News Briefs

As over 80% of hotels experience staffing shortages, hoteliers are offering potential hires a host of incentives to fill vacancies, according to a new survey of hoteliers conducted by the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA).

Seventy-five percent of respondents are increasing wages, 64% are offering greater flexibility with hours, and 36% are expanding benefits – but 87% say they are still unable to fill open positions. 

Eighty-two percent of survey respondents indicate they are experiencing a staffing shortage, 26% severely so – meaning the shortage is impacting the hotel’s ability to operate. The most critical staffing need is housekeeping, with 40% ranking it as their top hiring need. 

These numbers have increased slightly from January 2023, when 79% of survey respondents indicated they were experiencing a staffing shortage. The figures have improved since May of 2022, however, when 97% of survey respondents indicated they were experiencing a staffing shortage, 49% severely so.

Respondents to the most recent survey are attempting to fill almost 9 positions per property, up from 7 positions in January but still down from 12 vacancies per property in May 2022.

These staffing challenges are resulting in historic career opportunities for hotel employees. There are more than 100,000 hotel jobs currently open across the nation, and as of April, national average hotel wages were at an all-time high of more than $23 per hour. Since the pandemic, average hotel wages have increased faster than average wages throughout the general economy, and hotel benefits and flexibility are better than ever.

“The need for workers throughout the lodging industry continues to drive historic career opportunities for hotel employees, who are enjoying record wages and better benefits and flexibility than ever before,” said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “That’s why AHLA and the AHLA Foundation remain focused on growing the industry’s talent pipeline through workforce recruitment and retention initiatives like the Foundation’s Empowering Youth  and Registered Apprenticeship programs. But there is still more to be done. We need Congress to help address workforce shortages with bipartisan solutions, including those that create opportunities for more immigrants to enter the American economy.”

As of April, the United States had nearly 10.1 million job openings, but only 5.7 million unemployed people to fill them, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Congress can help hoteliers address workforce shortages by taking the following actions:

• Expand the legal H-2B guestworker program by including an H-2B Returning Worker Exemption in the Fiscal Year 2024 Department of Homeland Security appropriations bill. The H-2B program is vital to helping independent hotels and resorts in remote vacation destinations fill seasonal roles, but the program is capped at 66,000 visas each year. AHLA is asking Congress to modify the H-2B nonimmigrant visa program by exempting returning workers from the inadequate 66,000 annual visa cap. These employees would provide critical staffing relief for seasonal small business hotels and help to rebuild the post-pandemic economy.
   
• Cosponsor and pass theAsylum Seeker Work Authorization Act (255/H.R.1325). A historic number of asylum seekers are already housed in hotels across America. They are awaiting court dates and are following the legal process. Unfortunately, current law prevents them from legally working for at least six months, forcing them to rely on assistance from local governments and communities. This bipartisan legislation would help hotels address critical staffing needs by allowing asylum seekers to work as soon as 30 days after applying for asylum.

Methodology: AHLA’s Front Desk Feedback survey of 474 hoteliers was conducted May 3-9, 2023.

For electric vehicle owners in British Columbia, Tim Hortons is now fueling road trips in more ways than one.  The company has announced the expansion of its electric vehicle charging station pilot launched earlier this year in Oakville, Ontario, by unveiling six new charging stations at restaurants throughout  British Columbia.

Tim Hortons announced the pilot in February in an effort to study the technology, its usage and opportunities.

"We have been thrilled with the results of the pilot so far.  Usage of the charging station in Oakville has surpassed our expectations and we received many calls with requests to expand the pilot," said Paulo Ferreira, Senior Director, International Strategic Restaurant Design and Building Standards, Tim Hortons. "With more than 3,300 eligible restaurants across the country, we continue to look for opportunities to expand the pilot and contribute to the EV infrastructure."

The BC expansion, supported by the Province of BC's Community Charging Infrastructure Fund and Koben Systems Inc. (KSI), placed charging stations strategically in Nanaimo, Langford, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Coquitlam to create paths within the province, allowing guests to travel from restaurant to restaurant strictly on electric power.

Tim Hortons offers charging stations as a courtesy to guests at six locations.  As of March 31st, 2013, Tim Hortons had 4,288 system-wide restaurants, including 3,453 in Canada, 808 in the United States and 27 in the Gulf Cooperation Council. 

Panda Express announces the launch of Panda Rewards, its first points-based national rewards program.

It utilizes a personalized points-based system that rewards members with ten Panda Points  for every dollar spent on qualifying purchases. Once 200 Panda Points have been accumulated, guests can start redeeming their favorite Panda menu items. Each month, guests' first qualified purchase will unlock a surprise Good Fortune Gift ranging from bonus points to special discounts or even free food, along with a unique digital fortune cookie message to be collected. Panda Rewards members will also receive a birthday gift of their choice.

"Sharing good fortune is an important value at Panda, and we are delighted to launch our first rewards program nationwide as a heartfelt expression of gratitude towards our loyal guests for their continued support throughout the years," said Andrea Cherng, Chief Brand Officer at Panda Express. "We look forward to engaging our guests in a playful and meaningful journey of good fortune as they collect unique prizes offering exceptional value every time they dine at Panda."  

The more Panda Points members accrue, the better the rewards options. The rewards range from a free upgrade to a premium entrée, a free drink of choice to even a free Family Meal. Guests have a personalized experience to choose their preferred reward from multiple options. What's more, Panda Points do not expire unless there are no qualifying purchases in 12 months.

Panda Rewards members can earn and redeem Panda Points when ordering through the Panda Express mobile app or the PandaExpress.com website, in-store, or the drive-thru. Those ordering online that have logged in as a Panda Rewards member will automatically receive Panda Points for their purchase. For in-store and drive-thru orders, guests can easily access and present a QR code in the mobile app for a Panda associate to scan. Alternatively, guests can also enter a unique rewards code found on their receipt from an in-store order that can be entered in their account up to seven days from purchase in the app or online to earn Panda Points on that purchase.

Wendy's and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership to pilot an artificial intelligence (AI) solution, Wendy's FreshAI. The technology has the potential to transform Wendy's drive-thru food ordering experience with Google Cloud's generative AI and large language models (LLMs) technology.

Demand for Drive-Thru

With 75 to 80 percent of Wendy's customers choosing the drive-thru as their preferred ordering channel, delivering a seamless ordering experience using AI automation can be difficult due to the complexities of menu options, special requests, and ambient noise. For example, because customers can fully customize their orders and food is prepared when ordered at Wendy's, this presents billions of possible order combinations available on the Wendy's menu, leaving room for miscommunication or incorrect orders. Google Cloud's generative AI capabilities can now bring a new automated ordering experience to the drive-thru that is intended to enhance the experience that customers, employees and franchisees expect from Wendy's. As HT reported last month, one Wendy's franchise, Wenspoke, is expanding its use of AI in the drive-thrus.

"Wendy's introduced the first modern pick-up window in the industry more than 50 years ago, and we're thrilled to continue our work with Google Cloud to bring a new wave of innovation to the drive-thru experience," said Todd Penegor, President and CEO of the Dublin, Ohio-based QSR. "Google Cloud's generative AI technology creates a huge opportunity for us to deliver a truly differentiated, faster and frictionless experience for our customers, and allows our employees to continue focusing on making great food and building relationships with fans that keep them coming back time and again."

Pilot Near HQ

In June, Wendy's plans to launch its first pilot of Google Cloud's AI technology in a Columbus, Ohio-area, Company-operated restaurant, using those learnings to inform future expansions to more Wendy's drive-thrus. The pilot will include new generative AI offerings, such as Vertex AI and more, to have conversations with customers, the ability to understand made-to-order requests and generate responses to frequently asked questions. 

This will all be powered by Google's foundational LLMs that have the data from Wendy's menu, established business rules and logic for conversation guardrails, and integration with restaurant hardware and the Point of Sale system. By leveraging generative AI, Wendy's seeks to take the complexity out of the ordering process so employees can focus on serving up fast, fresh-made, quality food and exceptional service.

Today's update builds upon Google Cloud's and Wendy's long standing partnership to enhance the Wendy's restaurant experience. Since 2021, Wendy's has leveraged Google Cloud's data analytics, AI, machine learning (ML), and hybrid cloud tools to make it faster, easier, and more convenient for customers to access the brand.

Smoothie King, the smoothie brand with 1400+ locations, has partnered with  Evocalize to implement intelligent hyper-localized digital marketing at scale, and further differentiate itself from other franchise offerings.

Individual locations will benefit from targeted multi-channel initiatives, automatically triggered by real-time local POS, inventory, weather, and other data — all on-brand with local flavor.

• 71% of restaurants are leveraging data gathered via the POS for digital engagement, according to HT's 2023 POS Software Trends Report

Smoothie King will be able to optimize local marketing spend across Google Search, Google Display Network, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Gmail, and YouTube. Their franchise network will benefit from EVOLVE technology, real-time data for automation and machine learning algorithms to optimize performance across multiple ad platforms, ensuring that their messages are seen by the right people, in the right place, at the right time.

"This really is going to be a real game changer for our local marketing efforts," said Smoothie King VP of Brand Marketing, Shannon Gewinner. "By tying our robust location-based data directly into Evocalize, we'll be able to automatically drive marketing engagement with our customer base in real-time. If inventory on a certain item is too high, the weather shifts, or sales need a boost, local ad programs can be triggered on the right channels to ensure each location is connecting with local customers in the right places and hitting their sales goals."

To see how Evocalize makes local digital marketing push-button easy for 1,500,000+ franchisees and local operators to drive real business results and revenue, visit evocalize.com.

Napa Technology, the makers of WineStation and TapStation Intelligent Dispensing Systems, has partnered with CLEAR, the secure identity company, to provide a friction-free self-checkout experience for age-gated purchases on their intelligent wine, beer and spirit dispensers.

Napa Technology has embedded Powered by CLEAR age verification technology to enable consumers to seamlessly and securely affirm their age with CLEAR instead of by manually presenting an ID to a staff member. The integration will eliminate the potential for fraud and human error associated with traditional forms of identity verification and increase operational efficiencies for Napa Technology’s hospitality customers.

After scanning a QR code on Napa Technology’s dispensing system, new users will be prompted to verify their age with CLEAR using their government-issued ID and a selfie. Returning CLEAR users will simply be prompted to snap a selfie to verify their identity.

Powered by CLEAR enables frictionless confirmation of identity and credentials.

Napa Technology, LLC is a designer and manufacturer of intelligent dispensing systems for wine, beer and spirits that ensure optimum freshness and memorable guest experiences, as well as to-the-ounce accuracy with each pour. For more information, please visit www.napatechnology.com.