When Pacific Pearl Hotels began investigating new accounting software for its growing portfolio of independent hotels, it conducted a deep dive into the leading accounting and financial management programs on the market. Enterprise accounting solution PVNG by Aptech won hands down for its wide scope of features, transparency, and ease-of-use.

“Our staff is delighted with the results PVNG is providing, as well as with the support we’re receiving from Aptech; they are there whenever we need them,” said Mario Leon, VP of Finance and Accounting for Pacific Pearl Hotels. “Our owners/investors want access to financial reports on the fly; therefore, we needed an accounting program capable of producing financial statements at a moment’s notice. If we need a report that is not already customized for us, we call Aptech, and like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, the data and reporting tools we need appear. PVNG also provides access to the general ledger and special trend reports, which has been invaluable.”

PVNG elevates hoteliers’ ability to monitor their success. The tool features Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials, and Bank Reconciliation modules and seamless web browser navigation allowing hotels to upload their accounting data remotely. PVNG can be deployed as a hosted service and also offers OCR invoice processing, a myriad of payment options, drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports, and the ability to handle single or multi-property accounting.

Leon said Pacific Pearl Hotels is planning on adding PVNG at new properties as they enter the system to make it better for everyone. At present there are nine hotels in the system, with more deals in the pipeline.

“Our people are extremely happy with PVNG,” Leon said. “Integrating the solution with peripheral property systems has been challenging – not on the Aptech side, but due to third-party issues. In each instance, Aptech goes above and beyond what is required of them to help our other suppliers make the integration process work. It’s because of Aptech’s spectacular customer service, solution flexibility, and dedication to our success that we are adding Aptech’s Execuvue business intelligence solution next. The information that Execuvue delivers is cutting edge and we don’t want to operate without it.”

Jill Wilder, Aptech Vice President, said the company is thrilled to expand on its long-term relationship with Pacific Pearl.

“As Pacific Pearl Hotels grows, we are honored to grow alongside them and equip them with accurate, reliable, and flexible financial management tools,” Wilder said. “Aptech’s financial management solutions are helping hotel companies of all sizes compete on the global stage, all while reacting to new challenges as they emerge.”

Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has today announced the installation of a high-performance WiFi network upgrade by Smyth Tribeca in New York City. A modern and high-end property situated on the corner of West Broadway and Chambers Street, Smyth Tribeca together with the technology and expertise of HIS can now ensure that guest expectations for fast, reliable and secure internet access are always fully met.

With a goal to provide its guests with the best possible hotel stay experience, Smyth Tribeca features a wide range of luxurious amenities, including oversized marble bathrooms for each of its 100 rooms as well as an onsite creative cocktail bar. Nestled in the heart of the neighborhood, the hotel is the ultimate place for travelers and locals alike to be surrounded by epicurean treasures and cultural riches, with iconic museums and accessible transportation just steps away. Yet despite also featuring unbeatable views of the New York City Skyline, Smyth Tribeca ultimately recognized a vital need to keep up with evolving guest standards when it comes to WiFi connectivity and service quality.

Opting to partner with HIS as an established and trusted network solutions provider for hotels, Smyth Tribeca was able to leverage both the latest technology and industry expertise to design a cost-effective network capable of high quality performance. To guarantee anticipated results, HIS technicians utilized state-of-the-art network hardware technology, with solutions such as Ruckus access points installed within strategic locations in order to maximize WiFi signal coverage and performance while keeping upgrade expenses down. Since completing the upgrade, Smyth Tribeca has credited HIS and the new network with eliminating virtually all online related guest complaints.

“A hotel’s WiFi service is just as important, if not sometimes more so, than any physical amenity that a property may offer its guests,” said Dale Saferstein, Community Curator at Smyth Tribeca. “As a location aiming to provide the best possible stay experience, making sure that our WiFi service could meet the highest expectations was a top priority that HIS fully delivered on. From the initial planning stages all the way to project completion, HIS made sure that the installation process was quick and seamless, and we have only heard good things from our guests since making the switch to a more modern network infrastructure.”

To ensure that service quality remains consistently high, Smyth Tribeca is also backed by 24/7 HIS network monitoring and support services. This ensures that any performance or troubleshooting issue is always swiftly identified and corrected before any dips in guest satisfaction are experienced.

RoomRaccoon, a hotel management system for independent hotels, released a globally available Room Allotment solution to help accommodation businesses simplify the process of selling and managing group bookings. 

The Room Allotment functionality is set to unlock a lucrative opportunity for users, making it easier to work with travel agents, corporate groups, and event planners by efficiently managing group bookings. What’s more, the intuitive interface allows for quick updates on room allocations, which eliminates the risk of double bookings.

“Manually issuing room allotments to individual bookers, travel agents, and corporate clients is costly, time-consuming, and subject to error,” says Nadja Buckenberger, the CPO and Founder of RoomRaccoon. “Our new Room Allotment feature automates the process for you, driving increased revenue and operational efficiency.”

The Room Allotment feature includes a custom booking engine window that can be shared with guests before they travel. Here, guests can assign themselves rooms from the allotted reservation and benefit from the system’s automated upsell feature. This generates more ancillary revenue for hoteliers while creating a more personalized and luxurious stay for guests.

“This is a great new feature! It saves us so much processing time and makes it convenient for our wedding couples to book in their wedding party,” says Sam Betz of Molenvliet Estate.

In addition to the new Room Allotment feature, RoomRaccoon recently released enhancements to its booking engine. These include Raccoon Price Checker,  a comparative guest-facing tool to increase direct bookings; and a Multi-Property Booking Engine where guests can view availability across multiple properties from a single screen.

 The Wendy's Company opened the first of its Global Next Gen restaurants, while also finalizing a new Global Next Gen High-Capacity Kitchen design option. Both digital-first designs were created to enhance customer, crew and franchisee experiences, accelerating growth across Wendy'sglobal restaurant footprint.

The new Wendy’s restaurant operated by Meritage Hospitality Group is now open in Edmond, Okla.

The new design includes self-order kiosks, passthrough order pick-up shelving, and dedicated parking for mobile order pick-up. The new Wendy’s restaurant operated by Wenspok Companies is now open in Great Bend, Kan.

The Wendy's Company has finalized the Global Next Gen High-Capacity Kitchen design standard for high-volume restaurants, featuring a new dual-sided kitchen layout and increased equipment capacity for greater order throughput. It is estimated to deliver nearly a 50% increase in kitchen output capacity compared to the Global Next Gen standard.

Since unveiling the Global Next Gen restaurant design standard last year, more than 200 Global Next Gen restaurants slated to open through 2024.

Wendy's Global Next Gen restaurants feature a sleek and modern design with an optimized layout and next-generation technology to deliver more Wendy's to more people with an emphasis on convenience, speed and accuracy across drive-thru, dine-in and digital order pick-up.

"The Global Next Gen future-forward design unlocks 400 times the capacity for digital orders, accelerating the System's digital growth," said Wendy's President, International & Chief Development Officer Abigail Pringle. "By bringing Global Next Gen from cutting-edge blueprints to successful openings in less than one year, Wendy's global structure is enabling System-wide expansion optimized to the digital age."

The Global Next Gen High-Capacity Kitchen design standard incorporates Global Next Gen restaurant innovations to meet shifting customer preferences, including increasing digital order capacity. A dedicated delivery pick-up window and parking spaces improve restaurant traffic flow and overall convenience for delivery partners.

To learn more about the latest Global Next Gen advancements, head to The Square Deal for a Q&A with Abigail Pringle, Wendy's President, International & Chief Development Officer.

Cvent, a meetings, events, and hospitality technology provider and Sabre Corporation , a software and technology provider that powers the global travel industry, have expanded their partnership to provide two new integrations. The integrations aim to elevate and streamline group booking capabilities for thousands of event organizers and independent properties and chains worldwide.

Cvent has integrated its Cvent Instant Book (for small/simple meetings) and Cvent Passkey (room block management) tools with Sabre Hospitality’s SynXis Central Reservation System (CRS). These integrations enable a seamless journey from venue sourcing and booking, to guest room fulfillment on Cvent’s unified platform, providing a streamlined experience for hotels, event organizers, and guests. By combining Sabre's expertise in hotel reservation systems with Cvent's best-in-class event and hospitality technology, the announcement highlights both companies’ dedication to raising the industry standard for the group booking and guest experience.

“We are committed to enabling hotels to expand their revenue opportunities beyond the room,” said Tom Murray, vice president of product management & partner organization at Sabre Hospitality. “Through these integrations with Cvent Instant Book and Cvent Passkey, hotels can target both large and smaller groups with exclusive conference and event rates to increase revenue. By leveraging the strengths of Sabre’s comprehensive SynXis Central Reservation platform and Cvent's technology, hospitality businesses can optimize their operations, streamline guest engagement, and deliver personalized experiences."

“We’re excited to announce these integrations with SynXis as it further expands our platform functionality in a way that benefits both the hotelier and the event organizer,” said Janine Alsalam, vice president of sales at Cvent. “85% of planners say they would be more likely to book a property that has direct instant booking capabilities, and we’re proud to bring this capability to Sabre’s hotel clients. We continue to work with our industry partners, like Sabre, to broaden our platform functionality and integrate with the systems hoteliers and event organizers use every day. This announcement further illustrates the valuable role technology plays in optimizing hotel operations and delivering incredible guest and attendee experiences.”

The joint efforts of Cvent and Sabre Hospitality signify a shared commitment to revolutionizing the hospitality industry through best-in-class technology and robust integrations. With this strategic partnership, both companies are poised to shape the future of guest and group experiences, setting new industry benchmarks for customer satisfaction and operational excellence.

Steak n Shake will offer PopID Check In and PopPay on its self-ordering kiosks in select locations in the Orlando market, with plans to expand to more than 300 corporate locations. PopID Check In is an opt-in service that enables consumers to scan their face to automatically sign into their loyalty reward account and see their past orders, making the ordering process as convenient as possible. When a guest checks in with PopID, they also have the option to use PopPay to automatically complete their payment.

• 57% of respondents say enabling new payment options is a  top business driver impacting POS upgrade decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

“Our partnership with PopID is a key part of our effort to provide guests with a fast and seamless ordering experience," said Keith Correia, Chief Information Officer. "When using PopID Check In, a guest does not need to use their phone or take out their wallet as part of the ordering process. They will automatically be checked in for loyalty rewards, and they can choose to make an automated payment with PopPay. A guest can even see their past orders and quickly reorder their favorite menu items. Ordering at Steak n Shake has never been easier or more convenient.”

In addition to enhancing the guest experience and improving order throughput, PopPay helps to reduce fraud and offers lower payment processing fees.