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My 1st Coyle shop....did I screw up?

November 24, 2019 02:58PM
After shopping for 8 years I was finally assigned a Coyle shop at an upscale restaurant in a hotel. It was for breakfast. The instructions state that one person has to order the buffet and another person has to order a medium-priced item off the menu. I went to the hotel website and there was no breakfast menu. The instructions state to call the hotel prior to gauge their phone etiquette. When I called, I inquired about breakfast options. I was told there was a buffet as well as a la carte options.

My guest and I arrived yesterday for breakfast. I asked for a menu and was told that at breakfast the only option is the buffet. I was told that there was a small area in the lobby where I could purchase a la carte items such as muffins. I had no time to email Coyle to ask what to do, so my guest and I both ordered the buffet. I emailed Coyle after the meal to let them know what happened.

How understanding is Coyle about these types of situations? Did I mess up by ordering the buffet for both of us?
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More Discussions About Coyle Hospitality (All Companies)
November 24, 2019 03:25PM
Email them and ask about what to do about the report. They don't exactly get back to you quickly, if at all, though. I would write the report as it happened, with all of the interactions. Coyle reports may take a while, so I would write it to make the deadline.
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November 24, 2019 03:26PM
@Niner wrote:

Email them and ask about what to do about the report. They don't exactly get back to you quickly, if at all, though. I would write the report as it happened, with all of the interactions. Coyle reports may take a while, so I would write it to make the deadline.

Thanks. I did email them, and wrote the report as I normally would. I just hope that this snafu does not prevent me from getting paid.
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November 24, 2019 03:27PM
It's out of your control. You did not mess up, if there were no al a carte options then you did fine. It was smart to not use the lobby kiosk, that would have been a mistake.

I have done hotel shops for Coyle and others where I was told to order from the breakfast buffet and there was no buffet, only menu items. We ordered off the menu, emailed to explain, and it all went well.
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November 24, 2019 03:41PM
I have done solo breakfast shops were I was required to order from the buffet only. Turned out that there was no buffet. I was paid and reimbursed. It was not Coyle. I took a picture of the area where, had there been a buffet, it would have located. Lots of empty, unused, chafing dishes and glass cases (presumably for breads and pastries) made for very convincing evidence.

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.
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November 25, 2019 07:24PM
Don't wait on the report. Fill it out the best you can. Use your N/A power and add the right details. Then see what kind of feedback or questions you get. You definitely weren't supposed to have one guest go get breakfast somewhere else.

One thing you could have tried was for one of you to insist on poached eggs or something that definitely would not be on the buffet. You don't need to be a difficult customer but that is one way to push a little. Another option is to act a little dumb and not hear something or misunderstand. They say it's just the buffet and you say, "Yeah, I don't need a menu. I just want a Western omelet." Then when they explain again, you use, "Oh, really?" like it's a surprise.
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November 26, 2019 03:41PM
@Phoebe70 that's a standard instruction for Coyle breakfasts. It should really have "if available" tacked on to the end, though.

They should be fine with accepting the report based on whatever was available. I have done hundreds of hotel breakfasts for them and never had an issue. One or the other is not available 50% of the time.
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December 01, 2019 01:35AM
they should be super understanding cause you have done exactly what you were to do, And when in the field things don't always go well as expected. And I think you retrieved very valuable info without knowing it.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/01/2019 01:36AM by kathywise73.
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