A Complaints Handling System for the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

The hospitality and tourism industry is growing rapidly globally and will be faced with a huge influx of customers. Since this industry is also dependent on word-of-mouth and customer reviews to attract customers, it is important that visiting customers are satisfied with their experiences. On the flip side any public knowledge of bad experiences can damage the reputation of the organisation and this should be avoided at all costs. Some studies have suggested that companies that operate well designed complaints-handling processes may experience higher levels of customer retention and loyalty. Recent thinking suggests that organisations should encourage complaints as this first-hand information and experiences from the customer can add value to the organisation if it is managed efficiently and effectively. Such a system must firstly be supported with an appropriate culture, commitment, facilities and personnel open to managing complaints and secondly for ensuring customer centric processes that are acceptable to the customer and to improve their satisfaction. The ISO 10002 standard provides guidelines on planning, operating, maintaining, analysing and improving a complaint handling system. This article provides structures and frameworks to implement ISO 10002 (Guidelines for a complaints handling system) developed from a study of related literature. A content analyses was conducted on 20 complaints handling management system documents. This will hopefully assist the operations managers in the hospitality sector to understand the requirements of a complaint system and facilitate easy implementation so as to enhance customer satisfaction.