TOP NEWS

💸 Attribute-based selling (ABS) revolutionizes hotel booking by offering guests the choice to select room features and amenities during reservation. ABS enhances guest satisfaction, increases average daily rates (ADR), and optimizes revenue per available room (RevPAR). Peter Waters of Amadeus predicts hotels moving from room-sellers to merchandisers. For implementation, ABS complexity and the potential revenue benefit must be weighed, advises Andrew Rubinacci of FLYR. Priya Rajamani of Stayntouch emphasizes ABS can be integrated with existing technology. Hoteliers should evaluate tech capabilities, understand their property's unique attributes, assess market demand, consider staff impact, perform cost-benefit analyses, pilot the program, and be patient with adoption, following the crawl-walk-run approach.

📈 Dishoom, a UK restaurant group, is set to debut in the US in August through a collaboration at Pastis in New York City. JKS, another London-based group, is eyeing New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas for expansion. San Carlo Group plans a Miami launch as a testbed for further US growth. Sexy Fish launched in Miami in 2022, while Chotto Matte established a Miami presence in 2018, expanding to San Francisco with more cities planned. Hawksmoor opened in NYC in 2021, followed by Chicago, signaling more North American openings. UK brands face a competitive US market, with Carluccio’s, Pizza Express, and YO! having struggled previously. Despite challenges, the US market presents significant opportunities for successful UK restaurant brands.

📱 W Sydney, a five-star hotel with 588 rooms, chose IRIS for digital guest experience solutions. The IRIS app enhances the guest experience with mobile ordering and information on hotel amenities, local weather, and attractions. B&F Director Anand Prabeer reported a significant increase in room service orders and ancillary revenue within the first 6 months. The app's integration into the hotel's operations has led to optimized staff workflows and reduced costs. IRIS VP Sales and Marketing Graham Rushin expressed excitement about the partnership's success in meeting guest demands.

🏨 AI in the hospitality industry enhances hotel searches, online reservations, and customer service. Conversational bots like ChatGPT simplify booking processes and improve customer interactions. By leveraging AI for SEO, predictive analytics, and personalized services, hotels can increase visibility and revenue. However, challenges remain, such as high implementation costs, integration difficulties, and maintaining high-quality, ethical AI-generated content. AI-driven strategies include creating user-friendly websites, influencer marketing, social media engagement, and direct bookings to optimize user experience and drive sales. Nadav, co-founder of Virdee, has extensive software engineering and product team leadership experience.

🍴 John and Desiree Chantarasak to open AngloThai with MJMK Restaurants in Marylebone, London, in autumn. The 50-cover venue will offer Thai-British cuisine, sourcing ingredients from the British Isles, and serve biodynamic European wines. The menu will be seasonal with a la carte dishes, daily chef selections, and British-grown Asian produce. The restaurant features a private dining room, Baan, set to open later. AngloThai's Fitzrovia location deal fell through in 2021 after plans were announced. Opening now set for October.

🍴 Hospitality insolvencies climbed 20% year-on-year to 3,752 cases by May 2024, with the sector facing the third highest business failures. Dishoom, an Indian restaurant group, will launch its first overseas collaboration with New York's Pastis for breakfast dishes from August 19-30, 2024. Nick Beardshaw is set to open Starling, a 40-seater in Esher, Surrey, at August's end, featuring British seasonal dishes. Leeds' Bavette was named Britain’s Best Local Restaurant by The Good Food Guide. Liz Cottam's Leeds restaurant Home will close in September 2024 after seven years, due to economic pressures.

🔔 Over 70% of guests would pay extra for preferred amenities, impacting booking decisions and review positivity. Epic Hotel in Miami and Dorsett Hotel in Hong Kong cater to niche markets with personalized amenities, while Brewdog craft beer hotels and Hard Rock offer unique experiences. McKinsey found that 71% of consumers expect personalized interactions, with 76% frustrated when absent. Tailored amenities, like monogrammed pillow slips at The Peninsula Beverly Hills, enhance guest experiences. Oracle and Skift report 43% desire voice-activated room controls. Hotel 1000 in Seattle integrates heat sensors and offers Topgolf Swing Suite, while InterContinental in China introduces AI service rooms. Personalization, unique offerings, and advanced technology are key to guest satisfaction.

🚧 NTIA leads a campaign to save Boxpark Shoreditch after closure announcement. Founding in 2011, Boxpark created over 1,000 jobs, contributed £80m annually to the local economy, totaling over £1bn, and welcomed 10 million visitors. Negotiations for site extension failed despite efforts with multiple stakeholders. Lease expiration and planned redevelopment by Bishopsgate Goodsyard and London authorities led to the closure set for summer end. Open letter urges Hackney Council to prevent a major setback in Shoreditch's regeneration efforts.

💾 Guestline, integrated with AI, launched self-service features in its GuestStay portal to ease hotel staff workload. The portal allows guests to modify reservations and order extra services. ResDiary, also part of Access Group, is now integrated for seamless restaurant bookings. Trials show corporate travellers prefer the portal for its quick amendment capability. Hotels see an increase in restaurant bookings, with some properties noting 25% of table bookings via GuestStay. Digital registration completion rates are at 31%, and hotels collect more real guest emails, encouraging direct repeat business over OTA bookings. Additional enhancements are expected later in 2024.

🏆 Folio, dubbed the "Amazon for hotels," offers a mobile-friendly procurement platform for hotel operations, streamlining inventory management. Affixify is a free-to-use hotel tech selection platform using an algorithm to match hotels with vendors. Away Together, a mobile app developed by a couple, enhances guest communication through real-time updates and offers geofenced social connections. Bon App, a POS system with a 20-minute setup, focuses on user-friendliness and cost-cutting via QR code ordering. Directful, an AI marketing platform, predicts guest booking patterns, sending direct booking texts with a 98% read rate within five minutes. Yipy provides a digital standards management platform for hotels, ensuring compliance with updates and performance tracking.