http://didilutzpr.com/blog/2009/06/preparing-for-the-mystery-shopper/ Exploring the Truth in Public Relations Fri, 10 Feb 2012 05:36:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7.1 hourly 1 http://didilutzpr.com/blog/2009/06/preparing-for-the-mystery-shopper/comment-page-1/#comment-756 Didi Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:59:23 +0000 http://didilutzpr.com/blog/?p=111#comment-756 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. 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.

]]> http://didilutzpr.com/blog/2009/06/preparing-for-the-mystery-shopper/comment-page-1/#comment-755 Melanie Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:31:13 +0000 http://didilutzpr.com/blog/?p=111#comment-755 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!... 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!…

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