About Us

About Us


Introducing HGEM

Our Story

HGEM are the market leaders in Guest Experience Management. With nearly 20 years of experience and having worked with most of the brands across UK high-streets throughout the years, you can be sure HGEM are the experts in helping hospitality businesses grow through actionable guest insights.


HGEM - Hospitality Guest Experience Management

HGEM has always been a pioneer. We created the term ‘Guest Experience Management’ (GEM) in 2016 as part of our mission to empower hospitality businesses through adopting GEM as a core business discipline. We wanted to go further than just monitoring feedback by actively managing the experience of guests and generating a culture of continuous improvement within teams.

Fast forward a few years, and we can proudly state our mission is flourishing - Guest Experience Management is now considered a common business practice across the industry. Many businesses are employing ‘Guest Experience Managers’ that use our original GEM framework and award-winning platform - The Hub.

But the pioneering spirit goes back further than that. In our original guise as The Mystery Dining Company, back in 2003, we created the term ‘mystery dining’ as a specialist form of mystery shopping. It reflected the deeper and longer experiences that are typical in hospitality, as compared with retail. Hot on the heels of the dot.com explosion, we were the first to use the internet to provide next-day reporting.

Throughout our story, we have valued working with clients that have a similar pioneering spirit. Together, we drive each other forward, always striving for innovative ways to achieve the ultimate goal of giving guests a great experience that they talk about, in order to build future sales. Some of our larger clients include wagamama, Pret a Manger, Brewdog, Lounges and Heineken’s Star Pubs & Bars. But we also enjoy working with many smaller businesses, sometimes with only a handful of sites but with bagfuls of ambition and creative ideas. Altogether, we support over 10,000 restaurants, pubs, hotels, cinemas and caterers.

Our service includes designated Client Success Managers, who ensure our clients get the best value out of our products. Most of the Client team have hospitality backgrounds, which enables them to understand the operational challenges and the factors that lead to success within a hospitality business.

We believe in developing close partnerships with our client contacts, helping them become the heroes of their team and leading the business to success.


Our People

Many of our people have joined us having worked in the hospitality industry and so it truly has shaped who we are and the way we behave. We understand the pressures and challenges of your teams because we have been there, and we’re passionate about supporting you to deliver a great guest experience every time. We were also crowned Employer of the Year at the Bath Live Business Awards.

Anna Clarke

Anna Clarke

Mystery Guest Advisor

Every day brings something new, and I enjoy being part of a team that strives to improve hospitality while being supportive and helpful.

Lucy Marshall

Lucy Marshall

Client Success Manager

I really enjoy working alongside a wide variety of clients & love helping them track and improve their overall guest experience.

Lloyd Williams

Lloyd Williams

Senior Business Intelligence Developer

Our Business Intelligence solutions are inspired by translating your needs into technical specifications. Our data drives actions through insight, allowing you to focus on what matters to you.

Paul Watts

Paul Watts

Technical Lead

Leading the technical team to design and build fantastic software to help our clients have the very best insight into their business.

Lauren Gould

Lauren Gould

Head of Implementation

I enjoy engaging with our clients and learning about what they are trying to achieve, then in partnership with them, building a solution that can support and help them reach their targets. I’m proud to work in such a fantastic industry.

Suzi Perryman

Suzi Perryman

Business Development Manager

I enjoy supporting clients to make the most of their guest feedback, identifying key trends to highlight where they can continually improve experiences, so their customers come back time and again.

Emily Batten

Emily Batten

Business Development Executive

I enjoy building relationships with our clients, discussing current challenges and creating solutions to improve the guest experience across so many brands. Every day brings something new and exciting, and I have the best team to share it with!

Chloe Chard-Harvey

Chloe Chard-Harvey

Support Coordinator

I love talking to people and problem solving so I love that my job combines the two.

Sue Kendall

Sue Kendall

Accounts & HR Administrator

It’s really important to me that we get it right first time and on time and I feel fortunate to work in a team who really care about what it is they do.

Bethany Prior

Bethany Prior

Senior Marketing Executive

I have a passion for all things marketing & love to create content. I am so happy that I get to do this at HGEM alongside such a lovely team.

Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards

Mystery Guest Advisor

I really enjoy working to improve and empower hospitality amongst such a friendly and supportive team.

Nick Nikolenko

Nick Nikolenko

Software Engineer

I like being part of a team that solves complex problems and has fun doing it.

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Our Mystery Guests

At HGEM we are fortunate to have a fantastic community of mystery guests that we try hard to nurture and support as stakeholders in 'empowering hospitality'. In return, they go the extra mile to provide detailed and practical feedback on their experiences.

If you are interested in becoming one of our mystery guests, please go to mysterydining.net.

Learn more about what we do