Watched "The Five Star Life" (movie about nothing but mystery shopping and personal relationships!) yesterday.

Last night, had nightmares....checking into a 5 star property...got all the required info; desk clerk, female, 30's, glasses, long blonde hair, uniform perfect, very professional, Martha. Her assistant, a vibrant, hilarious, friendly black male, 5'8", uniform perfect, no glasses, short black hair, 20's, named Mark.

They cannot find our reservation.

OK, how to maintain anonymity yet act like any customer would whose reservations are lost?

I take out my American Express black card, and ask to speak to a manager. A manager is called out. I assure him that American Express will be horrified -- horrified, I say! -- to find that a reservation made through them is not being honored.

The manager takes my card and my paperwork, pardons himself, assures us he will return momentarily, and disappears. He returns a few moments later; we are looking justifiably upset. We are thousands of miles away from home, it's our anniversary, we wanted everything PERFECT!!!

The manager literally falls all over himself apologizing. We are upgraded to a suite (not that the regular "rooms" in this establishment wouldn't qualify as a suite almost anywhere else!), with 24 hour concierge service, huge bouquets of fresh flowers, gift baskets, and champagne in each room of the suite (including BOTH bathrooms), 24 hour personal "butler" service, and 24 hour free food and beverage service.

* * * * *

And as I walk away from the front desk, I clearly hear Martha say to Mark "goddamn mystery shoppers!"

* * * * *

Not as good as yours, but the night before doing a kind of shop I'd never done, I dreamed I did the shop and it went HORRIBLY WRONG! I don't remember the details now, but I know I blurted out I was a mystery shopper (and then thought OMG I'm not supposed to say that!). Woke up the next morning with the correct procedures burned into my brain and turned in a perfect shop!

Oh my word! Thank you for sharing this. I got a great laugh from it.

The subtitles frighten me. I think I would not pick up the details of the film because I would be reading the dialog. Looks like a good flick, though. Sorry about the affect it had on you. It would probably do the same to me!

I'd love some hotel/resort shoppers to watch this movie and say what they think; whether the "inspections" this woman makes (white glove!!!) are really what it's like to do a high-end hotel/resort.

I've not used a white glove, are you serious about that? OTOH, I have had to take closeup photos of miniscule dents or scuff marks on doors, walls, or baseboards, a few loose threads on the carpet near the wall, and one small spot of discoloration in the bathroom shower tile grout, things like that. It's also sometimes hard to catch that photo of the smudge on the bathroom mirror.

I've done a couple "white glove" inspections, where I was required to do exactly what the lady in the movie does -- run my gloved hand over the top rim of picture frames and mirrors. And yes, too, to the photos of loose threads, spots of mildew on the shower curtain, etc., etc., etc. But these were straight inspections, without an overnight stay. And they paid over $100 each, too. Lots of photos -- and I mean LOTS. Including the hotel kitchen and all "public" areas of the hotel, as well as two rooms rather painstakingly inspected!