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Automatic

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  • 3 min

Grazzy Digital Payments Platform Closes $4MM Seed Round

📄 Guestline, part of Access Group, enhances GuestStay with AI-driven self-service options for hotel guests. The portal, integrating with ResDiary, allows reservation management, service pre-ordering, and facilitates restaurant bookings. Chris Jones stated the service benefits corporate travelers with trials showing popularity due to its ease of use. Guestline customers see restaurant bookings rise, with 25% now via GuestStay portal. The digital registration completion rate is at 31%, improving check-ins and driving direct repeat business. Additional features to boost ancillary revenue are expected in 2024.
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  • 2 min

Starbucks continues its sustainability investments with new solar power projects

💸 Starbucks, under CEO Laxman Narasimhan, announces multiple sustainability efforts, with a focus on combatting climate change by the end of 2023. They've launched a returnable beverage cup program with NextGen and partnered with Mercedes-Benz to install 400 electric vehicle chargers at 100 stores. Recently, Starbucks revealed a partnership with Nexamp, initiating six solar energy projects in Illinois, aimed to provide electricity savings for over 1,100 residents and power 170 local stores. These initiatives build on 340 Illinois stores already wind-powered, and by 2025, the solar projects will contribute more than 40 megawatts of solar energy. Starbucks also formed an environmental board committee to oversee green investments.
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  • 3 min

Amadeus Debuts Delphi Direct

💾 Guestline, integrated with AI, launched self-service features in its GuestStay portal to ease hotel staff workload. The portal allows guests to modify reservations and order extra services. ResDiary, also part of Access Group, is now integrated for seamless restaurant bookings. Trials show corporate travellers prefer the portal for its quick amendment capability. Hotels see an increase in restaurant bookings, with some properties noting 25% of table bookings via GuestStay. Digital registration completion rates are at 31%, and hotels collect more real guest emails, encouraging direct repeat business over OTA bookings. Additional enhancements are expected later in 2024.
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  • 4 min

Hyatt Harnesses LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Build Valuable Relationships

💸 Hyatt integrated LinkedIn Sales Navigator to enhance sales operations, gaining 6,200 saved leads and 2,600 new connections within about three months. 100% of pilot participants affirmed its usefulness, prompting Hyatt to enter a long-term partnership with LinkedIn. The technology aids in identifying key contacts and establishing early customer relationships, pivotal as face-to-face meetings decline. Hyatt's sales teams now leverage Sales Navigator's AI capabilities for a modernized, relationship-driven sales strategy.
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  • 5 min

Unveiling Innovation: Highlights from HITEC’s 2024 E20X Competition

🏆 Folio, dubbed the "Amazon for hotels," offers a mobile-friendly procurement platform for hotel operations, streamlining inventory management. Affixify is a free-to-use hotel tech selection platform using an algorithm to match hotels with vendors. Away Together, a mobile app developed by a couple, enhances guest communication through real-time updates and offers geofenced social connections. Bon App, a POS system with a 20-minute setup, focuses on user-friendliness and cost-cutting via QR code ordering. Directful, an AI marketing platform, predicts guest booking patterns, sending direct booking texts with a 98% read rate within five minutes. Yipy provides a digital standards management platform for hotels, ensuring compliance with updates and performance tracking.
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  • 3 min

Capture Gen Z’s Attention by Focusing on Fitness and Sustainability

💾 Generation Z, with considerable buying power, is entering the full-time workforce and seeking travel experiences aligned with their values: healthy living, sustainability, and advocacy. Around 36% of Gen Z exercise regularly; 30% use hotel fitness facilities; 56% prefer eco-friendly accommodations; hotels can attract them with well-equipped fitness centers and sustainable practices, like cardio equipment converting human energy to electricity. Brown University student Elina Pipa influenced her university to adopt sustainable cardio fitness equipment. Ruben Mejia of SportsArt emphasizes the influence of Gen Z on the hospitality industry.
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  • 3 min

Solving the Employee Scheduling Puzzle in Uncertain Times

🛒 Restaurant sales forecast to top $1 trillion; hospitality industry to add 200,000 jobs, total employment reaching 15.7 million. Over two-thirds of hotels face staffing shortages. 62% of hospitality workers experience burnout from unpredictable schedules; 60% of managers report burnout leading up to peak seasons. Shift scheduling software and apps can save hours per week, reduce overtime costs, and improve scheduling forecasting. Flexible scheduling leads to a 25% decrease in turnover. Optimizing scheduling can increase revenue by up to 15%.
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