News Briefs

Atlanta-based  Smalls Sliders has released a new iOS and Android app complete with their first loyalty program, Smalls Rewards, and digital ordering experience in partnership with Thanx and Olo. 

With the enhanced program, Smalls Sliders can customize their loyalty approach to the fullest extent, aligning seamlessly with their brand-centric strategy. Thanx supports Smalls’ creative loyalty rewards, which deviate from conventional discounts, as well as expedites the scalability of the program to match the brand's monumental national expansion.

“We chose Thanx because of its seamless onboarding process that got us up and running quickly, and how easy it is to operate both internally and externally, making them the perfect partner to help grow our brand loyalists. A high performing loyalty program is table stakes as we prepare our brand for explosive growth throughout 2024,” said  Michael Alberici, Smalls Sliders’ SVP & head of marketing.

• HT Talks Tech with Kris Douglas, VP of IT at Smalls Sliders

With Smalls Sliders’ rewards, guests receive one free order of queso just by enrolling with the easy-to-use signup process and continue to earn 10 points for every $1 spent. Additionally, guests can enjoy a free milkshake on their birthday, surprise perks throughout the year and more exclusive  offers to come in the future. 

Smalls Sliders opened its first signature ‘Smorange™’ colored Can in 2019. Since its inception, Smalls Sliders has disrupted the QSR industry with its stacked leadership team and robust development pipeline, furthering its rapid growth trajectory with more than 160 Cans open or under development.

 The brand continues to garner high-level industry recognition, with Nation’s Restaurant News featuring Smalls Sliders in its “Breakout Brands of 2023,” and QSR Magazine ranking the concept in its annual QSR 50 Contenders list. Other accolades include ranking on Entrepreneur magazine’s “Top New & Emerging Franchises” list in 2023.

Domino's Pizza Inc. introduces its new and improved loyalty program. 

Domino's Rewards offers loyalty members even more opportunities to earn and redeem points across its corporate and franchise store locations. Domino's enhanced rewards program allows customers to:

• Earn points for less
  • Loyalty members will now earn 10 points on every order of $5 or more
• Redeem points for even more menu items – and earn free Domino's after just two orders
  • Members can redeem a variety of points for more menu items:
    • 20 points: A free dipping cup, a 16-piece order of Parmesan Bread Bites or a 20 oz. drink
    • 40 points: An order of Bread Twists or Stuffed Cheesy Bread
    • 60 points: A medium, two-topping pizza; pasta; Oven-Baked Sandwich; or a 3-piece order of Chocolate Lava Crunch Cakes
• Earn more rewards
  • Loyalty perks are now even better, as members will have exclusive access to member-only deals, special discounts and opportunities to earn bonus points!

"We are thrilled to give the brand's loyal customers additional ways to earn free Domino's items more often," said Mark Messing, Domino's vice president of digital experience and loyalty. "At a time when most brands are scaling back their loyalty programs and making it more difficult to earn and redeem points, Domino's is doing the opposite. We want to make it easier to reward our customers and give them more options so they can get rewarded faster."

Marketing a LTO 

From now until Oct. 22, 2023, rewards members can take advantage of a limited time offer to redeem 20 points for a free order of Domino's new Pepperoni Stuffed Cheesy Bread, which is normally a 40-point redemption, in celebration of the product's recent launch. 

Bounteous  and  Accolite Digital, a digital engineering, cloud, data & AI services provider, have announced their merger, creating a new end-to-end digital transformation services consultancy that partners with leading brands around the globe to co-innovate and drive exceptional client outcomes.

The combined company will be headquartered out of Chicago with offices across North America, Europe, Asia and will be 5,000 people strong, with 1,200+ in North America, 3,400 + in APAC and 400+ in Europe. Post the merger, the company serves over 300 Fortune 1,000 and high growth clients, solving their mission-critical problems. With this merger, the company will be amongst the world's leading digital transformation consultancies.

Keith Schwartz will serve as CEO and Leela Kaza will serve as Co-CEO of the combined entity, where they will work together to further their mission of empowering businesses worldwide to compete more successfully in the ever-evolving digital landscape.

Clients will benefit from a comprehensive range of AI & Data, Cloud, Customer Experience & Martech, Digital Commerce, and Product Engineering solutions. With an experienced, scaled and diverse team of experts across the globe, clients will have access to the right talent to deliver excellence, regardless of location.

• HT Talks Tech: How Noodles & Co. Streamlined Product Recommendations

“This combination accelerates the realization of the vision Bounteous has been working toward since our founding: to become the world's preeminent digital innovation partner. Accolite shares our obsession with customer success and has an admirable track record of creating lasting value and impact for their clients," said Keith Schwartz, Co-Founder and CEO of Bounteous. "Together, we are re-shaping the landscape of digital transformation and helping businesses adapt and succeed in the age of the connected customer.“

"As customer demands become increasingly complex, businesses need a technology partner who can see the bigger picture and deliver solutions that help them win in their category," said Leela Kaza, Founder and CEO of Accolite. "With the digital innovation mastery of Bounteous combined with Accolite’s digital engineering expertise and talent across North America, EMEA, and APAC, we are uniquely positioned to empower our clients to create extraordinary customer experiences that inspire genuine brand appreciation and long-term loyalty. This combination also fulfills our stated goal of becoming one of the top digital engineering firms in the world.”

Both companies are backed by New Mountain Capital, a New York-based investment firm.

BentoBox, the Official Restaurant Technology Partner of the James Beard Foundation, has launched the BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform, an all-in-one restaurant commerce engine—encompassing modules for websites, online ordering, reservations, and events management.

This includes the introduction of BentoCore, the heart of the platform that houses a restaurant's diner data and centralizes menu information, marketing tools, and branding materials. BentoCore powers diner-facing modules that restaurants can activate based on their needs, including Restaurant Website, Takeout & Delivery, Digital Waitlist, Online Catering, Events Management, Reservations, Gift Cards, and QR Code Order & Pay. The activation of more modules allows BentoCore to collect more data, providing a fuller view of restaurant's diners and overall business performance, enabling more targeted marketing and smarter hospitality.

Key features of BentoCore include:

1. Diner Database: Gives restaurants a unified view of their diners.
   • It collects and stores data from diner interactions with a restaurant's website, online ordering, reservations, and more, which restaurants can then use to create more personalized marketing and hospitality experiences.
2. Menu Management: Allows restaurants to centrally manage all of their menus and menu items, taking a one-and-done approach.
   • Whenever a restaurant needs to make a change to a menu, they only need to do it once and the menu will automatically update everywhere it shows up online.
3. Brand Center: Stores diner-facing brand elements live such as logos, colors, and fonts.
   • Once the restaurant's brand elements are uploaded to the Brand Center, they can be applied to any module, making it easy to give diners a consistent brand experience.
4. Marketing & Loyalty: Includes all the tools that restaurants need to stay connected with customers and keep them coming back such as email marketing, SMS marketing, and loyalty programs. These include:
   • Automated Emails: After a customer has ordered online, made a reservation, or planned an event, the platform will automatically send well-timed emails encouraging them to do it again.
   • Email Campaigns: Restaurants are able to create custom email campaigns like newsletters and send to pre-built or custom-segmented customer lists.  
   • SMS Marketing
     • Automated SMS: After a customer has ordered online, made a reservation, or planned an event, the platform will automatically send well-timed texts encouraging them to do it again.
     • SMS Campaigns: Restaurants are able to create custom campaigns with promotions and other updates and send to pre-built or custom-segmented customer lists. 
   • Loyalty Programs: Restaurants are able to keep customers coming back by offering rewards and incentives based on the number of orders placed or amount of money spent.

As restaurants today face numerous challenges, the BentoBox Marketing & Commerce Platform enables restaurants to stand out, sell, engage more diners, and operate more efficiently. As a champion of restaurants and the hospitality industry, BentoBox is providing restaurants with technology that will create better guest experiences, better operator experiences, and faster growth.

72% of Americans say they plan to either maintain or increase their number of hotel stays in 2024 compared to 2023, and hotels remain the top lodging choice for likely travelers, according to a survey commissioned by the American Hotel & Lodging Association and conducted by Morning Consult.

The survey found that most Americans (53%) plan to travel overnight for leisure during the next four months, and 32% plan to travel overnight for business. Hotels remain the most popular lodging choice for likely travelers, including 71% of likely business travelers and 50% of likely leisure travelers.

Despite the positive outlook for hoteliers, the survey also showed that inflation is preventing hotels and other travel-related businesses from reaching their full potential. It found that over the next four months:

• 56% of respondents said they are less likely to stay in a hotel because of inflation
• 53% said they are less likely to travel overnight because of inflation
• 48% said they are less likely to travel by airplane because of inflation
• 44% said they are less likely to rent a car because of inflation

The poll surveyed 2,202 U.S. adults from January 6-7, 2024. Other key findings include:

• 51% of respondents said they are likely to travel overnight for a family trip in the next four months, 39% of whom said they would likely stay in a hotel.
• 38% said they are likely to travel overnight for a romantic getaway in the next four months, 60% of whom said they would likely stay in a hotel.
• 32% said they are likely to travel overnight for Spring Break, 45% of whom said they would likely stay in a hotel.
• 35% of those surveyed ranked high-speed Wi-Fi as the top technological amenity they consider when evaluating hotels.
• 14% of those surveyed ranked keyless entry or mobile check-in as the top technological amenity they consider when evaluating hotels.

“These survey results underscore the tremendous potential 2024 holds for hoteliers and hotel employees,” said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “The year ahead will not be without challenges, however, and these findings show that inflation is preventing hotels from reaching their full potential. Still, hoteliers are optimistic about the year ahead and excited continue providing excellent services for guests throughout 2024.”

Morning Consult Survey Methodology

This poll was conducted between January 6-7, 2024, among a sample of 2,202 adults. The interviews were conducted online, and the data were weighted to approximate a target sample of adults based on age, gender, race, educational attainment, region, gender by age, and race by educational attainment. Results from the full survey have a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Expedia Group announced today that American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT) will use Expedia Group’s Fraud Prevention as a Service (FPaaS) solution for travel bookings on its Amex GBT Egencia solution. FPaaS blocks fraudulent transactions before they happen, reducing unscrupulous activity and enabling more protection for their clients. 

With data models based on billions of data points from over 25 years of travel industry experience, Expedia Group’s Fraud Prevention as a Service solution leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) to look at signals and flag suspicious activity when behavior patterns deviate from the norm, allowing intervention before fraud occurs. 

Key features included in FPaaS used by Amex GBT’s Egencia solution are ‘Booking Screening’, where Expedia Group reviews e-commerce transactions in real time with AI/ML fraud detection models to stop fraudulent transactions at the source, and ‘Account Takeover Protection’ - Expedia Group monitors and reviews customer logins in real time using AI/ML models to secure the safety and integrity of customer accounts when potentially fraudulent activity is detected via suggested remedial actions. 

Other partners can also take advantage of the solution’s ‘Chargeback Management’ feature: Expedia Group’s in-house specialist fraud operations team takes full end-to-end ownership of the dispute management and resolution process, dealing with all interactions with banks and merchants, all backed by a 100% chargeback guarantee, which reimburses partners for any true fraudulent transactions.^[1]

Anxiety around fraud is on the rise. Recent research found that 70% of businesses say their concern about fraud increased compared to the year before and 58% of consumers have been a victim of online fraud, know someone who has been a victim, or both.^[2] The impacts are felt by the travel industry too: in total, fraud costs the travel industry over $21 billion dollars annually, including $6 billion dollars in damages and $15 billion in overheads.^[3]  In addition to direct and operational overheads incurred by dealing with fraudulent transactions, they can also result in the loss of personal data and create financial losses through unauthorized logins to customer accounts, resulting in reputational damage and customer retention problems.

“We’ve combined over 20 years’ experience in the fraud prevention space with our unwavering commitment to continually evolve our technology in response to changing partner needs, resulting in targeted business solutions such as Fraud Prevention as a Service,” says Karen Bolda, Senior Vice President, Demand Solutions, Expedia Group. “By leveraging AI and machine learning, we’re happy to be offering Amex GBT a simple and effective way to help them manage fraudulent activity, ultimately, giving their customers better peace of mind when they’re booking trips.”

The technology collaboration shows the progress the partnership is making between Expedia Group and Amex GBT, and symbolizes the strong relationship between the two organizations since Expedia Group sold Egencia to American Express Global Business Travel in 2021. 

“We value our long-standing partnership with Expedia Group and their AI-driven solutions that address the ever-evolving needs of business travel and its many stakeholders,” said John Sturino, Senior Vice President of Travel Products and Engineering, Amex GBT. “This collaboration reinforces our commitment to our clients to deliver cutting-edge solutions that still meet the highest standards of security.”

For more information about how Fraud Prevention as a Service can work for your business, click here, or come and speak to one of the team at the Expedia Group booth at ITB in Berlin, March 5-7.