This week’s Partner News is highlighted by Terranea Resort set to introduce the INTELITY platform; Meliá Hotels International becoming the first company to begin rolling out Cytric Easy from Amadeus; Cloud5 launching an AI-driven virtual guest services solution, and more.
Terranea Resort to Introduce INTELITY Mobile Offering
Southern California destination Terranea Resort will implement the INTELITY platform, bringing a fully digital experience to the guest journey. The property will soon have a mobile guest app with mobile check-in and mobile key, guest messaging and GEMS, INTELITY’s suite of staff-facing tools for streamlined service and engagement between the hotel and guests.
“Terranea Resort is dedicated to providing superior guest service and is committed to exploring new ways to enhance our amenities and create an environment of ultimate luxury and comfort,” said Ralph Grippo, president, Terranea Resort. “The luxury guest is seeking personalized service, ease of access and an enhanced experience. We are pleased to partner with INTELITY to upgrade our technology with their mobile key and mobile app as one of the many ways we are better accommodating our guests and associates.”
Terranea selected the INTELITY platform for its robust and flexible architecture, and plans to deploy the technology platform to better connect with and service its guests’ needs. With INTELITY’s mobile check-in and mobile key, guests will have the convenience to bypass the front desk and access their rooms, and guest messaging enables the hotel staff to enhance engagement with guests before, during and after their stay. With the addition of GEMS, guest service requests, work orders and ticketing are optimized, enabling staff to save time and be able to provide more personalized service for guests.
Meliá Hotels International first to choose Amadeus’ Cytric Easy
Meliá Hotels International has become the first company to begin rolling out Cytric Easy from Amadeus, so that employees will be able to search, book and pay for business travel in Cytric Travel within the Microsoft 365 productivity tools they use every day, like Microsoft Teams and Microsoft Outlook. With the new approach, employees are empowered to focus on the objectives of a trip, rather than being bogged down planning complex travel logistics.
With Cytric by Amadeus now embedded in Microsoft 365, toggling between applications will become a thing of the past, leading to improved productivity, a better employee experience and easier compliance with travel policies.
In the near future, Meliá employees will benefit from Microsoft Outlook calendar invites that populate relevant data before starting the search process, such as preferred departure location, destination based on meeting location and dates. Flight search results will show recommended options based on convenience, price, users’ preferences (for example, stop-over airports to avoid), corporate policy and the greenest options.
Cloud5 launches AI-driven virtual guest services solution
Cloud5 Communications, a provider of communications solutions and managed IT services for more than 5,000 hotels, MDUs and commercial facilities across the Americas, has launched a new service offering, Virtual Guest Services (VGS). VGS is designed to offload in-bound and/or in-house guest calls from the hotel front desk and PBX staff, so they can focus more attention on high-value, in-person guest interactions.
VGS leverages a two-pronged approach to answer, filter and redirect guest calls and requests. First, VGS uses automation and AI to dynamically assist on-premise and in-bound call handling, significantly reducing call abandonment rates and offloading up to 50% of calls from front desk and PBX staff. This component of VGS is powered by BluIP Inc., a provider of cloud communications and artificial intelligence (AI) solutions. For hotels, this means more calls answered, less call wait time and more guest requests fulfilled without the need to hire additional full-time employees.
The second prong of this solution is its capacity to redirect calls that need human interaction to a live agent so that hotels are not missing key revenue or upsell opportunities and guests experience human-to-human responses when requested. VGS can be integrated with a property’s existing call handling center (whether it be internal, external or outsourced) to provide targeted human-to-human interactions that drive conversions and guest satisfaction even more deeply. For hotels that do not already have an existing call center, Cloud5’s contact center can provide support for overflow and after-hours calls.
Starboard Hotels extends partnership with Infor
Infor has revealed that Starboard Hotels, one of the U.K.’s leading independent hotel operators, owners and developers of franchised and own brand hotels, has extended its use of Infor EzRMS across nine hotels in the group.
Starboard has opted to take advantage of the full functionality of Infor EzRMS, with new capabilities enabling the business to obtain an automated, comprehensive insight into competitive pricing throughout all online channels. Starboard’s revenue team can now track online distribution channels consistently and systematically, checking positioning against regional competing offers to be able to match these, whilst taking into account changing demand and factoring in events as soon as they are announced.
This extra functionality will build on the work of the team, increasing revenue throughout the hotels and improving competitiveness by enabling a data-based, total revenue management approach. The solution features deep-learning algorithms that recognize patterns to ensure optimal and accurate business forecasts, pricing and selling strategies.
“The new capabilities we now have at our disposal will underpin a truly responsive revenue management system,” said Darren Schembri, Starboard Hotels head of revenue and sales. “The reporting functionality of EzRMS has always been great, with the forecasting capability, in particular, most beneficial to the business. The ability to undertake comprehensive market and competitor analysis really will take our forecasting and revenue management to the next level, giving us a better understanding of what the market is doing to enable us to fulfil our revenue potential across our hotels.”
hihotels by Hospitality International expands INNcentive program
hihotels by Hospitality International has launched its new and improved INNcentive Instant Rewards program. INNcentive members will enjoy greater value when staying at a hihotels brand and now have access to thousands of discounts and special offers from nationally recognized companies.
Featuring five distinct brands—Scottish Inns, Red Carpet Inn, Master Hosts Inns, Downtowner Inns and Passport Inn—hihotels has a unique loyalty program that offers immediate benefits and discounts rather than requiring members to accumulate enough points for a reward.
The perks and deals include a 15% room discount during each stay; early check-in; late checkout; access to thousands of discounts and special offers for dining, shopping, entertainment and travel; and weekly emails with special offers for traveling and everyday activities.
“A major initiative has been to enhance the structure and offers of the INNcentive program to benefit our franchisees,” said Chris Guimbellot, hihotels president/CEO. “These added perks and discounts will help our hotel owners retain current guests and attract new ones, increase repeat visits and brand loyalty, drive direct bookings to our hotels and allow us to compete more effectively with other brands and OTAs—all without any additional fees to franchisees.”
