Last week we talked about the topic “Managing Complaints and Suggestions.” In the following article will be ‘instead treated the second step of the handling of complaints, that is the Service Recovery. Since the hotel is a facility that provides services primarily through human interaction it does not always offer the quality in constant and satisfactory results. For these reasons, there is the need of a good customer care service with the aim to establish a management systems of the complaint and a implementation of systems for service recovery.

So how to ensure customer satisfaction? One possible technique studied in the course of experience in the hotel industry by the Group La Meridiana is the Loyalty, stimulating the so-called brand loyalty to minimize the probability that a customer can be considered unhappy with the services offered.

The attachment of consumers to certain brand of hotel services depends on a wide range of factors. The perceived risk associated with the purchase (always high for the services: the consumer finds it difficult being intangible evaluate) is even higher for hotel services.

Here’s why the need to foster brand loyalty. This can then be understood as the optimum means to minimize the effort decision replacing the habit of a series of deliberate decisions: it is a tool to reduce the risk associated with customer decisions.

And since deem it is more expensive to switch to another brand in the services, for the most difficulty in finding suppliers and substitute for the higher risks that are linked to services, consumers tend to be more prone to the “loyalty” in services than in goods.

If the customer becomes, in a hotel regular guest, the landlord will know the tastes and preferences, he will assure better treatment and will guarantee him a greater care for his satisfaction. So the consumer can show true to the brand to grow a profitable relationship with service providers.

The logic of the complaints management aimed at the so-called customer retention, in other words the customer loyalty, of course it not only provides benefits to loyal customers, in fact there are numerous reasons why a structure to point to the customer loyalty. Guest satisfaction is indeed very important as it has been shown that generally (in each type of services provider) is more expensive to acquire new customers than to keep them, a satisfied customer is also naturally led to repurchase, pays less attention to the competition and it is also more likely to purchase additional services offered by the same structure (eg. dine at the restaurant) and a positive word of mouth that feeds mainly in tourism and hospitality sector is the most common and the most effective form of promotion and advertising.

Brand loyalty, however, is a two-sided coin. The fact that the customer of the hotel is faithful to the latter is obviously not a problem but the fact that customers of its competitors are difficult to win because “loyal” to another structure can create special problems. The hotelier can take action on communication emphasizing the features and strengths available to him and of which lack the competitors but gain new regular customers remains a challenge. For these reasons in accommodation is given much importance to the procedures of customer loyalty through the claim handling.

The Group La Meridiana recalls that the complaint should not be considered according to a negative point of view, as said, it is indeed an opportunity to improve and retain new customers through a proper claim  handling and demonstrating the ability to address these issues. Following a complaint, a recovery service measures must necessarily be taken.

This term means describing all actions taken by the structure management to respond to the customer dissatisfaction in the service delivering. A good recovery involves many advantages: it stimulates positive word of mouth, encourages loyalty host, at the same time allows to obtain important information to reduce costs and avoid any further complaints. Often we hear also the paradox of recovery: dissatisfied customers after the subject of an excellent recovery are more satisfied.

Several strategies, according to the experience of Group La Meridiana, are service recovery measures:

• Ensure in the first instance the success of the service by relying on a corporate culture “zero defects” and implementing mechanisms of control can prevent errors in service receptive .
• Appreciate and encourage complaints: indispensable are therefore the satisfaction questionnaires, which should be well structured, rich and open questions that enhance the subjective opinion of the customer;
• Equally important is the employees contribution, so Group La Meridiana is focusing on continuing and adequate training  for their employees;
• Act quickly: an immediate answer to the complaint of the customer always makes a good impression.
• You have to take care of the problems in the first person who receives a complaint must assume responsibility for recovery (thus never shift responsibility to others: customer interests fact that the problem is resolved, not who you solve it).

In addition, Group La Meridiana suggests that it is essential to remember that you can not start the recovery process if you are aware of the impossibility to keep the promises made, since the response by the host would only greater dissatisfaction and distrust towards the structure.

In conclusion, the Group La Meridiana has been able to ascertain that a proper claim handling often ends in their favor because, more than the mistake itself, the customer will remember the courtesy demonstrated by the property at a difficult time, with chance ‘to become a regular guest of the hotel and noting a consequent positive feedback.