News Briefs

Travelport, a global technology company that powers travel bookings for hundreds of thousands of suppliers worldwide, confirmed the integration with Deem, a corporate travel management platform, with Travelport+. The announcement comes just months after Travelport publicized the game-changing acquisition, a move intended to fulfill a growing need for a tight, fully-integrated tool that provides access and end-to-end servicing of all multi-source content, including NDC.

“Business travelers want, and deserve, the same modern retailing experience as leisure travelers,” said John Elieson, COO and Deputy CEO of Travelport. “When Travelport announced the acquisition of Deem in March, it was with the intention of providing the corporate travel world with award-winning, complementary tools that are as revolutionary, modern, and easy-to-use as Travelport+. We’ve not only delivered on that promise, but are proud to confirm the integration of the Deem and Travelport+ platforms.”

Together, Deem and Travelport are modernizing the corporate travel experience. Travel management companies (TMCs), corporations and their travelers that utilize Deem and Travelport+ will be able to access a wide range of rich and relevant content, all in one place, enhanced by the Content Curation Layer (CCL). This Travelport+ feature uses powerful artificial intelligence (AI) and machine-learning (ML) capabilities to provide agents and travelers a more modern retailing experience with faster search responses, more pertinent results, and greater accuracy. When seamlessly integrated with Deem’s award-winning, modern user interface, this will allow travelers to stay within their corporate policies while ensuring bookings (including NDC) are fully serviceable.

In the 150 days since the acquisition, Deem has continued to thrive, with notable moments such as:

• Being named a Champion in Software Reviews 2023 Travel Management Emotional Footprint Awards
• Expanding to support global customers in more than 60 countries
• Achieving a net score of 9.5 in a customer satisfaction survey, a nearly two-point lead ahead of industry standards
• Receiving the highest CX score (9.7) of all corporate booking tools
• Rebranding the Etta platform to the company’s namesake, Deem, to increase clarity and unite products under a single iconic name that has become synonymous with innovation in corporate retailing
• Winning a Stevie Award for its Diversity and Inclusion campaign

When looking towards the immediate future, Travelport has big plans for the GDS-agnostic tool. In 2024 alone, Travelport expects Deem to:

• Accelerate its international expansion, doubling its global footprint with a focus first in EMEA, followed by APAC
• Evolve the user interface to continue to revolutionize the corporate travel retailing experience and deepen the industry-leading gap that Deem already has in front of its competitors
• Implement enhanced emissions data, which is already available on Travelport+

“We’ve heard our corporate customers and there are two key things that they need,” Elieson continued. “First, they want a one-stop shop for all content through a single tool. And, just as important, they want ease of traveler servicing, meaning the content needs to be the same as what their TMC partner sees. By combining traveler-first, human-centric design with a best-in-class user experience, we’ve brought the ease and enjoyment of booking leisure trips to business travel. Making that content both accessible to and easily managed by their TMC partner ensures travelers are covered, even when you factor in new products only available through NDC or other content sources.”

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.

Steak n Shake will offer PopID Check In and PopPay on its self-ordering kiosks in select locations in the Orlando market, with plans to expand to more than 300 corporate locations. PopID Check In is an opt-in service that enables consumers to scan their face to automatically sign into their loyalty reward account and see their past orders, making the ordering process as convenient as possible. When a guest checks in with PopID, they also have the option to use PopPay to automatically complete their payment.

• 57% of respondents say enabling new payment options is a  top business driver impacting POS upgrade decisions, according to HT’s2 2023 POS Software Trends Report.

“Our partnership with PopID is a key part of our effort to provide guests with a fast and seamless ordering experience," said Keith Correia, Chief Information Officer. "When using PopID Check In, a guest does not need to use their phone or take out their wallet as part of the ordering process. They will automatically be checked in for loyalty rewards, and they can choose to make an automated payment with PopPay. A guest can even see their past orders and quickly reorder their favorite menu items. Ordering at Steak n Shake has never been easier or more convenient.”

In addition to enhancing the guest experience and improving order throughput, PopPay helps to reduce fraud and offers lower payment processing fees.

InnSpire, the leading provider of a comprehensive technology suite that helps drive a seamless, world-class guest experience for some of the world’s most iconic hotels and brands, announced a strategic partnership with Bodhi, a cloud-based, fully integrated, property-wide building management platform purpose-built for hotel guest rooms and amenity spaces. The new partnership integrates InnSpire’s guestroom IPTV solution with Bodhi’s advanced room control platform. This allows hoteliers to elevate the guest in-room experience, while driving ancillary revenue through the guestroom TV, providing guests with access to a host of property services such as in-room dining, spa reservations, marketplace, merchandise, experiences and gifts.

InnSpire’s award-winning IPTV in-room entertainment solution provides full TV remote control with optional smart TV connectivity for standard televisions, as well as Chrome casting and video on demand for IOS and Android devices. Additional features and capabilities available via the TV system include mobile check-in/out, room service ordering, hotel commerce, guest requests, concierge, Wi-Fi connectivity and authentication, promotions and payments.

Through the integrated GRMS (Guest Room Management System) hotel guests have the ability to control climate, lights and shades, connect to housekeeping, valet, and reservations, and use a chat bubble for hassle-free communications with property staff.

The new integration with Bodhi adds the ability to automatically trigger guestroom systems to provide the perfect welcome scene, including climate, lighting and background music when guests first enter the room. This process can be streamlined through a simple method of powering up the TVs to display a personalized video welcome message. In addition, Bodhi provides substantial energy savings via occupancy-based setbacks of climate, lights and other systems, including the ability to power down the TV when rooms are not occupied.

Through the integration with Bodhi, InnSpire clients can now add:

• Full-property integration
• Energy savings of up to 45%
• Welcome scenes
• Event scheduling
• A multi-platform dashboard
• Predictive maintenance
• Expanded OMS and device integration

“Our exciting new partnership with Bodhi allows our hotel clients to create the ultimate guestroom entertainment offering for their guests, while enjoying significant energy savings and streamlined operations,” said Martin Chevalley, InnSpire CEO. “The combined solution also enables unprecedented personalization features and cloud-based mobile convenience for both staff and guests. This helps our clients to stand out and stay ahead through the most advanced technologies.”

FLYR for Hospitality is excited to announce a new data sharing collaboration with STR, a provider of data benchmarking and competitive insights for the global hospitality industry.

Hotel revenue managers often struggle with disparate data from different sources, with no easy way to pull the data together into one place – making it difficult to inform key decisions on pricing and strategy.

Bringing together FLYR for Hospitality (formerly known as Pace Revenue) and the new STR Benchmarking software will arm customers with a single source of truth and the ability to view their hotel data and benchmarking data directly in one intuitive investigative solution. This combination will put hotel revenue managers in complete control to drive productivity and revenue. Hotels using FLYR for Hospitality and STR Benchmarking together will be able to better understand their data and make informed business decisions that provide more accurate forecasting and increased revenue.

“Being able to understand and contextualize performance data is crucial for any hospitality business,” said Jens Munch, Co-Founder and CEO, FLYR for Hospitality. “By collaborating with STR, we’re thrilled that our customers will have a single source of truth for their hotel and benchmarking data – enabling users to not only design their own dashboards in our Commercial Intelligence Suite, but also include benchmarking performance data which is essential for executive stakeholder reporting.”

“Our new market share solution was built for real-time decision making and strategic optimization,” said Sara Murias, Director, Data Operations at STR. “That makes for a fitting collaboration with FLYR for Hospitality as we give hoteliers a single source of truth to access and analyze their data and make the most informed business decisions.”

Now, all FLYR for Hospitality customers who subscribe to STR Benchmarking will be able to view their performance data directly in the FLYR Commercial Intelligence Suite for hospitality, eliminating the need for revenue managers to switch between platforms and different sources of data. Complete with Benchmarking data, hotel revenue managers can design, export and create scheduled reports from a single source of truth, unlocking actionable insights that inform smarter commercial decision-making.

Virtual Dining Concepts  LLC and Celebrity Virtual Dining  LLC  is suing Jimmy Donaldson, the YoutTuber known as MrBeast and Beast Investments, LLC.

The lawsuit was filed in the Supreme Court of the State of New York for the County of New York on August 7.

Last week, Donaldson and BI sued affiliates VDC and Virtual Concepts Holdings, Inc. in the Southern District of New York, claiming the virtual burger brand damaged Donaldson’s reputation by serving customers “low quality” food;  VDC said in a statement it expects to move to dismiss that case for lack of subject matter jurisdiction.

VDC alleges that Donaldson's and BI's actions have materially damaged the reputation of MrBeast Burger and VDC, turned away customers, and shattered hard-won relationships with vendors and suppliers, damaging the bottom lines of hundreds of restaurants across the country and around the world, and causing damages to VDC that, according to VDC's evidence and Mr. Donaldson's own estimations, are in the "nine-figure" range.

In the meantime, it is business as usual for MrBeast Burger and VDC to the greatest extent possible, and VDC looks forward to serving many more satisfied customers and continuing to help the restaurant industry.