Abstract
The demands of guests in tourism and the catering industry, and the satisfaction of guests with services received have become the dominant competitive weapon throughout the entire developed world of tourism. The individual guest of today is in a position to harm the reputation of the caterer and innkeeper by spreading word of the faults in the services rendered and consumed. Complaints addressed to the caterer can often bring attention to the need of improving not only the integral process of service preparation and rendering, or any one of its components, but also the organisation of operation within the catering establishment. An indolent and negligent attitude of the caterer regarding such complaints is very irritating to guests of catering establishments, and as a rule, is the reason such guests turn to the competition. In principle, guests that are lodging a complaint do not necessarily have a negative attitude towards a given catering establishment. Most guests will not lodge a formal complaint, but will simply leave the restaurant when something is not to their liking, never to return again. Instead, they will frequent the establishment of the competition. The purpose of this paper is to explain how the objections and formal complaints made by guests can be used to enhance their loyalty towards a certain catering establishment or service. Namely, having witnessed a satisfactory solution to a complaint, the guest will pass this favourable experience on to others. The major part of this paper is based on the results of studies into the Complaint Books of one hundred catering establishments on the Opatija Riviera during the year 2001, and in the first nine months of 2002.
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