I ask this as I have been trying to be scheduled for a Coyle shop and so far, no dice. I read of shoppers eventually qualifying for very high end hotels and cruises.....and then I also read of insanely picky and time consuming reports. I guess each of us have to determine if such works for us or not. But I did want to ask - for those with experience with Coyle - why does Coyle work for you/not work for you?

Please click on the link below to find other Coyle threads.

I was with them a year before the accepted one of my restaurant requests. That was my first comprensive chronological narrative. It was a fine dining shop. The experience I gained is immeasurable. I easily spent two hours between creating the initial narrative and on the fly refining it. If nothing else, the initial experience helped me improve the more simple narratives many of my core shops require.

I apply often, rarely get accepted. Last summer I performed about six restaurant evaluations for them. So far this year, two. I only apply for restaurants with them.

I had applied for several hotel shops that sat on the board for several months (after they changed to Shop Metrics platform). I was not assigned to them. I emailed Coyle asking why, and it was explained to me that a shopper has to do about 10 or so phone/restaurant evaluations before being allowed to perform hotel shops. It didn't matter that I have extensive hotel experience with other MSCs, of course, since they have no way of knowing if I am being truthful about that and my experiences are based only on shops I do for Coyle, as it should be. So far, I have done 1 restaurant shop for Coyle. I am not interested in the phone evaluations. The nearest large city where they have restaurant shops is about 40 miles away, and it generally is inconvenient for me to go up there. It might take me a few years or more before I get enough restaurant shops to qualify for the hotel/cruise shops. Another deterrent concerning the restaurant shops is that sometimes it is really hard to come in under the reimbursement allotment. With a bar visit/dining room visit scenario at an upscale restaurant, it's quite easy to go over the amount if one orders even house wine or well cocktails at the bar. To me, it seems odd to go to the bar and order a soft drink, though it's allowed. I also like to have a glass of wine with dinner. After bar, dinner, tips and with ordering mid-priced entrees, I still spent about $30 more than the reimbursement. It was fine for an evening out with my husband to treat him to dinner, and I didn't have any problems with the report and the editor was definitely not nitpicky (I received a 100% score on the report).

I've been an active shopper with them for years. And as time passes by, it seems like I do fewer and fewer shops for them. At one point, I did several hotels a month. However, I've decided to be much more picky. Worth it? Yes, but you have to accept the shops carefully.

For me, it has been worth putting in the time/effort to get to a place where I can get the assignments that I request.

Now, it's taken me over 10 years, and I was definitely more than 5 years and many hotels completed before I ever got a cruise shop, but that was probably due to the fact that they didn't have cruises when I started

I've told this story in other threads, but Coyle had exactly one restaurant in my area when I started working for them, and they asked that evaluators complete at least 3 restaurants prior to applying for hotels back then. I had to wait until I was traveling to other locations for work and take restaurant assignments there to prove myself before I ever got a hotel, and that probably took over a year to do.

These days, competition is a little bit greater with the company being bigger than it was, but you also have a lot more options to prove yourself. I still jump through hoops to make myself valuable as well. I was recently assigned a nice resort with enough travel $$ to cover flights for 2 getting there, but also requested the airport restaurant shops on each end of my trip, because I know those are hard to schedule. It also give me something to do on the flight.

If you think you can get a good score on 1 hotel and have your choice of resort assignments, you will probably not have a good experience with this company. It's hard work, but there is a good payoff in the end if you establish a positive working relationship with them.

Definitely worth it! Very intense narratives that require multiple interactions, opening and closing quotes, timings and additional tests depending on the client, not to mention the significant outlay in funds to pay for those 5-star hotels and resorts. Be prepared to write and submit 30-50 pages in written text (10-point font, single spaced) within 48 hours of check-out for a hotel assignment. It would make grown men cry. I've been on the verge many a time.

The folks at Coyle are extremely professional and fair. Do your work well, show them some goodwill by applying for a few assignments that they may have trouble filling and they will reward you.

I once had a month where reversible folio charges totaled close to $10,000.00, at just two properties, for just four nights.

Definitely worth it.

** Edited 'cause I missed an "s".

** Edited again 'cause I missed a "t".

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2016 07:36PM by Professional Guest.

Worth it to me. I have done few since my favorite person there left, but it's been a busy year and I have only applied for a few. They're worth it NOT for the money. Your rate per hour is very low. It's worth it because you get to stay places that are otherwise out of your budget. Sometimes you end up with a stinker and you're still stuck writing an extensive report, but overwhelmingly the hotels are nice.

ETA: Wish I had the time before summer to head to Kenya. That one would be nice enough to split travel costs with them.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2016 08:00PM by PasswordNotFound.

Kenya?!!! Time to check out the "Open Opportunities".

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

ETA: Wish I had the time before summer to head to Kenya. That one would be nice enough to split travel costs with them.

NOT worth it for me, but that's mostly because I don't fit their shopper profile well. I travel a lot (I'm top tier in Hilton, IHG, and Marriott and middle tier in SPG) but I travel alone. I would love to do some of their hotels, but they won't let me. Their closest dinner shop is over 3 hours from me. I am not spending a day (having to take someone with me on top of that) 10 times going to do a shop in order to get an occasional hotel for them. What bothers me so much about that is they have hotels that are much closer to me. That sit on their board for MONTHS. That I would do with no travel bid. But nope, they won't give me the shot, and to be completely honest, I don't really understand why not. They have trouble scheduling these anyway, I ask for them at the beginning of the shopper period, and if I screw it up they have PLENTY of time to reschedule cause otherwise it's probably going to be a few months before they schedule it anyway. F'ing dumb and stupid and since I don't work for dumb and stupid companies because they are generally stress inducing I don't work for Coyle.

$10k in a month? wow. but what would happen on the off chance the MSC rejects or does not like a report? would reimbursement still occur, or how would that be handled? just curious... 10k of frivolous expense could cripple a typical household.

Absolutely.

And that's why they don't send rookies to these assignments.

Communication is the key. Any glitches, let the support team and your contact(s) at Coyle know.

If you take the assignment you had better do your due diligence - before, during and after the assignment.

@dattoliumbc.edu wrote:

$10k in a month? wow. but what would happen on the off chance the MSC rejects or does not like a report? would reimbursement still occur, or how would that be handled? just curious... 10k of frivolous expense could cripple a typical household.

I've done a handful of restaurants for Coyle and a couple phone shops. I find their scheduling difficult. When the round of shops were released a couple months back, I went in and applied for a couple shops. Last week I got an email from a scheduler saying she needs help with some shops in the area. I cut and pasted the details to one shop I applied for but her response was she needed help with a different shop. Then this am I got an email from a different scheduler asking for help with the shop I applied for! I emailed back and said sure I'll take it, but how come they don't go through the applications? Why do we bother to apply? If they did they would know I applied for that exact shop.

I like dealing with other sassie companies like Reality Check, granted there are no high end restaurants, but when I apply, usually within a few days I get an email saying either accepted, or shop is closed try again next time. With Coyle if I'm not accepted for the shop I never even know...
I hope their system streamlines a little bit.

I have a fine dinning shop with them tonight. I did one with them several years a go, but for some reason nothing recently. The set reimbursement on this one is actually higher than I can possibly spend unless the wine is going to be much more than I expect. The ordering requirements were a bit ambiguous and I had to email them a couple of times for clarification. There are some restrictions that will prevent me spending all of the reimbursement. I already checked the food menu prices online. I intend to give them even more then they require in the narratives to get my foot back in the door. One other point, the questions on the form are somewhat generic and several of them don't apply to this location. So there will be some N/A's which can be confusing.
Don't judge my writing skills from this post, I'm doing it on my iPad.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/11/2016 12:25AM by kenasch.

I think they are worth it.

Just curious - is it still worth it to you if the maximum reimbursement is $200 for dinner but you know you will be out of pocket between $150-200 because of tax, service charge and price of drinks at the 4-star and 5-star hotel restaurant evaluations ( sometimes are even michelin starred) ?

I don't know of any dinners evaluations with Coyle that require the evaluator to go over the reimbursement limit. It's a choice you have, but if you bring it to their attention that there is no way to perform the assignment on budget, they will usually raise the reimbursement to match.

Now, that may mean getting a single well drink at the bar, one glass of wine with the meal and ordering the least expensive items on the menu, but it should be possible to do any of the assignments without incurring a loss.

I would also add that for most of the Michelin starred restaurant I've done, there was no reimbursement limit. I have one coming up in June that simply says to order what the average diner would, and it will be fully reimbursed.

Thanks, Steve! That is helpful. I have done both before - asked for a budget increase but the client was insistent of staying within the limit. My guest and I really tried but it was just not possible, even with one alcoholic drink.

The no limit dining has been my experience for the most part.

So for you, would you still do it if it for a fine dining evaluation even if you will be out pocket? Personally, I would go on my own and pay more so I won't be limited on the meal and drink options.

@_shopper wrote:

So for you, would you still do it if it for a fine dining evaluation even if you will be out pocket?

Well, I don't know your specific but you post leads me to believe that you are probably not taking the most frugal approach to ordering...which is fine, as long as you own the fact that it's your option.

I've done it both ways. Sometimes my guest and I make a game out of staying within budget. Other times we splurge. We had a high-end steakhouse last month that allowed a bottle of wine and I was happy to walk out of there only $45 over budget. It was an awesome meal for us. More recently, I had a decent high-end restaurant that we were not at excited about. I ended up having water with my meal. We got one drink at the bar and ended up ordering coffee as dessert. I was $20 under the limit for that one.

Definitely not the most frugal diner! More of the save and splurge.

That is amazing for the bottle of wine - rarely see that! Some of the restaurants in the NYC area can be a bit pricey, so sometimes staying in the limit is challenging. It's a bit tedious to choose dishes you're not keen on just to stay within budget and then write a long report about it. Thanks for sharing your experience, it helps a lot.

I've only done a half dozen dining shops for Coyle (in Las Vegas), but I've found that the bar and wine will put you over the reimbursement amount if you are not careful. Quite honestly, I eat out so darn much that I don't feel the need to go crazy ordering. You can have too much of a good thing.

I have a small company that I work for with "no limit" reimbursements. Well, they do have "limits" but they are ridiculous. $200 for lunch, etc. It's almost impossible to do. A good portion of the time, I can't even spend half. I like those, as they keep my stress down. Plus, a $75 fee, can't pass that up, ever. They have 1/20 of the work that Coyle has though. I've got nothing bad to add about Coyle.

Just finished my Coyle report (novel) from last night's dinner. In over 20 years of mystery shopping I have never spent that much time on a report. It makes the old Ardent report look easy. It will be interesting to see how they grade it and if they ask for additional info.

Do they send out emails about open opportunities?

Yes. Sometimes.

It's not annoying like some other companies where u get the same email back to back like 5 in a row!

Okay - let me clarify. Yes, they do send out emails. Sometimes. However, do not expect any of the really coveted assignments sent to you in a blast email. Not that you might not get an email with an amazing opportunity. If you do, it would be sent directly to you, from someone in leadership.

_shopper, I would not pay $150 out of pocket for a meal, especially when needing to write a novel...er, shop report on top of it. I might drop $200 of my money for dinner with the right guest, but not if there's reporting on top of it.

@PasswordNotFound wrote:

_shopper, I would not pay $150 out of pocket for a meal, especially when needing to write a novel...er, shop report on top of it. I might drop $200 of my money for dinner with the right guest, but not if there's reporting on top of it.

Yes, that is also my feeling! I would rather use that $150 out of pocket for a meal without a report.

@SoCalMama wrote:

I've only done a half dozen dining shops for Coyle (in Las Vegas), but I've found that the bar and wine will put you over the reimbursement amount if you are not careful. Quite honestly, I eat out so darn much that I don't feel the need to go crazy ordering. You can have too much of a good thing.

I have a small company that I work for with "no limit" reimbursements. Well, they do have "limits" but they are ridiculous. $200 for lunch, etc. It's almost impossible to do. A good portion of the time, I can't even spend half. I like those, as they keep my stress down. Plus, a $75 fee, can't pass that up, ever. They have 1/20 of the work that Coyle has though. I've got nothing bad to add about Coyle.

Same - I find it is the bar and wine, plus a high service charge if it is a hotel restaurant that puts me over budget even if I'm ordering conservatively. Thank you for sharing!

I recently finished my first shop for Coyle, and I quite possibly will never attempt another. I am quite detailed with my reports, and knew going in that they wanted a decent amount of detail, so that wasn't the issue. The issue is that I opted to start with a very basic hotel bar/dinner shop at a local 3 star hotel to test them out -- literally this place had one bartender, and that was it. The one guy behind the bar also cooked the food, and was the only staff member I interacted with the entire visit, as this place was more like a cafe than a restaurant -- yet the evaluation form was set up for an entire hotel restaurant, including multiple servers, a manager visit, kitchen area, etc.

Needless to say, there were a LOT of N/A's here, although I did walk them through the narrative step by step similar to their examples. Well, over a week passes and I get an e-mail from one of the schedulers basically saying the entire report was useless because I left out all of this information (not all client obligations met, not all items with specific remarks etc.) and they wanted it re-written by 9AM the next morning. I replied explaining in full detail that there was only one staff member -- the bartender -- who also was the cook and the server -- that was staffing the entire establishment that night, but if they had any specific items they needed clarification on aside from those points, I would be happy to provide it. I didn't hear anything back for two days until I received a text message on my cell phone from another scheduler saying the shop was at risk for cancellation unless I re-submitted it by noon the next day. By this point I was frustrated with them, so I replied that I had previously explained the situation of why there were a number of N/A's on the shop, that I would happily provide any additional information they required, but if they insisted on having the entire report re-written, to go ahead and cancel it and I would consider it an inexpensive night out and a lesson learned about working with them.

Finally I get an e-mail from the original scheduler the next day -- she says she was aware I had spoken with her colleague, and only needed two questions clarified. I responded immediately with the requested information.

The result? The shop is OK for pay, but supposedly did not meet the client's goals, and received a 53%. This for a one-bartender hotel bar/cafe that I wrote what I considered one hell of a report for since I was trying to impress them considering it was my first shop and all. I am someone who generally always gets 10's with other MSPs, rarely have to provide clarification, plus just completed a stay at a 5 star hotel for another MSP (SecretShopper) which gave me a 10, and actually said my report was *too* detailed, and suggested that next time I condense some of the interactions to include the "most important points".

So at least for now, I'm going to say it's not worth it -- plus their ShopMetrics system *sucks*... I don't know why they can't use Sassie or at least Prophet like the rest of the universe.

@ngbmediashop wrote:

I recently finished my first shop for Coyle, and I quite possibly will never attempt another. I am quite detailed with my reports, and knew going in that they wanted a decent amount of detail, so that wasn't the issue. The issue is that I opted to start with a very basic hotel bar/dinner shop at a local 3 star hotel to test them out -- literally this place had one bartender, and that was it. The one guy behind the bar also cooked the food, and was the only staff member I interacted with the entire visit, as this place was more like a cafe than a restaurant -- yet the evaluation form was set up for an entire hotel restaurant, including multiple servers, a manager visit, kitchen area, etc.

Needless to say, there were a LOT of N/A's here, although I did walk them through the narrative step by step similar to their examples. Well, over a week passes and I get an e-mail from one of the schedulers basically saying the entire report was useless because I left out all of this information (not all client obligations met, not all items with specific remarks etc.) and they wanted it re-written by 9AM the next morning. I replied explaining in full detail that there was only one staff member -- the bartender -- who also was the cook and the server -- that was staffing the entire establishment that night, but if they had any specific items they needed clarification on aside from those points, I would be happy to provide it. I didn't hear anything back for two days until I received a text message on my cell phone from another scheduler saying the shop was at risk for cancellation unless I re-submitted it by noon the next day. By this point I was frustrated with them, so I replied that I had previously explained the situation of why there were a number of N/A's on the shop, that I would happily provide any additional information they required, but if they insisted on having the entire report re-written, to go ahead and cancel it and I would consider it an inexpensive night out and a lesson learned about working with them.

Finally I get an e-mail from the original scheduler the next day -- she says she was aware I had spoken with her colleague, and only needed two questions clarified. I responded immediately with the requested information.

The result? The shop is OK for pay, but supposedly did not meet the client's goals, and received a 53%. This for a one-bartender hotel bar/cafe that I wrote what I considered one hell of a report for since I was trying to impress them considering it was my first shop and all. I am someone who generally always gets 10's with other MSPs, rarely have to provide clarification, plus just completed a stay at a 5 star hotel for another MSP (SecretShopper) which gave me a 10, and actually said my report was *too* detailed, and suggested that next time I condense some of the interactions to include the "most important points".

So at least for now, I'm going to say it's not worth it -- plus their ShopMetrics system *sucks*... I don't know why they can't use Sassie or at least Prophet like the rest of the universe.

Thank You for your detaled experience with Coyle. It's experiences such as yours that really turn me off higher end MSC's. The closest I have come to this myself is an unpleasant brush with an editor at ACL re a restaurant shop. The editor simply could not comprehend that I would not make multiple special requests even though the shop did not require me to do so. I was paid and reimbursed but I notice that I can no longer see hotels with ACL on their job board. I'm glad you were paid and I'm grateful for your warning about Coyle. Good shops to you!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/12/2016 01:59PM by squireparty.