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The Topic As guest expectations evolve, technology has become the quiet engine behind effortless service and memorable dining. For a full-service hotel managing multiple venues, from restaurants to in-room and poolside experiences, the real challenge lies in maintaining consistency, efficiency, and profitability without losing the personal touch that defines great hospitality. To address these challenges, Crowne Plaza , part of the IHG Hotels & Resorts portfolio, adopted Shiji’s Infrasys POS and Stellaris Digital Dine , a powerful integration designed to optimize order flow, eliminate manual inefficiencies, and empower guests through self-service ordering. The result is a connected F&B ecosystem that delivers real-time communication, seamless payment handling, and data-driven operational insights. The Study In collaboration with the Crowne Plaza, part of the IHG Hotels & Resorts, Shiji conducted a focused evaluation of how integrated restaurant technology can optimize service and operational performance across multiple dining outlets. The study aimed to determine how a connected POS and digital ordering platform could improve service delivery, operational consistency, and guest experience within a full-service hotel environment. Specifically, it assessed the impact of this technology on order accuracy, staff productivity, guest satisfaction, and centralized data management. Participants: Lynn Clemente , Director of Culinary and F&B Services, IHG Hotels F&B Management Team, Crowne Plaza Technology Partner: Shiji Group Methodology The study draws on qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and operational observations from the Crowne Plaza F&B leadership team. As the property implemented Shiji’s systems from the outset, comparisons are based on historical benchmarks and professional experience across similar IHG properties. Analysis focused on: Order accuracy and processing efficiency Guest engagement and satisfaction Staff productivity and workload reduction Reporting and data utilization The mobility and ease of use have significantly improved order handling and reporting efficiency across venues,” Lynn Clemente, Director of Culinary and F&B Services, IHG Hotels. Key Findings & Insights Operational Efficiency & Staff Productivity Before adopting Infrasys POS and Stellaris Digital Dine, F&B teams often struggled with manual order-taking, delayed communication between service points, and double-handling of payments. Today, Infrasys POS’s mobile accessibility , via iPads and handheld devices, has streamlined these processes dramatically. Orders can be taken and payments processed on the spot, eliminating paper trails. Real-time syncing between outlets ensures accuracy and communication efficiency. Reduced manual input enables staff to focus on guest engagement rather than administrative tasks. Accuracy & Reliability With 95% of room service and poolside orders placed directly through Stellaris Digital Dine , order errors have been virtually eliminated. This automation reduces miscommunication between guests and staff and ensures that requests are transmitted instantly to the kitchen and service teams. Key Impacts: Fewer missed or incorrect orders Smoother delivery flow Reduced need for signature or physical payment handling System Integration & Data-Driven Management Infrasys POS integrates seamlessly with Crowne Plaza’s existing hotel systems, centralizing reporting and operational oversight across multiple outlets. This integration minimizes manual data entry and ensures consistent performance insights that can be shared across the broader IHG network. “This setup allows for centralized data management, making

Challenge: Hotel Search for General Manager A full-service independent hotel in the Southeast had been searching for a new General Manager for nearly six months. Despite working with multiple recruiting sources and posting the role across several hospitality job boards, the ownership group faced three persistent problems: a small pool of qualified applicants, candidates with strong operations experience but limited leadership skills, and several late-stage candidate withdrawals. The hotel was entering a critical period with renovation plans underway and needed a leader capable of managing operational improvements while maintaining guest satisfaction. Ownership began to question whether the candidate shortage was simply a reflection of the tight labor market, or if something deeper was limiting their ability to attract the right leader. Initial Assessment: Role versus Compensation Before launching a new search, we conducted a detailed review of the situation, focusing on three areas. #1 – Role Definition: The job description had evolved into a long list of operational responsibilities but failed to clearly communicate the leadership expectations, the property’s strategic priorities, or the ownership group’s vision for the hotel. Top candidates often evaluate opportunities based on impact and autonomy, not just operational scope. #2 – Compensation Positioning: While the compensation package was competitive for the market, it lacked two components senior leaders often prioritize: performance-based incentives and a clear reporting structure with defined decision authority. These factors can significantly influence whether high-level candidates seriously consider a role. #3 – Initial Strategy: The previous search relied heavily on inbound applications through job postings. In today’s hospitality leadership market, many of the strongest candidates are not actively looking and rarely apply through traditional channels. This meant the hotel was missing a large segment of qualified leaders. Redefine Strategy: Role versus Outreach A revised approach focused on proactive outreach and clearer positioning of the opportunity. Reframing the Role: The position was repositioned as a property transformation opportunity, emphasizing upcoming renovations, the ability to influence long-term strategy, and direct access to ownership. This shift significantly increased interest among experienced operators. Targeted Candidate Mapping: Instead of relying on job postings, we conducted a targeted search of leaders in comparable properties, focusing on candidates with experience leading similar full-service hotels, strong guest satisfaction metrics, and proven team leadership and culture-building ability. This proactive outreach expanded the candidate pool considerably. Structured Evaluation Process: To ensure alignment between ownership and candidates, the interview process focused on leadership style and culture fit, experience managing capital improvement projects, and long-term career motivations. This helped identify candidates capable of leading the property through its next phase. The Outcome of New Hotel Executive Search Within five weeks, the search produced six highly qualified candidates. The hotel ultimately hired a General Manager with experience leading multiple full-service properties, a strong background in operational turnarounds, and proven success improving team retention and guest satisfaction. Within the first six months of the new leader’s tenure, employee turnover declined significantly, guest satisfaction scores improved, and renovation planning moved forward on schedule. Key Takeaways for Hotel Owners

OVERVIEW The hotel market In Madrid recorded an improvement in performance in 2025, with GOP PAR rising by +12.8% to €100.8, driven by a €23.1 PAR increase in total revenue. Total operating expenses partially offset this gain, increasing by €11.7 PAR. The Rooms department led the GOP growth, with RevPAR rising by €18.3 (+11.2%), driven by an increase in ADR to €243.0 (+8.6%) and a moderate improvement in occupancy to 74.9% (+2.5%). F&B revenue also grew, increasing 7.3% year‑on‑year to reach €50.4 PAR. On the expenses side, total costs increased by 9.1%, driven primarily by Payroll (+9.0%), with Rooms and F&B remaining the main contributors to payroll growth, and by a further rise in Other Expenses (+11.0%) as wage pressures continued. In terms of seasonality, occupancy generally increased throughout the year, with only two months underperforming compared to last year, June (-3.1%) and July (-0.1%). January posted the strongest growth (+7.5%), while October recorded the highest occupancy (87.7%) and August the lowest (62.9%). Public records indicate that 16 new hotels commenced operations during 2025, being partially offset by one closure. These additions contributed a total of 1,067 new rooms, however, after adjusting for opening dates, the effective net increase amounted to 601 rooms per day. On a weighted basis, this reflects a +1.0% growth in market supply. Driven by a strong increase in GOP PAR (+12.8%), the GOP margin grew to 41.9% (+2.0%). Revenue outpaced cost growth driving a stronger bottom‑line performance. Hence, a solid GOP Flow Through of 49.6% is achieved, indicating that nearly half of the additional revenue converted into profit. SUPPLY Based on public announcements, 16 new hotels openings occurred during 2025, only offset by the closure of ME Reina Victoria (192 rooms) which is expected to reopen after full renovation. A total of 1,067 rooms were added during 2025, translating into 601 net effective rooms per day once adjusted for opening dates and resulting in a +1.0% increase in market supply on a weighted basis. Hotel openings are increasingly shifting toward peripheral areas such as San Blas, which accounts for most of the new additions (8 hotels and 817 rooms), reflecting a move toward more price‑sensitive leisure demand. The majority of the new supply falls within the Midscale (53.7%) and Economy (24.5%) segments. Additionally, six of the new openings were extended‑stay properties (126 Rooms). Looking ahead to 2026, 14 hotels are currently under construction and scheduled to open in the first half of the year, adding roughly 1,600 rooms to the market. This includes landmark properties such as the Mercer Madrid (61 rooms), the Nômade Temple (109 rooms) and the Club Metropolis (19 rooms). COSTS PAYROLL COSTS Labour expenses in hotels in Madrid slightly decreased as a percentage of revenue in 2025, moving from 29.1% to 28.7% (‑0.4 p.p., ‑1.5%), despite rising in nominal terms. The largest cost increases occurred in the Rooms (+€2.8 PAR, +11.5%) and F&B (+€1.5 PAR, +6.1%) departments. The Spanish minimum wages grew (+4.4%) in 2025 partially explains the continued upward pressure

Raleigh’s hotel market outlook remains strong, supported by its role as North Carolina’s capital and its education, healthcare, and manufacturing sectors. Demand, ADR, and RevPAR continue to rise despite new supply additions, with demand growth outpacing new supply. Major convention, mixed-use, and healthcare developments are expected to further strengthen hotel demand. Raleigh serves as North Carolina’s capital, an economic engine powered by education, healthcare, and manufacturing. The outlook for the greater Raleigh market remains positive, as demand levels, ADR, and RevPAR have all increased in recent years, despite new supply additions. Furthermore, demand growth continues to outpace supply growth. As anticipated developments reach completion, hotel demand is expected to strengthen further. Recent Hotel Metrics Occupancy in Raleigh generally increased from the mid-50s in 2009 to its peak of 75.4% in 2019, despite the available room count in the greater Raleigh market nearly doubling. Similarly, ADR and RevPAR increased year-over-year during that period. Like markets nationwide, Raleigh experienced a sharp downturn in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Recovery began in the second quarter of 2021 and accelerated steadily through 2024, even as several new hotels entered the competitive set. By year-end 2025, demand had climbed to record levels, with occupied room nights exceeding one million. ADR rebounded quickly, surpassing 2019 levels by year-end 2022, and continued an upward trajectory through 2025. Despite a slight drop in RevPAR for 2025, Raleigh’s hotel market has shown strength and resilience in recent years, attributed to the presence of leading companies in education, health care, and manufacturing. Key Developments Driving Hospitality Growth Several major development initiatives are anticipated to serve as meaningful demand drivers for Raleigh’s hotel market in the coming years. Expanded convention capacity, new mixed‑use districts, and healthcare investment are poised to increase group, leisure, and extended‑stay travel and to support higher‑quality hotel development in key submarkets. The following projects represent the most significant influences on future hotel demand and performance in greater Raleigh. Raleigh Convention Center (RCC) Expansion In 2025, construction began on a $387-million expansion of the RCC . Plans include the addition of roughly 300,000 square feet of meeting space and large-scale event space, as well as the relocation of the Red Hat Amphitheater one street south of its current location. Furthermore, a 550-room Omni Hotel is currently under construction adjacent to the RCC. The hotel is anticipated to house 55,000 square feet of meeting space and several food-and-beverage options. The expansion is expected to be completed by 2028 and should significantly bolster the market’s ability to host large conventions and events. Union West Development Planned for completion in 2028, a new 400,000-square-foot, mixed-use development will feature 385 residential units and 26,000 square feet of retail and dining space. Complementing this project, a 170-room boutique hotel is planned adjacent to the development, helping to expand Union West’s role as a destination. Just north of this development, a multi-modal RUS Bus Transit Facility opened in July 2025 featuring a six-bus bay with bike parking and accompanying support spaces. Together, the residential,

Brussels, Belgium – The business travel sector is a driving force in the shift toward more sustainable mobility in Europe, according to insights shared at a high‑level European Parliament roundtable in Brussels on 8 April. The event—organised by the Global Business Travel Association ( GBTA ) and hosted by MEP Sérgio Gonçalves (S&D, Portugal), a member of the Parliament’s Committee on Transport & Tourism—brought together influential EU policymakers and business travel leaders to discuss the path towards a more competitive, inclusive, greener future for travel. Participants included MEP Nikolina Brnjac (EPP, Croatia), European Commission representative Andreea Staicu, and GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang, as well as BCD Travel CEO Stephan Baars and Parexel Executive Director, Travel & Sustainability, Ben Park. At the centre of the Roundtable discussion was the forthcoming Sustainable Tourism Strategy —the EU’s first comprehensive policy framework for the tourism ecosystem. Participants examined how business travel can play a pivotal role in helping Europe meet the ambitions set out in the Strategy, through the sharing of initiatives and best practices which are already prevalent across the sector. Another key focus of discussion was the upcoming Single Digital Booking and Ticketing Regulation, also known as the “Single Ticketing Package,” which aims to simplify cross-border rail travel by allowing passengers to buy a single ticket for journeys involving multiple operators. One key initiative outlined was the Sustainability Acceleration Challenge , a GBTA-led initiative involving more than 400 global companies across a wide range of industry sectors. It aims to mobilise organisations of all sizes and in all geographies, to start, advance, and accelerate the integration of practices that materially reduce their business travel emissions. Addressing the Roundtable, GBTA CEO Suzanne Neufang said: Business travel is a catalyst for economic growth and innovation, both here in Europe and globally, directly fuelling progress within organizations as well as demand for other key travel sectors such as airlines, hotels, restaurants and more. Our sector is also at the forefront of sustainable mobility, a topic likely to come into much sharper focus with the prospect of fuel shortages due to the conflict in the Middle East. Recent insights from GBTA revealed growing uptake amongst businesses for Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF), a greener alternative to conventional, fossil-based jet fuel. As the voice of global business travel, GBTA will continue to lead the charge for a greener travel future, including at our forthcoming Sustainability Summit in Vienna on November 2, which will bring together industry leaders, experts and policy leaders. The European Parliament event supports GBTA’s ongoing mission to elevate the industry’s collective voice on public policy issues affecting business travel at both the global and local levels. Visit the GBTA Advocacy web page for more information.

Minor Hotels has unveiled plans to build a new global data and AI platform from the ground up in partnership with Google Cloud , Salesforce , OneTrust and Deloitte , marking a major acceleration of the group’s long-term digital transformation strategy. The initiative represents one of the most significant technology investments in Minor Hotels’ history. It also marks a deliberate move to lead the hospitality sector in using data and AI to personalise experiences and strengthen direct relationships with guests across its more than 640 properties in operation and committed development worldwide. At its core is the creation of a single digital platform connecting global guest data, marketing and service operations. This will allow the group to recognise guests more consistently across brands and destinations, personalise communications and offers based on preferences and past stays, while ensuring guest data is managed responsibly, with privacy and governance embedded into the platform from the outset. The new platform, set for full deployment within 2026, is being developed independently of any legacy systems. This enables Minor Hotels to leapfrog traditional technology by building directly on the latest enterprise‑grade AI capabilities from its technology partners, ensuring it is designed from day one to take advantage of advances in generative AI, intelligent agents and automation. This clean-sheet approach is expected to significantly compress development timelines compared to traditional transformation programmes, and positions the group to evolve its commercial and service capabilities more quickly as AI technologies continue to mature. AI is becoming the front door to travel – and with it, control over demand is shifting. The brands that win will not be the most visible, but the most intelligent: those able to respond in real time, own their data and shape the guest relationship directly. At Minor Hotels, we are building that capability at scale, ensuring we don’t just participate in this new landscape, but define our position within it. Ian Di Tullio, Chief Commercial Officer of Minor Hotels Designing a future‑native platform for AI-driven hospitality The platform will be built on Google Cloud ’s AI-optimised technology stack, with BigQuery and Vertex AI serving as the interoperable data and intelligence layer. This will enable Minor Hotels to unify guest data across brands, regions and digital touchpoints. It provides the foundation for a stay defined by ‘continuity’, where a guest's unique preferences are understood and honoured whether checking into an Anantara in Thailand or a Tivoli in Portugal. Minor Hotels then aims to move beyond simple AI-driven questions and answers to agentic orchestration. The platform will enable the future deployment of Google-made, third-party or custom AI agents grounded in Minor Hotels’ unified data. By tethering the agents to this single source of truth, they will, for instance, be capable of reliably managing bookings, curating itineraries and resolving complex guest requests in real time. The future belongs to context-aware AI agents that anticipate needs and execute tasks throughout the travel journey. By anchoring its transformation on Google Cloud’s open and secure full-stack architecture, our native integrations

At Shiji, we are entering a new phase in how we build, deliver, and operate hospitality technology. After years of deliberate platform investment, architectural decisions, and careful experimentation, we are now transitioning Shiji into an AI‑first organization. This is not a tactical update or a feature roadmap adjustment. It is a fundamental change in how every product across our portfolio will evolve going forward. This transition is possible because of choices we made long before artificial intelligence became a headline topic. From the beginning, our platform strategy focused on modularity, clean data structures, deep integration across hospitality workflows, and the ability to operate globally under different regulatory environments. Those same decisions now allow us to embed AI across our entire technology stack in a way that is scalable, secure, and meaningful for hotel operators. Shiji AI•R is the framework that enables this transition and gives it structure. What AI‑first actually means An AI‑first organization does not begin by asking where to add AI features. It begins by examining where friction exists in daily operations and how complexity can be removed rather than multiplied. For us, AI‑first does not mean putting artificial intelligence in front of guests, or asking hotel teams to adapt to entirely new ways of working. The objective is the opposite. AI should quietly remove operational weight so that hospitality professionals can focus more on service, leadership, and the guest experience. If AI does not make work faster, simpler, and more intuitive, then it does not belong in production. AI should feel like air I often describe AI as the air we breathe. When the air is clean, you do not notice it. Everything simply functions as it should. When it is polluted, the entire environment suffers. As we embed AI across property management, guest engagement, food and beverage, payments, analytics, and operational workflows, it will work because we have built it on clean and modular data structures and APIs. Making it deeply integrated and “filtered”. Shiji AI•R is designed to make AI pervasive but unobtrusive, powerful yet calm. Quietly working in the background A good example of this approach can be seen in how we manage single guest profiles across properties and regions. Over time, we have deliberately experimented with AI‑driven techniques for identity resolution, pattern recognition, and data reconciliation. Today, we are actively enhancing those capabilities by applying modern generative and predictive AI on top of a stable and proven foundation. The objective has never been technical transparency for its own sake. Hotel teams should not need to understand how models work or how systems make decisions. They should simply be able to find the right guest profile without needing to analyse multiple profiles. Resulting in more accurate guest recognition, better understanding of the guests’ value to the hotel and their preferences. This same standard applies as AI is embedded across all Shiji product lines. It does not matter how AI works. It matters what it delivers. If it does not materially reduce effort or improve

Who says key cards have to be boring? GCSTIMES wooden key cards are a touch of nature, a hint of luxury, and a chance to make a lasting impression. Think of it like a color wheel: give it a spin, and choose the wood that best fits your property’s personality. Sapele : Rich, reddish-brown, warm and quietly sophisticated. Black Walnut : Dark, bold, with a dramatic grain that makes an impression. Cherry : Warm amber tones that deepen with time, adding character as your property ages. Beech : Creamy, smooth and understated, for a clean, refined look. Birch : Pale, light and minimalist, perfect for a fresh, modern aesthetic. Bamboo : Light, renewable, and classic, bringing natural charm to every stay. Each material is responsibly sourced and FSC-certified, so your choice is as thoughtful for the planet as it is for your design. Guests can feel the difference the moment they touch it — organic, natural, and inviting. And while the material steals the show, craftsmanship lets your brand shine. Gold-stamped logos catch the light, precision engraving etches your icons directly into the wood, and hollow-out patterns add a modern, sculptural twist. Go fully custom with shapes inspired by your surroundings, from waves along the coast to city skylines, or add subtle inlays for a touch of sparkle. Embossing introduces a tactile brand presence, making each card uniquely yours. These wooden key cards turn a small, everyday object into an experience. They tell a story about your property, your style, and your care for the guest journey.