I notice that Reality Based Groups occasionally posts a few high profile hotels, whereas usually, the shops are much less smaller ($8-$40), although they also have a $300 fine dining restaurant. I have done something like 20 of their shops, including their fine dining restaurant twice, and I have a shopper rating of 10, but I have never been assigned their hotels, despite applying numerous times. I have contacted their scheduler for these shops to ask if there is any information (like sample reports) I could provide to increase my chances of being scheduled, but I have never heard back. Has anyone been assigned these shops, and is it just luck of the draw? Or do they only assign them to people who have done lots more shops than I have? Thank you for any insights you might be able to provide!

I have not been assigned (or even applied for) one of these shops. But if I DID want one I'd email with an offer to complete a hard to schedule shop in exchange for being assigned the desired shop. But that's just how I choose to run my business, and build relationships with schedulers.

I'm sorry but my experience with the RBG scheduler in my area is she won't do anything to work with you to make things better for both of you.

Just my personal experience but many on this board have had similar experiences to mine.

I haven't seen hotel shops for RBG in my area, but I did see one hotel shop because the scheduler sent a mass email to anyone who has done a shop for her. It would require travel on my end, and I doubt they would cover it. Also, shoppers who reside near that area would probably get first dibs.

Most of the shops I've done for NA, ER, and MS. I know NA and ER are polarizing. I've had my incidents with them. However, on the flip side, they did give me opportunities to remedy a situation. There may be some quid pro quo going on. Because ER does ask for favors and makes note of what other clients/shops you fulfill. To NA's credit, she has rescheduled shops for me. However, I did experience her bad side on one shop that could not be rescheduled. Oh well.

Thank you very much! The scheduler for the hotel shops in my area is CH, and she doesn't schedule any of the OTHER shops in my area, only those hotel shops. Do schedulers give preference for people who shop ANY RBG shop, or only the ones that they schedule themselves?
I DID already contact her to ask if there was anything I could do to improve my chances (and doing a hard to schedule shop would be totally fine by me), but she did not even reply. I have gotten replies from NA and ER before when I have emailed them questions, but I doubt they would be able to affect anything with the hotel shop...

Oh well, it's a shame, as I would be happy to help them out but I cannot even communicate with her. Thank you for sharing your experiences though. I greatly appreciate it!

Nikki won't. She is quite difficult. No mercy. No understanding. You often must book a shop a week or two in advance, and nothing can happen in between. She is the most inflexible scheduler I have come across. It's quite inconsiderate. Dealing with rescheduling is part of a scheduler's jobs. It's especially annoying for her to be so rigid about shops like the restaurant with free peanuts and rolls, most of which are filled very easily and would quickly be picked up if dropped. But not everyone with RBG is like her.

@wrosie wrote:

I'm sorry but my experience with the RBG scheduler in my area is she won't do anything to work with you to make things better for both of you.

Just my personal experience but many on this board have had similar experiences to mine.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/15/2024 02:41PM by JimmyP.

I've had zero issues with Nikki, and yes I have rescheduled a restaurant shop with peanuts & rolls....
I know many have had issues, but personally with over 10 years of shopping I have not (with her).

@JimmyP wrote:

Nikki won't. She is quite difficult. No mercy. No understanding. You often must book a shop a week or two in advance, and nothing can happen in between. She is the most inflexible scheduler I have come across. It's quite inconsiderate. Dealing with rescheduling is part of a scheduler's jobs. It's especially annoying for her to be so rigid about shops like the restaurant with free peanuts and rolls, most of which are filled very easily and would quickly be picked up if dropped. But not everyone with RBG is like her.

@wrosie wrote:

I'm sorry but my experience with the RBG scheduler in my area is she won't do anything to work with you to make things better for both of you.

Just my personal experience but many on this board have had similar experiences to mine.

Glad to hear! Not my experience. Not every experience has been undesirable, but many have.

@viv0412 wrote:

I've had zero issues with Nikki, and yes I have rescheduled a restaurant shop with peanuts & rolls....
I know many have had issues, but personally with over 10 years of shopping I have not (with her).

@JimmyP wrote:

Nikki won't. She is quite difficult. No mercy. No understanding. You often must book a shop a week or two in advance, and nothing can happen in between. She is the most inflexible scheduler I have come across. It's quite inconsiderate. Dealing with rescheduling is part of a scheduler's jobs. It's especially annoying for her to be so rigid about shops like the restaurant with free peanuts and rolls, most of which are filled very easily and would quickly be picked up if dropped. But not everyone with RBG is like her.

@wrosie wrote:

I'm sorry but my experience with the RBG scheduler in my area is she won't do anything to work with you to make things better for both of you.

Just my personal experience but many on this board have had similar experiences to mine.

I did one of the high end hotel shops. I think they cast a wide net for them because it was out of state. CH assigned it but she doesn’t respond to any Qs about applying for more than one date for the 2 day stay - when you initially apply - or for a new round. No response to a Q about a possible wait period to do another one. I found her to be a ‘one way street’ scheduler and the editor was very nit picky. I’ve done about 40-50 shops for them with all 10 ratings. For this I got an 8, even though I provided all the juicy details the client was really looking for. They pick out extremely minor things with the pre-visit phone calls you make while there to subtract points. Correcting it all was maddening.

If you choose to do one of these shops it would be far less time consuming to record the interactions. In order to fulfill every requirement with each interaction it involves a narrative that is far more voluminous than what their ‘sample narrative’ depicts. It has to be submitted within 24 hours of your departure, so plan on spending a lot of time in your hotel room writing long descriptions. The highlights were dinner and the spa. It wasn’t the top location in that state (which I would still be willing to do) and hotel seemed like a geriatric hang out for old money locals. It was around college graduation time and I got the impression they were just trying to fill seats in the dining room. The lunch menu sucked. The room was dark and a bit depressing unless you like the look of weathered French provincial furniture and decor. It seems like the hotel is in a bit of a decline but still a lot of very expensive cars parked in the garage. Barely worth it if you want time to do stuff outside of the hotel. No big loss really.

@Minime wrote:

For this I got an 8, even though I provided all the juicy details the client was really looking for. They pick out extremely minor things with the pre-visit phone calls you make while there to subtract points. Correcting it all was maddening.

@Minime wrote:

It seems like the hotel is in a bit of a decline but still a lot of very expensive cars parked in the garage. Barely worth it if you want time to do stuff outside of the hotel. No big loss really.

Thank you for sharing your experience. It’s good though that the report got accepted and you got reimbursed. Good to know that I’m not missing out on anything and avoid the logistics nightmare of making this shop work.

Okie I don’t think they would chance not reimbursing thousands of dollars for this shop. The pay was $50. They do make it hard though, like the 30 min. time outs for the survey. Who does that for a complex shop? It was timing out before 30 mins. which was very suspicious. The stuff I was submitting after 10 mins. wasn’t getting saved. It was infuriating. It was the first time I had to tell an editor ‘I’m done.’

It started out on the wrong foot right off the bat when the valet was nowhere to be found. The menus are 90% seafood and you’re not allowed to order the most expensive item on the menu (the filet mignon). I did anyway as I’m allergic to seafood. If it’s within the allowance what difference does it make? The spa is small but you can pick the therapist and read their profiles. The room was underwhelming for the 5 star price. Heavy drapes and a mix of slightly beat up dark colonial furniture. At least there were no signs of a haunting.

They tout a brand of Prosecco called Jeio and provide a complementary glass at check in. It was the best I’ve had. I ordered it with every meal.

Funny, I was blacklisted by Nikki but received an email today asking me to help her for shops she needed done. Funny how the worm turns.

Why would I lift a finger to help her after she took away one of my favorite shops?

@wrosie wrote:

Funny, I was blacklisted by Nikki but received an email today asking me to help her for shops she needed done. Funny how the worm turns.

Why would I lift a finger to help her after she took away one of my favorite shops?

@wrosie As much as it hurts, you could offer doing a shop for her that is less than ideal. Sometimes, that is a way to get a ban lifted. However, you're trusting her to fulfill her end of the bargain.

@Okie wrote:

@wrosie wrote:

Funny, I was blacklisted by Nikki but received an email today asking me to help her for shops she needed done. Funny how the worm turns.

Why would I lift a finger to help her after she took away one of my favorite shops?

@wrosie As much as it hurts, you could offer doing a shop for her that is less than ideal. Sometimes, that is a way to get a ban lifted. However, you're trusting her to fulfill her end of the bargain.

Yeah but when she bans me from accepting shops for all 5-6 MSCs she schedules for because I asked her to cancel a shop. I don't think so.

And from my experience I wouldn't expect Nikki to fulfill anything.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2024 10:49PM by wrosie.

And encouraging her protégé to not allowing me to submit shops that I couldn't submit because she didn't have answers to the questions I asked and deffered to Nikki. And those shops go begging every month even with bonuses.

@wrosie wrote:

@Okie wrote:

@wrosie wrote:

Funny, I was blacklisted by Nikki but received an email today asking me to help her for shops she needed done. Funny how the worm turns.

Why would I lift a finger to help her after she took away one of my favorite shops?

@wrosie As much as it hurts, you could offer doing a shop for her that is less than ideal. Sometimes, that is a way to get a ban lifted. However, you're trusting her to fulfill her end of the bargain.

Yeah but when she bans me from accepting shops for all 5-6 MSCs she schedules for because I asked her to cancel a shop. I don't think so.

And from my experience I wouldn't expect Nikki to fulfill anything.

Oh dear... Sorry to hear. I've only seen her with one MSC.