Thank you Coyle

For teaching me how to write an excellent hotel/spa/resort report. It has made every other hotel/spa/resort report I've ever written for any other MSC look like I went well above and beyond what they requested of me and has ultimately resulted in repeat work. For all the complaining done about Coyle, I am definitely a fan and love the opportunities they have afforded me.

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More Discussions About Coyle Hospitality (All Companies)

Ha! I'm the same with regards to learning how to do reports. I go back and forth on its benefits though, because why am I writing a minute by minute narrative for a froyo place?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/02/2016 08:09PM by shopsuey.

How long does it take to do Coyle's report for a one-night hotel shop? Do they ever pay travel?
I'm done some fine-dining shops for them so I know their extensive requirememts.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2016 05:25AM by AuditAce.

@AuditAce wrote:

How long does it take to do Coyle's report for a one-night hotel shop? Do they ever pay travel?
I'm done some fine-dining shops for them so I know their extensive requirememts.

I think it's different for everyone with respect to the time it takes to report. I've completed a one night stay report in 3 hours. Two nights or more could take me 8 hours to finish, give or take. It really depends on what type of shop it is and what is involved.

I did a one night shop recently where I had to evaluate check in, valet, doorman, bell services, concierge, room inspection, public areas, engineering request, front desk (lose a key) request, and checkout with bell services the following day. There were no food and beverage evaluations for this one but I was already scrambling with everything else I had to do. I did it alone so was able to write most of it on-site. Total write-up time was about 4 hours. If I'd had meals and bar it would have been 6 or more.

Sometimes they pay travel, sometimes not.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I did a one night shop recently where I had to evaluate check in, valet, doorman, bell services, concierge, room inspection, public areas, engineering request, front desk (lose a key) request, and checkout with bell services the following day. There were no food and beverage evaluations for this one but I was already scrambling with everything else I had to do. I did it alone so was able to write most of it on-site. Total write-up time was about 4 hours. If I'd had meals and bar it would have been 6 or more.

Sometimes they pay travel, sometimes not.

Did you find the visit worth it? I've done hotels for other companies that require many interactions for a one night stay but the report isn't 4-6 hours, more like 1-2. I've not gone with Coyle yet because I fear I would REALLY miss out on actually enjoying the amenities and meals they would afford me. And I miss out a lot as it is when it comes to fulfilling requirements with other shops

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

I'm working towards bigger and better things. It paid $75 for that one night, and I have had days of mystery shopping where I didn't earn that much, though many others where I earned double that. I was traveling out of state so I had a free place to stay, so that alone was worth it to me. The thing is usually you have to do a number of restaurant and phone shops to qualify for a hotel. I did one restaurant and then they had a 2-night B&B shop that they needed done right away and were willing to waive their prerequisite requirement, so I grabbed it. It had room service and bar as well as several other detailed interactions. It only paid $75 for the two nights but the room service food was spectacular. The hotel shop I mentioned above was also something they needed done quickly as it was approaching deadline. I got a 100% on the restaurant, 94.44% on my first B&B, and 96.3% on that last hotel. My understanding is that after a certain amount of hotel shops you can qualify for cruises and resort stays. That's what I am working towards.

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I did a one night shop recently where I had to evaluate check in, valet, doorman, bell services, concierge, room inspection, public areas, engineering request, front desk (lose a key) request, and checkout with bell services the following day. There were no food and beverage evaluations for this one but I was already scrambling with everything else I had to do. I did it alone so was able to write most of it on-site. Total write-up time was about 4 hours. If I'd had meals and bar it would have been 6 or more.

Sometimes they pay travel, sometimes not.

Did you find the visit worth it? I've done hotels for other companies that require many interactions for a one night stay but the report isn't 4-6 hours, more like 1-2. I've not gone with Coyle yet because I fear I would REALLY miss out on actually enjoying the amenities and meals they would afford me. And I miss out a lot as it is when it comes to fulfilling requirements with other shops

In a general sense the one night shops are not worth it if your goal is enjoyment. It's only one night, there is a lot of things that have to be done and there is little time to "enjoy" anything other than sleeping in a hotel. The reports are time consuming, taking 3 to 4 hours at a minimum. However, a one night hotel shop IS worth it (to me) if the goal is to stay relevant to Coyle. By being relevant, reliable and able to write a report in the manner they require, it allows for the opportunity to receive the emails that ask if I can go somewhere crazy cool with a portion of the travel paid.

I think the choice to work or not work for Coyle depends 100% on what's important to you and what you want out of mystery shopping. I write for a living, I shop for an experience I may not otherwise have. My day job makes writing Coyle reports less burdensome than it may be for others, but it's still time consuming. Despite the time requirements, if I'm given the opportunity to go somewhere tropical, stay in an amazing resort for a few days and, oh, if I have to, enjoy a massage at the spa? I'm in.

The bed was awesome at the hotel where I stayed for just one night, and they let me have a late checkout so I laid by the pool until 1. Very nice, since I live in Ohio and there is no laying by the pool stuff going on up there, LOL.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I'm working towards bigger and better things. It paid $75 for that one night, and I have had days of mystery shopping where I didn't earn that much, though many others where I earned double that. I was traveling out of state so I had a free place to stay, so that alone was worth it to me. The thing is usually you have to do a number of restaurant and phone shops to qualify for a hotel. I did one restaurant and then they had a 2-night B&B shop that they needed done right away and were willing to waive their prerequisite requirement, so I grabbed it. It had room service and bar as well as several other detailed interactions. It only paid $75 for the two nights but the room service food was spectacular. The hotel shop I mentioned above was also something they needed done quickly as it was approaching deadline. I got a 100% on the restaurant, 94.44% on my first B&B, and 96.3% on that last hotel. My understanding is that after a certain amount of hotel shops you can qualify for cruises and resort stays. That's what I am working towards.

When I started working for Coyle this was my game plan as well and it has paid off many times over. Keep doing what you're doing. It's worth it.

When you say a portion of the travel, does this mean Coyle doesn't cover your entire travel expenses? Meaning a guest could not come as well? I'm totally with you on the experiences I get out of my shops. But I'm a married mom of young ones so I look for those that afford my family experiences and rarely just myself (hair appointments and massages are great though!!!). Definitely those that are for my husband and I work though. I figure by retirement age, or at least when my youngest is out the door, I'll be able to enjoy the cruises or travel that is still possible today, but requires some choreography to make happen. I know I need to get started with Coyle if I want to get in with them by then... maybe 2017 will be my year!

@Travisli wrote:

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

@JASFLALMT wrote:

I did a one night shop recently where I had to evaluate check in, valet, doorman, bell services, concierge, room inspection, public areas, engineering request, front desk (lose a key) request, and checkout with bell services the following day. There were no food and beverage evaluations for this one but I was already scrambling with everything else I had to do. I did it alone so was able to write most of it on-site. Total write-up time was about 4 hours. If I'd had meals and bar it would have been 6 or more.

Sometimes they pay travel, sometimes not.

Did you find the visit worth it? I've done hotels for other companies that require many interactions for a one night stay but the report isn't 4-6 hours, more like 1-2. I've not gone with Coyle yet because I fear I would REALLY miss out on actually enjoying the amenities and meals they would afford me. And I miss out a lot as it is when it comes to fulfilling requirements with other shops

In a general sense the one night shops are not worth it if your goal is enjoyment. It's only one night, there is a lot of things that have to be done and there is little time to "enjoy" anything other than sleeping in a hotel. The reports are time consuming, taking 3 to 4 hours at a minimum. However, a one night hotel shop IS worth it (to me) if the goal is to stay relevant to Coyle. By being relevant, reliable and able to write a report in the manner they require, it allows for the opportunity to receive the emails that ask if I can go somewhere crazy cool with a portion of the travel paid.

I think the choice to work or not work for Coyle depends 100% on what's important to you and what you want out of mystery shopping. I write for a living, I shop for an experience I may not otherwise have. My day job makes writing Coyle reports less burdensome than it may be for others, but it's still time consuming. Despite the time requirements, if I'm given the opportunity to go somewhere tropical, stay in an amazing resort for a few days and, oh, if I have to, enjoy a massage at the spa? I'm in.

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

My days as an editor are paying off quite well, even though I griped quite a bit and was unhappy with the pay.

Here's the thing, SST--children would be far too distracting on a Coyle shop. I recommend doing a few phone shops to get a feel for their reports. I did quite a few upscale hotels for Regal and LRA that require extensive details, and Customer Impact fine dining shops as well, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. Coyle of course had no way of knowing that so I never got any of the hotel shops I applied for until after I made that 100% on that restaurant shop and they were desperate to get lodging shops filled. After proving yourself to them, take hubby on a date night at one of their restaurant shops. When you are eligible for hotel shops, send the kids to the in-laws. Unless you have very quiet, subdued children that require very little attention, getting all of your interactions done might prove difficult. It's also a good idea to take your laptop and try to write as much of the report as possible onsite while details are fresh in your mind.

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

When you say a portion of the travel, does this mean Coyle doesn't cover your entire travel expenses? Meaning a guest could not come as well? I'm totally with you on the experiences I get out of my shops. But I'm a married mom of young ones so I look for those that afford my family experiences and rarely just myself (hair appointments and massages are great though!!!). Definitely those that are for my husband and I work though. I figure by retirement age, or at least when my youngest is out the door, I'll be able to enjoy the cruises or travel that is still possible today, but requires some choreography to make happen. I know I need to get started with Coyle if I want to get in with them by then... maybe 2017 will be my year!

It has been my experience that travel reimbursement depends on what the client is willing to pay, which is dependent on how badly they need something accomplished by a certain day. I have seen resort stays in Mexico offered where the entire round trip flight expense will be paid up to $1500. I'm on the west coast so that was easy.

My children are 17 and 23 so my Coyle escapades are always just about me and my husband. This past summer there were some cruises offered that required children, so there you go. You likely would have had to cover the expense of getting to the ship though. You have to remember that there are shoppers all over the country. If you require $2000 to get to the ship there will likely be someone else who is closer and requires little to no travel and they may get the assignment for that reason. Also, I don't know that I would ever take young children with me to do a hotel shop for Coyle. There is too much to do and pay attention to and when my children were small I could not have been as observant as is required.

I say go for it and sign up. Do the restaurants, enjoy some nice dinners with your husband, write a few reports and see how you feel about it then. You will never know if you do not try. =)

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Here's the thing, SST--children would be far too distracting on a Coyle shop. I recommend doing a few phone shops to get a feel for their reports. I did quite a few upscale hotels for Regal and LRA that require extensive details, and Customer Impact fine dining shops as well, so I had an idea of what I was getting myself into. Coyle of course had no way of knowing that so I never got any of the hotel shops I applied for until after I made that 100% on that restaurant shop and they were desperate to get lodging shops filled. After proving yourself to them, take hubby on a date night at one of their restaurant shops. When you are eligible for hotel shops, send the kids to the in-laws. Unless you have very quiet, subdued children that require very little attention, getting all of your interactions done might prove difficult. It's also a good idea to take your laptop and try to write as much of the report as possible onsite while details are fresh in your mind.

Exactly.

Look, even a husband can be distracting and needy, LOL. He can be helpful in remembering details and getting names because after 15 years of shopping he has become accustomed to it. The 2-night B&B stay was about 45 minutes from home. He stayed the first night and had room service with me, then went to work the next morning and I was on my own the second day and night. It worked out perfectly.

@JASFLALMT wrote:

Look, even a husband can be distracting and needy, LOL. He can be helpful in remembering details and getting names because after 15 years of shopping he has become accustomed to it. The 2-night B&B stay was about 45 minutes from home. He stayed the first night and had room service with me, then went to work the next morning and I was on my own the second day and night. It worked out perfectly.

I agree. My husband is a great help at hotels.

We did a hotel shop recently that was very different (in a tropical location no less). There were no narratives but I submitted over 200 pictures. In some instances my husband took extra pictures that I said were unnecessary. He would just look at me and say "This is Coyle." LOL. Turned out he was right. We needed ALL of them.

For that shop we spent a total of 4-5 hours taking pictures but spent two nights at this lovely hotel, with F&B and a massage. I was done with the report (which I did on my phone) shortly after we checked out. That was a win for sure. I seriously love this job.

Groaning with envy here. Can't wait til I get to that level!

Yes, my husband helps out a ton. We did a resort last weekend where I asked him if the urinals had the splash guards in place, for the report obviously! Guess what photo I was the lucky recipient of? And the report didn't call for photos, just a simple yes or no. When my children get to come with, my daughter is amazing too. She can't wait to be old enough for the video game and R rated movie shops. By the time she will be on her own, she'll be more than ready!

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

And as for those one night hotels being worth it; I'm not sure the individual ones were worth it. When you add them all together, you start to see the benefit.

I took on probably more than I should have so it not only earned me platinum status with the client, but it's now netting me 5 free nights over new years in a very nice hotel on an island that my GF has always wanted to visit. That's making up for al the work earlier in the year....

@SteveSoCal wrote:

And as for those one night hotels being worth it; I'm not sure the individual ones were worth it. When you add them all together, you start to see the benefit.

I took on probably more than I should have so it not only earned me platinum status with the client, but it's now netting me 5 free nights over new years in a very nice hotel on an island that my GF has always wanted to visit. That's making up for al the work earlier in the year....

This reminds me of another reason I love mystery shopping. The perks of platinum status is a win-win-win. Recent mergers provided reciprocal platinum status that I likely would not have attained on my own. =) Enjoy your free 5 nights. That definitely makes it all worth it.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

And as for those one night hotels being worth it; I'm not sure the individual ones were worth it. When you add them all together, you start to see the benefit.

I took on probably more than I should have so it not only earned me platinum status with the client, but it's now netting me 5 free nights over new years in a very nice hotel on an island that my GF has always wanted to visit. That's making up for al the work earlier in the year....

That is definitely the best perk of it to me. I received reciprocal platinum with the Coyle client because of their merger with another MSC's client. I used a good amount of points for 3 free nights in Amsterdam back in September. Looking forward to using them again for a trip somewhere next year too.

Shopping central Arizona.

We have that platinum status already and love it. My husband is after the lifetime status - we've hit the number of stays, just not points yet. I know they add up, as do all charges from shops on my cards. I guess I'm just fearful of biting off more than I'd like to be chewing!

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

The merger was definitely a plus, and helped out with my trip. I was just shy of the points needed for the 5 free nights but had points in the other program (from shops with another MSC) that they allowed me to xfer over...and yet another Coyle client allowed me enough points to book an Oceanview suite for one night on my layover during a layover on my return trip.

There was yet another merger last week with an upscale boutique client of Coyle where I had VIP status from Coyle shops, and that's also paying off in spades for me. I'm probably getting $10k in freebies (including air upgrades) on this vacation with no reporting required....

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

I guess I'm just fearful of biting off more than I'd like to be chewing!

Agreed, and I admit that I was miserable with reports a few months back. That's why I burned out and am taking December off. I did 26 one-night stays over a 60-day period!

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@ShopSouthTexas wrote:

I guess I'm just fearful of biting off more than I'd like to be chewing!

Agreed, and I admit that I was miserable with reports a few months back. That's why I burned out and am taking December off. I did 26 one-night stays over a 60-day period!

Wow! I did 7 hotels in November and that was an all-time record for me. I couldn't imagine doing your numbers! Incredible!

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

2 questions:
1) I'd appreciate a brief explanation of the point system that seems to exist at Coyle's platinum level. (I'm probably aluminum-foil level.)
2) It sounds like you have to do lots of one-night stays that aren't worth your time and then you get to go great places. From an economic viewpoint, do you go great places enough to justify the low hourly wage from the one-night shops?

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/07/2016 08:48PM by AuditAce.

@AuditAce wrote:

2 questions:
1) I'd appreciate a brief explanation of the point system that seems to exist at Coyle's platinum level. (I'm probably aluminum-foil level.)
2) It sounds like you have to do lots of one-night stays that aren't worth your time and then you get to go great places. From an economic viewpoint, do you go great places enough to justify the low hourly wage from the one-night shops?

Platinum level is not a Coyle rating. The platinum level referred to above is relative to a specific hotel chain's loyalty reward system.

I can only speak relative to my experience, but I had to do a number of restaurant shops for Coyle before I was given the opportunity to do any hotel shops. They do not generally allow a new shopper to do hotel stays, regardless of the number of nights involved, if they haven't previously done any of the restaurant or phone shops. Again, I can only speak for myself, but from an economic point of view, once you are given the opportunity to do a hotel shop, yes. It can definitely be worth it.

@AuditAce wrote:

From an economic viewpoint, do you go great places enough to justify the low hourly wage from the one-night shops?

I take one trip every year or two using the points and air miles I earn from shops. The value of my freebies for this coming trip is about $10,000. I broke even on all the shops that got me to this point, but for me, it's worth it.

I also received during my shops this year, a week each in:

-Hawaii
-Montreal
-Paris/London

It was worth breaking even to get those trips alone. The extra week of freebies is like an added bonus.

@SteveSoCal wrote:

@AuditAce wrote:

From an economic viewpoint, do you go great places enough to justify the low hourly wage from the one-night shops?

I also received during my shops this year, a week each in:

-Hawaii
-Montreal
-Paris/London

It was worth breaking even to get those trips alone. The extra week of freebies is like an added bonus.

So you are saying Coyle has sent you to the places above for the week to perform a shop?

Doing what I can to enhance the life of my family! I LOVE what I do

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