The wealth of online reviews has reignited the idea that the customer's feedback

According to the Mystery Shopping Providers Association (MSPA) there's some 30,000 of them in the U.S., hired by luxury hotel brands to check-in anonymously & judge mercilessly. But like a CIA agent or the rare hair stylist who'll keep your secrets, gossip is not in the mystery shopper's after-hours repertoire. Even in the event that they don't name names, everything they unearth is strictly confidential.
Perhaps it is to be expected in an industry where everyone, from the booking agent to the bellhop, is famously discreet. If loose lips sink ships, a too-revealing mystery shopper could definitely submerge an hotelier or. Thankfully, Stephanie Perrone Goldstein, vice president of sales & promotion for the New York-based Coyle Hospitality (whose clients include Starwood Hotels & Resorts & Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group), produced a nine-year veteran willing to answer a few questions.


Occasionally, she'll check in as the most obnoxious breed of hotel visitor: the road-weary whiner.
"I'll call the front table and say the room smells like smoke even when it doesn't, to see how they will reply," they says. Fake-outs are staged and executed thoroughly; she'll go as far as to empty the batteries from the remote and grumble about the fritzy T.V., or unhook the chain from the toilet to time how long it takes the staff to fix it. It is an exacting art. After they checks out, her document is written up, fact-checked by Coyle, and delivered back to the client in a matter of weeks.


Occasionally, she'll check in as the most obnoxious breed of hotel visitor: the road-weary whiner.
"I'll call the front table & say the room smells like smoke even when it doesn't, to see how they will reply," they says. Fake-outs are staged & executed thoroughly; she'll go as far as to empty the batteries from the remote & grumble about the fritzy T.V., or unhook the chain from the toilet to time how long it takes the staff to fix it. It is an exacting art. After they checks out, her document is written up, fact-checked by Coyle, & delivered back to the client in a matter of weeks.