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Hotel shop requested reimbursement

July 25, 2015 06:46AM
So the following hotel shop was available: Description 2-night hotel stay with world's leading upscale lifestyle brand; very cool locations with stylish decor. Includes 2 breakfasts and 1 room service meal at most locations. Please indicate what your requested travel reimbursement would be to the client.

So is anyone familiar as to what "Please indicate what your requested travel reimbursement would be to the client" exactly means? Do you attempt to request reimbursement of the cost of the hotel plus travel expenses?
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More About Reimbursements
July 25, 2015 02:24PM
It sounds like you are in the world of bidding for very high end shops. You might want to PM Stevein SoCA for advice.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
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July 27, 2015 05:26PM
@Ltchatty wrote:

So is anyone familiar as to what "Please indicate what your requested travel reimbursement would be to the client" exactly means? Do you attempt to request reimbursement of the cost of the hotel plus travel expenses?

No, hotel expenses will be reimbursed anyway so there's no need to figure those into the request. They are just looking for what you might need in travel expense to get to the location. And in general, they're looking for the low bidder. Good luck with your application!
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July 29, 2015 05:22PM
This is the kind of thing that won't figure into it if you don't have much cachet with the company; the one you're referring to wants to see a number of phone and restaurant shops with good scores first, and even then they're going to schedule it as close to the location as possible to keep this cost down. Nobody likes spending more money than they have to.

HOWEVER.

I've been with that company a short amount of time, gotten mostly great scores, and only done a handful of hotel shops with them. I was recently approved for almost $100 in travel expenses. And I got this (he strongly suspects) the same way I got a restaurant job without doing their phone shops first; I picked a location that was out of the way, but not ridiculously far from the city I live in. The outlying locations will have less competition in bidding, so you're more likely to be approved for those even earlier in your relationship with the company.

It may have also helped that I just cranked the search range up and applied for every hotel in this half a state.

They will expect receipts for those travel costs, so don't highball it. Research the amount you'd wind up paying and be precise. If I were a scheduler, I'd appreciate an exact figure.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2015 05:26PM by Fastjack.
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August 08, 2015 12:29AM
The above posts are right on, and I would suggest for that particular client to keep your travel bid at $100 or lower if you want a good shot at the assignment, unless the hotel is in a very hard to reach location.

The bidding basically means that if your average score is 17 and another person with a 17 bids lower...no assignment for you sad smiley
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August 24, 2015 08:19AM
How much should you plan on investing into a hotel shop that will later be reimbursed?

Catch me Bloggin' at www.coastalcathy.com grinning smiley
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August 24, 2015 09:30AM
Welcome to the forum LadyHoldem! The reimbursement amount for a hotel shop depends on the shop instructions, the type of hotel, and the rates at the property and can vary widely. This weekend I finished a shop that had a relatively low nightly rate of $250, but required enough other transactions on property that the total bill was nearly $1500 so the F&B and misc more comes to double the amount of the room rate. Next month I'm staying at a location with a room rate of $1,000 per night. There I expect that the nightly F&B charges will only be half to 2/3 the room rate.

Edited to add: After walesmaven's post, I should add that I am in Hawaii and most hotel shops are resort-type shops, thus the high room rates quoted above. As everything in MS, location is a big factor in what's available.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2015 08:47PM by saacman5033.
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August 24, 2015 10:31AM
On the other end of the hotel spectrum, I do some where the hotel room rate is slightly under $200 and breakfast is free, as is parking. These are perfectly fine, comfortable lodgings (I check TripAdviser before accepting any hotel shop). I also do hotel shops where I am waiting for reimbursements well north of $1000, especially for 2 night resort style locations.

Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel

Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Reply
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