News Briefs

Sojern, the leading digital marketing platform built for travel, is excited to announce the launch of the “State of Destination Marketing 2025” report for destination marketing organizations (DMOs). This report, produced through a partnership between Sojern and Benchmark Research Partners—and supported by Brand USA, Destination Canada, the European Travel Commission, and the Caribbean Tourism Organization—builds off the 2024 report and highlights current destination marketing trends.

“A striking 85% of DMOs are maintaining or increasing digital advertising budgets compared to last year,” said Noreen Henry, Chief Revenue Officer at Sojern. “As DMOs invest more into their budgets and adopt more sophisticated strategies, they must continue to demonstrate return on that investment, which requires them to leverage advanced tools and data to engage travelers throughout the marketing funnel.” 

With insights from nearly 200 global DMOs, government departments, and affiliated tourism entities, the report uncovers just how resilient digital advertising is.

Complex Campaigns, Rising Challenges

DMOs face challenges such as managing limited resources while showing clear results, rising expectations, and technological change. The pressure is high to deliver results, and the resulting multichannel campaigns are more technical and complex. While 60% use clicks as their top metric, 54% struggle to demonstrate clear ROI and 37% identify tracking and attribution as key challenges when managing full-funnel campaigns. 

Currently, 83% of respondents focus on programmatic advertising. Programmatic’s trackability, precision, and cost effectiveness enables DMOs to make smarter, data-driven decisions. 

Display ads (97%), social media advertising (90%), and search engine marketing (80%) remain the dominant channels in DMOs' paid media strategy.

AI Adoption: A Growing Opportunity

Artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping destination marketing, with 63% of DMOs using it for content creation. Only 28% use AI for data analysis, highlighting a massive opportunity to use AI for deeper insights and more effective decision-making. Addressing resource limitations and training gaps will be critical to unlocking AI’s full potential.

Always-On Campaigns vs. Traditional Seasonal Campaigns

While DMOs have traditionally preferred to run seasonal campaigns, the report revealed that 52% are now favoring always-on campaigns over seasonal ones (40%). Always-on campaigns drive results, with 42% reporting improved brand awareness as the most significant impact an always-on marketing strategy has on overall campaign performance. 

DMOs are getting better at crafting campaigns for specific audiences–for example, 66% are extensively focusing on outdoor enthusiasts–but only 15% are using advanced personalization techniques that adjust offerings in real time across channels. This leaves a huge opportunity to create more tailored experiences for travelers at every stage of their journey.

Brand-building is Emerging as a Top Priority

For the past four years since the COVID-19 pandemic, DMOs needed to drive bookings and deliver short-term results to enable business to bounce back. Now that the industry has stabilized, DMOs are rebalancing, with campaigns taking a long-term strategic approach. As a result, brand awareness has become more important, and this shift is clear in how campaigns are being run—now split 50/50 between stage-specific and full-funnel strategies, a big change from 2024 when full-funnel dominated at 70%.

The Promise and Challenges of Data

Data is one of the most powerful tools DMOs have, but figuring out how to use it effectively is no easy task. More than half (51%) of DMOs say data analysis is a major challenge, and 45% struggle to turn that data into actionable strategies. Still, these hurdles present an opportunity for DMOs to stand out by using data to create campaigns that hit the mark. The report shows that most DMOs are already leveraging data—84% for digital marketing insights, 75% for tracking visitor stats, and 69% for market research.

Co-op Marketing: Collaboration Gains Traction

Co-op marketing continues to grow, particularly in Europe, where the report revealed that participation increased by 16% year-over-year. By partnering with hotels, attractions, and airlines, DMOs can pool resources, extend campaign reach, and better scale efforts.

Social Media Dominates, but Video Adoption is Growing

Social media remains central, with 91% of DMOs using it for marketing and 99% ranking Facebook and Instagram among their top five channels. However, connected TV (CTV) and short-form video are gaining traction as emerging formats, offering significant potential for DMOs to create immersive, visually rich campaigns that resonate deeply with travelers. 

To see the full survey methodology, download the “State of Destination Marketing 2025” report here. 

Olo announced a new partnership with FreedomPay, an innovative leader in Next Level Commerce™ technologies, to improve restaurant payment experiences nationwide. The partnership also deepens Olo’s relationship with Stripe, a financial infrastructure platform for businesses, which will include in-person transaction processing. 

Olo Pay launched with Stripe as its original partner for digital payments in 2022, and the partnership will now be updated for an omnichannel world providing restaurants with a truly unified solution.

This collaboration will accelerate Olo’s ability to process more card-present transactions by leveraging FreedomPay's payment gateway, which is processor-agnostic and already integrated with over 1,000 POS and payment systems. Olo Pay can now use Stripe’s payment processing on in-person POS transactions for the majority of its 700+ customers, extending the restaurant-centric benefits customers appreciate about Olo Pay’s digital payments.

By integrating Olo Pay with FreedomPay's Commerce Platform, Olo will be able to offer enterprise brands choice in how they integrate in-store payment processing with Olo: either directly through one of Olo Pay Card-Present partnerships announced in 2024 or through FreedomPay. Like the POS partnerships, integrating FreedomPay and Stripe will enable brands to integrate Olo Pay’s Card-Present solution with Olo Engage, the company’s guest engagement suite. Aggregating both digital and in-store transactions into a single guest data profile will create opportunities for more personalized guest experiences and data-driven decision-making.

"Currently, about 18% of restaurant transactions are digital,” said Noah Glass, Founder & CEO of Olo. “By processing the remaining 82% of on-premise transactions, we're uniquely positioned to provide restaurants with a 360-degree view of their guests by combining the newly captured in-store data with the digital order data they already have from our online ordering. This visibility will allow restaurants to better personalize interactions, making every guest feel like a regular and driving superior hospitality.”

In addition, this integration provides current Olo Pay Card-Not-Present customers additional benefits:

• Consolidates payment processing with a single provider
• Eliminates reconciliation, reporting, and refund challenges due to multiple processors
• Improves omnichannel tracking of guest purchasing history
• Enhances loyalty program and cross-channel promotion effectiveness

"By combining FreedomPay's Next Level Commerce™ platform with Olo's innovative payment solution purpose-built for restaurants, we're creating a unified, secure, and seamless checkout experience that will drive digital transformation," said Chris Kronenthal, President of FreedomPay. “Our work with Olo Pay will help unify the digital and in-store payment experience, improving reporting and providing restaurants with clearer insights for better decision-making.”

This partnership represents a step forward in Olo's strategy to streamline commerce across all ordering channels, offering restaurants more flexibility, efficiency, and guest engagement capabilities to drive the industry toward a more personalized future. To learn more about Olo Pay, visit https://www.olo.com/pay.

Hotelogix, a cloud-based hospitality technology provider, announced the integration of its comprehensive Hotel Property Management System (Hotel PMS) with Profitroom's Booking Engine platform. As a significant development in the hospitality industry, this partnership aims to improve direct booking capabilities for hospitality businesses across the globe, leading to enhanced revenue. 

With this integration, Hotelogix's hotel partners looking for a reliable solution to improve their direct sales can now easily access Profitroom's guest-centric 360° Booking Engine solution. Similarly, it will also enable hotels using the Profitroom solution to gain access to Hotelogix's widely-used and highly-trusted cloud-based Hotel Property Management System (Hotel PMS), further elevating their operational efficiency and guest experience.

"We're thrilled about this integration with Profitroom, a widely used solution that would empower Hotelogix users to drive direct bookings via their websites. This partnership reflects our dedication to providing outstanding value, improving guest experiences, and boosting revenue in a highly competitive market," stated Aditya Sanghi, CEO of Hotelogix.

Based in Poland, Profitroom stands out as a premier provider of booking solutions, enhancing direct booking performances for more than 3,500 hotels and resorts globally—some have seen direct bookings soar by as much as 96%. Their platform effortlessly unifies direct reservations on hotel websites with various distribution channels while automating marketing efforts, optimizing SEO and SEM strategies, and offering opportunities for cross-selling and upselling, among other features.

"Our partnership with a leading global hotel property management system like Hotelogix is poised to revolutionize the hospitality industry. This collaboration offers a cutting-edge technology stack that will enable hotels to improve operational efficiency and increase direct booking capabilities," said Marcin Dragan, CEO of Profitroom.

Tucker’s Farm Corp. has acquired Pizza Factory Inc., a restaurant franchisor. The acquisition was completed via the Farm’s franchisor platform Wonder Franchises. Founded in 1979 by Danny Wheeler and Ron Willey, Pizza Factory has approximately $94 million in system sales across 84 franchisees and 110 restaurants. Since 2012, the business has been led by owner and CEO, Mary Jane Riva, who will stay on as CEO moving forward.

In 2023, Tucker’s Farm launched Wonder, a franchise-focused holding vehicle, with $30 million of committed, long-term equity capital. Wonder is dedicated to partnering with and acquiring emerging to mid-size brands with the goal of long-term growth. Wonder’s priority is to be a great partner to sellers and a responsible steward for world-class brands and related assets.

“We’re extremely excited to be acquiring Pizza Factory and to be partnering with MJ to take Pizza Factory to the next level. We love the longevity and stability of the system, the passion that MJ and her team have for their franchisees, and the community-focused culture of the brand. We feel fortunate to be partnering with someone with as much character and knowledge as MJ and believe there’s a great fit both culturally and in terms of our respective skillsets. We’re excited to have the deal closed so we can now focus on driving value for our franchisees,” said Adam Lewin, a partner on the private equity team at Tucker’s Farm and CEO of Wonder Franchises.

This is the third franchise transaction for Tucker’s Farm in recent months, after portfolio company VIO Med Spa, the nation’s med spa franchisor, was successfully sold to Freeman Spogli in September 2024, and Wonder acquired The Decor Group, the leading holiday decorating franchisor with 245 franchised territories and $75 million in system sales, in November 2024.

Riva received HT's Top Women in Restaurant Technology - Lifetime Achievement Award in 2024.  

“I’ve been part of this system for more than 30 years and this company means the world to me. I chose Wonder because I really felt they were the partner that could help improve and grow the system but would do so in a way that took good care of the brand and the franchisees. The Wonder team is smart, young, and energetic – all things that I love – but the thing that really stood out compared to other groups was the way they asked so many questions. They didn’t come in with a ‘we know best’ mindset, they truly wanted to learn about Pizza Factory, understand what’s gotten us this far, and build on what we’re doing. The better I’ve gotten to know their team, the more confident I am that Wonder is the right partner and that the next chapter for Pizza Factory will be a great one.” 

A community staple in 100-plus communities, Pizza Factory has stayed true to its roots with hardworking operators, family-friendly dining and high-quality products, offering fresh, hand-tossed pizza, pasta, wings, sandwiches, salads, beer, wine and more. With multiple restaurant designs, an Express model, and robust off-premise dining options including delivery and mobile ordering through a custom app, Pizza Factory is built to excel in the restaurant industry moving forward.

Smoothie King  announced the appointment of Claudia Schaefer as the company's new Chief Marketing Officer. With an exceptional track record in transforming and elevating well-known restaurant and retail brands, Claudia brings a wealth of experience in driving revenue growth, enhancing profitability, and elevating the customer experience, making her the ideal leader to guide Smoothie King into its next phase of growth.

Schaefer will oversee all marketing efforts for Smoothie King, where she'll focus on further defining the brand's purpose and positioning by leveraging consumer insights to ultimately drive traffic and accelerate sales growth.

Schaefer joins Smoothie King from her most recent role as Chief Experience Officer at Caliber, the $6B parent company of Caliber Collision, where she was instrumental in positioning and marketing the Caliber brand while delivering a seamless and differentiated guest experience. Prior to her tenure at Caliber, Schaefer served as the CMO of multiple QSR and CDR brands, including Jamba and Cheddar's Scratch Kitchen. During both tenures, she successfully increased traffic and sales through strategic marketing efforts focusing on relevance and differentiation. Her past experience also includes significant leadership roles at Brinker International, parent company of Chili's Bar & Grill, where she worked in both marketing and culinary innovation across domestic and global markets.

Smoothie King's new CMO hire follows the brand's most recent quarterly business update and year- end recap. In 2024, Smoothie King opened 84 new stores, including signed agreements for new store openings across 24 states and 39 DMAs. The fourth quarter of 2024 alone saw the opening of 25 stores nationwide, including the opening of the brand's 1,200^th domestic store and continued expansion across Chicago – one of the brand's fastest-growing markets. Smoothie King is setting its sights on an even bigger year in 2025 with accelerated growth, forecasting 105 new store openings across the country.

Visito, a conversational AI platform for independent hotels, announced the launch of Visito Voice, an AI-powered voice assistant designed to handle incoming guest phone calls with natural, real-time interactions.

Visito Voice enables hotels to automate phone-based guest support, resolving over 50% of incoming calls while ensuring a seamless hand-off to staff when needed. Available 24/7 in more than 50 languages, the AI assistant eliminates hold times, understands conversational speech, and integrates directly with leading property management systems.

Pormer Sarram, Co-founder and CEO of Visito, said: “Phone calls remain a major part of guest communication, but they’re also one of the most time-consuming. Hotels today need a smarter way to handle high call volumes without losing the personal touch. With Visito Voice, guests can get instant answers from a human-like agent, or be transferred to human staff when needed. That frees up teams to focus on more complex and urgent interactions.”

Built on the same infrastructure as Visito’s messaging platform, Visito Voice ensures a unified experience across voice and text. Calls can instantly transition to WhatsApp, allowing guests to continue conversations over text or complete a booking via the website.

Meanwhile, hotel staff receive call summaries and insights into guest preferences, enabling them to manage phone interactions with the same tools they use for text-based support.

Visito automates up to 97% of guest interactions across various channels, helping hoteliers minimise support costs, increase direct bookings, and enhance the overall guest experience.