TOP NEWS

💾 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.

🛒 Restaurant sales forecast to top $1 trillion; hospitality industry to add 200,000 jobs, total employment reaching 15.7 million. Over two-thirds of hotels face staffing shortages. 62% of hospitality workers experience burnout from unpredictable schedules; 60% of managers report burnout leading up to peak seasons. Shift scheduling software and apps can save hours per week, reduce overtime costs, and improve scheduling forecasting. Flexible scheduling leads to a 25% decrease in turnover. Optimizing scheduling can increase revenue by up to 15%.

💵 Deliverect launches Pulse, a market intelligence platform integrating with Uber Eats, Deliveroo, and Just Eat, providing restaurants with insights to optimize marketing and increase order volumes. Leveraging actionable insights, restaurants can assess performance, benchmark against competitors, and make informed decisions for targeted campaigns. Pulse features include an estate overview across channels, competitive intelligence, and an all-in-one marketing management tool, aiming to simplify marketing across third-party apps and enhance ROI.

🏨 Florencia Cueto and Xavier López discuss digital transformation in hotel operations on Shiji Insights podcast's fourth episode. EISI Soft, co-founded by Xavier in 2012 and officially established in December 2016, overcomes challenges, including the global pandemic, to innovate hotel maintenance. Key takeaways include the integration of operational tools for strategic decisions, dynamic data collection for real-time feedback, immersive management via digital twins, and operational benchmarking against similar hotels to improve asset management strategies.

💰 In the U.S., corporate travel spend is projected to rise by 8-12% by end of the year, potentially surpassing pre-COVID levels, as per a Deloitte study. In 2023, 77% of business travelers took one to five trips, 15% six to 10, and 7% more than 10; in comparison, 20% plan six to 10 trips and 10% more than 10 in 2024. Companies expect a 14-15% yearly increase in travel spend, with 73% of travel managers predicting a rise in 2024 and 58% in 2025. The main growth drivers are industry events and sales/client work, with conferences being a top driver, and 60% planning business travel for them this year. Travel managers anticipate a slight increase in international trips' share of spend in 2025. High prices impact trip volume, with 22% of travel managers stating it as a primary concern, and 55% of them relying on booking compliance to control costs. Corporate sustainability efforts are evident, with 46% of companies having travel emission budgets in 2024, up from 30% in 2023.

🟢 U.S. corporate travel spend expected to grow 8%-12%, potentially surpassing pre-COVID levels by 2023 end. Deloitte study reveals 77% of business travelers made 1-5 trips in 2023, with 20% planning 6-10 trips and 10% over 10 trips in 2024. Travel managers predict a 14-15% annual increase in spend for 2024 and 2025. Conferences and industry events drive business travel, with 60% planning to attend in 2024. Return to office influences travel resurgence, but less so over time. High prices impact trip volume, with 22% of managers citing it as the most significant factor, leading to strategies like booking compliance (55%) and lower-cost flights. Sustainability is a concern, with 46% of companies having travel emission strategies in 2024, up from 30% in 2023.

💸 Guestline, part of Access Group, enhances its GuestStay product with self-service options and AI, saving time for hotel staff and elevating guest autonomy. The platform lets guests manage reservations, order services like breakfast or parking, and secure restaurant bookings via ResDiary integration. Trials show corporate travelers enjoy the ease of use. Some properties report 25% of restaurant bookings through GuestStay, with plans to add more upsell features in 2024. Digital registration completion averages 31%, and hotels collect more real guest email addresses, encouraging direct repeat bookings over OTAs.

🏢 Oslofjord Convention Center in Norway, Europe’s largest event village, automates over 30,000 bookings annually with RMS Cloud's property management software to streamline and error-proof the process. The venue hosts up to 12,000 guests with a variety of accommodations, including cabins, cottages, hotel rooms, and suites. The new system, implemented in February, enhances upselling capabilities and is user-friendly for the fluctuating staff numbers, ranging from 300 to 10,000. RMS Cloud was selected after analyzing 15 vendors and offers competitive pricing and functionality.

🛫 Travelport's 2024 State of Modern Retailing Report shows a 1,900% increase in air travel options since 2010, with over 10,000 options now available. 58% of travelers are overwhelmed by choice, 56% find offers harder to understand, and 61% think there are more penalties for flight changes. Most travelers (71%) feel anxious about getting the best deal, while 80% find fare comparison time-consuming. Travelers prefer to see all options on one screen (88%), and many use OTAs, especially Millennials (70%) and Gen X (64%). Key amenities include luggage allowance (63%), cancellation policies (50%), and seat selection (50%). In contrast, US travelers struggle more with flight shopping (49%) than hotel, car rental, or restaurant comparisons.