Accommodation sector: How to manage complaints and claims?

MAY 2020

ACCOMMODATION SECTOR

ALEXANDRA TIGANESTEANU

TOURISM MAGAZINE

HOW TO MANAGE...

COMPLAINTS AND CLAIMS? The hidden side of hotel establishments.

VOL. 1

Here you will find the solution to your problems.

Index YOUR GUIDE TO ISSUE NO.01

2 Complaints, claims, bad experiences...

3 Which are the most common complaints?

5 How do tourists manage complaints and claims?

7 Which are the solutions?

8 Webgraphy

COMPLAINTS, CLAIMS, BAD EXPERIENCES...

DOES THAT RING A BELL?

Rooms "with sea views" where the smell of saltpetre

Another of the most repeated complaints, detailed from

doesn't even reach, hotels "on the beach" where you

the OCU, is related to the inconvenience and noise in the

need a car to get to the sand, unexpected guests

rooms.

who share the room with you (insects, humidity), allinclusive rates where you have to pay for any extra

The FACUA sent the figures of its annual report for 2017,

services. These are just a few examples of misleading

which included a total of 6,204 complaints in the leisure

advertising

and tourism sector and 23,722 queries in this same area.

that

can

be

found

among

the

most

common consumer complaints.

Miguel Ă ngel Serrano, member of the legal team and manager of Facua explains that, as is the case with the

From the OCU they indicate that they do not have

OCU, the majority of complaints in the hotel and catering

official count figures regarding the consultations and

sector

complaints they receive in this section but, without a

periods.

second's

complaints focus on the fact that "the service provided or

hesitation,

advertising"

is

the

they most

confirm common

that

"misleading

cause

for

are

concentrated

He

also

in

explains

the that

summer the

and

vast

holiday

majority

of

these

the conditions of the room do not correspond to what has

protests. "In general", they say, the vast majority of

been contracted or, on occasion, quite frequently", he

queries and complaints refer to the fact that what

points out, "there are also problems when it comes to

users find when they arrive at the accommodation

cancelling

does not correspond to what was advertised in the

provide for this possibility", he continues, "our members

offer. Be it the type of accommodation, its location,

often

the services included in the service, etc"

that they can get their money back".

a

reservation,

encounter

problems

even

with

though

these

the

conditions

cancellations

so

2

WHICH ARE THE MOST COMMON COMPLAINTS? As the number of tourists is increasing, so are doing the complaints and claims that they have. The following table shows the most common problems that can cause clients to have a bad experience, as well as possible solutions:

PROBLEM

SOLUTION

Every hotel has a regulation, according to which they can When you make a reservation, the hotel

demand an amount that is equivalent to a certain percentage

requires a deposit. Is that correct?

of the total of the reservation or to the price of a certain number of days of which we are going to be accommodated.

Depending on the number of days before the cancellation, the hotel can keep a proportional part of the deposit or even all of it. Some hotels or reservation websites may refund the total price of the room if we have already paid for it, although this I am forced to cancel my reservation.

condition is also subject to particular conditions regarding the

Am I entitled to a refund of part of the

number of days remaining to the date of entry to the hotel. In

amount?

order to be sure that we can recover our money invested in the reservation, a travel cancellation insurance would cover 100% of the expenses not enjoyed by contracting hotels, flights or excursions, always according to the conditions set out in the policy.

We would be faced with a case of overbooking when more places have been sold than they can offer us. If we cannot stay at the hotel booked for this reason, the regional laws oblige

the

hotel

to

provide

us

with

accommodation

in

an

establishment in the same area, of equal or higher category, and under similar conditions to those agreed. In addition, we On arrival at the hotel I am informed

are entitled to be covered for travel expenses until the final

that

accommodation,

the

occupied.

room

we

have

booked

is

price

difference

if

any,

and

any

other

expenses until we are definitively lodged. If we do not accept the change of hotel, we will be entitled to the corresponding reimbursement for breach of contract and to receive a free place

on

a

means

of

transport

to

return

to

the

place

of

departure. Having a travel insurance will allow us to reimburse expenses for the change of hotels or apartments to a lower category than originally planned.

3

The hotel is obliged to inform which is its category and to clearly specify basic information such as location or contact details, characteristics of the room and of the facilities and services provided which are included in our reservation. It is very important to keep it for future claims.

I discover that the real characteristics are

very

different

from

those

I

was

 In general, you can only complain about contracted services that have not been provided or that do not exist. If any of

informed about.

them cannot be offered by the hotel normally, the hotel must communicate this at the time of booking, either directly or through an agency. Because of this loss of services they should offer us a reduction in price. If they did not inform us properly, it is necessary to claim for compensation.

Let us know in advance that hotels are not responsible for the loss or theft of items within their facilities. However, if we believe that our room has been robbed, it is essential that we make a claim at the reception desk, in case internally they decide to study it and talk to their employees.

IÂ suffer a robbery in the room or in the safe of the hotel.

 With regard to losses of what we have in th safe, the hotel will only take charge of the valuable objects or mone deposited there if a declaration of the value of the objects has been previously made, and this has been recognised and signed by both the hotel and us. However, we can always go to the police to make a complaint if the hotel is not successful in our claim.

If the accident has occurred due to negligence or failure to I am forced to cancel my reservation.

Am I entitled to a refund of part of the amount?

comply

with

the

hotel's

safety

measures,

we

can

claim

compensation for damages through the claims book, or by handing in a letter at the reception desk with the stamp and signature attesting that it has been received along with the rest of the necessary documentation.

We

should

be

aware

that

any

advertising,

description

and

information of services that do not conform to the truth and that On arrival at the hotel I am informed that

the

occupied.

room

we

have

booked

is

may

lead

to

deception

or

confusion

is

considered

a

serious consumer offence and that we are entitled to make a complaint. To do so, we will ask the hotel for a complaint form, where we will record our complaint, and we will present a copy of this form to the consumer office of the Autonomous Community

where

documentation

the

showing

hotel that

is

located,

the

service

together offered

with is

free

the of

charge.

4

HOW DO TOURISTS MANAGE COMPLAINTS AND CLAIMS? Due to the great increase in the number of hotel and tourist establishments, there are more and more complaints of a very diverse nature, and like the sources that give rise to this type of problem, the means used to try to resolve them are also varied:

Official websites to help consumers and users:

Complaints (addressed

https://www.facua.org/tudenuncia.php

in to

social

networks,

companies)

both

and

direct indirect

(published on personal walls):

https://www.ocu.org/reclamar

Public videos on social networks:

5

Opinions on pages specially designed for this

News:

purpose:

However, this medium is not chosen by the users, but rather

can

be

procedure

defined

as

(complaints

an

and

echo

of

claims)

this due

type to

of the

magnitude reached by the problems raised as well as, on

many

occasions,

by

the

very

different

solutions

presented in some cases.

According to a study carried out by Porter Novelli, a communication consultant, through its specialized area in digital communication, 21% of the queries or complaints

on

the

social

networks

of

the

hotels

analyzed did not receive a response in the public domain. Of these, 90% were queries and 10% were complaints.

Another

key

channelling

aspect of

observed

responses.

In

in

the

study

general

is

the

terms,

the

chains refer queries or complaints to an email (27%) or remain in the channel chosen by the customer to respond (23%). They also referred to the web (12%), especially when the queries were related to offers or promotions, and only 4% were directed to the telephone. In most of the latter cases it was to handle specific queries about a particular hotel of one of the companies.

Finally, it is worth noting that none of these five chains have exclusive customer service profiles on social

networks

to

manage

their

doubts

and

queries. This type of information is diluted among the

rest

of

advertising

the and

comments user

linked

opinions

on

to

their

marketing, corporate

profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

6

WHICH ARE THE SOLUTIONS? As far as all tourists are concerned, as consumers

However, to avoid this type of problem, Facua and

and users, if we experience any kind of problem, we

OCU agree on the importance of reading carefully

must complain on the spot, and this is recorded for

what is contracted, the conditions under which the

when

holidays are contracted and the services included to

they

appropriate,

return.

In

whenever

addition, possible,

it to

would approach

be a

avoid future problems.

consumer office or a local association for advice.

Checking the reliability of the online platform or The importance of complaining on the spot lies in the

the

possibility of presenting evidence of the incident in

contracted is the following recommendation.

agency

where

a

hotel

service

or

a

trip

is

question which may be key to being right.

The OCU also reminds us that if a reservation is As consumers and users, we must be very careful at

cancelled

all times. We must not tolerate any internal complaint

companies charge penalties, so it is important to

sheets or suggestion sheets: we must only accept

plan the dates well.

official

complaint

sheets,

always

accompanied

less

than

15

days

in

advance

many

by

two copies: one to be sent to the consumer bodies,

Always use secure payment gateways with https

and another for the establishment.

protocol.

In

order

to

carry

out

this

type

of

procedure

Another aspect that the OCU reminds us is that

satisfactorily, we must always take into account the

the combined trips in which a minimum of one

law which, at national level, recognises our rights as

night

consumers and users:

guarantees.

https://www.boe.es/boe/dias/2007/11/30/p dfs/A49181-49215.pdf

in

a

hotel

is

contracted

have

more

If you have been a victim of a fraud, both the OCU

and

Facua

recommend

that

you

make

a

complaint immediately and, in the event of a false purchase or reservation, always report it to the Civil Guard or police.

Finally, a solution that all hotel companies should consider with regard to the quality of the customer service they provide on social networks would be to have a specific channel that allows companies to anticipate possible doubts or regular queries and proactively offer information of interest, whether tutorials or advice. Likewise, this channel would allow all queries and complaints to be channelled, instead of being blurred in the companies' different corporate profiles mixed with other content, which would make it easier to manage them better and reduce response times, a key aspect in offering a differential customer service experience on social networks.

7

WEBGRAPHY https://tur43.es/general/reclamaciones-hoteleras-como-y-por-que-se-quejan-los-huespedes.html https://www.hosteltur.com/tag/reclamaciones https://www.hosteltur.com/125660_quejas-consumidores-servicios-turisticos-suben-10.html https://www.hotelgest.com/gestion-de-reservas/reclamaciones-mas-comunes-en-hoteles/ https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/2958739/0/quejas-sindica-barcelona-turismo/ http://www.turiscom.org/articulo/estudios-e-informes/metodo-mas-eficiente-gestion-quejasturismo/20160114181706001504.html http://www.nexotur.com/noticia/103880/NEXOTUR/Tiempo-de-reserva-y-mala-gestion-quejasmas-comunes.html https://elpais.com/economia/2020-04-15/aerolineas-y-agencias-de-viajes-encabezan-las-quejasde-los-consumidores-por-la-crisis-del-coronavirus.html https://www.consumoresponde.es/temas/establecimientos_hoteleros

8