Automatic - 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers - Page 120

Paul Macaluso Joins Torchy’s Taco as Chief Executive Officer

💰 Sparkfly in 2024 saw a 30% revenue increase, 98.6% client and 99.4% revenue retention rates. Twelve new enterprise customers joined, pushing their reach to over 100 brands and 18,000+ locations. Over two-thirds of new clients adopted Sparkfly Rewards. Key 2024 milestones included enhanced integrations with Olo, Klaviyo, Iterable, Attentive, Braze, Bikky, mParticle, Sageflo, SmarterSends, and top POS providers. Platform improvements featured a better self-service portal, advanced Loyalty features, and expanded employee roles, maintaining a 100% employee retention since September 2022.

11 min

How Great Leaders Build Other Leaders in Hospitality (Career Reflections & Lessons from Former Starwood CEO Frits van Paasschen)

📝 Frits van Paasschen, at age 46, joined Starwood as CEO, bringing a diverse background from consulting, Disney, and Nike. His first hospitality experience was at age 9 in Innsbruck at a B&B, which he recalls as the epitome of genuine hospitality. Van Paasschen values hospitality's spectrum, encompassing creativity, real estate analytics, technology, and human aspects. He emphasizes the importance of mentorship, having learned from various leaders such as Bob Dvorak's analytical communication, Bo Boyd's congenial style, and Tom Clark's brand and marketing intuition. Frits now focuses on mentoring, being a conscientious board member, and contributing to social and environmental responsibility. He advises approaching career opportunities for growth and capability expansion, leading him from strategic planning at Nike to CEO of Coors and fostering potential in others at Starwood.

3 min

How Hotels Can Cut Energy Costs – Without Cutting Quality

💡 The hospitality industry is recovering post-COVID, facing inflation and high energy costs, with HVAC accounting for 40-50% of a hotel's energy bill. In the US, commercial buildings, including hotels, consume 75% of electricity, half of which is for heating and air conditioning. The Hampton Inn and Suites in Bakersfield saved 40% on electricity with solar panels. The Beverly Hilton and Waldorf Astoria utilize thermal energy storage for 40% of peak summer cooling, reducing costs. Thermal storage offers a safer and potentially more cost-effective alternative to batteries for energy management.

2 min

A Smarter Approach to Hotel Wi-Fi Network Management for IoT and AI-Based Services

💻 The hospitality industry is increasingly adopting IoT and AI-based systems, necessitating scalable network hardware like access points with Wi-Fi 6E and 7 capability. An all-in-one gateway is recommended for its multifunctionality, enhancing security and management efficiency. Third-party managed IT services are on the rise, with the market valued at $365.33 billion, offering security and performance management. Networks must adapt for the IoT and AI era, ensuring scalability and data security to stay competitive.

4 min

Designing the Future: September Banks’ Data-Driven Approach Earns Rising Star Award

🏨 September Banks, Director of Design at Mint House, has earned the 2024 Rising Star Award from Hospitality Technology for integrating technology into hospitality design. She utilizes real-time analytics and guest sentiment to optimize property layouts, spearheading projects such as "Shop Your Stay" and implementing smart lockers for operational efficiency. Banks led the redesign of the historic 1010 Vermont building with modular, smart technology. Her strategies enhance Mint House's digital-first impressions and directly contribute to driving bookings and guest retention.

XTM’s AnyDay Earned Wage Access for Hospitality, Instant Tip-Out Calculator Solution Reports Surge in Demand

📍 FreshAir Sensor launched FreshAir Certified™ for hotels to monetize indoor air quality (IAQ) by offering rooms with verified, high-quality air as a bookable enhancement. Over 50% of guests rank odor-free rooms as top cleanliness indicator, with 58% citing odors as a cause of negative reviews. The program includes molecular air quality monitoring, with rooms continuously monitored and verified for high air quality for at least 60 days prior to check-in. It's rolling out across North America, with potential for U.S. hotels to gain over $1.5B in annual ancillary revenue. Early adopter Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ, reports successful guest uptake and additional revenue through the program.

GRUBBRR Guarantees Results

🚮 FreshAir Sensor launched "FreshAir Certified," a program for hotels to offer rooms with verified indoor air quality as a bookable option, addressing common guest complaints about odors. The program, rolling out across North America, uses molecular monitoring solutions to ensure rooms are free of irritants like smoke and mold, potentially generating over $1.5 billion annually in new ancillary revenue for U.S. hotels. This certification process requires rooms to maintain high air quality for at least 60 days before check-in. Ocean Casino Resort has already seen positive guest responses and revenue from the program. FreshAir Certified aims to increase guest loyalty and revenue without significant capital expenditure or additional staff resources.

Ascent Hospitality Partners with Toast

🛏 FreshAir Sensor launched FreshAir Certified™, a bookable room attribute for improved indoor air quality (IAQ) in hotels. The program utilizes patented molecular technology to monitor and certify rooms free of irritants like tobacco, marijuana, sprays, and mold for at least 60 days prior to check-in. Aimed at wellness-focused accommodations, it creates a new revenue stream without extra labor or capital expenditure. Early results show U.S. hotels could gain over $1.5 billion in annual ancillary revenue. Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City, NJ, reported successful guest uptake in bookings with minimal setup effort.

EVPassport Partners with CBRE to Accelerate Delivery of EV Charging Infrastructure to Hospitality Properties in North America

💸 FuturePlus added 84 hotels to its IMPACT CERTIFIED ecosystem due to travelers' preferences for sustainable stays. Over three years, the platform has engaged in sustainability and ESG reporting, with the hospitality sector seeing 65% of consumers favor accommodations with recognized certificates. FuturePlus members use IMPACT CERTIFIED badges, signaling ongoing environmental and social progress. Partnered with Booking.com and Travalyst Compliance, FuturePlus contributes to ESG standardization. Clients have collectively set over 4,200 sustainability goals, achieving more than 2,700, with 84 certified hotels accomplishing 750 goals. TROO Hospitality joined FuturePlus in September 2022 for its TROO Impact strategy. Atlas Hotels, with 58 locations across the UK, has also embraced the FuturePlus platform for sustainability initiatives.

4 min

Revolutionizing Tourism with Automated Event Classification: A Data Science Approach

📆 A new automatic classification process for tourist events utilizes CRISP-DM, supervised machine learning, and NLP. Over 1,100 event sources from 30+ countries, 700,000 events, and 23 languages contributed to train a model categorizing events into a hierarchical taxonomy. This innovation aids travelers in finding events aligned with their interests and enhances trip planning across multiple regions and languages. It also provides insights for DMOs, event planners, and tourism marketers to tailor events, promotions, and collaborations among tourism stakeholders.

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