5 minute read
AWARDS
from HT-0322
by ensembleiq
2021 HOTEL VISIONARY AWARD WINNERS
Every year, HT honors a select group of lodging companies for outstanding achievement in delivering technological excellence. This year, HT was proud to honor Choice Hotels International as the 2021 Enterprise Innovation Winner and Loews Hotels & Co. as the 2021 Customer-Facing Innovation Winner.
2021 ENTERPRISE INNOVATION WINNER: CHOICE HOTELS INTERNATIONAL
In 2021, Choice Hotels launched a new revenue management system called ChoiceMAX to help franchisees optimize their pricing structure and increase revenue production. ChoiceMAX automatically and continuously adapts to changes in the market using real-time data to ensure hotels are always priced competitively. Additionally, the product’s mobile-first, userfriendly platform gives franchisees the power to access the information they need to make decisions from anywhere. Furthermore, as labor shortages continue to impact the hotel industry, ChoiceMAX helps free up owners’ time to focus on running their hotels and filling critical positions while maximizing ROI.
Some of the key capabilities of ChoiceMAX include: an optimization window of 365 days, rates that are updated four times per day, competitor shopping two times per day, customizable real-time alerts, and automated delivery and implementation of pricing decisions. To date, 93 percent of pricing recommendations from ChoiceMAX have been accepted by properties and the reception of ChoiceMAX among franchisees has been overwhelmingly positive.
2021 CUSTOMER-FACING INNOVATION WINNER: LOEWS HOTELS & CO.
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Loews Hotels & Co. accelerated the implementation of a variety of guest-facing technologies, all housed within a guest portal.
The portal provides guests with a variety of amenities. For instance, guests can opt in to a “Chat Your Service” program which allows guests to communicate via text message with the hotel’s on-property team. The portal provides guests with the option of ordering food from more than 40 different outlets for delivery or pickup, and it has become the replacement for all traditional paper-based materials such as the in-room compendium, dining menu, outlet menus, arrival details, and more. Guests have complete access to this portal without ever needing to login. Instead guests can access it via the Wi-Fi landing page, the in-room television, a QR code found in the guestroom or at front desk, or a key packet insert. It is also texted to all guests after they check-in at the PMS.
Since implementation, more than 70 percent of guests opt-in to the guest portal. Food orders through the portal has helped compensate for a lull in restaurant reservations due to the pandemic. In fact, this aspect of the portal accounts for more than 50 percent of all mobile orders and has brought an increase in revenue of more than $200k in 2021 alone. HT
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Restaurant Technology Network’s Newest Workgroup Tackles KPIs
The greatest minds in the restaurant technology industry are working together to define these standards. There’s a seat for you at the table!
Restaurant Technology Network (RTN) has launched a new workgroup to identify, collect and catalog Restaurant Technology Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).
RTN Workgroups are where tech vendors and restaurants work together to solve common industry problems. Last year, the RTN workgroups released the Open API Framework and the Menu Synchronization Standard. Both are available online.
The RTN KPI workgroup is working to identify, collect and catalog technology KPIs for restaurants to best align with today’s priorities and tomorrow’s possibilities.
Below, some of the members of the RTN KPI workgroup explain how this initiative will help all restaurants and share some of the areas that are ripe for standards.
The Need for Standardized Metrics
“There are currently no standards for KPIs, and while large enterprises have the ability to create KPIs for themselves, smaller companies could benefit from a library of predefined metrics,” said Christoper Sebes, Partner, Results Thru Strategy.
“Many small business owners may not know where to start or how to define KPIs. As employee and consumer expectations continue to rapidly evolve and flex, this is the perfect time for our industry to align on key metrics that result in real-life actions that benefit restaurants of all sizes and types,” said Ben Pryor, Head of Innovation, SpotOn.
Labor
“As the restaurant industry labor force continues to shrink and change on a fundamental level, some of the most complex and dynamic KPIs will fall under the labor category. Whether we focus on rising wages, turnover ratios, or labor cost, the ability for operators to glean real insights as rapidly as possible will be critical to staying ahead of the everchanging tide of regulations and market shifts,” said David Dittenber, CEO of BYOD.
Leading Indicators
“I am excited about leading indicators, which are variables that can help identify long-term trends and possibly predict successful future outcomes of business processes,” said Phil Crawford, CTO of CKE Restaurants.
Marketing
“How restaurants recruit and retain customers is undergoing a dramatic shift in the age of food delivery, third-party ordering apps and social media. I’m excited to dive into marketing KPIs, as what may have been tried and true in the past could be completely different today,” said David Gosman, Global Industry Strategist, HP.
Future Metrics
“KPIs have been around since we have been consuming data. Some of them are perfect in their simplicity, and others may be incomplete or misleading, because they didn’t account for a data set that didn’t exist last year. I am excited to be a part of this workgroup that will challenge the normal and seek to navigate better business decisions in this tumultuous sea of data,” said Joe Tenczar, Co-Founder, Restaurant CIOs.
“While restaurants share many common operational processes, each brand has its own unique way of defining itself in the eyes of the customer. As such, I encourage operators to participate. There is so much that we can learn from each other,” said Tim Tang, Director, Hughes. HT
