AJMAN // Not every guest who checks into a hotel in Ajman will be there to spend a few days relaxing, with some looking to pick faults and award praise as part of a new mystery shopper-style campaign.
Ajman Tourism Development Department (ATDD) has announced that inspectors will visit hotels posing as guests to prepare reports on the performance of each establishment and the quality of tourism services throughout the emirate.
Faisal Al Nuaimi, ATDD’s general manager, on Monday signed a contract with a hotel affairs consultancy company specialised in conducting mystery shopper projects, said Yamina Aoucher, ATDD’s director of Licensing and Tourism Standards.
“The project, the first of its kind in Ajman, aims to measure the level of adherence of hotels to the approved tourism standards,” said Ms Aoucher.
The project is directly linked to ATDD’s strategic goal of developing tourist legislations and standards, said Engy Munir Attiyah, the head of ATDD’s Classification Section, which will supervise the project.
The consultancy company will evaluate hotel classification standards as approved by the Ajman government, prepare and execute all the mystery shopper works, offer the results of analysis and evaluation of the works to ATDD, and provide recommendations on the failure of any hotel establishment to adhere to the standards, Ms Attiyah said.
“Within a few months, specialised research on the standards of a mystery shopper will be finalised in accordance with the highest technically and scientifically applied rules,” she said.
“An action plan on upgrading the current status of a number of hotel establishments would follow.”
The project will help hotels qualify for the Mena Travel Awards, said Ms Attiyah.
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