News Briefs

Tech-powered short-term rental operator Bob W has made its entry into the German market with the acquisition of Charly Hospitality.

Alternative accommodation specialist, Bob W, has built a reputation on redefining the hospitality experience by giving guests five-star, contactless service in locally-designed apartments within handpicked neighborhoods.

Based in Helsinki, Bob W currently operates 27 aparthotel & coliving properties across Europe — in the UK, Spain, Finland, Italy, Norway, Greece and Estonia. Its Charly acquisition means it now adds seven properties located in Germany’s Bonn, Munich, Berlin, Lübeck and Cologne, as well as Amsterdam in the Netherlands. All of these properties will move over to the Bob W brand during 2023.

Bob W acquired Charly because the two companies have a similar tech-enabled approach and design ethos, which results in a straightforward integration. Both offer a seamless digital front desk experience backed by robust digital customer service and other failsafes, so guests always feel looked after. Unlike Charly, Bob W has built its own tech platform along with a suite of apps. Both businesses offer short-stay apartments that give guests the best of both worlds — the authenticity and functionality of a private apartment, as well as the dependable quality of a hotel.

Bob W wants to continue to expand quickly across Europe but particularly in Germany. It is the largest domestic travel market in Europe, which the company expects will be its largest market by the end of 2023. By then it anticipates operating more than 40 properties in all territories, achieved through a mix of leases (rent-to-rent) and management deals, with the potential for further M&A activity. 

Bob W has grown rapidly since being founded just before the pandemic by Sebastian Emberger, who is from Germany, and Niko Karstikko, from Finland. Aside from organic growth, In May last year it acquired Estonishing Stay which, at the time, was the largest short-stay apartment operator in Estonia. The following October it bought Finnish competitor KOTI Hotel, simultaneously securing €21 million in series A funding, led by Elevator Ventures, Verve Ventures, IDC Ventures and Flashpoint.  

Niko Karstikko, co-founder and CEO of Bob W, comments: “We are super excited about entering Germany with Charly and adopting their world-class team. The locations and properties are gorgeous. Once we apply our tech and brand standards,  the next generation of travellers will have yet another place to call home with the most loved hospitality product on the market.

“We’re getting huge traction with our approach to tech and reinvented hospitality. Guests are responding very positively to the investment we make in their surroundings and in our customer experience, and that is translating into brand loyalty and repeat bookings. We offer travellers the best of both worlds — hotel and apartment — and our formula works. That’s what is driving our growth plans. We will continue to expand quickly but sustainably in existing and new markets where there is high demand for what we offer and the fundamentals add up.”

 

Charly Hospitality founder, Jona Schaeffer, said: “With Bob W, we have found the perfect home for our team and our portfolio of boutique aparthotels in Germany and the Netherlands. We strongly believe in Bob W’s potential to become the market leader in alternative accommodations in Europe and are delighted that Charly will play its part in it.”

QSR Automations earned recognition for excellence in customer service and support.

At MURTEC, QSR Automations’ VP of Hardware Solutions and Support, Kathi Klein, received fHospitality Technology ’s 2023 Top Women in Technology Lifetime Achievement Award. 

During her more than 30 years in the restaurant technology industry – half of those at QSR Automations–Klein has amassed incomparable knowledge in understanding and troubleshooting kitchen display, front-of-house, and the associated hardware and networking platforms needed to run them. 

But what truly sets Klein apart is her natural ability to nurture relationships and foster talent, which has made her an effective leader in QSR Automations’ Support Services Team. During her long tenure at QSR Automations, Klein has built one of the industry’s strongest and most effective support teams. In fact, under Klein’s guidance, the team has received a 99 percent satisfaction rate from customers in 2021, and last year handled more than 16,000 inbound and outbound calls, which earned them a bronze award for Excellence in Customer Service from the 2022 Stevie Awards. 

This was the third bronze Stevie award for the team, as last fall, Klein accepted two additional bronze awards from the Stevie Women in Business Awards on behalf of QSR Automations–one for excellence in customer service, and the other for growth. QSR Automations was selected for these honors from more than 1,500 nominations from around the world.

“Just as our technology is the heart of a restaurant kitchen, our people are truly the heart of this business,” said Angela Leet, CEO of QSR Automations. “My colleagues are passionate about innovation both in and out of the office, and it’s immensely gratifying to see them recognized for these achievements.”

QSR Automations, headquartered in Louisville, Ky., with offices in the United Kingdom, is a global industry leader in kitchen automation and guest management services.

Up and coming QSR  Salad and Go  is expanding in Texas with three new locations opening in February in the Houston markets of Katy, Richmond and League City.

The Katy store located opened February 1, the Richmond location at  is set to open February 17, and the League City store plans to open its doors on February 22. These new locations will mark the start of rapid brand expansion across the Greater Houston area.

These suburbs were strategically selected as ideal markets for Salad and Go as some of the fastest growing communities in the region. Conveniently located in some of Houston's most popular suburbs, the new locations will provide fresh, high-quality meals with quick and easy convenience at an affordable price.

As Salad and Go continues growing its national presence with a strong focus on Arizona, Texas, Oklahoma, and Nevada, the brand's expansive growth has it on a positive trajectory to provide fresh and affordable food to communities in more than 125 locations by the end of 2023. Houston is the next step in the brand's expansion across Texas with plans to open additional stores in the market throughout the new year.

Salad and Go's chef-curated menu provides guests with food for any time of the day by offering a variety of delicious and healthy items including salads, wraps, breakfast burritos and soup as well as beverages including hand-crafted lemonades, teas and cold brew coffees.

Salad and Go ensures each meal contains fresh, quality ingredients while keeping prices low by vertically integrating operations and distribution, and sourcing ingredients directly from high-quality local farmers and suppliers whenever possible. The brand's mission to make fresh, nutritious food convenient and affordable for ALL extends beyond its stores and is demonstrated in the work the brand does to donate 4,000 meals every week to those in need, as well as in partnerships with nonprofits to support and fundraise for various worthy causes.

Nextbite,  a provider of virtual restaurants, has partnered with Nathan’s Famous to bring its iconic hot dogs, burgers and crinkle cut fries as a delivery-only menu through Nextbite’s network of restaurant partners. The Nathan’s Famous virtual brand is now available for restaurants to sign up to offer them as a Nextbite partner, bringing this brand to consumers nationwide.

The Nathan’s Famous delivery-only menu includes Nathan’s signature all-beef hot dogs, crinkle cut fries, burgers and more. The hot dog menu includes hot dogs along with chili, cheese sauce and bacon toppings.

With Nextbite’s virtual restaurant solution featuring Nathan’s Famous menu items, it seamlessly connects restaurant partners with delivery services such as Uber Eats, DoorDash and Grubhub. Nextbite delivery-only restaurant concepts are crafted to complement current restaurant operations, equipment, and resources. Backed by data, its brands drive orders during different dayparts, so restaurants can increase sales during slow periods.

Valyant AI, a provider of AI-powered customer service solutions, has announced the incorporation of language-learning models to enhance its artificial intelligence technology for restaurants. This application is set to utilize the latest advancements in LLMs (similar to ChatGPT and Google’s LaMDA) for improving the comprehensiveness of its voice assistant system’s responses, speed and efficiency.

17% of restaurants plan to add in-car ordering this year, according to Hospitality Technology’s 25th annual Restaurant Technology Study.

The LLM technology utilized by Valyant AI is a type of artificial intelligence that allows computers to understand natural language and context in a previously impossible way. This technology has been trained on vast amounts of language data, allowing the platform to provide users with more accurate responses in less time, positively impacting customer satisfaction, reducing wait times and delivering a more efficient user experience overall.

A key distinction of Valyant AI's usage of LLM technology is that it ensures customer data security and privacy by not sharing that information with any third-party external entities. This level of protection is  crucial in maintaining customer trust and building a positive reputation in the industry.

Valyant AI is committed to staying at the forefront of technological advancements in artificial intelligence, and the incorporation of LLM technology is just one example of the company's ongoing dedication to innovation.

The Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC) and the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), the authority on boardroom practices representing more than 23,000 board members, have launched a new alliance to promote NACD Accelerate™ to cybersecurity professionals, an educational program for aspiring boardroom leaders and executives that delivers the critical foundation needed to become a prime candidate for directorship.

As the cybersecurity threat landscape continues to evolve, corporate boards are under increasing pressure to provide oversight of cybersecurity risk, but many boards lack directors with relevant experience. Forthcoming regulations from the SEC related to cybersecurity disclosures are expected to further increase the demand for corporate directors with cybersecurity expertise.

“Corporate directors play a critical leadership role in ensuring the security and resilience of their organizations,” said Suzie Squier, president of RH-ISAC. “We are thrilled to partner with NACD to promote the NACD Accelerate™ program to CISOs at our member companies and help close the cybersecurity knowledge gap in boardrooms across industries.”

The RH-ISAC is a non-profit organization dedicated to sharing threat intelligence and best practices related to cybersecurity in the retail and hospitality industry. NACD is the premier membership organization for board directors who want to expand their knowledge, grow their network, and maximize their potential. By joining together, the RH-ISAC and NACD are leveraging their unique strengths to help organizations develop well-rounded boards with cybersecurity expertise.

Through this collaboration, RH-ISAC is promoting the program to CISOs and other cybersecurity leaders and has already enrolled a cohort representing companies from across the retail and hospitality sectors.