Different type of hotel stay/Coyle/?
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I recently did a hotel shop that really was a combination of brand audit and staff performance. It was brutal. Not for Coyle, but it reminded me of all of the comments that I have seen about those shops. The hotel in question was trying to prep for its upcoming AAA audit and hoping to move up one star. The questions that made me crazy were ones that asked if associate exuded such-and-such an attitude or demeanor. But there was no clear explanation of what they wanted to see. It was a mentally exhausting 2 days. I would ask to see the survey form upfront for a brand standards audit AND guideline concerning the meaning of brand catch phrases that will most certainly be prominent in the survey. My scheduler never had those definitions, so neither did I. Flying blind in a damaged aircraft was how those 2 days seemed.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Wales,
Was there some scoring on the check list - like a 5 means excellent, 1 means poor?
In terms of staff attitude, were there descriptors to check? eg: cheerful, not responsive, etc.
On a recent food shop, I gave a server a descriptor I have not used in a long time: sullen!
Was there some scoring on the check list - like a 5 means excellent, 1 means poor?
In terms of staff attitude, were there descriptors to check? eg: cheerful, not responsive, etc.
On a recent food shop, I gave a server a descriptor I have not used in a long time: sullen!
Yes, and anything less than perfect required an explanation. So, the chances of a narrative being required were very high.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2018 01:53PM by walesmaven.
Based in MD, near DC
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Shopping from the Carolinas to New York
Have video cam; will travel
Poor customer service? Don't get mad; get video.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/29/2018 01:53PM by walesmaven.
I would ask SteveSoCal for his input. He does or had done a lot of work for Coyle.
@BarefootBliss wrote:
I was looking through the available shops for Coyle and noticed something new to me: "2-night brand standard audits"
The listing states checklist only, no narratives with short comment only for negatives. Audit may be conducted at the evaluator's pace. "This is not an experience evaluation"
I don't recall the number of items to check, seems like it was about 150 over 2 days.
Any comments on these? Anyone care to share their experiences with them?
Thanks
These shops are not writing intensive, but they do require a lot of pictures and attention to detail. The reports are straight forward and you will have plenty of time to enjoy for yourself if you are organized and follow the instructions. I had no problem getting these jobs done during my stays at the hotels. It's also an easy way to get some hotel points with this client.
Agreed with naraiford, but there is definitely some organization and advance prep work required for these.
I averaged about 4 hours of reporting once I got the format down, but it will take more in the beginning...and you need to double or triple check that you accomplished everything. They will reject the assignment if you miss items...
I averaged about 4 hours of reporting once I got the format down, but it will take more in the beginning...and you need to double or triple check that you accomplished everything. They will reject the assignment if you miss items...
You can see the guidelines and some of the standards in the job posting - so that should give you some idea. Unlike the wales shop (which I have also done - or something similar) this is about compliance items and is not subjective but rather "is X present or not." For the most part there is little to no commentary on what the employee themselves does. And unlike other Coyle shops there really is no narrative.
That makes it less mentally exhausting but there is a lot of things to check. A lot. And as Steve says, if you miss items they will reject...
That said, they are probably some of the most highly anticipated shops released each year and I know that I and a few others get all aflutter with planning out our trips! Once you get the hang of it, you really do have time to enjoy yourself in the locale, unlike many other hotel/resort shops.
That makes it less mentally exhausting but there is a lot of things to check. A lot. And as Steve says, if you miss items they will reject...
That said, they are probably some of the most highly anticipated shops released each year and I know that I and a few others get all aflutter with planning out our trips! Once you get the hang of it, you really do have time to enjoy yourself in the locale, unlike many other hotel/resort shops.
You will also be capturing LOTS of images, somewhere close to 100, if I remember correctly. They want images of things like the toiletries - how they're displayed as well as images of each individual toiletry, images of care and fabric content labels for the linens. You'll be measuring television screens, the bed/mattress, the safe, the mini fridge and towels - bath, hand, wash, bathmat. God help you, if they upgrade you to a suite, count on your image count to increase approximately 25 - 30 percent. They'll also want you to have something laundered or dry-cleaned and images of the laundry/dry cleaning ticket as well as the packaging the laundered/dry cleaned items arrived in. You'll also be doing a brand audit of the breakfast experience at the outlet and In-Room Dining, as well as the spa, if there is one on site.
Do NOT miss anything.
Do NOT miss anything.
I am up to about ten shops with Coyle at this point - mostly cafes and bar/lounges with food requirements. I know this is very few, but it took a long time to get accepted for any at all and so this feels like a good start. I've been getting good scores - all above 90 with 100 on last few now as I've adjusted to the style requirements. When I saw these audits, I thought it may be an easier first hotel audit with Coyle than their standard narrative intensive shops. However, this thread is making me wonder if it is the opposite and these shops are actually for their most skilled auditors, beyond even the regular hotel shops.
Would I have any chance of being accepted for one of these, having not yet done a Coyle hotel? Or would that even be a good idea? I have done about a dozen hotels for other mystery shopping companies, all successfully, but I have been trying to put in my time on the lower end shops to build up my reputation at Coyle. I have entered a few applications for this new round, but have not been accepted for any, as of yet.
Also, for travel bidding, do you typically just enter that in the application request or is there a separate process for that? Perhaps the fact that I don't know answers the question above.
Would I have any chance of being accepted for one of these, having not yet done a Coyle hotel? Or would that even be a good idea? I have done about a dozen hotels for other mystery shopping companies, all successfully, but I have been trying to put in my time on the lower end shops to build up my reputation at Coyle. I have entered a few applications for this new round, but have not been accepted for any, as of yet.
Also, for travel bidding, do you typically just enter that in the application request or is there a separate process for that? Perhaps the fact that I don't know answers the question above.
There is nothing wrong with asking and putting in a request. What is the worst they can say, no? Actually - what most likely will happen is your application will sit there for a long time and then quietly get assigned to someone else. But if you are patient and remember that a lot of people ask for these, and the really popular ones go fast, it is always possible that you will want one that nobody else does, or maybe on a date that they need, and there you go.
This isn't a new program for Coyle, so they have a couple of years under the belt of knowing where the shoppers have made mistakes, and honestly I think they do a great job in this program of trying to set everyone up for success as much as possible. This shop is not a good shop if you are not detail orientated or have difficulty following directions (but heck - mystery shopping as a whole is not a good fit for people who can't do those things) - but otherwise, go for it. What I would advise is for your first one, don't stack them back to back, allow yourself plenty of time (get there early, plan to leave late on last day) and don't schedule other activities or shops during this shop (at least not the first one) so you can get a feel for it.
This isn't a new program for Coyle, so they have a couple of years under the belt of knowing where the shoppers have made mistakes, and honestly I think they do a great job in this program of trying to set everyone up for success as much as possible. This shop is not a good shop if you are not detail orientated or have difficulty following directions (but heck - mystery shopping as a whole is not a good fit for people who can't do those things) - but otherwise, go for it. What I would advise is for your first one, don't stack them back to back, allow yourself plenty of time (get there early, plan to leave late on last day) and don't schedule other activities or shops during this shop (at least not the first one) so you can get a feel for it.
Regarding travel - if you want travel you just put the amount in under the request note.
Thanks for the encouragement, @MickeyB! I assumed as much - that the requests will sit there until a more experienced shopper comes along or they get desperate. I'll keep doing the smaller shops and building up my scores.
I applied for a couple of domestic ones and one overseas one, hoping there would be less competition. Coincidentally, I will be visiting that area in late August and was planning to stay at that exact hotel. I was hoping a hotel in Asia without asking for any airfare reimbursement might help my case. We'll see.
I applied for a couple of domestic ones and one overseas one, hoping there would be less competition. Coincidentally, I will be visiting that area in late August and was planning to stay at that exact hotel. I was hoping a hotel in Asia without asking for any airfare reimbursement might help my case. We'll see.
I am currently signed up for one of these. You can't access the guidelines until after you commit. It is a complicated, detailed, long report for little pay but a nice reimbursement. The instructions are clear and detailed. It looks like it should be easy by completing each section as it occurs. I've done some of these before for several companies. A couple have been nightmares. Most have been fine. Coyle is a good company. I've worked for them for 9 years with great results.
YES! I had to take close to 100 photos on my last hotel shop. Then you have to use their system to circle and put arrows onto the photos, its a lot of work.
I did about 15 before they approved me for my first hotel stay and I do think they were desperate lol. But the hotel was across the street from my office. I scored 88% on the shop which I was pretty proud of for my first one, but its a lot of work I would say about 8 hours on top of what you do during the stay for a two night stay. as a reference point I am a lawyer, and so I think I am pretty decent at writing and such, it took me forever.
Was anyone able to do this audit with the MobiAudit app? If so, how? Did your phone have a setting to take the pictures in the required size?
That's going to vary from phone to phone, but despite the MSC's insistence that Mobiaudit is a good way to enter the report, I find it much faster uploading the photos to my laptop, naming resizing and uploading them from there. There's a component this year that requires a narrative, which I would never attempt to write on a phone, either.
Using the phone and laptop in combination seems to be the best approach for me. Mobi has one good feature where it only shows you the unanswered questions, which is helpful for long forms like these.
Just be extremely careful to never have the form open in both your laptop and Mobi at the same time!
Using the phone and laptop in combination seems to be the best approach for me. Mobi has one good feature where it only shows you the unanswered questions, which is helpful for long forms like these.
Just be extremely careful to never have the form open in both your laptop and Mobi at the same time!
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