How to Manage Guest Complaints: Global Implications from Hong Kong Hoteliers
Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: In today’s competitive business environment most, if not all, of the service companiesaim at satisfying their customers to the fullest extent. However, mistakes and/or failures are
prevalent incidences in service businesses particularly in hospitality industry. What distinguishes
the few successful companies from the rest is their dedication to hear their customers’
complaints. Seeing complaining customers as ‘problem creators’, not paying attention to their
problems and failing during recovery attempt cause considerably significant losses in today’s
business environment. In this sense, receiving complaints and recovering these failures are vitally
important for service companies in general and for hotels in particular. Given that customers’
evaluations of organizations’ responses to their complaints in service encounters are important
elements of their satisfaction judgments and loyalty intentions, it is imperative for hotel managers
to have well-established service recovery systems. Thus, this study attempts first to find out the
current complaint handling practices in Hong Kong hotel industry, a well-performing destination
in complaint handling, and second to highlight factors influence organizational responses to
guest complaints. Results indicate important issues which should be benchmarked by hoteliers around the world.
Language: English
Subfield: Marketing
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W2143367190