News Briefs

Encore, a global event technology and production services provider, confirmed today the launch of its pioneering ‘Overtime Savings Program’ in the United States, along with additional people-first programs to further support its ongoing workforce in a seasonal industry.

Powered by UKG’s payroll technology, this first-of-its-kind program aims to enhance financial wellness and stability for Encore’s frontline employees, many of whom work in markets that experience seasonal ebb and flow of business volumes.

With 12,000 team members providing event technology and production services at 2,200 hotels and conference venues in 20 countries, Encore faces the same challenges common in the hospitality industry. Seasonal fluctuations often result in workers’ hours varying from ample overtime during peak times to reduced schedules in off-season periods. This seasonality makes it difficult for workers to maintain consistent earnings and creates challenges for companies to retain talent in the off season.

“Encore has always believed its team members are the heart of our story. This people-first mindset motivates us to constantly evolve our team member experience and innovate around challenges, like the impact of seasonality, that the industry previously viewed as immutable,” said Ben Erwin, president and CEO of Encore.

In addition to the Overtime Savings Program, the company launched a Seasonal Leave of Absence Program, which offers team members the flexibility to take time off during slower seasons while retaining full benefits, accruing paid time off, and maintaining their tenure. This unique program enables employees to explore other work opportunities, pursue education, or focus on personal goals without sacrificing benefits or career progression. Both the Overtime Savings and Seasonal Leave of Absence Programs are active nationwide, with plans for global expansion.

“We established the program as another way to support our team members so that they can be at their best in delivering for our customers,” Erwin added. “With this innovation, they can better plan and save their premium overtime pay for periods of the year when they might not work as many hours. Providing this capability and funding a company-paid match for a portion of the savings should motivate financial wellness and enable them to continue to build their career with Encore. Team member reactions tell us we are onto something,” he said.

With a launch just after Labor Day, usage of the UKG Wallet™ increased tenfold compared to the prior year’s period. he company offered an initial savings match, similar to a 401k program incentive match, to reward healthy financial behavior.

“Financial stress is not a problem isolated to our industry, it’s a stressor for nearly everyone,” said Charlie Young, chief human resources officer at Encore. “Nearly 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck¹ and Americans spent $9B in bank overdraft fees in 2023. The more we can do to reduce stress for our team members, the more focused they can be on our customers. We are successful in the event production business because of the unique combination of our technical expertise, hospitality mindset and ability to work under pressure and through challenges. Seasonal fluctuations are part of our business, but with a partner like UKG that understands every industry has unique challenges, we were able to innovate to support those unique needs to make our team members’ lives better.”

Cody Browne, a technical lead with five years of service for Encore in Las Vegas, said he will try the Overtime Savings program, in addition to accruing and saving his Paid Time Off, for the slow season in December in Las Vegas. He hopes the vacation time, in addition to the saved overtime funds, will afford him an out-of-state vacation to visit family. “I love that Encore is creating new opportunities, that’s one of the reasons I am interested in growing my career here,” he said.

Mark Shambura has joined Panera Bread as Chief Marketing Officer. Shambura will lead all aspects of marketing at Panera, including Brand Building, Digital & Loyalty, Product Strategy & Consumer Insights. An accomplished marketing leader with broad expertise in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura has previously held marketing leadership roles during pivotal growth periods for top brands including Chipotle, MOD Pizza, and most recently Papa Johns.

"Mark brings an impressive background building brands and leading marketing teams for fast-casual restaurants, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to Panera Bread,” said José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer. “As Panera continues to evolve our brand, guided by listening to our guests, Mark’s depth of experience and ability will help drive our growth as a brand that serves great food you feel good about eating.”

Shambura previously served as CMO at Papa Johns, where he led a revitalization of the brand by enhancing its iconic “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” platform, and developing a more modern, innovative omnichannel approach to transform how Papa Johns appealed to both new and loyal consumers. As Executive Director at Chipotle, Mr. Shambura guided the marketing function through periods of both sustained growth and transition, providing leadership over brand strategy, advertising, digital, social, events/sponsorships, promotions, and field marketing, including playing a key role in spearheading its “Real Ingredients” brand strategy.

“I’m proud to join the Panera Bread team and excited to build on the momentum of the brand's transformation as it continues to evolve in service of our guests,” Mr. Shambura said. “Panera propelled and cemented its position at the top of the fast casual restaurant segment through its promise of high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared food, and I’m thrilled to join a highly talented team to help shape its next chapter.”

Prior to his tenure in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura gained extensive marketing agency experience, working with a broad array of top global consumer brands for over a decade. Shambura will report directly to José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer, and officially assumed the role of Chief Marketing Officer on July 29, 2024.

The United Kingdom-based Access Group has entered an agreement to acquire Paytronix, a provider in guest engagement for restaurants and convenience stores, from Boston-based Great Hill Partners. 

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. 

This investment represents one of Access Group’s most significant acquisitions in its 30-plus-year history and is a major step forward for the Group as it continues to focus on its product offering in the United States. Access Group, known as a provider of business management software to mid-market organisations in Europe, the US and Asia Pacific, hopes to add further support to the Paytronix team, helping to accelerate its growth and expand the footprint, bringing high-quality products and a digital guest engagement platform to more clients worldwide, helping them to excel in meeting ever-evolving customer demands. 

Guest Engagement Platform

Currently, the full Paytronix guest engagement platform includes numerous capabilities for online ordering, loyalty, omnichannel messaging, branded mobile apps, gift cards, third-party marketplace management, and payments. Leveraging data from transactions and personalized customer accounts, Paytronix creates targeted marketing campaigns that motivate increased interaction and spending throughout the customer journey. Paytronix will retain its name and plans to integrate its platform with a selection of Access products; the enhanced comprehensive suite of products and services will further improve the guest experience. 

Founded in 2001 by executive chairman Andrew Robbins, Paytronix is based in Newton, Mass. Its platform is deployed in over 50,000 sites across 1,800 brands and has processed more than 40bn consumer transactions. It boasts over 500 partnerships including many of the biggest names in the restaurant and convenience space, such as Google and Apple Pay, Toast, Square, DoorDash, UberEats, and many more. Their customers range from single operators to successful regional chains and large multi-unit enterprises like Panera, Qdoba, Nando’s and Five Guys. 

Paytronix was purchased by Boston-based Great Hill Partners in 2017, and they have been a valued accelerator of the company’s rapid growth. “We’ve had the privilege of working alongside Great Hill Partners to deliver our solutions and services to the innovative restaurant and convenience store brands that we proudly call clients,” said Paytronix CEO, Jeff Hindman. “The acquisition by The Access Group is the beginning of another stage in our growth, and I’m excited to say that from here we’re only going to build upon the service and capabilities that our clients know us for.  

“Joining a global force such as Access will further broaden the software solutions available to our current and future client base, enhancing the value we can offer and helping to solve everyday business challenges.” 

“Since our founding, we’ve worked to help clients build one-to-one interactions, enhance customer engagement and streamline operations for their businesses. Billions of transactions and millions of data-driven guest profiles later we realize our vision every time an AI-enhanced campaign is sent, which is nearly once every minute,” continued Hindman. “Joining a global force such as Access will further broaden the software solutions available to our current and future client base, enhancing the value we can offer and helping to solve everyday business challenges.” 

“We are incredibly proud of the progress and achievements made by Paytronix during our partnership. Over the past seven years, Paytronix has demonstrated remarkable growth and innovation, solidifying its position as a leader in guest engagements,” said Nick Cayer, Managing Director at Great Hill Partners. “We are confident that Paytronix will be well positioned under the Access umbrella, and we wish Jeff and the entire team success moving forward.” 

The Access Group has extensive experience in delivering world-class technology solutions to the hospitality sector across the UK, Europe and APAC with a suite of products covering front-of-house and operations, including the ResDiary online reservations management system, Wireless Social guest wi-fi and QikServe digital order and pay capabilities. The company’s leading software solutions also cover HR, payroll, learning, staff scheduling, procurement, EPoS, property management and accounting. 

FLYR, a technology company that unlocks freedom to innovate for the hospitality industry, announced a major upgrade to its popular business intelligence platform, FLYR Hospitality Insights. The new edition of FLYR Hospitality Insights is designed to revolutionize how hotel revenue managers, commercial teams, and management companies interact with and analyze their performance data.

The update maintains the customization, granularity, data freshness and automated report distribution capabilities that users of FLYR Hospitality Insights know and love, while adding new tools that provide unmatched flexibility and usability. FLYR Hospitality Insights now includes a range of advanced features to streamline data exploration, simplify reporting processes, and improve the overall user experience.

With over 500 data points and more than 20 visualization options, users can tailor reports and dashboards to meet unique business needs. Key innovations in this release include:

• Natural Language Query (NLQ): AI-powered features that allow users to engage with their data using plain language queries. This simplifies data exploration and analysis, enabling users to gain powerful insights into their business without requiring the skills of a data analyst.
• Excel-Style Workbooks: New functionality enabling custom calculations and data manipulation in a familiar format, allowing users to perform detailed analyses directly within the platform.
• Smart Data Summaries: Automated, qualitative narratives that provide context to data visualizations, offering deeper insights and enhancing communication of key metrics.
• Effortless Content Management: A revamped system for organizing, managing, and sharing reports more effectively across teams through more granular access controls for dashboards and folders.

"This update to FLYR Hospitality Insights represents a significant leap forward in how the hotel industry can harness and interpret data," said Jens Munch, Chief Strategy Officer, Hospitality, FLYR. "With new functionality like natural language querying, we are breaking down barriers for users, enabling them to ask complex questions and receive meaningful insights without needing advanced technical knowledge."

This news follows a period of monumental growth for FLYR. The company announced a $295 million capital raise in August to rebuild the foundation of travel technology. FLYR Hospitality became available on the Oracle Cloud Marketplace, was awarded an Emotional Footprint Award for hotel revenue management by Software Reviews, and established new deals with major hotel brands like Best Western Scandinavia, and The Boca Raton.

Bluefin, a provider of PCI-validated encryption and tokenization technologies that protect payments and sensitive data, and Datacap Systems, Inc., a hardware and processor-agnostic omnichannel payments provider, announced they are partnering to deliver PCI-Validated Point-to-Point Encryption (P2PE) Processing to hospitality businesses across the United States and Canada.

Datacap is Bluefin's preferred omnichannel payments provider to the hospitality industry for PCI-validated point-to-point encryption (P2PE), reducing a customer’s PCI DSS compliance burden by more than 70% and PCI control scope reduction at the point-of-sale environment by more than 90%. The partnership will help secure and protect payments for the hospitality industry which is highly vulnerable to data breaches: According to industry estimates, up to 31% of hospitality organizations have reported a data breach, and 89% have been affected more than once in a year.

"The Datacap team understands the critical importance of protecting payments and data from compromise across all channels," said Drew Monroe, Chief Revenue Officer at Bluefin. "By integrating Bluefin’s PCI-validated point-to-point encryption with Datacap’s industry-leading payments solutions we are empowering hospitality providers to benefit from enhanced security, streamlined compliance, and seamless payment experiences."

"Partnering with Bluefin allows Datacap to offer hospitality ISVs the highest level of security for their merchant’s transactions without compromising the user experience," said Justin Zeigler, Director of Product at Datacap. "With Bluefin’s PCI-validated P2PE, our partners can confidently focus on delivering exceptional guest experiences while reducing PCI DSS scope and compliance costs."

Merchants interested in PCI-Validated P2PE should contact their POS reseller to learn how Datacap and Bluefin can help reduce their PCI DSS compliance burden and PCI control scope.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) announced that Rosanna Maietta has been selected to serve as the association’s next president & CEO, effective Nov. 14. Maietta is a talented executive with a global career marked by success working alongside boards and leading teams to high performance. Over the span of her career, she has achieved exceptional success in public affairs, strategic planning, association management, team building, and leadership.

Having previously served as president & CEO of the AHLA Foundation and executive vice president of communications and public relations of AHLA, Maietta brings a deep understanding of AHLA’s mission, operations, financials, and people, and has solid relationships with AHLA’s key stakeholder groups, including members of the AHLA board and Foundation board of trustees.

“I am excited to be returning to AHLA and reconnecting with the brilliant team and colleagues I had the privilege of working with,” Maietta said. “This organization and industry hold a special place in my heart, and I am eager for the opportunity to lead it into a new chapter of growth and engagement. Working alongside the officers and board, I am confident that together we will build on our past successes and accelerate this thriving industry on behalf of our members.”

“We are delighted to be welcoming Rosanna back to AHLA to lead this dynamic organization,” said AHLA Chair Kevin Jacobs, Chief Financial Officer & President, Global Development for Hilton. “AHLA is in a strong position of stability and strength, with an engaged membership, successful advocacy program and a talented and dedicated team. With Rosanna’s reputation as an astute leader and strategist and her proven track record of advancing core missions, evolving organizations, and achieving strong financial outcomes, I am confident that she is the right leader to build on AHLA’s momentum.”

AHLA Vice Chair Mitch Patel, Founder and CEO of Vision Hospitality Group, added, “Rosanna is well known as a creative and inspiring leader and a persuasive communicator with the capacity to build lasting relationships and alliances across all levels and constituencies – qualities essential in our next CEO. Rosanna will bring a fresh, strategic approach that will be instrumental in advancing AHLA’s mission. Simply put, we are thrilled to welcome Rosanna back to AHLA as our president and CEO.”

Maietta was selected after a thorough and comprehensive search conducted over the last several months under the oversight of the AHLA Search Committee, chaired by Mitch Patel and comprised of the leading CEOs and executives of the major brands, owners, and management companies representing a cross-section of AHLA’s members. Maietta’s appointment was unanimously approved by AHLA’s Executive Committee and Board of Directors.

The board of directors and AHLA leadership team extend their heartfelt gratitude to Kevin Carey for his results-driven service as interim president & CEO of AHLA since March 5, 2024. His steady leadership was instrumental in maintaining focus within AHLA during a period of transition, elevating employee morale, and achieving new heights in member satisfaction. Under Carey’s guidance, AHLA continued to deliver consistent value to members and stakeholders. Carey will continue serving at AHLA in his role as Chief Operating Officer and Senior Executive Vice President.

Maietta will join an existing AHLA team with a wealth of experience, including Carey; Chirag Shah, Executive Vice President of Federal and Political Affairs & Counsel; Troy Flanagan, Executive Vice President of External Government Affairs and Industry Relations; Anna Blue, President of the AHLA Foundation; Kiersten Pearce, Senior Vice President of Strategic and Executive Initiatives; and Adrienne Weil, Senior Vice President of Membership and Marketing.

Maietta most recently served as the chief communications officer & senior counselor to the CEO at the American Clean Power Association (ACP), the leading voice of the multi-tech clean energy industry. During her time at ACP, Maietta tripled the size of her team across communications, marketing, events and business development, significantly grew event revenue, and led numerous multimillion-dollar public affairs campaigns to drive support for the clean energy industry.