I took an inbound call this morning from an unknown number thinking it was my AC repair confirming appointment. It was a research group asking if I wanted to see if I qualified for a focus group thing on business travel for $250. I said sure thinking I would screen in or out with a couple questions. The entire call took 26 minutes which was relatively painful and quite honestly could have generated enough data points that they should have paid me $250 just for that. I considered bouncing a couple times but I was doing some emails through the process so I just continued discussing. They said they would call back to let me know if I qualified. Will be pleasantly surprised if this turns out legit but otherwise thinking at this point they just picked my pocket. Not a real positive touch from Marriott on this at this point. 26 min to screen? Totally my bad for agreeing to it.

Just after finishing and hanging up I got an email (which I thought was notifying me of the qualification/DQ) which actually was soliciting for inbound calls for people interested:

"As part of our ongiong efforts to understand our Elite members� opinions, we have asked Human Innovation, an international marketing research company, to conduct a market research study on our behalf.

The purpose of the research is to gain a better understanding of your experiences as hotel guests. We are keen to understand your needs surrounding the executive lounge and therefore we would greatly appreciate your input and views."

Then asks you to call this group if interested.

Just a head's up to my experience and you are in for a lengthy screen which gives up a lot of info, etc.

Just an FYI that it was kinda painful so if you call them you might want to know that.

Thanks for the heads up. Much appreciated.

Cheers.

Good to know. A screen shouldn't be that involved or gathering that much info for free.

26 minutes is like a full session in most market surveys I participated in. Could it be possible if they took your info but have the $250 redirected elsewhere?