Luxury Hospitality Mystery Shopping Assessment May -2026 .

Over the past 6 months, we conducted an independent Mystery Shopping assessment across luxury hospitality branded residences to benchmark responsiveness, sales structure, brand immersion, and lead handling quality.

The results exposed substantial variations in commercial maturity, including cases where globally recognised luxury brands failed to deliver even the foundational elements of a premium buyer experience.

Again, “Our observations on Branded Residences are not intended as disruption for its own sake, but as a necessary refinement of a category we deeply respect.”

Overview

Mystery shopping the best branded residence projects is a sales critical diagnostic tool.

We conduct it to observe the real market conditions beyond marketing narratives. It allows us to understand how leading projects position their offer, how the sales process is executed, and how the brand promise translates into the actual client experience.

These insights allow us to benchmark the market, identify structural weaknesses in sales execution, and continuously refine how branded residences should truly perform in terms of positioning, client experience, and sell-out strategy.

Methodology / Case Study

Mystery shopping is conducted from the viewpoint of a potential buyer, often a brand enthusiast. In this case, each resort was contacted through the Luxury Hopistality Brand website, where we provided valid names, email addresses, phone numbers, and requested information on “Branded Residence” prices.

Our perspective was that of any regular client interacting with the brand. We evaluated each project across ten criteria, with a maximum score of 100 points per project. This evaluation was based on aspects such as:

• Contact quality

  • Style of contact

  • Quality of collateral

  • Brand continuity

  • Structure,..

This marks the beginning of the buyer journey.

The Buyer Journey

We measured and scored the projects across ten sections, focusing on:

1	2	3	4	5
Response on Time	Quality Generic / Personal	Further Contact Follow up	Call to Action	Presentation

6	7	8	9	10
Sales Structure	Collateral Quality Presented	Brand Continuity	Overall Experience	Did it Enhance Brand

The key takeaway from our survey is that, out of a potential 100 points per project,  the maximun score was 66.5.

After Mystery Shopping over 55 Projects from various brands theses are the results:

Luxury Hospitality Brand	Average Score from 100	Sales Channel
AMAN	66.5	In House Team
Brand B	10	Master Broker
Brand C	5	Master Broker
Brand D	3.5	Master Broker
Brand E	3	Master Broker

The Conclusions

We can draw 4 major conclusions from this.

• Only one brand used an in house sales team (Aman)

• Brand immersion is non existent in the buyers journey

• Brands appear to be uninterested.

• Brands passing leads to Brokers is damaging their credibility.

Broker response ranges from no contact to impersonal mails with floor plans and then alternative product offerings. To sell BR products, you need to engage with the client, this is fairly basic, and yet it appears the absolute majority of these projects really don’t understand that point.

So Who is responsible for the buyer journey, the Brand or the Developer?

More challenging findings, Summary

• Multiple inquiries (50%) submitted through the brand website remained unanswered despite repeated follow-ups.

• No structured follow-up or lead nurturing after the initial point of contact.

• Not one Master Broker followed up by phone.

• Absence of brand immersion and experiential storytelling within the automated response journey.

• In several cases, no project collateral, brochure, or meaningful development information was provided.

• Communication narratives lacked clarity, sequencing, and strategic direction.

• No structured product presentation or curated asset walkthrough was delivered, Large Dropbox folders were shared without context, guidance, or curated presentation structure.

• Continued communciation was left to enquirer to instigate

• No call to action anywhere

• Subsequent communications promoted alternative projects and general lower priced real estate options.

• Follow up e-mails highlighted Brand product cost against cheaper key ready options.

• Master Brokers offered Direct competitor Branded products

Our Take

The results overall are extremely disappointing, the damage is done to the brands, nobody else.

Our mystery shopping highlights a clear gap between the brand promise and the actual sales experience.

While the vision speaks about “When you own a International Branded Residence, you are the priority and you are the star? & ”The spectacular level of service you’ve come to expect from X Brand, in private residences designed to meet your needs.”

In branded residences, the buyers journey is a significant part of the brand experience. Every inquiry, response, presentation, and follow-up should reflect the same level of excellence promised by the brand.

At present, the sales experience and buyers journey do not reflect this level of brand excellence.

Our Questions Remain The Same

When did brand immersion become optional in branded residences?

How can brands that spent decades building reputations around service precision, emotional consistency, and curated experience allow their identity to enter environments where execution feels fragmented, transactional, and disconnected from the standards that made the brand desirable in the first place?

Only two Luxury Hospitality Brands responded to our assessment exercise. The silence from the wider market is deeply concerning,  because while these conversations are being avoided internally, prospective buyers are right now interacting with the same websites, same sales journeys, and same operational gaps.

Prepare by Dayiana Oballos and Kevin Wash / VOS Consultants