Principles of customer service

AC 1.2 - Situations when customers interact with tourism organisations

Complaints procedures

Most tourism organisations have procedures in place for dealing with complaints.  This is often part of a system known as customer service standards, which helps to ensure that organisations always give the same level of service.

Complaints procedures help the employee to know what to do when they receive a complaint from a customer.  The box below shows a typical complaints procedure.

When dealing with a complaint you should remember the following rules:

  • Listen carefully to the customer and note down important information
  • Do not interrupt the customer, argue or make excuses
  • Be sympathetic and show concern for the customer’s situation
  • Try to sort out the problem straight away
  • If the problem cannot be solved immediately, promise the customer that the complaint will be investigated
  • Follow up on the complaint and take appropriate action
  • Make sure that you have all the relevant personal details of the customer so that they can be contacted
  • Ensure that the company complaint form is completed correctly
  • If you feel that you cannot deal with the complaint contact a manager immediately

Activity

See if you can find examples of complaint procedures for named tourism organisations using search engines then copy and paste a good example into a file.

You can use the downloadable activity template to help you if you'd like.