Author
Symmons Industries
One of the greatest challenges when managing your hotel is providing a top-notch guest experience. Yet, even with an unwavering focus on placing your guests first, your staff has to deal with complaints both at the front desk and posted online. Other times, guests simply won’t mention the problem to your staff at all. Instead, they will leave in anger to never return to your establishment. Learning about the top hotel guest complaints will allow you to minimize the issues to improve guest relations. Here are some common problems guest may complain about:
Noisy Room
Room noise can instantly disrupt a guest’s sleep. If they have been traveling for long hours, they want to rest in a quiet room away from distractions. However, this problem is not always easy to solve depending on the type of noise that is disturbing their rest.
Solution: A few actions you can take to address and prevent noise complaints include:
- When there is construction or outdoor events close to guest rooms, plan to place as many guests as possible in rooms that do not face the construction or event site.
- If the guest reports that the noise is coming from within the building, locate the source of the noise to determine the best course of action to take. If the noise is coming from other rooms or outside, you can move the guest to another section of the hotel or you can ask the other guests if they could quiet down.
- Sometimes, noise can come from mechanical systems. In these instances, ensure that walls are properly insulated to reduce mechanical noises.
Uneven Room Temperature
Like Goldilocks and the Three Bears story, some guests will complain that their room is too hot while others will say that their room is too cold. Every guest will have a particular room temperature that they enjoy the most.
Solution: Ensure guests can reach and use the in-room thermostat so they can adjust the heating/cooling system for themselves. Attach printed instructions under the thermostat or on the nightstand. On occasions when a guest insists that your staff comes to make the adjustments, send someone down immediately to address the issue. Also, work with your maintenance staff to perform regular winterization measures to make sure that heat and cool air stay inside of the rooms instead of escaping through windows or poorly-insulated walls.
Dirty Rooms
Guests may have varying standards or interpretations of what they would consider a clean room, so it is important to ask detailed questions regarding what areas of the room need to be addressed. The problem could be as simple as a few hairs in the bathtub or someone’s clothing found in a drawer to trash under the bed or pests in the room.
Solution: Immediately fix the issue by having the room re-cleaned or by moving the guest to a room that has been completely inspected. Then speak with the cleaning staff and check cleaning schedules to figure out why the room wasn’t ready for the booked guest. On a regular basis, plan on walking your housekeeping staff through the hotel’s standards for room cleanliness as a refresher and to onboard new staff. If the unhappy guest pushes the issue, you can provide them with a complimentary meal or another extra amenity.
Hotel Service Complaint
Another common complaint will focus on the hotel service. A guest may complain about rude staff, cold meals that arrive when ordering room service, or spotty Wi-Fi reception. Guests may also complain regarding the size of the room, being offered a room different from the room type requested, or a hotel feature that is not available.
Solution: Apologize to the guest regarding their hotel service complaints. Perform an investigation regarding the issue and take the required remediation actions to prevent the problem from happening to other guests. Take note of many guests are requesting the same kinds of features, as this may indicate that future guests would be interested in these features, as well.
Inadequate Water Temperatures
Hotel guests want to take a nice hot shower or bath throughout the duration of their stay. Yet the water may not be at the ideal temperature, or the hot water may run out quickly.
Solution: Check to see if the water issue is with that single room or whether it is impacting other guests. Move the guest to another hotel room that provides hot water. Then evaluate your water system and have the plumbing issue repaired. To prevent future complaints, invest in Symmons Water Management to help monitor your water system and receive instant alerts that a water problem has been detected.
Conclusion
Being sensitive to and immediately responsive to guest complaints can quickly turn a negative stay into a positive guest experience–and even prevent a negative review. By quickly and thoroughly addressing their issues, you can make the rest of the guest’s stay enjoyable and increase the chances they will stay at your hotel again or recommend it to their friends. Learn more about preventing water temperature complaints at your hotel using the Symmons Water Management platform.
