News Briefs

G6 Hospitality, operator of the iconic Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, announced a strategic partnership with HotelKey, a hospitality technology provider, to enhance the technological capabilities across its network of properties in the US and Canada. G6 Hospitality, now part of OYO's global portfolio, will maintain HotelKey as its core Property Management System (PMS) across all Motel 6 and Studio 6 properties.

The announcement was made during an event at the Radisson Blu, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India, with industry leaders and senior government officials in attendance. The event featured Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India; Shri Vikas Thakre, Member of Legislative Assembly; Shri Ajay Sancheti, Ex-Member of Parliament; Rajya Sabha, Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO - OYO and Chairperson, G6 Hospitality International Inc.; Aditya Thyagarajan, Co-Founder and President of HotelKey, alongside senior government dignitaries, and senior leadership from OYO and HotelKey.

Together, G6 Hospitality and HotelKey will work on optimizing hotel operations, streamlining processes, and creating seamless guest experiences across the G6 portfolios. Franchisees will maintain access to HotelKey's familiar and trusted PMS interface, ensuring operational continuity. As part of its growth strategy, G6 Hospitality plans to expand its presence by adding over 150 hotels in 2025 under the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, strengthening its position in key markets across its current network of over 1,500 properties in North America.

"HotelKey's rich feature set and user-friendly interface have consistently delivered outstanding results for property owners. Their PMS platform's high adoption rates and positive feedback from hoteliers demonstrate why they're the perfect technology partner for our franchisees," said Ritesh Agarwal.

"HotelKey's success story epitomizes Indian technology excellence, with core development and engineering operations based right here in Nagpur. This partnership is designed to maintain operational continuity while enhancing technological capabilities across our G6 network. Given HotelKey's proven track record as G6 Hospitality's trusted PMS provider and the strong familiarity among our franchisees, they were the natural choice for continued operations."

Aditya Thyagarajan added, "We are delighted to partner with OYO and bring the power of HotelKey to their G6 portfolio. This collaboration will help us empower Motel 6 & Studio 6 brands to optimize operations, elevate their guest's journey, and improve efficiency across their properties. We aim to support G6 Hospitality in scaling new heights in the hospitality industry."

The partnership has already received positive feedback from G6 franchisees.

Sam Patel, CEO of Natson Hotels, commented, "Our G6 Franchisees are absolutely thrilled about the partnership between OYO and HotelKey. This collaboration represents a significant step forward, combining OYO's innovative approach to hospitality with HotelKey's cutting-edge technology, which in turn will benefit our G6 hotels tremendously."

Photo Caption, from left to right: Aditya Thyagarajan, Co-Founder and President of HotelKey, Shri Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister of Road Transport & Highways, Government of India, and Ritesh Agarwal, Founder & CEO - OYO and Chairperson, G6 Hospitality International Inc., attending a press event on January 11, 2025 at the Radisson Blu, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.

HARMAN, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., announced that its HARMAN Digital Transformation Solutions business unit will launch HARMAN ConnectIQ, an AI-powered retail frontline workforce productivity solution at NRF Big Show 2025.

The latest U.S. Department of Labor BLS report reveals a staggering 60% average turnover rate for retail employees*. This is coupled with escalating costs of hiring, training and retention. In response, nearly 40% of retail tech executives plan to boost investments in frontline worker experience technology in 2025. #

HARMAN ConnectIQ tackles these challenges by enhancing worker collaboration, delivering personalized training, streamlining onboarding and simplifying task management for store managers and associates. Powered by AI, it integrates multiple retail systems through prebuilt connectors, offering a unified digital experience for frontline workers. This improves productivity by up to 30%, boosting in-store customer experience.

[A spokesperson for the brand confirmed that HARMAN ConnectIQ will also be available to hotels and restaurants.]

HARMAN ConnectIQ uses market-leading technologies such as Microsoft Teams for collaboration, Microsoft Copilot for enhanced productivity and Samsung Knox for secure communication across channels

"HARMAN ConnectIQ is an AI-driven solution transforming retail operations by boosting frontline worker productivity and addressing labor shortages," said Nicholas Parrotta, President - Digital Transformation Solutions and Chief Digital & Information Officer at HARMAN. "By unifying various systems into a single digital experience and incorporating AI, we enhance workforce efficiency and elevate customer experiences. We're excited to showcase how this cutting-edge technology empowers retailers to stay competitive and drive innovation at NRF Big Show 2025."

HARMAN ConnectIQ will be showcased in the Samsung booth #5303 at the NRF Big Show. For more information on HARMAN Digital Transformation Solutions and HARMAN ConnectIQ, visit Retail Digital Transformation Solutions and Contactless Shopping | HARMAN.

Club Quarters, a hotel brand and management company, announced today that it will offer guests the ability to store and use mobile room keys within personal device digital wallets at all of its properties throughout the US and the UK. While other hotel chains have implemented this technology at select properties within their portfolios, Club Quarters is the first to fully embrace it at all of its hotels and includes the advantage of being compatible with Apple and Android devices. The move marks a significant expansion in the hospitality industry’s adoption of a technology that transforms the guest experience by offering a more convenient, secure, and sustainable way for guests to check in and access their rooms with just a tap of their mobile devices.

Digital keys were previously made available by downloading the hotel’s app–an innovation that Club Quarters first introduced to the industry in 2017. However, by offering mobile keys with digital wallet compatibility, guests are able to use the technology without the step of having to download and use an additional app. Instead, arriving guests can easily receive their room key by downloading it from their check-in confirmation email and adding it to a digital wallet on their Apple or Android device. 

“We truly believe that soon digital keys will displace key cards, which have been shown to be less secure,” said Club Quarters CEO John Paul Nichols. “We use our mobile phones to board planes and enter sports and concert venues. Entering your hotel room with a digital key on your phone will become another extension of that, and Club Quarters is incredibly proud to lead the industry in offering this convenience to all of our customers at all of our hotels.” 

Digitalized room keys are automatically activated once a guest checks in electronically and are ready to use as soon as a room becomes available, allowing guests to breeze past check-in lines and easily access their rooms with a tap of their phones. 

The key works without needing to open up any app, navigate to a special screen, or unlock the device. The same digital wallet-based key can also be used to access the hotel’s fitness center for even greater convenience. If guests choose to extend their stay, the key is automatically updated which sidesteps any need to visit the front desk. 

Advanced features included the ability for a guest with a dead device battery to still use their mobile key for up to five hours, preventing the risk of experiencing a frustrating room lockout.

To launch its digital wallet-enabled mobile key service, Club Quarters leverages cutting-edge door lock and software solutions developed by Vingcard, a leading innovator of advanced technologies tailored to the needs of the hospitality industry. Each Club Quarters location is equipped with Vostio Access Management, Vingcard’s cloud-based system responsible for generating mobile keys, ensuring use of the latest in data encryption, and providing seamless compatibility with guest digital wallets.

While key cards will continue to be available for use at its hotels, Club Quarters believes that the convenience of digital wallet-enabled room keys will ensure that the features quickly gains mainstream adoption by its guests.

Antavo, an AI-powered loyalty platform that works with brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken and PepsiCo, announced the launch of its Global Customer Loyalty Report 2025. The report examines perspectives on the current landscape of customer loyalty programs, upcoming trends and opportunities, including customer preferences, budget allocation and ROI benchmarks.

Antavo's annual Global Customer Loyalty Report surveyed over 2,600 CMOs, Marketing, IT and Loyalty experts and 10.000 consumers from all over the world and analyzed more than 230 million customer interactions, to help guide brands and retailers with data-driven investments in the age of AI. EPAM was the key partner in the development of the report, providing expert insights and sponsoring the research with 10,000+ consumers worldwide. This effort was further enriched by additional insights from VML (formerly Wunderman Thomspon), Capgemini, Deloitte, Havas CX helia, Acxiom, stratLX and Miltton Insights.

Key findings include:

• AI is here to stay: 37% of loyalty programs use some form of AI, and 50% plan to use it - so when added up, over 9 out of 10 program owners will use AI in the future. Also, nearly 7 out of 10 program owners (67%) feel comfortable using AI-powered agents to support in the management of their loyalty program
• Almost 30% of program managers still need to learn how to use AI, risking being left behind and losing customers to competition.
• More than half of respondents see AI as an essential tool for handling consumer inquiries and providing support, enhancing and optimizing loyalty programs, and providing deeper insights into the performance of their loyalty programs.
• Most program owners agree that AI will allow them to save time by enhancing team productivity, program performance, and saving money through increased efficiency.
• Loyalty marketing investment reached a new peak, with 31% of marketing budgets being dedicated to customer loyalty and CRM to improve their customers' experience in 2024 (22.8% in 2022). The highest spend is coming from Belgium (39%), followed by Brazil (36%), and the US and UK catching up with 30% and 26% respectively.
• Given market inflation and rise in cost of living, this also aligns with Forrester’s 2025 predictions that even though brand loyalty will decline, usage of loyalty programs will increase and investment to unify data for the loyalty and marketing tech stacks will triple.
• 83% of loyalty program owners reported a positive ROI, with an average 5.2x ROI. Germany saw the highest ROI with 6.2X, followed by Canada (5.4X) and the US (5.3X).
• Ease of management is the #1 priority for companies when choosing a loyalty technology - coupled with innovative features, show that companies prioritize long-term value from technologies, as opposed to quick implementation, and highly value ease of use and independence from IT.
• Poor integration was identified as a major challenge for 71% globally: 100% for the US, 75% for Germany, followed by the UK (70%) and Canada 66%.
• A booming 69% of companies are satisfied with their loyalty program, rising from 56% in the past 3 years. The leading cause of dissatisfaction is loyalty programs not aligning seamlessly with the brand’s overall customer experience, presenting many opportunities for loyalty managers to invest in programs that prioritize the customer experience to drive satisfaction and beat the competition.
• Reward customization impacts customer engagement: 82% of loyalty program owners who offer reward customization features report a positive impact on customer engagement. Businesses need to act quickly because the competition already plans to tap into this opportunity, with almost 80% of businesses planning to launch a loyalty program in the next two years with reward customization.
• Opportunity to invest in rewards and family benefits: 85% of program owners let members select rewards, but only 44% of loyalty program owners reported offering point pooling and family accounts; 7 out of 10 loyalty program owners who offer account sharing believe that the benefits of this feature outweigh the costs.
• Gamified data collection gaining traction: When done right, gamified data collection delivers ROI; 7 out of 10 loyalty professionals think the benefits of gamified data collection outweigh the costs, and 76% plan to implement gamification for data collection or enrollment in the next 2 years.

Attila Kecsmar, CEO and Co-founder, at Antavo, said: "Our report explores the best investment opportunities for loyalty programs and how AI can be used to improve the experience not just for the consumer but also for the brand. Brands are doubling down on loyalty spend as a significant part of their growth and there is a clear focus on retention and offering consumers more personalized rewards, easier access to benefits and a seamless experience across brands. The time is ripe to capitalize on the massive promise of AI to save on resources, and drive hyper-personalized loyalty programs at scale, profitability, and stay ahead of the competition.”

Andrew Doyle, Managing Principal & Practice Head at EPAM, said: “This year’s Global Customer Loyalty Report is much anticipated and more important than ever. AI is moving beyond the hype and into practical use. The focus is moving from ‘what’ to ‘how’, allowing brands to better enable hyper-personalization, contextual engagement, and perceived value management for each and every member.”

Antavo’s full Global Customer Loyalty Report 2025 is available here.

GoNexus Group, an experiences and mobility travel group, and STAY, a technology platform for hotel digitalization used by more than 1,300 hotels, have announced a global strategic alliance aimed at revolutionizing how travelers access experiences, mobility, and tourism services. This partnership underscores the shared commitment to innovation and value creation in the sector.

As part of this collaboration, STAY will integrate GoNexus Group’s extensive portfolio of experiences and mobility options into its mobile application, Stay App, enabling clients to access hotel services via mobile devices, facilitating reservations, orders, and real-time communication. Hotel guests will gain seamless access to a wide range of activities, excursions, and transportation services directly from their hotel’s app, enhancing the on-destination experience while driving engagement with the broader tourism ecosystem. The product offer to be distributed will be ‘customized’ at the hotel level, ensuring tailored solutions that meet the unique needs of each property.

GoNexus Group will act as a strategically, promoting Stay App to its global network of hotels and travel partners worldwide. This joint effort aims to drive the adoption of cutting-edge technological solutions that streamline hotel management, improve guest satisfaction, and optimize revenue for properties.

STAY will also serve as a commercial ambassador for GoNexus Group’s Hospitality Partnerships division, expanding its visibility and market reach within the hotel sector. This collaboration will strengthen relationships with hotels and hotel chains, fostering the integration of solutions that deliver value to both travelers and tourism operators.

“This alliance with STAY reflects our commitment to leveraging innovative technologies to redefine the travel experience,” said Rubén Gutiérrez, President of GoNexus Group. “By integrating our portfolio of experiences and mobility options into STAY’s platform, we are enabling hotels worldwide to deliver tailored solutions and unparalleled convenience to their guests, ultimately setting a new standard for service excellence in the tourism sector.”

Joan Lladó, CEO of STAY, added: “Partnering with GoNexus Group allows us to connect with a global ecosystem of experiences and mobility, extending our value proposition beyond hotel digitalization to a holistic guest experience.”

This alliance reinforces the commitment of both companies to innovation and operational excellence in the travel sector. The synergy between STAY and GoNexus Group not only elevates the traveler experience but also creates new revenue opportunities for hotels, solidifying the leadership position of both companies in the market.