XTM Inc., a Miami and Toronto-based Fintech creator of disruptive payment innovations and mobile solutions specifically for service industries including hospitality, personal care and service staff, announced that the Company closed a partner agreement with Virtual Health Care Provider CloudMD Software & Services Inc., enabling them to offer on-demand health care and mental health support to their 200,000 Today Program members.

The Company notified employers of the offering via an internal message yesterday and had opt-ins of 70 locations representing close to 5,000 service workers. Individual members will also have the opportunity to opt-in directly through their Today Financial app.

“We are committed to helping to inspire today's service workers,” said Marilyn Schaffer, XTM, CEO. “Financial wellness is closely linked to physical  and mental wellness and to this end, we are thrilled to add virtual health care to our portfolio of inspirational offerings. Helping reduce absenteeism, improve productivity and lessening the anxiety associated with waiting in a walk-in clinic, for example, with your child while you're supposed to be on-shift are all benefits we want the Today employer and member to embrace. We worked hard to find a partner that would support the mental health aspect of wellness, and enable us to offer this for a small monthly fee that is less than many people spend on a single latte. We found that in CloudMD.”

“Our partnership with XTM will enable us to empower their members to lead healthier lives,” said Adam Kelly, EVP & Chief Commercial Officer of CloudMD. “We know the traditional healthcare system is strained, and through our EAP and telemedicine programs, we can offer faster time to care for both personal and medical challenges. Service industry workers face difficulty in accessing care due to their changing and irregular work shifts. There's no need for them to spend weeks waiting for a General Practitioner (“GP”) appointment.”

The new partnership will enable large chains, individual locations, or individual workers to opt-in at an attractive per-member, per-month cost, enhancing the value of being an XTM member and improving health, wellness, and productivity of participating organizations. 

TGI Fridays today unveiled its newly reimagined Fridays Rewards loyalty program, helping guests enjoy their Fridays' favorites more frequently, for less.

The revamped Fridays Rewards program streamlines the restaurant loyalty experience, making it simpler for fans. With the free-to-join program, members are able to link with their cell phone number to automatically earn a point for every dollar spent – no app download required.

• 71% are leveraging data gathered via the POS for digital engagement, according to HT’s 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

"We want to give our fans more opportunities to enjoy those Fridays feels each and every day at our restaurants. The new Fridays Rewards program is our way of showing appreciation to our loyal guests and offering them more flexibility in what menu items they can enjoy on us," shared Lindsay Eichten, Director of Loyalty, CRM, and Paid Media at TGI Fridays, and  HT's  Top Women in Restaurant Technology Rising Star Award Winner. "With the revamped program, we are helping guests redeem rewards as often as possible, so they know they can always get a delicious deal and meal at Fridays."

As fans accumulate points, they have the flexibility to curate how they redeem them across two reward tiers.

How it works

• 75 Points: Score any appetizer, kid's meal, nonalcoholic beverage, or dessert for free
• 150 points: Score any entrée for free

To celebrate the launch of the refreshed program, TGI Fridays is helping guests earn their first free reward even faster. Any guest who makes a purchase between May 12 and June 12 will receive 150 bonus points – enough to enjoy a free entrée on their next visit.

The new Fridays Rewards also brings diners more everyday rewards, including either free chips & salsa or $3 off any appetizer, once per day, every day. For even more savings, the program will offer members personalized monthly offers that help them accumulate points faster.

Boostly has become the first website design agency to directly embed ChatGPT into its direct booking websites. 

The groundbreaking integration allows property managers to access a powerful AI-powered language model directly within the back end of their Boostly website, enabling them to effortlessly generate high-quality and SEO-optimized content. 

Property managers can instruct the AI tool to create detailed property listings, tailored blog posts, and branded website copy, saving crucial resources and empowering property managers to enhance their direct booking strategy in minutes. 

The integration comes as part of the launch of Boostly 3.0, the website design agency’s latest platform release, which features a number of updates including the capability to integrate multiple property management systems into one single website, and a Zapier integration that enables property managers to automate email marketing campaigns.

This announcement arrives during an impressive growth phase for the direct booking specialist, which is now generating an average of £39.2k per website for its customers and recently won the Best Web and App Solution Award at The Shortyz Awards 2023. 

Mark Simpson, Founder of Boostly, said: "A common pain point we see again and again at Boostly is property managers who don’t have extensive writing or marketing experience, yet want to write website and listing copy that converts. This integration represents a major step forward for our customers, as they can now leverage the power of AI to create content that drives direct bookings and maximizes revenue.

“Our goal has always been to provide the most effective and user-friendly website solutions for property managers, and embedding ChatGPT is a significant milestone in that effort.” 

Launched in 2016, Boostly is the only company globally that offers direct booking website design and online training for property owners and managers. The direct booking powerhouse provides online training, content creation, WordPress website design and CPD-accredited marketing services to thousands of businesses worldwide. 

Canary Technologies, a guest-management system, is integrating with Maestro PMS to provide hoteliers the tools they need to meet evolving guest needs and operational challenges.

This joint effort provides a 2-way integration between systems and puts the power of Canary’s Guest Management solutions like Check-In, Checkout, Upselling, Guest Messaging, Digital Tipping, and Digital Authorizations directly into the hands of Maestro’s property-management system customers. Thanks to this new partnership, hoteliers that rely on Maestro PMS can now boost revenue, improve the guest experience and increase staff efficiency with Canary.

“Digitizing the guest journey requires new and innovative approaches, and we’re proud to join Maestro PMS in an effort to support hotel operations and help hoteliers provide better guest experiences,” said Harman Singh Narula, Co-Founder of Canary Technologies. “Efficiency and adaptability are important advantages in today’s business environment for hotels, and this partnership will provide new ways for hoteliers to advance their competitiveness in the resurging post-pandemic travel era.”

“Maestro PMS is proud to name Canary Technologies our newest integration partner,” said Warren Dehan, Maestro president. “In today’s new normal, it’s critical that technologists find new ways to work together and help hoteliers deliver frictionless and memorable experiences that keep guests coming back. That starts by making hospitality jobs attractive once again to employees, and giving staff the digital tools they need to communicate more effectively with management, guests and each other. Together with Canary Technologies, Maestro is creating a more enjoyable and productive work environment while making hotel operations more streamlined, efficient, and fun.”

With demand for spa services outpacing resources available to deliver them, it is increasingly vital for spa operators to optimize how they align staff and service reservations to optimize revenue and profit per time booked.

Agilysys Spa, a next-era cloud-native spa solution debuting from Agilysys (Nasdaq: AGYS) at the 2023 ISPA Conference at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas May 9 – 11, features capabilities that equip spa operators to continuously optimize how they accept and manage reservations based on financial outcomes as well as guest and staff satisfaction.

“Agilysys Spa is the result of close collaboration between the former ResortSuite team and the spa team at Agilysys,” said Frank Pitsikalis, founder and former Chief Executive Officer for ResortSuite, which Agilysys acquired in 2022. Pitsikalis now serves on Agilysys’ leadership team as vice president, product strategy, hotels.

Pitsikalis continued, “At last year’s ISPA we helped customers and prospects understand what ResortSuite’s recent acquisition by Agilysys would bring to the industry. This year, we are demonstrating in Agilysys Spa the tangible advantages of our teams becoming one. The 2022 ISPA U.S. Spa Industry Study, which is the most current published research, estimates more than 45,000 spa-related job vacancies across the United States, making it essential to leverage smart technology to optimize decisions regarding which services to offer at which times based on historical trends, near-real-time demand and capacity constraints. Adding intelligence on hotel occupancy patterns by guest volume and by guest persona further strengthens decision intelligence. That is a key advantage we deliver in Agilysys Spa.”

In Booth #816 Agilysys representatives will showcase Agilysys Spa capabilities, including: 

• Intelligent Spa Management that uses data to help spa operators grow revenue based on yield-management insights that include real-time availability, optimized pricing and maximized therapist and treatment room utilization. The system equips operators to easily adjust appointments and minimize gaps across all booking channels.
• Minimum Gap Allowance Protection to optimize capacity utilization and revenue when spas allow patrons to book reservations online. Smart resource management within Agilysys Spa ensures that reservation times, service types and skill profiles of available staff are intelligently coordinated to prevent gaps of unused time and unused staff service delivery capabilities. For online bookers, Agilysys Spa presents reservation choices only for ‘best use’ services and times based on historical and predictive intelligence that continuously aligns demand with capacity to optimize revenue across available time.
• Multi-Experience Booking, which enables guests to book spa reservations as they book hotel reservations, from a common screen view in the same session without switching systems.
• Mobile Convenience, empowering guests to check-in and check-out from spa services at their convenience using their mobile devices, as well as adjust appointments, complete intake information and purchase spa products.
• Retail Revenue Optimization, which enables spa employees to easily add retail sales to the guest’s spa experience to extend treatment benefits and heighten positive customer experiences.
• Seamless Guest Data through integration with property management system (PMS) solutions, including Agilysys PMS. Sharing guest information with PMS systems gives staff a more comprehensive view of each guest and their interactions across the property and over time so that offers and experiences can be personalized based on a deeper knowledge of guest preferences.

Pitsikalis, who also serves as ISPA Board Chairman, will share insights on optimizing spa earning potential as a speaker on the Pricing Strategies to Maximize Revenue panel from 8-9 a.m. PDT Wednesday, May 10. This learning opportunity will include insights into best practices and new strategies to maximize revenue and profit potential.

“Understanding  the entire guest experience is vital to understanding how optimal spa operations can heighten Return on Experience for each guest personally,” said Pitsikalis. “Agilysys Spa delivers best-in-class performance for spa operations and delivers even deeper insights when connected seamlessly with other applications in the Agilysys end-to-end hospitality ecosystem or with solutions from other providers.”

Agilysys is proud to support ISPA and has a multi-year commitment to donate money toward the ISPA Foundation Mary Tabacchi Scholarship, awarded annually to a college or university student enrolled in spa management.

 Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP®), producers of Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC®), has announced the seven exceptional startups participating in Entrepreneur 20X (E20X) Toronto held on June 28, 2023 at HITEC Toronto.

As the premier hospitality technology pitch competition for nearly a decade, Entrepreneur 20X is a unique opportunity for startups to gain visibility and credibility in the industry and network with fellow solution providers and influential industry professionals. Participants will have four minutes each to present their innovative products or services to a panel of judges with backgrounds in entrepreneurship and a live audience of HITEC attendees. Each pitch will be followed by another four minutes for Q&A between the judges and presenters.

The winning startup will receive a grand prize of $5,000 as the Judges’ Choice Award selection while the People’s Choice Award winner will also be recognized as voted on by their peers in real time during the presentation and deliberation periods. All startups will receive exposure to potential investors, customers, and partners in the hospitality technology industry through their participation in the competition.

Beyond the stage, E20X participants receive a complimentary space to exhibit alongside over 300 of their peers in the HITEC Toronto exhibit hall at the E20X Pavilion. Pitchers will also have access to a team of industry mentors before the competition to inspire and educate the startups by lending them the insights, expertise and guidance they need to succeed for both the competition and their fledgling companies.

“E20X is yet another way that HFTP delivers on our goal of supporting the next generation of hospitality technology professionals,” said Frank Wolfe, CAE, CEO of HFTP. “I am excited to see the latest group of startups to take the HITEC stage by storm.”

The participating 2023 E20X Toronto startups are:

1. Aphy
2. Buk Technology
3. eTip
4. Laasie
5. PassiveBolt
6. PricingService.ai
7. WrkSpot

HFTP is also set to hold an E20X competition at HITEC Dubai 2023 on May 23 at the Dubai World Trade Center, co-located with The Hotel Show Dubai. Applications to participate in E20X Dubai 2023 close May 12.

HITEC is the world’s largest and longest-running hospitality technology conference. It attracts thousands of attendees and hundreds of industry solution providers and brings together the brightest minds and hottest technologies from across the globe to one place. Attendees gain access to essential education, top hospitality industry experts and the resources to find cost-effective ways to improve company bottom lines. HITEC Toronto will be held June 26-29, 2023 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre in Toronto, Ontario CAN. Learn more at www.hitec.org.