Recognizing Customer Complaint Behavior

The scope of this study was to identify the likelihood of various customer complaint behaviors occurring in Hong Kong hotel restaurants, and to assess the relationship between these behaviors and the complainers' demographic characteristics. Self-administered questionnaires were distributed to restaurant customers in hotels. A total of 250 usable questionnaires were returned. The results led to the identification of four types of customer complaint behavior, and showed that the more vocal and active complainers tended to be younger, better-educated and earn higher incomes. Recommendations are made, including the prompt handling of customer complaints, better employee training and efficient customer-staff communication.