Innovation

💾 Guesty, an Airbnb Preferred+ Software Partner, launched a Quality Dashboard for property managers on Airbnb, resulting in a 17% increase in review volume and a 7% increase in 5-star ratings over eight months. The tool provides real-time data-driven insights, tracks ratings, guest feedback, and quality metrics, leading to up to a 10% higher average quality score. The initiative reflects Guesty's commitment to innovation and supporting property managers to enhance guest experiences and drive bookings.

📣 IDeaS launched IDeaS Spotlight on Apr 23, 2025, a demand intelligence solution for hotel marketers, combining AI analytics with demand forecasting and price sensitivity to optimize marketing and revenue. Spotlight offers an actionable dashboard, improves conversions through price sensitivity signals, enables real-time strategy adjustments, and facilitates team collaboration, aiming for higher revenue and effective campaigns.

🌱 On Apr 23, 2025, Amex GBT launched a sustainability feature for Egencia to aid companies in cutting travel emissions. The tool suggests sustainable travel options, such as rail for short flights and lower-emission flights, emphasizes lower-emission cabin classes, and offers implementation via policy link. Integrated with the SAF platform Avelia, it aims to help companies meet sustainability goals by showing carbon reductions from SAF use.

🍕 Pizza Hut India, a Yum! Brands, Inc. subsidiary, has partnered with MoEngage to revamp its customer engagement. MoEngage, serving 1,350+ global brands, will provide advanced analytics and AI to Pizza Hut for creating tailored consumer programs. The collaboration aims to streamline operations, offer quality support, and introduce innovative communication methods, ultimately enhancing customer satisfaction. Manish Gupta, Chief Digital & Technology Officer of Pizza Hut India, highlights MoEngage's capability, scale, and support as decisive factors for the partnership.

💳 ROH secured a $9.2 million investment led by Highgate Technology Ventures and Acrew Capital for platform expansion and enhanced data processing. Over 80% of the hotel industry's $4 trillion annual payments involve manual work. ROH's board now includes Raja Goel, Kurien Jacob, and John Gardner. Hotels using ROH have seen improved sales conversions, operational efficiency, compliance adherence, and receivables management. Highgate piloted ROH over two years, noting immediate value and efficiency gains. In 2024, ROH handled nearly $250 million in invoices and saw a 523% increase in AI-generated bookings.

📈 IDeaS, a SAS company, launched "IDeaS Spotlight" on April 22, 2025, in London, aiming to enhance marketing effectiveness in hospitality through advanced demand forecasting and AI. This tool aids hoteliers in identifying high-value opportunities and optimizing marketing spend to boost incremental revenue. Spotlight will become available to IDeaS clients in July 2025, promising proactive strategy adjustments and data-driven campaign success for 30,000 properties in 164 countries.

💰 ROH, a hospitality industry payments platform, finished a $9.2 million finance round led by Highgate Technology Ventures and Acrew Capital. The investment will support ROH's platform expansion and improve data processing from contracts, invoices, and payments. Highgate's Raja Goel and Kurien Jacob, along with Acrew's John Gardner, are joining ROH's Board. ROH aims to modernize hotel payment processes, addressing the 80% of the $4 trillion in hotel payments requiring manual intervention. In 2024, ROH managed nearly $250 million in invoices and saw a 523% increase in bookings from its AI application. Highgate's properties piloted ROH, leading to the investment and further commercial use due to improved operational efficiency and profitability.

📈 IDeaS, a SAS company, announced the launch of IDeaS Spotlight in Minneapolis, Minnesota, a demand intelligence solution for hospitality revenue management. Spotlight combines demand forecast and price sensitivity to optimize marketing spend, targeting high-value opportunities with AI analytics. Key benefits include actionable forecast data for marketing, increased campaign conversion, proactive strategy adjustment, and enhanced team collaboration. Available to IDeaS clients in July 2025, it aims to provide a competitive advantage by transforming forecast insights into effective marketing actions.

🍽 Arizona Biltmore (LXR Hotels & Resorts) is debuting Le Petit Chef on May 1, 2025, featuring an immersive 3D dining experience. This will be the only Southwest venue among its 89 global and eight U.S. locations. The resort, a Frank Lloyd Wright-style landmark since 1929, adds to its luxury offerings with this intimate, 18-seat show running Thursdays to Saturdays at 5:30 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. Tickets are priced at $195 per adult and $79 for the junior menu. Reservations are now open.