News Briefs

• Preferences: Guest Profile – Recurring guest preferences, such as allergy information, are stored to personalize future stays.
• Specials: Reservation Specific Preferences – Guests can specify preferences like an extra bed for a particular stay, ensuring a tailored experience.
• Special Occasions – Options to highlight and celebrate special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, and honeymoons during the booking process.
• Transportation Functionality – Guests can easily book hotel-provided transportation from the airport to the property directly through the booking engine.
• City Search – Allows guests to compare prices for various same-brand hotels within the same city, ensuring they find the best deal.
• Special Offers Page – A dedicated page for special offers, helping hotels to promote exclusive deals and attract more bookings.
• Payment Gateway Integration – P3 Custom enables integration with 23 different payment gateway providers.

Interface Systems, a managed service provider of security, actionable insights, and purpose-built networks for multi-location businesses, has identified key security and technology trends that will shape retail and restaurant security in 2025. As threats evolve and technology accelerates, Interface anticipates a convergence of AI, advanced video analytics, and smarter monitoring solutions to drive more proactive and efficient business security systems.

Expansion of Cloud-Based Video Systems

The adoption of cloud-based video systems is expected to accelerate, driven by their ability to provide scalable, remote monitoring solutions. However, growth will be tempered by challenges surrounding appropriate network bandwidth availability and the cost of high-resolution video storage. Interface foresees steady adoption as technology advances to optimize storage efficiency without compromising video quality.

AI for Life Safety and Deterrence

Video analytics will play an increasingly central role as a detection and deterrence tool. Advances in AI-driven systems will simplify deployment and enable companies to implement more robust remote video monitoring (RVM). This next stage of innovation will focus on integrating video analytics with access control, alarms, and environmental sensors to create cohesive, intelligent security solutions. This will enable organizations to leverage capabilities like automated locking mechanisms to prevent unauthorized access or triggering voice-down messages to deter theft or loitering. However, maintaining a “human in the loop” will be crucial to overseeing AI operations, ensuring sound decision-making in high-stakes situations, and building trust in the technology.

Conversational AI and Automated Interventions

Interface Systems anticipates continued advancements in conversational AI to enhance remote video monitoring. Currently, AI-driven systems can identify “what” to respond to — distinguishing between human motion, vehicle movement, or environmental factors. In 2025, conversational AI will advance to determine “how” to respond, providing highly contextual, automated interventions. For example, AI could customize announcements based on situational details like a vehicle’s description or a suspect’s clothing, increasing the effectiveness of automated responses. Over time, machine learning models will refine these interactions by analyzing outcomes and adapting response parameters to improve deterrence.

Growing Sophistication of Retail Crime

Retail burglaries are becoming more sophisticated, with organized theft groups using “imposter” tactics to pose as workers and break into businesses from unprotected spaces. These teams employ cellular jamming to disable alarms, quickly attack on-site video equipment, and exploit weak backup systems. To counter these strategies, businesses must increasingly adopt cloud-based video systems, redundant recording solutions, and active remote monitoring to ensure system resilience and real-time detection.

“As threats continue to evolve, we anticipate that innovation in AI, video analytics, and cloud-based solutions will empower businesses to stay ahead of security challenges. At Interface, we remain committed to developing and delivering next-generation security technologies that prioritize proactive prevention and operational efficiency,” said Sean Foley, Chief Revenue Officer at Interface Systems.

Guestara, a startup reimagining how hospitality professionals serve and engage guests, announced a $500K pre-seed funding round from a group of experienced travel and hospitality tech entrepreneurs, led by industry veteran Sanjay Ghare. The funds will fuel Guestara’s mission to develop cutting-edge AI-driven solutions that streamline operations, boost guest satisfaction, and uncover new revenue opportunities for hotels worldwide.

Founded by CEO Akshay Dekate and three other co-founders, Guestara offers an AI-enabled guest management platform that centralizes and automates key hospitality functions. Akshay himself has spent over a decade in hospitality innovation. Guestara’s solutions span Unified Inbox, Contactless Mobile Check-In, Omnichannel Guest Engagement, Personalized Upselling, and Smart Checkout—all designed to integrate seamlessly with leading Property Management Systems (PMS). By transforming guest management into a centralized, intelligent workflow, Guestara empowers hotels, resorts, and vacation rentals to focus on what matters most: delivering memorable guest experiences.

“Hospitality is more than a service—it’s an experience,” said Akshay. “Guestara harnesses AI to help hotels elevate that experience, boosting operational efficiency and enhancing guest loyalty. Our goal is to onboard 2 million rooms globally and transform the sector into a data-driven, people-focused industry.”

Guestara has already onboarded hotels and short-term rentals as beta clients, with 2000+ rooms collectively, including 3 global hotel chains, reporting a 20% increase in operational efficiency, a 35% rise in guest satisfaction, and a 57% boost in incremental revenue. By providing real-time insights and eliminating many of the manual tasks that burden staff, Guestara’s platform frees hoteliers to build deeper guest relationships.

“We see Guestara as a game-changer,” said Sanjay. “Their AI-first approach brings immediate benefits—both economic and experiential—to our industry. We’re thrilled to support them as they redefine hospitality for the modern era.”

With this infusion of capital, Guestara will accelerate product development and expand its reach, targeting a diverse range of hotel partners—from boutique independents to multinational chains. By doing so, the company aims to set a new standard in guest management, blending technology with genuine hospitality to deliver truly exceptional stays.

Hotelogix, a cloud-based hospitality technology provider, introduced an hourly booking module to help hotels maximize revenue opportunities while empowering them to offer flexible check-in and check-out times to accommodate their guests’ evolving itineraries. With this newly added capability, hotels worldwide can now offer their guests the option to book hotel rooms and pay only for the hours they use, which makes it affordable for them.

Travelers seeking greater flexibility in terms of check-in and check-out time and affordability are now increasingly booking hotel rooms by the hour. It has led to remarkable growth in the hourly hotel booking segment, valued at $16.67 billion in 2019 and forecasted to reach $25.62 billion by 2027. Countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, India, and the Philippines, along with several Southeast Asian nations, are witnessing this trend firsthand. This accommodation model caters to those who require just a few hours of respite, whether to unwind during a long layover, catch up on work, or simply recharge during a busy travel schedule while saving big as it can help them save up to 60% of their accommodation costs. Airport hotels, transit hotels, business hotels, capsule hotels, and love hotels are increasingly embracing this short-stay concept.

Apart from selling rooms on hourly basis, with Hotelogix PMS’s Hourly Booking feature, hotels can apply packages, offer discounts and even late check-out facilities to their guests booking rooms. Hotelogix has also introduced a new custom report, enabling hotels to efficiently track critical metrics of hourly bookings, including revenue streams and source of guests. These reports help hotels analyze booking trends to make data-driven decisions and optimize revenue strategies.

"The hourly booking feature will transform how hotels enhance occupancy and optimize revenue potential, all while addressing the evolving needs of modern travelers. This innovation positions us significantly ahead of our competitors within this sector and creates exciting new market opportunities. Hotels in this segment can now move beyond outdated solutions that compromise their operational efficiency." said Aditya Sanghi, CEO of Hotelogix.

Speaking about the usefulness of the hourly booking feature now available in Hotelogix PMS, Alexander Asuncion, Senior Executive of the Philippines-based GCGC and current COO & Business Unit Head of Global Officium Limited Inc (GOLI), said, "Selling rooms by the hour is quite important to our portfolio of hotels. It allows us to cater to a specific market segment that values pocket-friendly accommodation, above-par guest experience, and excellent customer service." GCGC manages over 60 properties comprising more than 8,000 rooms with brands like Hotel Sogo, Eurotel, Apo View Hotel, DreamWorld, and Astrotel.

As an early adopter of Hotelogix's hourly booking features, GCGC has experienced numerous benefits. The group has generated an average of over 750 bookings by selling rooms by the hour, with each booking averaging about 6 hours in length. It has also helped them see a 40% increase in revenue per room.

Mews announced the acquisition of Clarity Hospitality Software Solutions.

Clarity Hospitality Software Solutions (Clarity) was founded in New Zealand in 1992 to provide property and event management systems to upmarket properties and hotels. In 2016, Clarity opened its UK office and now provides its solutions and services to hundreds of hotel groups, event venues and independent hotels across APAC and the UK, managing thousands of rooms and maintaining a profitable business.

Today, Mews is used by hundreds of hotels in APAC and the UK. The acquisition increases the presence of Mews in these regions as more hotels adopt its technology to revolutionize their guest offering.

Mews has experienced significant momentum over the last year, including a valuation crossing $1 billion, surpassing 75,000 hospitality staff platform users worldwide and increased its customers in the UK by 42% and APAC by 16%.

Matt Welle, CEO of Mews, commented, “We’re excited to partner with a team with deep industry knowledge who will help to continue transforming the industry across the world. This acquisition takes us one step further on our vision to build a truly connected network of hotels globally, and we look forward to working with even more customers in the UK and APAC who believe in a future of personalized hospitality, enabled by technology.”

Dougall Love, Owner and CEO of Clarity Hospitality Software, added, “For us, great hospitality technology is all about streamlining tasks to increase productivity, provide a top-class experience to guests and driving repeat and referral business, making for more efficient and profitable hospitality businesses. Mews truly shares our vision of providing remarkable guest experiences and we’re excited to continue supporting our customers with world-class resources as we join forces with Mews.”

Clarity Hospitality Software marks its 12th acquisition.

Panera Brands Inc., which includes the fast casual concept Panera Bread as well as the Caribou Coffee and Einstein Bros. brands, today announced that CEO José Alberto Dueñas has resigned.  Paul Carbone, currently the company’s Chief Financial Officer, has been named Interim Chief Executive Officer of Panera, effective January 7. 

Carbone, who joined Panera in 2023, brings decades of experience in the restaurant, consumer goods and retail industries, including as long-time CFO of Dunkin’ Brands.  Carbone will provide valuable leadership to the company while the Panera Board of Directors completes a comprehensive search process, considering both internal and external candidates for the role of CEO. 

José Alberto Dueñas, Panera Brands’ current Chief Executive Officer, has decided to step down from his role and will serve as Special Advisor to the CEO through the end of March to ensure a seamless leadership transition.

“I want to thank José for all he has done for Panera, including transforming the menu, improving restaurant-level margins and enhancing organizational agility, all of which have positioned the company for long-term growth,” said Patrick Grismer, Board Chair for Panera Brands. “Paul is a well-respected industry veteran with a tremendous track record of success, and I look forward to continue working with him as he assumes the role of interim CEO and advances our strategies to further strengthen Panera and ignite new-unit development. Our board fully supports the current strategic direction of Panera and expects the Company to stay the course on execution.”

A long-time executive in the restaurant industry, Carbone joined Panera Brands as Chief Financial Officer in 2023. He brings significant financial executive experience in the restaurant, consumer goods and retail industries, including spending nine years at Dunkin’ Brands where he was CFO from 2012 to 2017, during which time the company doubled its market capitalization after going public. He also has been the CFO of YETI Holdings Inc., and SharkNinja.