News Briefs

Unified Office, a communications technology company offering highly reliable business communications, IoT solutions, advanced business analytics, and AI-driven products, announced today at the CVxEXPO 2024 conference their new AI-based staff engagement grading application, EngageIQ^TM.

With this new offering, the company continues to expand its suite of AI-based conversational analytics solutions. EngageIQ helps resellers deliver innovative services to their customers by adding real-time intelligence that elevates the overall customer experience for any business, bringing the business closer to its customers, and helping to protect its brand by avoiding poor social media reviews for example. EngageIQ is especially beneficial for vertical markets with multi-unit operations such as restaurants, auto dealerships, and medical practices.

Sometimes referred to as a “secret shopper” program, until now engagement scoring for all conversations would be almost impossible, but with EngageIQ, a rules-based app, grades staff performance for all customer phone conversations. The business owner defines a handful of engagement rules with points assigned to each one. This automatic scoring mechanism enables business stakeholders to easily identify their top performers and those needing additional training. Regular staff performance reviews ensure continuous improvement and alignment with a business’s customer service standards. Manually and continually verifying customer service levels would be overwhelmingly labor-intensive.

"Measuring staff conformance is a huge problem for business operators in service-focused industry segments having high turnover, but Unified Office helps to solve this problem," said Ray Pasquale, Founder & CEO of Unified Office. "With EngageIQ a business owner can easily determine and even reward their star employees, while undertaking timely corrective measures for those in need of further training, all without having to manually review every single phone conversation on any given day. Visit the Unified Office booth #6005 at the CVxEXPO show to see how it can go to work for you and your customers."

Key Benefits of EngageIQ include:

• Customizable AI Models:  Our resellers and their customers can easily define their own scoring criteria through EngageIQ’s customizable rule set. Unified Office develops patent pending AI models to increase scoring accuracy based on the unique needs of various vertical industries, including auto dealers, medical practices, and restaurants. This flexibility is important because no two businesses are likely to operate in the same exact way.
• AI That Works:  Unified Office emphasizes accuracy in its AI suite of applications. We build our own langugage models, reducing AI "hallucinations" and ensuring resellers can confidently and cost-effectively deliver AI-driven solutions that go to work for their customers.
• Upsell Opportunity for Resellers:  Alongside our high-quality voice communications platform, EngageIQ provides resellers with a sticky service that generates consistent revenue. By tailoring AI to specific vertical markets and providing innovation that SMBs will actually benefit from, resellers can stay relevant in the market while delivering a high-value solution to their customers.

The company’s tailored approach ensures that AI is effective, accurate, and accessible, enabling SMBs to innovate while creating a revenue stream for resellers. EngageIQ is a part of Unified Office’s Total Connect Now℠ (TCN) offering, an easy-to-use, managed business communications service that integrates voice and video communications, messaging, service-level monitoring, business continuity, IoT, and AI-based business services. Resellers can adapt this high-quality, reliable suite of products and services to meet the unique needs of any business.

“Channel partners need to offer their customers leading-edge solutions they can trust,” Pasquale said. “EngageIQ is a reliable, accurate, and trustworthy solution that your clients can use confidently to improve their customer service while increasing their revenues. We focus our AI capabilities on strengthening customer relationships through the tried-and-true power of voice communication to overcome the growing frustration with call centers, voicemails and chatbots. We believe voice is the future, and we’ve designed our AI product suite to support that vision,” he added.

Encore, a global event technology and production services provider, confirmed today the launch of its pioneering ‘Overtime Savings Program’ in the United States, along with additional people-first programs to further support its ongoing workforce in a seasonal industry.

Powered by UKG’s payroll technology, this first-of-its-kind program aims to enhance financial wellness and stability for Encore’s frontline employees, many of whom work in markets that experience seasonal ebb and flow of business volumes.

With 12,000 team members providing event technology and production services at 2,200 hotels and conference venues in 20 countries, Encore faces the same challenges common in the hospitality industry. Seasonal fluctuations often result in workers’ hours varying from ample overtime during peak times to reduced schedules in off-season periods. This seasonality makes it difficult for workers to maintain consistent earnings and creates challenges for companies to retain talent in the off season.

“Encore has always believed its team members are the heart of our story. This people-first mindset motivates us to constantly evolve our team member experience and innovate around challenges, like the impact of seasonality, that the industry previously viewed as immutable,” said Ben Erwin, president and CEO of Encore.

In addition to the Overtime Savings Program, the company launched a Seasonal Leave of Absence Program, which offers team members the flexibility to take time off during slower seasons while retaining full benefits, accruing paid time off, and maintaining their tenure. This unique program enables employees to explore other work opportunities, pursue education, or focus on personal goals without sacrificing benefits or career progression. Both the Overtime Savings and Seasonal Leave of Absence Programs are active nationwide, with plans for global expansion.

“We established the program as another way to support our team members so that they can be at their best in delivering for our customers,” Erwin added. “With this innovation, they can better plan and save their premium overtime pay for periods of the year when they might not work as many hours. Providing this capability and funding a company-paid match for a portion of the savings should motivate financial wellness and enable them to continue to build their career with Encore. Team member reactions tell us we are onto something,” he said.

With a launch just after Labor Day, usage of the UKG Wallet™ increased tenfold compared to the prior year’s period. he company offered an initial savings match, similar to a 401k program incentive match, to reward healthy financial behavior.

“Financial stress is not a problem isolated to our industry, it’s a stressor for nearly everyone,” said Charlie Young, chief human resources officer at Encore. “Nearly 70% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck¹ and Americans spent $9B in bank overdraft fees in 2023. The more we can do to reduce stress for our team members, the more focused they can be on our customers. We are successful in the event production business because of the unique combination of our technical expertise, hospitality mindset and ability to work under pressure and through challenges. Seasonal fluctuations are part of our business, but with a partner like UKG that understands every industry has unique challenges, we were able to innovate to support those unique needs to make our team members’ lives better.”

Cody Browne, a technical lead with five years of service for Encore in Las Vegas, said he will try the Overtime Savings program, in addition to accruing and saving his Paid Time Off, for the slow season in December in Las Vegas. He hopes the vacation time, in addition to the saved overtime funds, will afford him an out-of-state vacation to visit family. “I love that Encore is creating new opportunities, that’s one of the reasons I am interested in growing my career here,” he said.

Sparkfly, an award-winning retail technology solutions company, shared results from its partnership with Costa Vida Fresh Mexican Grill, highlighting significant improvements in the restaurant brand's customer engagement and loyalty initiatives.

Since implementing Sparkfly's comprehensive suite of solutions less than 12 months ago, Costa Vida has seen substantial improvements across key performance metrics, including:

• 12% growth in reward redemptions
• 6.5% increase in email deliverability
• 15% increase in email click-through rates

Costa Vida, known for its fresh, Baja-inspired Mexican cuisine across more than 95 locations in the U.S. and Canada, selected Sparkfly to revamp its rewards and offer management technology while improving integration with its customer engagement platform’s email solutions. The partnership includes implementation of Sparkfly's Offer Management, Loyalty, Digital Wallet, and POS Middleware Platform.

• Related:  82% of customers want to receive discounts as a benefit of their loyalty program membership, according to HT's 2024 Customer Engagement Technology Study

“Costa Vida’s focus is on operational excellence and we are committed to serving ‘amazing’ – one person, one meal, one experience at a time,” said Wade Allen, President of Costa Vida. “Sparkfly shares our commitment to quality and has helped us implement a stable, powerful system on a flexible platform that easily integrates with our other key partners. The team has been incredibly collaborative, working closely with us to ensure seamless operations and continuous improvement.”

In related news, Allen shared his insights in HT's webinar for the 2025 POS Software Trends Study: Powering Automation. 

"Costa Vida’s strategy is a model of a forward-thinking and innovative approach to unifying guest engagement technologies,” said Catherine Tabor, Founder and CEO of Sparkfly and HT's Top Women in Restaurant Technology Innovator in 2020. “By creating a seamless connection between Costa Vida's POS, digital ordering, and customer engagement platforms, we're helping them deliver the personalized experiences that guests demand. The significant improvements in email engagement and reward redemptions demonstrate how the right technology foundation can transform customer relationships and drive measurable business results."

Wild Island Adventure Park has implemented a new automated food and beverage ordering system leveraging  Truffle GoBox food lockers and Epson m-Series POS printers to streamline operations and improve guest experiences. 

After realizing its outdated kitchen facilities were struggling to keep up with its growing demands and becoming a barrier to its success, the family fun entertainment center began its search for a solution that would modernize its food and beverage facilities and streamline kitchen operations. Last summer, Wild Island deployed the Truffle GoBox, a contactless food and beverage locker, along with Epson printers, and today has 16 of these innovative lockers throughout the water park’s various food and beverage facilities.

• Related: Building Smart Hospitality with QR Infrastructure

“The kitchen was having a hard time keeping up with the increase in park attendance,” said Kelly Smiley, food and beverage director, Wild Island Adventure Park. “Our tickets were slow and most of our guest complaints and poor reviews were regarding food wait times. We needed another option that removed guests from a classic queue line and gave them the opportunity to wait elsewhere while still enjoying the park.”

The Truffle GoBox offers a powerful, seamless system that blends digital and physical dining. Guests scan a QR code that is posted throughout the park and choose their menu items, which are then sent to the kitchen to be prepared.  Once ready, the food and beverages are placed into one of the GoBoxes, which can only be unlocked by a QR code that the customer receives when the order is ready for pickup. 

While the Truffle GoBoxes are a new addition, Epson thermal POS receipt printers have been used for decades throughout the park. In addition to the recently added m-Series printers integrated with the Truffle GoBoxes, both the entertainment center and water park utilize over 30 TM-T88 series printers due to its speed and low-maintenance features.

“Speed is of the utmost importance at our park, so fast receipt print times are essential,” said Smiley. “One of the most popular stands at the park has an average of 58 transactions an hour. The Epson POS printers can withstand this demand and still last, with little to no maintenance required. In fact, the Epson POS printers that we deployed a decade ago still work just as well as the first day we got them. They are a great long-term solution and probably one of the lowest maintenance pieces of hardware we have.”

SiteMinder, the world’s leading hotel distribution and revenue platform, has released SiteMinder’s Changing Traveler Report 2025, the largest survey globally on accommodation, revealing that 37% of Americans plan to book their 2025 stays directly, either via a hotel’s website (23.5%) or by contacting the property by phone or email (13%). This figure significantly exceeds the global average of 27%, and rises to 57% among those over the age of 60.

The report, based on a survey of over 12,000 respondents across 14 major tourism markets, shows how these plans are shaping the rise of the 'everything traveler'—a new, multifaceted guest blending trending and traditional behaviors as travel dynamics shift. The report underscores a strong preference for direct bookings among US travelers, outpacing those from Australia (35%) and Germany (33%). By contrast, travelers from Indonesia (16.5%) and China (17%) are the least likely to book their hotel stay directly.

SiteMinder’s report also highlights that loyalty incentives are becoming an increasingly important factor in driving repeat business, with 33% of Americans citing them as one of the top three reasons for returning to a hotel in 2025—nine percentage points higher than the global average. SiteMinder’s Changing Traveler Report 2025 shows that in 2022, 23% in the US and 15% globally cited loyalty programs as a primary reason for returning. This rose to 28% in the US and 19% globally in 2023, before reaching 33% (38% among Gen Zers) in the US and 24% globally for stays next year.

A generational divide: how Gen Z is shaping international trends and accommodation preferences

SiteMinder’s data shows that more than half (51%) of American respondents plan to travel abroad in 2025, up from 43% this year. This increase is largely being driven by Gen Z travelers (aged 18-27), 73% of whom intend to travel internationally next year, compared to just 30% of those over the age of 60. Popular international destinations for American Gen Zers include Australia (13% vs 7% country-wide), France (10% vs 7% country-wide), Brazil (7% vs 3% country-wide) and New Zealand (7% vs 2% country-wide). Canada will be the most popular destination overall (10%).

This finding highlights the significant generational divide in the US when it comes to travel and accommodation preferences. SiteMinder’s report offers several additional examples:
 

• 23% of Gen Z travelers plan to use online forums to find their 2025 accommodation, compared to just 3% of those over 60, while 67% of Gen Zers have abandoned online bookings due to poor experiences, a stark contrast to the 21% of older travelers who report the same.

• Gen Z is more likely to spend additional money on accommodation next year (69% vs 32%) and to work from their hotel (59% vs 15%). They plan to spend ‘most of the time’ on site (41% vs 7%) and are more willing to pay extra for eco-friendly stays (87% vs 31%).

• Gen Z is more likely to travel for an event (79% vs 38%) and to embrace AI at various stages of their accommodation journey (87% vs 41%).

Trent Innes, Chief Growth Officer at SiteMinder, said: "American travelers are increasingly incorporating the opportunities offered by technology into tried-and-tested practices, to optimize their consumer experience. The enduring, and increasing popularity of direct bookings and loyalty programs is testament to this, as accommodation consumers seek out deals and initiatives online to maximize value for money and enhance their stay.”

As travelers increasingly turn to technology to enhance their experiences, Innes adds, “Hoteliers would do well to ensure they are ready to respond dynamically to surges in bookings around major events, particularly amongst Gen Z travelers. By focusing on this generation’s expectations, including integrating AI into the customer journey and providing options for eco- and work-friendly stays, hotels can curate memorable experiences and win over a new generation of guests.” 

SiteMinder’s Changing Traveller Report 2025 is available here.