News Briefs

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.