About
invisible guest – helping hospitality and tourism businesses measure performance, identify opportunities for improvement and maximise return.
Who we are
Our pedigree and depth of experience dates back to 1984, and since launching our first assessments as Invisible Guest in 2011, we have rapidly grown to become one of Australia’s most respected providers of specialist mystery dining and guest perception services to the hospitality, leisure and tourism sectors. Find out more
What we do
Our in-house methodology was designed so that we can provide individually tailored programs to help hospitality and tourism businesses quickly and easily identify opportunities for improvement, benchmark performance and understand what their customers really think and like, or don’t like, about what they currently do. Find out more
Our assessors
With a database of over 800 mystery guests across Australia, our Invisible Guests are not your typical mystery shopper. They are carefully hand-picked by us based on their knowledge and interest in food, wine and travel, and their ability to communicate this effectively. They are the sort of customers who would happily spend their own money in the establishments we survey, and are continually monitored to ensure our high standards of reporting consistency and accuracy. Find out more
Our clients
Our clients range from innovative quick service operators to high-end award-winning businesses in both city and out-of-town locations. Whilst the majority are based in Melbourne, we also have clients in Canberra, Perth and Sydney, and are eager to expand our coverage further. Find out more
Our story
Our confidence in the quality and effectiveness of our programs comes from our unique depth and breadth of experience.
Our founder and managing director, Ian McKerracher, first began professionally assessing restaurants and hotels in 1984, working with three of the UK’s leading hotel and restaurant guide publishers. He has over 30 years’ experience critically assessing a wide variety of operations, including bars, cafés, pubs, restaurants, hotels, resorts, airports and motorway services – you name it, he’s probably assessed it.
Between 1998 and 2002 he was CEO of the UK’s peak body representing the restaurant sector, and he also brings hands-on knowledge of the hospitality and tourism sector having owned and operated several award-winning businesses encompassing retail, fine and casual dining, bars, leisure, events and accommodation.
Arriving back in Australia in 2008, he realised the industry needed and deserved a much more thorough, in-depth and professional approach to quality assessment and benchmarking. After three years of development and testing we launched our first Invisible Guest services in Melbourne, and since then have led the market in delivering some of the most powerful and effective specialist mystery guest programs in Australia.