Warm restaurant lighting in a hospitality venue

Hi, I’m Sammy John

I help hospitality businesses by finding booking friction

Christchurch, New Zealand

The audit is a structured review of pre-visit digital assessment with an in-person mystery shopper visit.

Looking at the experience end to end

A structured review of the guest journey, combining on-site observation with an assessment of the digital touchpoints that shape expectations before arrival.

Quiet moment inside a hospitality venue

Online discovery & first impression

How the venue is encountered before a visit, including search results, maps, menus, photos, and availability, and what information guests are required to infer.

Booking & contact interaction

Booking and contact pathways as they function in practice, covering reservation steps, confirmations, enquiries, and response handling.

Experiencing the venue first-hand

The on-site visit itself, experienced as a guest. Covers arrival, service flow, communication, and how the experience unfolds under real operating conditions.

Expectation vs reality

A comparison of what the pre-visit experience suggests against what is delivered on site, highlighting where alignment holds and where gaps emerge.

A written summary of key observations is provided following the review.

How I look at hospitality experiences

I look at hospitality the way a guest experiences it, from first impression through the experience itself. Not to judge, but to notice what’s easy to miss when you’re in the work every day. After years inside venues, you start to recognise the same pressure points repeating. Common problems are not failures they're absorbed and compensated for.

The first impression

How people experience a venue online before they ever arrive. Navigating listings, menus, availability, and booking steps. These early interactions quietly shape expectations long before anyone steps inside.

Making a booking

The first interaction between guest and venue. The moment commitment starts. Where unclear options, extra steps, or assumptions quietly shape expectations before a guest ever arrives.

The experience itself

What actually happens once someone walks through the door, and whether the experience holds up against the expectations already set.

From there, the full experience becomes easier to see, end to end.

About

This approach is shaped by being on both sides of the experience. Inside hospitality venues, and inside the digital systems around them.