Indirect Letter Denying a Customer Claim: Caught Smokin’

Acknowledgment of the customer's problem

Message 1: Caught Smokin’! Write an indirect letter denying a customer claim Situation: The Townsville Hotel in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has a no-smoking policy to enhance the value of the lodge and improve customer experience (not to mention cutting back on smoke damage to walls and furniture and reducing air pollution). The lodge makes sure that all their guests know about the policy before purchasing a room: • When a customer books online, the hotel website requires them to acknowledge the smoke-free policy of the hotel. • The hotel sends out pre-arrival emails that reference, among other things, the smoke-free hotel policy. • The front desk provides a handout to every guest outlining hotel policy and consequences for smoking in a room. The handout clearly says, “Should a guest choose not to comply with our smoke-free hotel policy, we will process a $500 room recovery fee to the guest’s account.” Just before the pandemic, on January 22, 2020, Tom Yorke was a guest in the hotel. After he left, members of the housekeeping staff, including the junior manager, reported that his room smelled of cigarette smoke and a cigarette butt was found in the bathroom toilet. All of the evidence was documented in by the housekeeping manager. A $500 charge was applied to Mr. Yorke’s credit card. The charge is used to cover the extensive cost of returning a room to a smoke-free condition. Mr. Yorke was upset with the charge and has since emailed and written a letter to the hotel demanding the charge be removed. While he doesn’t explicitly deny smoking in the room he also doesn’t think he should have to pay “such an expensive and ridiculous cash grab.” Your Task: Write an indirect style letter to Tom -- maximum one-page in length! The always-busy hotel manager, Colin Pardoe, has asked you to ghostwrite a letter to the guest denying his claim but retaining goodwill. Very diplomatically, Colin says that we would “certainly like to see Mr. Yorke return as a guest, but we cannot budge on our smoking policy.” Use indirect structure and create relevant details (within reason) to flesh out your letter. Colin would be quite unhappy if you… • Provoked Gary. Your goal is to reason with the customer – explain the perspective from the hotel’s point of view and do your best to justify the fine without drawing too much attention to it. • Gave him his money back or otherwise compensated him. The company doesn’t want to look weak or flaky about policy. No prizes for bad behaviour. You can offer him alternatives for his next visit – like using the hotel’s heated smoking area. You may imagine other reasonable alternatives to include. Be kind. Retain goodwill. Explain the policy. Tell him you can’t refund the money. Be courteous. Provide details. Explain the hotel’s stance logically, systematically, and courteously – always strive to retain goodwill. Letterhead details (logo and address): Click Here! After you’ve written to Mr. Yorke, Colin has asked you to write one more thing: Message 2: Write a direct memo to your hotel staff reminding them about no-smoking policy The in-house memo should remind everyone of our policy. Design the memo yourself using a table and address it to "All Staff." The rest -- subject line, message content and organization -- is up to you.