I am thinking about applying for hotel shops - it will be my first time doing hotel shops, if I do get accepted. It looks like DataQuest has some arrival audits that I thought about starting out with and then possibly moving on to overnight stays in my city, and then others.

So now I've got a couple questions that I thought I might ask here first, instead of bombarding the scheduler. When we book hotels, are we expected to book through the hotel website, or is it allowed to book through a third party website? I could see the client wanting us to test the service as if booked through their website, but could also see it not mattering.

Also, are we allowed to book with our loyalty program that we belong to if the hotel offers? Or do they want us to avoid this to avoid any bias and to stay anonymous?

Reimbursements - if the shop says the company will reimburse for valet - but testing valet is not necessarily part of the shop, do we have use valet? I wouldn't use a car in NYC to get to a hotel in the city. Also, does anyone if we get reimbursed for tips? The particular shop description doesn't say that I would, but I am expected to test the bellhop, and I would usually tip a few dollars.

Lastly - something I've been curious about. After we do our reporting, what goes on on the other side? Does the client ever review findings with their staff and point out who we are? I guess I think about these things just in case I have to avoid going into certain hotels in the future.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/30/2017 09:07AM by Glimglamglop.