News Briefs

Allseated, a SaaS (Software as a Service) spatial design technology, has announced its new company identity, Prismm, and its newly unified Prismm Platform. The company's rebranding and updated product category represents a significant milestone in its development, showcasing its dedication to pushing innovation and expansion with a renewed emphasis on surpassing customer expectations. 

Allseated was launched in 2014 to revolutionize collaborative event management centered around planning and seating charts. With total funding of $40 million, ten years of growth and innovation, and 500,000 events, Allseated expanded its services to the building of dynamic 3D layouts of real-world spaces within minutes. The Prismm platform takes the dynamic 3D capabilities to the next level – 3D spatial design and management. 

Professionals across the global venue and event industries can now seamlessly integrate cloud-based services into their work processes. These services can support a variety of tasks, such as showcasing, selling, planning, and designing spaces and events. Complemented by the revamped brand identity, the all-new Prismm Platform sets an industry gold standard by combining virtual touring and selling with event designing and management.  

Using cutting-edge technology, Prismm enables users to create customized virtual walkthroughs of a physical space, brought to life by dynamic 3D layouts and experiences, within just a few minutes. It allows venues and event professionals across various departments and disciplines to work collaboratively in real time and provide customers with a holistic view of their projects in one destination.  

A new vision for the future 

Prismm offers a cloud-based technology suite that utilizes 3D spatial design technology – the first technology of its kind to bring venue spaces to life. The platform's dynamic digital twins and photorealistic modeling enable self-guided and sales-assisted virtual tours, allowing prospects and customers to access venues anytime, anywhere via the embedded website canvas and engage brands via rich, interactive, and memorable experiences. 

Teams can now utilize virtual collaboration tools to connect in real-time within a virtual space.  The platform enables team members to collaborate, create their vision, provide design notes and feedback, and save every true-to-scale detail in a single source-of-truth shareable canvas. It also allows sales teams to streamline their lead qualification process, enabling instant bookers to close deals quickly and providing more time to focus on high-value prospects. The platform shortens sales cycles, increases conversion rates, and lowers costs, all while supporting the company's sustainability goals. 

Key features of the Prismm Platform include: 

• Virtualization. Whether elevating on-site client visits or breaking free from scheduling and lengthy site inspections, dynamic digital twins can be configured to showcase multiple layouts for multiple experiences within multiple spaces at any venue on-site or remotely. Revenue teams can upload photos of designed spaces, 2D floor plans, and other documentation to a virtual catalog, enriching the self-guided tour experience of their digital twins. Rich media can be inserted into any experience, including branding elements like a logo or promotional video, directly into the dynamic layout. 
• Collaboration. Digital twins make collaboration a breeze with the help of personalized links. These links allow multiple collaborators to contribute their ideas and watch as their ideas disperse in spectacular ways. Ideas can be easily shared with the entire team through in-tour video conferencing or asynchronous. Additionally, planners can leverage the powers of the digital twin to enhance their planning process. The platform's new home dashboard makes managing all upcoming experiences and events easy, with a comprehensive and flexible selection of layout collections and assets.  
• Analytics and Measurement. Venues or vendors can gain valuable insights from the virtual catalog hosting the digital twins and 3D models, including engagement data such as the number of views and clicks. Sales teams can use this data to optimize key points of their guided tours, and marketing can measure their campaigns' effectiveness in driving and converting traffic.  

Yaron Lipshitz, Chief Executive Officer of Prismm, says, "We are at a pivotal moment as a company and as an industry. With the monumental challenges facing the events sector worldwide over the past few years, we redefined the Prismm Platform to bring experiences to life no matter one's location. Our modern technology effectively transforms space and event management's disparate sales, marketing, and operational components into a captivating, comprehensive client experience."

"In a world of countless client options, your opportunity to impress a client with the potential of a space can be fleeting. If the experience does not deliver, you risk losing business", adds Lipshitz. "In a highly competitive environment, it's imperative to harness the power of technology to improve top and bottom line and differentiate versus the competition." 

New year, new identity 

With the new platform, Prismm also revamped its brand identity. The company's new visual approach captures its pioneering nature and unrelenting focus on excellence in the constantly evolving spatial and event landscape. The rebrand encapsulates the company's core principles through a contemporary design that resonates with its future vision, mission, and values. This update is a testament to Prismm's commitment to innovation and unwavering dedication to providing its clients with extraordinary experiences. 

"In the ever-evolving business world, adaptability is the key to sustained success. We are not just changing our image; we are evolving and aligning ourselves with the dynamic needs of our customers and the rapidly shifting market trends. The decision to rebrand is rooted in a deep understanding of our identity, strengths, and the unique value we bring. We are excited about the future as Prismm", concludes Lipshitz. 

For more information about Prismm, please visit www.prismm.com.  

The American Hotel & Lodging Association (AHLA) announced the launch of the Global Technology 100 (T100), a group of the world’s best and brightest hospitality technology leaders that will advise the hotel industry on leveraging the latest technology to better serve guests and maximize profitability.

T100 replaces three advisory groups within AHLA – HTNG’s Executive Leadership Group, Vendor Advisory Council, and the Industry Advisors. By bringing these groups together under the T100 banner, members can collaborate more closely and reach decisions more quickly.

T100 will ensure AHLA stays on top of emerging technologies that will improve guest experiences and profitability, while developing best practices and other materials to advise AHLA members.

Five industry leaders with unparalleled hospitality technology expertise will lead T100:

• Scott Strickland, EVP & CIO, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (chair)
• Luis Segredo, CEO, DataTravel LLC (vice chair)
• Kristie Goshow, CCO, KSL Resorts (immediate past chair)
• Jeff Bzdawka, CEO, Knowland (program & membership chair)
• Bryan Hammer, VP of IT, Belmond (workgroup chair)

The chair of the group will rotate to ensure technology issues are debated with a view toward resolutions that benefit hoteliers and solution providers.

“T100 is all about ensuring our industry leverages the latest technology to better serve guests, associates, and communities, while maximizing profitability,” said AHLA President & CEO Chip Rogers. “This group is composed of the top hospitality technology leaders on the planet, and together they will serve as the chief driver of innovation throughout our industry.”

Learn more about T100 and its membership here.

 Actabl, a hospitality software company dedicated to empowering hotels with actionable insights to drive profit, announced a partnership with  Avalara, Inc., a leading provider of cloud-based tax compliance automation for businesses of all sizes, to usher in a new era of efficiency, cost savings, and empowerment within the hospitality industry through tax reporting and data management.

Innovative Solutions: Streamlining Tax Compliance for Hotel Businesses

The partnership between Avalara and Actabl consolidates revenue and tax data from various business systems, streamlining tax compliance processes through automation. In the hotel industry, daily tax-related activities involve handling data from various sources, making it a labor-intensive and error-prone process. Actabl recognizes the need for automation, not just for cost savings but also to address the severe labor shortage in the hospitality sector. Hotel management companies can leverage ProfitSword's data consolidation and send it to Avalara, automating their tax compliance and reconciliation processes.

The integration allows hotel businesses to seamlessly compile data, automate tax return preparation, and file returns using monthly transactional data. This groundbreaking partnership introduces technological innovations that streamline tax compliance, freeing up valuable time and resources for hoteliers.

“Automating compliance has taken a load off my shoulders each month – I’m confident that property registrations are being completed properly and monthly reporting is prepared accurately and filed on time,” said Trisha Campbell, Regional Controller at Valor Hospitality Partners. “The Avalara team has been so helpful in setting up our tax profile and has improved our business processes. The integration with ProfitSword further streamlines the process by automating the flow of transactional data for recalculation and reporting by Avalara. The reconciliation has enabled us to make upstream adjustments for an increased level of compliance and reduced audit risk. With ongoing staffing issues, automation lets us effectively utilize existing personnel. Between the finance team and the on-property accountants, we’re saving about 5-6 days per month across our hotel portfolio, reducing risk and setting us up for scale without adding headcount. I’d recommend Avalara with ProfitSword by Actabl to hotel management companies looking to streamline their compliance.”

Oliver Hoare, General Manager of Lodging at Avalara, expresses enthusiasm about the collaboration, saying, "Tax compliance is one of the most onerous factors impacting hotel management groups and their ability to operate and scale efficiently. Avalara’s partnership with Actabl allows hotel management groups to divert their aggregated data via ProfitSword to Avalara. It’s a win, win, win – an enhanced feature for Actabl, increased speed to market for Avalara, and it gives ProfitSword customers a vastly simplified route to automation”.

"We recognize the challenges that hotel operators and hoteliers face, particularly regarding tax reconciliation and compliance," said Actabl's Chief Revenue Officer, Jason Luo. "Our groundbreaking partnership aims to address our customers' needs by providing a comprehensive, user-friendly platform for enterprise-wide monthly tax reconciliation and compliance filings and substantial time savings for our customers' accounting and finance teams. We are pleased to add another valuable tool to drive value and operational excellence in the hospitality industry."

Enhancing Tax Efficiency and Accuracy Through Integration

Navigating the complex world of hotel industry tax compliance involves dealing with manual tasks prone to errors and audit risks. Tasks such as calculating tax rates and filing accurate returns demand meticulous attention, and any misstep can result in compliance issues, financial consequences, and intensive audits.

By integrating with Avalara for Hospitality, hotel businesses can access accurate real-time tax calculations, regularly updated tax content repositories, and comprehensive visibility into overall compliance through advanced reporting tools. Tedious tax returns preparation, filing, and remittance processes are automated using Avalara, reducing the risk of audits, effectively managing tax-related jurisdictional notices, and providing a centralized online portal for seamless compliance management with heightened transparency.

This integration signals a meaningful advancement in automating tax-related processes for hotel businesses, ensuring enhanced efficiency, reduced manual workload, and minimized risk of human error in tax compliance.

Actabl's Focus for 2024: Expanding Offerings with Current Customers

As part of Actabl's strategic vision for 2024, the partnership with Avalara aligns to expand offerings to current customers, providing them with comprehensive solutions to navigate the evolving landscape of the hospitality industry.

As Actabl and Avalara embark on this new partnership, they invite hotels to consider the integrated solution as a digital-first approach to automating and streamlining processes, boosting productivity and efficiency while cutting costs, thereby positioning hotel businesses for future growth. 

HotelIQ – a business intelligence (BI) and analytics platform, which gives hoteliers access to accurate, consistent property data across siloed business operations, facilitating collaboration to identify new revenue opportunities –  is excited to announce the launch of a revolutionary new feature in the company’s Decision Cloud solution: Enterprise View Dashboards. The six new dashboards – Market Segments, Booking Channels, Room Types, Pick-Up, Pace and Forecast & Budget – will elevate multi-property data aggregation and analytics to unprecedented levels, ultimately leading to improved commercial performance.  

Designed for intuitive use, these dashboards offer users a comprehensive overview of a hotel group’s entire portfolio, allowing for both a broad panorama and a deep dive into granular details using HotelIQ Smart Search. This dual approach enables users to uncover valuable insights that were previously hidden in complex data sets. enabling users to filter data at the rate code level.

Each dashboard is expertly designed to cater to different aspects of multi-property management, offering varied perspectives and detailed analytics. Recognizing the unique needs of different organizations, HotelIQ offers three customizable filter slots; users can tailor these slots to highlight the information most crucial to their business, be it Brand, Region, Owner, or other key metrics.

"The HotelIQ Enterprise View Dashboards mark a significant leap forward in multi-property data analysis," said Apo Demirtas, CEO & Founder of HotelIQ. "Empowering our users with panoramic overviews and customizable filters will transform the way they analyze and interpret data, especially across multiple properties, resulting in improved commercial outcomes. By offering nuanced insights and a user-friendly interface, these dashboards empower hoteliers to make informed decisions, optimize strategies and stay ahead in a competitive market."

Whether managing multiple properties, analyzing performance across regions or optimizing business strategies, HotelIQ Enterprise View Dashboards provide hoteliers with the data necessary for informed decision-making, leading to increased overall profitability and operational efficiency.

Hotelbeds, part of HBX Group, has formed a new team in the U.S. focused on casino hotels. With more than 300 such properties across the country, the group aims to offer strategies and solutions tailored to the iconic gaming hubs of Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Reno, Lake Tahoe and Biloxi.

“We are always striving to be the partner of choice and forming this new team not only enables us to support casino hotels’ reach through data-led insights on traveler demographics but also attract customers from new source markets around the world when gaming hotels need the business,” said Lauren Atlass, Hotelbeds’ Vice President for North America. “Partnering with some of the most prominent gaming hotels in the U.S. also expands our offering within the leisure industry growing our portfolio helping us to meet the needs of even more travelers.”

As the entertainment capital of the world, Las Vegas and the country’s other gaming hubs attract both domestic and international travelers, keen to experience all the cities have to offer. According to the American Gaming Association, the economic impact the U.S. casino gaming industry is more than $261 billion, while it also supports 1.8 million jobs.

To further support this new business sector, Hotelbeds has appointed Gianna Rivera as Head of Strategic Partnerships for North America. Gianna brings a wealth of industry experience and expertise to the role, having served as Group Vice President of Distribution & Connectivity at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts and as Deputy Vice President in Sales at Accor Hospitality. She is also a HEDNA board member.

Hotelbeds will use its extensive booking data gained from its 195 global markets to assist its hotel partners in more effectively targeting the right customer helping both the properties and also travel advisors grow their businesses. In addition to its new range of U.S. casino hotels, Hotelbeds also offers tailored ancillary services, including car rental, global transfers and experiences across the country.

Tock, the reservation, experiences, and events platform for the hospitality industry, announced its latest innovation today, Multi-Experience Tables, to help restaurants drive greater profitability across the dining room. This new feature allows Tock customers the option to offer guests a unique experience, while simultaneously marketing the same table for a different experience or standard reservation.

"Today's guests are more intentional in seeking out unique and personalized experiences when dining out," said Matthew Tucker, Head of Tock. "Our restaurant partners are very creative in the experiences they offer on Tock, and have learned to turn every square foot of their dining room into a monetizable experience. With Multi-Experience Tables, restaurants now have even more ways to experiment with what appeals most to their guests. This is something our partners have been asking for and we are proud to be the first to bring this to the industry."

Nearly a decade ago, Tock revolutionized the hospitality industry by introducing prepaid experiences. Today, Tock has generated over $2.25B in total revenue for its partners through experiences. The introduction of Multi-Experience Tables now makes it even easier to assign various experience options to a single table, allowing a restaurant to maximize what sells best.

Among Tock's many restaurant partners using experiences is Ella Elli, a California-meets-Mediterranean restaurant in Chicago that offers highly sought-after wine experiences. "Our experiential offering has grown into an integral part of our brand, allowing us to extend our reach beyond the traditional dining experience and offer new ways to drive consistent sales during a time and day when our restaurant was not even open otherwise," said Dan Harris, Vice President of Food and Beverage at Ella Elli.

Riana Mondavi of Charles Krug Winery, another Tock partner, touts the benefits of Multi-Experience Tables: "The addition of Multi-Experience Tables creates a platform that allows us to stay creative. We can offer a range of experiences from the everyday wine tastings to specialized food and wine pairings, allowing us to stay top of mind with our guests. Now, we get to see what appeals to our guests at any given time and learn more about what works best, without taking away things we know they love. It's the best of both worlds."