News Briefs

Bluefin, a provider of PCI-validated encryption and tokenization technologies that protect payments and sensitive data, and Datacap Systems, Inc., a hardware and processor-agnostic omnichannel payments provider, announced they are partnering to deliver PCI-Validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) Processing to hospitality businesses across the United States and Canada.

Datacap is Bluefin's preferred omnichannel payments provider to the hospitality industry for PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE), reducing a customer’s PCI DSS compliance burden by more than 70% and PCI control scope reduction at the point-of-sale environment by more than 90%. The partnership will help secure and protect payments for the hospitality industry which is highly vulnerable to data breaches: According to industry estimates, up to 31% of hospitality organizations have reported a data breach, and 89% have been affected more than once in a year.

"The Datacap team understands the critical importance of protecting payments and data from compromise across all channels," said Drew Monroe, Chief Revenue Officer at Bluefin. "By integrating Bluefin’s PCI-validated point-to-point encryption with Datacap’s industry-leading payments solutions we are empowering hospitality providers to benefit from enhanced security, streamlined compliance, and seamless payment experiences."

"Partnering with Bluefin allows Datacap to offer hospitality ISVs the highest level of security for their merchant’s transactions without compromising the user experience," said Justin Zeigler, Director of Product at Datacap. "With Bluefin’s PCI-validated P2PE, our partners can confidently focus on delivering exceptional guest experiences while reducing PCI DSS scope and compliance costs."

Merchants interested in PCI-Validated P2PE should contact their POS reseller to learn how Datacap and Bluefin can help reduce their PCI DSS compliance burden and PCI control scope.

FLYR, a technology company that unlocks freedom to innovate for the hospitality industry, announced a major upgrade to its popular business intelligence platform, FLYR Hospitality Insights. The new edition of FLYR Hospitality Insights is designed to revolutionize how hotel revenue managers, commercial teams, and management companies interact with and analyze their performance data.

The update maintains the customization, granularity, data freshness and automated report distribution capabilities that users of FLYR Hospitality Insights know and love, while adding new tools that provide unmatched flexibility and usability. FLYR Hospitality Insights now includes a range of advanced features to streamline data exploration, simplify reporting processes, and improve the overall user experience.

With over 500 data points and more than 20 visualization options, users can tailor reports and dashboards to meet unique business needs. Key innovations in this release include:

• Natural Language Query (NLQ): AI-powered features that allow users to engage with their data using plain language queries. This simplifies data exploration and analysis, enabling users to gain powerful insights into their business without requiring the skills of a data analyst.
• Excel-Style Workbooks: New functionality enabling custom calculations and data manipulation in a familiar format, allowing users to perform detailed analyses directly within the platform.
• Smart Data Summaries: Automated, qualitative narratives that provide context to data visualizations, offering deeper insights and enhancing communication of key metrics.
• Effortless Content Management: A revamped system for organizing, managing, and sharing reports more effectively across teams through more granular access controls for dashboards and folders.

"This update to FLYR Hospitality Insights represents a significant leap forward in how the hotel industry can harness and interpret data," said Jens Munch, Chief Strategy Officer, Hospitality, FLYR. "With new functionality like natural language querying, we are breaking down barriers for users, enabling them to ask complex questions and receive meaningful insights without needing advanced technical knowledge."

This news follows a period of monumental growth for FLYR. The company announced a $295 million capital raise in August to rebuild the foundation of travel technology. FLYR Hospitality became available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, was awarded an Emotional Footprint Award for hotel revenue management by Software Reviews, and established new deals with major hotel brands like Best Western Scandinavia, and The Boca Raton.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) announced that Rosanna Maietta has been selected to serve as the association’s next president & CEO, effective Nov. 14. Maietta is a talented executive with a global career marked by success working alongside boards and leading teams to high performance. Over the span of her career, she has achieved exceptional success in public affairs, strategic planning, association management, team building, and leadership.

Having previously served as president & CEO of the AHLA Foundation and executive vice president of communications and public relations of AHLA, Maietta brings a deep understanding of AHLA’s mission, operations, financials, and people, and has solid relationships with AHLA’s key stakeholder groups, including members of the AHLA board and Foundation board of trustees.

“I am excited to be returning to AHLA and reconnecting with the brilliant team and colleagues I had the privilege of working with,” Maietta said. “This organization and industry hold a special place in my heart, and I am eager for the opportunity to lead it into a new chapter of growth and engagement. Working alongside the officers and board, I am confident that together we will build on our past successes and accelerate this thriving industry on behalf of our members.”

“We are delighted to be welcoming Rosanna back to AHLA to lead this dynamic organization,” said AHLA Chair Kevin Jacobs, Chief Financial Officer & President, Global Development for Hilton. “AHLA is in a strong position of stability and strength, with an engaged membership, successful advocacy program and a talented and dedicated team. With Rosanna’s reputation as an astute leader and strategist and her proven track record of advancing core missions, evolving organizations, and achieving strong financial outcomes, I am confident that she is the right leader to build on AHLA’s momentum.”

AHLA Vice Chair Mitch Patel, Founder and CEO of Vision Hospitality Group, added, “Rosanna is well known as a creative and inspiring leader and a persuasive communicator with the capacity to build lasting relationships and alliances across all levels and constituencies – qualities essential in our next CEO. Rosanna will bring a fresh, strategic approach that will be instrumental in advancing AHLA’s mission. Simply put, we are thrilled to welcome Rosanna back to AHLA as our president and CEO.”

Maietta was selected after a thorough and comprehensive search conducted over the last several months under the oversight of the AHLA Search Committee, chaired by Mitch Patel and comprised of the leading CEOs and executives of the major brands, owners, and management companies representing a cross-section of AHLA’s members. Maietta’s appointment was unanimously approved by AHLA’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

The board of directors and AHLA leadership team extend their heartfelt gratitude to Kevin Carey for his results-driven service as interim president & CEO of AHLA since March 5, 2024. His steady leadership was instrumental in maintaining focus within AHLA during a period of transition, elevating employee morale, and achieving new heights in member satisfaction. Under Carey’s guidance, AHLA continued to deliver consistent value to members and stakeholders. Carey will continue serving at AHLA in his role as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Executive Vice President.

Maietta will join an existing AHLA team with a wealth of experience, including Carey; Chirag Shah, Executive Vice President of Federal and Political Affairs & Counsel; Troy Flanagan, Executive Vice President of External Government Affairs and Industry Relations; Anna Blue, President of the AHLA Foundation; Kiersten Pearce, Senior Vice President of Strategic and Executive Initiatives; and Adrienne Weil, Senior Vice President of Membership and Marketing.

Maietta most recently served as the chief communications officer & senior counselor to the CEO at the American Clean Power Association (ACP), the leading voice of the multi-tech clean energy industry. During her time at ACP, Maietta tripled the size of her team across communications, marketing, events and business development, significantly grew event revenue, and led numerous multimillion-dollar public affairs campaigns to drive support for the clean energy industry.

Noodles & Company has appointed Stephen Kennedy as Executive Vice President of Marketing, starting November 18, to lead the company's brand strategy and customer growth initiatives.

"Stephen is a transformational marketing leader with over two decades of experience driving growth for iconic brands," said Drew Madsen, CEO at Noodles & Company. "We're excited to add his expertise in digital innovation and customer engagement to our team as we deepen our brand relevance, capture new customers, and drive sustained, profitable growth."

Kennedy most recently served as Vice President of Growth and Strategy at Bounteous, where he spearheaded digital strategies that enhanced brand experiences. At Nestle USA, he led the Marketing Enablement and Consumer Experience teams, increasing media ROI, social engagement, and e-commerce sales through data-driven strategies and a digital-first marketing approach.

At Domino's, Kennedy was pivotal in helping drive record sales growth for the company. In various leadership roles, he guided the insights team on successful product launches and promotions, including Domino's Pan Pizza and the $5.99 Mix and Match deal. Kennedy also spearheaded the pilot, launch, and management of the award-winning Piece of the Pie Rewards program, overseeing all owned and paid digital marketing efforts.

Prior to his time at Domino's, Kennedy worked in brand strategy and insights at General Motors. He began his career in marketing at Borders Group Inc. where he managed CRM and loyalty marketing teams.

Kennedy's accomplishments have contributed to numerous awards from organizations such as Loyalty 360, The ARF David Ogilvy Awards, The Effie Awards, The American Advertising Federation, The In-House Agency Forum, Communication Arts, and Restaurant Business Tech Accelerator.

Flexa announced the expansion of its partnership with Sheetz, a major Mid-Atlantic restaurant and convenience store chain, enabling customers to use digital currencies for in-store purchases at all Sheetz locations across the Mid-Atlantic. Following the success of the initial rollout at select locations, this expanded partnership means that all 750+ Sheetz locations can now accept digital asset payments through Flexa, offering Sheetz customers an easier and more seamless way to pay using stablecoins like USDC, as well as other popular digital currencies.

“Flexa is making digital currency payments more accessible and user-friendly than ever before,” said Trevor Filter, cofounder of Flexa. “The demand for stablecoin use cases continues to grow, and we’re excited to help Sheetz stay at the forefront of payment innovation by offering their customers the ability to pay instantly and securely at any of their stores.”

Fraud Proof Payments

Flexa’s digital asset payments solutions enable consumers to make instant, fraud-proof payments using various digital assets, including bitcoin, ether, litecoin, and stablecoins such as USD Coin, across all 750+ Sheetz locations in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, and Maryland. This new technology integrates directly with Sheetz’s existing in-store point-of-sale systems, ensuring a smooth and fast checkout process.

As digital currencies, particularly stablecoins, continue to gain traction for everyday transactions, Sheetz’s expanded partnership with Flexa reflects the growing consumer demand for alternative payment methods. Over 23% of U.S. consumers now own cryptocurrency, and 58% are interested in using it for purchases.  Over quarter two of 2024, stablecoin transaction volume reached an impressive $8.5 trillion across 1.1 billion transactions, exceeding the $3.9 trillion in payments processed by Visa over the same period , further highlighting the increasing importance of stablecoins in the global financial ecosystem.

“We’ve always been committed to giving our customers more payment options, and our expanded partnership with Flexa allows us to do just that,” said Sheetz EVP of Marketing and Supply Chain Ryan Sheetz. “We’re excited to make digital currency payments available at all our stores and to meet the growing interest in stablecoins among our customers.”

To celebrate the milestone, Sheetz and Flexa are offering an exclusive promotion at all Sheetz locations. Starting today, October 30, 2024, customers will save $20 on a single purchase when paying with Flexa. For offer details and full terms, customers may visit flexa.co/sheetz.

Expanding Flexa’s digital asset payments solutions to all Sheetz locations empowers consumers to use their digital assets with confidence while providing merchants with a fast, secure, and fraud-proof way to accept them. In addition to supporting a wide range of digital currencies, Flexa can be used with Sheetz’s My Sheetz Rewardz loyalty program, allowing customers to earn rewards on every purchase while enjoying the convenience of paying with digital currencies.

Fiserv s empowering small business growth through an enhanced suite of industry-specific solutions from Clover. Built with small business owners in mind, these 'all-in-one' solutions combine flexible hardware with software that addresses the unique needs of individual businesses, providing restaurants, retailers, and service-based businesses with the vertical-specific capabilities they need to save time, make money and grow.

“Small business owners are engines of growth, creators of jobs, builders of communities, and drivers of innovation”

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Factors like rising costs, labor shortages, and the ongoing quest to attract and retain customers have led to a host of challenges for small businesses. As technology infiltrates the market to address these issues, small business owners are diverting their attention from their core mission of running their businesses efficiently to managing an assortment of complex systems. Recognizing the unique needs and pain points of today’s entrepreneur, Clover has invested to deliver small businesses with adaptable, vertically-integrated enhancements across three key verticals:

• Restaurants can seamlessly manage front- and back-of-house operations and access real-time kitchen reporting for actionable insights and enhanced operational efficiency.
• Service Businesses can implement a comprehensive appointment booking feature to operate and grow their business, manage employees, engage with customers, and take payments using a streamlined POS experience. In addition to appointment scheduling and employee management, the solution features a customizable website.
• Retailers can enhance their presence through an omnichannel integration with customizable websites and digital storefronts, giving customers an end-to-end e-commerce experience. Retail solutions also support variance management, Buy Online/Pick up In-store (BOPIS) options, and merchant delivery as fulfillment methods.

"Small business owners are engines of growth, creators of jobs, builders of communities, and drivers of innovation," said Jennifer LaClair, Head of Merchant Solutions at Fiserv. "An enhanced suite of industry-specific solutions allows small business owners across industries to transform challenges into opportunities and streamline processes so they can focus on what matters most – elevating their business."

Working in tandem with upgraded vertical solutions and industry-leading payments capabilities, the enhanced solution set includes:

• New hardware, like Clover Compact and Flex Pocket, that further build on the extensive Clover hardware suite, giving business owners more freedom to take payments and run their business how and where they want.
• Integrated capabilities, like employee management, payroll, customer loyalty programs, and gift cards, that are seamlessly built into vertical software to streamline operations.
• Flexible financial solutions, like cash discounting, cash advance and instant and same-day transfers, that provide small businesses with easy access to capital that facilitates growth.

For more information about Clover’s enhanced vertical solutions and products, please visit http://www.clover.com.