What Customers Want and Expect While Traveling in 2023
John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook | February 1, 2023
Labor Shortages and The Impact on Hotel Operating Costs
John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook | January 17, 2023
Operations
Cut Labor Expenses Without Sacrificing Service
John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook | November 10, 2022
How Annette, The Virtual Hotel Agent™ goes above and beyond IVR (Interactive Voice Response) systems By John Smallwood, President of Travel Outlook November 2022 Customer service is at the core of the hospitality industry. You won’t last long in the hotel business if you choose to cut corners and sacrifice service for the sake of profit. Unfortunately, in the modern, complex economy, too many businesses are forced to choose between providing quality customer service and running a sustainably profitable hotel. In the past, when hotels needed a better way to handle their increasingly large call volumes, they would turn to IVR (Inter...
Think Simplicity and Cloudbeds Partner to Streamline Cloud Communications for Hoteliers
Think Simplicity | November 9, 2022
Cloudbeds selects Think Simplicity as a preferred phone system partner; Think Simplicity will soon be available in the Cloudbeds Marketplace for a seamless integration BONITA SPRINGS, Fla., Nov. 9, 2022 — Think Simplicity, a cloud communication technology provider of all-inclusive voice and chat solutions for the hospitality industry, announced today a partnership with Cloudbeds, the fastest-growing hospitality management platform. The partnership will provide joint customers with the ability to leverage Cloudbeds’ best-in-class property management software (PMS) and Think Simplicity’s full-service cloud communications system seamles...
The Shepherd Hotel: A Case Study for the Meaningful Impact of Transformative Hospitality Technology From APS®
Steve Lapekas | November 8, 2022
By Steve Lapekas, Chief Operations Officer and EVP, Business Development for APS (Above Property Services) Our world runs on bold ideas – but bringing new ideas, especially those which aim to break the molds we’ve grown most accustomed to, is a feat that requires a great deal of heart. That is, perhaps, the best way to explain the evolution of The Shepherd Hotel – a one-of-a-kind luxury hotel located in downtown Clemson, which started as a big idea with an even bigger heart. Founded by Rich Davies, a third-generation real estate developer, and Rick Hayduk, a seasoned luxury hotel leader, the Shepherd Hotel not only fills a gap in the...
INSPIRE Entertainment Resort Selects Agilysys for Property Management (PMS) and Point-of-Sale (POS) Synthesis and the Ability to Elevate Guest Experie...
Agilysys | November 8, 2022
Multiple Agilysys software systems on a single cloud-based platform will deliver operational efficiency and superior guest experiences across the soon to be largest resort entertainment complex in South Korea ALPHARETTA, GA & INCHEON, SOUTH KOREA — NOVEMBER 8, 2022 — Agilysys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGYS), a leading global provider of hospitality software solutions that deliver High Return Hospitality, today announced a meaningful addition to its Asia-Pacific customer portfolio: Mohegan INSPIRE Entertainment Resort (“Mohegan INSPIRE”), which when completed will be the largest hotel-retail-entertainment complex in South Korea. Agilysys...
Storey Hotel Management Group Expands Partnership With Stayntouch to Power Fiji’s Award-Winning Nanuku Resort With Flexible Cloud PMS
Stayntouch | November 8, 2022
Storey Hotel Management Group chooses Stayntouch PMS to empower staff to deliver exceptional service through its intuitive user interface and mobile-first design Bethesda, MD | November, 8th Stayntouch, a global leader in providing cloud hotel management solutions and guest-centric technology, today announced an expansion of its partnership with Storey Hotel Management Group, the luxury boutique hotel and resort management company with 7 exclusive properties within its global portfolio. In addition to working with Stayntouch at its Ameswell and Park James hotels in California, Storey Hotel Management Group has once again selected Stayntouc...
Leader in Hospitality PMS Partners With Hotel Operations Innovator to Give Six JARO Hotels More Control Over Their Properties
Maestro | November 8, 2022
Maestro PMS is enabling more hotel communication capabilities through integration with RoomChecking via extensive API integration MARKHAM, Ontario, Nov. 8, 2022 — Maestro PMS, the leader in cloud hosted, private cloud and on-premise property-management systems for independent hotels and luxury resorts, conference centers, vacation rentals, and multi-property groups, has partnered with RoomChecking, a hospitality software provider who has aggregated every aspect of operations and communication into a digital platform that can be accessed from anywhere on property. Through integration with Maestro, RoomChecking allows hoteliers to simplify...
Hotel Data Strategy: The First Step Is Admitting There’s a Problem
Jason Q. Freed | October 27, 2022
By Jason Q. Freed There are three stages of the hospitality data lifecycle, starting with adopting the cloud for digital document management. As an industry we've made progress, now let's unpack the work that remains to be done. To best understand where the hospitality industry stands in terms of its adoption of digital tools and cloud-based solutions, it’s important to step back and look quickly at the big picture. First, as far away as it seems, remember that the internet itself wasn’t a widely popular tool until about 20 years ago. But it changed the game so quickly for consumers that businesses scrambled to adopt their operat...
Cloudbeds Amplify, The New Digital Marketing Solution, Launches Worldwide to Help Lodging Businesses Win More Bookings
Cloudbeds | October 27, 2022
Cloudbeds releases globally available and fully-managed digital marketing solution with key metasearch partners including Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor and Trivago, to help lodging businesses boost their online presence and maximize revenue. (SAN DIEGO) — Oct. 27, 2022 — Cloudbeds, the hospitality management platform powering more reservations and happier guests for lodging businesses around the globe, announced today the global launch of Cloudbeds Amplify. The new fully-managed digital marketing solution is designed to equip independent lodging businesses with the visibility and resources they need to compete effectively online to win...
How Property Management Systems and Booking Engines Help Labor Shortages
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | October 26, 2022
By Adam and Larry Mogelonsky Now that we are entering budget planning season for 2023, perhaps your hotel has found the time to breathe again and think about the projects that will evolve your product. Even with any ‘normalization’ of travel demands on the horizon, it should still be clear that the labor challenges we are facing will not promptly subside; due to a cluster of converging macro-forces, supply shortages for hospitality labor will be an issue for the next few years at least. There is no panacea either. It requires hard work from human resources departments to ramp up recruitment and make the application process more fric...
How Modern PMS Technology Improves Staff Retention and the Hotel Operations Experience
Warren Dehan | October 25, 2022
Workers are finding modern PMS technology to be more efficient and easier to use because it seamlessly connects nearly every area of hotel operations By Warren Dehan Hotel workers, like guests, want to feel engaged with the property. As labor constraints force more responsibility on fewer hotel team members, those on the front lines want to be sure their increased accountability is accompanied by more capabilities. The best way to address these concerns is through new technology, starting with the property-management system. No one said running a hotel had to be easy, but there is no reason the experience must necessarily be challeng...
Advantage Reserve Is Delivering Reservation Services to Margaritaville Hotels & Resorts Through Its New Partnership
Advantage Reserve | October 25, 2022
Fort Lauderdale, FL, October 25, 2022 — Advantage Reserve, a leading provider of high-quality central reservations services to the hospitality industry, has announced its partnership with Margaritaville, the global lifestyle brand synonymous with fun and escapism, for 12 of its resorts and hotels located in the U.S. and Costa Rica, with plans for expansion as the brand develops additional properties around the world. After a considerable vetting process, Advantage Reserve was selected for several benefits, including: personalized, hands-on care from both agents and company executives dedicated team of agents that act as extension...
U.S. Hospitality Gets More Hospitable With the Launch of allora.ai – the World’s First AI Booking Platform
allora.ai | October 24, 2022
Dallas, TX October 24, 2022. - Today, the U.S. hospitality market gained a powerful new AI tool to fix the broken direct hotel booking model, with the launch of allora.ai, a highly advanced booking platform which personalizes every aspect of a guest's online booking experience at a hotel website, from first click to check-in. Designed to help independent hoteliers gain a competitive advantage, it leverages learnings from more than 400 million online booking journeys and continually assesses thousands of data points to increase the volume and value of confirmed bookings while significantly lowering cancellation r...
Unifocus Named World’s Best Workforce Management Solutions Provider by the World Travel Tech Awards
UniFocus | October 24, 2022
Hospitality’s leading workforce solutions provider earns the highest number of votes for innovating the latest in end-to-end workforce management technology. DALLAS, TX—October 24, 2022—Unifocus, the leading provider of Workforce Management Systems, was named the World’s Best Workforce Management Solutions Provider at this year’s World Travel Tech Awards. At the ceremony held on October 23, Unifocus was honored by hospitality professionals worldwide who voted for the hotel industry’s most outstanding achievements in travel technology innovation. The company’s comprehensive workforce management platform that can address eve...
Hotel Franchising Gives Operators Support and Confidence in Tough Times, Finds HVS Study
HVS | October 21, 2022
21 October 2022, London: The pandemic has prompted many hoteliers, both independent and chain operators, to recognise the value of brand affiliation prompting a growing interest in hotel franchising across Europe, says a new report from global hotel consultancy HVS. “The past few years has opened the eyes of many operators to the benefits of having strong support and communication in tough times, as well as the importance of maintaining consumer confidence. Large brands have been major instigators in negotiating with industry associations and local governments to provide support to their franchisees and this has persuaded many independ...
Erbon Software Announces Expansion Within the U.S. Hotel Market
Erbon Software | October 20, 2022
The hotel management software solution has helped hundreds of clients across the globe ORLANDO, Fla. – October 20, 2022 – Erbon Software, a hospitality technology-focused company, is thrilled to announce it is expanding its operations in the United States hotel market. Its Erbon Suite comprehensive hotel management software solution is currently helping hundreds of hotels in five countries manage all aspects of their business, from front desk to back office. Hoteliers without a proper management software solution face many problems these days, including excessive manual work for all teams due to a lack of automatic features in the s...
LTD Hospitality Celebrates a Seamless and Successful Multi-Property Transition to STS Cloud
SalesAndCatering.com | October 19, 2022
The premier hotel development and management company describes SalesAndCatering.com’s STS Cloud platform as a ‘perfect fit’ for its impressive portfolio of hotels Charleston, SC – (October 19, 2022) – LTD Hospitality Group, the premier hotel development, and management company in the Mid-Atlantic region, recently partnered with SalesAndCatering.com to transition its portfolio of hotels to STS Cloud. While vetting prospective sales and catering platforms, LTD Hospitality identified STS Cloud as the most intuitive, user-friendly, and customizable system on the market. “We recently made the transition to STS Cloud, and we ...
Is Your Hotel Tech Stack Weighing You Down?
Steve Lapekas | October 19, 2022
By Steve Lapekas, Chief Operations Officer and EVP, Business Development for APS (Above Property Services) “Sorry, you’ll have to give me a minute. I think I have to delete some things off my phone,” muttered my colleague, whom I had met up with for coffee, as he squinted at his iPhone in an exasperated fashion. “I have 128 GB of storage; I don’t understand how this always happens.” Of course, this is a familiar technological crux, as iPhone users frequently complain of operational dysfunction as their phone storage creeps towards its capacity limits. More often than not, this problem arrives not because we’ve all assumed the...
Stayntouch Launches Stayntouch 2.0, a Fully Integrated Hotel Technology Suite to Drive Direct Bookings, Optimize Distribution, Simplify Payments, and ...
Stayntouch | October 19, 2022
The industry-leading cloud PMS and self-service technology provider invested $15 million to offer an end-to-end payments platform, a customizable booking engine, a powerful channel manager, and robust chain management capabilities. Bethesda, MD | October 19, 2022 – Stayntouch, a global leader in cloud hotel property management systems (PMS) and guest-centric technologies, today announced the launch of Stayntouch 2.0, a fully integrated technology suite featuring an amplified version of its flagship cloud PMS and guest kiosk. The new technology suite also includes a secure payment gateway, a customizable booking engine, and an easy-to-use...
Hapi Adopts AHLA’s HTNG Express to Accelerate Innovation
Hapi | October 18, 2022
Developed by an HTNG Workgroup composed of more than 50 hotel IT leaders and solutions providers, HTNG Express solves one of the industry’s toughest problems: PMS integration. Hapi is an early adopter of this new standard and they’ve made it available to their entire partner network EDINBURGH, U.K., October 17, 2022 – Hapi, the hospitality industry’s leading platform for simple connectivity between technology systems, has worked with Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG), a division of the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA), to launch HTNG Express, an efficient and low-cost solution for technology solution providers ...
ALICE by Actabl Completes Two-Way Integration With Maestro Property Management System
ALICE by Actabl | October 18, 2022
Hospitality’s leading operations management suite now fully integrated with Maestro PMS to provide a stable and seamless comprehensive data solution for hoteliers. Tampa, FL — October 18, 2022 — Actabl, the industry’s first and only integrated hotel operations, business intelligence and labor management solution, has successfully completed a new two-way integration between its industry-leading ALICE operations management platform and the Maestro Property Management System (PMS). The preferred browser-based cloud and on-premise PMS solution for independent hotels, luxury resorts, conference centers, vacation rentals and multi-proper...
Era of the Underdog: 4 Ways Modern Hotel PMS Enable Independents to Compete Like Major Brands
Warren Dehan | October 13, 2022
By Warren Dehan Operators looking to regain control of their businesses in a limited labor market should analyze their booking, check-in/-out, kiosk integration and two-way communications practices Travelers are no longer willing to compromise on the guest experience – and thanks to modern property-management system (PMS) technology, they don’t have to. Independent hoteliers today have the capability to create a guest experience that can exceed what larger brands are currently providing, all while improving operational workflow and labor requirements. Access to these capabilities may even be available through a hotel’s existing PM...
UrVenue Launches UV Enterprise, the Hospitality Industry’s First PXMS
UrVenue | October 11, 2022
New Property Experience Management System (PXMS) combats the fractured booking journey by enabling hotel guests to book all available experiences in a unified booking cart LAS VEGAS, Nev., October 11, 2022 — UrVenue is pleased to announce the launch of UV Enterprise, the next generation of its platform to monetize and manage experience-based inventory across an entire property. Just like a property-management system (PMS) which manages an entire property’s room inventory, UV Enterprise, the hospitality industry’s first official Property Experience Management System (PXMS), is a full-stack technology platform that provides hospital...
Schani Hotels Partners With Stayntouch and Event Temple to Provide a Seamless & Fully Digital Guest Experience
Stayntouch | October 4, 2022
Vienna’s Hotel Schani Wien leverages Stayntouch PMS and Event Temple Sales & Catering Software to streamline hotel operations and event management, all while delivering best in class service Bethesda, MD | October, 4th Austrian hotel company Schani Hotels has partnered with Stayntouch, a global leader in cloud hotel property management systems (PMS) and guest-centric technology, and Event Temple, a cloud-based hotel and venue sales and catering software provider, to power its boutique Vienna property, the Hotel Schani Wien. The 135-room hotel chose Stayntouch as its cloud PMS partner due to its intuitive user interface, ability t...
Travel Outlook Welcomes Senior Sales Executive Judy Cassidy
Travel Outlook the Premier Hotel Call Center | September 29, 2022
SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO (September 2022): Travel Outlook, the Premier Hotel Call Center™ and owner of Annette the Virtual Hotel Agent™ is pleased to announce that hotel industry veteran Judy Cassidy is joining Travel Outlook as Senior Sales Executive. Judy’s extensive experience with hospitality technology will be a perfect fit when presenting Travel Outlook’s hotel services to potential clients. “Judy will be an outstanding addition to our team, as she brings a deep understanding of what hospitality clients would need to be successful and how our tools can be of benefit to them”, said John Smallwood, Travel Outlook’s Preside...
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