Innovation

📈 Obvlo revolutionizes hotel industry by reducing dynamic local guide creation time from two weeks to 60 minutes, employing AI to ensure up-to-date, personalized content. The platform caters to over 100 guest archetypes, integrates with third-party guides, and supports hotels with revenue-generating data insights for remarketing and upselling. Daily, 5-10% of content is refreshed, eliminating outdated information. This innovation is a boon for both large chains and smaller hotels, enhancing guest experiences and loyalty.

📖 Obvlo now creates the world's fastest dynamic hotel destination guides in just 60 minutes, a significant reduction from the previous two weeks, thanks to its proprietary AI tools. The content is personalized, continually refreshed, and caters to over 100 guest archetypes, enhancing the guest experience and hotel revenues. Daily updates ensure 5-10% of content remains current, supporting local businesses and enabling hotels to generate targeted offers and insights through integration with Google Analytics.

🟡 Paint brand Dulux announces "True Joy" as the Colour of the Year for 2025, a bright yellow hue selected to inspire optimism and creativity. True Joy was chosen for its bold, sunny disposition that adds cheerfulness to interiors, with three key trends influencing the selection: joyfulness, craftsmanship, and heritage. Complementary colour palettes were revealed, including Bold Colour Story for education and office spaces, Human Colour Story with neutral shades for warmth, and Proud Colour Story with deep tones for hospitality and residential areas. Previous Colours of the Year include Wild Wonder for 2023 and Sweet Embrace for 2024.

🍳 Saladplate, part of Informa Markets, serves as the official content and engagement hub for the Hospitality, Food, and Beverage sector. It offers insights, weekly news updates, a monthly newsletter, and a bi-monthly e-magazine. The platform boasts access to over 10,000 brands, companies, and products, as well as registration and updates for more than 35 international trade events.

🏡 Noida, 10th September 2024: Bhanu Chopra, Founder and Managing Director of RateGain Travel Technologies Limited, an AI-powered SaaS solutions provider for hospitality and travel, has been elected as Co-Chair of ASSOCHAM’s National Council on Travel & Tourism. The travel and tourism industry, contributing 7.7% to India's GDP in 2023, anticipates becoming a $3 trillion economy by 2047, creating 200 million jobs. RateGain operates in 100+ countries with 3,200+ customers and 700+ partners, serving major hotel chains, airlines, and car rentals.

💻 AI systems in Quick Service Restaurants (QSRs) minimize human error, accelerating order processing, hence enhancing customer experience. AI assists in trend analysis, identifying peak times, popular items, and guiding inventory management, also aiding in staff scheduling. U.S. restaurants annually waste 22-33 billion tons of food, but AI can mitigate this by updating inventories, making sustainable recommendations, and promoting underperforming menu items. AI adoption is increasing among QSRs, promising improved experiences for customers and staff while boosting cost efficiency.

🏨 According to a Deloitte survey, 45% of hoteliers report fragmented technology in their tech stack hinders delivering exceptional guest experiences. Hotels must shift to an interconnected ecosystem, with a modern Property Management System (PMS) at the core, to enhance the guest journey. This approach allows for integrated booking, shifts focus to guest-centric metrics like Revenue Per Available Guest (RevPAG), and supports dynamic packaging, leading to increased satisfaction and revenue. Transitioning from manual to automated systems, overcoming the challenge of replacing established processes, and adopting a transformational mindset are essential for hotels to capitalize on technology, encouraging additional guest spending and loyalty.

🛌 Aimbridge Hospitality partners with UKG to offer AI-powered flexible scheduling to its 45,000 hourly U.S. employees, improving work-life balance and earning the 2023 UKG Innovation Award. Using the UKG Pro mobile app, 30% of Aimbridge's workforce can trade shifts across 1,100 U.S. properties. Nearly half (47%) of global employees find flexible/self-scheduling highly desirable in 2024. Aimbridge also leverages UKG Talk for streamlined communications and plans to utilize AI-assistant UKG Bryte™ for guiding employees on PTO policies.

🏦 Simon Champion to step down as CEO of Boxpark after a 7-year tenure, having been part of the team since before April 2022. Boxpark, known for using shipping containers for pop-up street food, has locations in London and Liverpool. COO Ben Mclaughlin to take over interim operations. Boxpark Camden to open in late September with 60 traders, two bars, and a rooftop terrace, subject to planning permission. Shoreditch outpost to close due to lease expiration, despite a campaign to save it.