Following Up Guests'Complaints As A Magic Agent At Hilton Hotel Bandung.

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Maranatha Christian University

ABSTRACT

Selama masa magang sebagai karyawan di Hilton Hotel Bandung pada periode 27 Desember 2011 sampai dengan 27 Maret 2012, saya

menemukan suatu masalah. Masalah tersebut yaitu saya sebagai agen di divisi MAGIC tidak mampu menindaklanjuti keluhan dari para tamu yang merasa tidak puas dengan pelayanan yang diberikan oleh pihak hotel. Dari masalah tersebut, saya menganalisis penyebab-penyebab dan dampak-dampaknya. Penyebab masalah tersebut adalah saya tidak mengetahui memiliki pengalaman di bidang perhotelan, saya tidak tahu tentang produk-produk hotel dan bentuk pelayanan – pelayanan di hotel, dan saya memiliki hambatan dalam berkomunikasi dengan tamu yang tidak dapat berbicara dalam Bahasa Indonesia maupun Bahasa Inggris. Akibat masalah tersebut, saya menjadi kesal pada diri sendiri jika tidak dapat menindaklanjuti keluhan tamu, para tamu marah karena menunggu terlalu lama untuk hasil penanganan keluhan mereka, dan saya mendapat komentar negatif dari para staf senior di divisi MAGIC. Selanjutnya, saya mengidentifikasi tiga pilihan solusi yang dapat membantu untuk

mengatasi masalah tersebut. Pertama, saya bertanya pada staf di departemen yang tepat untuk membantu saya menyelesaikan keluhan dari tamu atau untuk memberitahu tentang apa yang harus saya katakan pada tamu. Kedua, saya menyatakan permintaan maaf kepada tamu untuk keluhan yang tidak dapat dituntaskan. Ketiga, saya memberikan sesuatu dari salah satu produk konkrit hotel seperti makanan berupa es krim atau layanan binatu gratis.

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APPENDIX B

LIST OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 1

Name of interviewer : Alice Silvian Christine

Name of respondent : Mohammad Hanafi

Day & date of interview : Monday, November 26, 2012

Place of interview : via Blackberry Messenger chat

1. If you cannot handle the guests’ complaints, do you feel upset to yourself ?

2. What is the reason that makes you feel upset to yourself ?

3. Is there any other effects for yourself that you feel if you cannot handle the guests’ complaints ?

4. Do guests feel disappointed if the follow up takes too long ? 5. What the guest will do to us if they feel disappointed ?

6. Is it true that giving the guests any complimentary products will make the hotel does not get any income for the products that given ?

7. What the seniors will comments if we cannot handle the guests’ complaints ?

8. Is it waste our time if we do the follow up to other departments ? 9. What is the advantage from coordinating with other departments ?

10. What the guests will do if we say sorry to the guests whose complaints cannot be solved ?

11. Do guests give any negative feedbacks for the hotel if there is a complaint from the guests that cannot be solved ?

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APPENDIX C

LIST OF INTERVIEW QUESTIONS 2

1. What is the definition of followup for you ?

2. How if there is a guest who complain to us, but it is not because of the problem from our department ?

3. Is it a part of a follow up if we give a complimentary product to the guests ?

4. Are these ways like asking to the appropriate department’s officer and

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APPENDIX D

TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW 1

Alice : Ka, sorry ganggu..aku mau tanya ni pendapat kakak buat jadi teori buat

TA aku. Soalnya ada yang ga dapet dr inet.

Hanafi : Boleh.. kenapa?

Alice : Aku mau tanya, klo qta bingung nghandle komplen dr guest, kdg jd kesel

sndri ga sih.? Trs knp bisa kesel’y.? atau ada dampak laen ga sih buat

qta klo qta gbs handle komplen dr guest.?

Hanafi : Iya,,kadang klo aku gbs handle sih suka kesel. Ke diri sndri efek

negative’y ya gitu..kesel karena jadi keliatan bodoh di muka tamu.

Alice : Kalo penanganan komplen lamban, biasanya guest kecewa ga sih.?

Hanafi : Kecewa pasti. Karena mereka kan nunggu buat di selesein. Nunggu

hasil’y.

Alice : Biasanya klo guest yg kecewa gt ngpain ke qta’y ka.?

Hanafi : Kadang ada yg mnt kompliment sndri. Nah, klo sampe lama follow upnya

& dia minta kompliment, qta langsung konsultasi ke manager, certain

Semuanya trs qta mnt approval bwt ngsh sesuatu yg senilai dgn yg dia

komplenin. Biar ga trll kecewa.

Alice : Owh..gt…klo ngsh kompliment gt berarti hotel ga dapet pendapatan yg harusnya bisa di dapet donk ka.?? Gmn tuh.??

Hanafi : Iya emang gda pendapatan krna qta jd bukan ngjual tp ngsih. Krn itu kan

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Maranatha Christian University ga akan masuk. Resiko.

Alice : Klo qta gbs handle komplen dr guest, biasanya senior kaya gmn sih ka

mandang qta.?

Hanafi : Pasti ada komen negatif lah ke qta. Qta dinilai ga competent.

Alice : Okei,,klo misalnya qta ngdepin komplen dr guest yg hrz qta follow up ke

department laen, itu buang waktu ga sih ka.?

Hanafi : Iya lah..pasti buang waktu. Aplg beda department gt. Jd lama ngsh tau

hasil follow up-nya ke guest.

Alice : Keuntungan dr koordinasi sm department laen apa ka.?

Hanafi : Klo emg apa yg guest komplenin itu bisa dilaksanain, yg pasti tamu

ngrsa seneng n puas, trz klo ada komplen yang sama, qta jd bisa belajar

gmn atw apa yg hrz di bilang ke guest. Ga usah repot nanya lagi krn udh

prnh dikasih tw sblm’y.

Alice : Klo qta mnt maaf ke guest atas komplen yang gbs kita tuntasin, biasanya

guest gmn ka.?

Hanafi : Biasanya pasti ngehargain dan bilang klo permintaan maaf’y qta terima. Alice : Klo ada komplen guest yg gbs qta selsein, guest suka jd ngecap jelek

hotel ga ka.?

Hanafi : Guest kdg iya suka gt. Qta udh mnt maaf n dia udh blg maafin tp

ujung2y ttp aja ngegerutu n mandang jelek servis hotel.

Alice : Oiya ka..ini yg ttg ngsh komplimen ke tamu yg marah atw kecewa. Klo

qta udh ngsh komplimen, biasanya tamu jd gmn ka.?

Hanafi : Biasanya sih mereka nerima dan ga akan memperpanjang komplen krn

udh dpt penggantinya.

Alice : Emang mempan ya ka.?

Hanafi : Tamu biasanya nerima komplimen yg qta kasih. Biasanya mereka ga

marah lagi krna mrka terkesan sm usaha qta bwt mnt maaf. Mereka

biasanya puas dgn tanggung jawab qta yg ky gt.

Alice : Hmm..okeii ka..kayanya cukup segitu aja yang mau alice tanya. Nanti klo

ada yg kurang siap2 di repotin lg yaa..hihihi…makasih bngt ya ka…

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APPENDIX E

TRANSCRIPTION OF THE INTERVIEW 2

Alice : Kakaaaaaaaakkk…sori mau nanya lagi..ada yang ketinggalan nie..baru keingetan…

Hanafi : Iyaaa aliceeeeee…hehehehh…sok apa ? Alice : Apa sih definisi follow up menurut kk ?

Hanafi : Kalo kata aku, follow up itu kan nerusin artinya..tp dlm hal nanganin komplen tamu tuh menindaklanjuti keluhan guest..jd diterusin dgn cara gmn sampe bisa diberesin..Berusaha gimana caranya biar komplennya bisa

terselesaikan..memproses

gt…entah itu lgsg ada jawaban dr qta atw hrz nanya dulu ke yg laen,.

pokonya usaha qta aja ky gmn..gt…

Alice : Okeii..klo guest komplen ke kita tapi bukan karena masalah dari department qta gimana donk ka ? kan guest mah suka ga pandang petugas di bagian

apa tau2 komplen…

Hanafi : ya tanya dulu ke departemen lain atuuuuhh..disesuaikan sm apa yg guest komplen ke qta ya departemen itu yg qta hubungi..misalnya klo guest komplen ke kita ttg AC leaking, ya qta tanya ke engineering..biasanya mereka ngasih tau suruh bilang gimana ke tamunya..hrs gmn qta jelasin ke tamunya..

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Maranatha Christian University Hanafi : ya iya atuh..kan kaya yg td aku blg, follow up itu kan usaha qta supaya gmna

caranya biar komplen si guest tuh beres..

Alice : Jadi, nanya ke petugas di departemen laen sama ngsh komplimen tuh bisa disebut follow up jg ? gitu ka ?

Alice : owh..gt ya ka..okee deh…itu aja ka yg ketinggalan…makasih yaa ka buat

waktu’y…

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CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background of the Study

The topic that I choose for this term paper is about my difficulty in following up guests’ complaints at Hilton Hotel Bandung (henceforth, HHB). The reason why I choose this topic is because I understand that

every guest’s complaints will help the company develop well. Through the

guests’ complaints, the company will know what is wrong with their

service, and it will be able to improve the things that the guests are

complaining about, in order to avoid the same mistake happening again in

the future. As the article entitled “Commercial Sector” says, “With proper

attention to customer complaint you (as a hotel employee) can help your

business grow and prosper” (par. 3). By the word “you” here, the article

refers to hotel employees. The other reason is because it is the problem that I always faced in my workplace and was my biggest problem that was hard for me to solve when I did my internship there.This problem is

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Maranatha Christian University I experienced the problem during my internship program as a MAGIC (Managing All Guest Incoming Calls) agent from 27 December 2011 until

27 March 2012 in HHB. During my internship, I faced many hotel’s guests

who made complaints about many different things. I had difficulty in following up the guests’ complaints by phone and in face-to-face

interactions when I went to the guests’ rooms, and I could not solve it. The

guests mostly complained that they had to wait for their order for a long time, about Internet problems, and about the dry cleaning service that took long. It happened almost every day. My colleagues and I experienced the same kind of complaints from the guests. I got confused on how to follow up and explain to the guests why they received their order longer than they expected. Thus, in this term paper I would like to find out the best solutions to overcome this problem. I will analyze this topic critically and systematically.

B. Identification of the Problem

From the experience that I have got during my internship program in HHB, I would like to analyze the problem in following up the guests’ complaints by trying to find the answers for these questions:

1. Why could I, as a MAGIC agent, not follow up the guests’

complaints ?

2. How did the problem affect me as a hotel employee, the guests, and the other staff ?

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C. Objectives and Benefits of the Study

This study that I choose to be discussed has some objectives. The objectives are: to find out the causes and effects of my difficulty in

following up the guests’ complaints, and to find out the solutions to

solve this problem.

This term paper has some benefits for the institution, for me as the writer, and for the readers. For the institution, this term paper can give

some suggestions for following up the guests’ complaints. For me, this

term paper has some benefits to find out the best way that I can face

the guests’ complaints in a hotel. For the readers, this term paper can

give suggestions to those who want to work in hospitality industry an explanation of the problem that can happen and how to solve the problem.

D. Description of the Institution

The training module for Hilton’s trainee entitled Celebrating Our

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Maranatha Christian University Homewood Suites for $ 3.7 billion in 1999. In 2006, Hilton Hotels and Hilton International united to form one company once again.

HHB was built by PT. Yuskitama Lestari from 2006 to 2009, and first opened on 21 March 2009 as a business hotel. The design of Hilton Hotel is modern and luxurious with twelve floors, which are completed with various facilities like ballrooms, nine meeting rooms, swimming pool, gym, spa rooms, executive lounge, Magma Bar, Fresco Italian Restaurant, and Purnawarman Restaurant. Hilton Hotel Bandung is located in the center of Bandung. Its address is on Jalan HOS. Tjokroaminoto No. 41-43.

E. Method of the Study

In this term paper, I discuss my problem in dealing with guests’ complaints when I was doing my internship program at HHB. The data for this term paper are gathered not only from library research of printed and Internet sources, but also from observation and interview. The data that I collected are used to analyze and identify the problem and to find out the solutions to solve it.

F. Limitation of the Study

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Maranatha Christian University observation was done from 27 December 2011 to 27 March 2012 during the internship.

G. Organization of the Term Paper

The first part of this term paper is Abstract. The next part is Declaration of Originality, Acknowledgments, and Table of Content which gives the detail the chapter and subchapters.

Chapter I contains the background of the study which explains the reason why I choose this topic to analyze, identification of the problem, the benefits of this term paper, the description of the institution where I did my internship, data and information-gathering method, limitation of the study, and organization of this term paper. Then, Chapter II is about problem analysis, covering the causes and effects of the problem with each supporting theory. Chapter III is about three

potential solutions to solve the problem. This chapter also explains the positive and negative effects of each potential solution.

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CHAPTER 4 CONCLUSION

In this chapter, I would like to make a summary of my analysis in the previous chapters. I have mentioned the causes and effects of the

problem in Chapter 2. The causes are I did not have any experience in the hospitality industry, I did not know about the hotel’s products and services, and I had a language barrier with the guests who could not speak English. Then, I found three effects of the problem. First, I was upset when it was hard for me to solve the guests’ complaints. Second, the guests were upset because they had to wait too long for their complaint to be solved. Then, the third effect is and my seniors in MAGIC Department gave me negative comments because they thought I did not have any initiative to follow up the guests’ complaints.

In Chapter 3, I have mentioned the potential solutions. The first

potential solution is I ask the appropriate department’s officer to help me

solve the guests’ complaints or to tell me what I have to say to the guests.

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Maranatha Christian University From the three potential solutions, I believe that the best solution is the combination of all the potential solutions but the first step that I have to do first is say sorry to the guests, then I ask the appropriate department to help me solve the guests’ complaints or to tell me what I have to say to the guests and read the manual book from the supervisor, and finally I present the guests with extra amenities and service, such as give a free dry

cleaning service and free ice cream or sorbet.

The reason why I chose all of these three potential solutions is because the follow up can be perfect if all three are done. If I only apologize to the guests without asking the appropriate department’s officer to help me

solve the guests’ complaints or tell me what I have to say to the guests

and read the manual book from the supervisor and without presenting the guests with extra amenities and services, there will be no problem solving and the guests still be angry and think that I do not care about their

complaints. If I only ask the appropriate department’s officer to help me

solve the guests’ complaints or tell me what I have to say to the guests

and read the manual book from the supervisor, but without apologizing to the guests, the guests will think that I do not appreciate them. If I only give extra amenities and services to the guests, they will think that I do not want to take a real effort, because even though the guests might receive the extra amenities and services, they still want their complaints to be answered and solved. Another possibility isI can apologize to the guests,

and ask the appropriate department’s officer to help me solve the guests’

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Maranatha Christian University book from the supervisor, but I do not give any extra amenities. If I do that, however, the guests will feel that they are not important for the hotel. It can happen because the guests might think that the hotel does not want to sacrifice for them and that the income from the food or service is more important for the hotel than the guests. Then, I cannot present the guests

with a complimentary product without asking the appropriate department’s

officer to help me solve the guests’ complaints or tell me what I have to

say to the guests and read the manual book from the supervisor. The officer from appropriate department can give me approval to give any extra amenities and service as the complimentary product to the guests. If

I do ask the appropriate department’s officer and present the guest with

extra amenities without saying my apology to the guests, it can give a signal that I underestimate the guests.

Those three potential solutions above help me to solve the problem. Morrey says that the steps in handling guest complaint are apologizing (par. 21) and then doing the follow up (par. 30). Following up includes

asking help from an appropriate department’s officer to solve the guests’

complaints or tell us what we have to say to the guests and giving any complimentary product, as confirmed by Hanafi (November 29, 2012). The theory of the article and theconfirmation from Hanafi support my

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

Printed Sources

Hilton Training Committee. Celebrating Our Story. Bandung: Hilton, 2011 Hilton Worldwide Committee. Universal Service Skills. Bandung: Hilton, 2011

Magany, Richard D. Modul Menyediakan Layanan Akomodasi Reseption. Jakarta: Penerbit Erlangga, 2009.

Electronic Sources

Abrams, Rhonda. “Nine Steps Toward Handling Customer Complaints.” USA TODAY 12 November 2010. 2012

<http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/columnist/abra ms/2010-11-12-small-business-customer-complaints_N.htm?csp=34>

“Commercial Sector”. Ullyses Customer Feedback Management. 2012.

2012.

<http://www.qms-software.com/html/www/customer-feedback-management.html>

“English for Hotel Staff”. English Club. 2012. 8 October 2012.

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Maranatha Christian University Hombogen, Lesley-Anne.“Experience „Better Than Qualifications‟ in Hospitality Industry.” European Recruitment Agency 2009. 8 October 2012.

<http://www.recruitment-agency.eu/latest-news/experience-better- qualifications-hospitality-industry-0270>

Morrey, Richard. “Complaint Handling –A Guide to Best Practice.” Tourism Insight February 2009. October 2012.

<http://www.insights.org.uk/articleitem.aspx?title=Complaint%20Handlin g%20%E2%80%93%20A%20Guide%20to%20Best%20Practice>

Ridler, Ben. “Six Steps to Dealing with Customer Complaints.”

Entrepreneur Organization 2012. October 2012.

<http://www.eonetwork.org/knowledgebase/specialfeatures/Pages/SixS tepstoDealingwithCustomerComplaints.aspx>

Willhite, Gary. “How To Handle Hotel Guest Complaints.” MadeMANUAL 8

April 2010. October 2012.

<http://www.mademan.com/mm/how-handle-hotel-guest-complaints.html>

Interviews