Hotel shop gone bad, WWYD?

Y'all keep talking about a "decision." There was no "decision." I forgot the photo. I remembered when I started doing the report and I was 2 states away.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

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Also y'all can say I shouldn't have scheduled a hotel shop before a time sensitive shop. All of my shops are time sensitive. I cleared an extra $1000 on this route by doing hotel shops. The risk is miniscule compared to the extra income. Perhaps answering the question asked would be more constructive?

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Also even if I had remembered, missing the shop window would have meant driving 1000 miles back to the location at the end of the route, which alone would have cost more than the hotel shop was worth, not even considering the fee of the shop.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

bgriffin, you seem grumpy. I think the road is getting to you. Hopefully you will be finished soon and you can some rest.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“I'm the one that's got to die when it's time for me to die, so let me live my life the way I want to.”
~ Jimi Hendrix

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.” ~ Mark Twain

“To the well-organized mind, death is but the next great adventure.” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

If I was on a 1000+ mile route and had a shop go south, I'd be grumpy too.

Ah.... rest.... what a lovely idea.... I remember resting once..... I think it was exactly 2 years ago.

Tuesday is the 2nd anniversary of my first mystery shop. There's no rest in this business.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2014 08:55PM by dspeakes.

Actually I'm not grumpy at all. People just keep making the same remarks that are not relevant over and over.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

You did put "What would you do?" in the subject line.

No one knew you didn't remember about the photo until you were two states away, until just a few minutes ago.

Some were confused about the 20 minute window for your second shop, being unfamiliar with that.

No one knew your second shop paid better than your hotel shop.

Oh, and none of that matters, because it wasn't relevant to your question.

------------------------------------------------
Plan the work. Work the plan.

Nope, not relevant at all since all of those things are about getting the photo.
My OP specifically said "besides getting the photo...."
My question was specifically "this is the situation that happened, from this point on what would you do?"
Not "what should I have done differently?"
It is possible I did not explain that very well, I thought I did.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

So what are you really asking? You asked a bunch of questions that muddled your point.

Are you asking how you can get paid for it? Only the MSC can help you with that. Of course, it's your right to complain to the hotel and get a refund. However, I would not do that because it jeopardizes my relationship with the MSC.

Ok, let me simplify.

The above situation happened. I am not interested in "what I should have done" as I already know what I should have done. I am not interested in "I wouldn't have scheduled it that way" as only one person, perhaps two, know the details of this route and understand how it's scheduled. I'm am simply interested in "how would you handle it from this point?"

Here are the options as I see it:

1. Chalk it up to @#$%& happens
2. Press the MSC to reimburse if the client rejects the shop
3. Contact the hotel and ask for a refund or some sort of compensation simply as a dissatisfied customer (not mentioning the MS aspect at all).

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

Or 4. Buy bgriffin a beer.

I would do

2. Then 1.

I would not do 3.

------------------------------------------------
Plan the work. Work the plan.

As much as it would bother me, I would work with the MSC and then just use the expense as a tax deduction. After that I would never do another hotel shop on a route

Equal rights for others does not mean fewer rights for you. It's not pie.
"I prefer someone who burns the flag and then wraps themselves up in the Constitution over someone who burns the Constitution and then wraps themselves up in the flag." -Molly Ivins
Never try to teach a pig to sing. It's a waste of your time and it really annoys the pig.

Yes but you don't do hotel shops at all, route or not.

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

LisaSTL, you never do hotel shops? I find that surprising. Yes, some of them can be a lot of work but I usually get a good meal and the hotel rewards and credit card points are adding up.

Why are you surprised? For the same amount of time I can add in other shops to offset hotel/dining costs, choose where I would like to stay and relax while there instead of calling maintenance and running around taking photos. My hotel costs are budgeted into any route and the tax deduction offsets my income.

Bayberry Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If the hotel is near where you are doing the next
> shop, you would wait in the hotel until it is time
> to go on to the next job. You wouldn't check out
> an hour early and sit in your car. This is not a
> scheduling problem, and the OP has explained that.
> Even I feel frustrated at this point. :-)

I edited out my other idea after reading further down the thread to see your responses.
If the msc refuses to reimburse you due to a lack of picture and you would like to shop with them again and not risk losing this msc I would explain your circumstances to the msc and ask if it is okay for you to contact the hotel, not revealing you were a mystery shopper, and ask for an adjustment in the charge you now have to pay out of pocket for the room due to the lock problem. But really if the msc is this picky about one picture when you did the bang up job I am sure you did on the rest of the report I don't know if I would want to work for them again on a shop where there is a large reimbursement on the line.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2014 11:46PM by sandyf.

I agree with STL, other than I would buy you a shot of Laphroaig whiskey from scotland!

I have done a lot of hotel shops in the last 7 years. Many hotel managers are forgiving and I would think more than likely your report would be accepted.

If not, I would go with #1. S2L is correct about tax deduct...she is a financial wiz, I tell you!

As for #2, it is not the msc's fault you did not get the picture.
#3, nope...bad idea.

Not my circus - Not my monkeys @(*.*)@

~Polish Proverb~

cubbiecat Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> If not, I would go with #1. S2L is correct about
> tax deduct...she is a financial wiz, I tell you!

I am going to go old school here... Bite me!

BillBryaninCarthage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> First try 2. If no, then try 3 (can't hurt). If no luck, then 1.

I agree with this ^ but .... If #1 then GOTO #4.

#4= (sing) Let it gooooooooo, let it goooooo.

There are two types of people in this world: Those who can extrapolate from incomplete data.

Here's a thought. Call the hotel/motel and ask to speak to the manager. Tell him that you had a good experience with his establishment and that you would like some photos for your travel records and ask him for a photo of your room, the lobby, the pool and an overall photo of the hotel/motel. Ask him to either email or text them to you.

**************************************************************
One buzzard to another while circling high overhead (paraphrased), "Patience hell! I want to shop somewhere."

:bangs head on desk:

There are reasons that a body stays in motion
At the moment only demons come to mind

It's a bit late at this point. The shop was done almost a month ago. And that would be a violation of the shop instructions, which likely state that only the shopper can take the pictures. The manager would probably send a brochure, which would not be showing the lobby as it was on the date of the shop.

Time to build a bigger bridge.

That's a nice thought. Let's drop it into the Thought Box here...

Now, back to the question at hand....

------------------------------------------------
Plan the work. Work the plan.

I'm still stuck on S2L being a financial wizard.

I don't need to be a financial wizard. I just need to hire the financial wizards to do the work for me. Just like I don't need to be a mechanic. I just hire the grease monkeys to do the work for me.

Me? If the shop gets rejected, I'm going to ask the hotel for a refund. I'm not asking the MSC for permission; it's none of their effing business at that point. It's no longer a shop, because I'm not getting paid, and I owe them nothing further.

Bgriffin,

I think since you have done all of your shop successfully, except for the picture the scheduler/editor/MSC should except the report and pay you. It doesn't sound like the lobby picture is the most important part of a hotel stay. I know from reading the forum that you are highly professional and they know that. I have had schedulers who understand and do their best to help you out. I guess it depends on the MSC.

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Hotel shop gone bad, WWYD?

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