May 15, 2024

McDreams has become the first hotel group in Europe to roll out a guest enquiries and bookings phone system powered entirely by artificial intelligence. The AI, which is named ‘Lisa’ and is integrated with hotel employee and guest experience platform  Like Magic , is now handling half of routine guest phone calls entirely on its own. The combination of Lisa and Like Magic has increased the number of guests following an all-digital guest journey by 50% – halving the number of calls to the front-desk, reducing Germany-based McDreams’ overall operational workload by a third and increasing employee satisfaction. This has enabled the group to reduce the personnel expenses for administrative tasks by 80%, which is projected to generate an astonishing €600,000 in savings this year. Ralf Bonin, Director of Operations at McDreams, said: “The combined power of Lisa and Like Magic has been nothing short of transformational for McDreams. “We’ve always prided ourselves on being quick to embrace technology, but nothing comes even close to Lisa and Like Magic’s overall impact – both in terms of enhancing the guest experience and the employee experience. “Lisa is not your run-of-the-mill automated phone service. She is much more like a living, breathing member of the team who can be entrusted to both communicate with and advise guests, as well as carry out tasks for them. "However, the deep and far-reaching automation of various systems and processes by Like Magic is what truly makes Lisa special. Combined, the two have set a new benchmark for efficiency and personalization across our hotels, unlocking an unparalleled experience for both employees and guests.” Lisa, which was developed by AI software solutions firm Onsei, is capable of handling fully automated conversations regarding a range of common guest enquiries. These include questions concerning room availability, booking information, check-in and check-out times, as well as requests for information about the local area. Like Magic’s platform brings a booking engine, guest platform, employee interface and monitoring tools all into one place, creating a center of operations for hotel management. This unlocks a completely digital guest journey for guests if they prefer. In addition to enabling staff to perform 80% of their daily tasks from one single system, Like Magic also allows guests to carry out a range of actions without staff assistance. These range from checking in, ordering food, requesting additional linen or pillows, and creating keyless room passes – requiring only a smartphone. The platform allows staff to run operations using a traffic light system of notifications and recommended actions, making the whole process of customer service and property management much more automated. Markus Feller, CEO of Like Magic, said: “McDreams has a stellar reputation in the industry for pioneering new tech, so it makes it perfect sense that Managing Director Dominik Klein, Ralf and Christoph and the team would be first to unleash the combined power on Onsei’s AI and Like Magic. “Lisa is very much a glimpse into what lies ahead for the broader hospitality sector. McDreams, like ourselves, has realized that the future of industry lies in harnessing technology that not only enhances the guest experience, but also nurtures a happy and fulfilled workforce focused on working with their empathic strengths. “What they are pioneering today will inevitably become commonplace tomorrow – a sector that  blends the best of both man and machine in order to unlock a truly personalized and seamless experience for guests, freeing up employees to be the best hosts possible.” 5/14/2024 Stayntouch Partners With Woby to Empower Hotels with Seamless In-Stay Dining Stayntouch , a provider of cloud hotel property management systems (PMS) and guest-centric technology, announced a new partnership with Woby , a self-order and pay web app that simultaneously connects with existing POS and PMS platforms. Stayntouch now integrates with Woby’s customizable web app, allowing for real-time POS and PMS synchronization. With Stayntouch PMS, hotels can streamline operations, automate tasks, and provide a seamless digital guest welcome experience with mobile check-in. Woby complements this by offering a self-order and pay platform that seamlessly connects with both the hotel PMS and POS, streamlining the in-stay dining experience from ordering to payments to room service and delivery. By connecting Stayntouch PMS with Woby, hotels will benefit from: A flexible and full-featured cloud PMS, that can deliver a frictionless mobile welcome and departure experience for guests, while integrating with best-of-breed mobile POS platforms. Real-time synchronization between the PMS, POS, and accounting software, allowing guests to connect to a single QR code to order what they want, pay how they want, and have room charges validated automatically. A fully customizable look and workflow to fit seamlessly with any hotel branding design or operational needs. A dedicated integration connector that sets up integrations in minutes instead of months, and streamlines third-party connections. Ruud Hontelé, the managing partner of Woby, said: "Woby stands out as the pioneering self-order and pay app that seamlessly integrates Stayntouch with your POS system. Say goodbye to the hassles and pain points associated with digital menus, ordering, payments and logistics processes. Enhance the guest experience significantly while also reducing costs for your business." Priya Rajamani, the vice president of implementation and support for Stayntouch, said: “We are excited to partner with Woby, a platform that empowers hotels to provide guests with a completely mobile-first dining experience. By seamlessly integrating our cloud PMS with Woby's self-ordering and payment platform, hotels can deliver a more personalized and fully mobile guest check-in and dining experience, enhancing the on-property experience. This collaboration ensures real-time synchronization, enhanced operational efficiency and elevated guest satisfaction.” 5/14/2024 Restaurant365 Announces $175M Funding Round Restaurant365 announced a $175 million funding round led by long-term partner ICONIQ Growth with participation from current investors, including KKR and L Catterton. The funding comes on the heels of 12 consecutive quarters exceeding sales targets, which drives confidence in future growth potential. “Restaurant365’s growth is a testament to their ability to create powerful solutions that bolster operations, improve margins and empower the workforce at restaurant companies of all sizes,” said Will Griffith, Founding Partner of ICONIQ Growth. “We’re honored to participate in this incredible opportunity to help the restaurant industry succeed in a way that once seemed impossible.” Proceeds from the round will be invested in expanding enterprise features and growing the workforce and payroll product suite to continue supporting the world’s largest, most notable hospitality brands. Funds will also strengthen the company’s balance sheet to facilitate future acquisitions and support continued organic growth. “We’re grateful our investors continue to value the business and its upward trajectory as demonstrated by this most recent vote of confidence,” said Restaurant365 CEO and Co-founder Tony Smith. “We take that trust from them seriously as well as the trust placed in us by our customers and the industry at large. We will continue our relentless pursuit of developing products that add value in new ways to this great industry.” This latest round follows Restaurant365’s acquisition of ExpandShare , an AI-powered learning management system built to deliver and track impactful restaurant training content. In addition to adding employee training to its offerings, Restaurant365 expanded its all-in-one platform over the past year with tip automation, task management, restaurant intelligence dashboards, and Capture AI, which brings the power of machine learning to invoice management. 5/14/2024 Restaurant Show: Cantaloupe to Showcase Self-Service, Mobile-First Solutions Cantaloupe Inc., a provider of end-to-end technology solutions for self-service commerce, is making its debut at the upcoming National Restaurant Association Show in Chicago. Cantaloupe will be showcasing its self-service and mobile-first applications for stadiums, entertainment venues and hotels. Cantaloupe is a global technology leader with more than 30 years of experience in powering self-service commerce. Cantaloupe’s mission is to revolutionize the way businesses engage with consumers by offering a comprehensive suite of solutions, including innovative kiosk and POS systems, as well as enterprise cloud software designed for a wide range of industries. With Cantaloupe’s end-to-end platform, businesses can drive engagement, increase sales revenue, and optimize operations, delivering exceptional experiences for both businesses and consumers. “Cantaloupe’s solutions are specifically designed to cater to the growing demand for self-service and mobile-first experiences,” said Elyssa Steiner, chief marketing officer of Cantaloupe, Inc. “Our emphasis on convenience, efficiency and enhanced customer experiences really set Cantaloupe apart from traditional solutions and elevates guest and fan experiences into seamless journeys for shopping, ordering and paying.” Attendees of the National Restaurant Association Show are invited to visit Cantaloupe's booth 6672 in the North Building of McCormick Place to experience Cantaloupe’s  technologies, including AI powered smart camera technology, which enables seamless and secure transactions. Cantaloupe's solutions eliminate the need for traditional checkout lines, providing customers with a hassle-free retail, food and beverage experience that includes convenience, speed, and flexibility in their transactions. Some of the products Cantaloupe will be showcasing include its CHEQ point-of-sale (POS) platform, a mobile-first payment solution. CHEQ’s full end-to-end payment platform features mobile ordering (right from seats), mobile pick-up points (“CHEQ Points”) and innovative express kiosks (“CHEQ Zones”) to increase ordering efficiencies and decrease line wait times. CHEQ also offers its unique social gifting marketplace functionality, allowing guests, friends and family to send food and beverages to those attending a game or concert in real time, from anywhere in the world. Cantaloupe’s booth at the National Restaurant Association Show will be highlighting: CHEQ POS Kiosks : available in attended or self-checkout mode, making ordering seamless across multiple revenue centers and empowering fans to self-service for reduced wait times. CHEQ Handheld: providing in-stadium vendors or those with on-the-go payment needs at festivals and events, the ability to accept payments anywhere, perfect for selling merchandise, food and beverages. CHEQ Mobile App : enables fans or event-goers the ability to order food and beverages from anywhere in the venue, with flexible pick-up or in-seat delivery options. Cantaloupe Smart Café : (Pictured) a fully locked cooler that enables true grab and go self-service with AI powered smart camera technology to charge the consumers card for the exact items they take out of the smart fridge. Cantaloupe Micro Markets for Hotel Pantries : a one-stop shop for cabinetry, coolers and self-checkout kiosks with the Cantaloupe Go MiniX cashless acceptance kiosk, that simply leverages existing pantry space and converts it into a self-service mini-market in hotel lobbies, creating less burden on employees to manage checking in guests and ringing up pantry products and instead, creates a fully grab-and-go experience. To learn more about Cantaloupe, visit cantaloupe.com . 5/15/2024 Cloudbeds and Cendyn Partner to Enhance Hotel Revenue and Guest Experience Cloudbeds , a hospitality management software platform, and Cendyn , a global integrated hotel technology and services company, have announced a strategic partnership dedicated to driving revenue growth for hoteliers. This collaboration connects Cloudbeds’s property management system (PMS) seamlessly with both Cendyn CRM and Cendyn Digital Marketing Platform (DMP), empowering hoteliers to optimize operations and elevate guest relationships to boost revenue streams. The systems’ integration streamlines operational efficiency by centralizing tasks such as cross-channel connectivity, digital advertising management, and campaign monitoring. “By harnessing Cendyn’s robust marketing automation capabilities alongside Cloudbeds PMS, hoteliers can automate and optimize marketing campaigns while consolidating guest data” says Chris Egan, Chief Product Officer at Cendyn. “This comprehensive approach enables precise audience segmentation, personalized content creation, and campaign scheduling tailored to guest behavior and preferences.” The Cendyn and Cloudbeds integration enables hoteliers to consolidate guest data across all different touchpoints, allowing for personalized marketing efforts. With the centralized digital ads platform, hoteliers can tailor campaigns to enhance guest experience and drive direct bookings, thereby increasing revenue. Furthermore, by leveraging the combined power of Cendyn's analytics capabilities and Cloudbeds' PMS, hoteliers gain actionable insights into guest behavior, campaign performance, booking patterns, and revenue performance, providing a clear pathway to revenue growth. Sebastien Leitner, VP of Partnerships at Cloudbeds, said: “Our collaboration with Cendyn marks an important milestone for us. By enhancing our leading PMS solution with Cendyn CRM and digital marketing functionality, we look forward to enabling hoteliers to elevate guest experiences and achieve even greater revenue growth.” 5/14/2024 Carnival Corporation Rolls Out SpaceX’s Innovative Starlink Across Entire Global Fleet, Rivaling the Best Wi-Fi Experiences Available On Land Carnival Corporation & plc , the world's largest cruise company, today announced that 100% of its ships across the global fleet are equipped with Starlink’s high-speed, low-latency global internet connectivity. The completed installation further enhances Carnival Corporation’s onboard experience for its guests and crew to provide even faster service, greater capacity, and more reliable Wi-Fi on its fleet of 90-plus ships across its portfolio of world-class cruise brands. The roll-out of Starlink is the latest in a series of innovations and investments from Carnival Corporation that have collectively quadrupled its fleetwide bandwidth since 2019 through its industry-leading connectivity strategy. The upgrade rivals on-land connectivity experiences, enabling guests and crew to stay connected anywhere in the world, including sharing pictures and videos, scrolling on social media, streaming live content, and working remotely. The added bandwidth also boosts each ship’s operational and communications capabilities with more continuous onboard equipment monitoring and real-time connectivity and data sharing between ship and shore teams, along with the enhanced versatility to more quickly roll out new guest services and features, even while at sea. “Starlink has been a game-changer for the onboard connectivity experience our cruise lines deliver to their guests, and we’ve already seen a surge in guest satisfaction and positive feedback from the super-fast and reliable Wi-Fi service we provide onboard,” said Josh Weinstein, CEO of Carnival Corporation. “We see this technology as a win-win-win – it provides our guests with more flexibility to stay as connected as they’d like on vacation, it allows our crew to stay in touch with friends and loved ones, and it enhances our onboard operational systems.” Carnival Corporation began its fleetwide roll-out of Starlink in December 2022 with Carnival Cruise Line and AIDA Cruises ships, before expanding to the company's other world-class cruise brands, which include Princess Cruises, Holland America Line, Seabourn, P&O Cruises (Australia), Costa Cruises, P&O Cruises (UK) and Cunard. The Starlink expansion further advances the company’s multi-provider strategy to deliver the same reliable, high-speed Wi-Fi service available on land while on board its global fleet of 90+ ships visiting more than 800 ports worldwide. Designed to support a variety of constantly moving vessels that sail all over the world, the company’s system leverages technologies from a diverse range of suppliers and is capable of dynamically routing internet traffic and optimizing network speeds to provide a consistent experience to guests across every brand and itinerary.