iSeatz, a provider of travel loyalty technology and digital commerce solutions, released a new report that outlines current challenges and evolving expectations from business leaders and consumers that are shaping the travel loyalty industry at a time of resilient demand but rising uncertainty.

The report, Booking, Personalization, Sustainability, and Payments: The Tipping Point for Travel Loyalty in 2023, examines how travel rewards can help companies meet their engagement, revenue, and growth goals while also revealing disparities between most loyalty programs' offerings and what their members expect from their travel loyalty experiences. Among the report's overarching findings are four areas of opportunity for loyalty programs to improve their performance and better meet consumer demands: the booking experience, sustainability, personalization, and payment technology.

"This new research shows that American consumers have clear expectations for what their travel loyalty programs should deliver, and that they want more control over their experiences," says Kenneth Purcell, Founder & CEO of iSeatz. "That means there's a huge opportunity for companies to drive revenue and improve customer engagement if they make flexibility and value the core of their travel loyalty offering."

Broad-based data reveals untapped potential

The report is based on two surveys conducted in November and December of 2022, one of over 2,000 American travelers and members of loyalty programs and another of nearly 300 loyalty program professionals. Survey questions covered a range of topics from current consumer attitudes toward travel to the technological capabilities of loyalty booking platforms.

In addition to the disparities between member expectations and program offerings and the focus on booking, personalization, sustainability, and payments, the report also highlighted key differences in generational attitudes and priorities regarding travel loyalty. Other major findings include:

• 43% of consumers say saving money on travel is what they value most from their loyalty programs
• But only 32% of companies surveyed include travel rewards as part of their earning and redemption options
• 63% of industry respondents say their programs are members' first choice when booking travel, but only 51% of consumers report the same.
• Over 70% of consumers who said they receive personalized recommendations through their travel loyalty booking site say their current loyalty programs provide them with the value they are looking for, while only 44% of respondents who receive no personalized content said the same
• 37% of Gen Z respondents would book more travel if their loyalty program had sustainability-related redemption options
• 31% of consumers want "buy now, pay later" options for purchases made via their loyalty programs, but only 37% of programs support that payment method

Crafting a better travel loyalty approach

The report's findings point to areas where new technologies or updated strategies can have a major impact on a travel loyalty program's performance. Booking technology that gives members more control and options can create more connected experiences. Including more sustainability-related redemption options can help companies engage younger members and boost overall spending. Incorporating personalized recommendations can boost members' affinity for the programs they belong to.

"The most important takeaway from this report is the need for travel loyalty programs to put the member's wants and needs front and center," continues Purcell. "When customer centricity is the guiding idea, alignment between expectations and experience happens naturally, and growth follows closely behind."

Qu has released its fourth consecutive State of Digital Report with market trends and findings from the largest multi-brand, multi-unit operators.

Qu heard from CXOs at 85+ brands representing over 35,000 locations about their key priorities and initiatives for the next two years. 

The top findings:

• Off-prem digital growth spikes are cooling down and settling into a more predictable pattern. Digital sales growth will continue in 2023 and 2024, but at a more predictable rate. Average digital sales are 25% for the largest category of brands; with prior year top performers (50%+ from digital sales) continuing to stay above. QSRs expect stronger digital growth in 2023 than fast casual counterparts.

• Tech proliferation has generated a new trend towards platforming - 50% of operators reported they’ll make the move to a unified ordering system in the next 2 years. Improved data capture, integrations/APIs, and internal efficiencies were cited as top reasons for unified ordering systems and solutions. According to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report, 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions,

• Order inaccuracy is the biggest problem plaguing the off-prem guest experience, with 15-20% lower satisfaction rates reported by guests. 65% of operators are looking to solve inaccuracies with unified fulfillment systems and processes, using both AI and updated systems.

• Technology investment priorities are shifting. Online ordering, which ranked as a top investment area for the previous 3 years, dropped down to the fourth investment priority, following Cloud POS, Platforms, and Mobile/Loyalty solutions. 

• AI & Machine Learning sailed to the top of the innovations priority list with 70% of operators citing they’ll use it this year to increase efficiency, automated processes, profitability, and data collection/intelligence. 

Get your free copy of the complete report here.

Conversational AI is one of the hottest concepts in hotel management. The notion of having a friendly auto-attendant answering frequently asked questions over the phone is no longer a fantasy – the technology is here and available to assist hotels to provide enhanced service for guests.  A recent survey of more than 5,000 consumers and 600 hoteliers across nine global markets revealed that 73 percent of consumers want hotels to offer technology that minimizes contact with staff and other guests.

Curator Hotel & Resort Collection focuses on developing preferred vendor agreements with best-in-class service providers and innovative technology for the benefit of its members, which consists of independent hotels delivering unique travel experiences, in top and memorable destinations across the United States.  Curator’s hotels are known for providing exceptional levels of service, so it is important to Curator to find the best AI technology to interact with its valued clientele.

Curator vetted multiple AI solutions and recognized an opportunity to incorporate the innovative technology into the Travel Outlook scope of services, helping lead the development of Annette, The Virtual Hotel Agent.  Annette’s proprietary conversational AI understands how people actually speak, by using tools like movie dialog and Facebook for design and programming.  The result is that Annette is better at understanding a guest request or question, removing one of the major objections with AI technology.

Annette's warm, human, and friendly AI-powered voice assistance creates an engaging, on-brand experience for valued hotel guests, accurately understanding the guest's request, even when they narrate or speak in long-winded sentences.  Travel Outlook has built an internal team to program and manage Annette, ensuring that she is operating at the highest level of performance, conveying the latest and most accurate information during guest interactions.

John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook said, "Annette can help to relieve call volume challenges at the front desk, providing guests with the information they are seeking, delivered instantly and with near 100% accuracy.  Annette allows guests to lead the conversation with natural, human-like interactions, leaving the front desk team free to give guests visiting them in person their complete attention."

“Curator recognizes the growing opportunity with conversational AI to alleviate operational pain points, reduce support costs, and improve overall guest satisfaction,” said Austin Segal, Vice President of Curator Hotel & Resort Collection.  “In Travel Outlook, Curator has a partner that shares in an interest of helping our members to achieve these goals, both in delivering best in class service and exploring and adopting new technologies, like Annette. Annette presents an opportunity for our members to deliver tech-forward call center solutions while optimizing the owner’s bottom line.”

Honeywell announced a new collaboration with Marriott International to improve in-room comfort and control for guests who stay at hotels across Marriott Bonvoy’s portfolio of extraordinary hotel brands. Together, Honeywell and the Marriott Design Lab will explore opportunities to test and deploy personalized and innovative guestroom control offerings building on the Honeywell INNCOM product suite that features leading guestroom automation, energy management and operational efficiency offerings.

The effort will take a guest-centric approach to create better experiences. Honeywell will work with the Marriott Design Lab to explore how a guest’s interactions with technology can affect mood and energy, anticipate a guest’s desires to offer them a proactive solution, and create a guestroom experience that is more accessible, inclusive and delightful.

“Technology can help create a more intuitive in-room experience for guests. Imagine arriving to your hotel room after a long day of travel and it’s already adjusted to your preferred settings – from temperature, lighting and even the drapes,” said Steve Kenny, vice president and general manager of building management systems, Honeywell Building Technologies. “Together with Marriott, we have an opportunity to create a next generation guest experience that is intuitive, engaging and authentic. We want travelers to feel like they are not just staying somewhere but have a personalized experience.”

“We’re looking to exceed our guests’ expectations from arrival to checkout. The guestroom experience and comfort play a significant part of that equation,” said Jeff Voris, senior vice president, global design strategies, Marriott International. “Our work with Honeywell will help us provide guests with more customized control in the guestroom that best suits their needs while providing our operators better insight into system performance metrics.”

The Marriott Design Lab is a research and development hub working at the leading edge of design and innovation. The Lab, located at Marriott’s new headquarters, provides a proving ground for technology products and services that can be integrated into daily hotel operations to save energy, reduce costs, increase operational efficiency and encourage customer loyalty through enhanced experiences. The Honeywell collaboration exemplifies how Marriott is working with industry leaders to explore new products, technologies and solutions for the hospitality industry.

The Honeywell INNCOM guestroom automation and energy management software and hardware solutions are designed to help hoteliers enhance guests’ experiences by providing proactive analytics that can help hoteliers identify and resolve issues before they affect guests.

Travelport, a global technology company that powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of travel suppliers worldwide, announced the acquisition of Deem, a corporate travel management platform. Since launching the company’s next-generation marketplace, Travelport+, Travelport has continued its investment in innovation, with the acquisition of Deem being the latest example.

“The game-changing acquisition of Deem by Travelport will fulfill a growing, post-pandemic need for a tight, fully-integrated corporate tool that will provide access to all multi-source content, including NDC,” said Greg Webb, CEO of Travelport. “We’ve been laser-focused on investing in technology innovation, and Travelport+ has simplified the agency workflow, upgraded how travel content is curated, and enabled modern travel retailing. Now with the acquisition of Deem, Travelport will provide corporate travel with award-winning, complementary tools that are as revolutionary, modern, and easy-to-use as Travelport+.”

Previously owned by Enterprise Holdings, a provider of mobility solutions, Deem has long been recognized as the foremost modern technology for the corporate travel industry. Named one of Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies of 2022, Deem has pioneered its suite of online booking and travel technology products for business travelers, travel managers, travel-management companies and suppliers, making the corporate travel experience more efficient for all. Deem has continued to grow its share of the corporate travel business, and Travelport’s investment intends to further accelerate that growth on a global scale.

“Deem is pleased to be joining the Travelport family,” said David Grace, President of Deem. “We are proud of the growth and success Deem has achieved in recent years. The acquisition by Travelport will enable a strong future of global growth for Deem and help accelerate the delivery of travel management solutions in a rapidly evolving industry. We want to express our sincere appreciation to our customers, as well as recognize the hard work and dedication of our Deem team members.”

Travelport established itself as a leader in NDC by launching the industry’s first end-to-end solution for American Airlines’ NDC content. Travelport plans to build on its leadership position by implementing a swift technical integration to enable Deem’s access to NDC offers, products and services. Access to this content is becoming critical for travel agencies, corporations, and travelers, particularly those in North America where airlines are beginning to shift some content exclusively to NDC. This acquisition will dramatically improve Deem’s speed to market, allowing it to seamlessly integrate multisource content.

“We are committed to ensuring a smooth transition for Deem employees, partners, and customers, and look forward to welcoming them to Travelport,” Webb continued. “Having a one-stop source for all content on a single corporate tool has been the main goal of our customers for a long time. Together with the Deem team, Travelport will deliver that.”

For more information, please visit Travelport.com.

Quick-service chicken restaurant chain Church’s Texas Chicken has hired Natalia Franco for its Executive Vice President, Global Chief Marketing Officer, bringing more than 30 years of executive leadership experience to the brand.

As EVP, Global Chief Marketing Officer, Franco is responsible for providing a strategic vision for the brand and creatively leading marketing ideation, brand execution and digital prowess across the organization to drive brand awareness and positioning, resulting in continued growth and stronger franchise relationships.

Prior to joining Church’s Texas Chicken, Franco held numerous executive roles such as EVP, Chief Brand and Strategy Officer for California Pizza Kitchen; President and Founder of Brandmark Global, LLC; SVP, CMO of IHOP under DineEquity; and Global CMO, EVP for Burger King. More recently, she was promoted within Focus Brands to be the Marketing Senior Vice President for the non-restaurant brands including Jamba, Auntie Ann’s, Cinnabon and Carvel. This promotion followed her success as Chief Marketing Officer at McAlister’s Deli. Throughout her career, Franco has gained extensive experience in P&L and business development, portfolio management and profit optimization, customer relationship management, leadership development and additional skills that are vital in the quick-service industry.