News Briefs

Olo Inc. announced an expanded partnership with Qu to offer Olo Pay card-present payment processing via Point-Of-Sale (POS).. In addition to Olo Pay, Qu will integrate with the Olo Engage product suite to empower restaurant brands with Hospitality at Scale solutions that inform data-driven decision making and elevate the guest experience.

Both Pay and Engage integrations will be instrumental in supporting the industry’s increasing adoption of digital. By integrating with Qu POS, Olo Pay will allow brands to streamline the on-premises payment process by unifying payments management and reducing challenges when it comes to reconciliation, voiding, and refunding. Similar to Olo’s card-present payment processing capabilities offered via kiosk, guests will have the same flexible payment experience Olo Pay offers in non-card present transactions, including the ability to pay with mobile wallets.

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

The Olo Pay card-present integration with Qu POS will be live later this year.

“According to data from Circana, 84% of restaurant transactions are not yet digital. Olo’s integration with Qu brings the industry one step closer to reaching 100% digital, equipping our restaurant brands with the flexible tools to increase orders, streamline operations, and make every guest feel like a regular,” said Noah Glass, Founder & CEO of Olo. “Olo’s open platform and Olo Connect network of over 300 integrated technology providers prove that working together is the best way to accelerate the industry’s digital transformation: a philosophy Qu shares. The industrial logic of the partnership between Olo and Qu is clear, and we’re proud to offer this new level of flexibility through our Olo Pay and Engage integration.”

With the addition of the Engage integration, restaurant brands leveraging Qu’s POS will be empowered to aggregate both digital and in-store interactions made possible by the Olo Pay integration, as well as, all online guest interactions into a single guest data profile to better understand their guests, provide hyper-personalized interactions, and deliver personalized hospitality.

“This partnership is rooted in our joint desire to further digital innovation industry-wide, ensuring brands get more out of this best-in-class in-store and digital solution,” said Amir Hudda, CEO of Qu. “Enabling card-present digital transactions at the POS will not only streamline the payment process, but it will also allow brands to collect more data than ever, down to the ingredient level, that can be used to further personalize each guest experience through Olo Engage.”

Interplay Learning, a provider of online and VR training for the essential skilled trades announced that  Sonesta International Hotels Corporation (Sonesta), a globally renowned hotel company with 1,200+ hotel properties worldwide, selected Interplay to increase engineer training adoption and advance safety initiatives for 500 impacted employees. Since implementing Interplay’s innovative training solution in the latter half of 2023, Sonesta has already observed a 50% increase in training adoption over the previous year.

Focused on a safety-first approach, Sonesta prioritized launching quarterly core safety courses and emphasized OSHA compliance within its training programs. Intending to modernize training delivery and increase engagement for maintenance engineers, the hotel group made huge strides in these critical areas, enabling Sonesta to provide innovative simulation training that engineers want to use, stay at the forefront of industry best practices, develop careers, and deliver exceptional experiences to guests.

“Our main focus was getting our engineers engaged and into the training so we could build core safety skills and level-set foundational competencies,” said Kate Stiteler, Director of Training at Sonesta. “Interplay has been a great partner in delivering training that fits the growing and changing needs of the hotel business at scale, and the impressive doubling of our training adoption rates within just six months is a testament to its effectiveness.”

“Our partnership with Interplay has been transformative for our training programs, and we are excited about the possibilities it opens up for the future as we explore learning paths customized to distinct job roles and property types,” said Steve Jurczyk, Director of National Engineering & Facilities Operations, Sonesta. “While safety is a primary focus, we now offer skill-specific courses for our hotel engineers.  We’d love to expand our training to include VR to enhance the learning experience and also help attract new talent into our maintenance and engineering departments.”

“Sonesta is redefining hospitality standards by focusing on innovation in its maintenance and engineer training,” said Doug Donovan, CEO and founder of Interplay Learning. “The significant increase in training adoption rates is a testament to their forward-thinking training strategy, and we take pride in our role in supporting Sonesta as they lead the charge in upskilling their workforce.”

Tripleseat, the leading innovator in cloud-based sales and event management software for restaurants and hotels, launches a one-of-a-kind reservation solution to help consumers and restaurants reserve tables for large parties.

Built on the TripleseatDirect platform, the new Large Party Reservations solution caters to large party reservations typically between 6-15 people.  Reservations of 6+ people are a challenge for both people looking to book a table and restaurants trying to accommodate them. For restaurants, large parties can be difficult to manage and staff resulting in poor service and lost revenue. For guests, it is a challenge to secure a table with restaurants causing frustration for everyone.

Tripleseat’s new Large Party Reservations product solves the headaches of reserving and servicing large reservations by enabling the restaurant to offer online table availability, pre-ordering, and up-front payment. Armed with all the details for the reservation, the kitchen can prepare in advance and the venue can staff appropriately resulting in a positive and profitable reservation for everyone.

“Tripleseat continues to develop solutions to tackle challenges that restaurants face every day and turn them into revenue opportunities,” says Jonathan Morse, CEO of Tripleseat. “The Large Party Reservations product solves a big problem for restaurants and addresses the needs of consumers by providing them with an easy and quick reservation capability.”

The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a pioneering readiness roadmap, aiming to simplify sustainability reporting in the Travel & Tourism sector.

Launched during ITB Berlin, WTTC and Oliver Wyman announced the Sustainability Reporting Readiness Roadmap, a strategic tool to guide businesses through sustainability frameworks, compliance timelines, and readiness assessments, simplifying the journey towards sustainable compliance.

This roadmap is more than just a tool; it’s a strategic compass, enabling companies to decode sustainability reporting complexities, identify relevant compliance standards, and evaluate their sustainability data and platform maturity.

The call to action is clear: governments must offer sector-specific guidance and phased requirements to ease companies into this new sustainability era.  This roadmap provides both the public and private sector the direction needed to begin their journey of sustainability reporting.

Alongside the Roadmap, WTTC and Oliver Wyman also release a new report “Navigating the Sustainability Journey: The Impact of Mandatory Reporting on Travel & Tourism”, designed to tackle the sector´s unique sustainability challenges.

The report explores the impact of the three most influential sustainability reporting frameworks on the sector – the Corporate Social Responsibility Directive (CSRD), the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Climate-Related Disclosures – and offers insights to navigate the changing regulatory landscape effectively.

According to the report, some Travel & Tourism companies are unprepared for the imminent sustainability compliance standards, with urgent action needed, especially concerning complex supply chains and Scope 3 emissions reporting.

Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “Sustainability reporting is no longer negotiable for Travel & Tourism businesses. It is a challenge we must confront head-on.

“Our Roadmap serves as the trusted navigator through the intricacies of sustainability reporting, acting as a guide and providing clarity. It is not merely about meeting regulatory requirements; it is about propelling businesses towards sustainable growth and resilience.”

Dan Darcy, Principal with Oliver Wyman’s Transportation & Services practice, said: “Sustainability reporting requirements are a significant challenge for Travel & Tourism companies – cross-border organisations with broad value chains who have weathered a pandemic and subsequent resurgence in demand.

“But these requirements are essential for protecting the destinations, ecosystems, and communities that inspire travellers. By setting ambitious goals and showing progress, we will prove our industry’s commitment to sustainability.” 

As the sector embarks on this journey towards greater transparency and sustainability, the roadmap’s diagnostic tools enable companies to pinpoint their sustainability standing, bridge gaps, and chart a path towards compliance and a sustainable future.

Jurny, an AI-powered property management solution for automating hotel and short-term rental operations, announced the launch of a new crowdfunding campaign on StartEngine. This move opens the doors to private individuals and customers to invest alongside top-tier venture capitalists in the booming AI sector and offers an early-stage entry point into Jurny's rapidly growing venture.

Following a successful fundraising round last year, where Jurny secured $3 million from nearly 1,000 individual investors, the company is launching its next round as the investment market shows heightened interest in AI startups, but private investment opportunities are limited.

“The decision to embark on another crowdfunding round was driven by the enthusiastic response from our community and our commitment to broadening participation,” said Luca Zambello, Founder and CEO of Jurny. “In a market hungry for AI companies, private investment avenues are limited. By reintroducing public investment opportunities, we not only accelerate Jurny's growth but also offer more individuals the chance to participate in the AI revolution that is reshaping industries worldwide.”

Jurny is making significant strides in integrating AI into the operational fabric of the hospitality industry, helping short-term rental hosts and hotel property managers automate functions such as reservations, customer service, reputation management, in addition to a variety of other operational automations. In 2023, Jurny grew its customer base fivefold and processed over $35 million in bookings.

SpotOn, the top-rated software and payments partner for restaurants, today announced the introduction of SpotOn Marketing Assist. Designed to streamline the restaurant marketing process, SpotOn Marketing Assist is the first product of its kind to empower restaurants to drive guest visits and boost sales while eliminating the time and resources needed for self-serve marketing tools.

For restaurant operators, marketing often falls to the back burner when managing the daily challenges of rising labor costs, fluctuating food costs, and meeting guests' increasing expectations. Independent restaurants can barely cover the cost of their front and back-of-house staff, let alone a dedicated marketing resource. With 90% of restaurant operators reporting their customers are more value-conscious than they used to be, restaurants need to build their brand and drive guest loyalty with value-driven incentives.

"SpotOn Marketing Assist is democratizing AI and automation technology for the independent restaurants who need it the most,” said Bryan Solar, Chief Product Officer at SpotOn. “Beyond empowering operators to set up automated campaigns, SpotOn is helping to drive repeat business while providing operators with data-driven insights they need to keep the momentum going and drive revenue all year long.”

Customization Campaigns & Effortless Setup

For busy restaurateurs, SpotOn Marketing Assist promises simplicity and effectiveness. Operators are prompted to answer a few quick questions about their business category, marketing objectives, deal preferences, time-based deals, and brand - all with the ability to change at any time. Business categories help provide marketing campaigns especially relevant to a restaurant's service type and guests, for instance, happy hours for Mexican restaurants.

Operators can select from multiple marketing objectives to increase online orders, in-person visits, phone calls, reservations, or all of the above. In addition, operators specify limits for discounting and specific shoulder periods to ensure they’re controlling costs. SpotOn helps operators ensure their campaign is aligned with their brand with font and color options and photo upload and selection. Operators just need to connect their restaurant’s Facebook page and add their Google Business profile.

SpotOn Marketing Assist syncs with the SpotOn Restaurant POS to generate email lists from the restaurant's SpotOn Order and SpotOn Reserve customers. From there, SpotOn Marketing Assist takes over creating a marketing campaign tailored to that restaurant and its goals. SpotOn’s marketing campaigns focus on creating a sense of urgency and demand through discounts and promotions. Operators can view, edit, or delete scheduled campaigns in the dashboard anytime.

According to The National Restaurant Association’s State of the Industry Report, more than 8 in 10 adults would take advantage of discounted dining on slower days or off-peak times to save money. To help operators leverage this opportunity, SpotOn created a “Slow Day Boost” revenue-driving campaign that allows operators to input their slow days and meal periods for SpotOn Marketing Assist to auto-generate a campaign with a limited-time offer (LTO) for those shoulder periods the operator outlined.

AI-Powered Content & Automated Campaigns

SpotOn Marketing Assist campaigns save time and money, shifting a manual marketing process into an automated one, with users reporting an average of 3 - 5 hours per week saved. Powered by automation, SpotOn Marketing Assist defines marketing events each month and then creates and schedules campaigns for these events. Using AI, SpotOn Marketing Assist creates the marketing campaign content, while the imagery is selected using the restaurant images uploaded or stock photography; both are generated based on the restaurant's pre-determined category, business goals, and specific event. For example, a March Madness campaign is created for a pizza restaurant wanting to drive more online orders.

Once the campaigns are set up and approved, SpotOn Marketing Assist takes over seamlessly publishing the restaurant’s campaign across their email marketing and social media channels. SpotOn Marketing Assist significantly improved restaurant email performance by 23%, with automated emails reporting a 9.55% open rate, compared to manual emails with a 7.79% open rate.

“Without SpotOn, I was doing marketing maybe once a month, sometimes skipping it completely when we were busy or short-staffed,” says Kim Dieu of Mi ‘N Tea. “Now it takes just 15 minutes, my customers are receiving relevant emails each week, and I’ve seen a significant increase in sales in recent months.”

Data-Driven Insights

As part of the SpotOn Restaurant ecosystem, SpotOn Marketing Assist’s deep integration with SpotOn Restaurant POS and SpotOn Order facilitates a seamless experience for guest redemption in person or online and provides operators with invaluable campaign performance data and customer insight. SpotOn Marketing Assist ties campaigns directly to revenue through the connection with SpotOn Restaurant, providing operators with a better understanding of their guest's preferences and marketing program performance.

In a review of early performance, SpotOn found that “Slow Day” deals are the top-performing redemptions, followed by “Happy Hour” deals and “Deal of the Month” campaigns, suggesting consumers are increasingly motivated and willing to change their dining times to save money.