Question

How have you dealt with unsatisfied, angry or difficult guests in a hotel? Explain in detail a situation and what you did to remedy the problem and calm down or satisfy the guest. How has a guest pleasantly surprised you? Explain in detail a situation and how you responded or dealt with this surprise.

Answer 1

I work as a hotel manager in a boutique hotel and often deal with unsatisfied, angry and difficult guests.

A situation which involved a difficult guest was when a wealthy couple from Saudi Arabia complained that the pillows provided in the room were too soft and that they were unable to sleep using those pillows. As a matter of policy we provide a 12” pillow topped mattress in our rooms and the pillows and mattresses are carefully selected to provide superior comfort to our guests.

The problem was remedied and the couple from Saudi Arabia was satisfied by providing them with several alternatives in terms of thickness of pillows. Several samples were immediately obtained from our vendor and the couple tested different pillows before shortlisting the pillow that they found to be most comfortable. The vendor supplied us with two pieces of that pillow before evening and the next day the couple were happy and satisfied and informed me that they were able to sleep well. They even thanked me for the extra effort taken by the hotel for their comfort and convenience.

A guest has pleasantly surprised me by adjusting to the situation at hand. In one of our rooms a guest had checked in and the room refrigerator stopped functioning unexpectedly. As a result all the beverages in the fridge had turned warm. The guest called the reception to inform of this problem but was completely calm and composed and even said that he understood that the problem arose unexpectedly and that this was not the norm at the hotel. The guest was a regular visitor at our hotel and since this was the first time that he encountered such a problem he was completely understanding of the situation. As a manager I responded to deal with the surprise by providing the guest complimentary supply of beverages during the course of his stay at our hotel. The problematic refrigerator was of course immediately replaced with another properly functioning refrigerator.