Restaurant And Hospitality News – February 16, 2015
By Christine Kern, contributing writer
In news this week, Hospitality is beating its retail counterparts in location-based customer engagement, hoteliers need to achieve some important mobile milestones, and a new study shows that travel reviews and review summaries are crucial to travelers when booking. Also, 3D printing could be a “game changer” for Food Service, and Red Robin joins the list of restaurants moving to tableside tablets.
Hospitality Leads The Way In Location-Based Customer Engagement
This new EKN survey of 90 US-based hospitality companies demonstrates that implementing in-location guest engagement strategies is paying off for more than 80 percent of hospitality companies. The report shows how hospitality companies are leveraging in-location contextual engagement to surpass their retail counterparts to achieve financial gains.
Mobile Milestones For Hotels in 2015
This article form Hotel News Resource examines three mobile milestones for hoteliers to stay current with the explosion of mobile devices. Hoteliers must create responsive website design that is user-friendly even on mobile devices; they must embrace mobile payment systems to their tech roadmap; and they need to create convenient, user-friendly mobile apps that allow guests inform hotel staff of their needs.
Study shows That 95% of Travelers Read Reviews Prior to Booking
A new study conducted by New York University and TrustYou, a global online reputation management leader, examined the preference of consumers when using reviews to make travel purchases, and in particular comparing user experiences with review summaries versus traditional full text reviews. The study, available here, found that 95 percent of respondents read travel reviews prior to booking, and 52 percent said they preferred summarized review content, with 80 percent saying that summarized reviews are time efficient, and 72 percent reporting that summarized review content is mobile friendly. The key takeaways are that hotels need to pay attention to reviews, and that reviews are most useful to travelers when summaries are provided.
3D Printing Could Be ‘Game Changer’ For Food Service
The Culinary Institute of America is partnering with 3D Systems Corporation on initiative using new technology to develop applications for the ChefJet Pro, a 3D printer designed specifically for fabricating food, according to the Nation’s Restaurant News. “The combination of traditional baking and pastry technique, combined with this new technology, is allowing for a whole new world of creativity and personalization for chefs. Desserts like this would not be possible without the use of 3D printing,” CIA communications director Stephan Hengst told the Nation’s Restaurant News in an e-mail, calling the technology a potential ‘game-changer” for the industry.
Red Robin’s Introduction of Ordering, Payment Technology Aims To Capitalize On Momentum
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Inc. is the latest restaurant chain to roll out Ziosk tabletop tablets system-wide to make ordering and payment more efficient and customer friendly. The move is part of an effort to capitalize on the chain’s recent momentum, according to the Nation’s Restaurant News, and the rollout will take effect during 2015. The decision was an effort to remove the customer “pain point” of waiting for a check at the end of a meal, according to CEO Steve Carley. The seven-inch tablets also lets customers order meals and request refills, play interactive games. enroll in the chain’s loyalty program and redeem awards, and provide real-time feedback. Dallas-based Ziosk also provides touchscreen tablets to about 1,350 other restaurants across the country, including Chili’s, Smokey Bones Bar & Fire Grill and Abuelo’s. Casual-dining chains, including Applebee’s and Johnny Rockets, chose tablets developed by E la Carte Inc.