News Briefs

In a world where every moment seems meticulously planned, many travelers are seeking more spontaneity and excitement. As a result, the social media trend "vacation roulette," where families or friends embrace the unknown and turn travel decision making into a game by eliminating destinations until one remains, has gone viral, reflecting a broader desire for new experiences. In fact, a recent survey¹ by Marriott Bonvoy reveals that more than 2 in 5 (43%) Americans will book an unplanned trip less than two months out and/or will opt for a trip to a randomly selected destination this year. To celebrate this spirit of adventure, and in honor of reaching 1 million hotel rooms in the U.S., Marriott Bonvoy, Marriott International, Inc.'s portfolio of hotel brands and experiences, is launching Marriott Bonvoy Roulette, a fun digital experience that turns travel planning into a game of chance.

The launch of Marriott Bonvoy Roulette comes on the heels of Marriott's announcement of the 1-millionth room in its U.S. portfolio with the opening of Canal House of Georgetown, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel. With over 6,000 properties across the U.S. and now 1 million hotel rooms, Marriott Bonvoy is uniquely positioned to take the excitement of spontaneous travel to the next level with Marriott Bonvoy Roulette, allowing members to spin a digital wheel and discover travel opportunities at hotel brands across the country.

From May 7 through May 26, Marriott Bonvoy members can visit MarriottBonvoyRoulette.com to spin a wheel for a chance to instantly win an exciting prize². Those who spin the wheel will be automatically entered for a chance to win the grand prize of 1 million Marriott Bonvoy points and a four-night stay at the Canal House of Georgetown, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, in celebration of the milestone. With 1 million Marriott Bonvoy points in the bank, the winning member can explore Marriott Bonvoy's extraordinary collection of hotels and experiences and redeem stays, once-in-a-lifetime experiences through Marriott Bonvoy Moments, immersive local adventures with Marriott Bonvoy Tours & Activities, or even a new bed and other hotel products through Marriott Bonvoy Boutiques.

In addition to the grand prize, members could instantly win one of two Marriott Bonvoy points prizes or one of a multitude of Marriott Bonvoy adventures, including complimentary two-night stays at the following hotels within Marriott Bonvoy's U.S. portfolio:

• AC Hotel by Marriott Maui Wailea
• ADERO Scottsdale Resort, Autograph Collection
• JW Marriott Las Vegas The Resort at Summerlin
• Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay
• Moxy Downtown Los Angeles
• Sheraton New Orleans Hotel
• The Westin Austin Downtown
• W New York – Union Square

"Travel roulette embraces the excitement of the unexpected and encourages exploration of new destinations and spontaneous travel," said Peggy Roe, executive vice president and chief customer officer at Marriott International. "Reaching 1 million hotel rooms in the U.S. is a significant milestone for us, and we are celebrating it by inviting travelers to explore something unexpected and take a spontaneous trip. With over 30 hotel brands and 10,000 destinations in our portfolio, Marriott Bonvoy is more than just a loyalty program, it's a gateway to discovering new places and creating lasting memories. Whether you're meticulously planning your trip or letting the thrill of chance guide you, Marriott Bonvoy makes it easy to find the perfect getaway."

Canal House of Georgetown, located in the heart of the historic Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C., is part of the Tribute Portfolio, one of Marriott Bonvoy's fastest-growing full-service brands, known for its global family of independent boutique hotels united by a passion for captivating design, sincere service, and vibrant social spaces. Inspired by the iconic Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, the hotel offers unique accommodations, including three attached townhomes and specialty suites, alongside an expansive lobby with plush seating, a library lounge, and a private courtyard. With lively food and beverage spaces highlighting the finest flavors of the region, Canal House creates an atmosphere that brings together both guests and locals.

Ready to step off the beaten path and discover new destinations in a whole new way? For more details or to play Marriott Bonvoy Roulette, visit MarriottBonvoyRoulette.com. To explore Marriott Bonvoy's full portfolio of hotels and experiences, visit marriott.com. 

Hotelogix, a cloud-based hospitality technology provider, announced the integration of advanced AI capabilities into its highly trusted Hotel Property Management System (Hotel PMS). With this, Hotelogix is now set to help hotels across the globe unlock new levels of automation and intelligence to drive growth, boost profitability, and deliver exceptional guest experiences. 

Armed with AI capabilities, Hotelogix helps hotels streamline operations, make informed decisions, and respond faster to changing market conditions. In distribution, AI algorithms optimize metasearch bidding strategies and web content, helping properties enhance visibility and increase conversions. In F&B operations, it enables inventory tracking, demand forecasting, and optimizing resource utilization. For revenue management, Hotelogix allows hotels to analyze booking trends, competitor pricing, and market conditions to adjust rates to boost occupancy and revenue.

In reputation management, AI is leveraged to allow hotels to analyze guest feedback on multiple online platforms and understand their sentiment to ensure timely, relevant responses. Additionally, in marketing and guest experience, it supports personalized upselling, dynamic room upgrades, automated WhatsApp campaigns along with a guest interaction platform, and AI-powered multilingual website. 

Hospitality industry worldwide is getting ready to adopt AI, with investment projected to grow 60% annually from 2023 to 2033. With AI set to penetrate, midmarket and smaller hotels will compete with large hotel brands with agility, precision and intelligence. "Imagine a small hotel with a multilingual AI concierge offering 24/7 support and hyper-personalized recommendations in their native language," said Aditya Sanghi, CEO of Hotelogix. "It's not just about convenience that boosts guest experience, it also cuts operational costs. With integrated AI offerings across core functions, we're enabling hotels to scale intelligently to meet evolving guest expectations quickly and precisely."

With a presence in over 100 countries and trusted by 12,000+ hotels, Hotelogix continues to lead the way in successfully migrating hospitality entities to the cloud to stay competitive and agile while leveraging modern solutions.

"Moving on to the next level of bringing AI to the forefront of hotel operations, we are working on integrating PMS data-driven agentic AI to empower hotels to enhance guest experience and boost yield," Aditya added.

ROH, the hospitality industry’s first payments management platform that unlocks hotel profitability, today announced that The Leo Kent Hotel Tucson, a Tribute Portfolio Hotel, operated by Remington Hospitality and owned by Opwest Partners, has selected ROH to manage payments more efficiently, ultimately driving greater operational performance and profitability.

ROH eliminates the manual lift associated with payments through its suite of solutions that include real-time payment alerts and custom reports, automated receipts and reminders, and powerful autocharge capabilities. By automating the most time-consuming parts of the end-to-end payment lifecycle and providing real-time visibility into bookings, ROH enables sales, finance and operations teams to collaborate more effectively, move faster and ensures teams never have to chase payments again.

“Once considered just the transactional piece of the puzzle, payments are now being recognized as a key profitability driver,” said Jess Conroy, CEO and Founder, ROH. “We consistently hear from teams that payment processes are incredibly time-consuming, often requiring constant manual follow-up. Many properties today are already operating with lean teams – they can’t afford their valuable time to be spent chasing payments. With The Leo Kent as the first property in our partnership with Remington Hospitality, we’re proud to demonstrate how ROH can streamline operations with smart automation while also delivering immediate savings by cutting payment costs overnight.”

Located in an iconic building in downtown Tucson, The Leo Kent Hotel offers stunning panoramic views of the energetic city. With flexible meeting space and modern amenities, The Leo Kent Hotel offers gathering spaces designed to accommodate a wide variety of occasions including small meetings, training sessions and social events.

Hotel Equities and Springboard Hospitality today announced a strategic merger, effective May 1, creating a scaled and differentiated hotel management company built to deliver value for hotel owners across branded and independent segments. The merger brings together two complementary organizations with distinct strengths: Hotel Equities, known for its superior performance in branded, select- and full-service assets, and Springboard Hospitality, a leader in managing independent, lifestyle, and resort properties. The combined company will operate a broad portfolio of properties across the United States, Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America spanning urban, resort and outdoor destinations.

The newly merged entity will continue to operate as an owner-focused management company, offering tailored strategies backed by institutional-grade infrastructure, deep operational expertise, and a flexible, entrepreneurial mindset.

Ben Rafter, CEO of Springboard Hospitality, is the new chief executive officer of the combined company. Brad Rahinsky, former president and CEO of Hotel Equities, will assume the role of chairman.

“This next chapter for the combined company establishes scale with expanded regional insight and entrepreneurial agility to support owners across every asset class,” said Brad Rahinsky, chairman of Hotel Equities. Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities, added, “We start with what both companies do best: revenue generation and technology innovation. We’ve earned our reputation by unlocking new revenue opportunities, embracing technology to stay ahead of the curve, and tailoring creative solutions for each asset. From there our combined expertise allows us to move faster, think more creatively, and deliver long-term value in ways that legacy operators simply can’t.”

Al Smith, Hotel Equities’ president of hotel operations, will assume the newly created role of chief operating officer, and Rob Robinson, executive vice president of Springboard Hospitality, will transition to the role of president of Springboard Hospitality.

Hotel Equities’ operational excellence, scaled purchasing power, and expansive North American footprint—combined with Springboard’s entrepreneurial roots and strengths in commercial strategy, technology leadership, and deep expertise in West Coast and Hawaii markets—creates a powerful hospitality platform. This next chapter establishes meaningful scale with expanded regional insight and entrepreneurial agility.

A full suite of services—including operations, revenue management, marketing, food and beverage strategy, capital planning, and development—supported by dedicated teams and a strong track record in both branded and independent environments is offered. Additional announcements, including key hires and expanded services, will be shared in the coming months as the company builds toward its next phase of growth.

Stagg Restaurants, LLC a San Antonio, Texas-based McDonald’s franchisee,  is now offering employees DailyPay.

Through this partnership, S employees can access their earned pay as they earn it. With DailyPay, employees can save, spend, and invest on their own agenda, no longer needing to wait for a scheduled payday.

Stagg Restaurants is among the largest McDonald’s franchisees in Texas, operating 36 McDonald’s restaurants. Experiencing growth, Stagg Restaurants turned to DailyPay to appeal to the innovative workforce needs of QSR employees.

As employee expectations evolve with the times, research shows QSR employees recognize the positive impact of having access to their pay before the traditional bi-weekly paycheck. 

Research conducted by YouGov, commissioned by DailyPay, indicates that over half (56%) of QSR employees say getting paid more frequently at work than they currently do would be “very” or “extremely” beneficial to them. 

In addition, with the ability to strengthen the employee-employer relationship, the research also found that nearly half (49%) of QSR employees surveyed said early access to earned pay would enhance their view of their employer.

“Today’s workforce is looking for employers to support them both inside and outside of the workplace”, says George McClure, Business Director for Stagg Restaurants, LLC. “Partnering with DailyPay was one of many ways we looked to achieve that and indicate our support for our employee's personal and professional wellbeing.”

In addition to offering DailyPay’s On-Demand Pay solution, Stagg Restaurants, LLC has a robust total rewards package. The team offers generous paid time off, traditional medical insurance, a unique bonus structure, free meals, and uniforms, along with access to educational opportunities for high school/higher education, among others.

This partnership comes ahead of Stagg Restaurants, LLC remodeling of its existing locations, and building new restaurants prompting a rehiring and new hiring.