News Briefs

Actabl, a hospitality software company dedicated to empowering hotels with actionable insights to drive profit, announces Andrew Arthurs will be joining as President and Chief Operating Officer. This strategic hire underscores Actabl’s unwavering commitment to the hospitality sector and its aim to enhance the capabilities of hoteliers worldwide.

Andrew Arthurs joins Actabl with a deep background in hospitality technology and management. In his previous position as Chief Information Officer at Aimbridge Hospitality, he led technology initiatives across more than 1,500 properties in 50 states and 23 countries. With over two decades of experience, including leadership roles at Two Roads Hospitality and Vail Resorts, Arthurs brings a wealth of knowledge and a rich understanding of the hospitality industry’s unique challenges and needs.

In his new role with Actabl, Arthurs will lead several pivotal departments within Customer Experience and Operations. 

Steven Moore, CEO of Actabl, expressed his enthusiasm for Arthurs’ appointment: "I am thrilled to welcome Andrew to the Actabl team. Andrew's extensive experience and deep commitment to hospitality come at a pivotal moment for us as we renew our commitment to empowering the people who power hospitality. Andrew is an exceptionally talented executive and someone who will help us maintain close-knit and responsive relationships with our customers as we continue to bring four industry-leading products into a single platform. I could not be more excited for our team, our customers, and our vision."

“Joining Actabl is a tremendous opportunity to make a real impact in an industry I’ve dedicated over two decades to,” says Arthurs. “The Actabl team has worked tirelessly over the past 18 months to bring together four companies in a way that delivers an optimal experience for their customers. As a former customer, I know first-hand what value the platform brings, and I’m eager to drive further enhancements in our customer engagement and operational strategies, which will elevate our service offerings and benefit our clients globally.”

Arthurs will officially join Actabl in early June and will accompany the team to HITEC in Charlotte, NC June 24-26, 2024. 

Guestline - one of the world’s leading hospitality technology companies, and part of The Access Group - has unveiled its fully integrated Distribution Hub designed to unlock new revenue streams for hoteliers.

Available with over 400 channel connections, Guestline’s Distribution Hub enables hoteliers to optimise the distribution mix of travel booking websites, third party sales partners, and direct business.  With automation, hotels can take advantage of both traditional channels and alternative partners including Metasearch, Airbnb and rental platforms.

Fully integrated into Guestline’s product suite including market-leading PMS, hotels can maximise operational efficiencies and reduce errors with real-time updates ensuring accurate availability across all channels at all times to avoid overbooking and lost revenue. By utilising the valuable insights from integrated data, hotels have the ability to optimise distribution strategies in order to maximise revenue from the most valuable channels.

“Hotel staff need more time for value-based tasks. Our Distribution Hub reduces manual updates allowing hotel teams to focus on strategic distribution to improve the cost of sale, while potentially attracting higher-value guests with lower acquisition costs. Guests are increasingly researching and booking hotels across various channels including metasearch sites like Trivago and Google, therefore hotels need to take an omnichannel approach to distribution. By diversifying their channel matrix, hotels can create competitive offerings in their third-party commission structures,” said Katharina Lunenburg, Senior Product Manager, Guestline.

Through the single user-friendly platform, hotels can manage all online sales channels with the ability to switch them on and off when required. The seamless connectivity delivers incoming reservations directory and securely into the PMS with PCI compliant payment handling and tokenisation, eliminating data silos. With greater control over distribution, hotels can geographically target markets, improve visibility in front of niche audiences or engage with channels offering lower commissions.

Guestline Distribution Hub offers a scalable, robust, reliable, and secure platform with full customer support, along with reporting and analytics capabilities to support revenue management strategies. It gives hoteliers the ability to customise distribution including MinLOS, closed channel functionality, and integrated niche channels in a user-friendly and intuitive interface.

The Guestline Distribution Hub supports the development of new revenue streams, enhanced pricing strategies, and operational and resource efficiencies, and is suitable for properties with 30 or more rooms.

With an immediate need to update and standardize its point-of-sale systems across 30 restaurants plus event venues and other partners, and enable corporate to self-manage and maintain all systems, Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality (O&B) has transitioned to Silverware POS.

Trusted by the most notable brands around the globe, Silverware develops enterprise point-of-sale solutions for large venue operations and deploys systems to meet the needs of multi-revenue operations with restaurants, bars, lounges, roomservice, banquet, and retail facilities. O&B is recognized as one of Canada’s leading restaurant and event groups with locations in Toronto, Montreal, Calgary, Edmonton and beyond. The company credits its success to developing a strong corporate culture where food quality and service are valued above all else and leave lasting, positive impressions on every guest through our intelligent, enthusiastic and emotional service.

“The demands of today’s diners are changing,” said Charlotte Newbury, Oliver & Bonacini Hospitality associate director of business operations. “At high-end restaurants, people expect personalized service with a great view and a one-of-a-kind culinary adventure. At more casual places, diners may prefer to be more interactive or self-serving with their experiences. Time is precious, and therefore they do not want to wait on service associates to pay their bills; a scan, pay and leave scenario more aptly fits their lifestyles. To support this mix – dictated by the market and the concept – we needed a point-of-sale solution that did it all. It needed to be user friendly and give us access to the back end so we could manage and maintain it on our own. Silverware has the flexibility to do all that and much more.”

A key criteria for O&B was finding a POS platform that drives efficiency. The goal of the new system was to get food out faster and send orders to the kitchen in clear, concise ways without lag time. The company also wanted a solution that its employees would be eager to engage with since most of the wait staff are young and comfortable adopting new technology. Silverware was purpose built to drive efficiency, improve profitability, and enhance every aspect of the dining experience.

“When onboarding new employees or bringing a restaurant online with Silverware, everyone is amazed at the user friendliness of the system,” Newbury said. “Most servers think ‘you’ve seen one POS, you’ve seen them all,’ but that is not the case. Our staff consistently tell us they can’t believe how intuitive Silverware is. Anything and everything you can possibly think of is already built in. Our people say they especially like the fact that pricing levels change automatically; when lunch is over and Happy Hour begins, price changes don’t have to be input manually. Whenever Silverware asks if we would like to pilot new features, we jump at the chance to provide insight.”

Users can be trained on Silverware in about 45 minutes, Newbury said. Immediately following training, O&B’s associates are comfortable using it. That means the company doesn’t have to spend a lot of time or money on training and retraining. And because all back-end programming is done internally, their team can step in and troubleshoot if needed. In fact, 16 employees oversee, manage, and provide back-end programming to Silverware across the vast foodservice enterprise. Newbury said her department was created specifically to do most of the heavy lifting for all point-of-sale systems companywide.

“The bottom line is Silverware simplifies our operations, and their support is outstanding,” Newbury said. “Should we need additional assistance with something that we can’t handle internally, we can always reach someone at the Help Desk 24/7. Silverware’s account managers are extremely accessible and receptive. More importantly, they’re honest; they will let us know if they can or cannot do something. There is never a delay in response. It’s great knowing that if we need them, Silverware is standing by to assist.”

One of the newer features of Silverware being leveraged by O&B is GuestX for online ordering. The GuestX platform enables diners to seamlessly place orders and pay through their mobile phone by credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. It’s fully customizable to match each restaurants’ branding and ensure a consistent experience for diners whether they eat in or order out. For a company with multiple platforms such as O&B, maintaining consistency is vital.

“O&B is committed to quality, growth, and technology,” Newbury said. “We are always looking for efficiencies while staying cutting edge. If we can do that, it will extend to the guest experience and make it the best it can be.

“The future is bright,” she added. “We have about six new restaurants coming online in 2024, plus a large food hall project this Spring with 16 food stalls. Silverware will be by our side every step of the way and we wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Europe’s oldest luxury hotel group Kempinski Hotels announces today the appointment of Barbara Muckermann as Chief Executive Officer. Muckermann previously was responsible for leading Silversea Cruises (part of Royal Caribbean Group), the world’s largest ultra-luxury and expedition cruise line. She joins the iconic global luxury hospitality brand with 82 hotels in 36 countries at an exciting time, as Kempinski prepares for impressive growth in new regions worldwide and more spectacular properties on the horizon.

Kempinski is proud of its 127-year tradition and the associated high standard of quality which the group has introduced into new upwardly-mobile markets. The group intends to add another 34 hotels and residences to its portfolio in Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa in the coming years and to further secure Kempinski’s legendary global position and standing.

“I could not be more thrilled to be joining Kempinski Hotels as CEO during such a pivotal time for the brand”, says Muckermann on her appointment. “I am delighted to play an integral role in this incredibly iconic brand’s next chapter while honouring its rich history, and very much look forward to working in tandem with amazing colleagues globally to continue to make the Kempinski name synonymous with individual luxury.”

“Barbara has always been at the forefront of luxury, and her proven ability to elevate the guest experience while simultaneously maximising profitability for leading travel brands made her the ideal choice to lead Kempinski Hotels,” said René Nijhof, Chairman of the Board of Directors Kempinski Hotels S.A. “Her dynamic, forward-thinking approach will be vital as we continue to usher in a new era of luxury for our brand. As Barbara takes the helm, she will be the first woman in the company’s 127 years of history to lead this iconic brand.”

During her more than 25 years of hospitality experience, she has successfully expanded sales and profitability as well as significantly upgraded the guest and customer experience for leading global brands in luxury and travel including Loro Piana, MSC Cruises and NCL.

A German native, having lived in Italy, France and the USA, Muckermann is fluent in five languages and is a Doctor in Political Sciences and Economics and holds a joint MBA from Columbia and London Business School.

SIHOT, a hotel management system, has launched SIHOT.PAYENGINE, a payment aggregator, to simplify payment processing for hotels and hospitality companies. 

SIHOT.PAYENGINE can manage multiple Payment Services Providers (PSPs) offering accommodation providers choice rather than being restricted to a single provider.  By offering hoteliers a centrally managed payment system seamlessly connected to all SIHOT products and Services through which all data runs, businesses can achieve greater operational efficiencies, cost savings and improved security for finance and account departments.

With SIHOT.PAYENGINE, hotels can facilitate the omnichannel payment experience to their customers across physical terminals or through ecommerce and payment apps, with the option to choose from a wide range of PSPs that match their preferences and cater to guests needs. 

Said Carsten Wernet, Chief Executive, SIHOT: “We created SIHOT.PAYENGINE to enable hoteliers to choose which PSPs they want to work with for their business model. We are one of few PMS on the market to be agnostic to payment providers. By providing this level of connectivity, now PSPs are reaching out to integrate with our payment engine to provide our mutual customers with an elevated level of service and experience that improves business operations. There is an increasing need for hotels to work with a wide range of PSPs today, taking into account a multitude of digital payment channels and regional payment platforms. With our Cloud Native API, PSPs can quickly connect to our payment aggregator to integrate into our complete product suite.”

For hotels, the integration of PSPs in the PMS in this way means they can facilitate quicker checkout and billing processes using digital invoices and receipts, and ensure that customer payment data remains secure. SIHOT.PAYENGINE uses tokenistation to disguise credit card details on file while enabling repeat payments or a wider range of payment methods. Hotels can also ensure payments are pre-authorized, and that customer data in the loyalty program is fully PCI-compliant and GDPR protected.

“We know people spend more if payments are easy. Our payment aggregator means hotels can plug in a wide range of payment options that offer guests choice and a consistent hospitality experience,” added Wernet.

GoNexus Group, an experiences and mobility travel group, and Blue Diamond Resorts, a Caribbean resort chain, celebrate the successful result of the PH App (Planet Hollywood App) powered by NexusLab for Planet Hollywood Hotel in Cancun, contributing to the digitalization of the guest experience, increasing customer satisfaction and sales. Now four out of ten NPI (non-package income)[1] sales are booked through the PH App, and as a result of this success, Blue Diamond Resorts will expand the app's presence across the rest of its properties.

The PH App, launched for Planet Hollywood Cancun on September 25, 2023, and concluded on April 20, 2024, yielded significant outcomes including the digitalization of restaurant reservations, resulting in the elimination of queues and wait times of up to 35 minutes. The app has also increased the visibility of NPI. Moreover, surveys conducted through the app facilitated early complaint resolution, leading to a reduction in post-travel complaints and an increase in the Net Promoter Score^[2].

Planet Hollywood Hotel in Cancun, boasting 1018 rooms, witnessed a remarkable adoption of the PH App by its guests. By April 30, 2024, over 70,000 unique users, representing an adoption rate of over 84%, were using the app to make one in three reservations.

Designed mobile platforms, including iOS and Android, the PH App aims to provide guests with comprehensive information and options within the hotel, simplifying booking processes and saving time. The app uses Stay App technology, which was recognized as the Best Hotel Guest App in 2023 by the Hotel Tech Awards. Language options include English and Spanish.

The app offers several benefits for hoteliers, including but not limited to online pre-check-in and room pre-selection to restaurant reservations, spa treatments booking, and exclusive beach dinners. It also allows for amenity requests, tour consultations, and resort exploration through interactive maps, among many others.

The President of GoNexus Group, Ruben Gutiérrez, expressed, "We are thrilled to partner with Blue Diamond Resorts in revolutionizing the hospitality industry with the Planet Hollywood App powered by NexusLab. Developed using Stay App technology and in collaboration with NexusLab, the innovation hub of GoNexus Group, this app represents a fusion of cutting-edge technology and unparalleled guest experiences, driving significant value for both guests and resorts alike. This milestone marks the beginning of a transformative journey in redefining the all-inclusive experience across Blue Diamond Resorts' diverse portfolio as a result of our NexusLab”.

Additionally, Jurgen Stutz, Senior Vice President - Sales, Marketing & Distribution for Blue Diamond Resorts, remarked, "Catering to our guests' desires for seamless convenience and immersive experiences has always been ingrained in Blue Diamond Resorts' DNA. This ambitious project at Planet Hollywood Cancun is only the beginning for us to transform the all-inclusive experience into a personalized journey. As we extend this innovative technology across our diverse portfolio, we're not just embracing the future; we're redefining the standard for hospitality excellence, one tap at a time."

[1] Income a guest generates from add-on amenities, services and products such as spa services, dining upgrades, golf, or access to private beaches that are not included in the accommodation package.

2 The Net Promoter Score (NPS) measures customer loyalty by asking how likely customers are to recommend a product or service on a scale of 0 to 10.