Letter for Service Recovery

Dear Mr. Bennert,

Thank you for your feedback. I am sorry to know that you have been caught in such a situation. I believe that this is a not a usual scenario in *insert resort name*. Your concern regarding the facility has been forwarded to the relevant departments and they are currently working on the issue. We pride ourselves in responding to customers'concerns very quickly, so what you have experienced is inexcusable.

On behalf of my front office team, I sincerely apologise for your unpleasant experience. I have informed my Director of Rooms about this incident and we will be sure to look into this matter. Meanwhile, we would like to offer you free breakfast for you and your family on your next stay with *insert resort name*. With this, I would like to trouble you to provide me with the name of check-in staff so we could take the necessary actions.

We will make every effort to see that this never happens again. We appreciate your business and definitely hope to serve you again in *insert resort name*.

Thank You.

Yours sincerely,

Sze Min Ng
*insert resort name*
Guest Service Agent- Front Office 

(178 words)

Submission 2: Reflection - Interpersonal Communication Problem

An interpersonal communication problem I came across was a complaint case phone call during my internship experience. As I was working in a community centre, the office phone is often busy with calls. Being an intern in the programs department (where we plan and execute events), I was not trained to handle complaint calls and often direct them to the full-timers. However, this happened on one fine day where there were multiple ongoing events and hence, I was the only one left in the office together with my Indian colleague. 

The phone rang, I picked it up. It was from a lady who called to complain about her neighbor. As I was not taught how to handle such cases since they belong to the residents’ committee team, I decided to direct the call to my Indian colleague. A while later, she returned the call to me as the resident do not understand English and could only speak Mandarin. 

The entire ranting session began as soon as I took over the call. The lady went on and on to complain about her dispute with a neighbor whom she has a conflict with for several years. At first, I was sympathetic to hear her story and suggested that she go for a neighbors' mediation session or escalate her case to the MP.

Despite offering her solutions, she kept saying that she had tried lots of methods but to no avail. She was inconsolable and fearful of her neighbor as he seemed like a bully. Being untrained on how to resolve such situations, I could only listen to her and try to appease her that I will do my best in helping her by escalating the case to my superior.  

At that point in time, I had work to do and yet I was on the phone with the lady for almost an hour. When the call finally ended, I felt so relieved as my hands were cramping up from holding the phone for so long. Even after that day, I was so afraid that the lady might call back and ask for me.

Up till now, I wonder. If this situation happens again, could I have handled this case differently? How could I calm her down asap and end the call nicely so I could return to my work?  

Developing my personal branding

To me, I feel that personal branding is very important as it affects the way people perceive you. Let’s be honest, everybody judge, but whether people see us in a positive or negative light depends on how we present ourselves. As it only takes seven seconds to form an impression, having self-awareness is of utmost importance as being aware of how we need to behave in front of others will certainly depict our words and actions. Often, because of my introverted self, I tend to be conscious and take note of my speech and actions when conversing with people that I just met.

Sure, having a higher self-esteem will help me in exuding an air of confidence. However, I do believe that non-verbals such as facial expression and eye contact would often make and break that first impression. This is one weakness of mine which I would like to work on as I am still not as comfortable with maintaining eye contact with people.  

I always believe that everyone has an ideal self that they want to be. For me, as I am more of an introvert when it comes to meeting new people in a large group, I do wish to step out of my comfort zone and be someone that is more extroverted at times.

Communication wise, I play a more of the supportive role for both work and socially. I believe that having a supportive climate will allow everyone to feel that they are equal, where nobody are superior to anyone. In this case, ideas would come more freely as there are no communication barriers.

Everyone have their own strengths and weaknesses, and that is what makes a person unique. Therefore, a personal brand is what differentiates us from others. Nobody is perfect and I too, am on my way to developing my own personal brand.