News Briefs

Subway  unveiled MVP Rewards, a refreshed loyalty program launching September 9 in Canada, the U.S., and Puerto Rico. The new and improved program gives Subway guests the MVP experience with more ways to earn, more perks, and more earning power as customers ascend from Pro to Captain to All-Star status tiers. Consumers can earn points by ordering their favorite sub in Subway restaurants, on Subway.ca or the Subway app.

MVP Rewards replaces Subway MyWay Rewards. All 30 million MyWay members across North America will be enrolled in the new program, and their unspent tokens will automatically be converted into points, giving them a head start on reaching status and earning MVP Rewards' best perks. New members will receive 250 bonus points when they join**.

"Subway fans are the best in QSR and to thank them for their loyalty, we're giving them the star treatment as MVP Rewards members," said Mike Kappitt, Chief Operating and Insights Officer at Subway. "Consumer input helped inform our refreshed loyalty program to create a best-in-class experience. MVP Rewards gives our guests more of what they love from Subway, with a few hidden surprises baked in, so every guest feels like an MVP and comes back to Subway more often for their favourite subs."

As part of its loyalty refresh, Subway made the program easier for guests to sign up, earn and redeem points, as well as advance from Pro to All-Star. Besides craveworthy signature subs and meal upgrades, members at the Captain and All-Star tiers will soon have access to special Subway merchandise and members-only VIP exclusives:

For a complete overview of Subway MVP Rewards and Subway's new loyalty program benefits, visit Subway.ca/rewards.

Shiji, a global hospitality technology innovator, has partnered with IPORT, an award-winning manufacturer known for enhancing the usability of iPads and iPhones, to introduce an all-in-one software solution for hotel restaurants. This collaboration will provide hoteliers with a seamless combination of a tablet and payment device to maximize their F&B operations.

The integrated iOS and payment device solution simplifies guest service for hotel restaurant servers, providing them with an effortless tool to cater to their guests' needs. As a certified Apple partner, Shiji and IPORT guarantee exceptional performance and reliability. Hoteliers can choose from multiple device options, including iPad Pro, iPad Mini, and iPhone, ensuring flexibility and compatibility with their operations.

“IPORT products are built around modularity and flexibility that empower our hospitality customers to do more with the iOS platform. We are thrilled to partner with a leading iPad and iPhone cloud PMS and POS platform provider like Shiji,” said Chris Lawson, Head of Partnerships, IPORT. “We look forward to innovating with Shiji in disrupting legacy, monolithic providers who have limited the industry from harnessing the power of iOS and mobility. The future is bright, and the possibilities are endless with IPORT, iOS, and Shiji.”

"The partnership with IPORT is a significant milestone for Shiji in our commitment to provide innovative technology solutions for the hospitality industry," said Ryan King, Senior Vice President of Shiji in the Americas. "By combining our expertise with IPORT’s hardware solutions, we empower hoteliers to streamline restaurant operations and deliver exceptional guest experiences. This collaboration represents another step forward in our dedication to driving success in the Americas, and globally."

The tablet and payment device solution seamlessly integrates with multiple payment gateways, allowing hoteliers to choose the system that best suits their needs. By simplifying the payment process, it reduces operational complexities, minimizes errors, and saves valuable time and resources for hoteliers.

GauVendi is advancing its disruptive approach to rethinking inventory, which has already been successfully implemented in the GauVendi Sales Engine, towards an open, feature-based inventory platform.

GauVendi started in 2020 with an innovative AI-driven booking experience that provides accommodation providers with a comprehensive solution for hyper-personalized sales and fulfillment automation. It was mainly deployed as a stand-alone solution. With this evolution, accommodation businesses and technology providers can now explore new avenues in sales, distribution, operational efficiency, and marketing of inventory. They benefit from highly automated processes without major system overhauls.

"We aim to offer every operator the opportunity to distribute their inventory in a scalable manner, much like it was previously only possible through personal sales - and all of it fully automated," says Markus Müller, CEO, and co-founder of GauVendi. "With the open API interface, all technology providers can now sell relevant and customizable inventory through their platforms. Our solution acts as an additional layer integrated into the existing tech stack, enabling differentiated sales and automation without significant changes to the current system landscape," adds Müller.

GauVendi's platform is the only one worldwide that provides a feature-based language and a dynamic product management system with its approach. The open API approach ensures seamless integration with other technology providers. Feature-based inventory can be transformed into relevant and tailored accommodation products using the AI recommendation model. The result is a transparent guest experience right from the booking process and significant time savings during reservations through intelligent and optimized room assignments.

The newly established inventory management platform and the associated new products and solutions were developed based on experiences gained from implementing the Sales Engine with existing hotel customers, their achieved results, and the acquired data. The new data structure enables the introduction of advanced automation possibilities, including dynamically optimized and intelligent room assignments using AI (Reinforcement Loops), going far beyond the largely manual and limited assignments used until now.

In today's era of personalization, the data structure in the form of categories for inventory management has proven to be inadequate. It lacks information about individual room features in data formats, making it challenging for operators to fulfill guest requests without significant manual and operational efforts. Any inquiry about specific room characteristics is handled offline and requires manual processing. Monetizing these features is also not possible, and the lack of personalization reduces the competitiveness of accommodation businesses compared to others.

Müller adds, "These problems are a thing of the past with the use of GauVendi. The results our customers achieve with our current solution validate this: significant increases in room revenue, considerable time savings through new automation features, a reduction in phone and email inquiries, and better guest reviews and check-in experiences."

Agilysys, the hospitality-focused technology company, today announces its partnership with Serco Leisure, the world-renowned sport and leisure provider. Serco will implement Agilysys Property Management System across its entire 550-bed estate, in order to optimize both its customer and guest experience. 

Serco Leisure is one of the UK’s leading national operators of leisure, destination venues, and elite sporting facilities. Its properties include both Bisham Abbey, and Lilleshall National Sports Centre’s, Stoke Mandeville Stadium, and the Holme Pierrepoint Country Park. As home to some of the UK’s leading elite athletes and Olympic and Paralympic teams, Serco is dedicated to providing world-class facilities and an experience to match to its guests and customers. 

“Our previous system provided a less-than-ideal experience for customers and staff. Also, it did not integrate with other applications or provide proper reporting functionality,” said Steve Nelson, Operations Director of Serco Leisure’s National Sport Centres.

“With Agilysys solutions, we’ll be able to deliver a more personalized service for our diverse range of customers, which includes Olympic and Paralympic athletes as well as members of the public,” Nelson added. Agilysys’ intuitive and easy-to-use PMS will be rolled out across Serco Leisure’s properties alongside its latest point-of-sale (POS) system. 

“Serco Leisure understands the need to modernize its hospitality solutions to be the best in the market,” said Ben Curtis, Managing Director, EMEA for Agilysys. “We are grateful to help the company improve its offerings, which will attract more guests, customers and employees, enabling the company to maximize guest and staff experience and ultimately increase revenue.”

Serco is the latest addition to Agilysys’ growing portfolio of PMS customers. Between 2022 and 2023, the number of rooms managed by Agilysys PMS grew to more than 300k. Agilysys broader software portfolio includes customers such as Watergate Bay and Carnival in the UK, and Caesars Group and Hilton in the US. 

The Trustwave SpiderLabs team said it conducted a multi-month investigation into the cyber threats facing the hospitality industry worldwide and has released a detailed report displaying how threat actors conduct attacks, methodologies used, and what organizations can do to protect themselves from specific types of attacks.

The report, "2023 Hospitality Sector Threat Landscape: Trustwave Threat Intelligence Briefing and Mitigation Strategies," takes a multi-step approach to break down threat actor trends and techniques. For example, in the Emerging Trends section the threat is analyzed, there is a discussion on how it can affect an organization, Trustwave SpiderLabs insights are revealed, and mitigations to reduce the threat are introduced.

“In an industry where guest satisfaction and reputation are paramount, staying secure while offering cutting-edge technology is a delicate balancing act,” said Trustwave Chief Information Security Officer Kory Daniels. “Our latest threat briefing is a valuable resource for security leaders within the hospitality sector, providing a comprehensive view of the threats observed by our SpiderLabs team, along with specific mitigation strategies to bolster defenses.” 

The report discusses in depth the factors that make the hospitality sector unique when it comes to cybersecurity. These points include often having a seasonal and less security-sophisticated workforce, constant user/customer turnover, dirty networks, physical security concerns, and often operating under a franchise model.

When these industry-centric factors are combined with emerging and prominent trends that are appearing, such as generative AI and Large Language Models, contactless technology, and third-party risk, it’s obvious the hospitality sector must bring its “A Game” when it comes to cybersecurity.

How Threat Actors are Gaining Access

SpiderLabs found a long list of threat actors operating against hospitality organizations. These include the well-known LockBit, Hive, Ragnar, and BlackBasta, among many others.

These groups have an arsenal of weapons and techniques at their disposal including, malware like Emotet and Qakbot, phishing, fake order and extortion scams, business email compromise, brute forcing credentials, and using vulnerabilities like MOVEit RCE (CVE-2023-34362).

Why This Report Matters

The 2023 Hospitality Sector Threat Landscape: Trustwave Threat Intelligence Briefing and Mitigation Strategies report is not a simple laundry list of threats and issues, but instead offers concrete actions hospitality organizations can immediately take to better secure their operations.

Ensuring critical business and customer data is secure should be a paramount concern to those tasked with protecting these organizations. It is clear from the current activity being tracked that threat groups show no indication of slacking off in their efforts to pry this information away from its rightful owners.

Attackers will continue to use traditional methods such as phishing, exploiting known vulnerabilities, and compromising third-party vendors continue to pose significant threats. Additionally, threat actors will continue to find innovative ways to outpace defenses that are instituted.

W South Beach unveils its $6 million ballroom and meeting space renovation. Equipped with innovative 360 projection technology, the space, a first-of-its-kind for a hotel in North America, can recreate virtually any ambiance and experience – from a fully immersive underwater oceanic moment to the backdrop of any city around the world – ushering in a new era of elevated events and experiences.

The 3D-mapping technology combines the art of storytelling, visual and audio effects, and technical precision to transform the 4,300-square-foot blank canvas ballroom into any setting, allowing guests to embark on a captivating journey, likened to L’Atelier des Lumiéres in Paris.

“Imagine stepping into the ballroom and being instantly transported to the streets of London, the beaches in Rio, or the enchanting gardens of Kyoto,” said Rick Ueno, General Manager of W South Beach. “For a decade, we’ve been the social center of Miami’s major cultural events – Art Basel, Miami Swim Week and others – so it was time to up the ante and transform the way events and meetings are conducted on the beach.”

The built-in projection system requires light only – no complicated sets, heat, or UV emissions – and is fully customizable with pre-set color scenes and also offers a digital library of stills and video displays fit for weddings, parties, meetings and corporate gatherings including abstract digital art, lush green foliage, sunny beaches, still wallpaper effects, and celebratory party effects.

Technical Highlights

The ballroom space is more than 4,300 square feet and has the capacity to hold up to 250 people. It can be divided into two spaces for those looking for a more intimate setting. Customizable LED lighting is built into 12 ceiling coves and six wall arches, creating an energy efficient system that bypasses traditional venue-specific limitations to make the projection mapping come to life.

Four presentation projectors are built into the ceiling and can be used simultaneously with environment projectors. 24 built-in microphones (12 for each room) are affixed to the ceiling and provide state-of-the-art speech reinforcement and recording, allowing for seamless presentations. 32 audio speakers (16 for each room) offer a discrete design, premium aesthetics, and ultimate high performance. Each of the 52 pin spots (26 for each room) have an adjustable 6’ radius beam that is easily controlled and programmed to provide an elevated performance for the projection mapping.

W South Beach also offers three renovated studios that can each hold up to 60 people. The studios are equipped with 75” LCD monitors, wireless internet and HDMI connectivity, Ensenio Hotel TV channel for leisure viewing, and dimmable soft white LED and recess lighting. The three studios can be combined into one larger space as needed.

Known for its timeless allure on Collins Ave., W South Beach opened its doors in 2009, and quickly set the hospitality standard in Miami with the largest guest rooms on South Beach, each with balconies and expansive ocean views. Over the course of the decade, the hotel established itself as a celebrity magnet, played host to countless events for global brands and became a second home to the most discerning travelers from around the world. In November 2020, a $30 million renovation infused its 357 guest suites and best-in-class Away Spa, with a sense of calm that feels in-tune with Miami’s evolution. The hotel’s two iconic swimming pools, WET and Mini WET were refinished with the renovation with refreshed poolside cabanas.

The transformation also birthed a new guest experience that thoughtfully infuses the essence of Miami through curated programming. Programming includes weekly cigar tastings with General Manager Rick Ueno, cocktail and cooking workshops, live music, fitness offerings by NYC celebrity gym DOGPOUND and Ahana Yoga who host wellness workshops covering chakra balancing & activation, breathwork, ayurveda, sound healing, and new/full moon ceremonies. For the tennis and basketball lovers, the hotel has South Beach’s only rooftop basketball court and tennis court, SWISH & SWING.

Hotel guests receive complimentary access to Bass Museum, one of South Florida’s most prestigious art institutions. Each guest at W South Beach receives access to a dedicated W Insider, available 24/7, who will take care of whatever, whenever during their stay.

In the food and beverage space, W South Beach is home to South Beach’s most innovative bars and restaurants. RWSB (Restaurant W South Beach), one of Miami’s most authentic Italian restaurants is run by Italian Chef Vincenzo Borriello. The indoor-outdoor restaurant is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner daily and offers an array of classic dishes with local produce, fresh fish and signature pastas. The hotel’s outdoor craft cocktail outpost, IRMA’s was given a new look by Urban Robot in 2017 with reclaimed materials by Hurricane Irma. One of Miami’s favorite after-dinner bars, LIVING ROOM BAR offers an impressive mixology program run by Lucas Winkler. For those looking for authentic Beijing cuisine, the opulent MR CHOW is a must, off the hotel’s lobby.