News Briefs

DoorDash has reached two acquistion deals:  an agreement to acquire SevenRooms, a New York City-based software company and a global leader in hospitality technology, and a deal to buy London-based delivery service Deliveroo. 

The move marks a significant expansion of DoorDash’s Commerce Platform capabilities, equipping merchants globally with new tools to grow in-store and delivery sales, build stronger customer relationships, and increase profitability. 

“We’re enhancing the DoorDash Commerce Platform to help merchants serve their customers across all channels,” said Parisa Sadrzadeh, Vice President, Strategy and Operations at DoorDash. “With SevenRooms, we’re excited to give local businesses around the globe new ways to bring more guests in the door, build and grow direct relationships with their customers, access best-in-class CRM, and drive profitability through smarter marketing.”

Founded in 2011 by Joel Montaniel, Allison Page and Kinesh Patel, SevenRooms delivers best-in-class tools for marketing, operations, and guest experience – all deeply integrated with its industry-leading CRM – to help restaurants, hotels, and hospitality businesses deepen guest relationships, streamline operations, and drive revenue growth. The combination of DoorDash’s scale, reach, and proven track record of digital innovation with SevenRooms’s in-store capabilities will enhance merchants’ ability to drive growth across both first-party and third-party channels.

“We founded SevenRooms with a mission to help hospitality operators understand their guests and grow their business, enabling a more sustainable future," said Joel Montaniel, Co-Founder and CEO of SevenRooms. "We believe restaurants are the fabric of local communities, and through every table touch, welcome back and raised glass, our focus has always been on helping them grow while making their guests feel at home. With an operator-first mentality at our core, we're excited to embark on this next chapter with DoorDash – delivering greater innovation, a direct channel to a network of millions of DoorDash consumers, more personalized guest relationships and elevated experiences that transform first-time diners into loyal regulars. Together, we're equipping restaurants with the tools to own the guest experience, grow their customer base, and thrive in an omnichannel world – inside and outside of the merchant's four walls.”

As part of DoorDash, SevenRooms will have access to expanded resources and global reach, accelerating its innovation roadmap and unlocking more value for more merchants. Together, DoorDash and SevenRooms will continue to support an open, partner-friendly ecosystem.

The deal, expected to close during the second half of the year. reflects DoorDash’s broader mission to empower local businesses and foster stronger connections between consumers and the places they love—whether they’re going out, ordering in, or engaging digitally.

DoorDash to Acquire Deliveroo

In other news, DoorDash has struck a deal to acquire London-based delivery service Deliveroo.

DoorDash and Deliveroo share a common mission to empower local commerce, offer a differentiated consumer experience, and build multi-category platforms that serve local economies.

DoorDash and Deliveroo operate in complementary geographic regions; Deliveroo operates in nine countries, all of which are new for DoorDash.

Founded in 2013, Deliveroo works with approximately 176,000 restaurants, grocers and retail partners, as well as over 130,000 riders to provide on-demand delivery experience in Belgium, France, Italy, Ireland, Kuwait, Qatar, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom. Deliveroo served approximately 7 million monthly active consumers in 2024.

Anacove, a provider of AI-enabled, cloud-connected energy management solutions for the global hotel industry and an Oracle partner, announced that its suite of hotel energy management solutions is available on Oracle Cloud Marketplace, and can be deployed on Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI), and integrates with OPERA Cloud via the Oracle Hospitality Integration Platform (OHIP). Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a centralized repository of enterprise applications offered by Oracle and Oracle partners. 

The Anacove line of hotel energy and operations management solutions enables high level business benefits that include:

• Smart thermostats that reduce energy usage and cut utility costs.
• Toilet leak detectors that save water and prevent unnoticed waste.
• Real-time asset tracking for items like rollaway beds, cribs, and luggage carts, which saves valuable staff time.
• Staff safety alert devices that help maintain faster response times and a safer work environment.

Oracle OPERA Cloud Property Management System (PMS), one of the leading hotel property management systems, is relied upon by global hotel brands that include Marriott, Hyatt, Wyndham, and Best Western, among many others. Built to support hotels of all sizes, from luxury resorts to limited-service properties, Oracle OPERA Cloud delivers robust, cloud-native tools to help manage every aspect of the guest journey.

Anacove’s integration with OPERA Cloud allows hotels operators to experience next-level efficiency, sustainability, and safety. Anacove’s availability on Oracle Cloud Marketplace further strengthens the company’s commitment to the hospitality industry by helping hotels run smarter, save on power and water, and deliver exceptional guest service.

Oracle Cloud Marketplace is a one-stop shop for Oracle customers seeking trusted business applications and services that offer unique solutions.

OCI is a cloud designed to run any application faster, and more securely, for less. OCI can help address a variety of data privacy, sovereign AI, and low latency requirements as it is the only hyperscaler capable of delivering 150+ AI and cloud services at the edge, in a customer’s datacenter, across clouds, or in the public cloud. Oracle’s distributed cloud delivers the benefits of the cloud with greater control and flexibility while also providing the consistent performance, SLAs, and global pricing for which OCI has become known.

“We’re thrilled to announce that Anacove is now fully integrated with the Oracle OPERA Cloud Property Management System (PMS), enabling hoteliers to benefit from a powerful toolset that optimizes resources, protects staff, and improves the guest experience through a single, connected platform,” said Ian Lerner, CEO, Anacove. “Anacove’s participation in Oracle Cloud Marketplace further extends our commitment to the Oracle community and enables customers to easily reap the benefits of our suite of hotel energy management solutions. We look forward to leveraging the power of Oracle Cloud Infrastructure to help us achieve our business goals.”

Flynn Group has deployed Ziosk’s comprehensive suite of solutions at more than 460 Applebee’s locations nationwide to optimize its tech stack, enhance the guest experience, and strengthen operational performance.

Through this partnership, Flynn Group has selected Ziosk’s zMini tablets with DigiSite Smart Table technology. When paired together, they power on-demand capabilities like self-order and pay-at-the-table for guests, as well as drive efficiency for team members. Purpose-built and tailored to Applebee’s needs, Ziosk’s hospitality platform works alongside team members and existing integrations to meet evolving customer needs and streamline procedures, maximizing productivity and guest satisfaction at a national scale.

“Ziosk’s technology seamlessly complements the handheld tablets we currently have in place, creating a comprehensive digital hospitality experience in our restaurants,” said Dan Krebsbach, President, Flynn Applebee’s. “Giving guests control over when to order more items or pay their bill, all while our servers remain at the ready and equipped with handhelds for additional service, allows us to simultaneously meet guests’ expectations for elevated convenience while ensuring every team member feels supported. In today’s challenging labor environment, this is a game changer. We couldn’t imagine a better experience than having Ziosk on the table.”

As part of the deployment more than 20,000 Applebee’s tables are now equipped with DigiSite Smart Table technology. Its spatial location software enables tablets to move effortlessly between tables, while automatically syncing to the corresponding guest check. This flexibility allows Applebee’s to optimize tablet distribution based on each location’s unique traffic patterns and volume, maximizing their investment while simplifying operations system-wide.

Integrating seamlessly with the restaurant’s POS, Flynn Group Applebee’s locations are also utilizing Ziosk’s zMini tablets to enhance guest engagement and satisfaction. Pay-at-the-table technology eliminates the wait time associated with paying and provides a frictionless, secure process. It also enables premium games and entertainment offerings that promote more memorable dining experiences, and self-ordering capabilities that empower guests to order appetizers and drinks on demand, customizing the way they dine.

The Ziosk zMini tablets also offer targeted promotional capabilities, arming Applebee’s with the ability to spotlight seasonal specials and featured offerings. They also highlight cause-marketing efforts, notably helping Flynn Group nearly triple guest donations to Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation for pediatric cancer research from $150,000 to $373,000 in July to September of 2024.

“We’re thrilled to launch the next evolution of Ziosk’s cutting-edge technology with a highly respected industry leader like Flynn Group and their Applebee’s restaurants,” said Raymond Howard, Chief Revenue and Growth Officer for Ziosk. “Eliminating the wait for guests is key to driving revenue and guest satisfaction. We’re empowering guests to order apps, desserts, reorder drinks and pay when they’re ready – letting them dine how they want. Having a tablet cycling through promotions on the table is also maximizing profits by delivering the right message at the right time to convert upsells. Coupling this with our latest innovations – SmartTable and DigiSite – reduces the number of tablets needed in any given restaurant, further lowering costs.”

Bringing together both Ziosk zMini tablets and DigiSite Smart Table technology makes the partnership between Ziosk and Flynn Group truly all-encompassing. Combining a frictionless pay-at-the-table solution, more efficient table distribution, and enhanced charitable programs enables Flynn Group to deliver a level of hospitality that keeps guests coming back for more.

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.  

HRS announced the latest enhancement to its award-winning Green Stay Initiative. The new Green Stay Audit Platform – automation offered at no cost to hoteliers worldwide – is designed to help the hotel community as they take steps to reduce emissions and more efficiently convey their attributes as they compete for corporate room nights, including transient and meetings-related segments.

Hotels continue to be challenged in four specific areas in their quest to justifiably make investments in more sustainable on-property practices:

• Capturing and generating verifiable data on their carbon emissions;
• Efficiently communicating their data during corporate RFP processes, using concise, repeatable and standardized methods that conform with regulatory requirements;
• Getting educated on achievable steps a hotel can take to further reduce/remove emissions; and
• Resource constraints impacting their ability to progress on these items.

This is particularly a challenge for smaller, regional hotel groups and individual properties who lack the expertise and resources to tackle these issues. Larger, multi-national chains also have a distinct need for more time-saving automation as they seek to share their sustainability highlights with corporations.

Introducing HRS’ Green Stay Audit Platform, Featuring the AI-Infused Green Stay Assistant

HRS’ award-winning Green Stay Initiative has set new standards in leveraging scientific data to help the managed travel ecosystem reduce the emissions tied corporate lodging. HRS’ hotel-focused efforts level the playing field on this important issue. Hotels in 180+ countries, including 600+ chains, participate in Green Stay today. Properties at the Advanced and Professional levels in Green Stay respectively earned 15 and 19 percent more room night bookings from HRS clients over the past year.

Today, the Green Stay Initiative is the only corporate hotel-focused sustainability technology is that is certified by both the Greenhouse Gas Protocol and ISO. HRS is a two-time winner of the Business Travel News Sustainability Award for Data and Reporting (2023/25).

The new Green Stay Audit Platform – featuring the Green Stay Assistant – elevates HRS’ provision of timely, effective information and services to the hotel community. As Earth Month comes to a close, this announcement comes at a time of economic uncertainty across continents, with corporations being more precise in allocating their transient and meetings-related lodging spend to properties that will also help them achieve their carbon emission goals. Highlights include:

• Hoteliers – even those without specialized sustainability expertise – can easily enter metrics tied to energy, waste, and water via a standardized and guided process, now with the support from HRS’ AI-powered Green Stay Assistant (real-time chat functionality). This reduces the burden on lean teams while facilitating participation in more RFPs without extra staff or external consultants.
• The AI-powered Green Stay Assistant introduces users to the three levels of Green Stay, what is involved in attaining each level (Basic / Advanced / Professional), with details on required data sets. Hoteliers can type in the topics they seek more information on, and the Assistant responds with information and prompts, taking them to the next logical step in their learning process.
• Instead of spending significant time responding to multiple client-specific questionnaires, hotels report once through the new platform and are immediately set to address the sustainability needs of virtually any corporate hotel program. This immensely increases sales process efficiency for corporate hotel sales departments.
• Hoteliers can quickly see which Green Stay level they are at as they compete for hotel volume, enabling them to assess current status, plan specific upgrades, and strive to reach the distinctive label of “Green Stay Champion.”
• Access to the Green Stay Knowledge Hub, a repository of case studies, reports and YouTube videos organized to help hoteliers with their education and reporting skillsets, as well as keep them abreast of evolving national and regulatory sustainability requirements.
• Access to HRS’ world-class Emissions Compensation Program (ECP), which already drives savings for corporations. Education about HRS’ ECP can help hoteliers consider their own choices for alignment, which can confer a competitive advantage in RFP scenarios.

Enhanced HRS Platform for Hotels also Drives Benefits for Any Hotel’s Corporate Clients

The HRS platform makes it easier and faster for hotels to complete sustainability assessments, even those with limited resources. This is vital for corporate travel executive during RFP processes, leading to:

• Higher hotel participation, increasing the share of properties with verifiable footprint data;
• Broader data across markets and categories, improving procurement and booking decisions;
• More visibility into hotel program performance, enabling better steering + auditable reporting; and
• Enhanced RFP compliance via automation, which reduced friction in the sourcing process.

“The Green Stay Audit Platform is a timely new arrival for our Group as we use more automation in our sales processes,” said Laura Baroncelli, Deputy Group Director of Sales for Starhotels, the Italy-based hotel company with 31 properties in key business destinations including Florence, London, Milan, New York and Paris.  “Beyond the functional part of accelerating our RFP responses, the platform promises to educate our colleagues about carbon emission reduction and the metrics we use to convey our progress during corporate sales engagements.” Starhotels has participated in Green Stay since 2022.

Hotels that participate in HRS’ Green Stay Initiative today have had their existing data uploaded into the new platform and received emails with dedicated URLs so they can access details about their property and take advantage of the wider range of resources now available to them. There is also a simple path for hoteliers that are new to the Green Stay Initiative to follow and get their initial assessments underway.

“Automation and innovation are unquestionably keys for our industry as we try to drive more sustainable practices by hoteliers, particularly as they navigate labor challenges and progress on their understanding of emission-reducing activities they can take,” said Martin Biermann, Chief Product Officer of HRS. “The new Green Stay Audit Platform represents one more leap forward, giving hoteliers a wealth of information and resources at their keyboard. Beyond helping hotels compete for and win more corporate transient and meetings-related room nights, this enhancement also moves the ecosystem forward on the primary goal of reducing the emissions related to corporate lodging.”

Today Resy relaunched the Resy Android app, now available on the Google Play Store. This milestone gives millions of Android users a seamless way to discover and book reservations at over 20,000 restaurants.

Android users now have in-app access to key Resy features like Notify, Hit Lists, Invite Guests, exclusive dining experiences, and more—empowering them to explore and reserve unforgettable meals with ease. Additionally, eligible American Express® Card Members can enjoy benefits like Global Dining Access through the Resy Android app. In the coming months Android users can expect more features to be added, including Discover Tab, which gives mobile users access to Resy’s extensive original editorial content, and additional filters on map, which allows users to narrow their search based on availability or editorial collections like “New on Resy” or “Great Sushi”.

In addition to helping more diners discover and book their next great meal, the new Android app will help restaurant partners reach an even larger network of potential diners.

The Resy Android app is available for download now on the Google Play Store. Resy for Android will support Android versions 12.0 and up.