Dealing with client misbehaviour in high-end hotels: guest-centred service and front-line workers’ tactics

The article investigates the relationship between guest-centred service in high-end hotels and client misbehaviour toward front-line workers. It explores how the features of the service create both the conditions under which guest misbehaviour can flourish and the ways workers deal with it. Data were collected through a participant observation study in two hotels and interviews with workers from three other organisations. The article illustrates how the service culture, in promoting the philosophy of guest sovereignty, exposes front-line employees to different types of misbehaviour. In this regard, it examines the tactics that workers adopt in coping with guest aggression and incivility, as well as clients’ sexual advances. Finally, the article describes how workers deal with the tension arising from emotional control in service encounters. The analysis allows for a better understanding of how employees perceive and manage imbalances with clients in high-end service contexts.