May Issue Why sustainability is crucial to restaurant success today and in the future
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Contents 4
Industry News
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Editor’s Choice
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Hospitality Management Software
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Printing & Labelling Solutions
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Recommended Companies
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Why sustainability is crucial to restaurant success today and in the future In a survey of 7,000 global consumers, respondents revealed eco-friendly takeaway and delivery options are important to their ordering decisions. Here’s what matters most to customers when it comes to sustainability, and why restaurants should keep them top of mind. Online delivery and takeaway orders are continuing to rise in our digital-first, often-remote world. While consumers will always want fresh ingredients and a variety of menu offerings, something else is increasingly paramount to their order decisions: a restaurant’s sustainability efforts. With Earth Day approaching on April 22 and the increasing urgency behind climate action, there’s never a better time to unpack key findings on consumer perspectives on sustainability trends and expectations related to food delivery, as revealed in a
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Censuswide survey of 7,000 global consumers commissioned by Deliverect. While the industry continues to move towards being as eco-conscious as possible in the future, the findings uncover some immediate changes restaurants can put in place to help improve the sustainability of deliveries/takeaways, better appealing to consumers today and ultimately increasing profits. Now let’s dive into the findings and how you, as restaurateurs, can leverage them. Offer Sustainable Options Because Consumers are Willing to Pay More Now more than ever, consumers make purchases based on what is meaningful to them. Interestingly, while 65% of our survey respondents said they find healthy,
Industry News
sustainable eating to be more expensive, almost half (43%) are willing to pay more for takeaways in restaurants that have visible sustainability practices. Another 47% would even consider changing what they order from the menu to be more sustainable. Some restaurants are already catching on: in fact, 50% of survey respondents already think there are ample sustainable and affordable options in food delivery/takeaways. Be Transparent in Your Sustainability Processes Communicate, communicate, communicate with your customers. After all, they want to hear how you’re doing your part to stay sustainable! Specifically, respondents revealed: - Over half (56%) would like restaurants to better share how they are working to make
takeaways/deliveries more sustainable - 56% also don’t think restaurants are very transparent about their sustainability practices - 66% feel it’s important that restaurants are open about their practices to limit food waste Avoid Excessive Food Waste The UN Environment Programme’s Food Waste Index reports more than 900 million tons of food is thrown away each year - and it’s on consumer radars. Our survey revealed that while 67% of consumers usually keep larger than necessary food portions for another meal (leftover), over half (51%) say seeing large amounts of food waste frustrates them and puts them off from ordering from that restaurant again. Even more so, 73% said that having accurate portion sizes to avoid food waste is important to them, and 68% feel takeaway restaurants should have precautions in place to avoid unnecessary food waste. Not surprisingly, 82% of respondents said it was important restaurants get the right delivery or takeaway food order to avoid food waste. Be Conscious of Sustainable Packaging With so many packaging options out there, one thing is certain: consumers are on the lookout for
restaurants using sustainable materials. It even impacts where they choose to order from, with the study finding: - 54% of consumers would prefer to order from restaurants that remove excess packaging from the food delivery - Over half (56%) would also show preference to a restaurant that uses eco-friendly packaging and doesn’t use single-use plastic - 63% of consumers believe having sustainable packaging (plantbased/non-plastic/compostable) is important to them What Does This Mean for Me? To maximise these findings and grow your customer base, give the below a try: 1. Streamlining your order efficiencies to offer customers more sustainable options: To stay up on the competition and meet customer needs, consider making sustainable strides like revamping your menu to include locallysourced ingredients and cutting down your delivery times. Even better, look to modern technology to improve your operational efficiencies and open the door to more time for you to focus on sustainability. Deliverect automates your online order flow (delivery, click and collect and table apps) to give you faster online order flow to
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kitchen, better delivery times and faster menu management. 2. Being transparent: Take your restaurant a step further by reassessing which producers you work with, or by donating a portion of sales to local sustainability organizations and share these initiatives with your customers. A key place to do so is on your digital channels: 54% of consumers said they would love to see the most eco-friendly food options on a restaurant takeaway/delivery app. 3. Cutting down food waste: Be as thoughtful as possible about your food orders as well as how to handle any extra food (e.g. donating it to a food bank) to help combat this important consumer issue. The Deliverect integrated system ensures 100% accuracy in online deliveries, which not only helps cut down on food waste, but also helps to manage your supplies and save money on mistaken orders. 4. Upping your eco-friendly packaging: While takeaway/ deliveries will require some way to get them from restaurant to home, there are environmentally-friendly steps you can take to help your customers and the planet. As a starting point, choose the ecoconscious materials mentioned above (there are even more creative ways to help the planet like seed paper packaging) and cut down on the use of cutlery, napkins, etc. in orders.
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Adactus launches new customer service suite for independent hospitality, leisure and small business owners to drive lifelong customer relationships Adactus, which has 20 years transforming some of the biggest names in hospitality from TGI Fridays, Pizza Hut Restaurants to the Pride of Britain Hotels, has developed a new suite of customer service solutions for independent hospitality, leisure and small business owners to build personalised, connected customer experiences. Recent reports show that over 80% of today’s customers will leave a company after just two or three bad experiences, with around the same number saying that the experience of a company is as important as the products and services they buy. Today’s customers are ever less tolerant of bad service and, if treated like a number, will have no hesitation than to take their business elsewhere. “Whether you’re a restaurant, hotel, hairdressers or vets, the challenge for smaller or independent businesses is competing against the larger chains when it comes
to delivering a customised service that today’s customers expect”, said Scott Muncaster, Managing Director of Adactus. “From the point of booking to the after-sales service, customers want brands to interact, expecting a tailored experience that they’re in control of however, this often means significant IT investment and a variable monthly cost which can be out of reach for some.” Now the technology specialist has adapted and developed its tried and tested software for smaller businesses, launching a range of configured, easy-to-use and implement products available on a fixed monthly fee – Adactus Orders, Adactus Reservations, and Adactus Intelligence. Users can get a single view of their customer with Adactus Intelligence. A stand-alone product or used in conjunction with Adactus Reservations and Adactus Orders for a more powerful combination,
it tracks how customers are using brands through integration with all touchpoints, from website, social media, instore WiFi, to ordering and reservation systems. Intelligence flags an individual’s preferences and gives businesses the permission and insight to continue personalised and relevant customer conversations. “We live in a customer-driven world”, continued Scott. “Our technology has and still supports the enterprise sector however our vision has always been to offer our products to smaller businesses to compete and grow. We offer an affordable and consistent monthly rate so users know where they are on costs, with no surprises while the software adds value to your service. “Our reservation systems mean businesses can capture sales that might of otherwise been lost, whether that’s a customer that wants the certainty of pre-booking or to enable staff to add a customer to a waitlist. While our ordering system from order-at-table, delivery, collection or kiosk, means customers can manage the pace of their visit. “Through every order or reservation businesses capture valuable customer intelligence, informing where, when, and how individuals like to interact with your business, their likes and dislikes, dietary requirements to their birthday, so you can keep tailoring your communications and add value to their experience. For example, a vegan customer wants to know when it’s a vegan day or, if you know your customer enjoys that glass of champagne on arrival you can be ready, leaving a positive, longlasting impression. Now businesses, no matter how large or small, have reliable and accurate technology to do this.” To find out how we can help your business visit, www.adactus.co.uk or contact us on 0184 269090
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Industry News
Spabreaks.com integrates with Core by Premier Software® - Spabreaks.com is the UK’s leading spa booking agency - Premier Software provides leading business management software solutions - The integration helps to deliver cost efficiencies and greater customer loyalty - This leads to improved diary management and supports increased sales Leading spa booking agency, Spabreaks.com, has integrated with specialist spa, wellness and leisure business management system, Core by Premier Software®, to make it easier for spa partners to manage and increase bookings. Working with more than 600 spas and arranging spa days and breaks for up to 10,000 people each week, Spabreaks.com is integrating into Premier Software’s flagship system, Core, to give spa partners greater visibility of booking levels and ultimately deliver cost efficiencies, improved customer experiences and increased sales. The integration means that spas will be able to show live availability and that all bookings through
Spabreaks.com will be automatically added to their reservation system. The result will be improved reservations management with a minimised risk of overbooking. It will also minimise unnecessary administration for spas and their teams. Spabreaks.com Founder, Abi Selby, said: “I am thrilled to bring this partnership to fruition. Our spa partners work incredibly hard. Our role is to showcase their destinations to as wide an audience as possible, and to make generating business easy and seamless. The partnership with Premier Software is the perfect way to develop that commitment for the market.” Oliver Cahill, chief commercial officer at Premier Software, added: “Maximising sales opportunities to improve turnover and profitability is essential for our clients. The partnership with Spabreaks.com adds a new dimension to the software and will enable our clients to tap into an additional sales channel. “The ethos behind Core is to make our clients’ customer journey seamless, from bookings right through to the spa experience,
Industry News
without losing the personal touch. Spabreaks.com shares that ethos and like Premier is a leader in its field, so can provide the best solution to our clients.” One spa partner at Chakra Spa at Crowne Plaza Felbridge Gatwick said: “It’s working really well and we are so happy with the amount of business we are gaining from this!” Since it was founded in 2008, Spabreaks.com has built its platform based on a two-pronged approach: supporting spas and supporting spa guests. Key to those goals has been an ongoing commitment to innovation and listening to the needs of stakeholders. The partnership with Premier has been in response to their ongoing desire to make the booking process as seamless as possible for all spas, as well as provide the best customer experience. The partnership is the first of its kind for Spabreaks.com, which plans to roll out other similar software integrations with leading providers to support the operating systems of all spa partners. For more information: www.premiersoftware.uk
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Mr Yum makes major acquisition to personalise dining experiences Mobile ordering and payments company Mr Yum has acquired leading hospitality Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and marketing company Sprout.
technology solution and we’re excited to pour fuel on the fire and dream big with the innovation that’s possible by combining our two offerings.”
The two London-based companies will combine, with Sprout’s fulltime staff joining Mr Yum to create a global team of more than 260 employees, who will continue building innovative tools for hospitality and entertainment venues in the UK and around the world.
Teo says consumers are eager to have more personalised dining experiences and the acquisition will accelerate the development of sophisticated new products to enable hospitality operators to deliver bespoke service to their customers.
Mr Yum CEO and Co-founder Kim Teo says the acquisition will accelerate the company’s mission of connecting venues with their guests in meaningful and valuable ways. “This deal is an evolution of a successful partnership between our two companies, with Sprout integrated with Mr Yum in many shared locations over the past year, including Boxpark and Swingers crazy golf venues,” she says. “We’re thrilled to welcome Sprout into the Mr Yum family. They’ve built a world-class team and
“Together, we’ll build things that have never been done in hospitality before. Our venue customers are screaming out for innovative ways to create ongoing, meaningful relationships with their guests, like being able to offer unique discounts or to let them know their favourite item is back on the menu,” she says. “We’re going to make a real difference in the way people experience dining. You’ll walk in the door and the host will know your name, your favourite table to sit at, the pinot noir you enjoy and that you love spicy food.
“By combining our products at an incredibly deep level, this vision will soon become a reality.” Sprout is the leading CRM and marketing platform for hospitality venues with brands including Nando’s, Shake Shack and Accor Hotels using the company’s technology in thousands of locations across the UK, Australia and the US. Mr Yum is the global market leader in mobile ordering and payments for restaurants, with offices across Australia, the UK and the US. The acquisition follows Mr Yum’s £58M capital raise in 2021. Sprout co-founder Andy Marcus says combining the two companies will drive the creation of a global best-inclass growth platform for hospitality and entertainment venues. “Together we’ll be able to rapidly scale solutions to provide venues with deeper and more seamless insights into their customers, which will enable them to provide superior and more meaningful hospitality experiences,” he says. “Integrating our powerful and intuitive CRM into Mr Yum’s industryleading platform will help create elegant, data-driven one-to-one conversations between venues and their guests for the first time. We are incredibly excited about what the future holds for the company.” Mr Yum has grown from 12 to more than 260 full-time staff in the past 24 months, with teams in London, Sydney, Brisbane and the Melbourne headquarters. Mr Yum has 15 million users and more than 1500 venues on the platform globally. www.mryum.com
Sprout co-founders Damian Janeski (L) and Andy Marcus (R) with Mr Yum’s Kim Teo
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Industry News
Butlin’s brings in Code Computerlove to boost bookings Butlin’s, the home of entertainment, is partnering with design-led transformation and technology company Code Computerlove to revamp its online customer experiences. Code will help Butlin’s to improve the effectiveness of both its Butlins. com platform as well as its Butlin’s Big Weekenders site for adult breaks. Butlin’s is looking to migrate both sites onto a new content management system as well as call on Code’s expertise to introduce industry best practices for its booking engine based on user research and testing. Joanna Montgomery, Head of Digital at Butlin’s, said: “With so much great awareness-building work going on – from our exciting new ATL campaign to PR and social activity – it’s essential that we’re
giving audiences the best experience of Butlin’s when they reach our websites. “By creating the most effective booking process tailored to our audiences, we can capitalise on all of the new audiences we’re attracting and make the start of our guests’ break-booking journey as enjoyable as it is when they’re staying at one of our three UK resorts. “Code’s approach and methods for finding value-driven solutions will enable us to identify and plan the best ways to articulate and realise our plans. “The overall goal of this set of initiatives is to not only provide a positive brand experience of Butlin’s and our Butlin’s Big Weekender breaks but to add persuasion to
Industry News
improve conversion through the booking funnel.” Rob Jones, Managing Director of Code Computerlove, adds: “Working with Butlin’s is a fantastic opportunity for us to call on our experience within the leisure and hospitality sector to support the Butlin’s brand, and importantly get a deeper understanding of the specific motivations of their customers to take them from browsing to booking. “We’ll be taking learnings from our insights to help Butlin’s develop digital services that drive a commercial return and contribute to the company’s vision. We’re looking forward to the fun we’ll have along the way too – it’s a fantastic brand to be working with that is all about making life more enjoyable!”
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Conversations from IHTF 2022 Hotels refocus their technology needs for a better future Over 300 attendees engaged in a two-streamed programme and one-to-one meetings, exploring the evolution of the hospitality industry and how hotel groups have responded to seismic changes in customer expectations and operational demands. The dynamics of digitalisation, omnichannel engagement, changes in marketing and distribution, and the growth and demand of Cloud services were amongst the hot topics. By Ryan Haynes, Director, Haynes MarComs - travel and hospitality marketing technology expert After a long (pandemic-induced) break, IHTF returned in May 2022. International hotel groups - including Accor, Penta Hotels, Nordic Choice Hotels, Melia Hotels International and NH Hotel Group came together in Madrid to discuss developments in technology and digitalisation.
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Janneke Messiaen, VP Commercial Systems & B2B Digital, NH Hotel Group, explained how the group switched to a more concentrated distribution model. “At one point we had 38 channels connected and it’s very easy to lose control. On the one hand you have the commercial force to manage accounts and on the other, the technical team to maintain, configure and manage all the technical aspects and
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incidents that may arise. As the integrity problems became larger, we had to make sense of our distribution roadmap.” Messiaen explained the importance of reviewing the full booking acquisition cost including assessing the man-hours involved. Reducing the number of channels not only reduced manual workload and distribution costs, but limited the credit risk while improving rate integrity. In addition, NH Hotel Group was able to drive more direct bookings through their brand website with better visibility on metasearch. Saraova Hotels echoed the importance of a concentrated distribution model. “Any OTA you work with is generally an affiliate of booking.com or Expedia, so it’s easier to work with them than create another cog in the wheel,” said Jon Siberry, Group Revenue Manager.
For The Set Collection, it’s important not to try to compete with OTAs on the wider range of services offered to the guest but keep the focus on the hotel experience. “We invest heavily in digital marketing and CRM to drive as much direct business as possible. With our resources we cannot be in every corner of the world, so we use OTAs as a billboard effect, which helps bring traffic direct,” said Robin Stangroom, VP Revenue, Reservations & Distribution. Unfortunately, Siberry and Strangroom experience a few tactics from OTAs which can take business away from them - like loyalty programmes, subsidised offers or alternative accommodation recommendations. “It’s something to always be on top of. Investing in software that monitors price from different points of sale, for example different source markets, to see the types of discounts OTAs are offering,” advised Strangroom. Added Siberry: “We also use Optimand which lets us see the demand where people are looking
at dates but not booking. This helps us address revenue needs. We’ve set up automated promo codes for returning lookers.” While many hotels explained the importance of working with tech partners, Dado Ljumanovic, Group Director, Digital Media & CRM, Sircle Collection has spent time developing an in-house team of technical experts. Ljumanovic said: “We want to be in control, to understand the type of data we are collecting in-house. We create patterns for customer journeys applied to each channel which is increasing the channel’s contribution. We use travel agents to learn more about potential new audiences.” Sircle Collection works with partners to understand the data quality they are getting, before devising strategy to prioritise different channels, especially those which capture toppriority brand personas. Taking a slightly different approach, Sabrina Regner, Director of Guest Engagement & Reservations Management at Falkensteiner Hotels & Resorts, has been working with a development company to
implement AI and robotic process automation. “We get rid of the daily repeated tasks. We should not think about reducing manpower but using manpower in the right way to make jobs attractive, with the right challenges.” Falkensteiner Hotels & Resorts has also been building its omnichannel guest experience, “We were always thinking the wrong way. Now, with the direct booking share growing, we need to open up the ways that guests can contact us. This includes using channels where our guests are, such as Whatsapp, social media, video call, SMS. This is what we need to see in the future. This is very important for direct bookers,” said Regner. Continuing with the omnichannel theme, Carsten Wernet, Chief Executive of SIHOT explained that “guests are looking for a frictionless experience. Hotels need to be providing the Uber or Amazon experience, using technology that connects the payment components at all stages of the guest journey, removing staff tasks from the process so it makes sense for the property.” According to Juan Jose of Adyen, making payments can be a more fulfilling experience for guests. “The best payment experiences are those that you don’t remember. There are a myriad of payment methods and hotels need to consider how to manage these. It impacts the conversion and types of guests that you can tap into. It can become very complex, so it’s important to find the right partner.” The advancement in guest expectation and both the opportunities and challenges of digitalisation are clear to those within the hotel industry. Based on conversations around the conference site in Madrid, it’s now about connecting the dots throughout hotels’ tech stacks. By making a smoother technological journey, hotels will be able to advance the guest experience, whilst providing staff with a stimulating and productive work-environment. Want to know more about the discussions at IHTF? Watch the latest episodes of Travel Market Life, the hospitality industry’s leading podcast available through Apple, Google, Deezer and Spotify.
Editor’s Choice
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How accommodation search engine, Cozycozy, is tackling consumer manipulation in the travel industry With its user-centric algorithm, Cozycozy fights against the Online Travel Agencies’ rampant manipulation of consumers’ choices. In 2019, 122.78 million domestic trips and 93.1 Million international trips were taken by UK residents. And the vast majority of them used OTAs to plan or research their trip, where their choices are influenced through consumer bias tactics. (Source) For the first time, an accommodation search engine gives full power to travelers to find the best accommodation. Designed to help travelers compare, filter, and sort offers, Cozycozy presents all available accommodation solutions in an
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impartial and transparent manner to its users, so they can search with confidence.
accommodation to rely more on trust and intuitive perceptions of the OTA than on local reasoning.
A one-stop platform that aggregates offers among hundreds of specialty sites like Booking.com, Airbnb, VRBO, Trip, Agoda, Hotels. com, Expedia, and many more. Launched in 2019, Cozycozy is operating in 39 countries around the world, featuring more than 20 million accommodation listings.
Some consumer biases that can influence decision making are:
How on-site biases affect consumer decisions
- A hotel listed as being at a discount. This taps into the heuristic cue, as price difference influences trust.
OTAs use on-site bias techniques to influence consumer decisions. Travelers have limited memory which may impede their decision process. These limitations can cause someone searching for
- The position of the product. Primacy and recency are deciding factors. Hotels listed at the top (primacy) or at the bottom (recency) are more likely to be selected than hotels listed in the middle.
- Scarcity cues. Listing scarcity cues, like “only one room left,” can increase sales due to a sense of urgency.
According to “Impact of OTA Bias and Consolidation on Consumers” by Benjamin Edelman (2017)3, funded by The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) following concerns about OTA practices, hotels can end up paying OTA fees of 25% or more. The paper also concluded search bias could cause harm by: 1. Deceiving consumers expecting the properties featured on OTAs to match their request, not prioritized based on payment. 2. Perpetuating market norms through bias, as consumers tend to book through OTAs despite the availability of less costly technologies, i.e., booking directly with the hotels at a lower price. OTAs penalize hotels that use these methods. 3. Driving up the fees for the hotels. Since the paper’s publication, several EU countries legally challenged the non-competitive business practices by OTAs in 20194. However, despite this, a study by Expedia5 found that “Travelers are 57% more likely to book their travel through an OTA now than before COVID-19.” How an unbiased metasearch platform like Cozycozy can help Travel start-up Cozycozy provides an entirely independent metasearch engine to bring the best prices and offers that meet the consumers’ needs and also shows the right accommodation to the consumer without requiring a premium to be paid. Cozycozy aims to remove such biases by: - Taking offers from a large number of OTAs and sorting them with its own unbiased algorithm that is created to meet the user requirements as closely as possible.
- Simultaneously querying a maximum of booking sites (hotel platforms and chains like Accor, vacation rental websites, atypical accommodations specialists, etc.), all in a few seconds, to allow the consumer to choose the accommodation that best suits them. - Offering a platform where the consumer-traveler is in charge of their booking decisions uninfluenced by the profitabilitybased ranking thus enabling them to make the most judicious and advantageous choice for them. - Showing an accurate, real-time price at the time of search with no hidden charges. - Providing ALL accommodation solutions and price comparisons for a given destination: hotels, apartments, houses, hostels, cabins, boats, treehouses, etc. Cozycozy offers users a metasearch platform that is fully: - Transparent. The prices are displayed with all costs included, which avoids unpleasant surprises at the time of booking. - Independent. The results presented correspond exactly to the search criteria indicated by Internet users. No merchant site is privileged to the detriment of the others. - Customizable. Consumers can sort results based on geographic location, available devices, and services, consumers ratings and reviews, but also price. - Free. The use of Cozycozy is completely free for Internet users. No fees are applied to reservations made from the site. Holiday rentals and hotels on Cozycozy website: www.cozycozy.com/gb
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Control, Shift, Return Now more than ever it is vital to cultivate return visits by Guests to help rebuild your business. What the Guest experiences at your hotel is the key, and one way you can ensure that experience is the very best possible is by using the tools built into Clarity Hotel Manager. It starts in advance of a stay with the follow-up to a Guest’s enquiry or booking, using the automated email or SMS options to confirm the stay details, perhaps providing a link for the Guest to check and update their personal details, perhaps including a link to your Guest Engagement App for them to download, and probably offering an incentive such as a discount or complimentary beverage if they book for dinner. Imagine the positive impression that is made upon arrival when they are greeted in the lobby rather than at the desk and checked in seamlessly and quickly using Clarity’s mobile reception App. An automated email or SMS text welcoming them to the hotel and providing details of your services and internal contacts can follow, along with whatever promotions you’d like to offer and the link to book that dinner in your restaurant of course. The mobile reception App is also an excellent way to ensure you have the correct details for the Guest(s) and their permission to forward them upcoming deals that might attract them back. While you’re there, you could ask them what their favourite activities are that they intend to partake in on their visit, or what interests bring them here, or when their birthday is (for that complimentary bottle of bubbles you offer), or any one of 1000 different bits of information
you can collect and store for them personally in Clarity Hotel Manager’s customised Guest profiling module. Ensuring they had a great stay is about staying in touch while they’re with you, responding to them personally and ensuring their every need is met. Any one of a number of Guest Engagement Apps that Clarity interfaces to will ensure you achieve this promptly with minimal disruption to your time. Following up their visit with an automated email (or SMS) shortly after their stay thanking them for choosing your hotel, asking for feedback and offering a link to their next booking (with a discount since you don’t have OTA fees) reminds them of how good their experience with you was, and sets up the scene for their next visit. Now you can use the information you’ve collected to reach out with personalized emails inviting them to book direct for events involving their preferred activities and interests, special occasions such as birthdays, or directed to their market segment, their total spend, their number of stays, or any one of the 1000’s of bits of information you could collect. Or your head office marketing department could do it for you with Clarity Central Manager, or you could engage one of the specialist Guest Marketing companies such as Revinate to do this for you. After all Clarity Hotel Manager talks to them all… At Clarity we recognise that now more than ever you need to pull out all the stops to rebuild your business – after all we’re doing exactly the same!! As we say, “lets connect” and show you what Clarity Hotel Manager can do for you.
Why it’s the best time to change your PMS Gisborough Hall Hotel Guestline, a leading hospitality technology provider, interviews Vicki Jackson, Deputy Hotel Manager at Gisborough Hall Hotel to find out why it was the right time to review their systems and migrate to a new property management system – Guestline’s cloud PMS. Whilst it’s been a challenging time for hoteliers, it may seem unsettling to install a new PMS and distribution system. However, for some, it was the ideal time. Vicki Jackson, Deputy Hotel Manager at Gisborough Hall Hotel, tells us why their hotel took the opportunity to switch systems to Guestline… Guestline: Why did you review your systems? Vicki Jackson - The quieter times gave us the time and space to look at our business in more depth and see where we can make improvements to benefit both our guests and our team. Our management team analysed our systems, focused on how we could advance and reacted accordingly. We also reviewed our cost lines to see where we could reduce spending.
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Q: Why did you want to move? We were so unhappy with our previous PMS legacy system [from when we were a Marriott hotel] and their lack of support and understanding of independent hotels that we knew it was the best time to move to a new solution. Q: What did the process involve? Changing your PMS is a big decision - using previous experiences from the team and looking for recommendations from fellow hoteliers goes a long way. There was also a little bit of ‘gut instinct’ kicked in! Your PMS and speed of processes reflects on you as a hotel – if it’s slow and unreliable your team can’t always hide this. Q: How did the implementation go? Training was completed remotely, and our Guestline project manager and trainer have been brilliant throughout the whole process. My advice would be to choose your ‘live load’ team wisely – fewer is often better. Agree who will be completing refresher training when
you re-open and ensure you get your training plans organised as soon as possible. Q: How are you now benefiting? This investment makes our processes slicker, our guests experience has improved and our team is more effective and efficient - as well as being a lot less frustrated with the old system! In the short space of time that we’ve had the system, we can also see how much better the support is - Guestline’s online support portal is coming in very handy and their team are so helpful in answering our questions! Q: What would your advice be to other hoteliers in a similar situation? We are a family run hotel and are so pleased we switched systems; everyone we’ve met at Guestline has been lovely, the system is brilliant, and everyone is amazed at how easy it is! For more information, please visit www.guestline.com
Hospitality Management Software
Valor Hospitality announces addition of upcoming Portrush Luxury Hotel and Spa to Global Portfolio The new hotel overlooks the world famous Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, home to The Open Championship in 2019 and again in 2025 Valor Hospitality Partners, a global, full-service hotel acquisition, development, management and asset management company has announced it has been appointed to manage The Dunluce Lodge, a new build 35 room, five-star luxury hotel and spa. The hotel will be built overlooking the famous 4th fairway at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland, with views of Portrush town, Donegal headlands and The Skerries. The nine-acre site, which was originally privately owned, is due to open in 2023 and has received both political and local support, as well as backing from 2011 Open Championship winner Darren Clarke, who also resides in Portrush. The inspiration behind the plans for The Dunluce Lodge is to replicate the original house on the site and sympathetically blend into the landscape. The Dunluce Lodge comes on the heels of one of Valor Hospitality’s most recent management agreements, the renowned Scores Hotel in St. Andrews, Scotland further expanding the brand’s global portfolio. This development will be the first of its kind in the north coast region of Northern Ireland, with no other fivestar hotel existing within a 60-mile radius. The five-star status for the area has been a need for many years, with Tourism NI, Causeway Coast and Glens Council all welcoming this investment to the region. The idea for The Dunluce Lodge was devised by the U.S. owners, Jonathan Harper and Robert Covington who established investors for the project through the Links Capital Collection. As true lovers of links golf, they visited the area many times and loved the spectacular links golf
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along the North Coast. They realised there was a gap in the market which they could fulfil, serving international travelers, golfers and locals alike. The Dunluce Lodge will bring significant economic benefit to Portrush and wider areas across Northern Ireland. The owners and management share their excitement to work and engage with the local community, with an emphasis to recruit a team of local professionals for the project and on completion, approximately 80 people will be employed. With more than 80 hotels in the Valor international portfolio, the company brings a wealth of global experience to the project and will be responsible for the day-to-day management of the property. Food and beverage will be at the core of excellence the property offers and given the uniqueness, style and vision for the hotel is without compromise, Valor will engage the services of its partner and UK head of culinary - renowned Scottish chef, Roy Brett, owner and operator of the multi-award winning Ondine Oyster and Grill restaurant in Edinburgh. Roy will be instrumental in assisting in the design and development of the restaurant, whilst sourcing a well-known Irish head chef to take charge in creating a first-class dining experience for residents and locals to enjoy. Euan McGlashan, CEO of Valor Hospitality has also announced the recent appointment of Wilma Erskine, OBE, BEM, former manager of Royal Portrush Golf Club for some 35 years, as the brand ambassador for the company. Wilma’s knowledge of the golf and hospitality industry is a perfect fit for Valor, as this will be the first project for the company in Northern Ireland. Wilma is well known in golfing circles, both in the UK and USA, and has a great commitment and enthusiasm to see the legacy of the 148th Open being achieved on the North Coast.
Brian McCarthy, managing director of UK and Europe at Valor Hospitality, said: “We’re very excited about our plans for The Dunluce Lodge, not only for what it means for Valor’s growth, but also the opportunities it will bring to The Royal Portrush Golf Club and local area. With its five-star status, this resort will attract visitors from all over, and with our experience in managing luxury resorts around the globe, including golf projects in South Africa and in the U.S., we are more than ready to apply our expertise to our first development in Northern Ireland. “In 2021, Valor’s UK portfolio doubled in size, marking a real stake in the ground for our growth ambitions going forward. As we expand further, it’s particularly special to be working on a project such as this, where we have been involved since its inception and we’re looking forward to seeing the development progress.” The appointed architects at The Dunluce Lodge are Maxwell and Company, Inverness, who are specialists in designing luxury resorts, castles and hotels such as the Carnegie Club at Skibo Castle, Glenborrodale Castle and Inverlochy Castle Hotel, with the lead architect being James Maxwell. Sustainability is at the heart of this project, and a key feature of the Valor brand. The project has been designed to meet building regulations that achieve the government’s nearly zero energy performance target. A decentralised energy supply system based on energy from renewable sources will also be employed for the spa, and the landscape design principles are based on the creation of improved biodiversity and regeneration. For more information visit: www.valorhospitality.com.
Hospitality Management Software
Hospitality Management Software
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Help your guests get superior results faster, with the Technogym app. Technogym App guides your guests and members to reach their goals with a personalized training plan designed by Technogym Coach (a digital trainer powered by AI) and an on-demand workout library. Whether they want to keep fit, boost their athletic performance, or improve their health, Technogym App has the right workout, for all demographics and abilities accessible anytime, anywhere. Technogym app has freemium and premium levels of access, with a single subscription to Technogym Plus users can unlock over 2000 highly engaging trainer-led Sessions. The Technogym Plus Partner Program enables businesses like yours to provide the Technogym app and the Technogym Plus subscription to your users for only £5.99 per month (£8.99 for nonpartners), with a 2-month free trial period (1 month for non-partners). Furthermore, as a Technogym Plus Partner, you can also collect a share of the subscription revenue.
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The Technogym Plus subscription provides users of the Technogym App with: • Over 2000 trainer-led Sessions from a large team of fitness, boxing, and yoga professionals from around the world. • New Sessions added weekly (across yoga, boxing, HIIT, running, strength, and more) with or without equipment. • Different Sessions daily, in their personalized training program. • Engaging and motivating challenges • Content to support users in the gym, at home, at work, in a hotel room, or outdoors. With a single subscription to Technogym Plus, they can access Technogym Sessions wherever they are, from Technogym App and Technogym LIVE, thanks to Technogym ID (user account).
“We chose Technogym app as we wanted to provide high-quality, hands-off training content to support our members wherever they are. The quality and variety of the content is excellent with new workouts added every week and operationally, we simply promote it. Every Village Gym member can unlock the benefits of the Technogym PLUS subscription directly through the Village Gym app, powered by Technogym. Best of all, it is part of the Technogym eco-system making the member experience seamless and consistent regardless of the touchpoint our members are using.” – Andy Logan, National Operations Manager - Village Gym. Book your demo today: www.technogym.com/hospitalitech and discover how you can easily provide your guests and members with a superior digital training solution. Why not try it for yourself too by scanning the QR code.
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Printing Technology - Bridging the gap for businesses offering hospitality at home In the past three years, consumer hospitality ordering habits have changed. Fuelled by the recent pandemic, pubs, bars and restaurants throughout the UK have had to adapt their customer models from once previously static businesses to established in-house, mobile and takeaway ventures. These new offerings give consumers a greater choice of hospitality at home, a trend which looks like it is here to stay. To keep up with demand, businesses have had to look into technology options to track and maintain hospitality order fulfilment, especially during busy business times where kitchens can be receiving both front-of-house and takeaway orders which need to be fulfilled within a strict timeframe. The Rise of Labelling Product labelling has become essential for successful order tracking. In hot, busy kitchens, the need for clear, concise labelling containing key information such as order details, dietary requirements and customer information are
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essential for outgoing items which are cooked and packed for each unique transaction. In a takeaway application, the need to label each food item, plus the shipping container it is placed in, speeds up the fulfilment process and reduces errors as each item can be clearly identified for each particular order. With many different types of selflabel media options available, from traditional silicon linered pre-cut labels to fixed and re-stick linerless labels which allows the user flexibility on the label content they produce. Businesses need to evaluate their requirements before investing in new technologies. Why go linerless? Linerless labels are characterised as pressure-sensitive labelling with a special release coating applied on the face of the label. Linerless media provides up to 40% more labels per roll than traditional label media by simply removing the requirement of silicon backing paper. This special feature enables variable length printing, making it ideal for customer order labelling
which varies depending on the order size. Typically, linerless labelling requires specialised printers. BIXOLON offers a portfolio of solutions from traditional desktop printers to compact mobile printers. Its SRP-S300 linerless label or receipt printer, is ideal for high humidity kitchen environments. Providing concise, accurate linerless printing over five different print widths onto both re-stick and permanent linerless label media. The XL5-40 is BIXOLON’s dedicated linerless desktop label printer with unmatched features. Alternatively BIXOLON’s comprehensive range of compact mobile printers available in two, three and four-inch media widths providing consistent, flexible printing from your chosen smart device. To find out more about the BIXOLON’s Linerless Label printing range and why it is quickly becoming a favoured labelling technology of choice for major hospitality brands across the UK, visit www.BixolonEU.com or call +49-211-68-78-84-0.
Printing & Labelling Solutions
Linerless Label Printing
The Eco-Friendly Labelling Alternative Linerless Labels provide: • Up to 40% more label length available on a linerless paper roll compared to traditional label media • Flexible printing of varied length media • Available in a range of adhesive strengths depending on the type of stick required • Linerless labels can withstand scratches, liquid and sunlight better compared traditional label media
XL5-40
Mobile Printers
SRP-S300
4-inch (114mm) Dedicated Desktop Linerless Label Printer
2 (58mm), 3 (80mm) & 4-inch (118mm) Linerless Label Printers
3-inch (80mm) POS Linerless Label and Receipt Printer
• Producing fast linerless printing at
• USB, Serial, Bluetooth and
• USB, Serial, Parallel, Ethernet, WLAN
speeds of up to 6ips (152mm/sec)
Wi-Fi connectivity options
and Bluetooth connectivity options
• USB, WLAN, Bluetooth, Serial
• Compatibility with Android™,
• IP21 rated with water resistant cover
and Ethernet connectivity options
iOS™ and Windows™ smart devices
For more information visit www.BixolonEU.com or call +49-211-68-78-54-0
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Star EMEA: Innovative POS Solutions for omni-channel ordering The unprecedented challenges faced by the hospitality sector over the last two years have resulted in many businesses looking to alternative ways of operating and to adopting new practices. Technology has been a key enabler, allowing many to not only survive but thrive moving forward. As a POS printer manufacturer with over 40 years’ experience, Star is at the forefront of such technology. Whether your business is looking for a traditional POS solution or making the transition to tablet or Cloud POS to allow for online and table ordering, Star has a range of solutions to meet individual business needs. One such solution is the recently launched TSP100IV printer. The new TSP100IV Series offers the renowned build quality of the TSP100 along with innovative new features for omnichannel commerce. The TSP143IV UE model boasts multi-connectivity to cater for traditional point of sale applications as well as mobile and cloud POS. Ethernet and USB-C interfaces are standard as well as a USB-A port with Android Open
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Accessory (AOA) support for the growing Android marketplace, offering direct cabled ‘data & charge’ for Android tablets and mobile devices. Providing even greater flexibility, the TSP100IV can be connected over Wireless LAN using Star’s compact MCW10 module that plugs directly into the TSP100IV to provide a solution that supports the new WPA3 standard for wireless printer communication. It also supports both 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands with 5GHz being resistant to the interference of radio waves generated by microwave ovens to provide a safe and effective wireless LAN solution. By deploying the MCW10, users can quickly and easily benefit from robust wireless communication thanks to the Star Quick Setup Utility. For direct printing from online ordering platforms and web sites to connected Star printers anywhere in the world, Star’s unique CloudPRNT™ technology is built in to the TSP100IV. As a result, it is ideal for printing restaurant orders direct to the kitchen or bar area without the need for a local tablet or POS system.
While CloudPRNT is already used extensively by hospitality establishments as part of an online ordering service or table ordering application, Star has recently introduced StarPrinter. online, a fully managed service for hospitality businesses to manage the printer estate with minimal set-up time and cost as well as near zero integration. If required, customers can simply send a receipt or an order as an html file or even an email directly to the printer. With the recent growth in online orders across multiple channels along with increased allergy legislation and custom orders, Star offers the TSP654IISK linerless label printer for reliable and accurate label / order printing. Featuring a 180mm/second print speed and compact design, the TSP654IISK prints high resolution text and graphics on linerless MAXStick® media of 40mm, 58mm or 80mm roll widths. For more information, please visit www.Star-EMEA.com
Printing & Labelling Solutions
Next Generation POS Printing TSP100IV – Smaller, sharper and better connected, it’s setting new standards for POS printing technology. The new TSP100IV brings a unique new design for a truly revolutionary product. The quality and reliability of the popular TSP100 series has been fused with enhanced connectivity and specialist printing features for the very latest in point of sale and omni-channel commerce. For ever-changing retail and hospitality environments, the TSP100IV has every angle covered!
a Ultra modern thermal receipt printer a Superior connectivity for Tablet and Cloud POS a Exceptionally simple installation a Compact horizontal or vertical operation with
a Star CloudPRNT™ technology for printing directly from online ordering platforms and web sites
a Optional MCW10 Wireless LAN module (region specific)
internal power supply and integral wall mount
a Dual USB-C & LAN connectivity with USB-A Direct Android AOA connectivity for Android devices and USB peripherals
a
a
a
For more information on Star’s POS printing solutions, call our sales team on +44 (0) 1494 471111 or visit Star-EMEA.com
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