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  • 9/12/2024

    Guesty Extends its AI Capabilities with New Tools for Property Managers

    logo Guesty

    Guesty, a property management software platform for the short-term rental and hospitality industry, announced the launch of two additional AI features: Guesty’s AI Assistant website builder and ReviewSmart AI. These tools are designed to empower property managers to easily create attractive, engaging websites and quickly gain valuable insights from negative guest feedback.

    “These practical AI capabilities reinforce Guesty’s position at the forefront of innovating the hospitality industry,” said Guesty CEO, Amiad Soto. “Our commitment is to consistently enhance our platform, making it easier for property managers to optimize bookings, streamline operations, and elevate the guest experience. The response from our users so far has been incredibly enthusiastic. More and more, property managers are recognizing the benefits of brand building, and we look forward to continuing to deliver the valuable tools that empower them to grow their brand simply and effectively. AI-driven efficiency is essential for property managers, ensuring they have the time to focus on what they do best: providing a best-in-class guest experience.”

    AI Assistant Website Builder: Effortless Web Presence, Elevated

    Guesty’s built-in AI Assistant website builder empowers property managers to effortlessly create visually stunning web pages and compelling copy in minutes. The AI Assistant also provides SEO for optimized web pages, ensuring that properties stand out in a crowded market and are discovered more easily. 

    Guesty is the only PMS to embed this level of website customization and to integrate AI-generated content directly and seamlessly into its platform, providing an invaluable resource for property managers looking to build and maintain a strong brand presence and drive more direct bookings to their properties. Since its beta launch, the AI Assistant has already been adopted by 25% of Guesty’s website builder users, showcasing its immediate impact and appeal.

    ReviewSmart AI: Turn Feedback into Actionable Insights

    ReviewSmart AI is an intelligent analytics tool that seamlessly and comprehensively categorizes negative guest reviews into actionable insights. By organizing feedback into key areas such as noise, cleanliness, check-in, communication, and guest expectations, property managers can quickly identify and address issues, ensuring a consistently high-quality guest experience. Additionally, property managers are able to use these insights to track and trend an improved quality of service they’. 

    This advanced tool saves time by automating the review analysis process and also empowers property managers to make data-driven decisions that enhance operations and boost guest satisfaction. With ReviewSmart AI, managers can focus on implementing solutions that make a real difference, rather than spending valuable time identifying problems. ReviewSmart AI is already one of Guesty's more popular dashboards among its advanced users. 

    Guesty’s intelligent Property Management System (PMS) is supported by a 250+ strong R&D team and a robust offering of native solutions for hospitality. These tools are becoming indispensable in the day-to-day operations of property managers. Other successful Guesty AI-based tools include ReplyAI, transforming guest-host communication, and PriceOptimizer, a dynamic pricing tool for revenue management.

  • 9/12/2024

    Checkmate Introduces New Loyalty, Marketing Solution

    checkmate logo

    Checkmate   launched its new Loyalty & Marketing platform, adding a powerful suite of customer engagement tools to its already robust Direct Ordering (DO) platform. This unified solution integrates loyalty, ordering and marketing into one seamless system, allowing enterprise restaurant brands to deliver personalized customer experiences, boost repeat business, and drive revenue through data-driven marketing strategies.

    In today’s competitive restaurant landscape, brands must attract and retain customers while maximizing the value of each interaction. Checkmate’s Loyalty & Marketing solution addresses these challenges by offering a holistic set of features designed to help enterprise restaurants grow through targeted promotions and campaigns across all digital channels.
     
    "Our Loyalty & Marketing solution is a game-changer for restaurant brands," said Brett Spiegel, VP of Direct Ordering for Checkmate. "As an add-on to our Direct Ordering platform, it combines loyalty, marketing and voice AI into one powerful tool. By integrating these critical functions, we're helping restaurants build stronger, more personalized connections with their guests. With repeat business continuing to play a larger role in driving sales, this isn't just a nice-to-have—it's crucial for driving customer loyalty and sustaining long-term growth."
     
    Key features include:
    ● Customizable loyalty programs with flexible rewards
    ● Targeted marketing campaigns based on customer behavior and preferences
    ● Advanced customer segmentation and analytics
    ● Ability to engage customers across all digital channels
    ● AI-driven content creation with drag-and-drop tools
    ● Intuitive interfaces for marketing, loyalty, and guest management
    ● 90-day expert onboarding and agency service to ensure success
     
    The seamless integration of these tools, alongside the existing capabilities of Checkmate's Direct Ordering platform, offers enterprise restaurant brands a more efficient way to manage customer relationships, increase repeat business, and drive measurable results.
     
    What truly sets this solution apart is its ability to unify the many different components restaurant brands need—third-party integrations, first-party ordering, kiosks, loyalty programs, marketing tools and voice AI—all within a single platform. This approach gives brands unprecedented control and insight into their operations, streamlining processes that were once managed through fragmented solutions.
     
    For more information about Checkmate's Loyalty & Marketing solution, visit itsacheckmate.com.
  • 9/12/2024

    IDeaS and Virgin Voyages Announce Partnership to Bring Advanced Revenue Management Solution to Cruise Industry

    back of a virgin voyages cruise ship

    IDeaS Revenue Solutions, the world’s leading provider of advanced revenue management software (RMS) and services, announced that it is expanding its industry-leading suite of revenue management solutions to the cruise industry through a partnership with Virgin Voyages. Under the partnership, IDeaS is working with Virgin Voyages to develop a first-of-its-kind, innovative RMS solution for the cruise industry.

    To fully realize their revenue potential, cruise lines need the ability to efficiently and effectively forecast passenger demand. Historically, this forecasting posed challenges for the industry for a variety of reasons. But with a clearer understanding of this demand, the door opens to transformative, sophisticated pricing and revenue management strategies. While cruise organizations have explored numerous approaches to revenue forecasting, a clear, science-based leader in advanced revenue management has yet to emerge – until now.

    As a pioneer in the industry, Virgin Voyages and its innovative revenue management team saw the importance of science-driven automation. They approached IDeaS and outlined a proof of concept, and the two companies are now spearheading the adoption of revenue management in this complex and dynamic industry.                                                                               

    Key benefits of this partnership include:

    • Power of forecast modeling: IDeaS delivers forecast modeling to determine more efficiently the right booking curve so cruise lines or commercial teams can more dynamically adapt to trends. 
    • Forecasting and pricing automation: IDeaS revenue science streamlines cabin pricing, automates processes, and allows individual cruise lines to focus on demand-based forecasting and pricing for each cabin type (i.e. inside, balcony, suites, etc.). By optimizing business mix and inventory allocation, the solution helps to maximize revenue potential and future scalability.  
    • Buy versus build: The modern enterprise is plagued by the decision of whether to build custom software or buy a commercial off-the-shelf solution. In fact, it has been common for cruise lines to build their own systems internally. IDeaS now provides a solution that delivers the speed and scalability that a homegrown system can’t. By working with IDeaS, which has existing revenue optimization models (custom to each client), cruise lines that need specific functionality can now realize higher ROI and faster time to market.

    Jessica Fleisher, vice president revenue, Virgin Voyages, said: “We came to IDeaS because we saw the power of science-driven automation and the results delivered to the hotel industry. Today, nothing in our market can compare to the power of IDeaS revenue management expertise. We couldn’t be more pleased with the project's development thus far and are impressed with the entire organization's commitment. As a visionary in the cruise industry, we see the value of sophisticated revenue management, so it was only fitting we should partner with the pioneer of RMS technology.”

    Sanjay Nagalia, co-founder and chief scientist,IDeaS, said: “IDeaS is excited to work with Virgin Voyages as we make this proof of concept a reality. This collaboration not only marks our entry into the cruise industry but also demonstrates our commitment to expanding our expertise into new verticals. By helping them gain key insights into dynamic forecasting and pricing, we believe we will help usher in a new era for the entire cruise industry. We couldn’t be prouder to work with this exciting and forward-thinking team.” 

    See how IDeaS revolutionizes revenue management strategy for cruise lines. Visit https://ideas.com/cruise-lines/ to learn more. 

  • 9/11/2024

    Fourth Releases AI for Restaurants

    AI

    Fourth announces the release of Fourth iQ, the Artificial Intelligence for Restaurants. Fourth iQ is used by restaurant chains to optimize their entire workforce and inventory operations to maximize profitability, increase productivity and enhance the experience of employees and customers.

    Many of Fourth's customers are already benefiting from Fourth iQ, including Pizza Hut, Noodles & Company, and Chili’s. As part of the expanded capabilities offered by Fourth iQ, customers can utilize AI forecasting for scheduling and inventory, plus a Real-Time KPI dashboard to track their key metrics across all locations. A further range of advanced Fourth iQ features will deliver new ways to increase profitability centrally across all locations and boost the productivity of general managers at each location.

    "With 25 years in the restaurant game, we are acutely aware of the challenges our customers face—profit margins are tight, as labor and food costs continue to rise; and the responsibility for driving efficiency is dependent on the decisions made by overburdened general managers who are often reliant on incomplete information and legacy technologies. Fourth iQ can overcome these challenges by using AI to generate ‘the next best actions’ informed by multiple data sources and defined goals; providing managers with real-time recommendations of how best to efficiently deploy labor, grow sales, and reduce waste,” said Fourth CEO Clinton Anderson.

    Tangible Benefits

    In essence, Fourth iQ is a multi-faceted AI and Analytics capability that works across the entirety of restaurant chains’ operations, including recruitment, HR, scheduling, payroll and inventory management. Fourth iQ is embedded into Fourth’s established suite of solutions, including HotSchedules, PeopleMatter, and MacromatiX.

    "By creating a layer of intelligence across all locations in a restaurant chain, Fourth iQ produces what we call ‘above store insights that drive in-store action’, to ensure every opportunity to drive profitability and efficiency is identified and actioned, whether by managers or entirely automated,” said CTO Christian Berthelsen.

    The tangible benefits of Fourth iQ are already being realized by Fourth’s customers; AI-driven forecasting has enabled Noodles & Company to increase their sales forecasting accuracy by 20%, leading to a $4 million reduction in labor costs. The same increase in forecast accuracy resulted in Chili’s saving 600 labor hours per week nationally.

    Bar Louie, a 63 location Gastrobar concept, is another Fourth customer embarking on their AI journey with Fourth iQ. Roberta Frierson, Senior Vice President of Technology, shared their ambition to become AI-driven. “At Bar Louie, we see the promise of AI. Not just for front of house, but for our back of house processes like recruiting, hiring, scheduling, and paying team members. As we incorporate AI into our tech stack, we believe it will make managers more effective and streamline our operations.”

    Enabling customers to easily bring AI into their tech stack is core to Fourth’s vision for the industry. “In creating Fourth iQ, we are providing every restaurant chain the simplest and most effective way to get started on their AI journey,” says Christian Berthelsen. He continues, “Our underlying AI platform provides the infrastructure to securely integrate data sources and train AI, then put it to work via our solutions and apps. Our experienced implementation teams do all the heavy lifting, including configuring the AI within Fourth iQ to what makes your business unique. There really is no barrier to getting started today.”

    To learn more about Fourth iQ, visit the Fourth website.

  • 9/12/2024

    PAR Technology Renames Core Products

    PAR logo

    ParTech Inc. announces the rebranding of two of its core products, Brink POS and PAR MENU, now streamlined as PAR POS and PAR Ordering, respectively. This strategic move reflects PAR’s ongoing commitment to simplifying the complexities of restaurant management and providing seamlessly integrated solutions that drive operational efficiency and enhance customer engagement. As a leader in unified commerce solutions for the restaurant and foodservice sectors, PAR is committed to evolving its technology offerings to better meet the dynamic needs of the industry and serve the customers of today and tomorrow. 

    Through strategic acquisitions and continuous innovation, PAR has assembled a suite of products designed to help restaurant brands differentiate themselves while driving operational efficiencies. This rebranding effort underscores PAR's commitment to creating a unified platform that supports growth, enhances guest satisfaction, and empowers restaurant operators to succeed.  

    Focused on Outcomes: Unifying Technology for Greater Efficiency 

    As part of this strategic initiative, Brink POS is now PAR POS, the next generation of point-of-sale technology. With PAR POS’s evolved modular architecture and exceptional in-store resilience, restaurants can easily adapt to peak demand, protect operational continuity, and leverage a platform that swiftly integrates new technologies. In 2024 so far, PAR POS has unlocked significant value for operators through purposeful innovation such as diverse pay-at-table solutions, integrated EBT, supercharged enterprise reporting, and automated resequencing and order management for multi-lane drive-thrus. These enhancements have led to 3-second faster transaction times compared to the industry average, higher throughput and order accuracy in drive-thrus, and a 23% increase in repeat visits with native wallet. 

    In addition, PAR MENU will transition to PAR Ordering, a comprehensive platform engineered to elevate customer experience and maximize ROI for restaurants by seamlessly supporting all digital ordering touchpoints—mobile, web, and kiosk – with ample customization possibilities. This platform enables restaurant brands to expand their digital presence, manage orders across all channels, and streamline delivery operations. Furthermore, PAR Ordering enables streamlined marketplace order management by consolidating external orders into a single system across leading delivery platforms. This centralization of third-party orders reduces errors, improves efficiency, and enhances both guest and staff satisfaction. 

    “As the restaurant industry rapidly evolves, PAR Technology is not just keeping pace—we’re setting the standard,” said Savneet Singh, CEO of PAR Technology. “The rebranding to PAR POS, and PAR Ordering is a strategic step forward, unifying our brand and simplifying our offerings. Our customers can expect the same unparalleled value and support, now with an even sharper focus on delivering solutions that drive better outcomes and meet their evolving needs." 

    For existing customers, the transition to PAR POS and PAR Ordering will be entirely seamless, ensuring that all current functionalities, support services, and integrations remain intact and uninterrupted. 

    This rebranding follows the successful transition of STUZO to PAR Retail, further cementing PAR’s strategic vision of a unified platform that seamlessly serves both the restaurant and retail industries. The new brand identities will be rolled out over the coming months, with all products continuing to deliver the high standards of quality and innovation that customers expect from PAR Technology. 

  • 9/10/2024

    BurgerFi International Files for Protection Under Chapter 11

    BurgerFi order

    BurgerFi International, Inc., owner of the casual dining chain Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings and BurgerFi, has filed voluntary petitions for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code.. 

    All 144 locations of the company's two brands throughout the United States, including in Puerto Rico, and in Saudi Arabia, will continue normal, uninterrupted operations. The Chapter 11 filing by the Company includes only the 67 corporate-owned locations of both brands. Franchisee-owned locations of BurgerFi and Anthony's Coal Fired Pizza & Wings are excluded from the bankruptcy proceedings.

    "...In the face of a drastic decline in post-pandemic consumer spending amidst sustained inflation and increasing food and labor costs, we need to stabilize the business in a structured process," said Jeremy Rosenthal, Chief Restructuring Officer of BurgerFi International, Inc. "We are confident that this process will allow us to protect and grow our brands and to continue the operational turnaround started less than 12 months ago and secure additional capital."

    The board brought in Carl Bachmann as chief executive officer and Christopher E. Jones, chief financial officer in July 2023 to turnaround and strengthen the brands and operations. Faced with legacy operational challenges, they quickly developed and implemented a strategic plan to address foundational issues including declining same store sales, high employee turnover and a stale menu. As part of the turnaround efforts, the company initiated a top-to-bottom evaluation of its operations, which is continuing.

    As a result, the company has aligned its footprint with current business standards through the closure of 19 underperforming corporate-owned stores and reduced related operating costs.  
     

    Red Lobster Chapter 11 Update

    In related news, Red Lobster Management LLC,  announced Sept. 5 that the company has received court approval of its Chapter 11 plan. RL Investor Holdings LLC will acquire the Red Lobster restaurant chain. As HT previously reported, the former CEO of P.F. Changs is poised to lead Red Lobster. The acquisition is anticipated to close before the end of September.  

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