In our recent Email Benchmark Report, it was overwhelmingly clear that email is the preferred channel of communication for marketing and businesses. With the shift towards contactless technology and social distancing measures still in place, email continues to be one of the most effective ways to stay connected and communicate with hotel guests.

COVID-19 has created quite a few buzzwords and key phrases that we'll always associate with 2020. Pivot, unprecedented, social distancing, and new normal, are just a few of them. In the hotel industry, contactless hospitality is the talk of the town in 2020.

In a new collaboration between the open software platform apaleo and the serviced apartment brand SMARTments business, the technology behind the booking and administrative processes takes a leap into the future with digitalization and automatization. At the center, the apaleo platform links together all of the technology necessary for the business operations and property management. This includes all the systems pertaining to the guest journey, from booking and reservations to sending out an invoice and processing payments. It also includes flexible room management with the planning of inventory adjustments, reservation and rate management, as well as the processes for accounting and invoicing. The platform also enables operational planning and optimization of staff tasks. Most importantly, apaleo enables unlimited integration possibilities to all of the best hospitality software, third-party applications, and makes it easy to create custom in-house solutions.

Allbridge, the leading provider of data, video, and voice technologies for hospitality and senior living properties, is pleased to announce that they have merged with Ipanema Solutions ("Ipanema"), a provider of technology engineering, systems design, and project management for new build hotels.

Nomadix Inc., a technology leader in hospitality and MDU, today announced its new cost-effective solution Nomadix Casting, which enables guests to choose the content they want to watch and cast it with their devices directly to the in-room TV. As more people "cut the cord" and stream their own content at home, the guest preference to access the same content when they travel has significantly increased. Nomadix Casting modernizes the guest experience while providing an affordable and secure solution for hotels to meet this new demand.

Skift Global Recovery Index, which provides granular insights on travel and hospitality industry recovery, shows that currently, we stand at 42% recovery compared to last year. The recovery index is growing week-on-week, but it is still a long journey ahead. The COVID-19 pandemic has left the Travel and Hospitality industry in a state of disturbance, confusion, and uncertainty. The challenges faced by hoteliers are multi-faceted. In simple words, it can be put as to how to survive, recover, and grow.

ALICE, a leading hospitality operations and management platform, now integrates with the hands-free Vocera Badge and Vocera Smartbadge from Vocera Communications, Inc. (NYSE:VCRA), a leader in communication and workflow solutions. Interoperability between ALICE and these intelligent mobile devices enables hotels around the world to improve operational efficiency and increase safety for employees and guests.

FCS, a leading hospitality technology solutions provider, announced today that it will be offering a very special price for its property management solution, Cosmo.

IDeaS and Host Hotel Systems have announced a two-way data integration to provide hotels with the most advanced science and automation to optimize the front- and back-office operations while maximizing revenue performance. The collaboration automates the seamless transfer of information between IDeaS' revenue management solutions and Hostpms Property Management System (PMS).

As hotels continue to operate with reduced staff, more and more pressure is being placed on departmental teams to find ways to operate more efficiently. To aid hotel accounting teams with streamlining invoice processing, Aptech, the industry standard for hospitality financial management, has partnered with Zaru, a company providing automated invoice processing solutions for hospitality businesses across North America. The integration partnership is enabling hotel accountants to receive critical invoice information accurately and efficiently while eliminating paper, removing manual data entry errors, and capturing cost savings.