Innovation

💻 Jake Simon and Tushar Agrawal, former Deloitte Consulting employees, founded ConnectedFresh to offer IoT sensor solutions for monitoring critical parameters such as cooler temperatures and energy consumption in foodservice operations. In 2023, the company joined the Techstars Future of Food Accelerator with Ecolab. Clients reported major savings by avoiding losses, with a grocer and a restaurant operator saving $70,000 and $25,000, respectively. Luna Grill reduced ingredient cooling log times from 20 minutes to under 5 minutes per item, saving thousands of hours across its locations. ConnectedFresh's platform uses LoRaWAN-compatible sensors and integrates with facilities management and compliance software to enhance food safety and operational efficiency.

💾 High Hotels, a hotel management firm based in Lancaster, Penn., collaborates with OpsTechPro (OTP) to automate workforce communications for over five years. Leveraging OTP, all 13 hotels in High Hotels' portfolio manage maintenance, engineering, housekeeping, front desk requests, and more. Their goal is to increase workforce performance by hundreds of percentage points within 3-5 months, with weekly monitoring and strategy adjustments. The 2024 Lodging Technology Study highlights the importance of personalized guest experiences and seamless service for guest loyalty, which High Hotels aims to achieve with OTP.

🏖️ By 2025, the 'Everything Traveller' emerges, marrying traditional and modern travel. On Nov 13, 2024, it's reported that 36% of travelers will start hotel searches via search engines, a 10% increase from 2024. Baby Boomers lead at 42%. While 42% book through online travel agencies, up 3%, direct bookings fall to 27%. Travel agent use grows by 1.5%. Over half (52%) have left online travel agencies after bad experiences, with Mexico and India having the highest rates.

🛸 On Nov 13, 2024, an Amex GBT survey of 2,260 business travelers highlighted AI's benefits and concerns. 95% believe AI could improve travel efficiency, favoring convenience (44%), cost savings (43%), and expense management (41%). Yet, enthusiasm dips for AI handling personal in-flight services (29%) and hotel room selection (23%). Main worries are data security and accuracy.

🏠 High Hotels, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has expanded its partnership with software company OpsTechPro (OTP) to automate workforce communications across its 13 hotels. Initially focused on maintenance and engineering, the partnership now includes housekeeping inspections, front desk requests, and more. The ongoing collaboration aims to boost workforce performance significantly within 3-5 months, with weekly progress assessments. OTP's platform is tailored to hotel operations, enhancing productivity and monitoring equipment spending while being user-friendly and adaptable.