1 General Education Office ILA2401 English for the Hotel Business Unit 7: Customer Care

2 “it does not matter who is right when a service failure occurs” Professor Alex Susskind Cornell Hospitality Quarterly November,

3 Objectives The 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.

4 Objectives In 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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6 Dealing with Complaints 1.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 Susskind Cornell Hospitality Quarterly November, 2010 sincerely apologize recognize understand focus relevant explanationagreeable remedy follow up focus sincerely apologize recognize understand relevant explanation agreeable remedy follow up

7 Yum! Brands and Ritz Carlton give discretion to employees and allow $1000 to resolve complaints or service failures

8 Good Customer Relationships are built to Listen Apologise SolveThank Dealing with Complaints

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10 Dealing with Complaints

11 Top Traveller Complaints Use the word bank to identify the different types of complaints. bed bugsdirty hotel lost reservationunhelpful staff next to lifthidden charges bad room serviceovercharged bill bad quality restaurantinaccurate star rating

12 Listening 1) Listen to the conversation between a guest and a receptionist. a) a)Make a list of the things the guest is complaining about. b) b)What does she want to do? c) c)What is the outcome? 2) 2)Now listen to the second conversation. What is the outcome this time? 3) 3)Listen to both conversations again. In what ways does the receptionist behave differently in the second conversation? What does she offer to do?

13 The script RECEPTIONIST: 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.

14 The script RECEPTIONIST: 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

15 Understanding Complaints Look at this picture and answer the questions 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?

16 Understanding Complaints Why do employees provide bad service to customers? Ignoring your problems is key to providing good customer service.

17 Language Study Present Perfect Passive Look 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 sentences 1 bed4bina dustd vacuum 2 carpet5shelvesb makee empty 3 floor6wash-basinc cleanfsweep

18 Language Study Look at the picture of a hotel at the start of the summer season. It is in Very bad condition. Discuss what hasn’t been done. Look at the garden, the walls, the paintwork, etc. These verb may help: cut mend repair fix re-plaster weed paint tile

19 Language Study Should 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.

20 Language Study Should 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!

21 Responding to Complaints Look 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.

22 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 an intensifying adverb, e.g., “I’m extremely sorry.” However not all combinations of adverb and adjective are possible.

23 Word Study 1)Which adjectives can be used with which adverbs? Tick the appropriate boxes. Some of the combinations were used in the conversations you heard earlier. sorrysuredisappoint ed annoyedunaccepta ble filthy extremel y absolutel y very terribly quite

24 Word Study 2)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.

25 Listening You 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? aThe woman had seen an advertisement for the hotel in a shop window. bThe couple went to the hotel to celebrate a birthday. cThe man at the front desk had probably been arguing. dThey were given the key to room 106. eThe woman complained about the size of the bathroom. fThey didn’t complain in the restaurant. gThey didn’t sleep very well because they heard a screaming noise. hThey quite enjoyed their breakfast. iThey went to another hotel after checking out. jThe murder took place in room 107.

26 Summary Today 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