The (unofficial) Coyle Q&A thread

SteveSoCal · 2016-05-31T17:37:26+00:00

I get a lot of PM's from shoppers who are interested in working with Coyle, but have questions that are not necessarily addressed in the assignment posts or Resource Center. For those questions, and for the purposes in giving ALL shoppers the best opportunity to succeed with them, feel free to post in this thread and I will do my best to address them. Disclaimer: While I am not an employee of Coyle, nor authorized to speak on their behalf, in the past I have been an editor, scheduler and VP of operations for them, and have probably evaluated more hotels and restaurants than anyone else, so I do I have a good degree of expertise regarding their assignments. These days, I work with them only as a shopper, so please do not PM me about getting assignments or their company policies. I have no influence over that. The Resource Center If you are logged into the Shopmetrics site, you can access the Resource Center from a link on the bottom right side of that page, but this link should also take you there: [coyleapps.com] Please scour the Resource Center before posting any questions. That's the official company policy and I can assure you that while it's not perfect, years of work have gone into creating and refining it. It contains a large amount of really important information and examples for those interested in working with Coyle and getting access to the best assignments. So, on to the questions:... Q: "I'm considering applying for a hotel assignment (which would be my first with Coyle). I've found that the average nightly rate at this particular hotel is around $300. From your experience, do you happen to know how soon I should expect the charges will be reversed on my credit card? I have read the survey summary on the Coyle Job Portal, and while it does indicate the charges will be reversed, it offers no time frame for this to occur." A: I believe the company policy is that it should be reversed in about 2 weeks, and while I find that to be true on average, there is no guarantee of it. Some have gone as long as 6 weeks for me and required me to follow up with accounting. Understand that the Coyle accounting department has to communicate with the hotel accounting department to set a reversal into motion, and then follow up if that doesn't take place after 2 weeks. Know that for the few dozen hotels they have had in the past, things have often slipped by and needed a follow up. With the arrival of their newest client that seems to have currently included approximately 1,000 more hotels, with many of them being new to Coyle as client, the time frame for this to transpire could potentially be longer. My general advice to anyone considering shopping a hotel is that if you cannot afford to carry the expense on your credit card for 60 days, or if something going wrong that resulted in you not being reimbursed for the assignment would cause you serious financial stress...do not take the assignment! It's not worth the stress. Things sometimes go wrong that you simply have no control over.

The (unofficial) Coyle Q&A thread

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May 22, 2018 03:25AM

@laur371 wrote:

Yes, if you take a shop last minute, in the Coyle email it says you will get an "important positive" which is equivalent to a "hero citation." I just earned one for helping them out in a bind. Does it have any meaning?

The Important Positive/Hero Citation was terminology used by a specific contract scheduler who only schedules restaurants/food venues for them. The "hero citation" term is mostly used on the Sassie Shop system as there actually is a field in Sassie that will show all your citations. Sassie is the Coyle equivalent of Shopmetrics.

Shopmetrics (which Coyle uses) does not display any "important positive" or hero citations to the shopper so she may be feeding you smoke. If you read her e-mail carefully, she may have referenced giving you priority for shops that she schedules.... she does not schedule for all of Coyle's clients... only a subset.

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June 13, 2018 10:40PM

When you do reports for Coyle, do you typically receive feedback? I’ve done two over the last few weeks (a museum cafe and a bar/lounge) and did not receive any questions or feedback. They are smaller evals and I’m pretty detailed. Should I take no feedback as a positive sign or not really? Both flipped to Okay to Pay and so I know they were accepted. Thanks!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2018 10:27AM by KimBoston.

June 14, 2018 06:27PM

Sometimes they send you feedback and sometimes not; I guess it depends on the editor. If you email to Support and ask for the shop results, they will send it to you.

June 18, 2018 02:22AM

When does Coyle typically post shops for the next quarter? With the exception of some international shops, it seems there is nothing posted for beyond the end of June (at least in the NY area). Thank you!

June 19, 2018 06:11PM

Hi Steve and others...thank you so much for this thread! I have read through it all over the past couple of days. I have done some mystery shopping in the past, and signed up with Coyle a few months ago. I did one telephone shop and one restaurant/bar shop right away. The restaurant shop had some rookie errors. I recently completed a restaurant/bar and a checklist restaurant (no feedback or grade yet) and have been assigned my first hotel. This thread has some invaluable information and I'm so glad I found it. I want to do an excellent job so I can establish myself with Coyle. I may have some specific questions but right now, any tips would be much appreciated. I've read through the client resource center and client objectives, and was offered a phone call tomorrow to answer questions (I accepted.)

One general question for you, Steve, as a previous scheduler/support, what are the feelings about questions? I try to keep them brief and specific to the project, and not about pay, not getting assignments, etc. As a person who previously trained and supervised people, i appreciated questions.

Thanks for this thread! I have found it most helpful!

June 20, 2018 04:41AM

@Andielyn wrote:

What are the feelings about questions?

Better to ask a specific question that's not addressed in the instructions or not clear, than go in and make a mistake, I say.

Every time you point out an issue, it gives them the change to make the instructions clearer (not that they necessarily do that).

June 23, 2018 05:02PM

Hey thank you! Turns out my questions were ones that needed to be asked, as a form I needed was left off the client objectives, and it got emailed.

Besides the obvious on social media rules, can my guest and/or I make a Facebook check in if it is in no way disclosed why we are there?

June 24, 2018 12:13AM

@Andielyn wrote:

Besides the obvious on social media rules, can my guest and/or I make a Facebook check in if it is in no way disclosed why we are there?

Why risk it? I’d say no.

June 24, 2018 01:00AM

Thanks. I would not risk breaking a policy or try to get away with something. The policy is not all that clear. It specifies not using any information gathered etc. which makes perfect sense, but nowadays guests routinely do a check in. To be clear, I have not done it, playing it safe.

I appeciate your help as i navigate Coyle. It is quite different than other MSCs I've worked used.

June 28, 2018 09:38PM

Update: Solved!

Help! I finished my first hotel shop and batch resized my photos, but my original photo dimensions were the wrong ratio, so the closest I can get to 640 x 480 is 640 x 360 without photo distortion. Obviously I can't retake the photos. Anyone ever run into this and if so, what did you do? Thanks a bunch. I'm reaching out to support, too, but any advice would be welcome. Hope this makes sense. --Andielyn

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/29/2018 12:36PM by Andielyn.

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