Innovation

🛌 In the hospitality industry, chatbots reduce front desk staff's cognitive load by handling simple guest inquiries, allowing staff to focus on complex questions. A 2024 report shows 70% of hotel guests find chatbots helpful for basic questions but prefer humans for nuanced interactions. Integration issues arise when hotels adopt AI tools without unified structures, risking guest and employee frustration. Successful AI implementation requires employee involvement, training, and feedback. AI can also mine guest data for personalized experiences and operations improvement. Hotels should prioritize ease of AI adoption, employee benefits, and continual re-evaluation to enhance both customer and employee experiences. Author Bob Vergidis is the founder of pointofsale.cloud.

📈 Hanson Li, managing partner at Salt Partners, will share insights on back-of-house technology at MURTEC 2025. Salt Partners, based in the San Francisco Bay Area, develops and invests in the F&B industry and tech ventures. The company oversees various ventures, including Michelin-starred Saison and casual dining like Humphry Slocombe Ice Cream and Lazy Susan. Learn more about MURTEC 2025 at MURTEC.com.

🏖 Global travel gross bookings to rise from $1.6 trillion in 2024 to $1.72 trillion in 2025. Online gross bookings forecasted to hit $1.0 trillion in 2024 and $1.2 trillion by 2026, accounting for nearly 65% of total bookings. U.S. travelers in 2024 preferred domestic travel, while Europeans favored international trips. Phocuswright's report offers detailed insights into the global $1.61 trillion travel market, covering market sizing, trends, consumer behavior, technology, sustainability, payments, and funding.

💻 Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia, proposed a future with enterprise software comprising AI-powered chatbots at Nvidia's GTC in March 2024. Nvidia overtook Apple as the most valuable company in October 2024. Klarna, a fintech firm, cut ties with Salesforce and Workday in August 2024 to focus on AI automation. SaaS/PaaS for travel jumped to over 12% of all travel-related funding in 2023. Phocuswright's June 2024 report "True Automated AI in Travel Is Coming" discussed the rise of autonomous agents. OpenAI launched a more advanced AI model series, o1, in September 2024.

🤖 Kura Sushi utilizes a robotic arm to ensure compliance and reduce human error, maintaining disposal rates at 3%. Their growth exceeds 20% annually due to automation, which also reduces staffing needs to 60-70 employees per location, compared to typical restaurants with 80-100. Revenue averages $4 million. The Bikkura Pon Prize System gamifies dining by rewarding guests with a prize after depositing 15 plates. Collaborations with gaming brands for promotions have included Nintendo. Drink robots introduced in 2019 enhance service and the brand's fun, tech-forward image.

🍴 In 2024, Starbucks experienced a mid-teens percent order incompletion rate in their Mobile Order & Pay channel due to long wait times and product unavailability. Steak n Shake implemented PopID's biometric check-in and checkout system for enhanced customer experience. Hospitality Technology announced the 2024 Top Women and Rising Stars in Restaurant Technology, highlighting tech innovation from Jersey Mike's to Pizza Factory. Robotics and AI were key topics at the National Retail Federation's Big Show. Southern Classic Chicken discussed new drive-thru tech plans in HT Talks Tech. POS software vendors shared their 2024 plans, following 2023 achievements. The 2024 Customer Engagement Technology Study by HT revealed how technology fosters customer loyalty. The 2024 POS Software Trends Study showed the importance of integration and adaptation in POS systems. The 26th annual Restaurant Technology Study by HT highlighted the use of human-digital hybrid solutions to address industry challenges.

📈 Kevin Bentley, Head of Technology at Jollibee Foods Corporation, with over 20 years of experience, will speak at MURTEC 2025 on "Personalizing the Guest Experience." Bentley's background includes marketing technology at Johnson & Johnson and automation at Inspire Brands. Discussion points include improving service time, streamlining operations, leveraging technology, and reducing labor costs. Attendees can register for MURTEC 2025, "Experience Matters," at MURTEC.com.

🍴 Bret Thorn, Senior Food & Beverage Editor for Nation’s Restaurant News since 1999 and Restaurant Hospitality since 2016, covers food and beverage trends and hosts the "In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn" podcast. He wrote for The New York Sun (2005-2008), spent five years in Thailand writing for Manager magazine and Asia Times, and graduated magna cum laude from Tufts University. Thorn was in Beijing during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests, won a Neal Award in 2006, and was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014. Contact him at [email protected]