Frequently Asked Questions Background

GDPR May 2018


About us

HGEM is a provider of Mystery Guest and other service evaluation activities. Our client base is predominantly in the hospitality sector for whom we are a trusted source of feedback in respect of the service standards that they provide to their customers/potential customers.

This feedback is obtained as a result of HGEM arranging and carrying out a range of Mystery Guest activities which would typically require our Mystery Guests to experience the services that our clients offer.

Our clients would use this feedback to improve the products and services that they provide to their customer base. 


Why we are contacting you

As you are on our database of Mystery Guests we are contacting you today as part of our preparation for the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) which we are committed to supporting it in a lawful, fair and responsible manner. GDPR comes into force on 25 May 2018 in the UK and EU.

By signing up as a Mystery Guest with HGEM we have an agreement with you that we can contact you in relation to Mystery Guest assignments that you may wish to undertake or which you have undertaken on behalf of HGEM. Under GDPR, you have the right to be informed of:  

  • What data we hold on you
  • How we use your data
  • How you can change/update your data
  • Your rights as a data subject


The information we hold

As a result of you applying to become a Mystery Guest with us we hold the following information on our guest database:

  • Your full name as provided to us
  • Email address
  • Home address
  • Contact telephone numbers
  • Date of birth
  • Other information included on your application form

All of your information is stored on a secure platform which you have password protected access to.

If you have carried out Mystery Guest assignments for us we also will have on our database:

  • A record of the assignments that you have carried out for us
  • Your bank details
  • If applicable, we may have voice recorded personal data as part of a reservations call made using a > call recording system. These are used to assist in the analysis of the reservations call element of your visit and may be shared with the client upon request.


How we use your data

We will only use your data to:

  • Contact you to provide details of a possible Mystery Guest assignment that you may wish to consider
  • Contact you to allocate an assignment to you
  • Contact you to provide details of any changes in respect of an assignment that you have been allocated
  • Contact you if we require further information about an assignment that you have carried out for us
  • Pay you the agreed fee and/or reimburse you for expenses incurred when carrying out an allocated visit for us

We do not share your personal information with any third party and would not do so without your consent unless we have a legal obligation to do so.

Making changes to the personal details that we hold

You may change/update any of the personal details that we hold on file on our database by logging into your profile at  https://assessors.mysterydining.net and selecting My Profile.

You may request for the bank details we have on file to be changed by emailing accounts@hgem.com. To avoid possible confusion, HGEM should be notified of any changes to your bank details before carrying out an assignment.

Unsubscribing from ‘available visit’ emails sent by HGEM

If you wish to unsubscribe from emails relating to Mystery Guest assignments that we feel you may be interested in, you can do so by unselecting the Visit alerts box in My Profile > Account. It is important to note that if you do unsubscribe, HGEMcannot re-subscribe you. If you subsequently decide that you would like to re-subscribe you will need to login and select the Visit alerts box yourself.

By unselecting Visit alerts you will no longer receive information on potential Mystery Guest assignments that you may be interested in. HGEM will still contact you regarding any outstanding Mystery Dining assignments or reimbursements. This does not remove you from our database.


Your rights as a data subject

Obtaining your data

 You may request a copy of the data that we hold on you by emailing privacy@hgem.com and supplying us with evidence of your identity to match that which we have on record. Once this request is received, HGEM will process the request within 30 days. This request is free of charge once per calendar year; subsequent requests within the same calendar year will be charged at £10 per request. Only data requests from the individual concerned will be processed.

Remaining on our database of Mystery Guests

If you are happy to remain on our database of Mystery Guests you do not need to take any action. Should you no longer wish to be considered for assignments with HGEM you can advise us of this by emailing privacy@hgem.com and your details will be removed from our database.