The Tricycle of Guest Service Excellence: A Perfect Model For Remarkable Experiences
Doug Kennedy | October 4, 2024
The Art of a Great Arrival for Luxury Hotels
Adam and Larry Mogelonsky | May 22, 2024
Guest Experience
Beekeeper Wins ALIS Tech Challenge; Deemed Hottest Technology for 2019
Beekeeper | January 29, 2019
Operational communication platform chosen No. 1 for its ability to help owners improve their bottom lines; Visit Beekeeper in the ALIS Tech Lounge thru Jan. 30 Los Angeles, Jan. 29, 2019 — Beekeeper continues to dominate in the hospitality technology space, this time being named "Hottest Technology 2019" during the America's Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) inaugural "ALIS Tech Challenge: What's Hot in Technology?" competition held here yesterday. Beekeeper was one of five hotel technology companies vying for this top honor (participants included 4DPresence/4Dp Live, Intelity, myDigitalOffice, Spaceez, and Travelsify). Judges were...
Beekeeper Reveals Game-Changing Capability at ALIS
Beekeeper | January 28, 2019
New 'Locations' features empower multi-property management companies and brand enterprises to impact employee engagement locally and scale globally; Visit Beekeeper in the ALIS Tech Lounge Jan. 28 to 30 in Los Angeles San Francisco, Jan. 28, 2019 — Just how engaged are a hotel's employees? A robust set of new features from Beekeeper will be unveiled today at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) that will make it fast and easy for multi-property management companies and global brand enterprises to better gauge and impact engagement. Called "Locations", this new feature set means that Beekeeper is the only product...
INTELITY Raises $44M, Sets Sights on Further Global Expansion and Scale
INTELITY | January 28, 2019
On the heels of record growth, the enterprise technology provider looks to dominate the hospitality market Los Angeles, California (January 28, 2019) – INTELITY™, provider of the travel industry's first and broadest enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, announced today it has secured a $44 million investment from Philadelphia-based private equity firm, LLR Partners. LLR's investment validates INTELITY's success and the impact it has had on the hospitality technology industry. This partnership also sets INTELITY up to further its mission to provide customers with the most direct and advanced connecti...
INTELITY Looks to Win “Hospitality’s Hottest Technology” Designation at ALIS 2019
INTELITY | January 24, 2019
CEO Robert Stevenson to present INTELITY's award-winning service platform to panel Los Angeles, CA (January 24, 2019) – INTELITY™, provider of the travel industry's first and broadest enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, announces its presence at The Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), which runs January 28-30, 2019. CEO Robert Stevenson will participate in a panel called "The New ALIS Tech Challenge: What's Hot in Technology?" Stevenson, who has a rich history building B2B platform technologies, will be presenting alongside executives from five fellow hospitality tech companies, all of whom...
Smartconcierge Ivy® Selected for 2019 HEDNA’s Innov8 on Jan 30
January 24, 2019
Hoteliers will learn the power of AI to enhance guest experiences, increase upservice revenues, reduce staff disruptions and to quantify it all with Ivy SANTA MONICA, CA (JANUARY 24, 2019) – Go Moment®, the world's leading provider of real-time artificial intelligence guest communication solutions for the hospitality industry – its smartconcierge, Ivy® – today announced that company CEO Raj Singh will be presenting Ivy's technology at the 2019 HEDNA "Connected Like Never Before" Global Distribution Conference in Los Angeles. Singh will be showcasing Ivy's role in the evolving guest service eco-system during HED...
Drawbacks to Outsourcing Your Hotel Labor Force
Larry Mogelonsky | January 23, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) The growing prevalence of outsourced labor within the frontline ranks of many guest-facing departments may have deep-rooted consequences that aren't immediately discernable on a balance sheet. Whether your property is thinking of contracting out its valets, bellhops, restaurant servers, banqueting staff or housekeepers, what we stand to lose may be far greater than any apparent cost savings or reductions in employee benefit packages. While the two abovementioned advantages of outsourcing are indeed quite lucrative – and not to mention the overall decrease in risk involved with...
ALICE Celebrated As the #1 Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech 2019
ALICE | January 22, 2019
ALICE is excited to share we have been named 2019's #1 Best Place to Work in Hotel Tech by Hotel Tech Report. HTR surveys thousands of hotel tech employees around the world about what it's like inside the operations of the industry's greatest technology companies, and topping this list is truly an honor and a testament to our commitment to our people. With a #3 ranking in 2018, ALICE is thrilled to have jumped to the top spot in 2019. In the past year, ALICE has grown rapidly, recently surpassing the 100-employee threshold, and expecting to hit 150 global team members by the end of 2019. Throughout this growth, we've been able to create...
Tackle Guest Experience Like a Pro, This Super Bowl
Divya Bhat | January 22, 2019
By Divya Bhat With Aerosmith, Ludacris, Cardi B, Maroon 5 and the likes setting the scene, the city of Atlanta is all set to host the Super Bowl 2019. This is the third time that Atlanta will be hosting the mega sporting event, after 1994 and 2000. This obviously comes as great news (with its own set of challenges) to all hoteliers in and around the city. In fact, most accommodation options almost always sell out months in advance when it comes to Super Bowls! But is that all there is for hoteliers to cash in on? We think not. Assuming that you've hit jackpot just because you are sold out for the Super Bowl season is a big mistake. Gett...
The Inn at Harbor Shores Deploys Full INTELITY Platform
INTELITY | January 21, 2019
The waterfront resort sets the technology standard for Michigan hotels by implementing INTELITY's guest experience and staff management platform Los Angeles, CA (January 21, 2019) - INTELITY™, the global travel industry's first and most powerful enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, announced today that The Inn at Harbor Shores will be implementing its expansive hospitality platform, marking INTELITY's first property in Michigan. "We are proud to announce our launch of INTELITY's in-room tablets in all our guest rooms. Implementing this technology will help us better manage our operational efficiencies and...
Black Oak Casino Resort to Implement INTELITY’s Guest Experience and Staff Management Platform
INTELITY | January 17, 2019
The state-of-the-art property looks to implement the industry's leading technology platform to streamline staff, increase guest engagement, and better connect hotel operations to the casino floor Los Angeles, CA (January 18, 2019) — INTELITY™, the global travel industry's first and most powerful enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, announced today that it inked a deal with The Hotel at Black Oak Casino Resort in Tuolumne, Calif. The property will be incorporating the INTELITY platform's custom-branded mobile app and in-room tablets at its hotel, giving guests the opportunity to better manage their ...
Virgin Hotels Ramps Up Customer Experience Marketing and Personalization Through Partnership With Local Measure
Local Measure | January 17, 2019
New York and Sydney – 18 January, 2019 – Virgin Hotels, one of the most loved consumer brands, has implemented new Wi-Fi infrastructure at its first hotel in Chicago in partnership with Local Measure, the leading customer experience platform for the hotel industry. Virgin Hotels Chicago is famous not only for the Virgin brand but for its socially connected restaurants, bars and lounges, drawing on pop culture to create iconic experiences for its guests. Their food and beverage offerings play a key part in driving traffic to the hotel, and with new insights from customer Wi-Fi, the team can create personalized experiences and...
The Modern Guest Experience & How Hotels Can Achieve It in 2019
David Millili | January 17, 2019
By David Millili, CEO of Runtriz Remember when the first hotel websites came online? It was 1994 and Hyatt was among the first chains to launch one. There were many years after this spent convincing the rest of the hotel world that they needed one, just a simple site that would describe the property with a few images. We weren't even at the stage of online booking, yet. That wouldn't come for another year or two. (Truth be told, some chains haven't evolved their websites much from that first iteration. Many still have the stock "amenities" page with bullet points that leave the guest wondering about exactly what they'll find when they a...
What Corked Wine Teaches You About Service Excellence
Larry Mogelonsky | January 16, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) There's an important lesson in the form of what corked bottles – that is, wine that's gone off – can present as an opportunity to wow your restaurant patrons and hotel guests. For all of my fellow oenophiles out there, it's one of the worst feelings in the world. You pop open a bottle, pour yourself a glass, take a sip and your mouth is hit by a musty, astringent splash that eviscerates any lingering flavors. The wine is skunked and utterly worthless. This lesson all comes down to one of the hallmarks of a service culture in that it's not just about how well you provide ...
St. Regis First Hotel in Washington, D.C. Metro to Feature Plum In-Room Wine By-the-Glass Amenity
St. Regis Washington, D.C. | January 16, 2019
Palo Alto, California (January 16, 2019) - Plum, the hospitality industry's revolutionary new wine by-the-glass appliance, today announced that the St. Regis Washington, D.C. is the first D.C. Metro-area hotel to offer guests a next-gen, on-demand experience. The Plum appliances, which dispenses a perfectly preserved and temperature-controlled glass with every pour, have been installed in St. Regis suite rooms, elevating and transforming the guest experience. Situated only two blocks from the White House and moments from the nation's capital's most significant attractions, The St. Regis Washington, D.C. has played host to dignitarie...
Limited and Select Service Hotels: 5 Ways Your Front Desk Staff Can Increase Direct Bookings and Cut Distribution Costs
Doug Kennedy | January 15, 2019
By Doug Kennedy Like all segments of the hotel industry, limited and select service hotels are seeing distribution costs eating away at top-line profits. Of course OTA's and other third parties are important to the channel mix. However, the colleague at your front desk right now can be your hotel's best resource for increasing the most profitable of all channels, which is of course your direct bookings. Not only do reservations that are made directly have the lowest acquisition costs, but they also tend to have a higher ADR. The following are some action steps and then five training tips for your segment of the lodging industry. Action ...
Ambassador Hotel Tulsa Implements Online Streaming, Voice Control and Enhanced Internet Connectivity With BeyondTV and Upgraded Wi-Fi by HIS
Hotel Internet Services, Inc. | January 15, 2019
Luxury four diamond property keeps pace with growing demand for content streaming, voice-activated room controls and robust internet Tulsa, Okla.— January 15, 2019 — Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced its implementation of advanced guestroom content streaming and voice control technology at the Ambassador Hotel Tulsa with the adoption of BeyondTV and HIS Wi-Fi. A luxury boutique property based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, Ambassador Hotel Tulsa is now able to ensure a fast and reliable guest internet connection, while also offering the...
Angie Hospitality Leverages Natural Speech Technology to Maximize Comfort, Convenience and Accuracy in Guest Room Voice Control
Angie Hospitality | January 15, 2019
Voice-activated hotel guest room virtual assistant programmed to respond to queries using natural language with no need for specific commands. San Jose, CA – January 15, 2019 – As the developer of the industry's first 24-hour interactive guest room assistant purpose-built for the hotel environment, Angie Hospitality is leading efforts to ensure that guests have the ability to communicate and make requests using natural speech, with no need to learn specific, pre-set voice commands that may be unknown or unnatural for them. Angie's advanced voice recognition technology was specifically developed using robust language processi...
You Can’t Get Anything for Twenty Bucks These Days
Georges Panayotis | January 10, 2019
By Georges Panayotis While we've been relatively spared the hardship of winter's cold weather, 2019 has nevertheless sprung up. So what should we wish for? What do you want? Let's get to work and act, find the strength and the means to join forces, move forward and progress together. Let us not look back because what is done is done, but let us try not to repeat the same mistakes and let us try to make the most of the assets we have. But who is looking after leisure tourists? "We shall not forget that the international symbols of Paris are the Eiffel Tower and the Champs Elysées - not La Défense and the ...
2019: The Year of Connectivity
Chamberlin Public Relations | January 10, 2019
If there's one buzzword for the hospitality industry this year, it's "connectivity." Hoteliers are helping travelers feel more connected than ever to their destination, from food and beverage programming to design to the brand itself. Here are three ways hoteliers can give their guests a truly special and authentic experience in the coming year, and beyond. Fresh & Beautiful F&B Hotel restaurant and bars have long since evolved from the bland watering holes of yore. Today, they are gathering spots for the whole community, where guests can meet one another and locals alike, forging new friendships and memories. Programming in t...
Intelity Partners With Acuant to Further Streamline Guest Check-in and Mobile Key Delivery
Intelity | January 9, 2019
Partnership between brands will allow hotels to expedite mobile the check-in processes Los Angeles, CA (January 9, 2019) -- Intelity™, the industry's first enterprise guest engagement and staff management platform, is announcing its partnership with Acuant, a leading Identity Proofing Platform. Through this partnership, Intelity's customers will soon be able to offer their guests remote identity check as part of the existing mobile check-in process to further streamline the guest experience before they step foot onto a property. "We are excited about this partnership that combines our AssureID technology with Intelity's mobile che...
Free WiFi as the Easy 2019 Goal
Larry Mogelonsky | January 9, 2019
By Larry Mogelonsky, MBA, P. Eng. (www.hotelmogel.com) As now is the time for New Year's resolutions, let's start off with a 'low hanging fruit' – an easy victory that will resonate strongly with any guest no matter the travel modality. But first, to show you how much times have changed and why this is an important project, we need only compare two frequently asked questions posed to the front desk. Whereas, "Do you have free WiFi?" was common a decade ago, nowadays this is more likely to be, "What's the WiFi password?" If you understand the difference, then you already know what that means as it concerns guest expectations. The l...
Volara Integrates With and Supports the Just-Announced Google Assistant Interpreter Mode at Dream Downtown Hotel
Volara | January 9, 2019
'Hey Google, be my Chinese interpreter'; Dream hotel staff and guests now have access to real-time voice translation at Registration, Concierge, and more New York — January 09, 2018 — Coming on the heels of yesterday's unveiling of Google Assistant Interpreter Mode at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, Volara – the voice hub for the hotel industry – and Dream Hotel Group announce a fully integrated hospitality-grade deployment of Google's live translation technology covering dozens of languages. Complementing Volara's market-leading voice-based conversation-management tools, patent-pending Accuracy...
Track Hospitality Software Achieves PCI DSS Service Provider Level 1 Certification
TRACK Hospitality Software | January 8, 2019
(Minneapolis, Minn.) January 9, 2019 -- Track Hospitality Software (TRACK), a product of TravelNet Solutions and an industry leading provider of integrated CRM, guest communication management, and property management solutions for hospitality, today announced the company has validated compliance with the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Data Security Standard (DSS) version 3.2 as a Level 1 service provider. The PCI Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is the most rigorous industry-recognized payment-card security standard available globally. The PCI DSS Security Standard is designed to minimize the exposure of credit card data to risk of fraud o...
OpenKey Projects Issuance of 100,000 Mobile Keys Monthly
OpenKey | January 8, 2019
Industry watches closely as mobile key usage skyrockets with popular platform DALLAS (January 8, 2019) - OpenKey, the industry standard for universal mobile key in hotels, expects to build on an impressive 2018 performance by reaching a key milestone in 2019. Following a 970 percent increase in keys issued among OpenKey client hotels last year, OpenKey is projecting performance to reach 100,000 mobile keys a month in 2019. An OpenKey survey, Guest Expectations for Hotel Tech in 2019, identified that technology will play a major role in the overall guest experience this year. Particularly, it found that 54 percent of hotel guests now ex...
