News Briefs

SportsArt, a provider of sustainable fitness and green solutions, was selected by BWH Hotels as an endorsed supplier to outfit fitness centers in its hotels across the United States. 

Most of the SportsArt catalog is available to BWH Hotels, from its innovative ECO-POWR™ line of energy-generating cardio equipment to its self-powered ECO-NATURAL™ cardio equipment. In fact, the ECO-POWR™ Elite line was designed specifically for the hospitality industry, combining user-friendly controls, reliable durability and energy-generating sustainability with a sleek, compact form. Additionally, BWH Hotels can select from SportsArt’s strength solutions, including the full range of Selectorized and Dual Function equipment. Every piece of equipment is designed and manufactured to SportsArt's uncompromising quality and reliability standards, offering properties of BWH Hotels long-term, socially responsible fitness solutions that deliver the experience and value guests demand. 

Among SportsArt treadmills is the ECO-POWR™ Elite G660. The G660 is the industry’s first treadmill to have its carbon footprint independently certified. Based on the expected use in a commercial facility, the G660 has the potential to become carbon-negative within its expected life cycle—meaning it will produce enough clean energy to offset more carbon than its certified footprint, for an overall positive impact on our environment. This is one more powerful way that SportsArt equipment aligns with the sustainability values and goals of BWH Hotels. 

“Both SportsArt and BWH Hotels are deeply committed to sustainable solutions that benefit the planet and provide an excellent customer experience,” said Ruben Mejia, executive vice president, SportsArt Americas. “The full line of SportsArt cardio equipment that will be featured in the fitness centers of BWH Hotels properties consumes 32% less electricity than other brands on the market, plus it is created using a sustainable manufacturing process—allowing guests to feel good physically while also feeling good about their contributions to the environment.”

In an April 2023 press release, BWH Hotels states, “Recognizing the importance for the hospitality industry to take the lead on addressing our most significant global challenges and on establishing sustainability programs that meet evolving guest expectations, BWH Hotels is doubling down on its commitment to environmental and social responsibility across its expansive global portfolio.”  

SportsArt has been the leader in sustainable fitness and green solutions for more than 40 years and has a decades-long history of prioritizing sustainability with its processes, policies, people, products and partnerships. Such efforts include recycling and water conservation at its Taiwan production facility. In addition, its solar power initiative uses solar panels at SportsArt’s headquarters that produce enough electricity to power the 500,000 square-foot property for half the year. Further, since January 2011, the Taiwan factory has been ISO-14001 certified, following a set of management standards that reduce negative effects on the environment. And, its sustainability measures include partnerships, like this one with BWH Hotel Group, that align with SportsArt’s commitment to sustainability and accountability—pushing for a future powered by eco-friendly efforts and initiatives. 

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. 

With 101 newly designed city and direct ocean view guest rooms in its historic tower and 36 luxurious cabanas and suites, The National Hotel Miami Beach is impressing guests with stunning views, luxury accommodations, personalized experiences, and unparalleled service. Invisible to guests at this AAA 4 Diamond oceanfront property is how efficiently the hotel’s finance team is operating thanks to the addition of two software solutions from Aptech: PVNG Enterprise Accounting and Targetvue Budgeting & Forecasting.

“The Aptech software development team is amazing,” said Sarah Fisch, chief financial officer at The National Hotel. “Ever since joining the company I have been very demanding, always asking for new enhancements to meet our specific and strategic needs. Not once have I heard the word ‘no’ from anyone. Aptech always provides a solution. Before migrating to these cloud solutions, my team spent a lot of time creating journal entries and manually plugging data into legacy systems. Today, workflow is far more efficient, and tedious manual data-entry processes have been eliminated.”

PVNG – named among the “Best Finance & Accounting Software” of 2024 by Hotel Tech Report – features Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials, Bank Reconciliation, automated invoice processing, a myriad of payment options, and drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports. It is the first hotel accounting solution to connect to the Plaid Data Network. It can handle single or multi-property accounting and can be deployed as a hosted service.

Targetvue provides accounting teams with “one version of the truth.” It consolidates reports, identifies trends, and eliminates the maintenance and distribution of Excel spreadsheets throughout the organization. Automated forecast snapshots offers users ad-hoc capabilities to previous and future performance projections. 

“These solutions are extremely user friendly,” Fisch said. “I was surprised by the simplicity. Rather than giving us a lot of options or features that we will never use or cannot understand, PVNG and Targetvue have just what we need, like reports that can be updated instantly. The flexibility of the software and the support team makes us feel like both solutions were tailored just for The National Hotel. If I had to describe these tools in one word it would be ‘functional’ and/or ‘convenient.’”

Exemplary Customer Care

Impressive to Fisch and her associates is Aptech’s customer care department. Fisch said each member of the team values human relationships and applies technology to solve business problems for people through technical support, operational support, software support, on-site user training, report creation, software installation, customized programming, web-based user training, data transformation, data conversion, problem resolution and product updates. The team’s work with clients often extends well beyond the initial installation project to keep customers aware of industry changes affecting systems, business practices, enterprise resource planning and emerging options that may be available to enhance their operation.

“Aptech support is wonderful,” Fisch said. “When I send an email request or question, I always get a response the same day, oftentimes within minutes. If my customer care agent is unavailable, someone else is always willing to fill in. It’s a great team.”

Sam Costa, Aptech Director of Client Success, said hoteliers are Aptech’s best salespeople. Every time he reads a customer review on Hotel Tech Report, he said he is humbled by the words people use to describe his team and their proficiency, such as ‘amazing,’ ‘friendly,’ ‘efficient,’ ‘timely,’ ‘effective,’ ‘the best,’ ‘responsive,’ ‘always available,’ ‘fast,’ ‘understandable,’ ‘reliable,’ and ‘strong-knit team.’

“We are delighted that The National Hotel is finding PVNG and Targetvue to be so flexible, functional, and user friendly,” Costa said. “Being able to streamline their financial processes is enabling management to deliver reports on the fly to those who need them. We look forward to supporting this legendary art deco hotel for years to come and introducing new solutions when the time is right. At Aptech, we are devoted to keeping our customers aware of industry changes in technology and developing innovative options to enhance their organization.”

Aptech is an IBM Software Value Plus Partner and Premier Solution Provider as well as a Prophix Premier Business Partner, and proud members of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP), Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA), International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC), and Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI).

El Pollo Loco Holdings Inc.  has appointed Elizabeth (“Liz”) Williams as the new Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors, effective March 11.

Williams will succeed Maria Hollandsworth, who has served as the company’s interim Chief Executive Officer since November 3. Hollandsworth has been appointed as President of El Pollo Loco and will also continue to serve as  Chief Operating Officer.

Most recently, Williams served as the CEO of Outfox Hospitality, parent company of Foxtrot, a high-growth modern café and convenience store, and Dom’s Kitchen and Market. Prior to Foxtrot, she led innovative brands like Drybar and Hart House, a vegan quick-service chain.

Williams has extensive restaurant experience working closely with franchise partners to accelerate growth. She spent ten years with Yum! Brands and Taco Bell between 2010 and 2020, holding various leadership positions including CFO and President of Taco Bell International. During her tenure, she was responsible for the brand strategy, growth, and performance of the international business across 30 countries, and drove notable operational improvements along with sales and profit growth.

“We are excited to welcome Liz Williams as our new Chief Executive Officer,” said William Floyd, Chairman of the El Pollo Loco Board. “Throughout her career, Liz has demonstrated her ability to accelerate growth in food and beverage brands while simultaneously improving financial performance. We believe she has the skills and experience necessary to lead El Pollo Loco as we capitalize on the significant opportunity ahead of us.”

Floyd continued, “We would also like to express our deep appreciation to Maria for her leadership as Interim Chief Executive Officer over the past three months. We are excited to benefit from her continued leadership as she helps craft and execute on our strategic vision as President and Chief Operating Officer of El Pollo Loco.”