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Contents contributed and discussions participated by esuarezrijsdijk

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Trends in Events and Meetings That Will Shape 2020 - By Lauren Hall, Founder & CEO, IVvy - 1 views

  • we’ve pieced together those innovations and trends across the event and event planning industry that are positioned to shape the next decade
  • it’s important to remember that the experience doesn’t begin and end with the stay or the event itself; instead, it starts before a planner books your venue, long before that first attendee checks-in.
  • When hotels and venue spaces utilize a venue management platform, they’re able to effectively market their space globally, while catering specifically to the needs and process of modern planners.
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  • In the modern world of events, it’s not just about large-scale experiences and conferences. In fact, meeting and small group travel make up a significant portion of the growing demand.
  • Ensure your venue space is equipped for events and meetings of various scale, and work closely with planners to ensure an attentive, personalized experience while bringing their event or meeting to life.
  • event planners are frequently opting for non-traditional settings for their events
  • Hotels should keep in mind that the nature of events may be “non-traditional” as well.
  • In that same breath, we’re witnessing the rapid rise in popularity of wellness-focused events, interactive live experiences, experiencing enhancing AI and VR components, Instagram-worthy backdrops, events centered around sustainability, and more.
  • event planners and venue owners are implored to leverage event technology in a way that strikes a balance between face-to-face and virtual elements. It’s not about using technology for every moment or touch-point, but about using new-age features and platforms to create a frictionless event, engage attendees on a deeper level, and create meaningful, memorable experiences.
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    This article provides a concise overview of trends in event planning. First, the importance of the pre-stay experience is addressed, with a mention of venue management technology as an important tool in this regard. Secondly, being prepared to host events of various scales is discussed. Thirdly, alternative venue spaces and experiences are mentioned as fundamental aspects of the current event planning sphere. Finally, the balance between state of the art technology and a personal human touch is brought up as being a defining features of events going forward.
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How restaurants are using Facebook Messenger to boost traffic - 0 views

  • The Culver City, Calif.-based social media marketing company leverages Facebook Messenger as a modern direct marketing tool.
  • Misfit doesn’t cast a wide net. It targets Facebook users who are most likely to become repeat customers for a restaurant.
  • In the case of 5 Napkin Burger, an upscale full-service restaurant in New York City, Misfit ran a Facebook ad promoting a 2-for-1 burger special. Misfit aimed its advertising at people within proximity to one of the brand’s four Manhattan restaurants.
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  • The 5 Napkin Messenger campaign, which occurred in early 2019, resulted in 77 in-store redemptions. Five Napkin also gained 2,500 new Messenger and email subscribers from the campaign.
  • Once diners and restaurants are connected through Messenger, Linkletter said restaurants can continue to market to customers acquired through the initial promotion.
  • Once a diner clicks on the first promotional link, the restaurant never has to “spend a dollar on them again,” he said.
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    This article describes Misfit Media's interesting variation on the proximity marketing concept by leveraging Facebook Messenger to target likely customers. The firm has obtained impressive and cost-effective results for clients with techniques that combine advertising, promo redemptions and the collection of customer e-mails, all through a widely-used external app. Repeat business has also seen dramatic benefits.
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The Messy Business Of Reinventing Happiness - 0 views

  • Iger planned to pump nearly $1 billion into this venture, called MyMagic+, a sweeping plan to overhaul the digital infrastructure of Disney’s theme parks, which would upend how they operated and connected with consumers. At the core of the project was the MagicBand, an electronic wristband that Iger envisioned guests would use to gain entry to Disney World and access attractions; make purchases at restaurants; and unlock their hotel room doors. It would push the boundaries of experience design and wearable computing, and impact everything from Disney’s retail operations and data-mining capabilities to its hospitality and transportation services.
  • Disney World, Parks’ crown jewel, seemed to be losing its luster. According to multiple sources, certain key metrics, including guests’ “intent to return,” were dropping; around half of first-time attendees signaled they likely would not come back because of long lines, high ticket costs, and other park pain points. Simultaneously, the stunningly fast adoption of social media and smartphones threatened the relevance of the parks. If Disney wanted these more tech-oriented generations to love it as much as their parents, who had grown up with fewer entertainment alternatives, had, it would have to embrace change now.
  • There were the endless lines for rides, food, and bathrooms; parents juggling maps, hotel keys, baby carriages, and bottles of SPF 75; and kids pulling families on long treks to try to visit every attraction. The park was filled with complications, such as a tiered ticketing system with wonky rules.
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  • The NGE team had big dreams for the MagicBand. It would need to interact with short- and long-range sensors that would be installed around the park. The short-range sensors would let guests scan their MagicBand at sales terminals in Disney park stores to pay for merchandise, for example, or to seamlessly check in at their hotel.
  • The long-range sensors would allow Disney to track guests as they navigated the park. The potential benefits were manifold. By monitoring where crowds were forming, the company could better optimize flow.
  • The MagicBand would also collect valuable consumer data.
  • The tussle over digital access points,
  • The tussle over digital access points
  • where customers would use their MagicBands to enter each ride, was typical of the dysfunction between Frog and Imagineering.
  • More than 28,000 hotel doors needed their locks replaced in order to connect wirelessly with the MagicBand, even as some 80% of the rooms at Disney’s resorts, on average, were occupied. Two dozen workers spent eight months upgrading 120 doors per day. The company rolled out 6,000 mobile devices to support MyMagic+ in the parks. More than 70,000 cast members got MyMagic+ awareness training, with 15,000 learning service-specific tasks for, say, FastPass+ kiosks or MagicBand merchandising
  • Disney World’s physical infrastructure, which was first built in the late 1960s, needed major capital improvements. Two hundred eighty-three park-entry touch points needed to be upgraded. Much of Disney World lacked a Wi-Fi connection, so in order for guests and cast members to take advantage of MyMagic+ and its mobile apps (which would offer a map service and real-time wait times for attractions), the company had to install more than 30 million square feet of Wi-Fi coverage.
  • There is no line at the main entrance to the park, where cast members and a row of polished, golden digital access points greet me, and it takes just seconds to stream through with my MagicBand. According to Disney, the MagicBand has cut turnstile transaction time by 30%. Park capacity has also increased.
  • “Honestly, it’s not so magical,” one cast member tells me about MyMagic+, echoing a common sentiment I hear from park employees during my visit. “It’s just for your hotel room [door] and paying for things.” When you look closely, there’s less to MyMagic+ than what some on the team had hoped for.
  • MyMagic+’s rocky rollout makes the Imagineers’ case for conservatism in the face of technological change seem sound. A slew of problems reared up after launch
  • The Imagineers and Frog certainly did disagree during the MyMagic+ development, as did many others, and that disagreement had repercussions and costs. But it ultimately led to a successful conclusion. What Staggs calls “constructive discomfort” is what sophisticated collaboration is all about.
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    This article offers a telling account of how Disney developed and implemented the MyMagic+ initiative, providing important insights into how major corporations approach massive tech-related capital investments. Among the most salient takeaways: 1) how Disney recognized that the parks' pain points could be addressed through the public's growing predilection for personal, always-connected; 2) how these massive internal projects can pit different departments against each other, and how sometimes that antagonism can lead to beneficial results; and 3) how a project like MyMagic+ can have a profound positive impact on the company and still be considered by many to have not fulfilled its potential.
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Burger King Unveils Its "Restaurant of Tomorrow" Building Design with New Technology Fe... - 0 views

  • Technology-enabled components of the restaurant blueprints include: Curbside Delivery. Advance orders placed through the mobile app will have dedicated parking spots for curbside delivery. Guests will be able to notify the restaurant team member upon arrival via the app as instructed on the parking signs. Pick Up Lockers. Mobile and delivery orders can also be picked up from coded food lockers facing the exterior of the restaurant. The food will come straight from the kitchen to the pick up lockers. Drive-Thru. A double or triple drive thru features digital menu boards and merchandising. The multi-lane ordering and pick-up expedites the process. Suspended Kitchen and Dining Room. A suspended kitchen and dining room above the drive-thru lanes will be configured to reduce the building footprint. Drive thru guests have their order delivered from the suspended kitchen by a conveyor belt system, and each lane has its own pick-up spot. This restaurant design option features a triple drive thru with a dedicated lane for delivery drivers. The design of this restaurant allows a 100% touchless experience.
  • “We took into consideration how consumer behaviors are changing and our guests will want to interact with our restaurants. The result is a new design concept that is attractive to guests and will allow our franchisees to maximize their return.
  • We designed the interior and exterior spaces like we had a blank sheet of paper, designing without preconceived notions of how a Burger King restaurant should look.
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  • The first new designed restaurants are scheduled to be built in 2021 in Miami, Latin America and Caribbean
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    This article describes a concept Burger King designed in-house which incorporates a number of next-generation unattended-POS and e-menu technologies. The creators envision restaurants that are focused on different modes of delivery and take-out, emphasizing no-contact interfaces. Dedicated apps would be used for ordering, curbside pick-up notification and pick-up locker codes while eMenu-like digital menu boards are employed for the drive-thru lanes.
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Why Southwest just became more appealing for business travelers - 1 views

  • Most airlines around the world depend on three major platforms in sell seats on their planes — direct sales to consumers and business travelers, through ticket agents, a website or app; codeshares through airline partners; and consumer and business sales via a third-party travel agency, often an online travel agency (or OTA), or a corporate booking platform.
  • Southwest Airlines has long stood apart from most airlines around the world, insisting on marketing its flights exclusively through its own platforms
  • Last year, however, Southwest announced plans to grow integration with business travel platforms, making it possible for corporate travel managers to book, modify and cancel Southwest reservations with ease
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  • By making its flights available to more customers, Southwest will be in a better position to sell seats to a broader range of flyers, expanding the potential for lucrative corporate contracts
  • more Southwest loyalists will have access to the carrier’s flights for work-related travel, when their options may have been limited before. Road warriors may have a worthy new alternative, too
  • with another appealing program to choose from, elites sticking with legacy carriers could end up battling fewer travelers for upgrades and preferred seats — a win-win for customers across the board
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    This article discusses Southwest Airlines' new strategy to allow bookings through GDS's, beginning with Apollo and Worldspan and continuing later this year wit Amadeus. Previously, Southwest had required its customers to book exclusively through its own platforms. Among the advantages listed are the possibility to sell seats to more more types of flyers (especially valuable during the pandemic) and brand loyalists' ability to book corporate travel through the airline. The article makes a compelling case for GDS's continued relevance, especially in the managed corporate travel sector.
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How green is your hotel? 10 things to consider. | Living - 0 views

  • If you're looking to minimise your eco-footprint during your next hotel stay, here are 10 important questions to consider.
  • energy-saving measures
  • energy-efficient appliances and automatic room temperature control systems
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  • alternative energy systems
  • low-consumption toilets and low-flow showers
  • water-saving practices
  • solar or maybe even wind energy
  • waste disposal and recycling systems
  • locally sourced ingredients
  • Plant-based meals significantly reduce the impact on the environment
  • vegetation
  • A trend towards rooftop and vertical gardens
  • local development initiatives
  • natural toiletries
  • efforts to limit the use of chemicals
  • green transportation options
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    This article details a number of green features that hotels can put into place, including several with an important tech factor. These include automated energy-saving measures (including in-room temp controls) and the use of solar or wind energy, Although not explicitly mentioned in the article, it's easy to see how even the "non-tech" measures would benefit from computerized controls and assessments: water-saving practices, waste disposal and recycling, local ingredient sourcing for the F&B department, and harmful chemical avoidance.
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How Restaurants Can Leverage Smart Checklists  | Hospitality Technology - 2 views

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    Restaurants that implement smart checklists can increase internal accountability and consistency by having processes and standards be viewable and actionable across management. Data can be accessed and analyzed in real time, allowing for corrections to be made before the problems arise.
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