News Briefs

SoundHound AI Inc. is now offering Employee Assist, a new state-of-the-art conversational AI product that supports restaurant employees by allowing them to instantly learn critical information about food, tasks, and other operations without having to reach for a manual or distract another busy member of staff.

Employee Assist is a voice AI technology that enables restaurant employees from both the front and back-of-house to ask a custom-trained voice assistant critical questions – and get immediate responses – completely hands-free.

Easily accessible via a headset or tablet, this groundbreaking product uses SoundHound’s voice AI with generative AI capabilities to learn and understand instruction manuals, ingredient and allergen information and more. It then relays this knowledge directly to employees via their headsets as part of a fluid two-way conversation, with the system able to answer any question (and follow-up questions).

This new automation tool helps restaurant workers access the information they need instantly – even if they’re new on the job.

Employee Assist requests may include:

• Information about food and drink items – including ingredients, allergens, and coaching on preparation
• Business FAQs – like opening hours, holiday closures, baby changing or disabled facilities
• Updates on the managers log and important daily tasks to be completed

Employee Assist helps restaurant operators reduce the natural friction that comes with inexperienced and multitasking employees trying to complete orders. Now they can be coached step-by-step by Employee Assist – avoiding the need to remove their gloves, consult a manual, or distract another employee.

The technology also understands natural human speech without employees having to modify the way they talk.

 A recent SoundHound consumer study found that technology is now one of the top three most critical factors driving restaurant customer satisfaction.

You can watch a demo of Employee Assist here. To learn more about restaurant solutions from SoundHound AI, visit www.soundhound.com.

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. 

IRIS, a provider of digital F&B ordering, guest directory and concierge solutions for hotels and restaurants, has been chosen by Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino to provide a digital F&B ordering and guest directory platform for their guests.

With breath-taking views over Navarino Bay, the stunning hotel offers sweeping bay vistas and the perfect combination of luxury, style and privacy. This is the luxury brand's first outpost in Greece. 

Through the IRIS app, guests can order a range of food and drink items (to be enjoyed in their rooms, at the Tranquillity Pool or at the Ormos Beach Club) and peruse the hotel’s range of bespoke services and amenities, all available to order and reserve from the palm of their hands. Furthermore, the app optimises processes, reduces operational costs for the hotel and creates new revenue streams, demonstrating its multi-faceted benefits. 

Andreas Zografos, Director of IT at Mandarin Oriental, Costa Navarino stated, “We are delighted to offer our guests IRIS’ innovative digital dining and guest experience app, designed with our guests' convenience in mind. With this seamless technology, we aim to enhance our guest’s stay, offering a mobile ordering experience at their fingertips.  

Not only does it elevate guest satisfaction and boost F&B revenue, it also streamlines our operations, allowing our team to focus on delivering an exceptional experience and creating unforgettable memories for our valued guests." 

For more information about the IRIS platform  visit https://www.iris.net/demo. 

Accenture has been appointed by global hospitality group Accor to support its content production capability, driving scale and establishing consistency in local and global marketing communications across its hotel brands, tailored to guests’ evolving needs.

Accenture Song, Accenture’s tech-powered creative group, created the ‘Content Atelier’, a new data-driven content supply chain model that aims to create personalized, flexible, efficient and high-quality marketing and communications content across every customer touchpoint, while reducing costs.

Spanning both physical and digital communications, the ‘Content Atelier’ will be available to all Accor marketing professionals worldwide, enabling content production management from the initial brief to performance measurement and content optimization. The service has been developed with leading design principles and utilizes Accenture’s SynOps platform for marketing and content operations, whilst being integrated into Accor’s infrastructure.

Against a backdrop of changing guest expectations and global macroeconomic shifts, the ‘Content Atelier’ uses a data-led approach to enable Accor brand marketers to focus on their most important activities, whilst aiming to increase the effectiveness of its digital marketing programs, drive more traffic to its branded website, and deliver exceptional customer experiences.

Technological innovation is key to the design of the service, with generative AI part of the strategic content production roadmap. In support of Accor’s commitment to shape the future of travel, sustainability sits at the core of all content production activities through brand and marketing strategy to marketing content activation.

Stéphanie Jaffré, SVP Digital Marketing & eCommerce, Premium, Midscale & Economy Brands at Accor, said: "Accor is committed to extending hospitality and inspiring new opportunities and experiences for our guests. So, it is crucial we have the right framework in place to reach our guests in the right way at the right time on the right channels, to inspire and support their travel needs and desires. Consumer attention is not agnostic, it spreads across multiple digital channels and we need be able to communicate with our guests on all relevant platforms, particularly at the research and inspiration stage of the customer journey. Hospitality is all about connecting with people and through our new digital content strategy we can better connect with, inspire and serve our guests.”

Martial Viudes, managing director, Accenture Song, said: “Together with Accor, we have redesigned the experience for Accor marketing professionals, aiming to optimize efficiency on a global level and ensure locally relevant, ultra-personalized experiences for its guests. We are proud to support Accor in creating a new generation of content production, harnessing our deep industry, creative and technical expertise. The development of the ‘Content Atelier’ serves each brand within the group according to their marketing ambitions, delivering bespoke and creative points of delight worldwide.”

Accenture Song, which has been working with Accor's marketing and content teams for almost four years, is already producing the Group’s content in multiple countries in Europe.

Cendyn  and SiteMinder announce a strategic partnership to mutually grow each other’s revenue management capabilities for the benefit of more than 70,000 hotels.

Through the partnership, Cendyn customers can now gain full access to SiteMinder’s revenue platform to complement the capabilities they receive through Cendyn’s central reservations system (CRS), which for the sixth consecutive year was voted the ‘Best Central Reservations System’ by the 2023 Hotel Tech Awards. SiteMinder’s revenue platform will provide Cendyn’s customers with the ability to manage their rate plans and inventory through SiteMinder. Additionally, they will be able to access SiteMinder’s complete ecosystem of distribution channels—the largest ecosystem for the hotel industry—to gain a more dynamic mix of revenue streams and increase their speed-to-market.

For SiteMinder’s hotel customers, the benefit will come through enhancements and optimized features in SiteMinder’s platform, informed by insights from Cendyn’s own hotel performance data.

Michael Bennett, President at Cendyn, says, “We are delighted to deepen our long-standing relationship with SiteMinder to provide our hotel customers the opportunity to tap into new streams of revenue, quickly and easily.  It’s exciting to extend this strength in revenue generation to our customers around the globe as SiteMinder stands out as a strong technology partner for hotels.”

Adds Jonathan Bedford, Chief Sales Officer at SiteMinder, “Cendyn is a true market le

Cendyn and SiteMinder first partnered in 2018, upon the launch of SiteMinder Exchange, which enabled hotel data to be transferred between property management systems and hotel applications, such as Cendyn’s customer relationship management (CRM), for the first time. SiteMinder Exchange culminated in the launch of SiteMinder’s Hotel App Store, which in 2019 formed the first marketplace to allow hotels of all sizes to connect applications to their business systems for greater guest experiences and revenue.

Omni Hotels & Resorts has announced new details about its enhanced Select Guest Loyalty Program making it easier and faster to achieve and retain Select Guest Status. Representing the first major program transformation in a decade, members will now be recognized and rewarded based on all the experiences they enjoy during their stay.

The Select Guest Loyalty Program reflects Omni Hotels & Resorts’ philosophy that experiences matter and incentivizes guests to explore more destinations, more on-property experiences, more frequently. Loyalty members will continue to earn rewards at the same rate as today for each night of their stay. In addition, they will now also earn rewards each time they dine at any on-property restaurant, play a round of golf, spend a relaxing day at the spa, or charge just about anything to their room. Furthermore, members will be able to quickly accelerate their status tier in the program based on their total spend.

• When asked what they really want from loyalty programs, 78% percent of customers surveyed want discounts, according to HTs 12^th annual 2023 Customer Engagement Technology Study.  

“Amidst a landscape where many loyalty programs are reducing benefits, we’re genuinely adding value to our member experience and making it easier to enjoy unique perks and achieve free nights" says Josh Belkin, Vice President of Loyalty & Customer Engagement at Omni Hotels & Resorts. "Our decision to enhance the Select Guest Loyalty program aligns with our dedication to inspire both our existing members and new guests, encouraging deeper engagement with the diverse and rich offerings across our 50+ properties."

Revamped Loyalty Tiers

Beginning in 2024, Omni will introduce revamped tier names and structure. The new tiers progress from Member to Insider to Champion to Icon Status, each delivering increasing levels of recognition, benefits, and free nights. Select Guest Status will now be determined by members’ on-property spend accumulated within each calendar year.

The new program will enable Members to achieve higher levels of status after even a single stay. For example, Insider Status requires only $1,000 of spend during their stay. “We wanted to make this level achievable to encourage guests to return and enjoy a higher level of benefits on their next stay,” adds Belkin.

Select Guests earn rewards – to be called Omni Credits – for every night stayed and for purchases beyond the room. Omni prides itself in providing guests with authentic local experiences, and the updated program is designed to make sure members make the most of everything the property has to offer. From beachside resorts to city-center hotels, Members can redeem a free night reward for the same 100 Omni Credits at all 50+ properties.

Based on member feedback, Omni will continue to offer popular and distinct benefits from the current program, including:

·        Free night rewards redeemable at any Omni hotel or resort (no complicated redemption categories or award charts)

·        Exclusive access to on-property Loyalty Ambassadors delivering personalized service

·        A selection of complimentary amenities such as Wi-Fi and beverages.

·        Unique in-stay benefits such as complimentary clothes pressing, shoeshine service, and morning beverage delivery to the guest room

·        Confirmed suite upgrade at time of booking when redeeming a free night (with Icon Status)

The Status tier achieved by members by the end of 2023 will be honored at an equivalent level throughout calendar year 2024. The spending power of existing award credits remains unchanged.

To learn more about the new Select Guest Loyalty program, visit omnihotels.com/loyalty/new-select-guest-2024.