Mystery guest audit

A visit from welcome to farewell

A GOSTI mystery guest comes as an ordinary guest on days and times agreed at the briefing. Staff do not know the dates. They wait to be noticed, take the table offered, read the menu, ask questions, order, dine, ask for the bill and leave. Everything that happens becomes material for the report.

The visit scenario is set in advance: what to order, what to ask, what request to make, when to ask for the bill. So the audit shows not a random evening but how the team handles situations that recur daily on your floor. The format is often called mystery shopping, but in a restaurant or hotel it is about the guest and their experience.

What we assess

Checklist items come from your service standard; if you have none, we adapt a base standard to your format. Every item has a wording, a weight and clear answer options. The approved version is fixed, and each visit is scored against the version in force on the audit day.

• Welcome. How long the guest stands at the door, whether they are greeted and asked about a booking, how they are shown to the table and when the menu arrives.
• Table service. Whether the waiter introduces themselves, notices an empty glass, clears plates on time, comes over before the guest looks round for them.
• Sales. Whether the waiter can describe the dish of the day, pair a wine with the main course, suggest dessert and coffee so it sounds like advice, not a revenue target.
• Kitchen and bar. Dish versus menu description, serving temperature, plate appearance, time from order to first course, the right glass and wine temperature.
• Cleanliness. The table, cutlery, glasses held to the light, the menu itself in the guest's hands, the toilets.
• Payment. How quickly the bill comes, whether it matches the order, whether the total is clear, which payment methods are offered.
• Farewell. Whether the guest is thanked, asked about their experience, helped with their coat.

For a hotel we add booking, check-in, the room, breakfast and check-out. For a spa: booking a treatment, the receptionist's welcome, keeping to session times.

Evidence

The score rests on what can be verified. The mystery guest notes the time of key stages: arrival, first contact, drink, starter, main course, bill. The receipt is kept. Dishes, table setting and the receipt are photographed. Straight after the visit they write up detailed notes: what they asked, what they were told and in what words, what was on the table and in the room. Our methodology describes how this works.

A methodologist checks every report before sending: they compare scores with the visit materials and remove wording that cannot be backed up. Any item can be challenged. The methodologist reviews the objection against the same materials; only they can change a score, and every change is logged.

What you receive

• An overall score and block scores, weighted by your checklist.
• A timeline of the visit with the time of each stage.
• Photographs linked to specific items.
• The mystery guest's observations on every item scored below the maximum.
• The methodologist's commentary: what to fix first and what already works.

The report arrives within 72 hours of the visit, in Russian, or in English on request. The sample report shows how it looks. A repeat audit against the same checklist shows what has changed since the team debrief.

Scenarios

The scenario is chosen for your task. For venues in Yerevan and other cities we most often use these.

• Friday dinner in central Yerevan. A couple arrives around 8 pm when the room is full. You see whether guests get lost at peak time and the kitchen keeps pace.
• Weekend family lunch. A group with a child, a shared table, many dishes at once. We check the order of service, attention to children and the bill for a large group.
• Business lunch. The guest has forty minutes before a meeting. Speed, a clear daily offer and fast payment matter.
• Diaspora guest. By arrangement, the mystery guest plays someone visiting from abroad for the summer who wants home-style cooking. We check whether the team can talk about dishes and offer what the guest came for.
• Foreign tourist. By arrangement, the mystery guest plays a tourist who cannot read Armenian. You see whether they can follow the menu, the ingredients and the bill total.

If guests first call or message to book a table, that stage is checked separately: see mystery calls and messengers.

Frequently asked questions