With the introduction of Inventi-Flow, GauVendi revolutionizes room allocation through AI-driven features. With this additional solution from GauVendi, hotel operators ensure that every guest receives the right room while optimizing inventory to maximize revenue or occupancy. Another advantage of Inventi-Flow is that it also takes into account operational constraints such as housekeeping constraints. What was previously a highly manual task can now be intelligently automated with less time and effort, relieving staff and addressing labor shortages. Currently, most reservation departments still allocate each reservation manually. This process is not only time-consuming but also requires a deep understanding of hotel inventory. This challenge is significant for every operator, considering the shortage of skilled staff members in the hotel industry and high turnover rates.

Existing automated allocation systems usually do not consider specific guest preferences. Instead, their logic relies solely on room categories and basic, unchangeable rules. Furthermore, gaps are not efficiently accommodated, ultimately requiring manual adjustments to the already allocated reservations to optimize the room plan.

This is where Inventi-Flow comes in, ushering in a new era with intelligent algorithms that replace employees' intuition in optimizing room allocations with clear strategies. Inventi-Flow uses advanced optimization techniques to reevaluate reservations and determine the best room allocation, taking into account various constraints and revenue enhancement possibilities. The system allows hotel staff to adjust allocation settings, such as maximizing occupancy, maximizing revenue, or room cleaning efficiency for different periods. This enables them to make informed decisions that align with the hotel's specific business objectives.

"Traditionally, hotels have always manually allocated reservations, which diminishes the value of the booking due to the additional effort. Hoteliers often don't quantify the effort involved in manual room allocations. They consider it simply part of the daily tasks for the reservation or front office team. However, there are compelling reasons to automate repetitive tasks like these. Besides staffing shortages, the time hotels spend on assigning and reassigning a single reservation can be very costly," says Carina Stegmayer, Co-founder of GauVendi. "The larger the hotel or the higher the occupancy, the more likely it is that allocations for a single reservation need to be made multiple times. When hotels start measuring this effort, they will soon realize that intelligent AI-driven technology can save costs and resources while benefiting both staff and guest satisfaction."

DerbySoft, a global provider of hotel distribution services, has announced its innovative collaboration with HotelsByDay, pioneering daytime booking connectivity. The partnership emphasizes the flexibility and convenience of the 'day-use' bookings.

DerbySoft's high-performance distribution services has over 700 live connections worldwide, to which HotelsByDay has experienced impressive growth, with triple-digit bookings per month. Notably, July 2023 saw a +82% month-to-month progress in day-use bookings alone.

Key Features of the Partnership:

• Zero Night Rate Code: Enables hotel rooms to be booked for durations ranging from three to 12+ hours.
• Global Reach: Already active in 15 countries, with plans to expand to 41 additional countries.
• Diverse Offerings: From day-use rooms for work, showers, naps, and layovers, to daycations by the pool. Future additions include meeting rooms, coworking desks, pool passes, cabanas, gym passes, and parking.

“The HotelsByDay team and I are more than excited to announce the game-changing partnership with DerbySoft,” said Yannis Moati, founder and CEO of HotelsByDay. “With this new breakthrough technology provided by DerbySoft, our marketplace app grants hotels a way to optimize revenue and monetize idle inventory without displacing overnights, at scale. We look forward to growing and establishing our phenomenal partnership with a forward-thinking team such as DerbySoft and provide guests with what they really want, full flexibility of space + time and new experiences.”

Duane Overgaard, President of Connectivity and Senior Vice President at DerbySoft, states, "DerbySoft is in the business of connecting people and companies through a myriad of Connectivity options like HotelsByDay, and by developing a Zero Night Rate Code not only connects our partners but broadens the technology scope for DerbySoft.”

The Munich-based Toedt, Dr. Selk & Coll. GmbH (TSC) with its dailypoint™ Data Management platform, is intensifying its cooperation with Accor, a world leading augmented hospitality group with the shared objective of propelling the data management platform dailypoint to new heights.

The three founding shareholders of TSC have divested additional shares to Accor, solidifying a groundbreaking alliance while retaining a controlling majority stake of 63%. At the heart of this development is the seamless integration between the dailypoint platform, renowned for its exceptional cross-system guest profiling capabilities, and D EDGE’s cutting-edge CRS (Central Reservation System) technology. Over a meticulous 3.5-year development period, these two worlds, CRS and CRM, have been intricately merged, resulting in an unparalleled level of guest personalisation and service.

The convergence of CRS and CRM has reached new heights, empowering customers of the D-EDGE Guest Management Solution to effortlessly manage guest profiles across all channels and deliver highly personalized services. dailypoint’s Central Guest Profile, driven by artificial intelligence and real-time data cleansing from multiple sources, has become the cornerstone of modern IT strategy in the industry. Moreover, the collaboration includes a deep integration with dailypoint’s loyalty solution, offering a powerful platform for individual hotels and chains to run one or more programs simultaneously, such as B2C, B2B, or HR programs.

“Particularly unique is the out-of-the-box integration between loyalty and the booking process. Member rates, voucher codes, redemption of points, and seamless integration with D-EDGE CRO (Reservation Office) are all part of the combined solution, providing an all-encompassing guest experience like never before.” stated Dr. Michael Toedt, Managing Partner and co-founder of TSC. “With dailypoint, we place our trust in a company that consistently sets industry standards and embraces cutting-edge technology,” asserted Pierre-Charles Grob, CEO of D-EDGE speaking about the transformative partnership. The management emphasizes that Toedt, Dr. Selk & Coll. GmbH will remain completely independent despite the investment and this is not a multi-stage acquisition.

Oracle has introduced a new affordable, easy-to-deploy restaurant management platform offer to help independent restaurants increase sales, boost efficiency, and maximize profitability. Oracle Restaurants provides operators proven Point of Sale (POS) hardware and software, payment processing, and online ordering capabilities all for one low price. With the new offering, restaurants have the powerful technology they need to help improve menu management, increase direct online sales, and deliver a better experience to guests. Oracle Restaurants is designed to increase business stability in a dynamic/volatile market with predictable operating costs and no unexpected fees. 

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

“Independent restaurants operate on razor-thin margins and are challenged at every turn to remain competitive in an increasingly digital landscape,” said Simon de Montfort Walker, executive vice president and general manager for Oracle Food and Beverage. “While other POS-vendors have recently taken advantage of restaurants with forced migrations and hidden fees, we are providing operators a swift, affordable path to the latest restaurant technology that provides simple, transparent pricing and payment terms to help them succeed, grow, and improve profitability.”

The Table Service and Quick Service bundles enable restaurants with: 

• Integrated Online Ordering to help increase online orders and optimize search results to accelerate customer acquisition.
• Oracle Restaurants POS to manage every aspect of the menu including images and prices, as well as promotions, allergen notifications, and nutrition information for every channel in one location.

• Oracle Payment Cloud Service to provide simple, transparent payment terms, end-to-end reconciliation reporting, and the ability to offer customers the latest digital payment methods with no surprise fees.
• Workstation 8 to give restaurants a sleek, stylish 14-inch touchscreen display with proven reliability and durability. 
• Essential peripherals to ensure restaurateurs have a comprehensive workstation toolset to meet their needs, including a countertop payment terminal, cash drawer, and a receipt and kitchen printer for seamless operations.

The Table Service Bundle also includes Oracle’s Mobile Order and Pay solution which puts the power of full point of sale in the hands of servers to deliver fast, efficient experiences for customers and staff. Additionally, the Low-Profile Workstation configuration helps operators with limited counter or floor space remove barriers between staff and guests.

The Quick Service Bundle includes the Vertical-Profile Workstation configuration with a vertical stand and weighted base that not only expertly hides cabling for a clean countertop aesthetic but can also expand the workstation’s functionality to include options such as scales or scanners.

Dedicated professional go-live support with pre-staged hardware is also included in the Quick Service Bundle and available for an additional cost in the Table Service Bundle to help ensure the switch to Oracle Restaurants is fast and easy.   Oracle Restaurants is offered in bundles for either quick service or table service restaurants for only $99/month for a limited time. 

Flytrex, a drone delivery service, unveiled Autonomous Pickup, the newest capability allowing for a fully autonomous delivery process -- from order placement, to pick-up, through delivery to customers’ yards. By cutting delivery time significantly, to roughly five minutes from the time orders are ready, this innovation is creating new growth opportunities for major QSRs and family owned restaurants.

With Autonomous Pickup, Flytrex drones can pick up orders from restaurants and retailers via dropdown wire, and fly directly to customers’ homes to deliver the goods, removing the human component from the delivery process.

Several of Flytrex’s restaurant and retailer affiliates have already partnered with the company to realize this vision of a fully autonomous delivery process, including Unilever’s The Ice Cream Shop, Papa Johns, Freddy’s Frozen Custard and Steakburgers, and Little Caesars, among others.

For the past few years, technology has helped make the rapid delivery business an appealing market for all. Yet third-party delivery fees to both customers and business partners have turned a convenience into a splurge. Removing the middle person from this equation allows for more affordable, efficient and sustainable delivery, Flytrex sayid.

“This announcement is a testament to Flytrex’s continued commitment to a future of ultrafast delivery for everyone,” said Yariv Bash, CEO and Co-Founder of Flytrex. “What’s so unique about this innovation is its real potential to move the needle, with more and more businesses getting on board with an undeniably seamless and cost-effective process. This upgrade is a huge step forward in achieving our vision to provide drone delivery to the millions of residents across suburban America.”

The introduction of this industry-changing innovation comes on the heels of a period of significant growth for Flytrex. Through the expansion of their services in 2022, Flytrex’s eligible customer base grew exponentially, from 40,000 eligible customers to 95,000 – a 138% increase. Flytrex is fully operational seven days a week and executes hundreds of deliveries a day via drone.

FAA Approved

Since launching autonomous drone delivery system in Reykjavik, Iceland, in 2017, Flytrex has been working closely with regulators to get drone delivery off the ground. The company participated in the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) UAS Integration Pilot Program (IPP), which concluded in October 2020, as well as the FAA’s subsequent initiative, BEYOND. In January 2023, Flytrex’s longtime partner Causey Aviation Unmanned was granted Standard Part 135 Air Carrier Certification from the FAA allowing it to operate and complete long-range on-demand commercial drone deliveries in the United States.

Flytrex is a drone delivery service that partners with retailers and restaurants to offer fast, safe and cost-effective airborne deliveries directly to customers' yards. Flytrex has delivery stations in North Carolina and Texas operating daily, and has signed agreements with several large retail and restaurant chains. As a participant in the FAA's UAS Integration Pilot Program and BEYOND program, Flytrex is leading the way in autonomous drone delivery.

image courtesy of Flytrex

P.F. Chang’s is revolutionizing its catering capabilities through a strategic collaboration with Cartwheel, an enterprise delivery management platform.

Cartwheel recently invested in integrating with ezCater. This integration further streamlines and optimizes catering management and delivery capabilities for the restaurant chain and centralizes once disparate channels into a single, unified platform. Efficient order and delivery management lead to exceptional customer experiences, which, in turn, drive repeat orders.

• 71% of restaurants offer catering, 8% plan to add it this year, according to HT’s 2023 Restaurant Technology Study

P.F. Chang’s has worked with Cartwheel to power deliveries through its online catering channels since 2021. The brand is committed to providing a personalized experience to its customers and has long understood the positive impact an efficient delivery has on the holistic customer experience.

"P.F. Chang’s has used Cartwheel to power deliveries for years. We’re thrilled that ezCater orders are now integrated into the platform, enabling us to centrally manage and control delivery across all order sources and channels,” said Jessica Jami, Director of Off-Premises Dining at P.F. Chang’s. “Cartwheel’s real-time tracking capabilities are especially crucial in providing an excellent experience to our guests ordering catering, We've seen a significant increase in repeat orders since implementing Cartwheel and are optimistic about the potential increase in catering revenue with this new integration”

Cartwheel provides P.F. Chang’s with comprehensive solutions for in-house delivery operations, including a user-friendly driver app, advanced dispatch tools for managers, and real-time order tracking capabilities. Delivery drivers have shown their appreciation for Cartwheel’s tools and interface, consistently providing high ratings and positive feedback on the app. Cartwheel also offers catering-specific features such as proof of delivery and the ability to automatically select vehicle types based on order size.