I have done several hotel shops in the past and I always ask myself are they worth it? It seems like I spend a lot of time completing the shop, so much so that it seems like I do not really get to enjoy the hotel visit. And yes, I realize that we are supposed to be working but with fine dining it still feels like you get to enjoy the dinner. Sometimes with the hotel shops I have had it almost feels like I am working the entire time. Just wondering what others thought since I saw that a lot of people were doing hotel shops recently.

To do a hotel shop for the reimbursement only in my same city would never work for me. I recently saw one that was a two night with six dining sub-shops to hit every eating establishment and every hotel staff department of the resort.

I worked on the road for five years and lived at Residence Inn when I was in a large city, but ended up in rural areas that the best property for 30+ miles was a Super 8 motel. I have stayed in the same hotel room over 30 days before and technically became a resident of that state. Regardless if your in a 5 star hotel or a cheap motel and they cannot charge you hotel taxes after your a resident of the property.

The very large company I worked for would email me and remind me to have this removed from my bill as the hotel tax can be 8-10% of the room cost as it amounted to several hundred dollars at times.

I would have to inform the property manager several days before checkout that they would have to remove that tax from my bill. Many managers had to call corporate headquarters to figure out how to remove it. Some didn't believe me at first. It was always removed in the end. This was over 15 years ago and laws may have changed since then.

I just did one that was not overly complicated. I thought it was worth it to spend some alone time away from some hectic situations in my life right now. The pool and hot tub in the hotel made it well worth it I thought. And the free Cosmopolitan was a great perk!

I really do apologize but I have no clue what your point was for the second half of the post....

@scanman1 wrote:

To do a hotel shop for the reimbursement only in my same city would never work for me. I recently saw one that was a two night with six dining sub-shops to hit every eating establishment and every hotel staff department of the resort.

I worked on the road for five years and lived at Residence Inn when I was in a large city, but ended up in rural areas that the best property for 30+ miles was a Super 8 motel. I have stayed in the same hotel room over 30 days before and technically became a resident of that state. Regardless if your in a 5 star hotel or a cheap motel and they cannot charge you hotel taxes after your a resident of the property.

The very large company I worked for would email me and remind me to have this removed from my bill as the hotel tax can be 8-10% of the room cost as it amounted to several hundred dollars at times.

I would have to inform the property manager several days before checkout that they would have to remove that tax from my bill. Many managers had to call corporate headquarters to figure out how to remove it. Some didn't believe me at first. It was always removed in the end. This was over 15 years ago and laws may have changed since then.

Thank goodness. I thought it was just me.

I did my first hotel shop just to see what one was like. I swore I would never do one again just for reimbursement. A year later a shop came up at a fancy historic hotel in my city that I have always admired. So, I was a sucker and did that one. It was a fiasco. The had booked a final four college basketball team into the hotel for the game that night. When I entered the historic lobby, there was a marching band and cheerleaders going crazy. LOLOL They were forming a line for the players to walk through in the lobby and on to the bus. It took all night long to complete all the observations and I finally finished my "problem resolution" at 11 PM. To put the cherry on the sundae, a good number of the basketball players decided to come back after the game and check back in to stay the night. When the poor employee came to "resolve my problem", he told me all the extra staff had been send home and suddenly all these college kids checked back in at 11PM and he was the only one on duty. They also messed up my breakfast and put hot sauce on it. I started choking and the waitress came over after noticing my distress. She tried to comp my meal--OH NO!!! I had to practically beg to get the bill. It's hard to say "Oh no--that's fine" when your face is bright red, tears are running down your face and you are still coughing. It's been two years and I still remember the details of that shop. If I ever do a hotel again it will need to include a good fee and the reimbursement.

I guess it's a personal preference/decision as to whether or not it's worth it. I for one LOVE hotel shops- they are among my favorites. I look at them as a treat and a change of pace. I have learned to do most of the report while I am at the hotel, but even though this does take away a bit of the relaxing time, I still have plenty of time to myself. I also enjoy the usually-included meals, comfy beds, fancy shower / hot tub, TV, etc. All on somebody else's dime!

Maybe I still have a little kid in me that gets excited about staying in hotels, too. Hehe