DWS was commissioned by AT Hotel Group to undertake a regular program of quarterly secret shopping at their six sites. The group wished to assess their program of management and staff training that had been implemented within the group. The following scope of works was undertaken by DWS:
- Met with AT Hotels to discuss the scope of works and ascertain particular areas of scrutiny.
- Designed the secret shopping template and incorporated it into an iPhone app for use on site.
- Conducted quarterly shops including utilisation of all services, assessment of the appearance, cleanliness, service, amenities and handling of complaints.
- Produced a detailed report that benchmarked the properties internally, provided feedback on individual personnel, and made recommendations where appropriate.
DWS developed an iPhone app specifically to capture information on site in a comprehensive manner. Staff names and behaviour were captured through a combination of direct service and observation.
Following the site visit, information from the app is transferred to a report that gives an overall assessment of the shopping experience on a ratings based system. A variety of secret shoppers were used that were trained specifically in the DWS methodology.
‘AT Hotels wanted to assess the effectiveness of our training program and to ensure that our investment in training of personnel yielded positive results. The feedback given by DWS allowed us to specifically target areas and award personnel that were star performers. The quality feedback represented a cost-effective review system.’ – Scott Armstrong, AT Hotels.
