News Briefs

Duetto, a provider of revenue management systems, proudly unveils the successful acquisition of Micerate, a provider of dynamic pricing and online booking tools tailored for meetings and event spaces. This strategic milestone underscores Duetto's unwavering dedication to dynamic revenue management solutions, with a heightened focus on the groups and events sector, solidifying its position as an industry leader adept at meeting the diverse needs of the hospitality landscape. Founded in Germany, Micerate brings a wealth of expertise, dedicated to delivering specialized solutions that elevate meeting space profitability and streamline booking efficiency for its valued clients. 

Key features of the Micerate platform:

• Strategic Revenue Optimization

Dynamic pricing of event spaces empowers hoteliers to strategically map pricing and control capacities for hotel event and meeting space. The algorithm-based pricing isn't just about numbers; it's a sustainable boost to event and meeting space sales, ensuring Duetto customers stay ahead in a competitive market.

• Effortless Sales Empowerment

Revolutionize the meeting and event space quoting process with an intuitive quote generator, making the creation of quotes and function sheets easier. Hoteliers can engage customers dynamically during the quote creation process, creating not just transactions, but meaningful connections that drive conversions.

• Tailored Online Event Sales Experience

Hoteliers can elevate their online presence with a personalized meeting and event space booking engine, seamlessly integrated onto their brand site. This personalized tool not only maximizes event revenue but also champions efficiency, a dual focus that underscores Duetto's commitment across its entire product suite.

Investment in revenue technology has continued to grow year on year with the 2024 Duetto annual trends and predictions report showing again that hotel technology spending continues to increase. 71.4% of those surveyed predict that hotel technology spend will continue to increase over the next three years, with the key focuses being on price automation and group optimization. 

In a triumphant year marked by resilience and growth, Duetto experienced robust expansion across key markets, with a noteworthy highlight being record-breaking growth in the Asia Pacific region. Duetto's unwavering commitment to innovation and providing cutting-edge solutions has solidified its position as a preferred partner for hotels and casinos worldwide, adding 200,000 hotel rooms to the platform in 2023 alone.

Quotes:

“Duetto is built on innovation, constantly staying ahead of the market to ensure our customers maintain a consistent competitive advantage. The addition of Micerate to our platform is incredibly important as it aligns seamlessly with our vision. Beyond dynamically pricing groups and events for increased revenue, Micerate introduces a sophisticated booking engine directly integrated into the hotel's brand site, streamlining operations and saving valuable time for meetings and event teams. Our customers seek three essential elements from Duetto: enhanced revenue generation, precise forecasting, and operational efficiencies – Micerate delivers on all fronts.” David Woolenberg, CEO, Duetto 

“This acquisition represents another milestone for Duetto, positioning us for continued growth in our sector. Our robust financial position, marked by steady revenue growth, profitability, and a strong balance sheet, provides us with a platform for sustained success in an ever-evolving market. This strategic move not only contributes to our inorganic growth but also underscores our confidence and capability to pursue further opportunities.” Vishal Save, CFO, Duetto.

“Micerate brings exceptional capabilities in managing and booking function space to the Duetto family.  It complements and expands Duetto BlockBuster to comprehensively deliver a solution for groups, meetings, and events. Together, Duetto and Micerate empower sales and revenue teams with an unparalleled suite of tools, enhancing revenue and efficiency. This strategic integration enables the workflow collaboration, analytics, and visibility to drive alignment and execution between the Sales and Revenue Management functions for our customers while highlighting Duetto's deep commitment to delivering innovative best-in-class solutions for group management.” Darren Koch, CPO, Duetto.

“As someone who has dedicated their entire career to hospitality, this collaboration with Duetto marks an exciting next step. Joining forces with a global player that aligns with our values of ease-of-use and exceptional customer service is not just a strategic move; it's a testament to our shared vision for the industry. I am genuinely excited about the possibilities ahead, as we continue our journey of innovation and dedication to maximizing revenue for hotels.” Gerhard Wasem, Micerate

MustHaveMenus, the all-in-one platform for restaurant marketing, launches  MustHaveMenus Display, a digital display management system that seamlessly integrates with MustHaveMenus'   menu maker and design tool.

This  addition gives restaurants a natural link between the creative process and customer touchpoints. When a restaurant makes changes to its brand, menu items or promotions they can be instantly updated on display systems across many screens and locations. Plus, the power of MustHaveMenus' custom design app creates endless potential for engaging multimedia content.

Key features of MustHaveMenus Display include:

• Unlimited Creativity: Display works with over 25,000 customizable templates, allowing restaurants to bring any marketing vision to life.
• Seamless Integration: Display effortlessly integrates with the renowned MustHaveMenus menu maker and design tool.
• Playlists: Display allows users to create unlimited playlists with custom arrangements of content, timing and transitions.
• Instant Updates: Updates made to a design can be instantly published to display screens, eliminating unnecessary steps.
• Custom Schedules: The Display app has advanced scheduling features so that managers can set-and-forget content on their screens.
• Multi-Location Management: The Display app accommodates the needs of small- to medium-sized restaurant chains.

MustHaveMenus Display simplifies the way restaurants connect with their customers, making marketing campaigns more efficient and impactful. By seamlessly integrating design capabilities with a versatile distribution system, MustHaveMenus continues to empower the restaurant industry with cutting-edge tools to drive growth and success.

"Ever since installing the MustHaveMenus product in our Diner we've seen smiles from local clients!" reported Kevin McMillen, owner of the HandleBar Diner, of Mesa Ariz. "Our non-technical business manager at the Diner has taken charge of the entire system and navigates through it with ease. We publish a playlist that shows upcoming events, current menu items and we switch to our 'Limited Menu' during big events all with ease now.  Having this product fully integrated into our Diner's already established systems was a game changer."

"The launch of Display marks a significant milestone for us, as we strive to provide restaurants with a one-stop-shop for all of their in-store marketing," said Jim Williams, CEO of MustHaveMenus. "We believe this addition empowers restaurants to do more with less. They can create menus and stunning visuals easily and without a graphic designer, then deliver the content to their displays without leaving the program. We want to help them save time while doing great work."

To learn more about MustHaveMenus Display and how it can transform your restaurant's marketing efforts, please visit www.MustHaveMenus.com

ParTech Inc. has integrated its marketplace order management system, MENU Link, with Grubhub. 

Building off PAR and Grubhub’s existing partnership, MENU Link automatically syncs menu items, pricing and other order information between PAR Brink POS and Grubhub. The marketplace order management solution sends incoming orders directly to the restaurant’s kitchen without staff needing to manually enter them, reducing errors, saving time and providing restaurant managers with robust reporting on all Grubhub orders.

• 85% say integrations with other systems is driving POS purchasing decisions, according to HT's 2024 POS Software Trends Survey

MENU Link seamlessly integrates Grubhub and PAR Brink POS, PAR's cloud-based point-of-sale system. This feature allows restaurants to easily manage Grubhub delivery and pickup orders directly within PAR Brink POS, streamlining operations for kitchen and front-of-house staff.

No More Tablets

"How people experience food has drastically changed — especially among millennials and Gen Z — with the surge in off-premise dining and delivery services. While delivery provides diners with seamless ordering, it also creates 'tablet hell' for restaurants juggling multiple apps," commented PAR CEO, Savneet Singh. "Together with GrubHub, our MENU Link solution tackles this head-on by integrating all major delivery services into one system. This innovation provides restaurants the capabilities they need to thrive on digital demand.”

Restaurants gain centralized control over their menus, dynamic pricing for different channels, store-level information and order data from third-party marketplaces with MENU Link. This unified approach eliminates confusion, costly errors and duplicative work that often comes with managing multiple tablets from various delivery services.

Toast, a digital technology platform built for restaurants, announced an innovative collaboration with Choice Hotels International to make its Toast for Hotel Restaurants technology a brand standard for two of Choice’s upscale brands, Cambria Hotels and Radisson. Toast is also a Qualified Vendor for Choice’s other brands. Cambria and Radisson will implement Toast technology as a brand standard by summer 2025 for Cambria and by the beginning of 2026 for Radisson properties. This collaboration is designed to help owners accelerate growth in their food and beverage programs and digitalize the guest experience for on-site dining.

From tableside to in-room dining, the Toast for Hotel Restaurants platform will integrate with Cambria’s and Radisson’s property management systems (PMS) to power modern dining experiences for guests. The implementation will digitalize the guest’s food and beverage experience on property while streamlining food and beverage operations for hotel staff. Enabling staff to process room charges directly from the convenient handheld point of sale (POS) devices, this collaboration will help empower operators to drive food and beverage sales, increase kitchen efficiency, and improve guest satisfaction.

“Cambria and Radisson hotels are increasingly seen as dining destinations in and of themselves, and this innovative collaboration with Toast will allow our guests and hotel staff to benefit from the digitalization of operations,” said Indy Adenaw, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Upscale at Choice Hotels. “We’ve already started rolling out Toast at several Cambria locations nationwide and are pleased to see the early impact it is making, including early adoption from guests, helping owners manage their labor model, and increasing lobby marketplace sales.”

In addition to standard food service POS and hotel PMS integration, Cambria and Radisson hotels will implement Toast Go® 2 handhelds for server and bartender use, Mobile Order & Pay at restaurant tables, Toast Online Ordering for in-room dining, Kiosks for lobby marketplaces, Kitchen Display Systems for back of house efficiency — including texting guests when orders are ready for pickup — and Toast’s direct Third-Party Delivery integrations. Cambria and Radisson hotels will also use Toast Payments.

Cambria and Radisson hotels, along with most of Choice Hotels’ portfolio of brands, are connected by the award-winning loyalty program Choice Privileges. Through the program, members can earn and redeem points at over 7,000 hotels across a diverse portfolio of brands with locations in 46 countries and territories. With the Choice Privileges Mastercard, cardholders can earn more points faster, including on everyday purchases including gas and groceries.

“Premier hotel brand operators like Choice Hotels recognize that a flexible service model is a critical success factor. From in-room dining to mobile order and pay to full-service restaurants to quick-service restaurants, Toast for Hotel Restaurants enables hospitality brands to deliver a more seamless guest experience, operate more efficiently, and increase speed of service across day parts and formats,” said Kelly Esten, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise at Toast. “We are delighted to be implementing Toast technology as a brand standard for Cambria and Radisson properties and to offer Toast to other Choice Hotels brands as a Qualified Vendor.”

My Place Hotels of America is partnering with Grubhub, an online and mobile food ordering and delivery platform, to upgrade guests' dining experience at its hotels. Guests of My Place Hotels can order from Grubhub's network, which includes more than 365,000 restaurants and convenience stores, for delivery directly to the hotel, with $0 delivery fees on eligible orders. The partnership is available at all participating My Place Hotels across the U.S.

Through the partnership, My Place guests can order on Grubhub via geolocation and QR codes around each property, directing them to the Grubhub Marketplace. The hotel location and courier drop-off instructions automatically populate at checkout for maximum ease of use. Guests who affiliate with their hotel will receive one free month of Grubhub+, Grubhub's loyalty program that provides customers access to unlimited $0 delivery on orders of $12+. This benefit is aimed at further elevating the guest experience.

"One of the highlights of travel is savoring the local cuisine and exploring new flavors, and now My Place guests will have the chance to enjoy those options from the comfort of their hotel room without having to pay delivery fees," said Matt Campbell, COO of My Place Hotels of America. "As the hospitality industry continues to find ways to add customer-focused services and stay on top of what's most important, convenience is key."

"When you're on the road away from home, the last thing you want to deal with is finding great restaurant options in a new place," said Rob DelaCruz, vice president and general manager of Onsite Hospitality at Grubhub. "With this integration, we're making it easier than ever for hotel guests to get a meal, snacks or convenience items delivered right to their hotel."

Consistent with this emphasis on convenience, My Place has always been ahead of the curve, featuring rooms with fully equipped kitchens. This longstanding amenity caters to the needs of guests, offering them the ease of storing and reheating leftovers, and thus enriching their stay.