News Briefs

Ario, the AI-powered assistant for parents, today announced $16 million in seed funding from top-tier investors including Wing Venture Capital, Floodgate, Bain Capital Ventures, Moxxie, and prominent angels.

American parents spend hours per week managing their households, from meal planning for the family to scheduling playdates for their kids. Ario is on a mission to offload this invisible labor by understanding the personal context of a task and then taking intelligent actions to save parents precious time.

“Ario is building the AI personal assistant that real families need; hyper personal, pro-active and focused on bringing real, practical value to users,” said Floodgate founder Mike Maples. “With this investment we’re excited to see how this world-class team will unlock additional value for users, with more data integrations enabling increasingly nuanced custom recommendations and high-impact features laser-focused on freeing up parents’ time.”

Starting today, beta access is available to anyone. Ario takes personalized, intelligent action because it allows users to connect to the apps they use every day. If a user adds their Amazon, DoorDash, Google Calendar, and/or X (Twitter) accounts, Ario builds out a rich understanding of a user’s lifestyle, preferences, and routines to provide more time savings.

Ario can:

• Add an entire school schedule to the user’s Google Calendar from a single photo
• Identify schedule conflicts between a work meeting and a child’s soccer practice, and suggest solutions
• Remind users when their Amazon return is due and create personalized recommendations based on shopping habits
• Create a custom vacation itinerary, factoring in context like a child’s nap windows and developmentally appropriate activities
• Provide personalized restaurant recommendations and meal planning tips based on recent DoorDash orders

Critically, Ario takes a novel promise and approach to data; Ario enables users to access their own data from other platforms in minutes, and ensures users remain in full control when adding their data. Unlike other tools that sell user data to third parties or advertise on it, Ario helps users access their own data and exercise true data portability. When users connect apps to their Ario account, Ario does not claim ownership over that data. Furthermore, users can access their own data from other platforms in minutes, instead of completing the platforms’ own laborious “data access” requests, which take days and several steps.

“For years, consumers have had to choose between product functionality and maintaining data ownership,” said Sumit Agarwal, CEO and cofounder of Ario. “Ario is built in a way that will actually save people from the burden of life admin without sacrificing control.”

Ario’s leadership team is composed of experts in data privacy, cybersecurity and consumer products. Cofounder Sumit Agarwal was previously cofounder at Shape Security (acquired by F5), which protects B2C applications from automated fraud attacks, where Ario cofounder Mengmeng Chen also held a leadership role. Ario recently expanded its team with leaders from top consumer companies, such as Netflix and Uber, as well as Amazon’s Alexa and Microsoft’s Copilot and Turing teams.

Ario is currently available on iOS with Android coming soon. To learn more about the company and product, visit heyario.com.

PopID and Steak n Shake announced today that all Steak n Shake locations in the United States now accept PopID Check In (to review favorite orders and loyalty points) and PopPay for checkout. With more than 300 locations, Steak n Shake is the first national restaurant brand in the United States to adopt biometric check-in and checkout nationwide. PopID’s biometric check-in feature makes kiosk ordering faster, easier, and more personalized.

The implementation of PopID in every Steak n Shake location was accomplished rapidly and at low cost through a partnership between PopID and ACRELEC, a leading supplier of kiosk-ordering hardware and drive-through products. Cameras were shipped to every restaurant for attachment to the existing ACRELEC kiosks. “As explained in our recent publication, ACRELEC believes that our integrated biometric solution provides various benefits to restaurant operators related to throughput, ticket size, and loyalty engagement,” says Bruno Lo-Re, President of ACRELEC America.

“We are thrilled about our partnership with PopID and to be on the edge of biometric technology for the benefit of our customers. Our guests now have the option to use biometrics for a faster and more seamless experience,” says Sardar Biglari, Chairman of Biglari Holdings, the parent company of Steak n Shake.

Now that biometrics are enabled for all ordering and payment inside Steak n Shake restaurants, PopID and Steak n Shake will begin implementing biometric check-in and checkout at the restaurant’s drive-through units. “Similar to the kiosks, biometric check in can increase loyalty participation and revenue at the drive thru while also reducing payment processing costs,” says John Miller, CEO of PopID and Chairman of Cali Group. “Additionally, biometric payment at the order confirmation screen enables staff members to work on tasks other than taking payments by card and phone at the order pick-up window.”

At HITEC, Hotel Communication Network (HCN) will reveal a new AI-powered in-room tablet that will radically change the way hotel guests request services, communicate their needs, place F&B orders from local restaurants and more via voice commands in multiple languages. AiMe, an AI Concierge, will be on display June 25 to 27 at the Charlotte Convention Center in Booth #3836.

AiMe uses natural language processing to respond to guests’ unstructured requests and creates actionable tasks that can be relayed from the tablet to the hotel’s service system and then to staff.

            AiMe:                “Hello Mr. Stevens. I’m AiMe. How can I be of service?”

            Mr. Stevens:     “I’d like to order lunch.”

An ordering screen appears.

           AiMe:                “May I verbally take your order or would you like to see the menu?”

           Mr. Stevens:     “Yes, please take my order. I’ll have . . .”'

The meal is delivered to the room or a location specified by the guest.

“Leveraging technology to order room service and fulfill service requests is nothing new; hoteliers have been partnering with suppliers for decades to streamline two-way guest communications,” said Neil Schubert, HCN Product Officer and former Advisory Board member of Hotel Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP). “But most of the existing communication solutions on the market have their shortcomings. That’s why we developed AiMe.

“Rather than sending a text message blindly through the hotel app, a guest needing clean washcloths can now walk over to the in-room tablet and simply ask AiMe for whatever he or she wants in whatever language they prefer,” Schubert said. “No more going through the front desk or hotel operator and waiting for the request to be re-entered into the correct system to get to the right department. The data is sent from the tablet to the hotel’s service system and then to the housekeeper or floor supervisor – depending on who is equipped with a mobile device. AiMe can create and close work orders, summon the bell captain, remind guests of important meeting or event times, activate room controls and much more.”

At HITEC, HCN will discuss how AiMe can or will:

• Interpret the tone of a guest message and identify key words spoken so if a hotel guest is frustrated, for example, the request can be escalated to a hotel manager.
• Provide granular information to pinpoint the exact location of a housekeeper in distress when integrated with panic button platforms.
• Update room status. By accessing a tablet’s back-office mode (which is integrated with the hotel’s PMS), housekeepers or room supervisors can speak or type updates rather than using room phones with dial codes.
• Replace in-room electronics, including inconvenient and time-consuming TV applications, costly voice solutions, outdated alarm clocks, and rarely used bedside phones.
• Personalize experiences and drive loyalty by providing added conveniences, like speaking natural language commands to the AI Concierge or touching icons on the tablet to control room temperature, lights, do not disturb status, make up room and more.
• Broaden adoption of brand apps. With only 20% of travelers having downloaded the brand app, brands can promote use of their brand app using a device that reaches 100% of hotel guests.  Operators can replace loss-leaders like room services with a digital ordering platform that brings food and beverage to guests from local restaurants. Better yet, it’s all managed by the AI-powered tablet provider.
• Eliminate room clutter from printed compendiums and QR code table tents and inconveniently placed and easily damaged stickers promoting marketing messages and digital tipping.

Tablets are Trending!

The communication platform making the most traction today is the interactive guestroom tablet. HCN’s Navigator 2.0 is a rich, modern approach to guest engagement and revenue enhancement. The cloud-based platform is built on the latest technology stack leapfrogging traditional guest-facing solutions.

Features of the AI-Powered Navigator 2.0 tablet platform include:

• An elegant look and feel with a Netflix-inspired user interface that appeals to the masses.

• Compelling content in any language the hotel chooses to draw people in to click around, discover on-premises services and amenities, and spend more money on site.

• Hotel staff can now easily and immediately update content to the guest room devices. No need to rely on a service provider to deliver costly content management resources.

• A Bluetooth pairable speaker base with high-quality sound, USB A&C charging points, and stunning HD graphics. The speaker base also serves as a voice assistant, enabling guests to request services and amenities, report problems, plus control the room environment by voice command.

“We hope everyone stops by HCN Booth 3836 at HITEC to see AiMe in action,” Schubert said. “This AI-powered tablet is making it possible to achieve a 100% reach to hotel guests and drive better customer engagement.”

Zucchetti North America - the North American outpost of the Italian-based Zucchetti Group – is excited to launch brand new reservation management functionality for chains in the Vertical Booking CRS, as well as a new and improved Booking Engine, designed to enhance conversions and maximize revenue through the direct channel.

The Vertical Booking CRS has added new reservation management functionality for chains, which has been very well received by our clients as they can now manage their rates and distribution across their entire portfolio of properties in minutes through the CRS. The new functionality includes the ability to:

·       Manage rate plans, cancellation and payment policies, discounts and corporate contracts across the entire portfolio of properties, in minutes, to eliminate manual data entry and maximize productivity.

·       Offer discounts to your corporate clients using multiple discount codes.

·       Create corporate and group agreements at the group level, making it easier to create and manage multiple room blocks across multiple properties.

The conversion-focused Booking Engine from Vertical Booking now offers more customization features, new booking conversion tools, an updated look and feel, plus a more responsive and streamlined booking process for guests – in short, it’s everything that hotels need to maximize their conversion rate to drive more bookings through the direct channel. For hotels who operate a chain of properties, the new multi-property Booking Engine will enable potential guests to search for a room across the entire portfolio of properties and then filter the search results by their favorite amenities to enable them to find the perfect room in the perfect hotel, every time.

“In today’s highly competitive marketplace, hoteliers need the best possible operational technology to help support their business goals and the updates to the Vertical Booking CRS and Booking Engine were designed to provide valuable functionality for our clients with multiple properties,“ said Mark Lewis-Brown, CEO & President of Zucchetti North America. “All of the solutions in the Zucchetti North America tech stack (including PMS, CRS, Booking Engine, RMS, POS and more!) work together to convert more direct bookings and maximize revenue – and with these new features and functionalities, we can now offer even more ROI for our hotel clients across North America.”

Employee empowerment has always been a key operating principal for Meyer Jabara Hotels (MJH). To take its Journey culture to new heights this year and boost employee engagement, the owner and operator of 32 hotels has partnered with Beekeeper, the leading app for frontline teams. Beekeeper features an intelligent dashboard that connects property leaders and the corporate management team with all frontline employees to improve internal communication, support HR teams, and streamline business processes. Secure, relevant information is readily distributed, searchable, and measurable in one central hub for an efficient digitized workflow.

“We’ve only been using Beekeeper for 30 days, and it has quickly become an employee engagement tool that we cannot do without,” said Sean Meade, General Manager of the Cambria Hotel White Plains (N.Y.) Downtown and Chairman of MJ’s Journey LOP. “Beekeeper centralizes and digitizes all of our operating processes, including shift schedules, end of shift reports, HR requests, new employee training, uniform ordering, associate opinion surveys, and a lot more. It also gives us a place to recognize birthdays and anniversaries, commemorate a big sales win, and post photos of fun things happening at our hotels. The buy-in from employees is game changing. I’ve never seen so much excitement. Employees are connecting with each other, and they are gaining a better understanding of our culture and why we do things the way we do them every day. It’s phenomenal.”

Meade said prior to a recent employee luncheon celebrating his property’s performance success, employees used Beekeeper polling functions to decide on the menu for an upcoming celebration. He said he assumed his staff would opt for Peruvian cuisine, however, more than 50% requested a Brazilian menu instead. “Beekeeper saved the day,” Meade said. “Within just minutes I learned something new about our team, and it will go a long way towards making our celebration much more memorable by giving them exactly what they want – not what I think they want.”

Jessica Knopp, Regional HR director for MJH’s Lehigh Valley (Penn.) Region and Team Leader for the Beekeeper deployment, said employees across all departments – from housekeepers, supervisors, and inspectors to front desk associates, guest service staff and engineers – were eager to become part of “the hive” from the jump.

“Within the first 30 days of the pilot, we hit our activation goal of 81%,” Knopp said. “Even more impressive is that 95% of those associates who are logged into Beekeeper are actively using it daily. The platform is so easy to work with, as is the Beekeeper support team. Some technology companies get you set up and then leave you to figure things out yourself. Beekeeper is a true partner in every sense of the word. We can tell them what we want the platform to do. If enough hotels want to leverage it in the same way, they will build out the functionality. Quarterly webinars are also a huge help. They notify us of new features Beekeeper will be launching and give us more insight into how we can be leveraging existing features that we may be unaware of or not using effectively. We cannot wait to get the next release of Beekeeper that will integrate AI into our communications process.”

Knopp said HR is eager to standardize onboarding within Beekeeper. In addition, peripheral technologies, such as Dayforce and Bridge Virtual Learning, are already integrated into the platform. Soon Microsoft Teams for corporate communications will also be LIVE in the hive.

Culture Communications

Andrada Paraschiv, Beekeeper VP of Hospitality, said properly communicating a company's culture is key to attracting and retaining hotel employees today. The only way to sustain the workforce is by giving employees real-time collaboration tools that they are already familiar with, such as mobile apps, and empowering them to leverage those same types of apps at work to make their jobs easier and tasks more efficient.

“When we first met with Meyer Jabara Hotels they had two goals,” Paraschiv said. “The first was to give employees a voice and connect them to the company and The Journey. Second, was to give employees access to the information they need to do their jobs successfully and then recognize those people on the same platform and share their successes company wide. The 11 hotels now LIVE with Beekeeper have already achieved those goals, and the remaining properties will follow suit by the end of the third quarter 2024. Beekeeper recognizes that engaged employees are one of the strongest indicators for a frontline company’s success and one of the quickest ways to affect an organization’s bottom line. We’re excited to set up with Meyer Jabara Hotels and see what they do next.”

Promoting Wellness

One of the most successful and engaging communications streams is what MJH calls “The Wellness Hive.” Led by Regional Vice President Denise Maiatico, the channel offers informative tips on financial, physical and mental wellness and includes healthy chef inspired recipes, fitness tips, and trivia.

“Any way that we can reduce stress, encourage staff, and make our people want to be more productive is a win in my book,” Meade said. “Thanks, Beekeeper, for making Meyer Jabara Hotels an even greater place to work for everyone.”

 Alertify, a provider of noise and smoke monitoring solutions for the hospitality industry, announced the launch of WelcomeLink. WelcomeLink is a comprehensive guest verification platform designed to help mitigate the risk of fraudulent bookings, reduce rule-breaking, collect deposits, upsell services, and avoid disruptive guests. This new product seamlessly integrates into the existing Alertify dashboard, providing a unified and efficient hotel management experience.

Key Features of WelcomeLink

1. Custom Guest Journey: Automatically send guests verification links directing them to the guest journey portal. This feature streamlines operations with digital agreement signatures and provides opportunities to upsell add-on services through customized questions.
2. Selfie and ID Collection: Collect guest ID documents and selfies for verification. These are securely stored on the dashboard and easily downloadable as PDFs. Guests receive a signed agreement copy. Additionally, run credit card checks to enhance fraud prevention measures.
3. Added Security Measures: Ensure guests digitally acknowledge rules. Hoteliers can review completed verification reports before confirming bookings, empowering them with control over property access and minimizing the risk of disruptive hotel guests.
4. Upselling with Ease: Hoteliers can gather insights about guests' preferences by integrating custom questions into the guest journey portal. Hotels can offer personalized add-on services that not only boost guest satisfaction, but also maximize the hotel’s profitability.
5. Guest Confirmation: Guests verify their booking details and receive an email confirmation containing an attached signed agreement for their records.

Built-in on the Alertify Dashboard

The WelcomeLink features are fully integrated into the Alertify dashboard, allowing hoteliers to manage all aspects of guest verification and monitoring in one place. This integration simplifies the process of verifying guest identities, collecting digital signatures, and ensuring compliance with hotel rules.

Other Key Features on the Alertify Dashboard

• Noise Monitoring: The privacy-friendly noise decibel monitor tracks noise levels in real-time to prevent disturbances and maintain a peaceful environment for all guests.
• Indoor Smoke Monitoring: Alertify’s smoking monitor detects all types of smoke, including cigarette and marijuana smoke. Immediate alerts for indoor smoking prevent indoor smoking helping to enforce non-smoking policies and maintaining hotel room integrity.
• Incident Reports: Comprehensive reports generated for any violations, assisting in dispute resolution and preventing chargebacks.
• Custom Alerts: Set custom thresholds for noise and smoke alerts to tailor the monitoring system to specific hotel room needs.

Full Standalone Version of WelcomeLink Launching Soon

In addition to the integrated version available now, Alertify is also preparing to launch a full standalone version of WelcomeLink in the coming months. This standalone version will offer enhanced features such as in-app upsell purchases and greater flexibility for hoteliers who require a more robust guest verification system.