needs immediately. Furthermore, management at times are clueless as to what issues or problems are developing within the hotel's premises. Guest feedback never gets to us due to the fact guests problems gets solved by hotel staff or complaints gets inaccurately transmitted or lost from the front line crew. Similar mistakes will continuously be occurring and remain unsolved without full knowledge by managers. Guests have always been voicing their problems to staff but I would say as low as only 33% of verbal (non-reported) guest feedback comes to the managers ears. This puts a strain on being able to eliminate similar problems from occurring repeatedly and furthermore, we do not have any clue of what our guests are thinking at times resulting in a huge dent in customer satisfaction. So what can be done about it and what steps can hotel management take to ensure better customer satisfaction?
Delivering Improved Guest Satisfaction
While going through problems with hotel guest satisfaction in the hotel industry, I came across a very interesting and unique application called ECO ( http://www.geteco.com ). This application has helped my hotel overcome obstacles that were having a negative impact on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction levels were not at its best and that was a major blow for the hotel's business.
For instance just to relay an experience I had encountered whereby one of our service crew members had forgotten to bring a guest his morning newspaper and even though the problem was solved upon the guest's complaint, it never really got back to the management team and we remained clueless to the situation. Another example of a guest feedback or complaint that went astray was when a guest had actually complained to the hotel's front desk about receiving his dinner extremely late the night before but which was never brought forward to the management team and again we remained in the dark of that particular situation. After experiencing ECO in recent times, I realized it made for much easier direct 1 on 1 interaction with guests while allowing them to conveniently leave a feedback and cutting out the middleman (Front Desk and Service Crew). Therefore, as a result managers such as myself can know what is going on and what guests are thinking or experiencing. I feel it is only when we can really listen to our guest can we truly understand each guest better according to their preferences
Guest receiving rewards for their feedback does no harm to guest satisfaction at all. Personally, ever since using the application, I have noticed an increased in the level of overall guest satisfaction in my hotel and much more positive reviews. Ultimately isn't that what we want in the hotel industry? Importance of guest satisfaction should not be taken for granted and should always be the main goals for any hotel as an increase in guest satisfaction levels will also mean increase in guest loyalty and with more positive reviews coming through as a result, acquiring potential new customers also increases.
If you are interested to know more information, Please email me at dilipsanchez@gmail.com or alternatively if you would like to know more about ECO, please click here
Hotel customer satisfaction is something that all hotels strive to achieve when it comes to their guests. Each individual guest have their very own preferences and dislikes and having said that, with the ability to listen and understand your guest better and on a more personal level, it will give hotels a chance to offer their guests services that would bring out the maximum satisfaction from them. This particular strategy ultimately leads to eventual long term customer loyalty that will pay off for the business of the hotel in the long run. Many studies have also shown that the key to any hotel's business are satisfied guests and dissatisfaction from guests towards hotels are all too common these days. Guest Dissatisfaction basically happens when guest perceptions do not coincide with their expectations. Such instances can include hotels not listening adequately to their guests and therefore not being able to deliver as required or hotel staff not willing or capable in fulfilling adequate services. So why is guest satisfaction so highly encouraged and why is it so important?
Guest Satisfaction And Its Impact On The Hotel Industry
Being in the hotel industry myself I have noticed many instances when guest are unhappy and we never see them again. Not only new first time guests but long serving hotel guests who have been with us for many years get upset with an aspect of the hotel's service and switch to a rival company. In the hotel industry this results in a major loss to profits for the hotel and furthermore it damages its reputation as well because future potential customers start avoiding the hotel based on unhappy guest experience and reviews.
From personal experiences with working in the hotel industry, I have noticed that guests can get really annoyed when their complaints or queries go unheeded or unsolved as we are not there when they need us maybe due to lack of manpower or the inability of staff to solve their problem. Customer satisfaction only improves and they become happier when we are there to actually listen to them and their needs immediately. Furthermore, management at times are clueless as to what issues or problems are developing within the hotel's premises. Guest feedback never gets to us due to the fact guests problems gets solved by hotel staff or complaints gets inaccurately transmitted or lost from the front line crew. Similar mistakes will continuously be occurring and remain unsolved without full knowledge by managers. Guests have always been voicing their problems to staff but I would say as low as only 33% of verbal (non-reported) guest feedback comes to the managers ears. This puts a strain on being able to eliminate similar problems from occurring repeatedly and furthermore, we do not have any clue of what our guests are thinking at times resulting in a huge dent in customer satisfaction. So what can be done about it and what steps can hotel management take to ensure better customer satisfaction?
Delivering Improved Guest Satisfaction
While going through problems with hotel guest satisfaction in the hotel industry, I came across a very interesting and unique application called ECO ( http://www.geteco.com ). This application has helped my hotel overcome obstacles that were having a negative impact on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction levels were not at its best and that was a major blow for the hotel's business.
For instance just to relay an experience I had encountered whereby one of our service crew members had forgotten to bring a guest his morning newspaper and even though the problem was solved upon the guest's complaint, it never really got back to the management team and we remained clueless to the situation. Another example of a guest feedback or complaint that went astray was when a guest had actually complained to the hotel's front desk about receiving his dinner extremely late the night before but which was never brought forward to the management team and again we remained in the dark of that particular situation. After experiencing ECO in recent times, I realized it made for much easier direct 1 on 1 interaction with guests while allowing them to conveniently leave a feedback and cutting out the middleman (Front Desk and Service Crew). Therefore, as a result managers such as myself can know what is going on and what guests are thinking or experiencing. I feel it is only when we can really listen to our guest can we truly understand each guest better according to their preferences
Guest receiving rewards for their feedback does no harm to guest satisfaction at all. Personally, ever since using the application, I have noticed an increased in the level of overall guest satisfaction in my hotel and much more positive reviews. Ultimately isn't that what we want in the hotel industry? Importance of guest satisfaction should not be taken for granted and should always be the main goals for any hotel as an increase in guest satisfaction levels will also mean increase in guest loyalty and with more positive reviews coming through as a result, acquiring potential new customers also increases.
If you are interested to know more information, Please email me at dilipsanchez@gmail.com or alternatively if you would like to know more about ECO, please click here
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