Empathy

Empathy

The ability to understand and share the feelings of another.

​What is empathy?

Birthday

Anniversary

Reward

Concert

Wedding

Request possible

​Good news

Refund delayed

Overcharge

Relocation

Incorrectly loaded

Flight delayed

Health situation (guest or someone related)

Cannot complete request

​Inconvenience

Empathy is not only applicable when our caller is having an inconvenience, we can also empathize with positive emotions

Empathy formula

(APS)

Acknowledgement + Predict guest's emotion + Solution

​Paraphrase the concern

​How does the customer feel

What have we done/ what needs to be done

​I'm that your flight got delayed, and you need to cancel your reservation

I understand how frustrating this situation may be for your vacation plans

Be sure we will send the property a cancellation free of charge request, since we need their written approval

Acknowledgement

Gain agreement from the guest regarding their request

Do not base your answer on assumptions, don't go with the first thing the guest says, if it is necessary apply understanding (use effective questioning techniques) and don't be afraid of re-confirming with caller

​Answer the following questions regarding the empathy attribute

1st place: 20min break

2nd place: 15min break

3rd place: 10min break

Open Ended

"This hotel is terrible, the room is dirty, I want to leave right now".

What is the guest is requesting and which GL would you follow?

Multiple Choice

Using the previous scenario

Which of the following is the best empathy statement you can provide?

• We're sorry for all the inconveniences

• We're sorry that the property did not meet your expectations, we understand how frustrating this may be, be sure we will try to get the free cancellation for you

• We're sorry that the property did not meet your expectations,be sure we will try to get the free cancellation for you

• We're sorry that the property did not meet your expectations, we understand how frustrating this may be

Multiple Choice

"I want to cancel my reservation"

Should we provide an empathy statement on this situation?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

Taking the previous scenario, which empathy statement would you provide to the guest?

Multiple Choice

Agent: Is there anything else I can do to help you?

Guest: No! Thank you so much, I'm very excited about this trip, it is my first time in Europe

Should we provide an empathy statement to the guest?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

Taking the previous scenario, which empathy statement would you provide to the guest?

Multiple Choice

Relocation scenario, the partner contacts you informing you about the relocation, you start the booking relocates process and send an alt to the guest.

Since the guest hasn't reached to us, and we don't know their emotional state, should we provide an empathy statement?

• No, we don't know if a relocation means an inconvenience for them

• Yes, a relocation is always an inconvenience

Open Ended

Partner calls: I just started working with booking.com, I don't really understand the extranet and this is very complex for me, there is a missing fee on the reservations that I had received, how can I fix this situation? I am feeling very frustrated with this and I am thinking on just leaving this platform, it is very complex.

What is the partner's request?

Open Ended

"I got charged double for this reservation, can you assist?"

Which is the next step on this situation?

Multiple Choice

Using the previous scenario

Which of the following is the best empathy statement you can provide?

• I understand how frustrating being charged twice must be, for this situation, we will need a POC

• I apologize for all the inconveniences generated, we will email you with a link for further information

• We're sorry you were double charged for this reservation

• There is no need to provide an empathy statement

Multiple Choice

Can we add an empathy statement to every case we handle?

• Yes

• No

Open Ended

How could you add an empathy statement if the guest is asking if the partner has twin beds or double bed?

Multiple Choice

"The person coming with me to the reservation and I got COVID, and we need to either modify or cancel the reservation"

Which of the following is the best empathy statement you can provide?

• I hope you get well very soon, we will do our best to ask the property if they agree to cancel or modify your reservation

• We're sorry that you got COVID, your reservation is NR so we cannot modify nor cancel

• We're sorry for all the inconveniences

• We hope you and your companion get well very soon, traveling with COVID must not be very comfortable for you, we will try to ask the property if they can make an exception on your NR reservation

Multiple Choice

Guest called us for a follow-up on their cxl FOC request, you can see on the previous agent's note that the guest is cancelling for health reasons and the property has already replied "Guest may cancel we will charge all fees"

Which of the following is the best empathy statement you can provide?

• We're sorry for all the inconveniences

• We know that this cancellation is very important for you since a health situation is not on your control, we've asked the property if they could make an exception, unfortunately they declined

• We're sorry for all the inconveniences, we will send the partner the request again

• We understand how frustrating this is, but the partner declined the request

Open Ended

I booked the wrong hotel, I wanted the one near the airport, can you help me modify it?

Which procedure should we follow?