News Briefs

Slang.ai, an Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered phone answering platform built for restaurants and hospitality partners, today announced a partnership with OpenTable to provide AI-powered service to restaurant partners in the U.S. and Canada. This marks a pivotal moment in the hospitality sector, as the collaboration can help drive efficiencies for restaurants, while elevating the booking experience for diners.

"By providing a human-like automated experience, we're eliminating the need for guests to face voicemail frustration. With OpenTable's extensive reach and our advanced AI capabilities, we're ushering in a new era of seamless booking convenience," said Alex Sambvani, founder and CEO, Slang.ai.
 

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

The integration – now available on OpenTable's Integration Marketplace – will enable diners to seamlessly book, modify, and cancel reservations over the phone. For restaurants that opt in, this means being able to automatically answer every phone call – saving employees' time to provide enhanced service on premise and helping to capture more booking revenue. Diners will have a seamless, human-like booking experience, and can also get answers to pertinent dining questions – like hours, dress code, parking, and more – in and outside of operating hours.

Restaurants leveraging Slang.ai's AI platform have reported existing restaurant partners utilizing the technology have seen staff call volume reduced by 50%, and an increase in phone-based booking revenue. With tailored responses that reflect each brand's unique identity, Slang.ai empowers restaurants to stay ahead of the competition, offering a modern, tech-driven approach to customer engagement.

"Slang allows us to deliver consistent messaging to our guests, allows them to ask more questions, and allows the answers to be tailored exactly to what we want," says Jad Izzedin, Executive Brand Director, Texas de Brazil.

To gain insights into the transformative impact of AI in the restaurant industry, Slang.ai recently released a survey called "AI in the Restaurant Industry; How Businesses Are Embracing AI Technology." 

Mark Shambura has joined Panera Bread as Chief Marketing Officer. Shambura will lead all aspects of marketing at Panera, including Brand Building, Digital & Loyalty, Product Strategy & Consumer Insights. An accomplished marketing leader with broad expertise in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura has previously held marketing leadership roles during pivotal growth periods for top brands including Chipotle, MOD Pizza, and most recently Papa Johns.

"Mark brings an impressive background building brands and leading marketing teams for fast-casual restaurants, and we’re thrilled to welcome him to Panera Bread,” said José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer. “As Panera continues to evolve our brand, guided by listening to our guests, Mark’s depth of experience and ability will help drive our growth as a brand that serves great food you feel good about eating.”

Shambura previously served as CMO at Papa Johns, where he led a revitalization of the brand by enhancing its iconic “Better Ingredients, Better Pizza” platform, and developing a more modern, innovative omnichannel approach to transform how Papa Johns appealed to both new and loyal consumers. As Executive Director at Chipotle, Mr. Shambura guided the marketing function through periods of both sustained growth and transition, providing leadership over brand strategy, advertising, digital, social, events/sponsorships, promotions, and field marketing, including playing a key role in spearheading its “Real Ingredients” brand strategy.

“I’m proud to join the Panera Bread team and excited to build on the momentum of the brand's transformation as it continues to evolve in service of our guests,” Mr. Shambura said. “Panera propelled and cemented its position at the top of the fast casual restaurant segment through its promise of high-quality ingredients and freshly prepared food, and I’m thrilled to join a highly talented team to help shape its next chapter.”

Prior to his tenure in the restaurant industry, Mr. Shambura gained extensive marketing agency experience, working with a broad array of top global consumer brands for over a decade. Shambura will report directly to José Alberto Dueñas, Chief Executive Officer, and officially assumed the role of Chief Marketing Officer on July 29, 2024.

Oravel Stays, the parent company of the global travel technology company OYO, announced that it has agreed to acquire G6 Hospitality, an economy lodging franchisor and parent company of the iconic Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands, from Blackstone Real Estate for $525 million, in an all-cash transaction.

OYO has steadily expanded its footprint in the United States since its launch in the region in 2019 and currently operates over 320 hotels across 35 states. In 2023, OYO added nearly 100 hotels to its US portfolio and aims to add ~250 hotels in 2024. Motel 6’s franchise network produces gross room revenues of $1.7 billion, which generates a strong fee base and cash flow for G6. OYO will leverage its comprehensive technology suite as well as its global distribution network and marketing expertise to further strengthen the Motel 6 and Studio 6 brands and drive continued financial growth.

"This acquisition is a significant milestone for a startup company like us to strengthen our international presence. Motel 6's strong brand recognition, financial profile and network in the US, combined with OYO's entrepreneurial spirit will be instrumental in charting a sustainable path forward for the company which will continue to operate as a separate entity," said Gautam Swaroop, CEO OYO International.

Under its ownership, Blackstone invested significant capital to create value and enhance the Motel 6 brand, including executing a strategy to transform the business into a leading asset light lodging company with a franchise network of ~1500 hotels across the United States and Canada.

Julie Arrowsmith, President and Chief Executive Officer at G6 Hospitality, said, “We are grateful for our successful partnership with Blackstone and the transformation that has positioned us well for this new chapter. OYO's innovative approach to hospitality will allow us to enhance our offerings and great value to our guests while maintaining the iconic Motel 6 brand that travelers have trusted for over six decades.”

Rob Harper, Head of Blackstone Real Estate Asset Management Americas, said, "This transaction is a terrific outcome for investors and is the culmination of an ambitious business plan that more than tripled our investors’ capital and generated over $1 billion in profit over our hold period. We believe G6 is extremely well-positioned for the future and we look forward to seeing its brands continue their success in the years to come.”

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2024, subject to customary closing conditions.

Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC acted as Blackstone’s lead advisor and Jones Lang LaSalle Securities, LLC and PJT Partners acted as financial advisors. Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as Blackstone’s legal advisor.

New research published today by Adyen, the global financial technology platform of choice for leading businesses, has uncovered the importance of a frictionless payment experience for hotel customers, with over a third (37%) of consumers admitting to have left the booking process because they haven't been able to pay the way they would like.

The findings published in Adyen’s first Global Hospitality Report, suggest the payment experience could be impacting hotel revenues. Despite consumer sentiment finding otherwise, over one in ten (12%) hospitality businesses said offering guests a variety of payment options is not important. In addition to this, nearly a third (31%) confessed that they can’t currently accept payment options like BNPL and Apple Pay.

New global payment trends are emerging across the hospitality sector in 2024, as research found that one of the most popular ways to pay for a hotel experience online was via a digital wallet (15%). One in ten (10%) guests said they had booked a stay via social media for the first time over the past 12 months, and 6% said they had done so using BNPL over the same time period.

The majority of consumers (59%) said that a seamless experience from booking to check-out was important to them when choosing a hotel. The report pointed towards three new trends:

1. Payment flexibility is a deal-breaker

Offering a wide range of payment options is important to almost half (49%) of consumers surveyed, with four in ten (42%) admitting greater options would support them making bigger purchases. Four in ten (40%) hotel guests said they don’t like paying the full cost of a hotel upfront - reflecting a broader shift towards careful budget management and mirroring the rise in popularity of BNPL services.

2. Cancellation policies are well researched

Flexibility in cancellation policies also emerged as a critical factor in hotel selection, with 59% of travelers considering free cancellation 24-48 hours before arrival a deal-maker. The data underscores a traveler's desire to ensure plans can be adapted last minute.

3. Financial experiences affect returning travelers

Four in ten (44%) of hotel goers have not rebooked a stay due to finance-related issues or grievances. Specifically, problems with payments, such as card declines or incorrect charges (13%), being requested to share card details over the phone (11%), experiencing delayed charges or refunds (11%) and overpayment due to error (10%).

“Travel expectations are sky high, with payment options playing a critical role in shaping the overall guest experience and influencing future booking decisions,” said Mark Rademaker, Head of Hospitality, Adyen.

“Today’s guests demand easy booking processes, transactions and hassle-free cancellations, otherwise they may decide to go elsewhere. We spoke to senior leaders at hotel businesses worldwide, and it was encouraging to find 60% saying that their company would be looking to enhance and improve their payments journey over the next 12 months, and 58% stating that investment in financial technology capabilities could offer a differentiated service over competitors.”

“With potential guests abandoning bookings due to payment inflexibility, and some not returning due to finance-related issues, the hospitality industry must urgently look at how experiences can be enhanced in an era where every touchpoint matters and payments are no longer just a transaction.”

You can read the report in full here.

Darden Restaurants Inc.,  and Uber Technologies Inc.  have entered into an exclusive multi-year delivery partnership, set to begin with Olive Garden in late 2024. The agreement will enable restaurant guests to order on-demand delivery via Darden restaurant channels, with delivery handled by Uber Direct, through Uber's national delivery network.

An initial pilot of first-party delivery from a limited number of Olive Garden locations will begin in late 2024. Upon the completion of a successful pilot, national expansion at Olive Garden is expected to be complete by May 2025.

Once live, guests will be able to order delivery through Olive Garden's website and app at more than 900 company-owned locations across the U.S., giving Olive Garden fans access to stress-free delivery while guest data and insights will remain with Olive Garden. Uber Direct, which enables merchants to tap into Uber's delivery technology and logistics network, will power deliveries enabling couriers to bring guests their Olive Garden favorites at home.
 

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

"Guests have been asking us for home delivery options and they continue to show they are willing to pay for the convenience," said Rick Cardenas, Darden President and CEO. "As we continued to evaluate delivery, it was important for us to find a way to address this guest need state without disrupting the team member or guest experience and without compromising our competitive advantages and simple operating model. Uber is a partner we believe shares that vision and can meet our expectations. Their investment in a custom-integration, commitment to Olive Garden's first-party delivery growth, and efficiency and speed at a national scale, made this exclusive partnership a clear choice."

"We're excited to announce this partnership and look forward to bringing guests the excellent, convenient and reliable experience that is foundational to both of our brands," said Sarfraz Maredia, Vice President of Delivery, Head of Americas at Uber Eats. "On-demand delivery is increasingly a core expectation for consumers. People also expect a great experience, especially when it's from a brand they love like Olive Garden, and that doesn't change whether it's at the restaurant or at home. We're confident our teams can deliver on that promise together and continue to grow first-party delivery as a channel."

Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has chosen Deepki, an ESG platform for real estate, to support its transition to net zero. The Group is leveraging actionable insights from the Deepki platform to define and evolve its sustainability practices worldwide. 

Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has an established sustainability roadmap, which was launched over a decade ago and continues to evolve. The Group actively aligns its strategy with the Paris agreement, which sets a target of limiting the global mean temperature increase to 1.5ºC above pre-industrial levels. To achieve this, Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has committed to cutting its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions by 46,2% by 2030, compared with 2019 levels.

Looking ahead to 2050, Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has committed to reducing its company-wide emissions by 90% across the entire value chain, to become a net zero Company. Both targets have been officially approved by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi).

With Deepki, Minor Hotels Europe & Americas will be able to track and monitor the success of its decarbonization goals, define energy efficiency measures to be taken, and measure the impact of those implemented, as well as the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. By leveraging one platform to address the entire decarbonization process, from data collection and analysis, through to reporting and action, real estate players are best equipped to achieve impact and reach net zero.

Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has begun using Deepki to gain a complete overview of their portfolio’s environmental performance, in order to streamline all actions, thus ensuring coherence and consistency across the company. It collects and monitors data of over 350 buildings in more than 30 countries around the world, centralizing energy and environmental KPIs in one collaborative platform. The objective is to achieve 100% data coverage through technology and digitization - another key focus for the Group. This thereby ensures greater harmonization, visibility, analysis, optimization, and forecasting of all data in an automated manner, enabling it to reduce its carbon footprint and improve its environmental performance, through greater energy efficiency.

By automating the collection of consumption data and invoices using Deepki’s SaaS solution, Minor Hotels Europe & Americas can report its environmental performance transparently and accurately.  It will also enable the Group to identify assets exposed to physical and climatic transition risks, which could result in them losing value and becoming stranded assets, a widespread phenomenon that is hitting European real estate particularly hard. Both a decarbonisation plan and a resilience plan can be implemented to help reach net zero and mitigate this risk, using Deepki’s complete ESG platform for real estate.

Pilar Rodríguez Esteban, Senior Vice President Projects, Construction, Engineering & Maintenance of Minor Hotels Europe & Americas, comments: “Minor Hotels Europe & Americas is committed to an ambitious ESG strategy and is partnering with Deepki to improve the performance of its real estate assets.  The deployment of Deepki’s platform across our portfolio has brought a new level of transparency and facilitated reporting, which supports our ESG leadership in the sector. Guests are increasingly taking environmental performance into account when choosing accommodation, and it is important for us to reflect this in our offering.”

Xana Muñiz, Vice President Southern Europe & LATAM at Deepki, concludes by explaining: "Thanks to Deepki, Minor Hotels Europe & Americas has gained a clearer picture of its portfolio’s performance, and can take concrete action to improve their ESG credentials. The application of these measures has not only contributed to reducing the carbon footprint of the hotels, but is also generating economic and social benefits, improving the energy efficiency of buildings and creating healthier and more sustainable environments for their guests."