News Briefs

Guesty, a property management software platform for the short-term rental (“STR”) and hospitality industry,  announced the acquisition of Rentals United, a cloud-based top-grade platform to distribute and promote properties across multiple listing sites. The acquisition combines two best-in-class software providers in the STR space to create a robust offering that is unmatched in the industry and opens up new revenue opportunities for property managers. Rentals United will retain its independence and continue to operate as a standalone business with its executive team leading its operations and development. Business will be conducted as usual for Rentals United’s customers and partners..

The deal will unlock a significant opportunity for both sets of customers to scale their businesses with sophisticated, data-driven products, AI-powered efficiency tools, and an extensive distribution network. Rentals United’s platform has been available to Guesty’s customers through its integration marketplace for several years and both companies are long-time industry partners with a shared vision for excellence in the short-term rental industry. 

“We see this as a natural fit for two industry-leading players that harnesses great synergy for STR and vacation rental property managers,” says Amiad Soto, Guesty’s CEO & Co-Founder. “Combining our technologically advanced offering with Rentals United’s distribution capabilities will deliver both an increased volume of bookings and bookings of higher relevancy. We’re very excited about this next step in our journey as we continue to consolidate the market and enhance our offering to best serve property managers.” Yair Holtzer, Chief Revenue Officer of Guesty adds, “This acquisition creates a winning business proposition for all property managers - from individual hosts through to enterprise PMCs - to maximize visibility, distribution and engagement with their prospective audiences. In addition, all Rentals United and Guesty partners will benefit from a more robust platform.”

Established in 2015, Rentals United empowers vacation rental managers to market and manage properties across 60+ listing sites. Its channel manager integrates with 100+ technology providers, offering innovative tools for channel optimization. This includes an AI-powered data platform for property performance analysis and personalized recommendations. The company employs 100 people with offices in Spain and Poland.

“Our acquisition by Guesty, the clear software leader in the STR property management sector, is a testament to our own technical prowess and we believe it will fortify our business and our offering in the long term, for our customers, partners and employees,” said James Burrows, CEO, Rentals United. “We’ve known the Guesty leadership team for many years and we’re delighted to merge our world-class operations as the STR market continues to accelerate.”

Operating in over 80 countries, Guesty is the most advanced, comprehensive, and easy-to-use platform for STR management today. Guesty’s PMS (Property Management System) serves enterprise and SMB property managers as well as individual hosts, providing a full-stack solution with all the necessary tools to manage the entire rental journey, solving some of their biggest pain points. Integrating across all property management functions, the company’s robust software platform helps property managers advertise and manage their vacation or short-term rental properties, delivering unrivaled guest experiences through a highly intuitive user experience and open API capabilities. 
 

This acquisition follows Guesty’s recent $130M Series F funding round led by leading global investment firm KKR. Since 2022, Guesty has acquired marketing distribution solution Staysense, hospitality software companies Kigo and Hirum, and YieldPlanet, a hotel-focused revenue and distribution management platform. Together with Rentals United, these assets elevate Guesty as the category-defining property management platform for the STR and hospitality industry.

PopID and Steak n Shake announced today that all Steak n Shake locations in the United States now accept PopID Check In (to review favorite orders and loyalty points) and PopPay for checkout. With more than 300 locations, Steak n Shake is the first national restaurant brand in the United States to adopt biometric check-in and checkout nationwide. PopID’s biometric check-in feature makes kiosk ordering faster, easier, and more personalized.

The implementation of PopID in every Steak n Shake location was accomplished rapidly and at low cost through a partnership between PopID and ACRELEC, a leading supplier of kiosk-ordering hardware and drive-through products. Cameras were shipped to every restaurant for attachment to the existing ACRELEC kiosks. “As explained in our recent publication, ACRELEC believes that our integrated biometric solution provides various benefits to restaurant operators related to throughput, ticket size, and loyalty engagement,” says Bruno Lo-Re, President of ACRELEC America.

“We are thrilled about our partnership with PopID and to be on the edge of biometric technology for the benefit of our customers. Our guests now have the option to use biometrics for a faster and more seamless experience,” says Sardar Biglari, Chairman of Biglari Holdings, the parent company of Steak n Shake.

Now that biometrics are enabled for all ordering and payment inside Steak n Shake restaurants, PopID and Steak n Shake will begin implementing biometric check-in and checkout at the restaurant’s drive-through units. “Similar to the kiosks, biometric check in can increase loyalty participation and revenue at the drive thru while also reducing payment processing costs,” says John Miller, CEO of PopID and Chairman of Cali Group. “Additionally, biometric payment at the order confirmation screen enables staff members to work on tasks other than taking payments by card and phone at the order pick-up window.”

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. 

NCR Voyix, a leading global provider of digital commerce solutions, and Olo, a leading restaurant technology provider, are expanding their long-standing partnership with the integration of Olo solutions onto the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform.

This collaboration further integrates two open platforms, both with deep expertise serving complex, enterprise restaurants with sophisticated operations, into a unified cloud-based architecture that enhances the guest experience for restaurant brands of all sizes.

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey 

The partnership integrates Olo’s Order, Pay and Engage solutions, which will be instrumental in supporting the restaurant industry’s increasing adoption of digital solutions, simplifying ordering and payments for guests and employees at scale, as part of the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform. Together, the two companies support restaurants embracing digital innovation that better enables them to deliver holistic, exceptional guest experiences through technology and data collection.

“The restaurant industry is transforming from disjointed physical and digital guest experiences to unified, consistent guest experiences across all channels that seamlessly blend together,” said Benny Tadele, EVP & president of NCR Voyix, Restaurants. “Brands that are leveraging the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform are accelerating their transformations and operating at the speed of the consumer, unlocking even greater value in personalization and data consolidation.”

Olo’s ecosystem of 300-plus integrated technology providers proves that collaboration is the best way to help accelerate the restaurant industry’s digital transformation.

“This new chapter of our partnership creates a unified, digital approach to POS transactions and takes restaurants one step closer to making every guest feel like a regular,” said Noah Glass, founder & CEO of Olo. “Today, only 16% of restaurant transactions are digital. This deeper integration with Pay and Engage will arm restaurants with higher volumes of data to cater to evolving guest expectations and drive more personalized experiences.”

Olo Order integrations with the NCR Voyix Commerce Platform are live now. Integration with Olo’s Pay and Engage solutions will be live later this year.

Intouch Insight, a provider of customer experience management solutions in North America, has released the second edition of its Emerging Experience study today in partnership with QSR Magazine. The report, Next-Gen Restaurant Experiences: The Rise of Innovative Locations, is focused on how technology is impacting the customer experience for multi-location QSR brands.

"We have been closely monitoring the latest trends in the technology and new prototypes launched by Quick Service Restaurants since the pandemic," says Laura Livers, Chief Revenue Officer at Intouch Insight. "This year, through our Emerging Experiences study, we wanted to dig deeper into the current performance of these prototypes and technology as compared to traditional experiences."

Driving Speed Improvements

The rapidly evolving quick service sector has seen many brands invest heavily in technology-enabled prototypes to enhance both in-person and digital experiences. This year's study highlights innovative brands that have incorporated features like mobile kiosks, improved drive-thru, AI-powered technology, innovative kitchens, and more to elevate the customer experience.
 

Taco Bell, Checkers & Rallys, bartaco Share the Stories Behind Their Award-Winning Technology Transformations

The results show that innovation experience overall scores outperformed legacy experiences in 7 out of 10 brands’. Some of the key findings of the study include:

• 3 out of 4 Innovation Experiences received higher overall satisfaction scores compared to their legacy counterparts.
• Technology innovations drove speed improvements for digital orders placed for pickup.
• 3 out of 4 innovation experiences' overall order accuracy scores outperformed the legacy experiences. 

“The data suggests that customers have a preference for innovative experiences,” says Livers. “As growth in these digital channels continues to surge, creating consistency across the varied customer engagement points will be critical for success. The brands who measure, learn, and pivot quickly, will be the brands who ultimately come out on top.”

Download the full study here: https://hubs.ly/Q02tjNSr0