I recently received a request to write a blog post on mystery shoppers reviewing hotels. From AAA, to Mobil Travel, and several companies that brand hotels such as SLH, Relais and Chateaux, Preferred Hotels, and many others review properties to understand their strengths, weaknesses, and determine their niche.
Usually, you don’t know exactly when a mystery reviewer will come in to stay. The reviewer books his/her own room, so the experience starts from the moment the reservation is made to the second s/he departs the property. Sometimes, GMs are given a time frame of when the reviewer will come in to properly warn the staff, but that is not necessarily very helpful.
From the reviewers’ perspective:they have a responsibility to communicate accurate information about the hotel and it is their job to be as objective as possible. This information from the reviewer is eventually reflected on star/diamond rating and is usually updated every year to eighteen months. The assigned hotel rating ultimately reflects the public’s perception.
From a PR perspective: it is up to the PR representative of the property to leverage that honor if it is a good rating. If it is not a good rating… then it should still come as no surprise to a great PR pro, who is always prepared for any scenario. It’s now time to get creative!!!
Tags: AAA review, hotel collections, hotel pr, hotel reviews, Mobil Travel Guide, mystery shoppers, SLH
I had a different image of mystery shoppers, I am happy you corrected it. Surprisingly, I thought that they had a much more important impact on the general public’s opinion through various articles or publications. But it seems like their assessment remains very “industry targeted” and these visitors don’t disclose much of their opinion about a hotel or restaurant other than through ratings and professional standards.
Fair enough, since all the guests are able to play “the mystery shopper” nowadays by posting their opinions on social medias!…
Melanie, thanks for the comment! At the end of the day, all guests can become a form of a mystery shopper… with TripAdvisor, Yelp and mainstream review sites, it’s possible for anyone to assume that role nowadays. However, I think it is the level of credibility of each “mystery shopper” that will influence public opinion, through candid reviews and insights, and usually those people represent major hospitality industry publications and affiliations. In that sense, mystery shoppers most certainly have a lot of power. There are some mystery shopping research companies that send out reviewers to hotels and restaurants to collect data. Those mystery shopping research companies then analyze, and in turn sell the data to hospitality companies and hotels, who read the results to help them understand and determine industry trends. That’s another powerful type of mystery shopping, but I find it is also very industry focused.