Should customers who behave badly be banned?
We live in the age of the empowered customer. Armed with unprecedented quantities of information and options, consumers are in the driver’s seat. It is a trend that will continue to grow where consumers will demand what they want rather than take what you sell. They will, through consumer communities of interest and the technology platforms, say more about their overall experience – like for example rating hotels and restaurants on TripAdvisor where nowadays simply ignoring these empowered customers can be disastrous. The upshot of this is that today’s consumers are more in control of shaping brand perceptions and affecting other consumers’ spending decisions.
People get in touch for several reasons; whether to check on something, make a room or table booking, seek rates, make a request or lodge a complaint. And while their individual intentions differ, customers have two common expectations. Firstly, they want to be treated appropriately, meaning; receive prompt attention, be served well and be valued. Secondly, they do not want their time or money wasted.
Conversely, employees in hospitality, particularly those in guest-facing positions need to be treated with respect and recognised as people who are doing a job. I get it that it can be frustrating to be at the receiving end of poor service – but that does not entitle one to be behave rudely towards staff and / or show poor etiquette whilst ruining the experience of others. Unfortunately, some hotel guests go too far. Hotels have become too servile, allowing badly behaved guests (usually the new-rich, socially inept ones) wreck havoc.
Imagine sitting in the elegantly designed lounge in the hotel and quietly enjoying a rejuvenating cup of tea, only to hear a loud-mouthed slob in a bathrobe with his belly partially exposed carry out a live Facetime session at the next table. To me, the behaviour of this guest totally disrupts the collective experience of other well-behaved guests seated in the lounge. What we see here is one of several instances where an exceptionally inviting hotel is not in sync with the unruly behaviour of its guest – significantly diminishing the ambiance and overall experience. Hotels need to develop a stronger stance and uphold guest standards in the same way they manage other aspects of their hospitality.
A Predatory customer can be a massive problem for hospitality businesses. Such customers are disloyal, demanding and nearly impossible to placate. They believe their needs are more important than anyone else’s and will not hesitate to cause problems to get what they want by making a scene and creating a noxious environment for everyone. These customers not only drain resources, but also demoralize teams. They are quick to badmouth your business and leave negative online reviews. That can cost you new customers, especially since most people check reviews before spending money at a hotel or restaurant they haven’t used before.
Fred Reichheld, a partner at Bain & Company, developed the net promoter score (also called the NPS or NPS score) in 2003. His goal was to give businesses a quick pulse check to learn how well they generated customer satisfaction and loyalty. It was and still is to help organizations bring the voice of the customer into their daily operations — and to help them respond fittingly.
One of the key aspects of the NPS was to encourage civil and civilized behaviour by staffs that are likely to act decently towards their customers. I guess it may not be a bad idea for hotels and restaurants to maintain a NPS for customers as well. Perhaps the time has come for more businesses to start rating their customers. A kind of equality act.
I do know that some hotels maintain confidential lists of customers who have been ‘black-listed’ for bad behaviour. But that was far and few in-between. Unfortunately, there were hotels that let guests who regularly behaved badly get off with nary a murmur or objection from the management, because these guests spent lavishly during each visit. What this does though, is alienate frontline employees who feel betrayed by their managers.
Bottom Line: Rude and abusive customers can have a pernicious effect on employees’ attitudes and firm performance. To keep workers engaged in the face of such behavior, managers must ‘man up’ and emphasize that a company has its employees’ backs.
Shafeek Wahab – Editor, Hospitality Sri Lanka, Consultant, Trainer, Motivational Speaker, Ex-Hotelier
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