GUEST SERVICE _>>
In my day job as the vice president of marketing, brand, and communications for Banff Sunshine Village in Alberta, I am often the recipient of guest complaint emails. I believe that when guests choose to reach out, they’re seeking a proverbial olive branch. Most complaints are rooted in a solvable issue, and how a company chooses to respond can either create a life- long advocate of the business or a lifelong detractor. For our industry, an example of the service recovery par- adox in action could be a family of new skiers missing their group lesson because they underestimated the amount of time required to travel to the mountain on a busy Saturday, get their winter gear situated, and organize rentals. Upon arriving at the meet-up location, they’re informed they’ve missed their lesson. Worst-case scenario: The family is told that they have missed their lesson, and no refunds will be provided, but they can book a private lesson for an upcharge if they’d still like a lesson. The result: Even if the family pays extra for the private and likes the instructor, the bad taste lingers since no effort was made by staff to resolve their issue. They either don’t return to skiing or, if they do, they go elsewhere. Either way, they’re now detractors for your resort.
they have missed their lesson. The agent says she’ll try to con- tact the instructor to see if the family can meet up with the group and gives the family a phone number and email address to reach out to the ski school director to find a solution. The result: The family doesn’t feel completely dejected because staff tried to help, but their issue isn’t completely resolved in a timely manner and they are required to do some legwork. The resort did not immediately recover them as fans. Best-case scenario: The agent understands the circum- stances and apologizes for their frustrations. Before escalat- ing the scenario, the agent checks the lesson availability. If an instructor is available for the remainder of the morning lesson or there’s space in an afternoon lesson, the agent rebooks the family for the same day without question. The result: Feeling heard and having been guided through a resolution quickly and without much effort on their part, the family went from being frustrated to delighted and are now promoters for your resort. FAILURE RECOVERY FRAMEWORK The best-case scenario in successfully recovering a dissatisfied customer only happens consistently when a team is trained
Better-case scenario: An apologetic agent explains that
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