Sales and customers
How to deal with a difficult customer face to face
An upset customer first needs to feel heard, and only then wants a solution. Do not start by explaining why it happened; name the problem in their words and say what you can do right now. If someone crosses a line, you can calmly say what you will not accept.
How to handle this conversation
Let them finish first
Interrupting fuels anger. Let the guest finish, then say: “I understand. You have waited over an hour for your room and nobody told you what was happening.”
Move the conversation aside
If the customer is loud in front of others, offer: “I want to sort this out properly. Let us sit over here and I will check everything.”
Say what you can do, not what you cannot
Instead of “I am not authorized to do that”, say: “I can offer you a room with a view right away, or dinner on the hotel. Which would you prefer?”
State your limit calmly
If insults start, say: “I want to help you, but I will not continue while I am being shouted at. Let us go back to what I can do.”
I am handling an upset guest
- Difficulty
- Medium to hard
- Duration
- 6-10 minutes
The situation
You work at a hotel front desk on a Saturday afternoon. A guest has arrived with their family and the room they booked is not ready because the previous guests checked out late. They have waited over an hour, the children are tired, and they come to the desk and raise their voice in front of a queue of other guests. You can offer only limited compensation, but you want to calm things down and keep them as a guest.
Who you talk to
Upset hotel guest
Tired after a long journey and feels ignored. Speaks loudly, demands to see the manager, threatens a bad online review and cuts off every explanation.
The counterpart also has private goals and information that are never shown upfront. You discover them only through the conversation, the same way you would in real life.
What makes it hard
- The guest is loud and other customers are watching and listening.
- Every explanation sounds like an excuse to them and gets cut off.
- They demand something you cannot give, such as a refund for the whole stay.
Your goals
- Lower the tension and make the guest feel heard
- Offer a concrete solution within your authority
- Stay calm and respectful even when the guest crosses the line
What the report looks at
- Whether your first sentences showed you understood the problem
- Whether you avoided excuses and blaming others
- Whether your offers were concrete and gave the guest a choice
- How you handled the review threat and the demand for a manager