News Briefs

Groups360 and Choice Hotels International announced the rollout of GroupSync™ Instant Booking across Choice’s global portfolio in 2023. Soon meeting and event organizers can shop and book online group guest rooms at Choice Hotel properties within GroupSync Marketplace.  

GroupSync’s direct integration with Choice Hotels will offer real-time best available group rates and inventory to thousands of Choice properties. Planners of small or simple meetings can book these events in real-time, with guaranteed rates and availability. Event organizers will also benefit from viewing inventory availability before submitting an RFP for more complex events. Real-time pricing and availability reduce the booking process for smaller meetings from weeks to minutes. The combination of these two capabilities changes the hotel sourcing process into an instant booking one.

“We are thrilled to have Choice Hotels join the GroupSync Marketplace,” said Kemp Gallineau, CEO, Groups360. “Their involvement is a testament to our shared commitment to reducing transaction friction in group travel planning. This technology roll-out will help franchisors like Choice continue their history of innovation, enhance their customer relationships, and deliver an improved event planning experience at Choice properties. With the addition of Choice, we anticipate that over 20,000 leading hotel properties will be equipped to offer GroupSync’s online instant group booking functionality in the months ahead.”

Choice’s commitment to GroupSync technology extends further by allowing its properties worldwide to choose GroupSync Marketing™ for property-level content curation and promotion management tools.

As part of a national effort to raise awareness and offer expert insights, Denny's is kicking off a series of summits focused on how companies and individuals can better manage and improve their mental health and wellness.

The first summit is taking place on April 22 at the HPAC Theater in Spartanburg, S.C. The summit will be free to the public and attendees can participate in-person or virtually.

"Denny's has always been committed to feeding people's bodies, minds, and souls, and this summit series perfectly aligns with our holistic approach to wellness," said Kelli Valade, CEO of Denny's. "The COVID-19 pandemic has placed the topics of mental health and personal well-being front and center. Now is the time to think about how we can bring our whole selves to all facets of our lives, including the workplace."

The summit keynote speaker is Dr. Daniel E. Dawes, Senior Vice President for Global Health and Executive Director of the Institute of Global Health Equity at Meharry Medical College. Dawes will discuss the importance of addressing mental health equity and the path forward to achieving a healthier society. Other nationally recognized panelists include:  

• Dr. Shaneeta Johnson, a surgeon, clinician, educator, and researcher at Morehouse School of Medicine and Senior Fellow in Global Health Equity at the Satcher Health Leadership Institute
• Dr. Monique May, a board-certified and licensed family physician best known as the "Physician in the Kitchen"
• Dr. Bennie L. Harris, Chancellor of the University of South Carolina Upstate
• Sharon Lykins, Denny's Vice President of Product Innovation

"Mental health and wellness significantly impact the quality of life of individuals, families, and communities across the Upstate region and beyond," said USC Upstate Chancellor, Bennie L. Harris, Ph.D. "We are thrilled to join forces with a global leader like Denny's to address one of the most critical public health issues of our time."

Journalist Roland S. Martin will moderate two panels, "Mindful Eating," which will address the connection between food and wellness, and "Wellness at the Workplace," which focuses on mental health at work.

A second mental health summit will be offered on October 10 in Nashville, Tennessee.

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.

Vibes, a mobile engagement platform, announced the final results of its comprehensive 2023 Consumer Trends survey. Vibes surveyed a broad range of over 1,000 mobile-centric consumers with the intention of understanding what the relationship with their smartphones looks like today, how they interact with brands on their phones, and how often.

Among the core findings were that younger consumers say they now prefer SMS (32%) over email (26%) as their primary channel of communication from brands, and that 28% of consumers under age 40 actually cited a frequency of too few messages as a reason to stop receiving communication from a brand. More than 40% of smartphone users say the information they're willing to give a brand in exchange for better personalization includes their zip code, their name, their mobile phone number and zero-party survey data.

The survey also found that Mobile Wallet, i.e. a wallet on the smartphone that allows consumers to pay for items online or at the register, is taking off in popularity, particularly among younger consumers aged 25-54. 54% of this group say they're either already using or are interested in using Mobile Wallet to store items such as digital offers and loyalty cards – a terrific opportunity for brands looking to bridge the engagement gap between high-reach, low-engagement channels like email and low-reach, high-engagement channels like a brand’s own mobile app. 

More than 70% of smartphone users even said they are likely to save and redeem personalized mobile wallet offers or coupons that are enhanced with their name, and that are tailored to their personal shopping preferences.

“Consumers are telling us that they’ll gladly interact with brands on their smartphones, as long as offers are personal, timely and relevant, and if they allow them to take the next step to using a mobile wallet”, said Jay Hinman, Vibes’ VP of Marketing. “Nearly 70% of consumers already receive text messages and push notifications from brands on their phones, and younger consumers in particular are saying that they love it, with many saying they want even more.” 

 

Vibes has made the full report available for download here.

 

Adyen, the global financial technology platform, has partnered with Olo Inc. to provide restaurant businesses with a faster and easier way to consolidate digital and in-store payments, apply for capital, and manage cash flow. The collaboration will further expand Adyen’s hospitality sector reach by providing Olo Pay customers with the all-in-one Adyen for Platforms experience.

In the future, participating restaurants will receive advanced payment capabilities and embedded financial services including Capital, Accounts, and Card Issuing. 

• 57% of respondents say enabling new payment options is a  top business driver impacting POS upgrade decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

Launched in 2022, Olo Pay is Olo’s modern payment tech-stack purpose-built for restaurants, providing enhanced fraud and chargeback features while increasing conversion rate. By joining forces with Adyen, Olo Pay will enable its customers to accept and oversee both digital and in-store payments from the same Olo platform in which they manage the rest of their business. This functionality will be available soon in beta for Kiosk ordering before expanding to all card-present ordering thereafter. This streamlined payment stack will increase operational efficiency for restaurant businesses by eliminating the need to switch between multiple tools for reconciliation, refunds, fraud prevention, and chargebacks. The partnership with Adyen will also help brands build more holistic guest profiles by capturing all transaction data in one place, empowering Olo Pay customers to utilize a more data-driven approach to strategic investments and innovation. 

Adyen will soon enable eligible Olo Pay customers to tap into embedded financial services in order to meet some of their most critical financial needs. Providing capital at speed is especially important in the fast-paced restaurant industry Olo serves, and through Adyen’s Capital and Accounts products, Olo Pay customers will be able to access pre-approved working capital advances intended to support their growth. With the first embedded finance suite to be developed entirely in-house, Adyen’s products negate the delays experienced when applying for capital through traditional banks or fragmented financial ecosystems. 

Learn more about the Adyen for Platforms, Capital, Accounts, and Card Issuing products here. 

It’s 3 p.m. on a Monday at Homewood Suites by Hilton Largo Washington DC, arguably one of the busiest times for this hotel’s lobby. A guest, having checked in on Sunday, would like to inquire about dinner reservations. They approach the front desk. Although the hotel is at capacity, there is no line. The guest is welcomed personally by a smiling Hilton team member, who has time to ask their preferences, their dining style and more before making a recommendation.

While a seemingly simple interaction, this valuable in-person connection is enabled by a new cloud-based hotel Property Engagement Platform (“PEP"), co-developed by Hilton and HotelKey, now powering more than 1,000 properties within the Hilton portfolio. The platform’s ability to speed computer-based transactions at the front desk and throughout the hotel is helping reduce guest waits and increase the amount of time hotel team members can dedicate to providing personalized service.

Homewood Suites by Hilton Largo Washington DC is one of the first hotels in Hilton’s portfolio to implement PEP and is a testbed for the project rollout, which is expected to reach more than 7,000 hotels worldwide over the next three years.

“Since implementing the PEP solution in early 2022, we rarely have a line at our front desk, allowing us to spend more time connecting with our guests,” said Andron Gordon, general manager, Homewood Suites by Hilton Largo Washington DC. “Our regular, extended stay guests are even noticing the dramatic changes in efficiency. We are huge fans of PEP.”

Gordon credits the platform for significantly reducing the amount of time for team member training, reducing day-to-day technology and billing errors and enabling more time to build relationships and genuine connections with their guests.

According to a recent Hilton report, “The 2023 Traveler: Emerging Trends that are Innovating the Travel Experience,” more than half (56%) of consumers planning travel in 2023 said they want an easier, or “frictionless” travel experience this year. PEP, which was co-created with Hilton for exclusive use at Hilton properties, enables the global hospitality company to incorporate a suite of integrated software solutions to streamline operations, address guest and team member needs, and identify cost efficiencies within one standard platform that can be scaled worldwide. The collaboration is expected to improve the guest experience across Hilton’s 19 world-class brands and reduce team member upfront property management system training efforts from 40 hours to 4 hours, by providing access to HotelKey’s industry leading TrainKey solution.

Hilton’s implementation of PEP is one of many innovations the company is delivering to marry the power of technology with the light and warmth of hospitality, helping team members deliver the most reliable and friendly stays.

“As a business of people serving people, we’re always looking for ways to deploy solutions that meet the evolving needs of our team members and our guests,” said Michael Leidinger, senior vice president and chief information officer, Hilton. “In addition to benefiting from our new property engagement platform, to achieve a more frictionless travel experience, guests can also engage in our other industry-leading digital innovations, such as enhanced booking options, Digital Key and Digital Key Share through the Hilton Honors app and personalized in-room technology.”

Fareed Ahmad, co-founder & chief executive officer, HotelKey said, “Our partnership with Hilton is a testament to our hospitality platform technology and capabilities that allow a single property platform to serve many distinct brands across the globe. This engagement also highlights our partnership approach to integrate our technology as a part of the broader workflows of a large hotel enterprise.” Aditya Thyagarajan, co-founder & president, HotelKey, said, “We are enthusiastic about the new ground being blazed by our collaboration and look forward to a long partnership with Hilton to complete the deployment of our Hospitality Management Platform across their global portfolio.”