Of course I’m talking about Coyle. I am a fan of their shops because they involve high-quality restaurants that are within 10 minutes of me and if I do a good job of planning, I can get right under the spending limit so my out-of-pocket is typically zero. I’m wondering about their request for Staff member quotes. They want you to reiterate exactly what various people said multiple times during your shop. Honestly, can anybody really remember exactly what people are saying over a period of time? If I follow the instructions to the letter, I’d really have to wear some type of listening or recording device and there’s no way I’m spending the time, on top of all the other time it took me to do the shop, to basically relive it via recording while I’m doing the written evaluation. I just do the best I can.

For these long narratives, you really have to employ the talk to text feature on your device or computer. For Coyle, you need to answer a series of questions where you include a short sentence on every answer, and then at the end of that section you need to write a long narrative encompassing all of what you said. So it’s pretty redundant in the first place but this company seems to like a lot of words so with talk to text, I can just ramble on forever.

Another thing I do on Coyle shops is print out the survey and make all of my notes on that. By now, I know what many of the key things are. If I’ve jotted things down on the piece of paper, then I’m not flipping back-and-forth on the actual form on the computer and it really streamlines the process.

On my most recent shop, I randomly snapped a few pictures of the interior of the restaurant while I was sitting there, and I found that there were things in those pictures that helped me remember tiny details that I then threw into my evaluation. Such as certain details about the layout or decoration.

Does anybody have any added suggestions on how we can help to remember details on these types of shops?

My understanding it is just greetings and closings that they want verbatim as it is unrealistic that you would remember everything that was said and how it was said but that these really give you the tone of the communication along with eyes, tone, smile (they have some acronym I can't remember). And I have gotten my share of high grades with just these quotes for each interaction. I either make a quick text to my guest or use the notes app. For timings I will often just take a screen shot so that the time is marked and I am not "always on my phone". Knowing the screenshot after the food photos are the server check backs for that course.

I do take clandestine pictures of everything esp. people whose names I don't have because I can't remember glasses and beards for the life of me.

I write it on my phone and take notes on my phone. It used to take me five hours to write up a Coyle report which is why I no longer do them. I used to get 100 or close to it on them at least.

I find their job board confusing. Is an email always necessary to tell them what you want for the fee? Geez. They only have Mexican food shops near me so staying away.

I actually like that you can apply for the job and state the $ amount.

I have not done many shops for them, but that is a nice feature to be able to ask for more.

I have been given the amounts I have asked for several times. I do not send separate email, but when applying for the job, I just say "I will do this for XXX."

@big_sky_thunder wrote:

I find their job board confusing. Is an email always necessary to tell them what you want for the fee? Geez. They only have Mexican food shops near me so staying away.

Did they give you what you asked for?

I use 2 phones. I in a wallet case, placed on the table and video recording. The other in my pocket recording audio.

Yes, it seems like you are required to write some thing justifying why you want the shop. This is in the same space where you can also bid on the shop. One time I bid $25 on a shop that said it usually goes for between five and 15. it was a little bit further of a drive so I figured I’m not gonna do it for 15 but I will do it for 25. That was on top of a generous reimbursement and I wound up getting that one.

Other times, I see shops that I wouldn’t mind doing but only if the price went quite a bit higher. So for those I’ll just put down a high number and I have not gotten any of those.

One time there was a telephone call shop that looked like it was going to be a little bit of extra work because you had to make a reservation and then remember to call back later to cancel it. They were offering something like seven dollars and I said I would do it for $25. They wound up assigning me the job but then I looked at the pay and it still said the seven dollars so I noped out of there.

The jewelry store ones sit and sit forever by me. I feel like if you ever wanted to try to do one of those, you should email the scheduler and say you’ll do it for like double the price that they are offering. I’ve seen them go really high once they get desperate.

The restaurant shop I bid for starts at $10. I bid $30 on 2 different occasions and it was granted both times.

Also, this was NOT the end of the month scramble either. It was earlier in the period (or maybe mid-month at latest).

@Niner wrote:

Did they give you what you asked for?

@hbbigdaddy wrote:

The restaurant shop I bid for starts at $10. I bid $30 on 2 different occasions and it was granted both times.

Also, this was NOT the end of the month scramble either. It was earlier in the period (or maybe mid-month at latest).

@Niner wrote:

Did they give you what you asked for?

Same.
If the fee is too low to bother, I add my price in the box when I apply. I think that I get about 80-90% of those shops. I bid higher for hotels and resorts as well. It needs to be a nice property (nicer than my own home) for me to do all of that work. I travel a lot and often do hard to fill locations for them,

Removed

Coyle is at the very TOP of my $hit list....

I will only do take-out shops for Coyke. They are much easier I did one at an eat in and they wanted to know from which side the food was served.

@MS007 wrote:

Does anybody have any added suggestions on how we can help to remember details on these types of shops?

I do not do Coyle shops, because they want way too much work for what they pay, and their instructions are vague. However, I have done many, many hotel/casino/resort shops that required several long and detailed narratives, each employee's name, and exact quotes for greetings and farewells.

When someone greeted me, I would include words in my response to help me remember what they said. If they said, "How are you? I would answer, "I am fine." I they said, "How are you today?" I would say, "I am doing well today." At the end of the shop, I would respond to their farewell in the same manner while also calling them by name as part of the farewell. I found that actually saying it out loud makes me more likely to remember it until I get to a place where I can make a note of what was said. My other tip is do not over quote. Only quote in your report what a normal person could easily remember. Otherwise, the report looks like it was copied from a recording.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/28/2023 03:36AM by AZwolfman.

How are you contacting the scheduler? I don't see that information listed on their website.

I use my photos for timings as well.

Have you seen many hotel opportunities within the last few weeks? They used to have so many, and I have only seen one property for the past 3 wks.

@Luv2Travel123 wrote:

Have you seen many hotel opportunities within the last few weeks? They used to have so many, and I have only seen one property for the past 3 wks.

I have seen only three of the large resorts have returned after the pandemic, one in Las Vegas, one in Reno, and one near Phoenix. It was not until late May 2023 that I began shopping indoor places again. I am still not comfortable shopping nightclubs, but I might be open to a hotel resort in late August. Hotels and casino shops have been slow to return from the pandemic, but they are coming soon.