Partner News

NATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:

M3 COO Honored as 2019 Business Woman of the Year

M3 Chief Operations Officer Casi Johnson was named a 2019 Business Woman of the Year by the Tampa Bay Business Journal. Johnson was one of 27 Tampa, FL-area businesswomen honored for the award.

The award honors Tampa, FL’s most influential businesswomen in a variety of industries who have made a difference in their community and have blazed a trail for others to follow, according to the company. As M3’s first female COO, Johnson has led the company, as well as integration and growth initiatives implemented during her tenure. With a primary focus in mentoring, coaching and helping employees see their own potential, she has helped create dozens of jobs with above-market salaries in the area.

Teneo Expands Reach, Adds to Team

Teneo Hospitality Group has expanded its presence in two key West Coast markets with the appointment of Jon Clark as director of sales. Clark joins Teneo’s Western regional team and will be primarily responsible for clients in the Seattle and San Francisco markets. He will be based in Snoqualmie, WA, near Seattle.

Most recently, Clark was national sales assistant director at Disney Meetings & Events. In this role he was responsible for developing and managing client relationships for all industry organizations based within the Pacific Northwest, Mountain and Western Canada Regions.

Clark began his hospitality career with Hilton Hotels. For nearly three decades, he served as Hilton’s director of worldwide sales and accounts, directing global sales from San Francisco and Seattle.

TraknProtect Partners with Illinois Hospitality as Safety Button Legislation Passes for Statewide Adoption

With the signing into law of the Illinois Hotel and Casino Safety Act recently, TraknProtect, a provider of location-based technology purpose-built for the hotel industry, has revealed its intention to assist local area hotels in their adoption of the new ruling.

Under the Senate Bill 75, hotels and casinos statewide will be charged with providing customer-facing staff such as guestroom attendants, room-service staff and casino floor employees with a safety or notification device “under circumstances where no other employee is present in the room or area.” This follows the introduction of a safety button mandate for the City of Chicago over a year ago, while similar legislation is being enforced in cities such as Miami Beach, New Jersey and Washington State.

“While this is a much-needed development for our state, we’re here to help our local hotel partners with compliance to the new law and can fully support them as they prepare for the July 1, 2020 adoption deadline,” said Parminder Batra, TraknProtect’s CEO. TraknProtect, a Chicago-based safety button provider, has been supportive of the Illinois Hotel & Lodging Association’s approval of the new measures, with the majority of Chicago hoteliers already using the TraknProtect platform to ensure the safety of their employees.

Hotspot 2.0 Simplifies Connectivity at Mercantile Hotel New Orleans

GlobalReach Technology, a provider of high-performance WiFi solutions, services and analytics, has partnered with the Mercantile Hotel New Orleans to implement a next generation guest WiFi service through the implementation of Hotspot 2.0. An all-suites boutique property located in the historic Warehouse/Arts District of New Orleans, the Mercantile Hotel New Orleans’ adoption of Hotspot 2.0 gives guests an automatic connection to hotel WiFi, and bypasses the usual barriers to WiFi access with a secure authentication process that mirrors the ease of use of today’s cell phones.

Guests can connect multiple personal devices by provisioning each device with a Hotspot 2.0 credential once with a process that takes just seconds. The Mercantile’s guests can simply scan a QR code at reception or on the in-room Angie virtual assistant device present in all 90 luxury suites. This then directs them to the GlobalReach online signup server in order to instantly download a secure profile. Once the profile is downloaded, a guest’s phone, laptop or tablet will be automatically connecting to the hotel’s WiFi service, eliminating the need to remember passwords or log in again.

“Since implementing GlobalReach Technology’s Hotspot 2.0 alongside our new Angie Hospitality in-room guest assistants, we have seen a 70-80% reduction in WiFi support calls which has freed our staff to have other conversations with guests that lead to enhanced value and satisfaction,” says Joshua Herron, director, technology & experience at Innisfree Hotels which oversees the Mercantile Hotel New Orleans.