Partner News

This week’s Partner News is highlighted by M3 launching an expense management service powered by consulting firm SIB; hihotels by Hospitality International launching a new website; and Sandals Resorts winning awards. Read about all that and more below.

M3 launches M3 Expense Management, powered by SIB
M3 has introduced M3 Expense Management, a cost-reduction and spend-analysis service powered by consulting firm SIB, to help M3 customers further identify cost-saving opportunities at a discounted rate with fast-track prioritization.

Through M3 Expense Management, SIB will perform a spend analysis on participating M3 customers’ GL spend reports and invoice copies to compare costs and indirect spending to benchmarked pricing data sourced from more than 70,000 locations across the U.S. and Canada to ensure that service levels match actual needs and consumption levels as efficiently as possible.

SIB’s services also offer historical bill auditing to identify any overcharges and recover refunds and credit where applicable, as well as assist with contract negotiations to take advantage of benchmarked pricing and best-in-class terms and conditions in vendor-service agreements.

The Battery social club leverages Aptech’s PVNG
The Battery, a private social club with a handful of guestrooms in San Francisco, is leveraging PVNG from Aptech to manage its enterprise accounting.

PVNG is a game-changer in the world of hotel accounting, according to Aptech. It features the Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, General Ledger, Statistics, Financials and Bank Reconciliation that today’s hotel operators are seeking with much-needed browser navigation. Its OCR invoice processing; myriad of payment options; drill-down capabilities in financial statements and reports; ability to handle single or multi-property accounting; and the fact that it can be deployed as a hosted service explains why this accounting solution is in such high demand.

For 50 years, Aptech has been developing web-based, customizable, financial-management software that hoteliers need to access, view, compare and dynamically analyze the performance data of their single hotel or multi-property, multi-branded portfolios. Employing hotel industry standards and best-in-class technology at more than 4,000 hotels, Aptech’s solutions work independently or in sync to quickly respond to changes in revenue and expenses.

hihotels launches new consumer website
hihotels by Hospitality International has launched its new consumer website at stayhihotels.com.

Featuring an entirely new look and simplistic design, the site is even more user friendly for guests to find a property and book a stay at any of hihotels’ five brands: Red Carpet Inn, Scottish Inns, Master Hosts Inns, Downtowner Inns and Passport Inn.

As part of the search process, hotels are now prioritized based on availability and include improved mapping, and other features such as live “starting at” rates displayed at the top of each page, ADA-accessible features listed for participating pages and sharper property photos.

Sandals wins big at The 2021 World Travel Awards
Sandals Resorts International (SRI) received twelve awards at the 28th Annual Caribbean and North America World Travel Awards virtual presentation.

Special recognition was given to Sandals as the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand 2021 for the 28th consecutive year, as the resort company celebrates its 40th anniversary of Sandals Resorts.

Sandals Resorts International was recognized with 12 awards:

  • Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand 2021: Sandals Resorts International
  • Caribbean’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort 2021: Beaches Turks & Caicos
  • Caribbean’s Leading Luxury All-Inclusive Resort 2021: Sandals Grenada
  • Caribbean’s Leading Resort 2021: Sandals Royal Barbados
  • Caribbean’s Leading Honeymoon Resort 2021: Sandals South Coast, Jamaica
  • Caribbean’s Most Romantic Resort 2021: Sandals Grande Antigua
  • Bahamas’ Leading All-Inclusive Resort 2021: Sandals Emerald Bay
  • Grenada’s Leading Resort 2021: Sandals Grenada
  • Jamaica’s Leading All-Inclusive Family Resort 2021: Beaches Negril
  • Jamaica’s Leading Resort 2021: Sandals Montego Bay
  • St Lucia’s Leading Resort 2021: Sandals Grande St. Lucian
  • Caribbean’s Leading Adventure Tour Operator 2021: Island Routes Caribbean Adventures

“It is our great honor today for Sandals Resorts International to be recognized as this year’s recipient of the Caribbean’s Leading Hotel Brand,” said Adam Stewart, executive chairman, Sandals Resorts International. “For four decades we have held an unwavering commitment to hospitality excellence across the region. We will continue to live our promise to our customers, valued travel advisors and our communities, and we will keep exceeding expectations through our dedication to hard work and innovation.”

Sandals Resorts International’s sister company Island Routes Adventure Tours, was also recognized by the World Travel Awards, taking home the Caribbean’s Leading Adventure Tour Operator for the 9th year. Island Routes offers guests off-site experiences that truly immerse them in the local culture and beauty the islands have to offer.

“Even in these unprecedented times, it is an honor to be recognized for continuing to deliver exceptional and authentic destination experiences,” said Ryan Terrier, VP, operations, Island Routes. “We pride ourselves on this recognition and promise to continue delivering one-of-a-kind excursions and extraordinary service while always looking to raise the bar on our products and offerings.”

The World Travel Awards were established in 1993 for the sole purpose of acknowledging and celebrating achievements in all areas of the world’s travel and tourism industry. Today, the World Travel Awards brand is recognized globally as the ultimate hallmark of quality, with winners setting the benchmark to which all others aspire. Each year the World Travel Awards covers the globe with a series of regional gala ceremonies staged to recognize and celebrate individual and collective successes within each key geographical region.

The Cadence Hotel Selects BeyondTV
Hotel Internet Services (HIS), a full-service provider of internet services and solutions for the hospitality industry, has announced the adoption of its BeyondTV content streaming and guest services solution by The Cadence hotel in Niagara Falls, NY.

A recently opened boutique luxury property within walking distance of the Niagara Falls State Park, The Cadence’s implementation of BeyondTV serves to enhance the hotel’s reputation as a modern and trendsetting establishment that can effortlessly keep pace with the latest guest experience expectations.

In seeking to provide its guests with a contemporary-inspired urban oasis setting, The Cadence recognized that providing access to personalized content within each of its 58 guestrooms would be essential to meeting modern guest entertainment needs. The property’s decision to select BeyondTV to achieve this goal comes from the platform’s ability to guarantee a user-friendly experience due to its intuitive interface design. Without any need for staff assistance, BeyondTV ensures that guests can instantly cast content from personal devices onto guestroom televisions hassle-free. The solution can further cater to a wide range of content viewing preferences thanks to its full compatibility with virtually any mobile-based streaming app. This includes immediate access to personal subscriptions such as Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Spotify and more.

“The Cadence is a lifestyle luxury property with a mission to provide its guests with the absolute latest in modernity and experience personalization, so selecting the industry’s most advanced guestroom entertainment and services platform was a top priority for us and BeyondTV was by far the best choice,” said Shelly Cieslak, VP, Rupal Hospitality, which owns and operates the property. “BeyondTV has not only proven its reputation as a user-friendly solution that guests can instantly understand and use the moment they arrive; it’s enhanced security abilities also gives them the confidence to interact with the system without concerns that personal information might be at risk.”

As a solution purpose-built specifically for the hospitality industry, BeyondTV sidesteps data privacy issues by automatically erasing all usage data upon checkout or with the push of a remote button. With its advanced device isolation capabilities, the solution further prevents the inadvertent or malicious casting of content to televisions located in other guestrooms.

Also key to The Cadence’s adoption of BeyondTV is the solution’s ability to enhance a property’s contactless and social distancing initiatives while simultaneously boosting guest convenience. Once the new hotel’s on-site restaurant has completed construction for example, BeyondTV will allow guests to effortlessly view menus and order room service from the safety of their guestroom television and without exposing guests to any unnecessary health risks. With the hotel also featuring a roof-top bar offering high-end cocktails, guests wishing to remain in their rooms will also be able to instantly order any beverage of preference without having to make the physical trip themselves.

BeyondTV’s fully comprehensive design further provides hotels with options to implement other experience-enhancing features, including providing guests with access to concierge services,  hotel information or the ability to request amenities such as extra towels or toiletries. With instant compatibility with BeyondTV’s myRemote feature regardless of television model, hotels also have the option of allowing guests to use personal devices as a contactless and more convenient remote that is capable of controlling all television and BeyondTV functions.

“Guest service expectations can evolve very quickly so it makes financial and practical sense to adopt technologies that can likewise swiftly adapt to new industry trends,” continued Cieslak. “BeyondTV creates opportunities as opposed to barriers that will allow us to always stay one step ahead of the latest guest needs, and it is this design flexibility that will prove to be essential in continuing to set our hotel apart from nearby competitors.”