HOSPITALITY TRENDS
Olo Inc., | February 13, 2023
Olo Inc., a renowned open SaaS platform for restaurants that facilitates hospitality at every guest touchpoint, recently announced the availability of Borderless functionality for all customers of Olo Pay. This unlocks the advantages of streamlined payment across a larger set of 600 brands in Olo's network to improve the checkout experience for guests. This feature and several other product innovations are now available to aid its restaurant clients in providing superior hospitality.
Borderless, which was offered only to customers using Olo Pay's white-label interface Serve, is now available to all Olo Pay customers, including those with custom ordering websites and apps, allowing more brands to increase revenue and gain actionable guest data. For example, its capabilities eliminate the need for guests to remember passwords or enter credit card information at every transaction, simplifying the checkout process. It also lets restaurants increase guest retention, basket conversion, and visit frequency, improves the guest experience and de-identifies guest data to guide high-level business decisions.
Olo also introduced QR Code Ordering and Geolocation Partner Notifications this quarter. The new QR code ordering capability lets guests update their table numbers quickly and easily from their mobile device, allowing them to dine where they want and connecting guests to servers, thereby enhancing on-premises dining.
Expo, Olo's tablet-based software solution for restaurant front-of-house workflow, now displays guest arrival and approaching notifications for restaurants using Geolocation Partner Notifications. The feature's automation solves the need for multiple tablets and facilitates quick and fresh food preparation for guests.
About Olo
New York-basedOlo is a major on-demand commerce platform driving the digital transformation of the restaurant industry. The platform provides the infrastructure to capture consumer demand and manage orders across all channels. Through integrations with over 300 technology partners, its customers can create digital experiences with the industry's most robust and adaptable restaurant commerce ecosystem. Over 500 restaurant brands utilize Olo to increase digital sales, maximize profitability, and maintain direct customer relationships.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
businesswire | March 23, 2023
Sonder Holdings Inc. a leading next-generation hospitality company that is redefining the guest experience through technology and design, has expanded its business travel segment to include group bookings. Sonder also announced a new partnership with HelmsBriscoe, the global leader in meetings procurement and site selection.
Having formally launched its business travel segment in 2021, Sonder continued to expand this area in 2022, including strengthening its position on GDS platforms, and adding a significant number of corporate travel accounts. This translated into approximately $70 million in booked corporate sales in 2022, roughly 5x growth compared to 2021. The company continues to grow both corporate travel and corporate housing accounts, and is now increasing its share of group bookings within popular verticals such as sports and entertainment, hosting elite athletes and sports teams, as well as film and television production crews. Sonder offers both hotel and apartment accommodations in over 40 markets worldwide, including entertainment hubs and cities that host international sporting events.
“Partnering with an industry leader like HelmsBriscoe unlocks growth in group travel, at a time when corporate travel is still recovering to pre-pandemic levels, and the landscape is evolving with trends such as the blending of business and leisure travel. Sonder accommodations offer short-stay and long-stay groups an elevated experience at a great value. We see exciting opportunities to scale within our existing verticals, including sports and entertainment, and to add others,” said Kristen Richter, Vice President of Global Sales at Sonder.
Sonder’s portfolio now includes properties with on-site amenities and high key counts suited to groups, such as Battery Park in NYC, Business Bay in Dubai, Cielo in Mexico City, Maisonneuve in Montreal, and The Witherspoon in Philadelphia. Sonder spaces provide fast wi-fi, and many offer a comfortable place to spread out and work remotely, with fully-equipped kitchens, living rooms, multiple bedrooms and en-suite laundry.
About Sonder
Sonder is revolutionizing hospitality through innovative, tech-enabled service and inspiring, thoughtfully designed accommodations combined into one seamless experience. Launched in 2014 and headquartered in San Francisco, Sonder provides a variety of accommodation options from spacious rooms to fully-equipped suites and apartments found in over 40 markets spanning ten countries and three continents. The Sonder app gives guests full control over their stay. Complete with self-service features, simple check-in and 24/7 on-the-ground support, amenities and services at Sonder are just a tap away, making a world of better stays open to all.
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TRAVEL TECHNOLOGY
Sojern | March 02, 2023
Sojern, a travel marketing platform, shared data emphasizing that the Middle East brought travel momentum in 2022. After the Covid19 pandemic, it is trying its best to recover income from the tourist markets in UAE and KSA, reaching more travelers for 2023.
Recent travel reports suggest that demands for regional hotels are increasing in middle eastern countries than in 2019. There was a sudden increase in travel booking for the region in Dubai's 2020 Expo and World Cup 2022. Its latest lodging data validates this condition and states that the revenue generation from this region is higher than those in 2019 are from this area. The inbound travel demand is rising from African, Latin American (LATAM) and Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets, and KSA has the most increase in demand.
Based on the data of February, it foresees that flight searches are increasing year on year (YoY) worldwide, with approximately 36% from US & Canada, 48% from EMEA, 30% from LATAM,72% from APAC, and 23% from Caribbean. The FIFA World Cup 2022 event enhanced its travel business and is gradually returning to its glory.
Managing Director of MEA&I Sojern, Stewart Smith said, "With our latest data showing that travel intent to the Middle East is holding strong, it's heartening to see that the World Cup has given the region a boost." He added, "Long flight times and potential misconceptions regarding the region as a travel destination may continue to drive relatively cautious travel planning. However, a flurry of ongoing events in the region combined with sustained and powerful marketing strategies from newer gulf destinations such as Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to influence valuable US travelers and other global visitors. Never underestimating the power of data, activating multichannel activation at scale and ensuring marketing is always on will help set hoteliers and destination marketers up for success in this pivotal time for tourism."
(Source – Cision PR Newswire)
About Sojern
Headquartered in San Francisco, California, Sojern, an advertising solutions provider for the travel industry, offers services for online advertising, travel marketing, Facebook marketing, hotel marketing, travel advertising, ad tech, hotel advertising, tourism marketing, co-op marketing, attraction marketing, tourism advertising, multichannel, display advertising, digital marketing, social media advertising, metasearch, programmatic display, programmatic video, dynamic ads, search engine marketing, and connected TV. With artificial intelligence and traveler intent data, it provides multichannel marketing solutions for direct demand drive. In addition, it connects hotels, travel spots, tourism boards and travel markets for customer engagement and worldwide coverage.
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