News Briefs

Toast introduces ToastIQ, an intelligence engine delivering timely prompts, personalized recommendations, and automated workflows designed to transform daily restaurant operations. Built natively into Toast’s end-to-end platform, ToastIQ draws on insights from millions of transactions and interactions across 130,000+ locations and fuses Toast’s deep hospitality expertise and integrated platform with AI, historical patterns, and proprietary insights. As it evolves, ToastIQ will enable every role—from server to general manager to chef—to operate faster, smarter, and more efficiently.

The first ToastIQ features are designed to elevate every server’s performance and streamline marketing efforts through intelligent, automated workflows. Menu Upsells, Shift at a Glance, and Digital Chits enhance service while AI-Marketing Assistant and Advertising simplify the process of attracting new guests and help foster long-term loyalty.

“Restaurants have a wealth of data available to help them optimize their business, but often don't have the time or training to interpret and act on it,” said Steve Fredette, President and Co-Founder at Toast. “Our vision for ToastIQ is to transform every role in the restaurant ecosystem with intelligent features, greater personalization, prompts, and shortcuts across our connected products—all driving toward outsized business outcomes.

“Building ToastIQ required foundational advances in data architecture, AI, and on-device intelligence—purpose-built for the fast, complex nature of restaurant operations. From using AI models to streamline marketing plans, to syncing guest insights from reservations to handhelds in real time, to powering ROI-driven ad performance, ToastIQ brings intelligence into the flow of hospitality, service, and growth. This marks the beginning of a new stage of innovation where software evolves beyond a tool restaurant professionals use, into a partner that helps them elevate their craft.”

Deliver exceptional hospitality and increase average check size with new ToastIQ service features

ToastIQ enhances service with upsells, personalization, and in-the-moment information:

• Menu Upsells* prompt staff to suggest recommended additions to a guest's order. For example, an order of burger and fries can trigger the Menu Upsells feature to suggest upgrading to truffle fries—increasing check size and helping guests discover new menu items. Integrated into order-taking on Toast Go® handhelds and Toast terminals, Menu Upsells help ensure servers recommend upsells consistently. During one of the first weekends of early usage, Atlanta, GA cocktail bar and restaurant Wylie and Rum saw approximately a 6% increase in average order value.¹
  
  “With upsells, we can turn $12 cocktails into $17 cocktails—just by showing the options for top shelf liquor. On weekends alone, that could mean $200 to $350 in extra revenue, without changing a single menu item,” said Marcus Merritt, General Manager at Wylie and Rum. “And for our servers, it’s a confidence booster. They don’t need to memorize every spirit or menu modification—the prompts do the heavy lifting. Tips go up, sales go up, and the whole team wins.”
   
• Digital Chits* pull guest details from Toast Tables reservations and Guestbook profiles—like special occasions, guest requests, and visit history—and display them on Toast Go® handhelds and POS terminals, helping staff personalize service with confidence, right from the first interaction. By replacing printed notes and verbal handoffs, Digital Chits highlight important guest details so they don’t fall through the cracks.
  
  "Digital Chits help us to improve the customer experience by tailoring our service to every guest,” said Cory Ybarra, Owner of Cactus Jack’s in Mont Belvieu, TX. “By providing us with key details like special occasions and past visits, we can personalize every interaction. This level of service, which many restaurants simply can't offer, helps us build even better rapport with our customers."
   
• Shift at a Glance* streamlines critical communication between managers and staff—delivering timely updates right to Toast Go® handhelds and terminals. Instead of relying on pre-shift meetings alone, managers can digitally share key details like specials, low stock items, or staffing changes right from the Toast Now manager app. Staff can access this information as they clock in and stay informed throughout their shift, even during the busiest service.
  
  “Shift at a Glance keeps our team in the loop, helps everyone hit the ground running, and saved us from a lot of ‘wait, what are we doing today?’ moments,” said Alex Pikul, Owner of Kind Cafe in Fairhope, AL. “The best part? It’s become our daily dose of good vibes. We use it to give shoutouts, share kind words, and make sure everyone feels appreciated. It’s like a group chat with a purpose.”

Generate guest demand and engagement with ToastIQ tools designed to simplify digital advertising and marketing campaigns

Increasing guest traffic is a top challenge for restaurants.² ToastIQ marketing features utilize Toast’s unique, robust data and insights to create powerful ads and digital campaigns designed to attract and retain guests. Features include:

• The enhanced AI-Marketing Assistant builds cross-channel marketing plans in a few clicks personalized to each restaurant. Synthesizing inputs such as restaurant data, daily sales reports, and menu and item performance from on-premise and Online Ordering, the AI- Marketing Assistant crafts detailed, personalized marketing plans for email, SMS, and social media. Outputs include pre-designed and pre-written campaigns for holidays and events, promotions like BOGO deals and happy hours, business and menu updates, and more.
  
  "Tuesdays through Thursdays had been super slow for us, and I wanted to find a way to boost sales. I noticed an AI-powered feature called “Slow Days Campaign.” It was like Toast had read my mind,” said Alex Koons, Owner of Hot Tongue Pizza in Los Angeles, CA. “That sparked an idea for a mid-week pizza party promotion. I let Toast generate the campaign, made a few tweaks, and sent it out. The open rates were the best I’ve ever seen and the mid-week sales were incredible, jumping 44%. I generated over $10K from this one campaign."³
   
• Advertising* turns clicks into measurable revenue. Toast connects ad performance directly to transactions across online, in-person, and catering orders, giving operators visibility and transparency into how digital ads drive real dollars, as opposed to just clicks and impressions. On average, early beta users are earning $8 for every dollar spent with Advertising.⁴ Restaurant operators can easily create and manage digital ads on Google channels such as Search and Maps, and Meta channels such as Facebook and Instagram, directly from Toast. With Toast’s restaurant insights, AI-assisted setup, and pre-filled recommendations, ads are easy to launch and reach the right guests at the right time.
  
  "Advertising has really simplified and streamlined digital advertising for us. The ads have helped us attract more customers, increase online orders, and drive real revenue growth,” said Christopher Touma, Director of Operations at Sahara Mediterranean Grill in Shelby Township, MI. “Seeing a return of over 14x proves just how effective the platform is."⁵

Visit this page to learn more.

*Indicates early release features. To try them, customers can go to the Toast Test Kitchen on Toast Shop.

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s largest lodging franchisors, opened its 69th Annual Convention in Las Vegas this week with a keynote by President and CEO Patrick Pacious, setting the tone for three days centered on a single mission: “Powering the Future” for hotel owners and their businesses. The event brings together thousands of owners, operators, and industry partners for nearly 100 educational sessions, a trade show where owners can connect with hundreds of qualified vendors, and brand sessions to hear from Choice leaders about recent performance success and where the company is investing to help drive revenue and lower costs.   

“Everything we do at Choice Hotels is about delivering value to hotel owners. The stronger we and our franchisees grow together, the more we can re-invest in their future success,” said Pacious.  

Pacious opened with a clear message: Choice Hotels is not just bigger — it’s better and stronger. The company’s growth has allowed it to attract a more resilient and higher income customer, including more business travelers who now represent 40% of all stays. Its upscale and above brand portfolio grew rooms by 44% last year and with more than 7,500 hotels worldwide, the company is leveraging its growing size to strengthen value for owners, helping to increase revenue opportunities, reduce operating costs, and fuel long-term business success. Some of the results Choice and its owners have achieved include:  

• Loyalty membership has surged past 70 million, with members booking direct more often, staying longer, and spending more. The revamped program’s enhancements — longer booking windows, premium room redemptions, and exclusive experiences — have helped drive a 30% increase in redemptions and 13% growth in average length of stay.  
• Over 6% year-over-year increase in converting lookers into direct bookers as a result of the ChoiceHotels.com refresh, with upscale online booking conversion up more than 14% in the first quarter of 2025.  
• Area Directors helped owners find over $25 million in potential operational cost savings last year, an average of $33,000 per participating property.  
• A new food group purchasing program shows an average savings of 9% on food costs, based on market-basket comparisons since the program launched in July 2024 to March 2025.   
• In 2024, hotels that used ChoiceROCS, a consultancy program designed to help drive increased revenue by leveraging functional expertise and advanced data analytics to provide pricing and strategy recommendations, saw a 100-basis-point premium in RevPAR Index versus hotels not using the program. In total, ChoiceROCS drove $81 million in incremental revenue to participating properties. 

The scale of the company has helped facilitate the strategic investments in proprietary tech tools, the loyalty program, and an owner success system that helps its hotels stand out from the competition. “Becoming bigger has allowed us to build a better and stronger business for you,” Pacious told the crowd.   

Scale That Works for Hotel Owners 

In a competitive high-cost landscape, scale and attracting more and different customers are essential. From negotiating reduced OTA fees and leveraging Choice’s scale with suppliers, Choice delivers tangible results for its franchise owners. In Q4 2024, group business revenue jumped 45% year-over-year, and transient business revenue in upper midscale rose 20%.  

Through strategic partnerships — with AAA, AARP, Preferred Hotels & Resorts, and Westgate Resorts — a strengthened Choice Privileges loyalty program, and more, Choice Hotels is drawing more guests directly to its properties and marketing channels. AARP members booked over 1.1 million room nights at Choice hotels in 2024, and the average return on investment for hotels with an official AAA appointment is $50,000.  

Innovation for the Long Haul 

Choice continues to lead at the intersection of hospitality, franchising, and technology. The company has been leveraging Artificial Intelligence for over 5 years now, and is harnessing its power to deliver personalized marketing, smarter revenue management, and new tools to help owners grow their business. 

Last year, Choice Hotels launched an ambitious endeavor to develop and implement a suite of cutting-edge, complementary and needle-moving capabilities to be delivered over the next two years. These consist of four areas: 

1. Empowering franchisees across all segments to manage rates with greater flexibility. 
2. Driving more occupancy from small-to-mid-sized companies by making it easier for them to do business through a self-serve platform, with no new increased labor costs for hotels.
3. Attracting and retaining new and existing guests through enhanced, AI-ready digital marketing capabilities that enable delivery of personalized messages to drive the right customers to hotels.  
4. An AI-infused, streamlined group travel system that will help franchisees identify the optimal opportunity and respond to requests for proposals.  

A Segment Leader Built for What’s Next 

The company has earned its reputation as a leader in midscale and extended stay, and Pacious made clear that the company intends to stay ahead by continuing to invest where it matters most. Choice recently launched new, cost-effective prototypes for Comfort and Country Inn & Suites, refining their brand identities and introducing new brand features to drive growth and success. And with one in every four midscale hotels in the U.S. flying a Quality Inn flag — a brand that celebrated its 85th anniversary last year — Choice is helping owners capture the full potential of their share of today’s competitive travel economy.  

In extended stay, Choice continues to lead. In 2024, Choice brands accounted for half of all economy and midscale extended stay hotels open and under construction. Last year, the company celebrated the opening of its 500th property, and continues to innovate from the front with transformative solutions like “Lobby in a Box” and “Kitchen in a Box,” which make conversions easier and faster. Its midscale Everhome Suites brand is growing at a rapid pace, with 25 hotels projected to be open by the end of 2025. And the WoodSpring Suites brand continues to operate under a proven formula, with gross operating profits above 55%. 

In the upscale and upper upscale segments, where Pacious declared that “today’s Choice is the industry’s one to watch,” the company’s growing presence is fueled by a strong commitment to success, strategic investments and the rollout of a series of brand refreshes designed to stand out in a sea of sameness. In 2024 alone, upscale-and-above room count rose to over 110,000 rooms, and Choice Privileges members now benefit from access to 180,000 upscale rooms, including through partnerships with Westgate Resorts and Preferred Hotels & Resorts.  

Pacious closed with a message of momentum: Choice Hotels is delivering and has bold plans for tomorrow. From midscale and extended stay leadership to AI-powered transformation, Choice’s scale isn’t just making it bigger — it’s making it better. That scale, combined with a relentless commitment to innovation, is powering new possibilities for hotel owners ready to grow alongside one of the industry’s most forward-looking franchisors.  

TakeUp, the AI-powered revenue optimization platform designed for independent hospitality properties, and ThinkReservations, a leading property management and booking system, have strengthened their partnership with an enhanced integration that delivers even greater pricing intelligence to independent hotels, inns, bed & breakfasts, and glamping retreats. This deeper collaboration unlocks new, invaluable data insights, giving properties the ability to compete more effectively with larger brands.

With this expanded integration, TakeUp now provides properties with access to booking search volume data, a powerful metric that was previously unavailable. This unique data—displayed directly within the TakeUp web app—reveals the total number of searches made on the ThinkReservations booking engine for specific occupancy dates. By analyzing search volume trends, property owners and operators can gain a real-time view of traveler demand, allowing them to make smarter strategic decisions based on guest interest, not just confirmed bookings.

"This deeper integration with ThinkReservations is a game-changer for independent properties," said Bobby Marhamat, CEO of TakeUp. "By unlocking booking search volume data, we are giving properties an unprecedented advantage–they can not only optimize their pricing strategy in ways that were previously only available to larger brands but also make smarter decisions about marketing campaigns and guest experiences."

By leveraging AI-powered pricing insights and human revenue strategist oversight, TakeUp's enhanced integration ensures that ThinkReservations customers now have access to a sophisticated yet easy-to-use revenue management system that helps them maximize occupancy and revenue.

"We believe in providing our customers with the best tools to help independent lodging professionals succeed, and our deepened partnership with TakeUp will continue to help our customers grow," said Richard Aday, CEO at ThinkReservations. "By expanding our integration to include booking search volume insights, we are giving properties the information they need to make smarter pricing decisions and stay ahead of the competition."

Key Benefits of the Enhanced Integration:

• Booking search volume insights provide visibility into traveler demand before bookings occur.
• Automated, data-driven pricing strategies tailored to real-time market conditions.
• Seamless revenue optimization without requiring extensive expertise in pricing management.
• Dedicated revenue strategist providing expert guidance to maximize revenue.

• Tech Talk at the Innovation Theater (Monday, May 19 10:30am CT): SpotOn will host "Strength in Numbers: Building a Financially Savvy Restaurant Community," a panel discussion featuring restaurateurs Amy Hom (Barcelona Wine Bar) and Jonathan Gillespie (Adalina). The session, moderated by Maddy Shannon, SpotOn’s Head of Product Strategy, will offer strategies to empower teams and boost long-term profitability across the industry. The three will host a networking hour at Booth #6045 immediately following the session for operators to connect, swap insights and spark new opportunities.
• Campaign Signage & Video: Campaign messaging will be prominently featured throughout the venue, including the escalators and Innovation Theater. SpotOn’s manifesto video—focused on the shared mission to support the restaurant community—will play ahead of every Innovation Theater session.

• Restaurant Profit Margin Calculator, P&L Template, and Break-Even Point Calculator
• New Restaurant Opening Checklists and Profit Guides
• Restaurant Financing Guide and SpotOn Capital Checklist
• Operational tools such as the Tech Assessment Checklist, POS Reporting Guide, Menu Engineering Worksheet, Labor Management Guide, and Employee Handbook Template
• Guest Experience & Marketing tools including reservation guides, waitlist templates, marketing kits, and review management checklists

Cendyn, a global integrated hotel technology and services company, announced several enhancements and innovations in its revenue management products, Guestrev and Grouprev. Additional integrations and partnerships with companies such as Amadeus and Agilisys demonstrate the company’s commitment to driving revenue and growing profitability.

From AI to total revenue optimization to rising costs and economic uncertainty, hotel revenue leaders are tasked with embracing advanced strategies and technologies to maintain competitiveness in an increasingly challenging and dynamic business environment.

Cendyn’s ongoing commitment to its revenue management products has resulted in significant updates to help revenue managers solve challenges such as increasing ancillary revenue. Cendyn Guestrev offers dynamic pricing recommendations by room category and market segment, allowing hoteliers and casino operators to evaluate and understand a property’s mix of revenue and profit centers while employing the most accurate valuation of a guest’s true revenue potential at the segment level.

To provide a deeper understanding of future demand through pace and forecasts at the distribution channel level, Guestrev now offers access to enriched lost business data from Cendyn Central Reservation System (CRS)/Booking Engine. Hoteliers are now able to track when rates were changed, who made the update, when they were sent to the PMS, and whether the PMS accepted the rate change through historical rate changes. Additionally, they can now effortlessly search, view, sort, and filter by segment and date of arrival.

“Cendyn product teams have been hard at work developing and enhancing our revenue management products to help customers grow revenue with every guest, whether they are independent hotels, casinos, or brand properties,” said Kevin Duncan, SVP of product, Cendyn. “By revolutionizing profit optimization for hotels and casinos, Cendyn’s revenue management solutions offer unparalleled insights and flexibility. Our commitment to innovation and growth helps our customers navigate a seamless technology path that drives commercial success.”

For casino resort revenue managers, updates to Guestrev reduce manual efforts by auto-populating price recommendations to streamline pricing. When overriding the transient rate, all control segment values update automatically, saving time by reducing manual effort and preventing revenue loss from pricing errors.

Cendyn Grouprev is a group forecasting tool built using the core elements of Cendyn Guestrev’s transient forecast tools. It provides an unconstrained view and projections into group business at the micro-segment level. New competitor shop weightings provide insights into competitor pricing and help group sales managers make more intelligent pricing decisions depending on market occupancy and seasonality.

Cendyn continues its dedication to seamless vendor integration and the elimination of data silos in a highly fragmented industry. Ongoing partnerships have resulted in integrations with Agilysys and Amadeus. To enable faster access to PMS data, Guestrev customers can now leverage a two-way integration with the Agilysys Versa property management system to allow quicker access to PMS data. For its Grouprev customers, an Amadeus Delphi.FDC integration eliminates the need for multiple vendors and drives speedier response times to RFPs.