Don’t complain, say thank you

By Yeoh Siew Hoon

I have decided that I will become a more giving person from now on.

This is because this week I listened to a presentation at Asia Connect by Janelle Barlow who told me that “a complaint is a gift”.

Author of the book of the same name (with co-author Claus Moller), she said it was time the hotel industry changed the way it viewed complaints. “Look at complaints as gifts, treat it as an opportunity, not a problem.”

This is because complaints define what customers want and they also tell you who your most loyal customers are.

She shared a US study that said that, based on a negative service experience, 80% of people said they wouldn’t return, 74% complained and told others, 47% swore and/or shouted at the service staff and 29% got a headache or felt their chest tighten or cried, and 13% fought back by posting negative online reviews or blog comments.

So by treating complaints as gifts and putting the right service recovery programme in place, you not only reduce negative word of mouth but you also have a chance to build closer relationships with customers who care enough about you in the first place to complain.

It all makes sense, of course. How you recover is critical to how you uncover the secret to long lasting, profitable relationships.

But let’s face it – it’s hard to look at a whining customer in the face and say, “Thank you for your whine. Have a wine on us.”

Then there’s the complainer, or giver, in this case. It’s not easy either, giving.

Human nature is such we’d rather receive than give even though spiritual gurus tell us the more we give, the more we receive.

I have to confess I am always wary when my hotelier friends ask me to give them “honest” feedback when I stay at their hotels. “Tell me what you really think, not just the good stuff,” they say.

Does that mean they only want to know the bad stuff? Do I then just look out for bad stuff – which is not a good thing because I am convinced that when we set out to look for bad stuff, bad stuff always happens.

And if I really do share my “honest” feedback, what will they do with it? Trash it? Frame it? Will they think I am a pain and a prima donna? “How dare she complain when she gets a free room?” Or a real friend to be thanked and welcomed back with open arms because I was so honest?

I am told by one general manager that the people who complain the most are usually the people who pay the least. Do I then want to be known as cheap?

It’s an interesting thing, giving. There are some who believe if you don’t give, you don’t get. Then there are those who believe that if you give, you may be given more than you bargained for – spit in your soup or something like that.

I often imagine morning meetings when the GM and his staff go through the guest feedback forms.

“Oh, it’s her again. What’s she whining on about this time?”

Rather than “Oh, it’s her again. I must write a thank you note to her again. She cares so much about us.”

This is probably why I never fill out these forms. I’m one of those who’d rather deal with whatever’s bothering me on the spot so I can actually see where my complaint, sorry, gift – I must get used to all this giving – is going.

Once I “mentioned” to a general manager that during a hot stone massage in his spa the masseuse did not place hot stones between my toes the way it was done the last time. My toes felt cheated. The next day I found a bag of little toe stones in my room. I still have them and my toes still twitch with fond memory at the sight of them.

I once had someone complain about me in a hotel in Seattle. I was allegedly making too much noise in my room and the guest next door complained. The duty manager came up to my room and asked if I could pipe down. Well, not in those words exactly but it was clear what he meant.

On hindsight, knowing what I know now, I think he should have thanked me because due to my auditory activities, he received a gift.

I can’t wait for Christmas.

Catch up with Yeoh Siew Hoon every week at the Transit Café – www.thetransitcafe.com