Guest Surveys & Secret Shops:

How Surveys and Mystery Shops Together Reveal the Full Guest Experience

“Guest surveys give you perception, mystery shops give you reality,” said Michael Mills. That single sentence pretty much sums up the challenge facing most hospitality brands.

On the one hand, you have guest surveys that offer direct feedback after an experience. You might hear things like “the check-in took too long” or “cocktail service was slow.” Valuable, yes, but it’s subjective and sometimes riddled with noise. 

On the hand, mystery shops tell you whether your team is actually following your brand standards. Is the loyalty program being explained correctly? Are team members upselling premium drinks? Are employees using names during check-in, or slipping into “what’s up, man?” territory?

By pairing these tools, brands gain what Gila River calls a “360-degree view” of the guest experience, turning individual data points into a complete, actionable picture.

“You can’t expect guests to tell you if you’re delivering on your brand standards,” said Mills. “They don’t know them. But secret shoppers do.”

The Hidden Costs of Flying Blind: When Issues Linger Unseen

Surveys are invaluable for identifying shifts in guest satisfaction, but they’re even more powerful when paired with tools that uncover the why behind the numbers, revealing where and how to take meaningful action.

Case in point: Gila River’s front desk. When feedback began to come in about long waits and poor service, the assumption was that the team needed better training. But mystery shops told a different story.

The actual issue? The employee dining room was understaffed. That meant employees were returning late from breaks and leaving the front desk undermanned.

“You wouldn’t connect the front desk issue to the dining room without both data sets,” Mills pointed out. “But together, they told a complete story.”

That is the core issue: Without connecting perception to performance, you’re left guessing. 

And in hospitality, guessing costs you guests.

The Power Combo: How Gila River Pairs Surveys and Secret Shops for Results

At Gila River, Greg DiVincent oversees brand marketing, loyalty, and promotions, while Gregory Ramirez manages day-to-day customer experience operations. Together, they’ve built a system that combines survey feedback via Medallia with strategic mystery shops run by HS Brands—and it’s working.

Surveys: Real-Time, Real Stories

Thanks to their survey platform, Gila River’s team can respond to guest complaints within days. Take their Hoka shoe giveaway, a great idea with a clunky check-in process that led to long lines and frustrated guests.

“By Monday, we had every complaint in hand,” said DiVincent. “We called each guest, apologized, and personally ordered their shoes. That level of follow-up turns a bad moment into loyalty.”

More than just damage control, the survey data is used daily by Gregory Ramirez’s team to coach, reward, and fix. His process breaks down into three levels:

1. Urgent issues (0–3 NPS scores) get immediate attention.
2. All comments—positive and negative—are reviewed daily.
3. Insights are shared with leadership and frontline managers to fuel training and recognition.

“Even neutral comments contain gold,” said Ramirez. “They help us coach teams, refine service, and highlight wins.”

Mystery Shops: Audit the Training, Not the People

Mystery shops aren’t about catching people off guard; they’re about seeing if your training is landing and your service standards are alive.

“We’re not trying to ‘gotcha’ anyone,” Mills said. “We’re testing the systems, not the humans.”

For example, the Players Club, Gila River’s loyalty hub, became a focal point. Mystery shops showed which team members were truly connecting with guests, using names, explaining offers, and creating that “homey” experience. That insight, paired with survey comments like “I come back because of Janet,” helped leadership double down on what was working.

And the ROI? Ask any marketer. Upselling at the bar, upgrading at the front desk, and explaining promotions correctly all drive direct revenue.

“If a team member knows how to upsell a cocktail or a suite, that pays for the shop program alone,” said Mills.

Keep It From Feeling Like a Trap

One key insight from the Gila River team: If mystery shops feel like a compliance test, you’re doing it wrong.

To prevent that, the leadership team sets the tone. They present findings as opportunities, not punishments. They also share wins widely; mystery shops are just as much about recognizing great work as they are about correcting gaps.

“You can’t just push a report out and walk away,” said Ramirez. “It’s about reading between the lines and coaching forward.”

Final Jackpot: Data Is Only As Good As the Action It Sparks

If your team isn’t taking action on the feedback, you’re not improving; you’re just collecting dust on your dashboards.

Gila River’s leadership doesn’t let that happen. Data is discussed weekly in senior leadership meetings, with insights turned into both strategic programs and individual coaching plans. By comparing verticals, brands, and even shifts, they’ve created a culture of accountability and excellence, from the C-suite to the cocktail floor.

And while they’re still under a year into this “power pair” approach, they’re already seeing impact across loyalty, return visits, and customer satisfaction.

“We won’t hit the level of guest experience we want, or the accreditations we’re targeting, without both programs working together,” said DiVincent.

The Bottom Line

The future of hospitality experience management is all about connection, bringing together survey feedback, mystery shop validation, and AI-driven insights into one powerful system. That’s the Power Pair. It gives operators a full 360-degree view of their business, guests, team, and brand. 

Surveys show how guests feel. Secret shops reveal what’s really happening. And, when you combine the two, you get the kind of clarity that doesn’t just improve service, it multiplies it. 

As Michael Mills put it, “Perception is important. But perception plus performance? That’s how you drive loyalty and revenue.” In this industry, that’s one bet that always pays off.