News Briefs

Good news for the travel industry: Not only are folks giving in to wanderlust again, but they’re enjoying all the accommodations along the way.

According to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI^®) Travel Study 2022-2023, satisfaction across all four industries measured — airlines, hotels, car rentals, and online travel agencies — is up. The outlook is especially cozy for hotels.

“After two years of decline, a sweeping surge in guest satisfaction with hotels could signal that the industry is moving past the pandemic,” says Forrest Morgeson, Assistant Professor of Marketing at Michigan State University and Director of Research Emeritus at the ACSI. “Concurrent with a wave of pent-up demand, the positive momentum is widespread as all hoteliers increase satisfaction year over year.”

[Click here for a high res version of the infographic.]

Hyatt helps guests rest easy

Overall guest satisfaction with hotels climbs 6% to an ACSI score of 75, with Hyatt skyrocketing 10% to tie Marriott (up 3%) atop the industry standings at 80. Both Hilton (up 4% to 79) and IHG (up 3% to 76) experience valuable gains.

Despite sitting at the bottom of the industry, the large group of small hotels sees the most significant bump, ascending 11% to a score of 72. Wyndham, up 4%, sits in a tie with the smaller hotels.

Despite facing ongoing challenges such as staffing shortages and supply chain issues, hotels show strong signs of improvement across multiple elements of the guest experience. Moreover, guests feel they are getting more value for their stays, and extras like hotel amenities (76) and food services (74) receive much higher ratings than in years past. In short, the ACSI results are cause for optimism for the hotel industry at large.

Alaska flies past the competition

It’s no secret that the airlines had a turbulent holiday season. Widespread cancellations in December 2022 left thousands of passengers stranded, while staffing shortages and other operational issues impeded airlines’ ability to get travelers to their intended destinations.

Customer satisfaction, unsurprisingly, suffered, plunged 8% in January 2023 compared to December 2022, reflecting passenger sentiment from year-end travel experiences. During that time, call center satisfaction received particularly low marks, along with in-flight service and cabin cleanliness.

And yet, the plummet seems to have been a brief blip in an otherwise positive year. Overall passenger satisfaction with the airline industry increased 1% year over year to an ACSI score of 76. The outlook for the coming months may be even rosier, as passenger satisfaction rebounded substantially in February, regaining about two-thirds of the ground lost from the end of 2022.

Alaska ranks best in customer satisfaction, taking over the top spot after soaring 8% to an ACSI score of 81. Meanwhile, Delta (down 1%) and JetBlue (down 4%) at 76 apiece are the only airlines to see satisfaction move in the wrong direction. Despite its struggles during the holidays, Southwest ties American for second place, both with a 1% improvement to 78.

Alamo still leads car rentals, but Avis is in hot pursuit

Satisfaction with the car rental industry increases 1% to an ACSI score of 76.

Alamo remains in the pole position, up 5% to 83, but Avis zooms into second place after surging 8% to 80. Enterprise takes third following a 4% improvement to 79, while Budget gets a 6% bump to 76.

Newcomer Sixt starts near the bottom of the industry with an ACSI score of 72, but outpaces the group of smaller car rental companies, which finishes last with a steady mark of 71.

While the industry’s satisfaction surge was slight, car rental companies didn’t exactly sit in neutral. They were able to restock their fleets after a big dip in 2020 and used their time wisely to up their game in everything from reservations technology to staffing. ACSI data show that customers were much happier with vehicle variety (78) and appearance (82), as well as pick-up (80) and drop-off (81) locations, compared to a year ago.

Expedia gives smaller online travel agencies some competition

User satisfaction with online travel agencies overall inches up 1% to an ACSI score of 76.

Despite improving 3% to 79, the group of smaller online travel sites no longer have sole possession of the top spot. Expedia rises 8% to earn a share of the lead. Expedia’s Travelocity makes strides as well, improving 3% to 75.

Orbitz, in contrast, flounders, falling 7% into last place with an ACSI score of 71.

The ACSI Travel Study 2022-2023 on airlines, hotels, car rentals, and online travel agencies is based on interviews with 10,588 customers, chosen at random and contacted via email between April 2022 and March 2023. Download the study, and follow the ACSI on LinkedIn and Twitter at @theACSI.

No advertising or other promotional use can be made of the data and information in this release without the express prior written consent of ACSI LLC.

QSR Automations earned recognition for excellence in customer service and support.

At MURTEC, QSR Automations’ VP of Hardware Solutions and Support, Kathi Klein, received fHospitality Technology ’s 2023 Top Women in Technology Lifetime Achievement Award. 

During her more than 30 years in the restaurant technology industry – half of those at QSR Automations–Klein has amassed incomparable knowledge in understanding and troubleshooting kitchen display, front-of-house, and the associated hardware and networking platforms needed to run them. 

But what truly sets Klein apart is her natural ability to nurture relationships and foster talent, which has made her an effective leader in QSR Automations’ Support Services Team. During her long tenure at QSR Automations, Klein has built one of the industry’s strongest and most effective support teams. In fact, under Klein’s guidance, the team has received a 99 percent satisfaction rate from customers in 2021, and last year handled more than 16,000 inbound and outbound calls, which earned them a bronze award for Excellence in Customer Service from the 2022 Stevie Awards. 

This was the third bronze Stevie award for the team, as last fall, Klein accepted two additional bronze awards from the Stevie Women in Business Awards on behalf of QSR Automations–one for excellence in customer service, and the other for growth. QSR Automations was selected for these honors from more than 1,500 nominations from around the world.

“Just as our technology is the heart of a restaurant kitchen, our people are truly the heart of this business,” said Angela Leet, CEO of QSR Automations. “My colleagues are passionate about innovation both in and out of the office, and it’s immensely gratifying to see them recognized for these achievements.”

QSR Automations, headquartered in Louisville, Ky., with offices in the United Kingdom, is a global industry leader in kitchen automation and guest management services.

Up and coming QSR  Salad and Go  is expanding in Texas with three new locations opening in February in the Houston markets of Katy, Richmond and League City.

The Katy store located opened February 1, the Richmond location at  is set to open February 17, and the League City store plans to open its doors on February 22. These new locations will mark the start of rapid brand expansion across the Greater Houston area.

These suburbs were strategically selected as ideal markets for Salad and Go as some of the fastest growing communities in the region. Conveniently located in some of Houston's most popular suburbs, the new locations will provide fresh, high-quality meals with quick and easy convenience at an affordable price.

As Salad and Go continues growing its national presence with a strong focus on Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada, the brand's expansive growth has it on a positive trajectory to provide fresh and affordable food to communities in more than 125 locations by the end of 2023. Houston is the next step in the brand's expansion across Texas with plans to open additional stores in the market throughout the new year.

Salad and Go's chef-curated menu provides guests with food for any time of the day by offering a variety of delicious and healthy items including salads, wraps, breakfast burritos and soup as well as beverages including hand-crafted lemonades, teas and cold brew coffees.

Salad and Go ensures each meal contains fresh, quality ingredients while keeping prices low by vertically integrating operations and distribution, and sourcing ingredients directly from high-quality local farmers and suppliers whenever possible. The brand's mission to make fresh, nutritious food convenient and affordable for ALL extends beyond its stores and is demonstrated in the work the brand does to donate 4,000 meals every week to those in need, as well as in partnerships with nonprofits to support and fundraise for various worthy causes.

Valyant AI, a provider of AI-powered customer service solutions, has announced the incorporation of language-learning models to enhance its artificial intelligence technology for restaurants. This application is set to utilize the latest advancements in LLMs (similar to ChatGPT and Google’s LaMDA) for improving the comprehensiveness of its voice assistant system’s responses, speed and efficiency.

17% of restaurants plan to add in-car ordering this year, according to Hospitality Technology’s 25th annual Restaurant Technology Study.

The LLM technology utilized by Valyant AI is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to understand natural language and context in a previously impossible way. This technology has been trained on vast amounts of language data, allowing the platform to provide users with more accurate responses in less time, positively impacting customer satisfaction, reducing wait times and delivering a more efficient user experience overall.

A key distinction of Valyant AI's usage of LLM technology is that it ensures customer data security and privacy by not sharing that information with any third-party external entities. This level of protection is  crucial in maintaining customer trust and building a positive reputation in the industry.

Valyant AI is committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements in artificial intelligence, and the incorporation of LLM technology is just one example of the company's ongoing dedication to innovation.

The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the authority on boardroom practices representing more than 23,000 board members, have launched a new alliance to promote NACD Accelerate™ to cybersecurity professionals, an educational program for aspiring boardroom leaders and executives that delivers the critical foundation needed to become a prime candidate for directorship.

As the cybersecurity threat landscape continues to evolve, corporate boards are under increasing pressure to provide oversight of cybersecurity risk, but many boards lack directors with relevant experience. Forthcoming regulations from the SEC related to cybersecurity disclosures are expected to further increase the demand for corporate directors with cybersecurity expertise.

“Corporate directors play a critical leadership role in ensuring the security and resilience of their organizations,” said Suzie Squier, president of RH-ISAC. “We are thrilled to partner with NACD to promote the NACD Accelerate™ program to CISOs at our member companies and help close the cybersecurity knowledge gap in boardrooms across industries.”

The RH-ISAC is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing threat intelligence and best practices related to cybersecurity in the retail and hospitality industry. NACD is the premier membership organization for board directors who want to expand their knowledge, grow their network, and maximize their potential. By joining together, the RH-ISAC and NACD are leveraging their unique strengths to help organizations develop well-rounded boards with cybersecurity expertise.

Through this collaboration, RH-ISAC is promoting the program to CISOs and other cybersecurity leaders and has already enrolled a cohort representing companies from across the retail and hospitality sectors.

 

Alertify, an all-in-one noise and indoor smoking sensor for short term rental operators, property managers and hoteliers has begun taking pre-orders in the US and EU. 

Alertify devices monitor noise decibel levels, indoor smoking, elevated occupancy, temperature changes, air quality levels and more. The device is GDPR compliant and ensures 100% privacy for guests - for example, audio is never recorded. Users can set custom thresholds to receive real-time notifications whenever violations take place. With Alertify, hosts, property managers and hoteliers can intervene before receiving noise complaints or things get out of hand.

“As an STR [Short Term Rental] Operator, you don’t usually have staff in the building and can’t easily or accurately monitor for guest misbehavior. A lot of the time, you only find out about smoking or parties when the neighbors or property manager call you, or upon check out. Alertify has been a great solution to this problem, notifying us of violations as they occur so that we can contact guests and remedy the situation immediately and remotely,” said ENVITAE CEO Josh Rogers. 

Alertify comes with access to an online dashboard containing all live and historical data for each property or device. Users can download after-incident reports containing details on violations that took place and, if integrated with a PMS, which guest was in the property at the time. Alertify’s after-incident reports can be used as documentary evidence in the event of (deposit) disputes with guests, and submitted as evidence for Airbnb support cases and credit card chargeback disputes.

The company is currently taking pre-orders slated to ship in May. Short term rental owners, hoteliers and property managers are encouraged to contact Alertify to schedule a demo and learn how Alertify can help their business.