Guests Complaints: Ways Forward in Paradizzo Beach

Resort, Medellin , Cebu

INTRODUCTION

The tourism industry has continued to be a significant contributor to economic growth and
one of the greatest sectors that generates jobs for locals. Cebu province is known for its
historical sites, luxury resorts, and vibrant nightlife. The urban destination also offers eco-
adventures, and the municipality of Medellin is one of the most exciting places in the province
of Cebu. It boasts various water activities, lovely beaches, colorful cottages, and facilities that
accommodate the needs of every tourist. Medellin is one of the nine municipalities that
comprise the fourth congressional district of Cebu Province. Way back in 2021, Paradizzo
Beach Resort was the most popular beach destination in Medellin. It is located in Barangay
Kawit, Medellin, Cebu, which has been the go-to destination for family gatherings and friendly
outings.

The resort offers its highly hearted go-to destination for a vibrant family day on a weekend
and friendly outings or reunions. It offers various water activities and promotes local and
cultural orientation as it encourages a more natural connection with everyone who visits the
place to relax or escape the city buzz. Apart from that, the resort also has an amenity offering:
rooms for overnight stays, conference rooms, cottages, camping tents, parking spaces for
private vehicles, common area wifi, food stalls like Sebu Cha Milk Tea and Paradizzo
Restaurant, a live band for entertainment on weekends or special events, kayaks and paddle
boards for water activities (plus the new Rocket Boat), etc,.

Beyond the leisure activities present in the resort, unresolved guest issues can affect the
place's significant value of the common complaints.Such as not enough lifeguards or watchers
to ensure the safety of everyone, it may include the amenities like chairs and tables that are
not enough to accommodate the number of tourists or guests, especially on weekends, the
uncleanliness of rooms assigned to the guests and most importantly, the proper training of
staff needs room for improvement. Some are unfriendly when it comes to catering guests due
to a lack of customer service.
 There are endless reasons why a guest may make a general complaint. Some complaints
are based on physical concerns, such as hotel cleanliness or maintenance problems, while
other complaints may pertain more to the guest experience. Certain guests are comfortable
speaking up and are prepared to notify a team member if they're unhappy with an aspect of
their stay. They may speak to the front desk staff, request a manager, or make a complaint to
another staff member directly. But hoteliers cannot count on every guest to vocalize a
complaint. Not all guests are comfortable with confrontation, and some would prefer not to
make a complaint during their stay at all. (Campbell, 2022)

The guests who were able to experience the services of Paradizzo Beach Resort can
express every piece of their complaint by writing in the resort suggestion box, leaving reviews
on the resort’s website, or making a direct complaint to the resort’s supervisor or manager. In
such a way, it will help the resort identify the areas that need immediate action. The state's
complaints will give them an opportunity to learn and improve on the things that needed to be
addressed to give their guests a more reasonable stay, as the management aims to provide
greater memories to individuals who will visit the place and help every person who needs
comfort and relaxation be at peace.

The researchers' primary objective in this study is to determine how the management of
Paradizzo Beach Resort handles the different types of guest complaints relevant to their stay
and what their options are for addressing these complaints. Most of the research studies,
journals, and articles focused more on international aspects, and so far, no other research or
studies have been conducted when it comes to addressing the guest complaints at Paradizzo
Beach Resort. The study will be conducted on the premises of Paradizzo Beach Resort in
Barangay Kawit Medellin, Cebu. In collecting the data, the researchers will first provide a
permit letter before conducting a survey. The researchers will then create a checklist
questionnaire with the approval of the subject teacher.

Therefore, to fully comprehend and determine how the resort handled the complaints of their
guests, the study must be evaluated, as this can serve as a guide for other developing tourism
establishments in handling guest complaints.
 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Several research studies have shown that hotels and Resorts should do everything
possible to address guest complaints. The reasons for this are obvious. First, receiving and
settling a complaint soothes an unhappy guest and forestalls the effects of negative word-of-
mouth. Second, complaints show management where the hotel's problems are, so the
operation can be improved. According to the study by Miao Yu (2015) on Hotel Guest
Complaints in the hospitality industry, due to the high level of interaction between a service
provider and service consumer, the poor quality of the service and followed various complaints
cannot be avoided completely (Sánche-García and Currás-pérez, 2011; Jahandideh, 2014).
When service failure occurs, different customers choose to express their dissatisfaction in
different ways (Ngai et al., 2007).

Given that the importance of service quality was recognized recently, the effective handling
of poor service attracts more scholars and practitioners (Hocutt et al., 2006; Morrisson and
Huppertz, 2010; Komunda and Osarenkhoe, 2012). Service failures were defined as situations
in which customers feel dissatisfied when actual performances that they have received are
worse than their expectations (Bell and Zemke, 1987). Customer complaints are accompanied
by service failures and cannot be avoided completely even in luxury hospitality organizations
(Kim, 2010; Choi and Mattila, 2008). Since customers may feel dissatisfied because of a single
failure, even if it is just a small mistake, it is necessary for service providers to recover
dissatisfied customers through a series of actions that can please them (Chuang et al., 2012).

According to the study of Alaa Tantawy and Erwin Losekoot (2001), the quality of a guest's
hotel experience is frequently dependent on the consistency with which hotel standards of
service are applied. Where the existing systems break down, guests will complain. This should
be viewed as an opportunity for the hotel's management. However, some hotel direct guest
contact personnel may view guest complaints as causes for panic rather than opportunities for
improving the hotel operation.

In the hospitality industry, since hotel service staff would engage more deeply and
frequently with hotel guests, it is more important for hoteliers to understand hotel guests’
complaint motives, complaint behavior, and effective handling methods. Furthermore, hoteliers
can also improve service quality (Jahandideh et al., 2014) and promote customer satisfaction
(Chuang, 2012) by taking advantage of the hotel guests’ complaints. Based on the results of
Chuang’s (2012) study, hotel guests will be more than satisfied if service providers know how
to compensate for their losses and handle it properly.

Based on Lewis’s (1983) and Heung and Lam’s (2003) studies, the construct measuring
complaint motives was developed. The complaint motive variables include “seeking
compensation”, “seeking redress”, “seeking apology”, “requesting corrective action”, “asking for
4 explanations”, and “expressing emotional anger.”

Service failure is regarded as one determining factor that influences customers’ behaviors,
especially complaint behaviors, such as switching service providers, which is the worst-case
scenario that businesses do not wish to see (Roos, 1999). In other words, it would seriously
harm and threaten the seller-buyer relationships in the long-term prospects if service providers
fail to manage service recovery properly (Michel and Meuter, 2008; Seawright et al., 2008).
However, N’Goala (2007) found out that proper solutions have a profound effect on customers
and can effectively prevent them from switching services to other service providers.

The effective recovery not only has a significant positive influence on customer satisfaction,
customer retention rates, and bottom-line preference but also can significantly reduce the
damage caused by negative word-of-mouth (Morrisson and Huppertz, 2010), although
customers were dissatisfied with the services or the products (McColl-Kennedy et al., 2003;
Conlon and Murray, 1996). Appropriate recoveries are so important for companies because
good handling may rebuild the relationship between sellers and buyers and therefore
companies can maintain customers.
 METHODOLOGY

The descriptive method was utilized in this quantitative research to distinguish how the
management of Paradizzo Beach Resort in Barangay Kawit, Medellin Cebu handled their
guest complaints. The descriptive research method illustrates and identifies patterns of
variable qualities in certain occurrences (Edralin, 2016). The method involved in gathering data
directly from the respondents is survey questionnaires.

This study was conducted in the Municipality of Medellin, Cebu, wherein tourism is known
for its beautiful white sand beaches. The research instrument will be sent to the respective
respondents of the study; the owner, managers, and staff in the resort. The respondent’s
selection for the study was also based on availability and is easier to approach anytime without
hesitation.

The researchers use survey questionnaires in hard copies, distributed to respondents in the
resort. Specifically, the questions focused on what are the different types of complaints that the
resort received from its guests and how they handle them. Respondents were given options to
be neutral, agree, or strongly agree with the statements provided. After this, the data gathered
by the researchers will serve as a method to identify, analyze, and categorize the possible
variables that can affect the outcome of the study.

The respondents were given as much time as they wanted to answer the questions on the
questionnaire and as honestly as they could. When the respondents were done answering the
given questions, the researchers tabulated the data on each of the questions on the
questionnaire.