News Briefs

More than one-third of adults expect to visit a casino during the next 12 months, according to the October 2023 edition of the American Gaming Association Outlook.

With more than 1,000 casinos to choose from across the United States, Grand Casino Hotel Resort, part of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation located in idyllic Shawnee, Oklahoma, decided to invest in state-of-the-art hospitality-focused technology from Agilysys to attract a greater share of adults planning casino visits and keep them coming back for more.

To elevate Return on Experience (ROE), a key hospitality metric that recognizes the financial benefits of better serving both guests and staff, Grand Casino Hotel Resort invested in the following cloud-native Agilysys solutions:

• An intuitive, cloud-based application that empowers restaurant patrons to choose their own seats while making a reservation.  The solution also enables restaurants and other establishments to maximize space utilization.
• An award-winning point-of-sale (POS) system that brings leading-edge security along with ease-of-use and transaction efficiency to sales transactions across the property.  An intuitive interface minimizes staff training and a broad array of features support a wide variety of customer preferences for point-of-sale transactions.
• A contactless, mobile self-service food & beverage (F&B) ordering system that provides user-friendly order-and-pay experience, whether in a food court, bar, restaurant or room.
• A commission-free room and activity guest-facing web booking experience that encourages upselling unlimited amenities, such as room upgrades, spa treatments, golf tee times, dining reservations and activity appointments as part of an integrated itinerary that makes it easier for guests to see and manage trip schedules.
• An innovative system for the procure-to-pay process that enhances productivity and minimizes waste to optimize vendor relationships and purchasing across all departments and locations.
• A spa management application that ensures an exclusive spa experience for every guest while optimizing therapist and treatment room utilization.
• A golf course and pro shop management application delivering personalized player experiences that drive revenue and streamline operations.

“These Agilysys cutting-edge solutions not only improved hotel operations, but also our casino operations.  This interoperability allows our guests to easily use player club points or our tribe-wide gift cards as payment,” said Grand Casino Hotel Resort’s Chief Technology Officer Justin Dunsworth.  “Since switching to Agilysys, we have successfully reduced the need to maintain our own infrastructure for these applications, making the investment highly worthwhile,” he added.

The casino hotel destination, located a short drive east of Oklahoma City, is the perfect weekend getaway.  The property features more than 125,000 square feet of gaming space with 2,000-plus of the newest Vegas-style slot machines and Oklahoma’s only Keno lounge.  Also on site is a luxury 14-story hotel tower and several guest dining selections.

“Gaming and hospitality players must set themselves apart and technology empowers them to do so,” said Agilysys Vice President of Sales Darren Student.  “Our solutions maximize ROE by enabling staff to serve guests better through personalization and allowing guests to interact with the property however they choose – whether through their mobile devices or in person. The winning ticket? The right technology and an end-to-end ecosystem of state-of-the-art integrated software modules,” he concluded.

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. 

Legion Technologies, an innovator in workforce management (WFM), announced the integration of its award-winning Legion WFM platform with SAP SuccessFactors solutions, allowing companies with hourly workers to simplify their employee lifecycle management. Now available on SAP Store, Legion WFM provides companies in labor-intensive industries such as retail and hospitality with the ability to maximize labor efficiency and employee engagement simultaneously with intelligent, automated, employee-centric workforce management.

• Strategic Insight: Get instant insights into employee engagement, manager productivity, labor optimization, and compliance trends.
• Automated Labor Budgeting: Combine accurate long-term demand forecasts with your detailed labor model and scheduling rules to create precise labor budgets.
• Demand Forecasting: Precisely predict demand across all customer touchpoints every 15 minutes.
• Labor Optimization: Empower managers with staffing guidance and labor insights to generate the optimal labor plan.
• Automated Scheduling: Create optimal schedules that match business needs with employee preferences and skills.
• Automated Time and Attendance: Automate timesheet approvals, corrections, and premium calculations.
• Frontline Communication: Unlock the power of digital communication to dramatically improve the experience of frontline hourly workers.
• Instant Wage Access: Support financial well-being and increase retention with access to earned wages in the same app employees use every day—without IT resources.
• Performance and Rewards: Engage and motivate hourly employees with instant feedback and recognition to help them grow and feel valued.

At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2024 in Las Vegas, Vox AI's advanced machine learning technology  for  the drive-thru is making its debut. 

The W Barcelona hotel, situated on the famous Barceloneta Boardwalk, recently partnered with IRIS, the leading provider of digital F&B and guest experience platforms, to offer a broader digital ordering experience resulting in a boost in revenue and efficiencies. 

It selected both its mobile dining solution to deliver an in-room dining service and a world of culinary delights direct to its guest’s doors, in addition to its digital guest directory solution to provide all guests with direct access to hotel and local area information, whilst at the same time maximising revenue and profits. 

The luxury hotel, which is popular with both residential and day guests, has reported significant results since implementation. Most notably, a 60% increase in average guest spend across all operations via mobile dining compared to traditional dining. More specifically, since deploying digital dining, 35% of all F&B room service orders are now placed digitally, accounting for nearly half (46%) of all revenue.  

Commenting on the results following installation, Martin Daniel Voštiar, B&F Coordinator, W Barcelona said, “Guests appreciate the ease and efficiency of serving themselves and enjoy the convenience of being able to access information wherever they are, in their own time – they are fully in control of their experience.

“The IRIS app is a convenient and holistic tool that ensures guests have all the information at their disposal and the ordering and booking process is as seamless and enjoyable as possible. Remarkably intuitive, it boasts a user-friendly interface that’s easy to navigate and manage. Considering the increase in guest spending through online orders, it’s undeniably delivering a substantial return on our investment. 

Operationally, the team has reported significant improvements in efficiencies and guest service management. In-room dining has reduced the workload for its “Whatever/Whenever” team who previously took all room service orders over the phone. They now have more time available to focus on other aspects of their role and enhance guest service, particularly during peak times when phone lines are congested, eliminating the need for guests to wait on hold to place an order. It has also assisted the In-room dining team, allowing them to concentrate solely on preparing and delivering orders more efficiently. 

Alongside mobile dining and ordering, the digital guest directory means guests can easily access information on the hotel facilities, fitness classes, special events and what’s on in the local area. Additionally, guests can download a range of newspapers and magazines, book appointments at the Spa, barber and Tattoo Studio, and view information on the hotel’s services and sustainability policies. A wealth of information is clearly visible and accessible in the palm of the guest’s hand, wherever they are in the property or local area. 

From a guest perspective, they have found it simple and easy to use, and have been swift to adopt the simplicity of self-service ordering from the comfort of their own device, particularly during peak times when staff are busy. 

The hotel has invested heavily in promoting the app (accessible via QR codes) at check-in to ensure guests are provided with complete and accurate information on its facilities and services in the most convenient way possible.  

Offering a more cost-effective, sustainable alternative to traditional paper menus and directories, the hotel team can simply edit and add information online as and when required without the costly and inconvenient job of re-printing and replacing material in all 473 bedrooms. Likewise, they can amend and keep menus and opening hours up to date to ensure the app is always accurate with correct information at no extra cost. Multi-lingual, it delivers a consistent experience for guests, regardless of their nationality and reduced guest wait times with a direct integration to the Micros POS.  

Voštiar continues, “Following its success we are now planning to extend digital dining in 2024 to our Salt Beach Club. Guests will be able to access digital menus via QR codes printed on the sun beds. They will be able to place their order, have a dip in the sea and return to their lounger with their order waiting for them and we look forward to fulfilling this enhanced guest experience next year.”