News Briefs

Thanx expands its partnership with Olo Inc., an open SaaS platform for restaurants, and its debut of Olo Connect. Olo Connect is a growing ecosystem of integrated technology and service partners that are primed to deliver a best-in-class dining experience powered by the Olo platform. The program will allow mutual Thanx customers to benefit from an even deeper technology integration and enhanced partnership.

When Thanx and Olo partner together, restaurants can take advantage of Olo's Order, Pay, and Engage solutions, and can also gain access to Thanx’s guest engagement platform, mobile apps and front end web design for ordering, which are purpose-built for driving customer loyalty and retention. Thanx and Olo’s joint solution allows restaurants to drive more direct orders and maintain the critical ownership of guest data and relationships in the fight against third-party channel convenience.

• 71% say the ability to integrate with other systems is driving their POS purchase decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

The Olo Connect program partnership formalizes the relationship Thanx and Olo built through the year. Shared customers enjoy many benefits from the seamless integration, including 40% faster launch timelines and 10x more loyalty sign ups. Many brands that optimize with Thanx’s front-end ordering solution, powered by Olo digital ordering on the back-end, see 85% cart conversion from ordering landing pages while first-party digital revenue outpaces third party revenue 2:1.

Some current shared customers include Union Square Hospitality Group, Velvet Taco, and Kneaders Bakery and Cafe.

With broader access to Olo resources and support as an Olo Connect Gold Partner, shared customers will have the ability to adopt Thanx innovations that span non-discount rewards to proprietary credit card tokenization to automatic enrollment of 100% of digital customers into loyalty. The Olo Connect partnership also reinforces Thanx’s commitment to their focus on building the most robust technology integration ecosystem in the loyalty space.

For electric vehicle owners in British Columbia, Tim Hortons is now fueling road trips in more ways than one.  The company has announced the expansion of its electric vehicle charging station pilot launched earlier this year in Oakville, Ontario, by unveiling six new charging stations at restaurants throughout  British Columbia.

Tim Hortons announced the pilot in February in an effort to study the technology, its usage and opportunities.

"We have been thrilled with the results of the pilot so far.  Usage of the charging station in Oakville has surpassed our expectations and we received many calls with requests to expand the pilot," said Paulo Ferreira, Senior Director, International Strategic Restaurant Design and Building Standards, Tim Hortons. "With more than 3,300 eligible restaurants across the country, we continue to look for opportunities to expand the pilot and contribute to the EV infrastructure."

The BC expansion, supported by the Province of BC's Community Charging Infrastructure Fund and Koben Systems Inc. (KSI), placed charging stations strategically in Nanaimo, Langford, North Vancouver, Burnaby, Abbotsford and Coquitlam to create paths within the province, allowing guests to travel from restaurant to restaurant strictly on electric power.

Tim Hortons offers charging stations as a courtesy to guests at six locations.  As of March 31st, 2013, Tim Hortons had 4,288 system-wide restaurants, including 3,453 in Canada, 808 in the United States and 27 in the Gulf Cooperation Council. 

Panda Express announces the launch of Panda Rewards, its first points-based national rewards program.

It utilizes a personalized points-based system that rewards members with ten Panda Points  for every dollar spent on qualifying purchases. Once 200 Panda Points have been accumulated, guests can start redeeming their favorite Panda menu items. Each month, guests' first qualified purchase will unlock a surprise Good Fortune Gift ranging from bonus points to special discounts or even free food, along with a unique digital fortune cookie message to be collected. Panda Rewards members will also receive a birthday gift of their choice.

"Sharing good fortune is an important value at Panda, and we are delighted to launch our first rewards program nationwide as a heartfelt expression of gratitude towards our loyal guests for their continued support throughout the years," said Andrea Cherng, Chief Brand Officer at Panda Express. "We look forward to engaging our guests in a playful and meaningful journey of good fortune as they collect unique prizes offering exceptional value every time they dine at Panda."  

The more Panda Points members accrue, the better the rewards options. The rewards range from a free upgrade to a premium entrée, a free drink of choice to even a free Family Meal. Guests have a personalized experience to choose their preferred reward from multiple options. What's more, Panda Points do not expire unless there are no qualifying purchases in 12 months.

Panda Rewards members can earn and redeem Panda Points when ordering through the Panda Express mobile app or the PandaExpress.com website, in-store, or the drive-thru. Those ordering online that have logged in as a Panda Rewards member will automatically receive Panda Points for their purchase. For in-store and drive-thru orders, guests can easily access and present a QR code in the mobile app for a Panda associate to scan. Alternatively, guests can also enter a unique rewards code found on their receipt from an in-store order that can be entered in their account up to seven days from purchase in the app or online to earn Panda Points on that purchase.

Wendy's and Google Cloud announced an expanded partnership to pilot an artificial intelligence (AI) solution, Wendy's FreshAI. The technology has the potential to transform Wendy's drive-thru food ordering experience with Google Cloud's generative AI and large language models (LLMs) technology.

Demand for Drive-Thru

With 75 to 80 percent of Wendy's customers choosing the drive-thru as their preferred ordering channel, delivering a seamless ordering experience using AI automation can be difficult due to the complexities of menu options, special requests, and ambient noise. For example, because customers can fully customize their orders and food is prepared when ordered at Wendy's, this presents billions of possible order combinations available on the Wendy's menu, leaving room for miscommunication or incorrect orders. Google Cloud's generative AI capabilities can now bring a new automated ordering experience to the drive-thru that is intended to enhance the experience that customers, employees and franchisees expect from Wendy's. As HT reported last month, one Wendy's franchise, Wenspoke, is expanding its use of AI in the drive-thrus.

"Wendy's introduced the first modern pick-up window in the industry more than 50 years ago, and we're thrilled to continue our work with Google Cloud to bring a new wave of innovation to the drive-thru experience," said Todd Penegor, President and CEO of the Dublin, Ohio-based QSR. "Google Cloud's generative AI technology creates a huge opportunity for us to deliver a truly differentiated, faster and frictionless experience for our customers, and allows our employees to continue focusing on making great food and building relationships with fans that keep them coming back time and again."

Pilot Near HQ

In June, Wendy's plans to launch its first pilot of Google Cloud's AI technology in a Columbus, Ohio-area, Company-operated restaurant, using those learnings to inform future expansions to more Wendy's drive-thrus. The pilot will include new generative AI offerings, such as Vertex AI and more, to have conversations with customers, the ability to understand made-to-order requests and generate responses to frequently asked questions. 

This will all be powered by Google's foundational LLMs that have the data from Wendy's menu, established business rules and logic for conversation guardrails, and integration with restaurant hardware and the Point of Sale system. By leveraging generative AI, Wendy's seeks to take the complexity out of the ordering process so employees can focus on serving up fast, fresh-made, quality food and exceptional service.

Today's update builds upon Google Cloud's and Wendy's long standing partnership to enhance the Wendy's restaurant experience. Since 2021, Wendy's has leveraged Google Cloud's data analytics, AI, machine learning (ML), and hybrid cloud tools to make it faster, easier, and more convenient for customers to access the brand.

Highpointe Hotel Corp., a full-service management and development company based in Gulf Breeze, Fla., has reaffirmed its commitment to Aptech through the recent adoption of its PVNG enterprise accounting software and NEW Execuvue Business Intelligence platform. Highpointe was investigating new capabilities to help them cut costs and maintain lean operations in today’s challenging economic environment and ultimately chose to remain partners with Aptech by investing in the company’s innovative and groundbreaking solutions.

“We are delighted to continue partnering with Aptech and migrate our accounting software to PVNG, one of the most effective and simple cloud-based accounting programs for hotels,” said Mark Pate, Assistant Controller/IT Director at Highpointe Hotel Corp. “Highpointe has been a partner with Aptech for 23 years, and we have no plans to look elsewhere. PVNG’s multi-property features allow us to set the same tasks and consolidate financials across our entire portfolio, saving our administration two to three hours of work daily. This technology would have been invaluable two years ago, but we are excited to put it to use today.”

Pate said PVNG is thoughtfully designed, especially the menu structure. He said other solutions the company considered came with a huge learning curve; but not PVNG. The solution features Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials, and Bank Reconciliation modules and seamless web browser navigation allowing hotels to upload their accounting data remotely. PVNG can be deployed as a hosted service and also offers OCR invoice processing, a myriad of payment options, drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports, and the ability to handle single or multi-property accounting.

BI + AI = Smart Business

When it comes to business intelligence, Pate said Highpointe is excited to leverage IBM Cognos Analytics with AI capabilities – part of Aptech’s NEW Execuvue platform. He said the solution can easily pull data from PVNG into Execuvue and present data in an array of formats using simple AI commands.

“Business intelligence is a standard tool for most hotel management companies today,” Pate said. “Now that AI is becoming native to BI, it may soon be integrated with tools such as IBM Watson to ask analytical questions (such as ‘show me this or that’) and accounting teams can instantly present requested data in a visual format that is compelling, relevant, and easy-to-understand. Aptech is not bleeding-edge technology, but through its IBM Cognos partnership and AI tools, it is definitely leading edge.”

Execuvue features a dashboard that delivers stunning images of financial and operational data that hoteliers can act upon. The drag-and-drop environment creates striking visualizations based on data entered. Leveraging AI-powered analytics, Execuvue helps operators make smarter business decisions and respond to commands, such as “Show Me Room Revenues by State and by Property.” The AI tool links relevant data elements (number of rooms rented, ADR, RevPAR, occupancy, rooms out of order, etc.) with a list of properties or brands to analyze the information in visually compelling ways. It also configures data regionally, giving operators a performance snapshot portfolio wide, as well as by region, brand, and property. The scalability, flexibility, and integration capabilities of Execuvue sets Aptech apart from other BI providers.

Advice for Tradeshow Shoppers

“As we enter technology tradeshow season, people need to be careful when shopping for financial management tools,” said Pate, who also serves as the Global President of Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP^®), producer of the Hospitality Industry Technology Exposition and Conference (HITEC^®). “The integration piece is so important between back office tools and the hotel’s BI solution and a single database is key; numbers should all come from the same source. When visiting vendor booths, be mindful that salespeople will say their solutions can do just about anything. Before choosing a partner, talk to those on the support team, along with the product engineers. They are the people you will be dealing with on a regular basis, and it is they who will help determine if the software is a good fit. What happens after the sale is critical, and it is here that Aptech shines.

“In a word, Aptech’s accounting software, BI tools and customer support is ‘outstanding,’” he added. “The team is willing to do whatever we ask. We don’t make phone calls; we send them an email and the ticket is usually closed in less than an hour. Few companies have that fast response time. Over the years we’ve gotten to know the people on the other end of the phone. They get us, and the Highpointe way of doing things. We can’t wait to see everyone face to face at the Aptech annual dinner at HITEC.”

Cam Troutman, Aptech Vice President, had this to say: “Our relationship with Highpointe Hotels is a special one, and we are thrilled to continue providing support through our PVNG and Execuvue. Highpointe is growing. They currently manage 14 hotels and we expect they will be adding many more in the future. Aptech is proud to grow alongside them and assist them any way we can in preparation for economic changes in the future.”

To schedule a meeting with Aptech at HITEC, email [email protected]. For more information on PVNG by Aptech, visit http://www.aptech-inc.com.

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) and Questex announced a new list of high-value speakers and impactful programming for The Hospitality Show (The Show). The Show is a bold, new hospitality operations and technology event to be held June 27-29 at The Venetian Resort Las Vegas.

The list of speakers announced today includes:

• Scott Kirby, CEO, United Airlines 
• Geoff Ballotti, president & CEO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
• Larry Cuculic, president & CEO, BWH Hotels 
• George Limbert, president & CEO, Red Roof 
• John Murray, president & CEO, Sonesta International Hotels Corporation 
• Jay Caiafa, COO, The Americas, IHG Hotels & Resorts
• Andrew Arthurs, CIO, Aimbridge Hospitality 
• Wendy Mertz, CIO, Virgin Hotels 
• Scott Strickland, EVP & CIO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts
• Paul Zikopoulos, vice president of technology group skills vitality & enablement, IBM, who will deliver a special talk focusing on ChatGPT/artificial intelligence and its application in hospitality.

The Show attendees will enjoy two days of main-stage sessions led by iconic leaders from the hospitality industry and beyond, solutions-driven programming and case studies of profitable operations, as well as 13+ hours of networking opportunities. Learn more about The Show’s networking opportunities here. A full list of speakers is here and the event schedule is here. 

The Show is also offering the following exclusive, behind-the-scenes tours of two of Las Vegas' most prestigious properties:

• Venetian Resort Las Vegas, Tuesday, June 27, and Wednesday, June 28
  • Choose from four distinct tours at The Show's esteemed host property. Discover the resort’s sustainability initiatives, floral and security operations, culinary experiences, and the opulent Chairman suite.
• Bellagio Resort & Casino, Tuesday, June 27
  • Embark on an immersive exploration of the vital departments that drive this iconic establishment, from the front desk to the exquisite rooms and suites. Delight in the grandeur of The Mayfair Supper Club and get a closer look at the world-famous Bellagio Fountains.

These unique and immersive tours will be allocated on a first-come, first-served basis and are available by contacting [email protected].  

The Show will kick off with a secret-agent themed reception at Tao Asian Bistro & Nightclub sponsored by DIRECTV HOSPITALITY June 27 from 7-9 p.m. PT. The reception will include Las Vegas-style games, cigar-rolling, signature cocktails and food.

The Show will also feature a reception Wednesday, June 28, from 5-7 p.m. PT, providing attendees with another opportunity to network and connect in the vibrant atmosphere of the lobby activation area next to the Expo. 

The Hospitality Show is committed to pioneering sustainable practices, as reflected in our 5-pillar approach encompassing content, event production, energy, food waste, and travel. All Access pass holders will be treated to a zero-waste lunch on both Wednesday, June 28, and Thursday, June 29, and leftovers will be donated to local charities or farms, ensuring sustainability throughout. 

To enhance the attendee experience, The Show has introduced a mobile app to personalize schedules, create one-to-one meetings, and network with exhibitors and fellow attendees. Only registered attendees will have access to the app and can access it with their email address and badge ID. More information on the app can be found here.

“The Show’s amazing lineup of speakers, programming, and networking opportunities is second to none, and we hope you can join us there later this month as we take the hospitality event experience to the next level,” said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “Not only will The Show bring together the most influential and respected leaders in both hospitality operations and technology, it’s also home to two exclusive events you won’t find anywhere else: the General Managers Summit at The Hospitality Show, where attendees can connect with fellow general managers, gain insights from industry leaders on issues facing GMs, and celebrate AHLA’s 2023 General Managers of the Year; and the TechOvation Award Contest, which will recognize the most significant recent innovation in hospitality technology.”

For more information on The Hospitality Show, visit https://www.thehospitalityshow.com/.