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Remco Groenhuijzen: Hospitable and resilient
Remco Groenhuijzen, General Manager and VP Operations Mövenpick.

Remco Groenhuijzen: Hospitable and resilient

Remco Groenhuijzen - General Manager and VP Operations Mövenpick

How do you stay hospitable in today's hardened world? As a hotelier, you deal with all kinds of guests, each with their own expectations and requirements. You want to serve them to the best of your ability and leave a positive impression. But what if you have to deal with unreasonable or aggressive guests who criticise, threaten and intimidate you online or offline? How do you deal with that? Our target audience often relies on reviews anyway, especially the negative ones.

I remember when I used to bring in mailbags full of handwritten reservations and bills into the hotel. These included complaints or compliments, and they were usually written personally and respectfully. The time between 'staying' and 'writing' had a contemplative effect. We also maintained that one complaint actually equalled 10. Because when people took the trouble to share observations, it really had an effect on someone's perception of the stay.

A lot has changed, of course. Social media and review sites allow guests to quickly and easily share their opinions with the whole world. Unfortunately, those opinions are not always nuanced or fair. In that sense, social media are a reflection of our hardening society. It is not for nothing that increasing violence and hardening are in the top 5 social issues people are worried about. Short fuses, polarisation and foul language are the order of the day. Shooting quickly from the hip, all sorts of things come at us unfiltered. Even private accounts are not shunned. Sometimes I read things that really touch or anger me. Guests anonymously burning down our hotel, insulting or blackmailing our staff. How should you respond to that as a hotel manager?

I have always favoured a calm and professional approach. If something goes wrong, I try to fix it as soon as possible. I listen to complaints and compliments and try to learn from them. But I find that this is not always enough. Some guests are not looking for a solution, but conflict. They want to cause damage, put pressure on us or just bully us. I find that unacceptable. Even in advance, employees are threatened with bad reviews in order to negotiate discounts. Employees feel blackmailed and that clashes with the principle of hospitality.

This is why I advocate for more resilience in our industry. We should not let ourselves be intimidated or manipulated by guests who abuse their power. We must dare to speak out against unjust and inappropriate feedback. Nowadays, all feedback comes in on one platform. We can respond instantly, analyse and calculate our RPS (reputation score). I say: react firmly under such extreme feedback!

In the early nineties, I was working in an independent hotel. I was handling the mail and opened a letter from a lady who had written two pages full about her dining experience. She closed with the words, "I will never come back!". I made the owner read the letter and asked him how to respond. He tore the letter in half and said, "No more time to spend on it, it won't come again anyway so let's focus on the guests who are now in our restaurant". I was left perplexed but it did make me feel relatable. Dealing with guest feedback these days is almost a science where the balance between hospitality and resilience has to be trained. The receptionist can find this balance only if he feels equal and is verbally strong.We need to train, support and protect our staff from this coarsening in society. Dealing with direct and sometimes harsh feedback or veiled threats is something we really need to train. We do this in our hotel by role-playing and teaching skill in 'smalltalk'. In addition, it is good to emphasise the positive. What works well is rewarding employees who are mentioned in positive terms, for instance with chocolates and personal card from me as director. One dissatisfied guest can greatly affect the atmosphere in the entire hotel, while the other guests are hugely satisfied. Putting numbers in perspective and
instilling relatability with a dose of humour is key.  

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