Industries: where you lose guests

Hospitality

Restaurants and cafés

Welcome at the door, time to menu, knowledge of dishes, pace of service, payment and farewell. You lose guests in the pauses: when nobody comes over after seating, when khorovats arrives before the salad, when the bill has to be requested twice. In cafés and coffee shops, speed and order at the counter come first. With a banquet hall, guests in the main room must not be forgotten while a wedding is under way next door. For chains we use one standard and identical scenarios to compare venues. We also look at guests who do not speak Armenian: is the menu clear to them, can the waiter explain a dish in their own words? How the visit works is described on the Mystery guest audit page.

Wine bars and restaurants with a wine list

Here revenue depends on what the waiter says about wine. A guest trying Armenian grape varieties for the first time expects a short, clear recommendation: how Areni differs from Voskehat, what to have with cheese, what with meat. We check whether staff know the list, offer a taste before a bottle, watch serving temperature and glasses, top up on time. We also check whether the list matches what is in stock: a guest told twice 'we don't have that wine' orders water. More on audits in the capital on the Yerevan page.

Hotels and guesthouses

HVS estimates that Armenia has about 1,700 hotels, 790 of them in Yerevan, and guests stay 2.0-2.5 nights on average. In so short a stay every stage counts: the reply to a booking enquiry, welcome, check-in, the room, breakfast, check-out. Guesthouses often have no reception and the welcome rests on one person, so we look separately at how keys are handed over, directions explained and evening questions answered. HVS also estimates that diaspora guests are especially active from May to September and sustain demand for boutique hotels in peak months, so a check-in mistake then costs the most. Many guests call or write before arriving, and a mystery call shows how they are spoken to then.

Spas and resorts

At a resort, service depends on the season. Tsaghkadzor lives by the ski season, which usually runs from mid-December to late March. Jermuk is known for its hot mineral springs and mineral water gallery, while at Sevan the key months fall in the beach season. In spas we check how treatment times are chosen and treatments explained, whether quiet and cleanliness are kept in relaxation areas, whether a follow-up is offered afterwards. A seasonal team works differently in its first weeks and at the peak, so a programme of several visits suits resorts. More on each resort on the Resorts page.

Retail and services

Retail

In a shop, you lose customers in the first minutes: nobody says hello, the assistant is busy on the phone, the right size is out of stock and nobody thinks to offer an alternative. We look at the welcome, needs discovery, product knowledge, handling doubts, the fitting room and the till. For chains it matters whether in-store prices and promotions match the website and maps. A digital audit shows this. In shopping centres we look separately at weekend evenings, when there are more shoppers but the same number of assistants.

Beauty salons and fitness

Here the guest journey begins long before the visit: a message in a messenger app, choosing a specialist or trainer, confirming the time. Then the welcome, consultation, cleanliness, punctuality and the offer of a next visit. In a fitness club we look separately at the trial session and how the manager presents memberships: calmly and clearly, or with pressure. In a salon the receptionist often decides everything, so their work gets its own checklist block. We check how they answer a message at the weekend, whether they offer another time if the specialist is busy, and whether they send a reminder the day before.

If your format is not listed

We also audit other formats where customers come for service: cafés in bookshops, wineries with tasting rooms, tour desks in hotels. The principle is the same everywhere: the guest journey is split into stages, each with a clear criterion. If you have no suitable standard, we start with a base one, adapt it to your format, city and season, and refine it with you after the first visits. Tell us about your venue at the briefing, and we will build a checklist for your task.