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The Final Opportunity: The Effectiveness of a Customer Relations Call Center in Recovering Hotel Guests

Pennsylvania State University, dmount{at}psu.edu

Anna Mattila

Pennsylvania State University, asm6{at}psu.edu

This exploratory study examined the impact of call centers on the processes of handling customer complaints. The main objective was to examine how this "final opportunity" might influence guest return intentions and perceptions of the hotel chain. The results of a phone survey suggest that positive customer responses to call center interactions might depend on the complaint responses and the perceived resolution of complaints. Full reimbursement and partial compensation had a significant positive impact on the intent to return and on chain image measures. Moreover, referral associations such as the chain studied here might need to pay careful attention to the way in which lack of ability to fix the problem is communicated to the customer. Finally, in the minds of customers, unresolved complaints are easily equated with a failure in service recovery. These double failures to reestablish the company’s reliability tend to have a negative impact on the company’s image and customer behaviors.

Key Words: service recovery • hospitality • customer service • company image • complaint resolution

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