News Briefs

Easyway, a generative AI technology provider for hospitality, announces its completely automated guest communication platform. Combining GPT-4, and the model which powers the generative AI program of ChatGPT, with their own proprietary AI solution to provide a 24/7 concierge for customers.

With the hotel industry set to surpass pre-pandemic levels of demand, but with a whopping 87% still grappling with severe staffing issues, Easyway’s platform eases the burden on a hotel’s workforce and supports business growth. Through iMessage, WhatsApp, or as a chat widget on the hotel’s own website, Easyway’s AI Agent has direct and constant communication with guests, which allows hotels to provide quick and accurate responses in the guest’s native language, offer personalized recommendations, additional offers or services and manage any queries immediately – from late check-out requests to which wine to pair with your meal. Easyway also provides crucial data-driven insights enabling hoteliers to predict customer behavior as well as more efficiently allocate staffing and resources. Easyway already serves thousands of hoteliers in 30+ countries, and after a highly successful pre-launch stage where dozens of hotels had their customer engagement interactions completely transformed, the virtual concierge will be available across all locations in 100+ languages.

“For the vast majority of guests, a personalized approach is integral for a satisfying hotel experience – with research indicating that guests would even opt for hotels over short-term rentals if their personal needs were met,” said Roy Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Easyway. “There is immense potential for reimagining the traditional hotel model and attracting new customers – and this is our mission at Easyway. Our user-friendly, generative AI-powered platform empowers hotels to seamlessly cater to guests’ specific needs, providing experiences that drive high satisfaction levels, while leveraging actionable business insights to optimize operations. This dual benefit of unparalleled service for guests, alongside unlocking valuable efficiencies for hotels, really is the gold standard for hospitality, and we are proud to see our technology deployed by hotels of all sizes, from SMEs to some of the world’s largest hospitality brands.”

“Prior to implementing Easyway’s solution, our staff were wrestling with over 100 daily messages, which, alongside their other responsibilities resulted in delays and impaired responses. Easyway’s generative AI agent resolves queries in an impressively personable and precise way, so guests still receive the high standard of customer care expected, while our staff are left to focus on other priority tasks. This level of service is second to none, and represents the future of the hospitality sector,” said Regis Morin, Commercial Director of Criterion Hospitality Group.

“Amid a massive global shortage of labor for hotels, especially in the Western world, the kind of technology Easyway has developed - where the platform ensures customer queries are answered quickly and in the native tongue of the enquirer - offers a life raft to the industry. By automating guest management in such a sophisticated way, Easyway offers a demonstrable benefit to both hotel operators and their customers,” Sir David Michels, Co-owner and Chairman of Michels & Taylor and Former CEO of the Hilton Group.

“The most impressive aspect of Easyway’s technology is the quality of the AI, and how its responses are so natural. We were slightly reticent at first about how guests would take to it, but time after time they had absolutely no problem interacting with the platform, and this removed a huge burden from our staff. Easyway’s solution has real potential to be both the catalyst for solving workforce deficiencies, while also revitalizing a hotel’s multiple revenue streams,” David Omland, Corporate Operations Manager at Penta Hotels commented.

Easyway’s platform instantly connects hotels and resorts with guests in over 100 languages, enabling two-way immediate translation. With Easyway, every exchange can be seamlessly translated, ensuring guests feel comfortable and understood during conversations. Whether guests need to communicate dietary restrictions, request specific room cleaning times, report maintenance issues, conduct routine processes like check-in or check-out, or make special arrangements for travel and local bookings, Easyway provides a simple solution for inquiries, reservations, payments, and feedback.

Easyway has established itself as a trusted partner in the hospital industry, already partnering with industry leaders such as Intercontinental, Fairmont, Banyan Tree, Sofitel, Hilton Hotels, Penta Hotels, and Van Der Valk, Criterion Hospitality.

Shiji, a global hospitality technology innovator, has partnered with IPORT, an award-winning manufacturer known for enhancing the usability of iPads and iPhones, to introduce an all-in-one software solution for hotel restaurants. This collaboration will provide hoteliers with a seamless combination of a tablet and payment device to maximize their F&B operations.

The integrated iOS and payment device solution simplifies guest service for hotel restaurant servers, providing them with an effortless tool to cater to their guests' needs. As a certified Apple partner, Shiji and IPORT guarantee exceptional performance and reliability. Hoteliers can choose from multiple device options, including iPad Pro, iPad Mini, and iPhone, ensuring flexibility and compatibility with their operations.

“IPORT products are built around modularity and flexibility that empower our hospitality customers to do more with the iOS platform. We are thrilled to partner with a leading iPad and iPhone cloud PMS and POS platform provider like Shiji,” said Chris Lawson, Head of Partnerships, IPORT. “We look forward to innovating with Shiji in disrupting legacy, monolithic providers who have limited the industry from harnessing the power of iOS and mobility. The future is bright, and the possibilities are endless with IPORT, iOS, and Shiji.”

"The partnership with IPORT is a significant milestone for Shiji in our commitment to provide innovative technology solutions for the hospitality industry," said Ryan King, Senior Vice President of Shiji in the Americas. "By combining our expertise with IPORT’s hardware solutions, we empower hoteliers to streamline restaurant operations and deliver exceptional guest experiences. This collaboration represents another step forward in our dedication to driving success in the Americas, and globally."

The tablet and payment device solution seamlessly integrates with multiple payment gateways, allowing hoteliers to choose the system that best suits their needs. By simplifying the payment process, it reduces operational complexities, minimizes errors, and saves valuable time and resources for hoteliers.

Subway  unveiled MVP Rewards, a refreshed loyalty program launching September 9 in Canada, the U.S., and Puerto Rico. The new and improved program gives Subway guests the MVP experience with more ways to earn, more perks, and more earning power as customers ascend from Pro to Captain to All-Star status tiers. Consumers can earn points by ordering their favorite sub in Subway restaurants, on Subway.ca or the Subway app.

MVP Rewards replaces Subway MyWay Rewards. All 30 million MyWay members across North America will be enrolled in the new program, and their unspent tokens will automatically be converted into points, giving them a head start on reaching status and earning MVP Rewards' best perks. New members will receive 250 bonus points when they join**.

"Subway fans are the best in QSR and to thank them for their loyalty, we're giving them the star treatment as MVP Rewards members," said Mike Kappitt, Chief Operating and Insights Officer at Subway. "Consumer input helped inform our refreshed loyalty program to create a best-in-class experience. MVP Rewards gives our guests more of what they love from Subway, with a few hidden surprises baked in, so every guest feels like an MVP and comes back to Subway more often for their favourite subs."

As part of its loyalty refresh, Subway made the program easier for guests to sign up, earn and redeem points, as well as advance from Pro to All-Star. Besides craveworthy signature subs and meal upgrades, members at the Captain and All-Star tiers will soon have access to special Subway merchandise and members-only VIP exclusives:

For a complete overview of Subway MVP Rewards and Subway's new loyalty program benefits, visit Subway.ca/rewards.

GauVendi is advancing its disruptive approach to rethinking inventory, which has already been successfully implemented in the GauVendi Sales Engine, towards an open, feature-based inventory platform.

GauVendi started in 2020 with an innovative AI-driven booking experience that provides accommodation providers with a comprehensive solution for hyper-personalized sales and fulfillment automation. It was mainly deployed as a stand-alone solution. With this evolution, accommodation businesses and technology providers can now explore new avenues in sales, distribution, operational efficiency, and marketing of inventory. They benefit from highly automated processes without major system overhauls.

"We aim to offer every operator the opportunity to distribute their inventory in a scalable manner, much like it was previously only possible through personal sales - and all of it fully automated," says Markus Müller, CEO, and co-founder of GauVendi. "With the open API interface, all technology providers can now sell relevant and customizable inventory through their platforms. Our solution acts as an additional layer integrated into the existing tech stack, enabling differentiated sales and automation without significant changes to the current system landscape," adds Müller.

GauVendi's platform is the only one worldwide that provides a feature-based language and a dynamic product management system with its approach. The open API approach ensures seamless integration with other technology providers. Feature-based inventory can be transformed into relevant and tailored accommodation products using the AI recommendation model. The result is a transparent guest experience right from the booking process and significant time savings during reservations through intelligent and optimized room assignments.

The newly established inventory management platform and the associated new products and solutions were developed based on experiences gained from implementing the Sales Engine with existing hotel customers, their achieved results, and the acquired data. The new data structure enables the introduction of advanced automation possibilities, including dynamically optimized and intelligent room assignments using AI (Reinforcement Loops), going far beyond the largely manual and limited assignments used until now.

In today's era of personalization, the data structure in the form of categories for inventory management has proven to be inadequate. It lacks information about individual room features in data formats, making it challenging for operators to fulfill guest requests without significant manual and operational efforts. Any inquiry about specific room characteristics is handled offline and requires manual processing. Monetizing these features is also not possible, and the lack of personalization reduces the competitiveness of accommodation businesses compared to others.

Müller adds, "These problems are a thing of the past with the use of GauVendi. The results our customers achieve with our current solution validate this: significant increases in room revenue, considerable time savings through new automation features, a reduction in phone and email inquiries, and better guest reviews and check-in experiences."

Raydiant, a provider of in-location digital experiences, has partnered with NCR, a provider of  point of sale (POS) technology for the restaurant industry, to deliver an unparalleled dining experience. 

This partnership leverages the power of NCR's Aloha POS system to allow Raydiant's clients to create dynamic digital menus that reflect their brand's unique image and can be updated instantly.

This new integration empowers retailers with seamless control over their inventory from a single access point. They can seamlessly adjust pricing, mark items as out of stock, or add new products — all from one central platform. These updates can be rolled out to a single store location or instantaneously across the entire retail chain. This unprecedented centralized control enables retailers to respond to local market conditions more nimbly.

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

 

Beyond shaping customer experiences, the collaboration also addresses a critical challenge in the restaurant industry: employee retention. The integration of Raydiant's Employee Engagement product provides a unique way for restaurants to motivate and unite their staff through the gamification of sales data from the NCR Aloha system. 

Restaurants can leverage real-time sales metrics to create friendly competition around promotional menu items or overall sales goals. This fosters teamwork and a spirit of friendly competition among employees to drive higher productivity and sales. 

This collaboration between Raydiant and NCR is set to redefine the restaurant industry, making digital experiences more accessible, manageable, and engaging for businesses of all sizes and their customers.

MarginEdge, a restaurant management and bill payment platform, announced its technology has been chosen by TouchBistro to power TouchBistro's Profit Management, a back office management system built just for restaurants. Powered by automation and driven by data, the centralized solution provides restaurants with the tools required to track food costs in real time, adjust recipes for maximum profitability, process invoices digitally, streamline accounting processes, standardize inventory management across multiple locations, and more. This addition completes a comprehensive suite of back-of-house solutions for improved profitability.

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

Powered by automation and driven by data, the centralized TouchBistro solution provides restaurants with the tools required to track food costs in real time, adjust recipes for maximum profitability, process invoices digitally, streamline accounting processes, standardize inventory management across multiple locations, and more. The addition of Profit Management powered by MarginEdge completes a comprehensive suite of back-of-house solutions for improved profitability.

Key features of TouchBistro Profit Management Powered by MarginEdge include:

• Inventory & Food Usage Automations: Track food costs and pinpoint waste more accurately with a digital inventory management system that updates prices daily.
• Invoice Processing: Scan, email, or take a photo of invoices and handwritten adjustments, and all the details will be captured and digitized in less than 48 hours for up to date food costs.
• Recipes and Menu Analysis: Maximize profitability in real time with a centralized solution that calculates plate costs, automatically updates ingredient prices, and pinpoints profitable and high-volume items.
• Back Office Efficiencies: Order products from any vendor, pay an unlimited number of bills (U.S. only), and transfer products and recipes between locations, all directly within the platform.
• Accounting Integration: Sales and labor data is pulled nightly from TouchBistro POS and instantly exported to accounting software.
• Multi-Location Management: One centralized, privacy-protected platform to standardize inventory management across locations and access consolidated sales reports.

TouchBistro now offers everything needed for restaurateurs to maximize profits and offer an unparalleled guest experience – all in one place. 

For more information on availability and pricing of TouchBistro Profit Management visit touchbistro.com/profit-management/