Holly Stiel, noted Hospitality Consultant and President of Thank You Very Much Inc., chats with Robin Trimingham, The Innovative Hotelier Podcast Host regarding strategies for handling the unprecedented numbers of customers who are taking out their frustration on service industry employees.

Stressing that there is a key distinction between annoying and abusive behavior, Stiel believes that hospitality employers need to pivot their staff training to better protect employees from abuse by equipping them with the communication skills required to understand what is really motivating a customer who is acting out and diffuse this behavior before it escalates.