Tarci, a continuous intelligence platform that generates dynamic SMB data,  launches the Tarci for Foodservice data suite. This new series of dynamic data modules is designed to inform sales, marketing, risk, and retention strategies for enterprises in the foodservice industry that service small and mid-sized businesses.

By combining accurate, up-to-date SMB profiles with data-derived insights specific to the Foodservice industry, Tarci helps food and beverage manufacturers and distributors identify opportunities and risks in real time for both prospective and current clients.

The following data modules are currently available within the Tarci for Foodservice suite:

• Restaurant with Emerging Needs  
• Licensed Establishments
• Food & Beverage Retailers
• Foodservice Risk Management
• SMBs with Refreshment Needs

True data to drive strategic action

Tarci's continuous intelligence engine draws from a wide range of external data sources to create dynamic SMB profiles that are refreshed weekly.

Tarci monitors those profiles not only for change but also for any correlating trends that follow.

This unique new approach to parsing and interpreting SMB data accurately reflects the dynamic nature of the activity in the marketplace and lets Tarci's clients act on changes in real time.

You can read more here. 

Easyway, a generative AI technology provider for hospitality, announces its completely automated guest communication platform. Combining GPT-4, and the model which powers the generative AI program of ChatGPT, with their own proprietary AI solution to provide a 24/7 concierge for customers.

With the hotel industry set to surpass pre-pandemic levels of demand, but with a whopping 87% still grappling with severe staffing issues, Easyway’s platform eases the burden on a hotel’s workforce and supports business growth. Through iMessage, WhatsApp, or as a chat widget on the hotel’s own website, Easyway’s AI Agent has direct and constant communication with guests, which allows hotels to provide quick and accurate responses in the guest’s native language, offer personalized recommendations, additional offers or services and manage any queries immediately – from late check-out requests to which wine to pair with your meal. Easyway also provides crucial data-driven insights enabling hoteliers to predict customer behavior as well as more efficiently allocate staffing and resources. Easyway already serves thousands of hoteliers in 30+ countries, and after a highly successful pre-launch stage where dozens of hotels had their customer engagement interactions completely transformed, the virtual concierge will be available across all locations in 100+ languages.

“For the vast majority of guests, a personalized approach is integral for a satisfying hotel experience – with research indicating that guests would even opt for hotels over short-term rentals if their personal needs were met,” said Roy Friedman, co-founder and CEO of Easyway. “There is immense potential for reimagining the traditional hotel model and attracting new customers – and this is our mission at Easyway. Our user-friendly, generative AI-powered platform empowers hotels to seamlessly cater to guests’ specific needs, providing experiences that drive high satisfaction levels, while leveraging actionable business insights to optimize operations. This dual benefit of unparalleled service for guests, alongside unlocking valuable efficiencies for hotels, really is the gold standard for hospitality, and we are proud to see our technology deployed by hotels of all sizes, from SMEs to some of the world’s largest hospitality brands.”

“Prior to implementing Easyway’s solution, our staff were wrestling with over 100 daily messages, which, alongside their other responsibilities resulted in delays and impaired responses. Easyway’s generative AI agent resolves queries in an impressively personable and precise way, so guests still receive the high standard of customer care expected, while our staff are left to focus on other priority tasks. This level of service is second to none, and represents the future of the hospitality sector,” said Regis Morin, Commercial Director of Criterion Hospitality Group.

“Amid a massive global shortage of labor for hotels, especially in the Western world, the kind of technology Easyway has developed - where the platform ensures customer queries are answered quickly and in the native tongue of the enquirer - offers a life raft to the industry. By automating guest management in such a sophisticated way, Easyway offers a demonstrable benefit to both hotel operators and their customers,” Sir David Michels, Co-owner and Chairman of Michels & Taylor and Former CEO of the Hilton Group.

“The most impressive aspect of Easyway’s technology is the quality of the AI, and how its responses are so natural. We were slightly reticent at first about how guests would take to it, but time after time they had absolutely no problem interacting with the platform, and this removed a huge burden from our staff. Easyway’s solution has real potential to be both the catalyst for solving workforce deficiencies, while also revitalizing a hotel’s multiple revenue streams,” David Omland, Corporate Operations Manager at Penta Hotels commented.

Easyway’s platform instantly connects hotels and resorts with guests in over 100 languages, enabling two-way immediate translation. With Easyway, every exchange can be seamlessly translated, ensuring guests feel comfortable and understood during conversations. Whether guests need to communicate dietary restrictions, request specific room cleaning times, report maintenance issues, conduct routine processes like check-in or check-out, or make special arrangements for travel and local bookings, Easyway provides a simple solution for inquiries, reservations, payments, and feedback.

Easyway has established itself as a trusted partner in the hospital industry, already partnering with industry leaders such as Intercontinental, Fairmont, Banyan Tree, Sofitel, Hilton Hotels, Penta Hotels, and Van Der Valk, Criterion Hospitality.

accesso Technology Group, a technology solutions provider for attractions and venues worldwide, announced the release of the latest iteration of its ski mobile app offering, featuring powerful enhancements – as well as all-new features and functionality – to help operators redefine the skier experience. 

All-new offerings and features are as follows: 

• 3D GIS Mapping & Ski Tracking: Resorts can help skiers stay connected with friend finding, turn-by-turn audio navigation, real-time ski tracking and statistics, and a 3D view of the entire mountain, provided by Mappy powered by Esri. 

• Lift, Trail & Activities Management: With the all-new automatic scheduling and unexpected event operator console, ski areas can seamlessly apply status updates and changes to lifts, trails, and activities. In addition to in-app, venues can showcase the current mountain statuses with digital signage and on their venue websites.

• Web-Based Navigation: The entirely new Web Maps offering delivers QR-accessible, interactive area guide maps to help users navigate a resort or ski area with real-time updates. This navigation tool can be accessed directly, embedded into websites or digital signage, and via the accesso app.

• Weather Services: Users can now customize weather station input data via accesso’s current providers:  SnoCountry, Wunderground, HD Relay, and Alterra Mountain Company’s MtnPowder.

• Web Cams: Reuse existing web cams from around your resort in a single consistent guest interface.

Updates to existing features include: 

• Fresh Look & Feel - An updated user interface and updated app modules (lift and trail detail, inbox, weather cards, webcams, and tracking stats) allow guests to navigate the app easily. 

• Guests can now access entitlements and purchases made in the accesso ParadoxSM, accesso Passport®, and accesso SiriuswareSM platforms in the app.

• Expansion of the app’s existing, rich, real-time, in-venue marketing tools – allowing guests to be segmented by their entitlements, app behaviour and activity driving increased engagement with promotions.

• Updates to the app’s mobile food & beverage system integrations, including food lockers, time-based pickup, SMS “order ready” notification, and order history. 

• Exciting new weather and snow service updates and streamlined guest communication through accesso’s partnership with Satisfi Labs – a leading conversational AI platform. 

“With the launch of our enhanced mobile app offering for ski, we’re introducing new tools and integrations that eliminate friction throughout the day, allowing guests to increase their time on the mountain,” said accesso SVP of Enterprise Solutions Ben Mathews. “Today, skier expectations for what makes a ‘great day on the mountain’ are higher than ever. With the help of these new tools, our clients can facilitate the experiences their guests are demanding and keep them informed of the ones they may not know about.”

This app launch comes on the heels of significant growth for accesso with the 2023 acquisition of Paradocs Mountain Software and subsequent introduction of accesso Paradox – the all-in-one solution built by ski people, for ski resorts – as well as the launch of the cloud-native, scalable, highly flexible accesso FreedomSM restaurant and retail platform. To learn more about accesso’s ski solutions – including ticketing, eCommerce, virtual queuing, guest experience, mobile F&B and more – visit accesso.com. 

Libro, a provider of online reservation management software, announced the release of its Guest Experience Platform 6.0. The suite of new features, including Reputation Management, Guest Marketing, and an Enhanced Digital Waitlist, expands the company's reservation software into a more robust Guest Experience Platform. Effective immediately, restaurateurs of all sizes can reduce wait times, collect guest reviews, conduct surveys, streamline guest communications, and manage table reservations all within the Libro Guest Experience Platform 6.0.

As part of the Summer 2023 release, Libro introduced a suite of Reputation Management features to proactively manage, influence, and improve a restaurant's public perception. With the Libro Guest Experience Platform 6.0, restaurant operators can automate email campaigns and soon SMS communications using personalized messaging to prompt guests to review their dining experience.

Also making its debut is Libro's new Guest Marketing module. Restaurateurs can develop and execute a consistent email communication strategy using drip campaigns that are fully branded, customized, and automated. For the first time, restaurateurs can manage guest relations directly in the Libro Guest Experience Platform rather than importing and exporting data from separate third-party applications.

Libro also leveraged its ongoing collaboration with Google to roll-out an Enhanced Digital Waitlist. Diners can now add themselves to a digital waitlist before arrival and track the wait in real-time using the "Join Waitlist" button on a restaurant's Google Business Profile. This feature complements Libro's existing Reserve with Google integration, which enables diners to discover restaurants through Google Search or Maps and book a table with a single click.

In addition, the Guest Experience Platform 6.0 release encompasses several enhancements surrounding reservations and table management. Restaurants can efficiently track and leverage guest preferences to anticipate diners' needs and provide an exceptional end-to-end dining experience. A variety of tools are also available to help reduce no-shows, including cancellation fees, charging a security deposit, or requiring prepayment.

"By incorporating Guest Marketing, Reputation Management, Reservations, and Table Management into a single, easy-to-use platform, we're providing a streamlined set of tools and data points that all work together to help operators better understand their guests," says Lorne Schwartz, President of Libro. "The Guest Experience Platform provides customizable features in this release to give restaurants more power to create a personalized experience and deliver the highest level of service before, during, and after a meal."

GiftAMeal, an innovative cause-marketing program that turns customer photos into meals for local families in need,  announces strategic integrations with industry leaders Olo, Incentivio, Lunchbox, Thanx, Ovation, and Performance Foodservice. These integrations open new avenues for restaurants to engage customers, drive social impact, and enhance the dining experience.

Typically, to participate in GiftAMeal, guests simply scan a QR code to launch the program, take a photo of their food or drink order, and GiftAMeal makes a restaurant-funded donation to a local food bank to help provide a meal to a family in need. For its community impact, GiftAMeal was presented with HT's Industry Hero Award at MURTEC.  Guests are then invited to share their photo on social media to provide additional meals. Over 700 restaurants are involved and over 1.5 million meals have been provided so far. 

These new integrations provide the ability for GiftAMeal to seamlessly integrate into a restaurant’s tech-stack in a plug-and-play manner. See all integrations here: giftameal.com/partnerships

Olo Integration

At the end of their online ordering experience via Olo (NYSE: Olo), customers can be given a prompt with a button to launch the GiftAMeal experience in a branded, mobile-friendly web-view.

Incentivio, Lunchbox, Thanx Integrations

Restaurants that utilize Incentivio, Lunchbox, and Thanx now have the ability to add a GiftAMeal button within their white-labeled mobile apps. This keeps the customer in the restaurant’s ecosystem, and adds a socially-conscious element to their apps to complement their loyalty programs.

• WATCH: Hospitality Technology's Industry Heroes Awards at MURTEC

Ovation Integration

Patrons can now launch the Ovation guest feedback survey at the end of their GiftAMeal photo-sharing experience, enabling restaurants to gather valuable insights. Similarly, patrons can launch the GiftAMeal experience at the end of their Ovation interaction, promoting social responsibility.

Performance Foodservice Partnership

Through the partnership with Performance Foodservice, GiftAMeal becomes a OneSource partner, offering a custom solution tailored to the needs of their client restaurants.

Agilysys, the hospitality-focused technology company, today announces its partnership with Serco Leisure, the world-renowned sport and leisure provider. Serco will implement Agilysys Property Management System across its entire 550-bed estate, in order to optimize both its customer and guest experience. 

Serco Leisure is one of the UK’s leading national operators of leisure, destination venues, and elite sporting facilities. Its properties include both Bisham Abbey, and Lilleshall National Sports Centre’s, Stoke Mandeville Stadium, and the Holme Pierrepoint Country Park. As home to some of the UK’s leading elite athletes and Olympic and Paralympic teams, Serco is dedicated to providing world-class facilities and an experience to match to its guests and customers. 

“Our previous system provided a less-than-ideal experience for customers and staff. Also, it did not integrate with other applications or provide proper reporting functionality,” said Steve Nelson, Operations Director of Serco Leisure’s National Sport Centres.

“With Agilysys solutions, we’ll be able to deliver a more personalized service for our diverse range of customers, which includes Olympic and Paralympic athletes as well as members of the public,” Nelson added. Agilysys’ intuitive and easy-to-use PMS will be rolled out across Serco Leisure’s properties alongside its latest point-of-sale (POS) system. 

“Serco Leisure understands the need to modernize its hospitality solutions to be the best in the market,” said Ben Curtis, Managing Director, EMEA for Agilysys. “We are grateful to help the company improve its offerings, which will attract more guests, customers and employees, enabling the company to maximize guest and staff experience and ultimately increase revenue.”

Serco is the latest addition to Agilysys’ growing portfolio of PMS customers. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of rooms managed by Agilysys PMS grew to more than 300k. Agilysys broader software portfolio includes customers such as Watergate Bay and Carnival in the UK, and Caesars Group and Hilton in the US.