Innovation

🌿 Chef Mauro Colagreco showcases ancestral fermentation techniques at his triple Michelin-starred restaurant Mirazur in Menton (Alpes-Maritimes), offering naturally leavened bread, non-alcoholic fermented drinks (kéfir, kombucha, natural sparkling beverages), vinegars, pickles, and lacto-fermented vegetables. Stéphane Enault, chef of Les Roseaux pensants in Cormery (Indre-et-Loire), uses fermentation for culinary staples like kimchi, tempeh, and miso, aiming to express local terroir and explore flavor enhancement. This sustainable practice aligns with the circular gastronomy philosophy by using all parts of plants and managing surplus from their five hectares of permaculture and biodynamic gardens, preventing waste and creating a diverse culinary experience.

🏛 Millions of visitors travel each year for cultural tourism, with France being a prime example due to its numerous cultural sites. Cultural tourism is fueled by the desire to explore a destination's identity and significant historical sites. European museums, after being closed and then operating with limited capacity during the health crisis, are once again attracting a high volume of visitors.

💾 GuestDiary.fr offers a one-stop platform for hotel operations, centralizing reservations, room management, and payment tracking. It automates tasks, freeing up time for customer focus. The platform enhances customer experience with smooth, personalized interaction and gathers feedback. Decision-making is supported by comprehensive analytics. Currently, an exclusive offer includes 3 months of free subscription, allowing hoteliers to test the platform's features with no financial commitment.

💸 Patrick d’Altelis, a pioneer in AI for hospitality, reveals on Inno'Tourism, France's leading innovation show for the hotel industry, how livie's advanced chatbot enhances guest interaction and boosts direct bookings by understanding individual needs. The episode features unexpected chatbot interactions, Google Maps integration, predictive AI, and a game-changing new feature for independent hotels. Hoteliers can contact Patrick at 06 08 33 16 93 or p.guillaume@altelis.com for a tailored demo.

💐 Awarded 1st Prize at the Hotel & Lodge Awards 2024 for Design, the boutique hotel located on Rue de Verney near the Champs-Élysées offers a refreshing "neo-Art Nouveau" style by Quintana Partners' designers, Benito Escat and Pol Castells. The establishment features furniture with rounded forms and a bar with velvet stools, where cocktails by Julien Quettier are served. Korean chef Ji-Hye Park runs the restaurant OMA, and the hotel boasts a spa with Omnisens products.

💪 CFA de la Ville de Tours, founded in 1974, now called Cité des formations, originally offered only CAP in apprenticeship. The institution now provides 12 programs including CAP, specialization certificates, professional baccalaureates, professional certificates, and a BTS in hotel-restaurant management. Specialization in bartending, dessert in restaurant, and sommelier courses are particularly popular, with the bartending course having one of the largest classes in France, with 24-26 students annually. Demand for the CAP in production and restaurant services (PSR) is high, leading to the creation of a fourth class. However, there's a lack of interest in dining room service careers, with classes shrinking from 20 to 8-12 students. The school aims to strengthen BTS and dining room service enrollments for the 2024 academic year. Jean Royer founded the CFA in Tours, which moved to its current location in 1996 and came under the control of the Tours metropolis in 2020, now led by Marie-Jo Bodin.

🏨 ResidHotel, boasting 30+ years of experience and 22 locations across France, partners with LoungeUp to centralize guest data in a CRM, resulting in a 70% email open rate and 38% click-through rate. Since early 2024, they've collected 26% of OTA clients' personal emails, reducing check-in procedures by 1-2 hours per receptionist. Clients spend an average of 5 minutes on their app. Through Customer Alliance, ResidHotel has increased feedback by 11x, response rates by 11%, and customer satisfaction from 73.23% to 75.12% since 2017.

📈 Bernard Boutboul, president of Gira and SOS Experts author, discusses the benefits of artificial intelligence (AI) for restaurateurs in a podcast, warning against its potential to replace human thought. AI tools for restaurateurs include cash register connectivity, weather forecasting to anticipate clientele, sales prediction for order placement, stock automation, assistance in pricing, scheduling management, and customer loyalty enhancement. Boutboul emphasizes the importance of maintaining independence while leveraging AI advantages.

📝 According to IFOP x Guest Suite, 92% of French people check customer reviews before purchasing. Feedback management involves collecting, managing, and analyzing customer and employee testimonials to improve products and services continuously. It uses satisfaction surveys, customer reviews, interviews, and group discussions to guide strategic and operational decisions. The process includes designing satisfaction surveys, automating questionnaire dispatch, centralizing responses, analyzing satisfaction indicators in detail, and conducting semantic analysis. Guest Suite helps over 10,000 clients enhance their feedback management by leveraging software functionalities that bridge customer satisfaction control and online reputation improvement.