As more and more travelers shop for hotels online, hospitality brands need to get smarter about their retailing strategies so they can power increased revenue growth and satisfy evolving expectations. They need to go beyond the room and create personalized choices for guests — add-ons like concert tickets, destination experiences, branded products, multiple cancellation options, and any other ancillaries at the point of booking.

INTELITY®, provider of hospitality’s leading guest experience and staff management platform, announced today a new deal with La Casa del Camino. The historic property will implement INTELITY’s smart-room tablets and guest messaging as well as GEMS®, INTELITY’s Guest Experience Management System, which includes a suite of rich staff-facing tools for streamlined service and engagement between the hotel and guests.

Beekeeper, the leading frontline success system, today announced it has raised $50 million in Series C funding after more than doubling revenues since the start of the pandemic. New investors like EGS Beteiligungen and Kreos Capital joined the round alongside existing investors Energize, Thayer, SwissCanto, Keen Ventures, Alpana Ventures, Edenred Capital and Verve Capital. Beekeeper plans to use this round of funding to grow, continue to invest in product development and establish its leadership in the frontline success category.

Typically, when a hotel is booked by a travel agent the actual payment is made by the traveler at the property after they have completed their stay. Today’s ‘post-pay’ model means travelers must be present at check-in to register card details and then again at check-out to make the payment. Business travelers often need to use their own personal card to pay for the hotel before submitting an expense form to reclaim the money from their employer.

As hotels transitioned from small, independent properties to large hotel chains with global presence, new tools had to be created to manage them. The same happened across the travel space with businesses like the airlines. Quite simple and straight-forward in the beginning, the landscape we have today is entirely transformed, and it keeps evolving as the complexities and business needs change and new technologies make more solutions possible. The curve is ever-growing and, if historical data is any indication, the pace of technological developments will only increase in speed.

But you have some doubts.Maybe you’re catching yourself thinking:

Cloud5 Communications, a leading provider of communications and technology solutions for more than 5,000 hotels, MDUs, and commercial facilities across the Americas, today announced the launch of its new Vendor Management solution.

IDeaS, a SAS company, the world’s leading provider of hotel revenue management software and services, announced today Pulse Hotels & Resorts has adopted G3 RMS across four of its Maldives-based properties to deliver accurate forecasting, better manage operational resources, and gain market share.

Group business is set for a strong corporate and conference season in Q4 2022. Group bookings are now starting to extend more confidently into 2023 with 48 million room nights already committed globally for H1 2023, a 16% increase over the same time in 2022, according to Amadeus’ business intelligence data. Forward-looking insights from global industry leaders echo overall optimistic outlook. As hoteliers evaluate their group business opportunities, a new meetings and events forecast from Amadeus, Salesforce, and Meeting Professionals International (MPI) combines forward-looking insights on the state of the industry from the perspectives of global experts. According to Amadeus’ Demand360® data, group travel is set for a strong conference season in Q4. Global group occupancy has consistently been within 1-2% of pre-pandemic levels as the conference sector has started to rebound in 2022. Amadeus data also shows that group bookings are now also starting to extend more confidently into 2023, with 48 million bookings already made globally for H1 2023 - a 16% increase over the same time in 2022. “An explosion in pent-up demand for face-to-face experiences is driving a strong recovery for the meeting and event industry,” says Chris Meyer, CEO, George P. Johnson Experience Marketing Member, Meeting Professionals International (MPI) International Board of Directors. In the U.S., the number of Q3 2022 meetings and events increased by 190.5% over the same period last year, according to Knowland. Additionally, the average number of attendees for the third quarter was 116 compared to 81 for 2021, while the average square footage used was 2,953 per event, and square feet used per person was in line with 2019 levels at 25. Corporate gatherings accounted for the vast majority of events across the United States with some segments already recovered to 2019 levels. 75% of the corporate segments recovered at 80% or better through September. With such positive numbers surrounding the return of group travel, Amadeus sourced opinions from seven top global meeting, event, and hospitality authorities to better understand what’s driving gatherings now. Among the unifying themes is a new spirit of flexibility and experimentation between planners, their clients, and properties to design innovative and memorable experiences. “People’s expectations have changed—they no longer want to travel just to sit in presentations,” said Melanie Picard, Senior Director, AppExchange Partner Marketing, Salesforce. “This shift in expectations has opened up a new world of possibilities that we can’t ignore.” Events are no longer all about business—instead, attendees expect a menu of additional activities to complete their stay, and a clear focus on sustainability. “Sustainability is about more than environmental issues ,” says Mariela McIlwraith, Chief Sustainability Officer for the Events Industry Council Centre for Sustainability and Social Impact. “It’s about the interrelationship of people, planet, and purpose and how our decisions affect each area.” To read more from our industry experts, download the eBook “Industry Masters: The Future of Meetings & Events”.

Agilysys, Inc. (NASDAQ: AGYS), a leading global provider of hospitality software solutions that deliver High Return Hospitality, today announced a meaningful addition to its Asia-Pacific customer portfolio: Mohegan INSPIRE Entertainment Resort (“Mohegan INSPIRE”), which when completed will be the largest hotel-retail-entertainment complex in South Korea. Agilysys will deliver multiple hospitality systems to the property, including its core property management (PMS) and point-of-sale (POS) systems. The deal signifies key advancements for Agilysys in the Asia-Pacific region, including its first casino property and large-scale PMS deployment in South Korea.