News Briefs

Elavon, a payment processors, announced the launch of Elavon Cloud Payments Interface, a new API that simplifies managing the digital and in-person payments experience for hotels and other hospitality-related businesses.

“Elavon Cloud Payments Interface helps continue digital transformation across the hospitality industry by enhancing guest experiences, streamlining operations and providing real-time safe and secure data synchronization. This let’s us focus on the payment and allows our merchants to focus on delivering exceptional service,” said Pari Sawant, global chief product officer at Elavon. “This system cuts the cord and enables a smoother experience by enabling guests to charge for meals and services wherever they are.”

At its core, Elavon Cloud Payments Interface embeds payments conveniently and safely for both guests and merchants. For guests, it simplifies the ability to pay anywhere, anytime while protecting their payment data and information. For hospitality businesses in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, this cloud-based system scales payments and supports third-party payments providers, while being PCI compliant.

Advantages the system provides business owners and franchisees include:

• Integrated Guest Experiences: Bring payment capabilities to every stage of the guest journey, from booking reservations to checking-out and leverage transactions and updates reflected across PMS and POS devices in real-time. System offers full support of contactless and mobile payments.
• Cloud Transformation and Developer Experience: The RESTful API allows straightforward integration and development of cloud-based software tools to accept payments. Allows integration with third party payments providers.
• Device Integration and Scale: Easily add new locations and devices, pairing without significant infrastructure changes or investments through the cloud.
• Enhanced Security: Delivering Elavon’s robust suite of fraud protection capabilities from the start of implementation.
• Compliance: Automatic software updates systems are always up-to-date with latest features and patches.

For more about Elavon Cloud Payments Interface, visit the Developer Portal here. 

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.”

Mirai EMEA CEO Javier Delgado Muerza unveiled ‘Mirai Twin’ at Phocuswright Europe during an insightful panel discussion on the Metaverse. Mirai Twin is set to transform how potential guests experience hotels in the booking process, offering an immersive, 3D digital twin of properties using real drone footage produced by Mirai teams.

With Mirai Twin, guests can experience the entire hotel before they arrive, enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the property, tour the facilities, admire the views, enter rooms, and get a genuine feel of the hotel from the comfort of their own home. Mirai Twin also offers the convenience of instant booking because it fully integrates with the booking engine at both the pricing and availability levels.

This cutting-edge technology creates a 3D digital twin of the hotel, providing a 100% immersive and native experience across all devices—desktop, mobile, and tablet – allowing customers to explore every angle of the hotel, enhancing their decision-making process.

Javier Delgado Muerza, CEO at Mirai said: “Our relationship with the Internet is evolving, and the hotel industry must adapt to meet the needs and increasing expectations of digital natives for whom soon the metaverse will become the norm. The line between the digital and real worlds is disappearing, and the hospitality sector faces the challenge of integrating the latest technologies to cater to these new users. Mirai Twin represents meaningful innovation, blending cutting-edge technology with a hotel’s standards in a profitable manner. The use of drone-captured images makes this technology ideal for hotels where guests value room selection, pool proximity, and view. Guests can live their experience even before arriving at the destination, making the most of their hotel experience.”

José Santas, Sales, Marketing, and Revenue Management Director at Hoteles Santos (owner of the Las Arenas property), praises Mirai Twin: “We are delighted with this tool as not only does it enhances the guest’s ability to imagine their trip, making their pre-stay more memorable, ”

Not only is Mirai Twin already implemented in Las Arenas Valencia, but also Luxor (hotel) Benidorm and Luxor (villas) Benidorm have done so too and experienced many benefits for their direct bookings such as:

• Immersive experience for a hotel’s customers: through a realistic and disruptive representation, Mirai Twinallows customers to visualise the hotel in an innovative way. This helps them to understand all the competitive advantages and services offered by the hotel.
• Differentiation from other hotels in the destination: hotels using real 3D images will stand out from the competition in the destination. The immersive experience creates an innovative and engaging impression for travellers, which can influence their purchase decision.
• Differentiation of the direct channel: By using Mirai Twin the direct channel is differentiated from other booking channels. Customers can explore the hotel more fully and directly, which increases the likelihood of direct bookings.
• Continuous and dynamic navigation: Navigation without floor plan sequences allows users to move freely through the virtual hotel. This creates a more dynamic and engaging experience, which can increase visitor retention on your website.
• Booking engine integration: Mirai Twin is fully integrated with the booking engine both at the pricing and availability level as well as at the content level by automatically integrating all your photos, videos and 360 material.
• Upselling at reception: The 3D model allows the reception team to show the hotel directly to guests in an innovative way. This facilitates commercial actions such as upselling, where specific rooms can be promoted in a very visual and attractive way. It can also be used as an interactive map of the hotel where all services and points of interest can be located.
• Multi-device navigation: same immersive experience on desktop, tablets and mobile phones. This guarantees a consistent and engaging exploration regardless of the device used.
• Full Internationalisation: Mirai Twin is translated into all the languages of your website.
• Traceability and analytics: tracking the usage of the 3D model through your Business Intelligence and GA4 provides valuable information on user interaction with the digital twin at traffic and sales level.

With a commitment to integrating cutting-edge technology seamlessly across desktop, mobile, and tablet platforms, and anticipating the growing importance of the metaverse, Mirai is well-prepared to expand Mirai Twin to other hotels globally, helping more properties increase their direct bookings and benefit from this transformative tool in the near future.

The mad dash to take a summer vacation is underway, with three out of four travelers agreeing that Americans are prioritizing travel more in 2024. And when they travel, they are opting more for a highly digital, self-service experience when it comes to their hotel stays.

A recent survey commissioned by Mews and conducted by OnePoll found that nearly 80% of travelers would be willing to stay at a hotel with a completely automated front desk or self-service kiosk, with more than 40% of them preferring to check in via a hotel’s website, app or digital kiosk.

The poll of 2,000 – split evenly among travelers and hotel workers – also found that hotel workers anticipate guests to use technology more during their travels, with a fourth expecting them to check in more frequently via a hotel website, app or digital kiosk compared to previous years.

Other key findings:

• Travelers stated what a perfect hotel should include: in-room smart home devices. (43%), keyless room entry (34%), mobile room entry (27%), and digital ordering (24%)
• A third (36%) admitted they have turned to AI for recommendations while booking travel.

The study also found that nearly a third (29%) of employed Americans admitted they’ve worked remotely on vacation without telling their bosses:

• 52% said they would use their vacations as a chance to work remotely.
• Close to four in ten (39%) explained it was simply because they like what they do for work.
• Others noted they would work on vacation to hit an important work deadline that overlapped with their vacation time (28%) or to save on their PTO (26%).
• Four in five working Americans would be willing to work remotely from their hotel.
• While working from the comfort of one’s hotel room is the top preference (69%), a quarter of respondents said they would prefer to work remotely from the hotel pool or spa, and nearly 25% chose a hotel bar or restaurant.

On the other hand, those traveling for work admit business trips open the door to other opportunities. According to the survey results:

• Nearly half (48%) of respondents have extended their work trips into vacations.
• Hotel workers claimed guests traveling for work or blending work with vacations are the easiest to cater to (83% and 76%, respectively).
• Hotel workers also anticipate guests will tip more (39%), extend their stay more frequently (38%), and use hotel amenities more (31%), and 79% said guests “always” or “often” ask for local recommendations.

“Trends in hospitality are ever-changing but we’re seeing indicators that people are prioritizing travel again. While we’re seeing some softness in mid-market and select service hotels, the luxury sector seems resilient. Guests visiting luxury properties are spending more on bucket list trips and staying for longer,” said Richard Valtr, Founder of Mews. “We’re also seeing a continuous rise in people extending work trips for some added leisure time and blending work with vacations. The most forward-thinking hotels are tapping into this trend by embracing personalized guest experiences and offering a variety of amenities that appeal to differing guest needs. More and more hotels are adopting technology that creates seamless experiences for their guests, no matter the reason for their trip.”

“Technology enables our teams to gather robust guest information before they
arrive at one of our locations, which empowers our customer service teams to create unique 'excite and delight' opportunities for guests, resulting in powerful moments and lifelong memories for our guests,” commented Ryan Krukar, VP Sales & Marketing at Gravity Haus. “Identifying and understanding a guest's needs before they arrive at one of our locations and going above and beyond for guests is key in delivering authentic hospitality and provides additional value and comfort while simultaneously immersing a guest in the unique culture of the destination they are visiting.”

“Anticipating guests’ needs is a crucial component to providing exceptional customer service throughout their stay,” said Andrew Gauthier, General Manager at The Incline Lodge. “By tracking individual attributes and preferences of new and returning guests, we can provide a truly curated experience for every guest that comes through our door. Technology also enables us to provide an easy and efficient contactless and self check-in process, so our staff can spend more of their time interacting with guests.”

Survey methodology:

This random double-opt-in survey of 1,000 American travelers and 1,000 American hotel workers was commissioned by Mews Systems, Inc. between January 30 and February 8, 2024. It was conducted by market research company OnePoll, whose team members are members of the Market Research Society and have corporate membership to the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) and the European Society for Opinion and Marketing Research (ESOMAR).