Operto Guest Technologies, a provider of automated solutions for 50 million-plus rooms in the global hospitality industry, announced that it secured US$25 million in a Series-B financing round. The financing was led by Centana Growth Partners, with participation from Thayer Ventures, FUSE, Blackpines Capital Partners and Derive Ventures.

Proceeds from the round will be used to further fuel Operto’s aggressive expansion in the global short-term rental and hotel markets, where it already works exclusively with Accor Hotels to power its global digital key program. This includes luxury hotel brands such Fairmont and Raffles, where Operto’s revolutionary contactless digital solutions can be leveraged to remove common friction points in the guest journey, while lowering operating costs and driving new sources of revenue for the hotel.

"We are delighted to announce our B-Round funding, which will enable us to build upon our exceptional company growth over the past 3 years. It will accelerate our company mission to build cutting-edge technology solutions that drive amazing guest experiences, across the entire accommodation spectrum. In addition, our solutions will continue to deliver huge operational efficiencies for property owners and hosts by lowering costs and driving additional in-stay guest revenues, which is becoming increasingly important in today’s macroeconomic environment.” said Operto CEO Steve Davis. “Hospitality is one of the last major industries to be disrupted by technology, and we believe there is a significant opportunity to bring the benefits of simple, affordable automation to the sector. We are excited about the future, and we look forward to making a real difference to the accommodation industry."

“Operto is leading the digital transformation of the hospitality industry by creating a seamless, automated check-in and check-out experience for its customers,” said Eric Byunn, co-founder and partner at Centana Growth Partners. “Centana has been following the digitization of the hospitality industry closely, and we are very excited about this sort of innovative disruption streamlining the experience of owners, hosts, and guests. We will leverage our expertise in the payments and commerce ecosystem to work with Operto as they continue to innovate in an industry with such enormous potential.”  

In addition to the funding announcement, Operto is pleased to announce that Sam Shank has joined the company’s Board of Directors. Shank, who was previously CEO and founder of HotelTonight and former head of Airbnb’s Commercial Team, brings a wealth of hospitality and travel industry experience to Operto. "Operto's cutting-edge technology solutions are reshaping the hospitality industry, and I am excited to be a part of the journey,” said Shank. “I look forward to working with the team to help drive growth and innovation."

Operto’s automated, customizable platform enables hotels, property managers and others to remotely provide access as well as monitor and control a wide range of devices and systems, including smartphone-enabled guest verification, security deposit and payment, electronic elevator and room access. By providing property managers with real-time data and insights, Operto helps streamline operations, reduce costs and enhance the guest experience.

Operto Guest Technologies is well-positioned to continue its rapid growth and expansion into new markets. The company is committed to delivering innovative solutions that help property managers improve efficiency, reduce costs and provide a better experience for their guests.

Aimbridge Hospitality, a global hospitality company, has assumed management of 71 hotels previously operated by Houston-based Terrapin Hospitality. With over 8,100 rooms in 21 states, the diverse portfolio is national in scope with representation in the upper midscale and upscale segments across all major brand companies.

Joining Aimbridge Hospitality’s Select Service Division, these hotels will benefit from the impact of the industry leader’s deep bench of industry talent, a specialized operational approach that maximizes value, and a path toward continued global growth and industry-leading innovation.

As part of the transaction, Aimbridge Hospitality will build on its existing relationships with Waramaug Hospitality and Terrapin Investments—two large-scale hotel owners in the Terrapin Hospitality portfolio and active investors in the hospitality space. The portfolio Aimbridge Hospitality manages on behalf of Waramaug and Terrapin Investments will increase to 42 hotels from 12 prior to the transaction, and the parties have concurrently entered into a long-term strategic development relationship that is anticipated to generate incremental unit growth as early as the first half of 2023.

“We are pleased to welcome these new properties and owners into the Aimbridge Hospitality family,” said Michael J. Deitemeyer, Aimbridge Hospitality President & CEO. “We are already applying our expertise and operating acumen to the Terrapin Hospitality portfolio, and we look forward to a long-term relationship where we can generate meaningful results and chart a path to future success."

“The strategic relationship with Aimbridge Hospitality will allow our properties to benefit from the scale and experience of the number one management company in our industry,” said Tony Sherman, Terrapin Hospitality Founder & CEO. “It was critical we found the right partner for my portfolio and my clients. Aimbridge Hospitality has best-in-class talent, management approach and resources to ensure our assets will continue to grow their profitability and our team members will be valued.”

Sherman will continue to serve as an operating partner to Aimbridge Hospitality moving forward. The introduction of these properties to Aimbridge Hospitality’s robust portfolio and expanding Select Service division is another step forward for Aimbridge Hospitality as it continues to commit and invest in providing an unparalleled management experience for owners.

To learn more about Aimbridge Hospitality, visit aimbridgehospitality.com.

Smarter.ai, the provider of AI solutions for SMEs, introduces its e-commerce tool, CommerceIQ. Leveraging the power of its marketplace model, Smarter.ai has seamlessly integrated analytical machine learning apps with generative AI capabilities, allowing businesses of all sizes to create unique, personalized customer engagements at scale and compete with large enterprises. With CommerceIQ’s unique combination of generative AI's incredible creativity and analytical AI's deep learning capabilities, it provides prescriptive recommendations that can be automatically implemented, streamlining the marketing process for SMEs. 

71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

"This technology enables smaller companies to reclaim their space in the e-commerce ecosystem where they have been dwarfed for so long by the e-commerce giants with teams of data scientists and marketing specialists." said Francesco Benincasa, CEO of Smarter.ai.

Designed to connect natively with Shopify and Klaviyo, CommerceIQ provides businesses with the flexibility to connect with other platforms upon request and manually load data via .csv/.txt files. This makes it easy for any business owner to take advantage of the powerful suite's capabilities, regardless of their technical skills or resources. According to Forrester research, with AI, businesses can achieve 3 times faster revenue growth, 50% higher lead generation, and 25% higher sales productivity,

Dynamic Yield, a Mastercard company, unveiled Element, a suite of Mastercard applications and extensions integrated into Dynamic Yield’s Experience OS.

As consumer demand for personalization continues to grow, brands must differentiate their approach to providing relevant experiences at scale. Mastercard’s proprietary prediction models and aggregated consumer spend insights will allow customers across verticals – from retailers to brands  and beyond – to deliver greater personalization on any digital channel.

According to McKinsey research, 71% of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76% get frustrated when those demands aren’t met¹. And companies are noticing – 98% of organizations believe in the benefits of personalization and plan to invest further².

Element directly links select Mastercard services within Experience OS, the company’s operating system that organizes applications in an open, modular, and fully customizable core framework. 

Within Element, subscribed customers will be able to:

• Reach new audiences using actionable, geographic spend insights based on aggregated and anonymized transaction data.
• Apply Mastercard’s propensity modeling techniques to help issuers dynamically curate relevant offers, products, and content for existing cardholders within their personal banking platform.
• Use Mastercard SpendingPulse to uncover regional spending trends and identify macroeconomic indicators of retail sales to power personalization at the local level³.
• Identify relationships between products, locations, and product attributes with Market Basket Analyzer and use these insights to drive smarter personalization decisions.

“...Companies can now hyper-personalize the consumer experience in entirely new ways,” said Ori Bauer, CEO of Dynamic Yield. “For example, by looking at consumer spending in one category, you can now analyze how it will drive usage in another, and then deliver tailored offers online or in an app based on those unique insights.”

Mastercard acquired Dynamic Yield in 2022 from McDonald's to strengthen its suite of consumer engagement and loyalty services, helping brands deliver more effective and trusted experiences across channels.

Women in restaurants, hospitality and technology are joining together to create a professional women's organization aimed at mentorship, support, and empowerment. Women of Restaurants, Technology and Hospitality (WORTH) launched March 7, 2023, at the Multi-Unit Restaurant Technology Conference (MURTEC).

Founded by Brittany Amerson (Farmers Restaurant Group), Cristal Ghitman (SynergySuite), Deena McKinley (Papa Gino’s), Kim DeCarolis (Fat Brands), Lauren Selman (IFBTA), Suzanne Stopp (IPConfigure), and Tammy K Billings (Aben), WORTH aims to provide a safe space for women to ask questions, share and gain insight into personal and professional challenges in these industries.

"We recognized the conversations we often have between women about our experiences in this industry should have a larger platform, to leverage our commonalities and provide representation, visibility and safety for both industry veterans and women just entering hospitality," said Ghitman, WORTH cofounder and Director of Strategic Partnerships at SynergySuite. "WORTH is a decentralized group that aims to connect and support women in all areas, from mentorship to advocacy to friendship."

WORTH has launched an online community through LinkedIn and plans to organize meetups, webinars, conference events, and other opportunities for engagement soon. To get involved in WORTH, please contact the group through their LinkedIn page.

Think Simplicity, a cloud communication technology provider of all-inclusive voice and chat solutions for the hospitality industry, announced today a program designed to help both hoteliers that are switching from analog wiring to ethernet cable or new build hotels. The plan provides no-cost phone system equipment for “Pure IP” hoteliers that meet certain conditions.

The bulk of existing hotels today have analog wiring throughout the building and therefore use analog telephones in guest rooms. These legacy systems are dependent on old copper wiring, but many will be tasked with replacing this wiring with ethernet cabling in the near future.

New build hotels that are running ethernet cabling to guest rooms for telephone connections and utilizing IP telephones in those rooms will need a reliable vendor to take advantage of today’s cloud communication innovations. Regardless of the scenario, beginning April 1, 2023, hotels with a Pure IP setup can take advantage of Think Simplicity’s No Cost Phone System, for a limited time. 

Joseph De Ciantis, co-founder of Think Simplicity, said: “As the sunsetting of traditional copper-based landlines begins to impact older properties there will be a larger need to migrate to a digital system. Our goal is to help older hotels that are updating their wiring to IP/Ethernet or newer hotels that have a pure IP setup make the transition to cloud communications systems quickly, easily, and affordably.”

This offer is based on certain configurations and specific conditions must be met. Phones and onsite installation are not included.