What are hotel complaints in the hospitality industry?
Hotel complaints are inevitable for any hotel and small accommodation, and involve instances where a guest will complain about or criticise an aspect of their stay. This could be related to their opinion of your rooms, staff, food, and more. Complaints may come directly to you or they might be made via online forums, but they always have the potential to harm your brand or disrupt your operations.
The only question is, how will you handle them?
A hotelier who disregards guest complaints is one who will quickly build a poor reputation, whereas a hotelier who efficiently addresses issues will rapidly improve their service for all future guests.
A key strategy for providing fast and effective resolution management is to stay one step ahead. This involves being across what the most common guest complaints are within the industry so that you can create a plan for managing them in the short term, and improving them in the long term.
Here’s a little more about the most common complaints, where and when you can expect to find them, why it’s so important to handle them, and how you can deal with almost any situation.
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Why handling guest complaints during a stay is crucial
For every guest who complains, many others stay silent and choose to book elsewhere next time. That’s why it’s absolutely vital to take every complaint seriously, and even take the time to actively seek out complaints.
It’s important to manage complaints for potential guests researching accommodation options. Responding well to complaints on public forums, like social media and Google reviews, shows prospective guests your commitment to resolving issues.
In other words, it’s not just about the guest that complains. It’s about every guest that sees that complaint as well.
Turning hotel complaints into guest feedback
Is there any better surprise than receiving a glowing review from a guest? There’s a sense of personal and professional satisfaction that comes from providing a guest with an excellent experience and knowing that it was recognised.
Conversely, discovering negative customer feedback online can be frustrating. Even if you did your absolute best, poor reviews sometimes happen.
In any case, it’s crucial to consider all customer feedback you receive for your property. With the right approach, the guest feedback loop can drive meaningful change and enable you to provide an exceptional experience every time.
What is the review feedback loop?
The review feedback loop is the process that guests go through as they form an opinion about your hotel and subsequently share their thoughts about your property.
The loop begins with perception.
The perception of your property is most impacted by your online presence. Your photos, virtual tours, descriptions, and posts on social media give guests an idea of what they can and should expect during their stay.
Then, guests move on to the research phase of their experience. During this stage, potential guests will often search for feedback from previous guests about your property on popular online review sites.
This is considered an objective and trustworthy source of information for guests, and it can greatly impact their opinion of your property — before they even book.
Finally, the last stage of the loop is the opinion stage.
At this point, guests have decided how they feel about your property, and they will likely share their opinions with their friends, family members, and even complete strangers in a public forum.
Why is the feedback loop important?
Feedback allows you to better understand what you are doing right and where you can improve. When guests tell you they love the homemade treats you offer in the afternoon, make sure to promote this on your website. When guests say your website takes too long to load, make a point to optimise it to improve the user experience.
Feedback provides an opportunity for instant damage control and to showcase your customer service skills. It’s necessary to respond to all reviews, especially negative ones. This allows you to immediately address a customer’s concerns while proving to other prospective guests that you are committed to customer service.
Feedback also helps you better understand your target market segment. The reviews you receive can showcase trends in customer preferences and can be used to adjust your marketing strategies.
Tips for capturing customer feedback
- Encourage your front desk staff to talk to your guests and ask how their stay is going. In many cases, the front desk operator is the main point of contact for your guests during their stay. Routinely touch base with them and listen to the feedback they hear from guests.
- Create an annual survey to send out to your database. Use the results to make necessary changes during the coming year to improve the experience of every guest who stays with you.
- Request online reviews in an automatic email. After checkout, schedule an automatic email that politely asks guests to review your property on TripAdvisor, Google, or Facebook. This is a surprisingly effective way to generate more reviews.

Common guest complaints in hotels and how to solve them
Anyone who has ever stayed in a hotel, motel, or BnB has likely already encountered some of the most common hotel guest complaints. Here are the top five things guest complain about hotels:
1. Noisy neighbours or noise complaints
Easily one of the most common complaints is in regards to noisy neighbours, as a single noisy room can result in multiple complaints from surrounding rooms. Unfortunately, when people travel they are more likely to be on holiday or celebrating, leading to far more parties than usual.
Dealing with noise complaints is a multi-step process. The first is to warn all guests of quiet times when they check in, as well as notifying them of the penalties should they break those hotel rules (such as fines and eviction).
The second step is to have security or night shift immediately address complaints by visiting the room in question and warning them to quiet down immediately, with a reminder that a second visit can result in fines and/or eviction.
It is also beneficial to have a supply of earplugs on hand in the chance that noise outside the hotel might disrupt a guest’s sleep. If outside noise is common, such as if the hotel is located above a busy bar, guests should be warned of this ahead of time to manage their expectations.
2. Dirty rooms or poor housekeeping
Busy housekeeping staff do their best, but the occasional stray hair or dusty area is still a possibility.
How you deal with dirty rooms depends largely on when the guest reports it. Should they report it immediately, you can either ask if they would be happy for housekeeping to do another sweep of the room immediately or once they go out, or in severe cases, you may be able to move the guests to another room (and quickly double check the new room for cleanliness beforehand).
If the guest reports a dirty room upon check out, it’s more likely that the issue is less severe. However, it’s still important to apologise, note down the issue, and mention it to the housekeeping team as something to be more careful of in future.
3. Heating and hot water problems
Many hotels around the world struggle with having enough hot water to service a building full of people largely having showers at the same time.
Unfortunately, this is one of the harder complaints to handle as there is little you can do for the guest immediately. You can check if the issue is only affecting their room, in which case you can move them or send maintenance in.
You can also apologise and offer a complimentary benefit (such as free breakfast, room service, or a discount). However, it’s best to have a plan in place to improve the situation in the long term, such as upgrading the plumbing, so the guest can be assured that it will be fixed should they wish to stay again in the future.
In the meantime, place notices in the showers respectfully asking guests to keep showers brief to avoid shortages.
4. Breakfast-related issues
Hotels that offer breakfasts can be a big drawcard for busy travellers who want to be able to start their day with a meal without needing to venture out and find an expensive breakfast elsewhere.
On the flip side, offering breakfast can leave your staff open to complaints regarding guests’ preferences.
Some guests will complain that the breakfast hours are inconvenient – either too early or too short in most cases. Others will complain that the options were not wide ranging enough to cater to different tastes and dietary needs.
The solution requires several approaches. One is to manage expectations from the start so that guests know exactly when breakfast occurs, and what options to expect.
You can also make breakfast optional, with a small nightly discount for guests who opt out for whatever reason – this gives them more control over the situation if they know they won’t be able to make the time slot, or if there’s nothing at the buffet that interests them.
Finally, if many guests complain about the same aspect, such as preferring a muesli option for example, it should be a quick fix to alter the menu.
5. Electrical outlets
Older hotel rooms can sometimes have just one or two electrical outlets per room, and this simply isn’t enough for the modern traveller.
The short-term fix is to supply powerboards in each room, whereas the long-term fix is to make minor renovations to the rooms to increase the number and improve the placement of outlets in each room.
Spotting issues before guests complain: How to avoid hotel complaints
It’s important to remember that a guest won’t always go out of their way to complain as soon as the issue arises. So, it is a good idea to dedicate time to seeking out guest complaints so that you can make improvements.
Firstly, include a quick question regarding whether there were any issues with the room or the stay upon checkout. This can help to catch issues that were not urgent enough to bring up at the time, but inconvenient enough that a guest would mention them if prompted.
Similarly, you can also ask for feedback in a follow up email after the guest checks out. However, make sure you don’t miss key feedback during the guest’s actual stay: this is, after all, when the disappointment actually happens! Staff should check in with guests during their stay to ensure that issues are discovered and addressed as soon as – or before – they happen.
Guests will also often leave their complaints on booking websites and Google. If they booked your hotel through VRBO for example, you’ll find your reviews and feedback there. If you don’t already have a Google Business Profile, you can set this up for free and see reviews (and respond to them) as they come in.
There’s a lot to be said for “putting the ambulance at the top of the cliff” too. Common complaints often revolve around disappointments in the room amenities. Regular room inspections can stop these disappointments – and therefore, the complaints – from ever happening. Make sure they’re included in your standard schedule.
Finally, a pro tip is to look not just at your own complaints, but also at the complaints of your competitors. This can give you an idea of common complaints that you should work to avoid, and of what you can highlight in your services that will help you stand apart from other hotels.
Not to mention, you might be able to learn how to better handle your own complaints from their responses.
Handling guest complaints in hotels and the hospitality industry
Handling guest complaints requires grace, patience, and a genuine desire to improve. Here are steps to help:
1. Stay calm and listen
When handling guest complaints, stay calm and listen attentively to understand their concerns. Guests need to feel heard before any solution is provided, so allow them to fully express their issues without interruption.
2. Take a record of every complaint
Taking notes shows guests that you’re taking their issues seriously and helps identify recurring problems that need more attention.
Effective complaint management should be part of staff training, both for new hires and ongoing development. Train staff on common complaints, appropriate solutions, and the importance of staying calm. Use role-playing to practise, and have new staff shadow experienced team members.
3. Offer a solution and communicate plans for improvement
Guests value a quality response more than a fast one. Ensure that the solution matches the issue and avoids repeating the same problem. For major issues, such as a lack of hot water, let guests know about upcoming plans to address the problem. Empower staff to offer complimentary services, discounts, or refunds for serious incidents. Discuss ahead of time when each option is appropriate.
It may seem like an all-round negative experience receiving a complaint but feedback is important, and you should look to turn it into a positive. You can use this experience to work on your customer service skills and make sure you do not receive the same complaint twice.
Additionally, only 5-10% of dissatisfied customers actually chose to make a complaint (some people just don’t have the type of personality to complain) so this might be something others have had an issue with but were too polite to say.
Having someone openly tell you what they are unhappy means you are receiving the feedback you need to improve your business and stay aligned with your competitors. This advice should then be used to fine tune your customer experience and ensure you are providing the best possible service at your B&B.
4. Support your staff
Confrontation can be challenging, and aggressive guest complaints can impact an employee’s confidence.
When necessary, have a senior staff member step in, give the affected employee a short break, and follow up afterward. Ensure that staff feel supported, as this boosts their confidence and helps with employee retention.
Creating an environment that welcomes feedback and encourages guests to voice their concerns in person allows you to address issues directly before they escalate online.
Dealing with aggressive guest complaints at your B&B
It’s a situation that every B&B owner has experienced. A guest walks in to check-in for their stay with a negative attitude, and you know that you are going to be dealing with a difficult customer. While the majority of your guests will likely be friendly and enjoyable, there are some aggressive guests that can be challenging to work with.
The guest experience is a critical component of your success, so it’s important that you have a strategy developed to help you and your staff members deal with these problem patrons.
Your customer service skills will be reviewed and revealed on online review sites, so these tips can help you make the best of these situations with frustrating hotel customers.
Tip 1: Remain calm and be polite as an aggressive guest voices their complaints
Even if their frustrations and complaints seem unfair (and many times they are) it is important to remember that they are still guests at your hotel. You need to treat them with respect, allow them to voice their concerns, and stay as calm as possible. It is critical that every member of your team understands the importance of respecting all guests who are staying at your property.H2
Tip 2: Avoid common triggers that can upset a guest further
There are certain things that staff members may inadvertently do that will only trigger aggressive guests, making them more upset and unruly. The most common triggers are:
- Visual triggers – Body language and facial expressions are the most common form of visual triggers that can upset an aggressive guest. For example, if your front desk representative rolls their eyes because the person is approaching to complain yet again, the guest may quickly become irate.
- Verbal triggers – Interrupting the guest while they are talking and blaming the issue on the guest are some of the common verbal triggers that can escalate a situation.
- Vocal triggers – These triggers are typically related to the tone of voice the individual takes with the guest who is upset.
Tip 3: Acknowledge their frustrations while quickly offering a solution to the problem
In most cases, an upset guest simply wants you to recognize that they are angry about a situation and acknowledge that they have the right to feel this way. When you respectfully acknowledge the fact that the guest is upset, but then redirect the conversation toward the solution, you will most likely quickly diffuse the situation. Once the guest feels that their voice has been heard and knows that you are going to provide them with a resolution that will improve their stay, they will begin to feel calm again.
While you’re never going to be able to please everyone all of the time, one of the best ways to prevent aggressive guests from heading down to your front lobby is to focus on premier customer service throughout every portion of the guest experience.
A strong customer service policy that is implemented in every facet of your B&B will thwart many of these issues before they ever begin.
Hotel complaints: Example of handling in-person complaints (with script)
As an example, imagine a guest coming to the reception desk soon after checking in to complain about the room smelling like smoke.
These are the key steps a receptionist should follow to handle the complaint:
- Stay calm and listen carefully to everything the guest needs to say
- Ask what the ideal solution would be for the guest to get an idea of the root of the problem (perhaps they just want someone to see to the room, or perhaps they would feel more comfortable with a new room)
- Write their complaint down so they know it is being taken seriously
- Apologise for the inconvenience and professionally sympathise with the issue (Sample script: “I certainly wouldn’t want to deal with the smell of smoke in my room either”)
- Show your willingness to resolve the issue (Sample script: “Don’t worry, I will get this sorted for you immediately”)
- Provide options to give the guest control – such as a discounted rate, sending in housekeeping to freshen up the room with an odour eliminator, or offering moving the guest to a different room
- Immediately action the solution, making it a priority
- Follow up to confirm the issue has been resolved and ask if there’s anything else you can do to end the interaction on a positive note (Sample script: “Now that you’ve had a chance to settle into your new room, I wanted to check in and see if you’re comfortable there, and ask if there’s anything else you need?”)
Responding to written hotel complaints
Responding to written hotel complaints has its own unique difficulties.
In some ways, it’s easier than a face-to-face complaint because you can take a moment to carefully think about the options and how to respond, but it can be more difficult because the guest isn’t in front of you so you can’t gauge their emotions from body language or tone, and you can’t use your own body language and tone to help diffuse the situation.
Try these steps for responding to written complaints:
- Carefully read the complaint and make sure you understand the root of the problem (politely ask for clarity if you are unsure)
- Begin your response by using their name and thanking them for their feedback
- Do not use a canned response, which can come across as cold and corporate. Reply specifically to their concern by reflecting some of the language they have used to make it clear that you have read their comment
- Apologise and sympathise with the issue
- Offer a minimum of two solutions if possible, and ask them how they would like to proceed
- Action the solution
- Follow up
Handling hotel complaints on social media and online
Handling guest complaints in a hotel can be extra challenging when the complaint is shared online. These complaints can be trivial, commenters can be extra rude when hiding behind a screen, and in this public forum, other guests can be watching and judging your responses.
Use these tips to best handle hotel customer complaints on social media:
- Only delete comments if they contain abusive or unsavoury language (you can also block or ban trolls who are abusing you or the business in serious cases)
- Respond to every complaint to show that you are listening to customer feedback, even if you can’t do anything but apologise
- Respond to the guest publicly, using their name and specifically addressing their concern (do not use a generic response)
- Let them know that you want to resolve the issue
- If the solution is a simple one, offer it immediately in your public response
- If the solution is more complicated or requires a conversation, ask the guest to call or email directly (provide a number and email address) so you can address it properly
- Always be polite, no matter how angry or aggravated they become
- Take a breather before responding to baseless complaints and respond with facts rather than emotions
General tips for resolving complaints in hotels
When it comes to handling complaints in a hotel, there are some guest complaint tips that apply to every scenario.
1. Remember that it’s not a conflict
The first thing to remember is that a guest’s complaint is not personal. It’s not you against them. It’s you working to solve a problem with their input. Making it clear that this is your stance will help to keep everyone calm and focus on a solution rather than finger pointing.
2. Take the time to completely understand what the guest wants
There are times when a guest will complain about one thing, but also largely be upset about something else. Getting to the bottom of the issue and determining exactly what they want from the situation will help you work toward the correct solution (rather than put a band-aid on a greater issue).
3. Deal with issues as soon as conveniently possible
Don’t leave a complaint sitting in your inbox for a day before responding, and don’t dawdle on taking action to fix a problem. The longer you wait, the angrier the customer will get, and the harder it will be to find a suitable solution.
4. Take responsibility
By shirking any blame, you’re telling the guest both that there’s nothing to be done – and that you won’t do anything about it. Even if it’s a noisy neighbour causing the complaint, take responsibility for that neighbour so you can take action.
5. Stay calm
No matter how red in the face a guest becomes, you must keep your voice and tone level and even. Depending on the situation, you might even keep your tone upbeat and happy, because it’s tough for anyone to yell at someone who is listening so attentively, empathising, and so cheerfully working to solve a problem.
Your calm, upbeat attitude can diffuse tense situations most of the time, and it’s important to be a role model for staff for keeping their cool during confrontations.
By Dean Elphick
Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of Little Hotelier, the all-in-one software solution purpose-built to make the lives of small accommodation providers easier. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at Little Hotelier. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance, and, ultimately, value for small accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations (and live their life).
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