Innovation - 10 Minutes News for Hoteliers - Page 320

REPORT: Nearly 80% of STR Say ‘No’ to Traditional Property Managers

💰 Tapcheck, an on-demand pay provider, secured $225 million in financing, including a $25 million Series A extension from PeakSpan Capital and a $200 million credit facility from Victory Park Capital. Founded in 2019 by Ron and Kayling Gaver, Tapcheck integrates with nearly 300 payroll systems and has processed over $1 billion in early wage funding for employees at 12,000 locations. The company is known for aiding 112,000 McDonald's employees and has an 'Excellent' Trustpilot rating. The new funding will develop products and expand AI capabilities to improve early wage access solutions.

3 min

How B&G Food Manages Invoices for 150 Restaurants with Ottimate

💾 B&G Food Enterprises, Taco Bell's largest franchisee in Louisiana with 150 locations and 3,000 employees, faced a challenge managing thousands of invoices weekly among franchises in Louisiana, Texas, and Mississippi since 1982. The AP department processed 700 invoices per week manually, a time-consuming task with complex tax rates and formats. They adopted Ottimate for invoice automation, which resulted in a 92% reduction in processing time, saving 46 hours monthly. Now, 90% of their old imaging system is obsolete, and invoice processing dropped from 60 seconds to 5 seconds per invoice.

5 min

POS Software in 2025: Key Trends and Features on the Horizon

📊 Square introduced Square Kiosk in 2024, a solution combining hardware, software, and payments for fast-moving restaurants, along with features like Bar Tabs and Instant Payouts. Tabit in 2024 enhanced its POS with smarter tools for multi-location restaurants, while in 2025, plans to expand its Loyalty platform and integrate AI-powered insights. Toshiba's ELERA, also in 2024, advanced POS with AI, IoT, and computer vision for intuitive transactions in hospitality venues. TRAY enhanced its POS in 2024 for flexible transactions and seamless operations, even offline, and aims to introduce richer in-kitchen capabilities and AI assistance in 2025.

3 min

Case Study: Refinery Hotel Redefines Revenue Management with LodgIQ – LodgIQ

💾 Midtown Manhattan's Refinery Hotel, with 197 keys, is a tech-forward luxury lifestyle boutique hotel and a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World. Michelle Sharma, the Commercial Director, leveraged LodgIQ's revenue management system to transition from manual pricing strategies to automated, intelligent decision-making. This shift resulted in double-digit RevPAR growth, peak weekend room-type premium deltas of $500, over 40% direct booking contribution, high Net ADR from OTAs with minimal discounting, and approximately 90% annual occupancy. These advances allowed Sharma to focus on strategic roles such as marketing, distribution, product, branding, and technology leadership.

2 min

The biggest Meta update since iOS14, but most advertisers haven't even… | Olly Hudson

📖 Meta Andromeda has changed Facebook ad delivery to AI-driven, individual preference-based content. The key for advertisers in 2025 is high content volume and variety, targeting all awareness phases with psychologically driven messaging. Media buying now relies on providing Meta's algorithm with quality creative options. The new essential KPI is Cost per Winning Asset, focusing on creative volume over cost caps. Soar With Us has adapted by restructuring internal teams and partnering with Hambi Media, emphasizing performance-led creative to fuel Meta's AI. Their payment model aligns with client success, prioritizing creative performance.

1 min

5 ways to use Gemini Live with camera and screen sharing

🎥 Gemini Live introduces a tool enabling conversation with AI through a camera or screen. It aids with organization, creativity, shopping, and skill development, and is presented as a companion for users seeking assistance or conversation. Summaries are generated by Google AI, highlighting the experimental nature of generative AI.

2 min

Introducing Sponsored AI Lenses

📷 Snapchat introduces Sponsored AI Lenses, leveraging Generative AI technology for personalized, interactive brand experiences. Brands using this format on Snapchat's Lens Carousel, with over 300 million daily engagements, can achieve 25-45% more impressions in a day. Companies like Uber and Tinder have already seen higher engagement times compared to standard Lenses. Artists such as Coldplay have also harnessed AI Lenses for fan engagement, enhancing creative storytelling and brand connections.

2 min

Duetto acquires financial benchmarking platform HotStats

💸 Duetto, a revenue management software provider, acquired financial benchmarking platform HotStats. The HotStats team will join Duetto, but financial terms were not disclosed. HotStats offers financial insights for hotel property performance against competitors. Duetto aims to unify various revenue streams into one platform. Duetto, serving over 6,300 hospitality properties worldwide, was acquired by GrowthCurve Capital last year. The acquisition is set to enhance revenue and profit optimization for hotels. Financial advisory by Houlihan Lokey and legal counsel by Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe for Duetto, with Gately plc for HotStats.

2 min

Digital 2025: Global Overview Report — DataReportal – Global Digital Insights

🐈 Google search in 2025 shows "cat" with 6.48 billion results, surpassing "dog" at 5.44 billion. Wikipedia's English-language pages in 2024 had 5.18 million views for cats versus 2.86 million for dogs. Despite web dominance, Google Trends indicates higher interest in dogs (89 average) compared to cats (55 average) during 2024. On social media, #dog has 390 million Instagram posts and 787 billion TikTok views, higher than #cat with 303 million Instagram posts and 754 billion TikTok views. Twitter suggests users are five times more likely to show interest in dogs over cats.

Donatos Pizza Adds Voice Ordering

💸 Tapcheck, an on-demand pay provider founded in 2019 by Ron and Kayling Gaver, secured $225 million in equity and debt financing, supported by PeakSpan Capital and Victory Park Capital. The company integrates with nearly 300 payroll systems, has facilitated over $1 billion in early wage funding, and serves 12,000 employer locations. Employers report a 50% improvement in retention, and 70% of employees experience reduced financial stress. Tapcheck offers services to companies like Hilton and Taco Bell and has disbursed over $160M in advance wages to 112,000 McDonald’s employees. The funding will aid in developing new products, enhancing Tapcheck's Mastercard offering, and expanding AI capabilities.

Input your search keywords and press Enter.