News Briefs

Shiji, a global hospitality technology innovator, has partnered with IPORT, an award-winning manufacturer known for enhancing the usability of iPads and iPhones, to introduce an all-in-one software solution for hotel restaurants. This collaboration will provide hoteliers with a seamless combination of a tablet and payment device to maximize their F&B operations.

The integrated iOS and payment device solution simplifies guest service for hotel restaurant servers, providing them with an effortless tool to cater to their guests' needs. As a certified Apple partner, Shiji and IPORT guarantee exceptional performance and reliability. Hoteliers can choose from multiple device options, including iPad Pro, iPad Mini, and iPhone, ensuring flexibility and compatibility with their operations.

“IPORT products are built around modularity and flexibility that empower our hospitality customers to do more with the iOS platform. We are thrilled to partner with a leading iPad and iPhone cloud PMS and POS platform provider like Shiji,” said Chris Lawson, Head of Partnerships, IPORT. “We look forward to innovating with Shiji in disrupting legacy, monolithic providers who have limited the industry from harnessing the power of iOS and mobility. The future is bright, and the possibilities are endless with IPORT, iOS, and Shiji.”

"The partnership with IPORT is a significant milestone for Shiji in our commitment to provide innovative technology solutions for the hospitality industry," said Ryan King, Senior Vice President of Shiji in the Americas. "By combining our expertise with IPORT’s hardware solutions, we empower hoteliers to streamline restaurant operations and deliver exceptional guest experiences. This collaboration represents another step forward in our dedication to driving success in the Americas, and globally."

The tablet and payment device solution seamlessly integrates with multiple payment gateways, allowing hoteliers to choose the system that best suits their needs. By simplifying the payment process, it reduces operational complexities, minimizes errors, and saves valuable time and resources for hoteliers.

Steak n Shake will offer PopID Check In and PopPay on its self-ordering kiosks in select locations in the Orlando market, with plans to expand to more than 300 corporate locations. PopID Check In is an opt-in service that enables consumers to scan their face to automatically sign into their loyalty reward account and see their past orders, making the ordering process as convenient as possible. When a guest checks in with PopID, they also have the option to use PopPay to automatically complete their payment.

• 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.

“Our partnership with PopID is a key part of our effort to provide guests with a fast and seamless ordering experience," said Keith Correia, Chief Information Officer. "When using PopID Check In, a guest does not need to use their phone or take out their wallet as part of the ordering process. They will automatically be checked in for loyalty rewards, and they can choose to make an automated payment with PopPay. A guest can even see their past orders and quickly reorder their favorite menu items. Ordering at Steak n Shake has never been easier or more convenient.”

In addition to enhancing the guest experience and improving order throughput, PopPay helps to reduce fraud and offers lower payment processing fees.

For electric vehicle owners in British Columbia, Tim Hortons is now fueling road trips in more ways than one.  The company has announced the expansion of its electric vehicle charging station pilot launched earlier this year in Oakville, Ontario, by unveiling six new charging stations at restaurants throughout  British Columbia.

Tim Hortons announced the pilot in February in an effort to study the technology, its usage and opportunities.

"We have been thrilled with the results of the pilot so far.  Usage of the charging station in Oakville has surpassed our expectations and we received many calls with requests to expand the pilot," said Paulo Ferreira, Senior Director, International Strategic Restaurant Design and Building Standards, Tim Hortons. "With more than 3,300 eligible restaurants across the country, we continue to look for opportunities to expand the pilot and contribute to the EV infrastructure."

The BC expansion, supported by the Province of BC's Community Charging Infrastructure Fund and Koben Systems Inc. (KSI), placed charging stations strategically in Nanaimo, Langford, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Coquitlam to create paths within the province, allowing guests to travel from restaurant to restaurant strictly on electric power.

Tim Hortons offers charging stations as a courtesy to guests at six locations.  As of March 31st, 2013, Tim Hortons had 4,288 system-wide restaurants, including 3,453 in Canada, 808 in the United States and 27 in the Gulf Cooperation Council. 

LG Business Solutions USA is demonstrating how its broad range of powerful display technologies, service robots and computing devices can improve hospitality guest experiences throughout hotel rooms, lobbies, business centers, meeting spaces and even restaurants at HITEC 2023 in Booth 1809 in the Metro Toronto Convention Centre.

Visitors to LG’s booth in Toronto this week can see how the latest displays enable upgraded experiences and capabilities for specific hospitality scenarios, with booth areas designated to present technologies for Lobbies, Retail, Reception, Meeting Rooms, Business Centers, Smart Rooms, Suite Rooms, Presidential Suite Rooms and Public Solutions including restaurants and bars. LG is also highlighting the LG CLOi ServeBot robot assistant and an EV charging station that includes a 55-inch LG digital signage display with an integrated revenue-generating ad placement service.

Starting in the Lobby zone, a 65-inch 4K display shows how hotels can integrate digital art canvases and features live content provided by Blackdove and Apollo, a digital art subscription service and LG partner. The Retail zone highlights the unique atmosphere offered by LG’s cutting-edge transparent 55-inch 4K OLED display and Transparent LED Film that can be applied to any glass surface, including windows.

•  LG to Bring Apple AirPlay to Hotel Room TVs

In the Reception Zone, visitors can experience the “wow factor” and power of LG’s 136-inch All-in-One Smart Series 1.5mm pixel pitch DVLED display that includes an embedded controller, an on-board speaker, optional rolling floor stand and the option to add simple screen sharing through the LG One:Quick Share accessory solution. 

The booth’s two Meeting Room zones exhibit how simple it can be to enhance a meeting room with smart conferencing capabilities, utilizing the LG CreateBoard, a 75-inch interactive digital board that offers 40-point multitouch, 4K resolution, dual 15-watt speakers and simple screen sharing through the LG CreateBoard Share app.

Also featured at HITEC 2023 is a demonstration of the popular LG CLOi ServeBot robotic assistant that can carry food and beverages in service settings, as well as a advanced EV charging station that features a 55-inch LG digital signage display with integrated BroadSign software to enable new revenue streams for hotel operators through automated ad sales. Flanking the exhibits are a variety of guestroom 65-inch TV models, including OLED models that present upgrade options for guest rooms.

For more information about LG’s hospitality-focused products shown at HITEC 2023, click here. 

 Myma.ai releases an update to its  AI Digital Assistant Platform, BOOK ME BOB,  that integrates and harnesses the emerging power of the  large language models of ChatGPT. \

With new tools and advanced functionality, their next generation AI Digital Assistant  Platform is an affordable solution, focused on helping operators regain margin, optimise performance,  and enhance the customer experience, with a high return on investment for the operator.  

This platform has been designed and is being used to meet the individualized  needs of these operators across the globe. It is already responding to various detailed enquiries across numerous facilities, from restaurants, bars and bespoke experiences to corporate functions,  conference rooms and everything in between.  

What puts this platform in a league of its own, is that this only just touching the surface of what it can  achieve. 

Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, David Thompson says, “it’s been a rewarding process to work  alongside world-class providers to optimize their customer service and to streamline their operations. The roll out of these diverse collaborations demonstrates the power of our new platform to handle  complex, multi-subject and ongoing conversational text enquiries. We believe the launch of our new  generation platform will empower operators and result in a level of support and sales sophistication  that has potentially never been experienced in the global Hospitality industry. The benefit these first  establishments have already encountered in a short space of time is what fuels our passion for this  product, helping empower our customers to optimise their offering and maximise their return.” 

In staying true to their mission for full empowerment, Myma.ai has given total control to the  operators, allowing them to choose if or when they transition to the new platform, made available  with a simple flick of the switch. 

With this next generation AI Digital Assistant platform being rolled out across the globe in the coming  weeks, the Myma.ai team welcome enquiries and are eager to demonstrate how this platform will  reimagine the way Tourism, Hospitality and Experience operators engage with their customers.  

 

Payment request platform Prommt and a member of Oracle PartnerNetwork (OPN) has today announced it is available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace and can be integrated with OPERA Cloud via ORACLE Hospitality Integrations Platform (OHIP). This integration aims to empower hotels using ORACLE Hospitality OPERA Cloud Property Management System (PMS) to offer an enhanced streamlined payment process for the collection of advance bookings, outstanding balances/accounts receivable, and guest payments for events. In addition to this, it will help reduce card fraud and chargebacks, as well as payment operations and card processing costs, while providing rich reporting and alerting capabilities, enabling any potential problems to be addressed quickly.

Prommt is a paytech solution that is revolutionising the way enterprises request, collect and report remote customer transactions with the ability to send secure, branded payment link requests to their customers. Customers can pay by card or bank, with confidence. Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a centralized repository of enterprise applications offered by Oracle and Oracle partners. By integrating Prommt to a hotel’s ORACLE Hospitality OPERA Cloud PMS system, reservation staff can easily send payment requests, directly from the platform, providing the payer with a 3D secure checkout. The system will then update the payment status once it has been processed by the hotel’s payment gateway, all of which is managed by the Prommt platform. 

A large majority of hotels take payments over the phone, leaving them susceptible to fraud. Recent studies estimate that up to 86 percent of total chargebacks could be cases of intentional or unintentional friendly fraud and that 49 percent of guests who cancel travel bookings and other reservations do so through chargebacks. Prommt’s secure pay-by-link offering integrated with OPERA Cloud via OHIP will help hotels to mitigate against this and boost their profitability whilst simultaneously ensuring their customers’ sensitive banking information is secure.