News Briefs

One of the world’s most technologically advanced hotel groups has revealed how its latest innovation has helped grow the number of guests following an entirely digital guest journey from 8% to 80% — a 900% increase.

Schani Hotels in Vienna swapped its property management system wholesale last year, adopting the employee and guest experience tool, Like Magic, in the process. Since then it has managed to increase efficiency by 30%, become more sustainable and improve staff retention.

Christian Mueller, Group Technology Manager of Schani Hotels, is well known as a champion of hospitality technology and helped to make the decision to implement the data & AI driven platform to keep the company at the cutting edge. This will allow it to scale more easily in the future but even he has been surprised by the results. 

Christian says that, despite the fact their previous PMS was quite modern, when Like Magic was adopted alongside its replacement platform it was still able to boost efficiency by 30%. The platform allows staff to run operations using a traffic light system of notifications and recommended actions, making the whole process of customer service and property management much more automated. Guests can also perform 80% of their daily tasks from one system. This means they can self-serve, requiring no human help to check-in, order food, additional linen or pillows, and create their own keyless room key, which only requires their mobile phone. Calls to the front desk have also fallen by around 50%.

Like Magic’s platform brings a booking engine, guest platform, employee interface and monitoring tools all into one place, creating a center of operations for hotel management. This unlocks a completely digital guest journey for guests if they want one — and plenty do. In fact, since adopting Like Magic, the number of guests following a completely digital guest journey has risen 10-fold from just 8% when Like Magic went live in June 2023 to 80%. The improved guest experience has also resulted in a dramatic improvement in reviews from 4 out of 5 to 5 stars on average.

Christian Mueller says: “We expected there would be an improvement but not that much. It’s been the same story with self check-in. We never expected so many would check in digitally prior to arrival. We were hoping for 50% but it ended up being 80%. It’s mind-blowing.

“The self-service functionality of Like Magic has been the game changer. Guests can purchase add-ons, add people to rooms and do all kinds of other things without coming down to the reception or making a call. They use Whatsapp to ask for things like extra linen and pillows. It’s just totally seamless for them now, but it applies to our staff too. We changed our whole approach to daily tasks, dropping paper breakfast lists, housekeeping lists and arrival lists. We just don’t need that stuff anymore as the staff are able to see them on their mobile phone. When a room is cleaned, it is marked off as clean on the app, and it’s all updated live. The guest moving into that room can instantly check in.”

The dynamic between staff and guests has also changed. Staff used to stand behind a desk but, now that the only tools they need are on a tablet or mobile phone, they welcome guests as soon as they walk in the front door and have coffee with them on sofas in the entrance hall, creating a much more personal and relaxed atmosphere. 

"They don’t have to stand at the desk 24/7,” says Christian. “They have more time to deliver that personal touch for the guest stay. It helps the staff to focus on the really important things. People assume digital check-in has been around for a while. It has — since 2015 — but was never on a web based application like this, and no one wants to download an app on their phone. Now there are no barriers, guests are voting with their feet. There’s so much they would rather not do face-to-face or over the phone.”

The impact of Like Magic has been felt across the business. Like Magic can recognise returning guests, even if they’ve come through an OTA channel, so staff can build a robust guest record and pre-empt their preferences. Before Like Magic, guest communication was only conducted on email and this shift to digital means that 52% of all guests choose Whatsapp as a communications channel over email, while 70% of those using email are still doing so on a mobile phone. 

Mueller says: “Desktop as a communication mode is dead. Guests love to communicate by Whatsapp and it always makes me smile to go through the messages they send. I’ve never seen so many emojis, kisses and hearts. We make sure the staff know that they can communicate back in the same way. That way they can give the conversations a much more personal flavour. Phone calls to the front desk have dropped by around 50%.”

The Schani team also made its operations more sustainable by ending automatic daily cleaning of rooms. Guests can request a daily clean free of charge but fewer than 20% of guests do so, cutting costs and reducing consumption of energy, water and chemicals. Schani donates money for every day each room doesn’t get cleaned to an association that supports carbon neutral projects around the globe. 

Interestingly, Schani hasn’t reduced its staff headcount even though it could have done. The group still considers the personal touch part of its identity, and is now taking full advantage of the additional time staff have available to spend with guests. Thanks to the traffic light — or ‘ampel’ system, hiring and retention have improved too. 

“Prior to Like Magic a lot of new staff would join, stay for two or three days and then declare that it wasn’t the style of hotel they wanted to work in or the type of software they wanted to use. That has changed tremendously now. The training time has gone down from around a week to five hours and our employees love using the platform.”

Markus Feller, CEO of Like Magic, comments: “Schani Hotels is a wonderful example of a hospitality company driving forward to stay at the cutting edge and take advantage of what the latest innovations have to offer. It’s fascinating to see them evolve, and use the efficiencies they’ve won to increase the personal attention that guests are receiving from staff. The assumption is often that technology removes the need for staff, but the Schani team are demonstrating how it can simply allow you to refocus a hospitality business to improve the value proposition for guests and this is already reaping rewards.”

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. 

The recognized hospitality group, ESS Group, renowned for their distinguished destinations and resorts across 15 destinations and Atomize Revenue Management System are thrilled to announce a ground-breaking partnership.

Atomize RMS, with its global footprint and celebrated for its data-driven real-time dynamic pricing capabilities, will empower and ensure that ESS Group's properties remain competitive and priced accurately. This partnership enables ESS Group to leverage Atomize's sophisticated and unique real-time pricing technology, enhancing its revenue management practices and capabilities. In addition, it allows ESS Group to adapt more quickly to market demand and enhance overall operational effectiveness.

As part of this partnership, ESS Group and Atomize RMS also launch a technology innovation program with the main ambition to redefine revenue management relevant specifically for destination resorts. The initiative will capitalize on Atomize RMS's heritage and expertise within data science, combined with ESS Group’s unique and deep proficiency in creating world-class guest experiences.

This collaboration between ESS Group and Atomize RMS highlights a shared vision of pushing boundaries within the hospitality sector.

"We are excited to embark on this journey with a high-tech and forward-leaning company like Atomize, a company that aligns with our passion for innovation and excellence," said Anna-Carin Rasmusson, CCO of ESS Group.

Alexander Edström, CEO of Atomize RMS, added: 

"Our collaboration with ESS Group marks a significant milestone for us and underscores our dedication to propelling the hospitality industry forward through this unique and innovative partnership. I feel confident this partnership will bring transformative results for both ESS Group as well as for the wider hospitality sector."

Radisson Hotel Group has unveiled its pioneering Radisson Meetings Unbound value proposition and AI-powered Radisson Meetings Dream Machine, as the Group continues to revolutionize the world of meetings and events. Radisson Meetings Unbound allows meeting and event planners to unleash their creativity and tap into the world of AI-technology to generate new ideas beyond conventional meetings and events boundaries, share event inspiration, and bring their imagination to life through future-thinking creations of dream event spaces.

Delivering memorable events is at the heart of Radisson Hotel Group’s Radisson Meetings Unbound value proposition, that celebrates the power of creativity in events by empowering event professionals to envision the future of memorable meetings and events. Radisson Meetings Unbound unlocks the doors to new meeting possibilities and transforms the Group’s venues into dynamic playgrounds where creative minds can develop new ideas and share event inspiration. 

To celebrate this new value proposition, Radisson Hotel Group has brought together its visionary digital innovation with its meetings and events expertise to launch the Radisson Meetings Dream Machine. Using a customized generative AI tool, the Radisson Meetings Dream Machine enables event professionals to go beyond the conventional boundaries, from conceptualization to visualization. Event professionals can use the platform to create visually stunning representations of their of dream event spaces. In addition, event inspiration will be shared through thought leadership such as how to personalize event experiences with AI and real case studies of successful innovative event formats. 

To bring the Radisson Meetings Dream Machine to life, the Group is organizing a series of experiential creative workshops and “infinity rooms” in key destinations across Europe and Africa. Radisson Hotel Group’s “infinity room” is an immersive experience designed to help event planners step out of their comfort zone to redefine and expand their approach to meetings and events. Entering an almost pitch-black meeting room, participants are led through a series of deep-focus visualization exercises to help them think about the current challenges they face when organizing meetings and how to navigate these different event constraints, by placing a particular emphasis on sensory experiences such as lighting and sound. As organizers progress through the different stages of the event planning process, the room gradually lightens, slowly revealing infinity patterns, designed to facilitate co-creation and collaborative innovation. 

The first “infinity room” was recently launched at Park Inn by Radisson Amsterdam City West. The Radisson Meetings Dream Machine events roadshow will continue with creative and immersive events in Düsseldorf, Copenhagen, Manchester, and Johannesburg. The concept will be brought to life in the coming months at select Radisson Hotel Group properties in collaboration with the Group’s network of strong local partners.

“In a crowded conference landscape, impressing event organizers and delegates is difficult. Delegates expect to be fully immersed and engaged in return for taking the time and effort to attend an event. Inspiration and creativity are needed now more than ever before. At Radisson Meetings, we remain committed to helping our partners unlock the doors to new meeting possibilities. Radisson Meetings Unbound and Radisson Meetings Dream Machine embody our company ethos to ensure that Every Moment Matters by leveraging the latest in digital innovation. Using pioneering AI technology, our event venues will be transformed into playgrounds where ideas soar, connections deepen, and creativity blossoms. Every day, everywhere, every time, we work hard to think outside the box, and bring event visions to life, and are proud to unveil this exciting new offering and creative platform,” says Daniela Dumitrescu, Global Marketing Strategy Director, Radisson Hotel Group.

Radisson Meetings Unbound is the latest pioneering offering from Radisson Hotel Group’s world-leading Radisson Meetings team which offers the most dynamic, flexible, and functional solutions in the modern meetings and events marketplace. In 2019, Radisson Hotel Group was the first hotel group to make all meetings and events held across any of the Group’s properties globally carbon neutral, offsetting over 87 thousand tons of carbon to date for its clients. Radisson Meetings Unbound is aligned with the Group’s heightened focus on digital innovation which has established it as a leading digital innovation visionary. The Group was one of the first in the hospitality industry to release successful customer-first, innovative digital experiences based on immersive content and digital replicas that revolutionize the way meeting planners can explore meeting rooms and the different set-ups, book directly, or send a request for a proposal for that specific space alongside immersive virtual tours that provide floor plans, dollhouse views, and an exact digital replicas of the hotel. The benefit of this technology also extends to the in-house event teams, as they can show different meeting room set-ups in real-time through any smartphones or VR goggles.

For more than 30 years, Longhorn Hotel & Casino has delivered affordable, welcoming experiences for Las Vegas residents and out-of-town patrons alike, branding its unique value as “Your Vintage Vegas Destination.”

With the American Gaming Association (AGA) reporting strong revenue growth in the U.S. gaming sector, Longhorn Hotel and Casino executives sought to replace the property’s outdated software technology with modern, state-of-the-art solutions that would help them capture a greater revenue share while also operating as a cost-effective “right fit” for their comparatively small property.

The property features a 150-room hotel, a casino and the Chuckwagon Restaurant, a popular destination serving guests 24 hours every day and known for its extensive menu combining crowd-pleasers such as Biscuits and Gravy and Country Fried Steak with higher-end fare such as Prime Rib and New York Strip Steak with Lobster, all at wallet-friendly prices.

Longhorn’s Director of Special Projects and Corporate Security Mark Rodney observed, “It can be challenging for a smaller casino like ours to find an affordable hospitality-focused solutions provider that also gives us the bells and whistles needed to succeed with our guests. But with Agilysys, we went from suboptimal, outdated and unsupported systems to integrated, intuitive, technologically advanced hotel and casino solutions that align with our needs today and can support our goals over the long term as they evolve.”

“We now have a total hospitality solution that empowers staff members to work seamlessly and easily on their own, along with elevated reporting capabilities for our auditors and administrative people alike,” Rodney said.

Agilysys, Inc. (Nasdaq: AGYS) is a leading global provider of state-of-the-art hospitality software solutions and services known for helping organizations such as Longhorn Hotel & Casino leverage automation and deeper guest insights to improve Return on Experience (ROE), a key hospitality metric capturing the financial and loyalty benefits of better serving both guests and staff. Agilysys systems help properties interact with guests in ways that reduce operating expenses while also inspiring higher on-property spend, more frequent return visits and stronger reviews.

To achieve these goals, Longhorn Hotel & Casino invested in the following cloud- native Agilysys solutions:

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 time and a broad feature array supports a wide variety of customer preferences for point-of-sale transactions.

• An intuitive, cloud-based property management solution (PMS) that improves performance across hotel and casino operations to grow occupancy and patronage, engage guests, increase revenue, eliminate costs and streamline processes for staff. The system conveniently interfaces with a property’s existing cloud or on-premise systems and delivers faster financial returns with lower technology overhead. Users can improve flexibility and productivity with mobility features and tap built-in intelligence to drive upsell revenue before and during a guest’s stay.
• A guest-facing, web-based commission-free room and activity booking experience that encourages upselling unlimited amenities such as room upgrades, dining reservations and activity appointments as part of an integrated itinerary that makes it easier for guests to see and manage trip schedules.

“Modern, integrated state-of-the-art technology that unites operations and intelligence across hotel, casino and restaurant experiences can set a property apart, even in the highly competitive gaming and hospitality industry,” Agilysys Vice President of Sales Darren Student noted. “Along with high performance and deep, broad feature sets, we also build into Agilysys solutions the flexibility to elegantly scale both up – for large hotels and resorts – and down for smaller, more intimate properties such as Longhorn Hotel and Casino, so that gaming and hospitality organizations of all sizes can benefit from the innovation investments we make,” Student added.