The new rules of handling customer complaints

I have just read that article, and I wanted to share it here with you readers, for the good tips it gave on how to manage complaints.

In the hospitality industry, the proximity with the client is even more important than in other sectors, and that is why a good management of the complaints is extremely important.
The article explain in what manners we can take advantage from a client complaining about something.


*First of all, and it is very important: break the rules, and don't stick to them as if the unsatisfied client was only a bank account. They need to feel that you give them your support, and that they are considered as individuals. All these cancellation policies, or company rules may need some flexibility, because it can be more expansive to apply them (and thus loosing client) than to show some understanding and avoid a strict application.

*An old tips says that "The Customer is always right". So the reaction of the staff member while the client is complaining, has to show empathy. The best adage for this situation is "Shut up and listen!", it is the best way to calm down an angry customer, and it permits to acknowledge the customer's emotional state.


* Focus on learning from the feedbacks you got. About that, the author relates a funny story that happened with his grandfather. It is told here that no matter if the complaints weren’t 100% relevant, and that the unhappy clients weren’t 100% honest. The fact is that you had a complaint, so you certainly could have done something better!

It sounds simple and easy to fix a problem and make a customer happier, but it is often not easy at all. These goods tips are to be spread in all industries requiring a good customer relationship!

Hotel Websites Analysis

Comparison between 2 hotel websites

View more presentations from Aliaouta.

Ideas for new meeting planners incentives

The article I want to comment today deals with the MICE (ie Meeting, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibitions). I have already worked as an event coordinator, and I love the event management within a Hotel. But this market is almost saturated and suffer from a big lack of originality...


This article gives good advices to make meetings and incentives more attractive for the final client. It explains what meeting planners wants, and what works best to enhance the meeting business, for instance how to create a "meeting package", or how to add a little bit of fun into a boring meeting day!


This article gives also tips concerning the competition, and how to manage it, but also how to generate loyalty with the partners! 
The author is convinced that the crisis is Over, and the MICE business will be increasing over 2011, so the moral is, be different, original, and offer the event planners the best they can have from you!

Mama Shelter - Overview on its online position

Mama shelter - Online Positioning

View more presentations from SaraMBA2.

Skills required for my dream job :)

I have found on the web the job I would definitely love to apply for. I saw it on the Banyan Tree's website, and a particularly love this chain, since I have done a marketing project on it last year in class.
It is a training management in the Food and Beverages division, in Bangkok Banyan Tree, which is amazing!
The requested skills are the following:

• New graduates and students who are graduating
• Good English language skills
• Knowledge of Japanese, Russian, or Korean would be advantage
• Degree in hospitality school or related field would be preferable
• Knowledge of or experience with Food and Beverage would be advantage
• Good planning and organizing skills

Good tips restaurants can do to improve their websites

Nowadays, having an online presence is more than necessary, for either big or small restaurants.
But we have to admit that there is too many websites not good enough for us as a potential customer, to find all the information we were looking for in the first place.
So I have found an article that  gives 10 interesting tips to ameliorate restaurants' websites. I am going to explain some of the most relevant advices:


DISPLAY CONTACTS DETAILS CLEARLY:
be honest, how many of us have already tried to find a restaurant phone number, without getting it in less than 3minutes? Why so many website make people searching too hard for it? The idea is to display it on the header-block on every pages of the website.
SHOW MENUS IN TEXT FORMAT:
and please, avoid PDFs! we are all living in a mobile era, and it has to be simpler than downloading I don't know how many pages just to have a look at the menu, moreover, PDF, flash animations, and all the too sophisticated presentations are not easy to read on a Smartphone. the best way is to be simple, and efficient, people just want to read the menu before making their choice!!
SHOW SOME REVIEWS ON THE WEBSITE:
it can be reassuring for customer to read a couple of positive press release or reviews, so don(t hesitate to add it accessible on the website! and if the restaurant don't have any review to sow, there is no shame, but why not allowing customer to add their own rating and thoughts about the restaurant ? 
PUT SOME QUALITY PHOTOS:
It is better not to have pictures than to show a bad-low quality photo, that might give a bad impression of the restaurant! people can be very influenced by a pretty picture of the dinning room, or a delicious dish.
OFFER CUSTOMERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO BOOK ONLINE:
why not let interested future clients book online? since they are on the restaurant website, and in most of the case have already decided whether they will attend a visit or not, it can be clever to attract them by a booking-online system!


I though that it was relevant, because indeed, the online presence is underestimated by most of the restaurant, and they should use the Web as a key to success!!


I hope that you readers found it as interesting as me, and thanx for your time!!! ;)