By Jeremy Caplan Sunday, May 29, 2005
Article from The Time Magazine
Gary Pokodner of Annapolis, Md., gets paid to vacation. Pokodner, an electrical engineer, stays at four-star hotels for free, eats steak dinners gratis and goes on casino sprees totally on the house. For his trouble, he makes $20,000 a year in his spare time. How does he do it? Pokodner, 44, is a veteran secret shopper, employed by cruise lines and hotel chains to travel undercover and evaluate their customer service.
This stealthy approach to quality control got its start in the late 1980s, mainly in the restaurant and retail businesses. There's even a trade group, the Mystery Shoppers Providers Association (MSPA), representing about 1 million secret shoppers and 150 member companies with names like Guest Check and Service Sleuth. The hospitality industry is new turf for these shopping-mall snoops, and increasingly, secret shoppers like Pokodner have become secret travelers, checking up on the world's vacation spots.
Pokodner spent 230 nights in hotel rooms last year, a grueling schedule relieved somewhat by the presence of his wife and four kids, whom he brings along as often as possible for their company and their insights.
(The kids, he says, have developed particularly sharp eyes for bad service.) On a recent trip to a top hotel in Korea, Pokodner checked on the cleanliness of the rooms, the smileyness of the concierge and the juiciness of the restaurant's tenderloin-and-shrimp brochette. His approach is straightforward. "I act like any other guest," he says, but one who pays unusually close attention to detail. Occasionally he heads to the rest room to jot down observations, but mostly he just takes mental notes.
Not all undercover jobs are so exotic. Sometimes it's as simple as buying a candy bar at an airport store to see if the cashiers hand out receipts. And even high-end restaurant work has its drawbacks. "After multiple meals at a hotel recently, I just couldn't take another bite," confides Pokodner. "If I did this all the time I'd weigh 400 pounds." Mystery shoppers quickly pick up tricks of the trade: how to spill drinks into potted plants or slip uneaten pork chops into a hidden plastic bag (a trick that can backfire if the waiter looks around for the bones).
There's a certain amount of spycraft involved. Some secret travelers use hidden wires and cameras to record conversations with surly waiters or snap photos of a dirty hotel bathroom.
"I have friends who won't do this because they feel like they're lying," says Donna Parsons, a musician in Los Angeles who makes about $500 a month doing part-time mystery shopping and traveling. "The way I look at it, I'm helping workers do a better job and keeping honest people honest." In a recent "integrity shop"--a test of employee honesty--Parsons caught a bartender stealing cash.
The reports aren't always negative. Mystery shoppers also help employers create incentives for exemplary service. Some shoppers see themselves as crusaders, punishing bad behavior and rewarding unsung heroes. Intrawest ski resorts recently handed out $100 bills to workers who scored especially well on a secret-shopper report. And a top-tier hotel rewarded its staff for finding a way to supply an undercover guest with the late-night Pepsi he requested from the Coke-only establishment. "It used to be about catching people doing something wrong," says Mike Bare, MSPA's co-founder. "But more and more, it's validating people who do things right."
Shoppers themselves are rewarded for being thorough in their reporting. Pokodner has nitpicked his way to the top of his undercover hobby. His latest reward? A plum assignment that requires him to treat his wife to a $150-a-plate gourmet restaurant. "I very rarely use my own money to buy anything anymore," he confides. "Paying for yourself is just so 1990s."
Article from The Time Magazine
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