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Secret Shopper Services: A Clearer View of the Guest Experience

By September 21, 2026No Comments

When you spend every day running a hospitality organization, you know it inside and out. You know how service should flow, what your team has been trained to deliver, and what you want guests to experience. But seeing your business exactly as a guest does can often be difficult.

Secret shopper assessments offer fresh perspectives. By experiencing your restaurant, hotel, attraction, or event venue anonymously, an experienced hospitality professional can see what’s working well, where the guest experience may be falling short, and which details deserve a closer look.

Today, we’re exploring what secret shopping can reveal about your organization and how Morrissey Hospitality’s Secret Shopper Services turn firsthand observations into practical opportunities for improvement. Keep reading to learn more!

Seeing Your Operation Through a Guest’s Eyes

We can’t expect guests to know how our hospitality business is supposed to operate. They simply experience each part of their visit as it happens, forming impressions based on the service they receive and how easy and enjoyable the experience feels.

A secret shopper experiences the operation in much the same way, paying close attention to the details that shape those impressions.

During an anonymous visit, a secret shopper observes the details that contribute to the overall experience while moving through the business just like any other guest. Depending on the organization, that may include service and team interactions, cleanliness and presentation, ordering and payment, wait times, merchandising, wayfinding, convenience, and overall ease of the experience.

Multiple visits can provide an even clearer picture. Visiting at different times, during different services, or across several locations helps identify patterns that a single visit may not reveal, including differences in service, consistency, and execution.

Looking Closely at the Complete Guest Experience

Every organization has different priorities, service standards, and questions about the guest experience. Morrissey Hospitality tailors each Secret Shopper engagement accordingly, looking closely at the experience while considering the systems and processes supporting it.

Sometimes the findings are simple. Maybe a team consistently delivers warm, attentive service, but confusing signage creates unnecessary confusion. Maybe guests are waiting longer than expected because of the way orders are routed. One location may deliver the intended experience consistently while another needs additional training, clearer standards, or closer oversight.

These observations help connect what guests experience with what’s happening inside the operation, giving leadership a better understanding of both successes and opportunities.

Turning Observations Into Practical Next Steps

The findings from a secret shopper assessment can give leadership a clear starting point for improvement.

Morrissey Hospitality documents each visit with detailed field notes and supporting photography, then reviews the findings to identify recurring themes and trends. Our team considers the organization’s service standards and brand expectations alongside hospitality industry best practices, helping leadership determine which opportunities deserve attention.

Depending on the scope of the engagement, deliverables may include:

  • A comprehensive written assessment and executive summary
  • Site-specific observations and scoring
  • Recurring themes and trends
  • Identified strengths and areas of operational risk
  • Prioritized opportunities for improvement
  • Actionable recommendations and next steps
  • Supporting photo documentation

The findings can help teams focus their attention, reinforce practices that are already working, and prioritize improvements based on what guests are actually experiencing.

Hospitality Experience Behind the Assessment

A secret shopper can tell you what happened. An experienced hospitality consultant can help you understand why it matters.

For more than 30 years, Morrissey Hospitality has worked alongside hotels, restaurants, event venues, attractions, and other hospitality organizations. That experience informs how our consulting team approaches secret shopping and helps us recognize the connections among service, staffing, workflows, guest expectations, and business performance.

It also keeps recommendations grounded in the realities of running a hospitality organization. The goal is to give leaders useful information they can put to work, whether that means refining a process, reinforcing service standards, improving training, addressing inconsistencies, or taking a closer look at a larger operational concern.

Secret Shopper Services can be useful for restaurants and bars, hotels and resorts, event venues, attractions and entertainment venues, airport concessions, golf and recreational facilities, food halls and marketplaces, retail concepts, and other guest-facing organizations. Assessments can focus on a single location or examine trends across multiple sites.

Get a Clearer View of Your Guest Experience

Your guests experience your business every day. Taking the opportunity to experience it through their eyes can offer a fresh perspective on what’s working well and what can be even better.

Morrissey Hospitality’s Secret Shopper Services combine objective observation with decades of hospitality expertise to help organizations better understand the guest experience and identify practical opportunities for improvement.

Ready to learn more about Morrissey’s Secret Shopper Services? Schedule a call with our team today. 

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Richard Dobransky

President & CEO

Richard joined Morrissey Hospitality as President in 2018 and accepted the role of CEO in 2023. Under Richard’s leadership, the organization implemented best-in-class solutions to support its hotel, restaurant, and events venue portfolio. He spearheaded efforts to upgrade all internal systems, embrace automated workflows and data analysis, and streamline every aspect of the organization for real-time, accurate reporting and accountability.

Focusing next on the employee experience, Richard oversaw a restructuring of employee compensation to ensure that every Morrissey employee earns more than a living wage. With his team, he improved employee benefits packages and ushered in numerous new initiatives to reflect the needs of employees and promote better work-life balance.

Under Richard’s leadership, the Morrissey portfolio has grown from 5 to 18 owned and managed properties. He oversees a team of over 100 managers and 1,000+ employees, leads efforts to provide authentic hospitality experiences at every location, and is an active coach and mentor to many.

Well respected and highly regarded throughout his career, Richard enjoys annual recognition in the Minnesota Top 100 and Top 500 Business Leaders list, and was named among Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal’s 2026 Most Admired CEOs. He serves on the Board of Directors for Visit Saint Paul and The Downtown Saint Paul Alliance.

Richard intrinsically understands the communities he serves, helping to create hospitality concepts that serve as long-lasting, meaningful gathering spaces. He aims each day to make, do, and be better for Morrissey customers, employees, clients, partners, vendors, and community members alike.

Elizabeth Morrissey

Senior Vice President

As Senior Vice President and Chief Growth Officer at Morrissey Hospitality, Elizabeth leads the company’s growth strategy with a focus on business development, strategic partnerships, and brand expansion. With nearly a decade of internal leadership experience and deep roots in hospitality, she drives new revenue opportunities, cultivates client relationships, and strengthens the company’s presence in new and existing markets.

Elizabeth began her career at The Saint Paul Hotel before taking on leadership roles at the Waldorf Astoria New York, Johnson Brothers Liquor Company, and Moet Hennessy. She returned to Morrissey Hospitality to help shape the company’s next chapter, progressing quickly from operations into business development. Her background spans hospitality operations, marketing, human resources, and sales strategy — making her uniquely positioned to scale the organization’s impact while preserving our guest-first, people-focused culture.

Elizabeth’s leadership is grounded in purposeful growth: building high-performing teams, elevating client brands, and delivering exceptional service across every property in the Morrissey Hospitality brand portfolio.

Paula Soderberg

Vice President of Human Resources

Paula is a results-driven professional with comprehensive and extensive human resources experience. She is well-versed in labor relations, employee relations, retention, training and development, HRIS, compensation and benefit management, domestic and international recruiting, job description development, HR audits, unemployment hearings, worker’s compensation claim management, and risk and safety management. She is also well versed in Def Leppard — so don’t mention the band unless you want her to talk your ear off.

Paula’s experience helps her foster an optimal working environment through development and deployment of new strategies in recruiting, onboarding, training, job description and standards, benefit administration, and employee development. She is a versatile and motivated leader, with proven communication and organizational skills. She is practical, articulate, and creative with a demonstrated ability to solve difficult issues.

Paula started in hospitality while a teenager at her family’s restaurant in Stillwater, MN. She continued to work FOH positions while in college pursuing her HR degree (don’t ever let her work BOH. She can’t cook…at all.) She understands operations, allowing her to support management and coach employees effectively. She also has held many HR management roles within healthcare, insurance, telecommunications, and government, but hospitality is her home.

Keith Reardon

Vice President

Keith is a hospitality management professional with 30+ years of experience leading food & beverage operations for hotels, restaurants, golf courses, and sports & entertainment facilities. His peers describe him as a high-capacity, intuitive, creative, thoughtful, and disciplined leader. With years of industry knowledge and experience in multifaceted hospitality environments, he routinely demonstrates strength in strategically building high-performance teams, resulting in stable revenues and profits.

Before joining Morrissey Hospitality, Keith held positions with Ritz Carlton Hotels in Palm Springs, before moving on to Centerplate, where he operated the Colorado Convention Center and opened Seattle’s T-Mobile Park. Keith’s passion is restaurant and kitchen design and construction. He recently completed the design and construction of all the hospitality components at Morrissey’s newest location, Tattersall Distillery in River Falls, Wisconsin. Keith is active in the Twin Cities community, serving as Treasurer on the Executive Committee for the Hospitality Minnesota’s Educational Foundations Board, and as an advisor to Visit Saint Paul.

Johnessa Hardyman

Vice President of Finance

Johnessa has always had a passion for finance and accounting. She started her career in community banking and completed her bachelor’s degree in accounting before finding a passion for hospitality in 2012 at The Saint Paul Hotel. Johnessa spent two years working onsite at The Saint Paul Hotel before transitioning to the Morrissey Hospitality Shared Services Office.

Johnessa Hardyman brings over a decade of expertise in hospitality finance to her role as Vice President of Finance at Morrissey Hospitality. Since joining the company in 2012, she has held key leadership positions, including Senior Accountant, Controller, and Director of Financial Planning and Analysis. Johnessa’s extensive experience spans budgeting and forecasting, cash management, internal and external audits, system transitions, and acquisitions.

With a Master of Science in Accountancy from Saint Mary’s University, Johnessa excels at leveraging financial data to drive informed decision-making. She leads the accounting team with a focus on accuracy, efficiency, and strategic planning, ensuring that financial insights translate into actionable business strategies. Passionate about financial forecasting, she thrives on analyzing how businesses actualize their projections and the impact on cash flow. Her deep understanding of both finance and hospitality makes her an invaluable asset to the organization and its clients.

Amy Houston

Vice President of Marketing & Communications

A Professional Certified Marketer (PCM) with a deep passion for hospitality, Amy blends creativity with strategic vision to build meaningful connections between brands and guests. Her expertise in brand development, campaign execution, and revenue-focused marketing continues to shape Morrissey Hospitality’s growth and industry leadership. Known for her empathetic leadership style, she fosters collaboration and inspires those around her to think bigger and work together to bring bold ideas to life.

Amy Houston brings over 20 years of experience in marketing, hospitality, and sales. Since joining Morrissey in 2020, she has led strategy for 18 independent brands, driving measurable success through data-driven campaigns and innovative storytelling. Under her leadership, the company has transformed its marketing operations, bringing services in-house and streamlining digital platforms to create a more cohesive, results-driven approach.

Callie Kiepke

Vice President of Operations

Callie Kiepke is Vice President of Operations for Morrissey Hospitality, bringing more than a decade of leadership experience across event venues, restaurants, and golf course operations. Known for building strong teams and implementing effective, scalable processes, she plays a key role in driving consistent performance across the organization.

Callie began her hospitality career at 18 and earned a degree in Hospitality Management from the University of Wisconsin–Stout. After nearly ten years with TPC Twin Cities, she joined Morrissey Hospitality at Bunker Hills Event Center, where she advanced from Catering Sales Manager to Director of Catering and later General Manager. Under her leadership, Bunker Hills became one of the company’s top-performing properties.

In addition to her work at Bunker Hills and Kendall’s Tavern & Chophouse, Callie has supported operations at Stockyards Tavern & Chophouse, played a key role in the opening of Dawn Manor, and is instrumental in strengthening private dining operations. As Vice President of Operations, she leads menu development, systems strategy, and process standardization, with a focus on continuous improvement and exceptional guest experiences.

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