Has anyone done any shops for Coyle Hospitality?

I've been signed up for a while but they offer nothing close enough to me to be worthwhile. I have not heard anything negative about them.

I applied a couple of years ago and never heard back from them. The only things I have heard about them concern the length and detail level required for the reports.

But that is true for any of the hospitality shops that aren't hack work.

Yes, true, but what I meant is that I heard their reports are even more lengthy than other hospitality firms.

Since I have not done one, I am in no position to know. The information I gathered from signing up sounded like they were on a par with the other in depth reports I have done.

I gathered this info from shoppers who have done hotels for other firms I will not name here, but firms whose names we all know. Like you, I can't say for sure, since they never even accepted me. I have no clue if they have work in my state.

I did one shop for them *restaurant* and was paid quickly. The report was quite lengthy but worth the reimbursement *imo*.

I have yet to gather the nerve to apply for one of their salon shops, as I'm not sure the girls would cooperate with me in getting a lengthy salon evaluation completed.

So far I've only secured a phone shop with them. The number I was advised to use was a private line so I was easily identified as a shopper because the number is not posted. Coyle emailed me immediately after I did the call and advised they had made a mistake, but for me to go ahead and enter the shop and they would pay me. I received payment on time. The form wasn't bad either.

I was signed up to do a hotel stayover. I chose my date but they assingned me another, so I had to decline the shop, but; before I declined I took a look at the form. It is LONG and detailed. You have to interact with just about every department in the hotel. You need to call housekeeping, room service, maintenace, valet, front desk, etc. and have an issue for each of them. You even have to lock yourself out of your room and call security!! When I saw the report was something like 10 pages I was glad I couldn't do the job. It sounded great in theory, but based on what I saw it wouldn't be very fun. I was hoping to go out with my husband and then stay over, but there was so much work to be done we would have had to be be back in the room by 7:00 pm. and then it didn't sound so great.

Of course that is just my take on it, and since I never actually performed the shop, and did not take any since, maybe someone else has a different perspective. The scheduler was very nice, I will say that.

That sounds about like the in-depth ones I have done before. Generally you also have to call the hotel to speak to your room number to make sure they require that you have the name of the party in that room. Most of the ones I have done want you to 'lock yourself out of your room' and request a replacement door key card from the desk with no identification (having stayed away from anywhere near the desk since the change of shift so they can't have seen you wandering around). The upscale hotel shops are no picnic. You really earn your keep on those! But it is nice when there is a spa and you need to evaluate the spa services by indulging, as well as evaluate the hotel restaurants, bars, snack bars and gift shops. Usually you also check the emergency stairwells too just to make sure they aren't blocked because they are being used for storage (managed to get myself locked into one of those once and set off the alarms on the ground floor because it was the only unlocked door out).

You got to evaluate a scenario that probably had not been thought of Imagine you had some ringing in your ears for a bit.

Yes, I indeed got to evaluate how quickly the door staff arrived to investigate the possible breech of security. They were FAST!

Did you get a bonus for the bonus question? LOL I bet not!

Nope. But it gets added to the list of weird, wonderful and not-so-wonderful shop experiences. Today I went to a reveal that had been delightfully easy to schedule. Security, sign ins, locked doors, name badges, escort to the shop area, etc. The guy I was to see was unhappy because he thought I was the salesman bringing him his new equipment, not somebody measuring temperatures, checking cleanliness and signage. About an hour and a half after I left the location an email hit my mailbox announcing they had added required photos to the shop. That ain't gonna happen. I did what I was contracted to do.

My first temperature taking is after while. Where'd you stick the thermometer? Yeah, I have to now take a picture, but no big deal. I have a second temperature taking place that no one can find the phone number for. (These are not Coyle shops, by the way.)

Correct, not Coyle. Usually this company has their act together better than this. I just entered my shop and now am trying to figure out where/how/if to upload the signed sheet. One updated module does not work for me, in case the info is there . . .

I poured a cup o' and put the thermometer in. We were at 107 and the second server was empty. They quit coffee service about an hour and a half before I got there because of no demand.

I'm going to start a new thread on coffee shops.

I did a Coyle shop. It was VERY detailed and I was VERY thorough in my narrative. I had tons of times to report and had to do a bar evaluation on top of the restaurant.

I was disappointed that I only scored a 16 on it. I thought I did a really nice job on it with a lot of detail.

On the upside, they sure did pay quickly, but it's a good thing since I had to charge the very pricey dinner on my credit card.

Kris

do you have high end restaurants that you evaluate In Sacramento and environs.?If so please consider me as a candidate. I do restaurant shops for two other companies.

Hello thehounder,

You need to sign up with Coyle in order to work for them. Their website is [www.coylehospitality.com]

Here on the forum you are mostly talking with fellow shoppers.

Something tells me thehouder will not make the cut.

Seriously though, as zeke11 noted, Coyle has some very detailed assignments and requires lengthy narrative on many of their evaluations. If you are applying, keep this in mind. One sentence answers, or spelling and grammar mistakes in your application will result in you never hearing from them, most likely.

I did a few fine dining shops for them with lengthy reports. My grades were "acceptable for a new shopper" My last one for Coyle was probably the worst dining experience I have ever had either personal or as a shopper. We were the only diners in the dining room and the service was terrible and slow. The manager made some lame excuses. Coyle asked "what would you tell the partner" about the experience. I answered honestly saying that they should replace the manager. I was immediately blacklisted from doing further shops for Coyle. So much for telling it as it is.

I have been shopping with them for over 4 years now. Actually one of the best times I have ever had was on a shop for Coyle when I had to have someone golf an entire 18 hole Palm Springs Resort golf course, so I could observe the conditions of the course. I literally LMAO at my husband golfing. He never made even one par; he hit a duck and trees with the ball. Lost all the balls and was yelled at by another golfer. I have never laughed so hard. It was so funny and a made a great story for Coyle. The accommodations were outstanding. A fully furnished one-bedroom apartment with all the amenities you can think of. I have done quite a few of these, and have enjoyed each one. Pay is fast, travel expenses are fair. Go try it. Have some fun if you can. And Zeke11 getting a score of 16 is really good for a first try. As with all things it takes practice to get into the swing of things for each company.
Their dining shops are good and some of them you can bring children to. It is not that the reports are overly detailed it is that they are very specific on the needs of each establishment.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/06/2009 09:41AM by Amber J.

I have been rather disillusioned about them. I signed up after seeing repeated ads for shoppers needed in a few areas reasonably close to me. I immediately got a restaurant shop at a seaside resort, but not for fine dining--for a very medium-grade sports bar. I also was disappointed in the score I got for something I worked hard on. I lost a point for lateness even though I alerted them immediately that I was ill the morning after I did the shop. Anyway, I thought I was getting my foot in the door and earning experience points.

There was nothing else advertised for months. Then there was a hotel shop in a nearby city I visit often. I know they advise that you get lots of experience with restaurants before expecting to land a hotel, but I wasn't getting any opportunities for experience. Also, I had evaluated hotels for three other companies, including two MORE upscale hotels in the same city than the one they were listing, and had even stayed previously in the one that was to be evaluated. Not only did I not get the hotel shop, but they kept it listed as open, only without letting me know one way or the other, for weeks after I applied. I finally contacted them to see if I was even still in the running, and they told me that it had been assigned to another shopper.

After several more months of seeing nothing listed, I wrote and asked whether or not they actually had any restaurants within 100 miles of my home other than the sports bar I had already shopped and was ineligible to do for a year. I noted that I was really hoping to get experience in order to be able to compete for any other hotel shops. They confessed that they only had one other restaurant client in my region, and it has yet to show up as a listing.

When they said they needed shoppers in these areas, I was expecting to see more than one restaurant listing per year. I feel this was misleading, and I was really hoping to earn some nice shops from them. As I mentioned, I am very experienced at restaurants and hotels. I have done nicer hotels and have even done a spa, but that seems to not be good enough. Just think if I applied for a cruise!

I have not even had a chance to show Coyle what I can do for them. They will only give Hotels to shoppers who have shopped restaurants for them in the past. Well, the nearest restaurant to me on their list is 200 miles away. Hmmm... probably not gonna happen anytime soon. I have only shopped one hotel thus far, for a different company, and it involved a ton of different observations. The scheduler said I did a fantastic job, but that pretty much means nothing to Coyle since I haven't done any shops for them yet. I've actually applied for a few of the 200-mile-away restaurants, but never have gotten them. Kinda stinks because I'd like to do a hotel now and then, even if it is in another state, but I can't really get my foot in the door.

We all know that restaurant clients come and go, so there may be something near you at some point in the future, poofoo.

When I started with Coyle, They had only one shop near me. I used to travel regularly to NYC for work and would pick up shops when I was there. I started with the bar shops that nobody else wanted, then moved up over time to get the hotels.

Now they have plenty of restaurants in my area.

While that foot in the door is important, in the greater scheme of things it is less important if there are not things normally within a reasonable distance. Coyle's closest shops to me are around 100 miles away. So although it would be nice to work for them, until they have opportunities closer there is not much point in knocking myself out. I check their job board from time to time for my state and I guess their sales force doesn't know my area exists

I have never even gotten further than the application with them. Either they REALLY thought my app was crap, or they have nothing here. I don't know. But given that my time is limited and split between homelife, teaching, artmaking/exhibiting and shopping (on the 4-6 hour a night sleep plan, boo hoo) and their requirements so extensive, it is probably just as well, for me...

Dee-

I don't think I've ever seen them post a job in your area. I've noticed that a few states have a TON of jobs, where as states like mine have nothing. I think the only reason I was accepted was because I told them I'd shop in another state.