News Briefs

Choice Hotels International announced an agreement with Tesla to offer Tesla Universal Wall Connectors to participating Radisson, Cambria, Comfort, Country Inn & Suites, Quality Inn and other Choice-branded hotels across the U.S. Through this agreement, Choice-branded properties can add four or more charging stations for guests, helping to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle (EV) charging and eliminate one of the biggest pain points for EV drivers traveling for business or leisure. To find a hotel with a charging station, travelers can use the EV charging filter on ChoiceHotels.com and the Choice Hotels mobile app.

"This agreement with Tesla allows our brands to further stand out by increasing access to EV charging for guests and potentially drive incremental topline revenue for hotel owners," said Dominic Dragisich, Executive Vice President of Operations and Chief Global Brand Officer for Choice Hotels International. "At Choice, we are focused on ensuring owners and operators of our hotel brands are set up to benefit from strategic agreements that drive booking consideration and value."

Offering over 7,500 hotels with more than 630,000 rooms across 46 countries and territories, Choice is uniquely positioned to address the growing consumer demand for EV charging. Guests who drove to its hotels accounted for 82% of all Choice room nights in 2022, well above the industry average, according to data from DK Shifflet. Approximately 90% of Choice-branded properties in the U.S. are in suburban, interstate, and small-town locations, with 76% located within one mile of a highway entrance.

Currently, 41% of Choice's Cambria hotels offer EV charging, and by the end of 2024, all are expected to be outfitted with at least one charging station. Cambria guests rank EV charging as one of the top three sustainability priorities that they look for when booking a stay. Additionally, several of Choice's corporate offices currently offer EV charging stations, including North Bethesda, Maryland and Scottsdale, Arizona.

On ChoiceHotels.com and the Choice Hotels app, which were recently given top ratings in a U.S. travel website and app satisfaction study, travelers can easily filter for hotels that have EV charging capabilities. Cardholders of Choice's two co-brand credit cards will receive accelerated everyday earnings when using an EV charging station installed at a Choice-branded hotel. Choice Privileges Select Mastercard cardholders will earn 5x points on qualifying purchases at EV charging stations, and Choice Privileges Mastercard cardholders will earn 3x points.

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

MustHaveMenus, the all-in-one platform for restaurant marketing, launches  MustHaveMenus Display, a digital display management system that seamlessly integrates with MustHaveMenus'   menu maker and design tool.

This  addition gives restaurants a natural link between the creative process and customer touchpoints. When a restaurant makes changes to its brand, menu items or promotions they can be instantly updated on display systems across many screens and locations. Plus, the power of MustHaveMenus' custom design app creates endless potential for engaging multimedia content.

Key features of MustHaveMenus Display include:

• Unlimited Creativity: Display works with over 25,000 customizable templates, allowing restaurants to bring any marketing vision to life.
• Seamless Integration: Display effortlessly integrates with the renowned MustHaveMenus menu maker and design tool.
• Playlists: Display allows users to create unlimited playlists with custom arrangements of content, timing and transitions.
• Instant Updates: Updates made to a design can be instantly published to display screens, eliminating unnecessary steps.
• Custom Schedules: The Display app has advanced scheduling features so that managers can set-and-forget content on their screens.
• Multi-Location Management: The Display app accommodates the needs of small- to medium-sized restaurant chains.

MustHaveMenus Display simplifies the way restaurants connect with their customers, making marketing campaigns more efficient and impactful. By seamlessly integrating design capabilities with a versatile distribution system, MustHaveMenus continues to empower the restaurant industry with cutting-edge tools to drive growth and success.

"Ever since installing the MustHaveMenus product in our Diner we've seen smiles from local clients!" reported Kevin McMillen, owner of the HandleBar Diner, of Mesa Ariz. "Our non-technical business manager at the Diner has taken charge of the entire system and navigates through it with ease. We publish a playlist that shows upcoming events, current menu items and we switch to our 'Limited Menu' during big events all with ease now.  Having this product fully integrated into our Diner's already established systems was a game changer."

"The launch of Display marks a significant milestone for us, as we strive to provide restaurants with a one-stop-shop for all of their in-store marketing," said Jim Williams, CEO of MustHaveMenus. "We believe this addition empowers restaurants to do more with less. They can create menus and stunning visuals easily and without a graphic designer, then deliver the content to their displays without leaving the program. We want to help them save time while doing great work."

To learn more about MustHaveMenus Display and how it can transform your restaurant's marketing efforts, please visit www.MustHaveMenus.com

ParTech Inc. has integrated its marketplace order management system, MENU Link, with Grubhub. 

Building off PAR and Grubhub’s existing partnership, MENU Link automatically syncs menu items, pricing and other order information between PAR Brink POS and Grubhub. The marketplace order management solution sends incoming orders directly to the restaurant’s kitchen without staff needing to manually enter them, reducing errors, saving time and providing restaurant managers with robust reporting on all Grubhub orders.

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

MENU Link seamlessly integrates Grubhub and PAR Brink POS, PAR's cloud-based point-of-sale system. This feature allows restaurants to easily manage Grubhub delivery and pickup orders directly within PAR Brink POS, streamlining operations for kitchen and front-of-house staff.

No More Tablets

"How people experience food has drastically changed — especially among millennials and Gen Z — with the surge in off-premise dining and delivery services. While delivery provides diners with seamless ordering, it also creates 'tablet hell' for restaurants juggling multiple apps," commented PAR CEO, Savneet Singh. "Together with GrubHub, our MENU Link solution tackles this head-on by integrating all major delivery services into one system. This innovation provides restaurants the capabilities they need to thrive on digital demand.”

Restaurants gain centralized control over their menus, dynamic pricing for different channels, store-level information and order data from third-party marketplaces with MENU Link. This unified approach eliminates confusion, costly errors and duplicative work that often comes with managing multiple tablets from various delivery services.

Toast, a digital technology platform built for restaurants, announced an innovative collaboration with Choice Hotels International to make its Toast for Hotel Restaurants technology a brand standard for two of Choice’s upscale brands, Cambria Hotels and Radisson. Toast is also a Qualified Vendor for Choice’s other brands. Cambria and Radisson will implement Toast technology as a brand standard by summer 2025 for Cambria and by the beginning of 2026 for Radisson properties. This collaboration is designed to help owners accelerate growth in their food and beverage programs and digitalize the guest experience for on-site dining.

From tableside to in-room dining, the Toast for Hotel Restaurants platform will integrate with Cambria’s and Radisson’s property management systems (PMS) to power modern dining experiences for guests. The implementation will digitalize the guest’s food and beverage experience on property while streamlining food and beverage operations for hotel staff. Enabling staff to process room charges directly from the convenient handheld point of sale (POS) devices, this collaboration will help empower operators to drive food and beverage sales, increase kitchen efficiency, and improve guest satisfaction.

“Cambria and Radisson hotels are increasingly seen as dining destinations in and of themselves, and this innovative collaboration with Toast will allow our guests and hotel staff to benefit from the digitalization of operations,” said Indy Adenaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Upscale at Choice Hotels. “We’ve already started rolling out Toast at several Cambria locations nationwide and are pleased to see the early impact it is making, including early adoption from guests, helping owners manage their labor model, and increasing lobby marketplace sales.”

In addition to standard food service POS and hotel PMS integration, Cambria and Radisson hotels will implement Toast Go® 2 handhelds for server and bartender use, Mobile Order & Pay at restaurant tables, Toast Online Ordering for in-room dining, Kiosks for lobby marketplaces, Kitchen Display Systems for back of house efficiency — including texting guests when orders are ready for pickup — and Toast’s direct Third-Party Delivery integrations. Cambria and Radisson hotels will also use Toast Payments.

Cambria and Radisson hotels, along with most of Choice Hotels’ portfolio of brands, are connected by the award-winning loyalty program Choice Privileges. Through the program, members can earn and redeem points at over 7,000 hotels across a diverse portfolio of brands with locations in 46 countries and territories. With the Choice Privileges Mastercard, cardholders can earn more points faster, including on everyday purchases including gas and groceries.

“Premier hotel brand operators like Choice Hotels recognize that a flexible service model is a critical success factor. From in-room dining to mobile order and pay to full-service restaurants to quick-service restaurants, Toast for Hotel Restaurants enables hospitality brands to deliver a more seamless guest experience, operate more efficiently, and increase speed of service across day parts and formats,” said Kelly Esten, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise at Toast. “We are delighted to be implementing Toast technology as a brand standard for Cambria and Radisson properties and to offer Toast to other Choice Hotels brands as a Qualified Vendor.”