News Briefs

For many, checking into a hotel can mean the beginning of an exciting adventure, a relaxing getaway or important moments in life. For guests who are blind or have low vision, exploring the unfamiliar surroundings of a hotel could pose unique and specific challenges that have the potential to impact their stay.

Hilton, a global leader in hospitality, announced today an industry-first, exclusive partnership with Be My Eyes to ensure guests who are blind or have low vision can experience a more accessible, seamless and welcoming stay. Together with Be My Eyes, Hilton is making available AI-powered assistance and dedicated Hilton Reservations and Customer Care support to guests who are blind or have low vision across the U.S. and Canada. Be My Eyes is a free mobile app that connects blind and low vision users with sighted volunteers and companies through live video and AI, and now, directly connects Hilton guests with a team of dedicated, specially trained English-speaking Hilton Reservations and Customer Care agents.

Through this partnership, Be My Eyes users in the U.S. and Canada can use their smartphone to navigate to Be My Eyes’ “Service Directory,” select the “Hotels” category and choose the participating Hilton brand to be directly connected to Hilton’s dedicated teams. Hilton teams will be available to help users navigate the hotel, including helping guests identify and adjust the in-room thermostat, operate in-room coffee machines, identify window coverings, or navigate to the hotel’s meeting spaces and amenities such as bars, restaurants, gyms or spas.

Assistance is available across a variety of Hilton’s portfolio of brands, including Waldorf Astoria Hotels & Resorts, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, DoubleTree by Hilton and Hampton by Hilton, among others. The partnership provides both leisure and business travelers who are blind or have low vision with personalized assistance for every stay occasion.

“As a leading hospitality company, Hilton is committed to creating an experience that is welcoming for every guest, at every hotel, every time,” said Mike Gathright, senior vice president, customer excellence and innovation, Hilton. “We believe that every guest – regardless of ability or any other factor – deserves a reliable and friendly travel experience, and we are proud to partner with Be My Eyes to make that more of a reality for thousands of Be My Eyes users.”

Today’s announcement marks a significant milestone in the collaboration between Hilton and Be My Eyes. Hilton first partnered with the organization in 2023 to train and improve “Be My AI,” an OpenAI GPT-4 language model that powers the Be My Eyes app, to enhance its ability to recognize objects and navigate the furniture and fixtures found in Hilton brand hotel rooms. Earlier this year, the partnership was expanded to include the development and training of a specialized team of Hilton Reservations and Customer Care agents who can support Be My Eyes users that may need assistance during their stay.

“Our mission at Be My Eyes is to break down accessibility barriers in everyday life, and this partnership with Hilton is a significant step along that path, helping travel and hospitality to be much more inclusive,” said Mike Buckley, CEO, Be My Eyes. “Hilton is once again leading by example, and we’re excited to provide the world’s best customer service platform to help Hilton serve blind and low vision consumers.”

In addition to leveraging Hilton’s dedicated Reservations and Customer Care team, guests can take advantage of Hilton’s industry-leading “straight-to-room” digital self-service tools that create a seamless experience from check-in to check-out. Where available, these tools include the ability to choose your room, digitally check in, use the Digital Key to open guest room doors with mobile phones and digitally check out. With this technology, guests who require additional assistance can adapt their travel experience based on their specific needs.

While Hilton’s partnership with Be My Eyes will support thousands of guests who are blind or have low vision, the hospitality leader is on a continuous journey to understand and accommodate the needs of individuals with disabilities, so all guests can experience a reliable and friendly stay.

Hilton is proud to have been recognized as a Top Company for People with Disabilities by Fair360, a Leading Disability Employer by the National Organization on Disability (NOD) and a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion in the U.S. by Disability:IN. These recognitions represent the company’s continued commitment to learning how to better serve guests with diverse needs, including members of the blind and low vision communities.

Mark Shambura has joined Panera Bread as Chief Marketing Officer. Shambura will lead all aspects of marketing at Panera, including Brand Building, Digital & Loyalty, Product Strategy & Consumer Insights. An accomplished marketing leader with broad expertise in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura has previously held marketing leadership roles during pivotal growth periods for top brands including Chipotle, MOD Pizza, and most recently Papa Johns.

"Mark brings an impressive background building brands and leading marketing teams for fast-casual restaurants, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to Panera Bread,” said José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer. “As Panera continues to evolve our brand, guided by listening to our guests, Mark’s depth of experience and ability will help drive our growth as a brand that serves great food you feel good about eating.”

Shambura previously served as CMO at Papa Johns, where he led a revitalization of the brand by enhancing its iconic “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” platform, and developing a more modern, innovative omnichannel approach to transform how Papa Johns appealed to both new and loyal consumers. As Executive Director at Chipotle, Mr. Shambura guided the marketing function through periods of both sustained growth and transition, providing leadership over brand strategy, advertising, digital, social, events/sponsorships, promotions, and field marketing, including playing a key role in spearheading its “Real Ingredients” brand strategy.

“I’m proud to join the Panera Bread team and excited to build on the momentum of the brand's transformation as it continues to evolve in service of our guests,” Mr. Shambura said. “Panera propelled and cemented its position at the top of the fast casual restaurant segment through its promise of high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared food, and I’m thrilled to join a highly talented team to help shape its next chapter.”

Prior to his tenure in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura gained extensive marketing agency experience, working with a broad array of top global consumer brands for over a decade. Shambura will report directly to José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer, and officially assumed the role of Chief Marketing Officer on July 29, 2024.

Push Operations has joined the Toast Partner Ecosystem. This integration will help automate tedious administrative tasks for Toast customers in the US and Canada by centralizing Push Operations employee solutions to Toast's platform.

Push Operations is an all-in-one solution for easy people management in the restaurant industry. With thousands of customers across North America, Push has perfected the art of human resources, automated payroll, and generating schedules in seconds. 

Toast is a cloud-based, all-in-one digital technology platform purpose-built for the entire restaurant community. It works with integration partners in its Toast Partner Ecosystem, a curated portfolio of more than 200 partners who deliver specialized technology and services to help restaurant operators increase sales, engage guests, and keep employees happy.

• 84% of survey participants plan to add new functionality, features, or modules to their current POS software, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

"We are thrilled to welcome Push Operations to the Toast Partner Ecosystem, and delighted to offer our customers the ability to integrate their Toast POS with Push's people management solution," says Keith Corbin, Senior Director, Business Development from Toast. "By integrating  with Push, restaurants can now easily bring in live and historical sales data and leverage their technology to make smarter scheduling decisions through labor forecasting."

The integration of Push and Toast is designed to allow restaurateurs to take advantage of a leading POS and restaurant management system combined with Push's advanced HR, payroll, and scheduling capabilities. Push brings in live and historical sales data from Toast to help operators make more accurate scheduling decisions. Push's heat map technology can also provide staffing insights on a more granular level based on the time of day.

"We're really excited about this integration with Toast, it comes at a time where restaurateurs are looking for ways to stay ahead of the technological curve that the industry is experiencing," says Tina Lum, CEO, Push Operations. "Integrating with a forward-thinking company like Toast will only benefit our customers!"

Technology is becoming essential for restaurants in today's shifting economy. Push's Industry Report found that "90% of restaurateurs consider inflation a challenge and are turning to technology to address the issues it brings". The combination of Push and Toast provides a unique way to help restaurateurs navigate those challenges. 

Domino's Emergency Pizza program is back. Domino's Pizza Inc.  is once again offering customers a free medium, two-topping pizza to use whenever they need it most. Any Domino's customer who places a qualifying online order today through Jan. 19, 2025, can earn an Emergency Pizza, available for redemption from their Domino's Rewards account.

"We launched our Emergency Pizza program last year and customers loved it so much we knew we had to bring it back in a big way," said Kate Trumbull, Domino's senior vice president – chief brand officer. "Life can throw unexpected curveballs, and sometimes a hot, delicious pizza is just what you need to turn things around. Maybe you tested a new dinner recipe that turned out to be a disaster, or perhaps you ran out of time to buy groceries – whatever your emergency, Domino's is here to help with a free pizza."

The 411 on Emergency Pizza
To receive an Emergency Pizza, customers simply need to place a delivery order online or a digital carryout order of $7.99 or more. Once the order is confirmed, customers will automatically receive a Domino's Emergency Pizza under "My Deals & Rewards" within their Domino's Rewards account. 

• Related:  Domino’s Revamped Loyalty Pays Off

"Not only is Domino's Emergency Pizza program back, but it's in more places than ever," Trumbull said. "We're excited to launch a series of new, unexpected brand partnerships that consumers can have fun with. Domino's has partnered with Amazon and Twitch, as well as Olive & June to bring Emergency Pizza to life in two completely different, yet very entertaining ways. But that's not all – we have even more fun brand integrations planned for Emergency Pizza in the future, so be on the lookout!"

Gaming: Domino's Joins Forces with The Glitch – Amazon and Twitch's Newest Game
Domino's is making its debut in gaming by teaming up with Amazon and Twitch to integrate Emergency Pizza into their new Fortnite game, called The Glitch. Domino's dedicated brand experience within The Glitch launches on Oct. 14, 2024. Within it, players can:

• Experience a Domino's-branded "Red vs. Blue" player map where teams can compete against each other for "Domin-ation" by capturing and maintaining control of a Domino's storefront.
• Have access to a secret weapon: Emergency Pizza! In case of an emergency, players can "break the glass" to collect it and fully restore their health.

Domino's is also collaborating with gaming influencers to host live streams as they explore Domino's dedicated brand experience within The Glitch. 

Glam: Domino's Partners with Everyone's Favorite Nail Brand, Olive & June
Pizza and beauty enthusiasts can purchase the following items exclusively at oliveandjune.com, starting on Oct. 17, 2024:

• Domino's and Olive & June Emergency Pizza Mani Kit
  • This limited-edition kit comes with two exclusive Domino's nail polish colors – carryout (red) and delivery (blue) – as well as quick dry top coat for the perfect nails. It also features pizza topping nail stickers for a delicious finishing touch.
• Domino's and Olive & June instant mani press-on nails
  • Give yourself an instant manicure by choosing from three press-on nail designs: "I Heart Pizza French," "Secret Sauce Velvet" or "Extra Cheese Please." "Extra Cheese Please" comes with an assortment of mouthwatering pizza topping nail stickers.

Hospitality America is investing in its technology infrastructure aimed at revolutionizing business intelligence across its hotel portfolio. The initiative will empower leaders at both the property and corporate levels with real-time insights, actionable data, and robust forecasting capabilities to facilitate proactive and agile management. Spearheading the effort is Wes Cargen, newly appointed vice president of business intelligence and former operations manager for the third-party management company. Most recently with Actabl (ProfitSword), Cargen brings expertise in AI-powered business intelligence, labor, and operations automation to Hospitality America hotels. 

“Leveraging an AI-enabled Microsoft tenant, our goal is to reduce workloads through automation while enhancing portfolio insights,” Campbell said. “To oversee this transformation, we brought Wes Cargen back into the fold. Wes will leverage his unique hotel technology and operations expertise to help us better understand things like loyalty program efficacy and how it relates to guest behavior patterns so we can enhance our personalization and retention strategies. He will analyze hotel and market sentiment from customer reviews and feedback and advise on how we can better monitor guest satisfaction and adjust services proactively. And he will bring predictive maintenance capabilities to Hospitality America to help us to better anticipate and resolve equipment or facility issues before they escalate into costly problems.”

Better Agility = Better Decision Making

Part of its business intelligence approach involves integrating all data feeds into the company’s Microsoft 365 platform, and consolidating information from various sources, such as property-management systems, revenue-management tools, customer reviews, and market reports. This comprehensive approach will allow for the seamless analysis of market intelligence data, including competitive set analysis, local demand generators, and event schedules, enabling Hospitality America to monitor market trends and swiftly identify shifts.

“Agility in decision-making is crucial in today’s fast-paced hospitality landscape,” Cargen said. “The new dashboards and reporting tools we will be building internally will empower hotel leaders and corporate executives to drill down into data for quicker, more informed decision-making.”

The initiative also includes an alert system for performance anomalies, enabling immediate intervention. Hospitality America will compare performance across properties to identify underperforming assets and share best practices from high-performing hotels. Compliance with brand standards and operational benchmarks will be closely monitored, while long-term forecasting based on macroeconomic indicators and travel industry trends will help align resources with demand.

“Hospitality America is committed to supporting scenario planning for various market conditions, ensuring that our leaders are prepared for economic downturns and seasonal fluctuations,” Cargen said. “The integration of cross-departmental collaboration will facilitate the sharing of best practices and vendor recommendations.”

“We plan to uncover patterns throughout the revenue cycle to better equip our leaders with the insights necessary to make informed, impactful tactical adjustments,” said Ben Campbell, Hospitality America CEO. “By delivering real-time key performance indicators (KPIs) to our hotel leaders, we can better understand and manage critical metrics such as labor costs, energy usage, and maintenance expenses.

Right Man for the Job

Cargen’s years of experience in hotel operations combined with his know-how for implementing cutting-edge BI solutions within the hospitality sector, made him the right person to introduce a more collaborative approach to BI for Hospitality America. His expertise in integrating advanced analytics and predictive modeling will enable leaders to extract actionable insights from data.

"Business Intelligence is crucial in today's hospitality landscape as it enables data-driven decision-making, operational efficiency, and competitive advantage,” Cargen said. “By leveraging BI, we can optimize revenue management, enhance guest experiences, streamline operations, and identify new growth opportunities. In an increasingly competitive and dynamic market, BI provides the insights necessary to stay ahead and maximize profitability."

As an implementation specialist for Actabl, Cargen was responsible for leading the implementation of ProfitSword Business Intelligence solutions, ensuring seamless integration and optimal performance for hoteliers. He served as the primary point of contact for clients throughout the project lifecycle, from initial scoping to final deployment, providing training and ongoing support. He also collaborated with cross-functional teams, including development and support, to resolve issues and customize software to meet client-specific needs. While working for Hospitality America, Cargen wore many hats including that of General Manager and Operations Analyst/Internal Controls Auditor.

"Returning to Hospitality America feels like coming full circle,” Cargen said. “This is where my career in the hospitality industry began 15 years ago, providing me with a strong foundation and invaluable experience. I've chosen to return because of the company’s stellar reputation and the exciting opportunity to lead a critical function. Hospitality America’s commitment to innovation and data-driven decision-making aligns perfectly with my expertise and vision for the future of hospitality management. Returning enables me to contribute my wealth of experience to the very company that launched my career, driving it forward in this new era of data-centric hospitality."

Immediately, Cargen will conduct a comprehensive assessment of the company’s current BI capabilities and implement quick-win solutions to improve data accessibility and reporting. Long-term he aims to build a world-class BI ecosystem that positions Hospitality America as an industry leader in data-driven hospitality management.

"Owners and investors should know that our enhanced BI capabilities will directly translate to improved asset performance and ROI,” he said. “By leveraging advanced analytics and predictive modeling, we'll be able to optimize pricing strategies, identify cost-saving opportunities, and make more informed investment decisions. Our commitment to data-driven management will provide owners with unprecedented visibility into their property's performance and market positioning, ultimately leading to increased profitability and asset value."

For more information about Hospitality America and its commitment to innovative technology solutions, please visit www.hospitalityamerica.com.

Hospitality industry veteran Skip Kimpel is tapping his passion for XR (extended reality), AI and next-gen tech to power up Magicgate, an exciting new consultancy laser-focused on bringing the art of the possible to restaurants, hotels and hospitality venues worldwide. 

Focused on personalized experiences and digital transformation, Magicgate provides tailored strategies, VR training, AI-powered solutions, and XR innovations to enhance guest experiences, streamline operations, and drive growth in the rapidly evolving hospitality landscape resulting in operational efficiencies and reducing labor costs.

According to Accenture, 83% of Gen Z expects companies to personalize experiences. They also expect seamless experiences fueled by advanced technologies like AI and ML, while younger Gen A is even more immersed in tech. “Research suggests the newest generations will grow up with the most sophisticated understanding of emerging technologies like AI, AR and VR,” said Kimpel. “It’s time for companies to embrace next-gen tech if they want to win over and stay relevant with future generations.”

Under the Magicgate banner, Kimpel will offer guidance to help organizations navigate increasingly blurred lines between what’s real, what’s virtual, and how these multiverse worlds are becoming ever more connected. “Our approach goes beyond just adopting new tech—it’s about reshaping entire business models,” says President and CEO, Skip Kimpel. “We help companies stay ahead of digital disruption by offering tailored strategies that combine XR, AI, and more to deliver real business value.”

Key Offerings:

• Custom Strategy: Tailored roadmaps for XR, AI, spatial computing, metaverse and other disruptive technology integrations.
• XR Solutions: XR strategy from immersive customer experiences to advanced training techniques.
• VR Training & Onboarding: Reduce learning curves, ensure employees are job-ready faster. Minimize travel costs, particularly for global organizations.
• Remote AR Support & Maintenance: Procure AR solutions to enhance real-time remote support, allowing technicians to overlay digital instructions onto physical objects in real time.
• AI-Powered Innovation: Discovery, procurement and implementation of AI / ML tech, like predictive analytics, chatbots, and business operations including the use of advanced Computer Vision.
• Digital Twins: Optimize facility management, enhance guest experiences, and improve sustainability by providing real-time data on operations, predictive maintenance, and personalized guest services.

“We’ve tapped Skip’s expertise to help navigate the training processes into the VR world,” added Cam Crowder, Former Franchise Owner, Tim Hortons. “We see the potential of positive ROI - and it will be an absolute game-changer.”

According to Zarnik and EHL Hospitality Insights, the global market for smart hotel technology alone is projected to reach $24.46 billion by 2027, driven by the adoption of AI, XR, IoT, and other innovative solutions. And according to QSR Magazine and Mordor Intel, AI is rapidly transforming the restaurant sector, with the market for AI-powered solutions expected to reach $49 billion by 2029, up from $9.68 billion in 2024.

“There’s no doubt XR and AI will transform hospitality,” commented Michael Cohen, Managing Partner, Growth Advisors International Network (GAIN). “Skip is already a go-to source for organizations looking to navigate this world, so this represents a natural next step for him, and a big win for the industry at large.”

“We’ve seen XR adoption start to transform industries like aerospace and healthcare” said John Cunningham, COO of the VR/AR Association. “Hospitality is the next horizon, and this consultancy - with Skip at the helm - will help accelerate the industry.”