Innovation

🏨 Smart hotels integrate technologies like IoT, AI, and mobile apps to enhance guest experiences and operational efficiency. Embracing mobile integration, guests use apps for digital check-ins, room keys, and in-room settings control. AI-driven services offer real-time assistance and personalized experiences. IoT-enabled automation and voice-activated controls provide seamless interactions. Security advancements include biometric technology for access and transactions. Education in smart hospitality, such as at Les Roches, focuses on the intersection of innovation, service, and leadership, empowering students through hands-on experience with smart technologies and partnerships with industry leaders.

🍕 Pizza Hut India, part of Yum! Brands, Inc., is integrating MoEngage to centralize customer engagement. This global pizza leader aims to enhance customer experiences through new channels. MoEngage provides an advanced analytics suite and AI-enabled offerings for targeted consumer programs. Pizza Hut values the platform for its capability, scale, and support, citing unmatched market customer success and implementation teams. MoEngage serves 1,350+ global brands and helps automate customer data reporting, minimizing manual efforts for Pizza Hut.

🍕 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.

New solution fuels marketing effectiveness by tapping into advanced demand forecasting power LONDON — 22 April 2025 — IDeaS, a SAS company and the world’s leading provider of hospitality revenue management…

💰 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.

🍽 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.

A creative hub in the heart of Paris to support visionary hotel brands seeking elevated digital storytelling Influence Society, the creative agency at the crossroads of design, hospitality, and innovation,…

🏥 Gilda Perez-Alvarado, CEO of Orient Express and Group Chief Strategy Officer at Accor, discusses technology and innovation in hospitality on April 22, 2025. She provides insights into the future of luxury travel on the "Hospitality Daily Podcast.

📈 Group bookings drive significant revenue for hotels, but forecasting occupancy and pricing is complex due to "group wash"—unused reserved room blocks. Gerhard Wasem, Director of Product Management, Group Business, remarks on the difficulty of predicting group occupancy. US hoteliers anticipate higher group sales by 2025. In June, an investment was made in BlockBuster, a solution that optimizes revenue and introduces group wash forecasting. This feature uses historical data to predict unbooked rooms within group blocks, helping hotels avoid overestimation, manage availability more efficiently, and enhance rate strategies. Four use cases demonstrate how group wash forecasting allows hotels to adjust pricing and inventory proactively, thereby maximizing revenue and occupancy. Best practices include data accuracy, consistency, and utilizing BlockBuster for real-time adjustments.