News Briefs

Valyant AI, an artificial intelligence company focused on customer service in the restaurant industry, received its fifth patent from the United States Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Patent No. 11,594,223.

Valyant AI patents cover AI-based drive-thru order automation. 

The patent protects Valyant AI’s proprietary method for positioning a hardware ordering device on a restaurant site, capturing multiple audio streams and leveraging an artificial intelligence engine to conduct automated ordering processes for several different customers to complete orders. The AI-driven solution eases labor shortages with order automation.

“A critical milestone in our strategy to scale up and develop the world’s best conversational AI platform for the QSR industry, this patent allows us to further redefine how customers interact with AI to place their orders at the drive-thru,” said Rob Carpenter, CEO and founder of Valyant AI. “With a significant majority of QSR sales happening at the drive-thru window, restaurant owners need an innovative solution like ours that delivers industry-leading cost savings, increased upsells, reduced wait times and enhanced operational efficiencies.”

One of the world’s first commercial retail deployments of conversational AI for the enterprise, Valyant AI’s platform is used by four leading restaurant brands and integrates into existing point-of-sale, headset and order confirmation boards to streamline the customer experience, improve employee efficiency and help address labor shortages. By boosting average ticket sizes, diminishing customer service wait times and reducing operational costs via the ability to backfill key employee positions and reduce turnover, Valyant AI’s conversational AI platform delivers up to a 20% increase in top-line revenue. 

The platform also features custom voices, further transforming the drive-thru experience by allowing guests to interact with local heroes, celebrities, mascots, voices with accents and other characters when placing orders. More than simply transactional, custom voice experiences create excitement that guests look forward to and keep them returning. This new functionality is expected to help the Valyant platform boost sales, enhance brand loyalty, and raise customer satisfaction at QSRs across the country. 

This most recent patent is related to Valyant AI’s conversational AI technology patents asserted in its patent infringement lawsuit filed 18 months ago.

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.

Hostaway has become the first vacation rental property management software (PMS) to launch a ChatGPT-powered artificial intelligence tool within its platform. 

From today, all PMS & channel manager clients will have the option to use AI within Hostaway to optimize their listings and increase bookings, without adding to their workloads.

As rising guest expectations increase the demands on short term and vacation rental operators, data-driven automation is critical to achieving efficiencies while maintaining the highest standards required of professional managers and hosts.

Hostaway’s new AI tool will transform listings to be more inviting and engaging. It will also match the tone of voice and professional style to each operators’ brand and audience — from formal to friendly and anything in between — creating brand consistency across listings. 

This new technology not only saves time but increases the visibility of listings in a way that some managers may struggle to achieve by themselves.

The launch of its first AI enhancement is just the latest improvement the Hostaway team has made to its award-winning platform in the past year. Last month, the company updated its Guest Portal, enabling property managers to upsell to guests before and during their stay, helping clients stay competitive, drive revenue and deliver best-in-class stays. 

In 2022, Hostaway launched a website builder, fully-customizable rental agreements, and centralized financial reporting as well as integrations with nine booking channels, including Homes & Villas by Marriott International, Hopper, and Amadeus. Hostaway now have more than 150 integration partners. 

Saber Kordestanchi, Co-Founder and COO at Hostaway said: “We are delighted to introduce this feature to our platform, easing the strain on our customers by giving them the tools they need to elevate their listing descriptions and increase bookings.

“We take pride in responding quickly to developments in technology and the wider travel industry. AI is going to transform the experience of property managers as well as guests and this is just the first of many enhancements we expect to make.”

Mews has partnered with pop-up hospitality school pioneers Saira Hospitality to transform education in the hospitality industry and help with ongoing staffing shortages. 

“Our two companies are passionate about challenging the status quo and innovation, Mews with technology and Saira with people and education,” said Harsha L’Acqua, Founder and CEO at Saira Hospitality. “After just one discussion, it became clear that our graduates would benefit immensely from harnessing Mews’ tech platform to elevate hospitality training and service and ultimately re-inspire the industry.” 

There are two elements to the new partnership: first, five new hospitality schools will be created around the world, using Saira’s innovative curriculum and expertise in creating cutting-edge training program to create a skilled, dedicated workforce. The first school will open in London in June 2023 and will be followed by a pop-up in Amsterdam later in the year. 

Saira Hospitality specializes in sourcing undiscovered talent that may otherwise have been overlooked by the hospitality industry. Their global curriculum specializes in life skills development that equip students with essential hospitality skills including leadership, communication and emotional intelligence. After completing the program, graduates will then be employed at properties running on Mews. 

Secondly, work will begin on migrating the key parts of Saira’s curriculum online to the Mews University platform. This will offer Mews customers and the wider industry access to digital life skill sessions, aimed at upskilling global workforces and making Saira’s training more accessible. 

Saira Hospitality’s programs have a proven positive impact on team engagement and happiness, as well as significantly reducing staff turnover for hotels. The non-profit organization has been operating since 2015, partnering with the world’s leading hotel brands to support their talent search, whilst redefining how operators can connect and support local communities.  

“Hospitality isn’t just about business; it also has a key role to play in education and building local communities,” said Paul Mooney, Chief Customer Officer at Mews. “What’s so exciting about this partnership is that it can make a real difference to individuals while also helping our industry to create a new, enthused talent pool.” 

The Mews and Saira Hospitality partnership will last for an initial period of 18 months. To learn more about the collaboration and the direct impacts of Saira Hospitality’s program, watch the Power of People session from Mews Unfold 2023. 

SoundHound for Restaurants voice AI technology is available for integration with Oracle MICROS Simphony Point-of-Sale for Restaurants. 

SoundHound for Restaurants’ Smart Ordering voice AI integrates with Oracle MICROS Simphony POS to help any restaurant to accept voice orders from customers over the phone, via menu kiosk, or at the drive-thru, and transmit them directly to the platform. SoundHound’s voice technology intelligently learns a restaurant’s menu and can answer questions, accept modifications, and even upsell – helping restaurant staff maximize the number of orders they can process with greater speed and efficiency.

• Adding new features, functionalities, and modules to existing POS is a priority for 71% of respondents, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

Even during peak hours, Smart Ordering empowers restaurants to never miss an order, and is able to deal with many customers simultaneously, helping to avoid frustration and order abandonment. The voice technology can also answer questions about restaurant location, business hours, and other FAQs, allowing employees to focus on making food and serving customers. 

Importantly, SoundHound’s advanced conversational AI allows restaurant customers to speak naturally when placing an order – just as if they were speaking to a human. It is capable of capturing selections accurately and in real-time, making it a reliable and cost-effective way for restaurants to deal with the increased demand for takeout amid recent labor shortages. 

Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking business applications offering unique business solutions, including ones that extend Oracle Cloud Applications.

SoundHound’s voice AI is the result of nearly two decades of innovation, including providing voice AI solutions to a range of world-class brands, including Hyundai, Pandora, Snap, VIZIO, LG and Mercedes-Benz. Through SoundHound, each of these companies offer voice technology that is built from the ground up and optimized for human speech. 

Nemacolin, an award-winning, luxury destination resort nestled within 2,200-acres in the Laurel Highlands of southwestern Pennsylvania, has partnered with Hapi and Salesforce to roll out high-touch, personalized service across its entire campus, which includes lodging, restaurants and activities.

In addition to two championship golf courses and a casino, Nemacolin features a salon, shops, an award-winning spa and a holistic healing center. Dining options include four high-end restaurants and six casual dining options, as well as seven bars and lounges. Accommodations include two luxury hotels, a Tudor-style lodge, two-bedroom townhouses and high-end private homes.

During the COVID lockdown, Nemacolin was forced to transition from mainly group business to placing a high emphasis on leisure travel and the leisure guest experience. As such, leadership today is focused on personalized guest experiences that will drive customer service scores and repeat leisure business.

To ‘wow’ guests with personalized touches throughout their stay, Nemacolin has turned to Salesforce for their Sales Cloud, Marketing Cloud and Analytics products. Together, these tools will provide a central, unified view of each guest and a platform for staff members across the property to access and action guest profile details.

“Historically, our strategy was to get people to book rooms, and if they want to do something else while on property, we expected them to call us back,” says Dan Swanson, Director of Revenue Strategy at Nemacolin. “Now, we've started to implement a high-touch experience by looking beyond bookings and really understanding our guests – who they are, what their preferences are, what they’ve spent money on, and what their satisfaction scores are. Now we can proactively help them make those appointments.”

While Salesforce is widely recognized as a leader in Customer Relationship Management across many industries, leadership at Nemacolin wanted a partner with deep hospitality expertise to help setup and deploy the Salesforce ecosystem, including integrating the multitude of operating systems across the property and ensuring normalized data was flowing properly. They turned to Hapi Guest, the only solution to securely integrate hotel data into Salesforce Cloud environments in real time.

“Hospitality is a finicky business that takes a while to learn. Hapi understands it, and that's the experience we were looking to take advantage of,” Swanson says. “The plug and play nature of what Hapi brings from an interface perspective is exciting, meaning if we need to unplug any of our systems, we can plug a new one in the next day.”

Hapi Guest will help extract and organize all the data that is collected by different sources across the expansive Nemacolin property. Data will be normalized to ensure a single guest profile and then sent to the Salesforce ecosystem via a single feed.

“Hapi Guest is enabling hotels like Nemacolin to use Salesforce to create traveler personalization at scale, reinventing guest journeys across all channels,” says Luis Segredo, CEO of Hapi. “We’re proud of this partnership with one of the world’s most unique luxury resorts and look forward to helping them access and action their guest data.”