Busted

Sunday morning I was identified as a mystery shopper.  Fortunately it was for a hotel and not one of the service shops.  I do not know how my cover was blown, but the scenario does put me at risk.  One requirement for this hotel (a low end property - I only took it for the free night) was that I take exterior photos of the property.  I took every precaution:  there were two entrances, so my photos were taken from the back entrance.  I did not see security cameras so I can't figure out how they would have known.  Plus, it was a simple shop.  Other than check-in and check-out, I only had to have one interaction with an employee.  

It was interesting how I "discovered" that I had been outed.  When I checked out I requested a copy of my folio.  There, next to my payment information, was a note:  "DB Ref PO# Possible Mystery Shopper!! Use His Name!!".  If DB stands for database, I wonder if the company-wide system is now annotated with this.  Let's hope not - I am checking into another hotel for this company tomorrow.

Unfortunately, this also meant I had to cancel my Sunday night reservation.  When I contacted the mystery shopping company to let them know I was discovered, they agreed that a second shop in the Dallas area was risky.