Innovation

💾 Thaïs unveiled its new cloud-based PMS after 8 months of development, building on over 10 years of experience. The upgrade considers various hotel roles for enhanced daily operations, like receptionists' dashboard tasks. The 2024-tech-based platform promises easier and faster updates, aiming to continuously meet hoteliers' and their clients' needs.

🚀 GuestDiary.fr introduces automatic payments (Version 1.0) on December 1st, charging credit cards at a set time (e.g., 02:00) for same-day arrivals, tailored for simple accommodations but may need adjustments for larger properties, requires a Stripe account. Booking Engine 2.0 launches January 1, 2025, with a streamlined interface similar to market-leading OTAs and a potential 2%-3% conversion rate increase. A color-coded "calendar" for self-service properties is included. On the same day, they will also release a new billing feature allowing room-level invoicing with smoother, intuitive navigation while maintaining effectiveness.

🏨 Millennium Hotels and Resorts (MHR) announces the relaunch of its global loyalty program, MyMillennium, featuring three new membership tiers: Classic, Silver, and Prestige. Members gain access to personalized experiences, exclusive rates, and enhanced rewards for stays, dining, and more. The program spans across global properties including The Biltmore Mayfair in London, The Biltmore Los Angeles, and the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel in Singapore, offering simplified MyPoints accumulation and redemption for both leisure and business travelers.

🛏 Room service, a key offering in modern hotels, ensures guest satisfaction and can generate additional revenue. It includes meal and beverage delivery directly to guest rooms, catering to various dietary needs like vegetarian and gluten-free options. Advanced hotels offer 24/7 service, with orders placed via in-room phones, mobile apps, or interactive TV systems. Despite its popularity, room service presents logistical and cost challenges, such as labor expenses, dedicated kitchen space, and sustainable packaging solutions. Hotels balance these with strategies like limited service hours or local partnerships to optimize costs. Room service contributes to a hotel's competitive edge, customer loyalty, and profitability when managed effectively.

📦 Over 1,000 Hyatt establishments are transitioning to Oracle Opera Cloud from Opera V5 to enhance integration capabilities, simplify technology deployment, and centralize global data for better insights and operational planning. Oracle's cloud offers increased accessibility, improved operational efficiency, and heightened data security, allowing hoteliers to analyze customer preferences and trends for optimized offerings and marketing strategies. Oracle continuously innovates with cloud and generative AI to upgrade data analysis, automation, and personalization in hotel experiences.

🏨 SysPay, key player in the Hospitality sector, will attend the EquipHotel fair from November 3-7, 2024, in Paris at Porte de Versailles. Intending to showcase the latest payment and management innovations for hotel and restaurant professionals, SysPay will be at stand H7-3.B003. The event is a significant gathering for industry professionals to explore solutions that streamline transactions while enhancing customer experience and satisfaction. SysPay looks forward to engaging with clients, partners, and potential collaborators, sharing tailored advice on their payment solutions.

🎭 53% of French travelers consider culture a key factor in choosing holiday destinations. 21% plan to engage in immersive artistic experiences, with that figure rising to 44% among those aged 25-34. Interactive, immersive experiences are favored for their playfulness (31%), immersive aspect (22%), and social sharing opportunities (21%). Skyscanner's study highlights a shift from passive consumption to active, engaging cultural tourism, exemplified by Frameless Creative's award-winning "Frameless" project.

🏨 In a coastal town, hotelier Édouard modernized his establishment with automated check-in, smart rooms, and robot servers, spurring client influx but creating an impersonal atmosphere. A storm caused a tech failure, leading to a realization: the balance between innovation and human warmth is essential. He rehired staff, reducing reliance on technology, ultimately harmonizing modernity with human touch. The moral: Technology should enhance, not replace, human warmth.

📝 Guest Suite announces the launch of its new API, designed to automatically retrieve customer reviews and integrate them into business software. This system will save time by eliminating manual data entry, allow precise data analysis, and enable impactful marketing actions through targeted campaigns based on customer feedback. The API will collect detailed customer reviews, responses from satisfaction surveys, and additional data such as client names and contact details. This innovation is a result of feedback from thousands of client interactions over recent years.

📝 Online customer reviews significantly impact business choices, confirmed by a 2023 IFOP report. Businesses can manage misleading or defamatory reviews on Google Business Profile, with options to block or delete via Google Maps reporting or direct Google search. Google allows individuals to delete their reviews, whereas businesses follow a more complex process. False reviews persist in 2023, with the DGCCRF combating fraudulent practices, including using the Polygraphe tool to detect fake comments. 91% of consumers are more likely to purchase from brands with positive reviews, while 81% are deterred by negative feedback. Guest Suite, a Google technical partner, offers tools for efficient reputation management, including satisfaction surveys, expert assistance for inappropriate review removal, centralized or delegated review responses, and integration of ChatGPT since February 2023 for objective review replies.