How to Handle the Most Common Hotel Guest Complaints?

It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one unresolved negative experience. Therefore, every hotel guest complaint should be taken care of as soon as a hotel gets them.

Furthermore, a hotel should look into guest complaints and issues on a priority basis as unaddressed complaints can result in the:  

Loss of hotel revenue in the both short and long term:

Compensating for an overlooked ignored or unaddressed guest concern or complaint can result in reducing the room rate or giving complementary services. 

In fact, 96% of unhappy customers tend not to complain, however, 91% of those who do, will simply leave and never return. And even worse, it could greatly hamper repeat business.  

With 65% of a company’s business coming from existing customers, a hotel does not want to lose existing customers over an oversight. All the above-mentioned factors lead to loss of hotel revenue; both in the short and long term.  

Damage to the hotel’s reputation:

It takes years and years of hard work and perseverance to get to a position where one runs a successful hotel or chain of hotels. Further, guest experience and reviews decide where a business stands in the hospitality industry.  

A dissatisfied guest will tell between 9-15 people about their experience. Around 13% of dissatisfied customers tell more than 20 people. Therefore, one bad review or feedback could ruin a hotel's long-running business and reputation. 

Negative word of mouth could result in lower online scores, a tainted community reputation, and a lower hotel ranking on search engines, hampering business to a great extent. 

Impact of bad reviews on search engine result pages (SERP) position:

Hotels get placed on search engine result pages for visibility and engagement. Guest complaints and negative reviews that land online hamper a hotel’s SEO and position on SERPs.  

Algorithms used by search engines consider reviews, feedback, and ratings into account while compiling the results for searches. The frequency of reviews flagged with negative industry phrases or emotions attached to your business gets associated with your hotel name and as a result, impacts your SEO and SERPs negatively in the long term.  

Where can you locate these complaints when they are not conveyed face-to-face?  

Guest feedback and reviews can be found on platforms like:  

• Social media platforms 
• Own website 
• Branded survey responses 
• Review sites such as TripAdvisor, and Yelp
• Third-party travel booking sites like Hotels.com, Booking.com, Kayak.com 
• Front desk/departmental notes, logs, or “pass-along” 

These pages/sites should be regularly checked for online complaints and feedback. Utilizing complaint management software can significantly streamline this process, allowing hotel staff to swiftly identify, address, and resolve guest issues. This proactive approach not only enhances guest satisfaction but also helps in building a positive online reputation for your hotel."

12 Most common guest complaints

It costs up to 7x more to acquire a new customer than to retain an old one.

Therefore, a hotel should be wary of some of the common hotel guest complaints and be better prepared to handle these situations with equanimity.  

Some of the most common guest complaints:  

1. Check-in/out issues

A lot of hotels face the issue of getting complaints due to check-in/out timings and policy. In such situations, hotels should make exceptions for guests facing emergency situations and politely ask others to refer to the hotel policies or make arrangements at additional charges if a guest regularly practices it.  

To make the check-in/out process, hotels could also use BOTSHOT’s eFront Desk automation solutions that facilitate smooth, contact-less check-in/out.  

2. Cleanliness and hygiene concerns

A guest who pays big bucks for a hotel room is more than allowed to make a fuss about dirty and unhygienic rooms or property. Dirty rooms, poor housekeeping practices, or lack of hygiene due to late check-outs or early check-ins, should be some of the factors/situations a hotel need to attend to on a priority basis.  

Housekeeping staff should be on their toes all the time and the tasks delegated should be clear to avoid any confusion and oversights. Supervision for these services in particular is very important. If there are still complaints, those issues should be dealt with patience and spaces should be cleaned or needful should be done immediately.  

3. Foul smells

Unpleasant smells or foul smells can put off a guest within seconds, hampering a guest's experience and working negatively for a hotel’s reputation and hygiene standards. Therefore, it should be always ensured that your property and rooms in particular are properly cleaned regularly and smell as fresh as a daisy.  

4. Uncomfortable beds

A good night’s sleep should never be underestimated. A guest often complains about having small or uncomfortable beds in their room which results in a lack of sound sleep and proper rest.  

Mattresses should be changed if the request seems genuine, in other cases extra pillows or blankets or room change provisions, if possible, should be offered.  

Moreover, the bed size and number per room should be clearly mentioned on the website or brochure to avoid any ambiguity.  

5. Poor customer service/unfriendly staff

There are a lot of complaints that hotels come across due to poor or inconsistent customer service or unfriendly staff. This is honestly a crucial factor that makes or breaks a guest's journey. In fact, A customer is 4 times more likely to defect to a competitor if the problem is service-related than price or product-related.

Hotels need to ensure that the entire hotel staff is well-trained, able to handle crisis situations calmly, are polite and warm. Satisfactory and timely room service is non-negotiable in any case.  

Sloppy and slow services can dent a hotel’s reputation to a great extent. Ensure, a guest complaint is attended to on a priority basis, rectify it, and apologize. Post handling the situation, ensure that you analyze it and fill in the service gaps.  

Freddie, BOTSHOT’S AI conversational chatbot answers all the services-related queries around-the-clock, notifies hotel staff about guest requirements and enhances customer experience.  

Be on top of exceptional customer services with BOTSHOT’s automated hotel solutions! 

6. Wi-Fi troubles

This is again a very common guest complaint, especially from business or bliesure travelers. Hotels need to ensure to keep a strong and continuously working network for the convivence of guests. 

7. Lack of amenities or services

A lot of guest complaints are around complimentary stuff or amenities in their room. Therefore, a hotel should take care of the fact that every room is stocked with the allocated supply of complimentary stuff and room amenities are in good condition and fully functioning before guest check-in. Oversee if the following are working fine: 

• Wi-Fi,  
• Hot water supply,  
• Room temperature equipment,  
• Lights and fans, 
• Electrical outlets, etc. 

Ensure that hotel food and spa menus are provided in the room and beds have been made properly with all the required amenities. A follow-up on the same should be taken after a guest has checked in.  

Also Read - Hotel Amenities Ideas

8. The environment is too noisy

A lot of guests complain about a lack of peace and privacy due to loud noises made by staff or other guests or traffic outside. 

Hotels need to ensure that a soothing environment is maintained across the hotel. Train staff to be as low with their voices while serving as they can and bothering guests when they have put ‘Do not disturb’ is an absolute no-no. Politely ask other guests to respect the space and peace of hotel guests and keep their voices down.  

9. Not the best experience with meals or restaurant food

A lot of guest complaints are about unsatisfactory meals, restaurant services or limited communal breakfast or dinner hours. Hotels need to ensure that they are serving quality and hygienic food both at the communal breakfasts and in their restaurants. Make sure that the guests are being served on a timely basis and warmly with a smile. 

Moreover, food-related complaints should be directed to the top chefs who would give instructions to their staff accordingly.  

10. Expectations v/s reality

Guests often have complaints about how the rooms or bed sizes or other amenities looked different on the website or in the brochure in contrast to what they look like in real. Therefore, hotels need to ensure that the website and brochure display what the amenities and services really are. If a guest still complains, there isn’t a hotel can do except apologize and ensure better services in the future.  

11. ‘No pets allowed’ policy

A lot of guest complaints are around the ‘no pets allowed’ hotel policy. A hotel needs to study and analyze the requirements of its loyal guests' repeat business and form hotel policies and arrangements regarding pets accordingly.  

12. Hidden fees and charges

A hotel’s tariff card and reservation confirmation details should highlight all the charges and fees charged so a guest does not have anything to get confused about at the time of check-out.  

Transparency and unambiguity around charges and fees are very important to avoid any conflicts eventually. If there are complaints regarding the additional services taken, offer a deal or some discount to maintain guest satisfaction.  

How to Handle Guest Complaints?

‘We see our customers as invited guests to a party, and we are the hosts. It's our job every day to make every important aspect of the customer experience a little bit better', said Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon.  

Customer experience is considered as a key factor in driving customer loyalty and retention by 89% of the businesses.

Therefore, a hotel staff should intently listen to a complaining guest, and assist with a smile, positive body language, and a solution.  

A hotel guest complaint should be dealt with in the following manner:  

• Listen intently and maintain your calm  
• Avoid arguments at all costs and keep a positive/neutral body language  
• Keep a single or maximum of two POCs (point of contact); Do not involve a group of people or pass the complaint to multiple departments   
• Identify the type of guest (regular or irregular) and source of the problem   
• Find a solution and communicate the same  
• Follow up, follow up and follow up
• Thank the guest for communicating the problem in the first place  
• Ask for redressal feedback   

Enhance guest satisfaction by utilizing BOTSHOT, a hotel guest feedback software designed to streamline communication and improve overall guest experience.

Therefore, there are some complaints pertaining to different departments that could come up. In such cases, hotel staff needs to ensure that they listen to the guest and show that they care. It comes as no surprise that in the hospitality industry, guest experience is everything; reputation, revenue, and existence as a whole are at stake for businesses serving guests.  

Thus, hotels always need to preach and practice the principle of ‘Atithi Devo bhava’, a Hindi phrase and tagline of a campaign in India for tourism, that simply translates into ‘Guest is god’!