Technology

'Do you want bacon with your ice cream?' McDonald’s ends AI drive-thru trial in US after order mistakes

19-Jun-2024 By Restaurant

McDonald’s in the US is ending its AI drive-thru trial after of errors with customer orders, including bacon being added to ice cream, have gone viral.

Popeyes adopts AI technology for its drive-thrus

04-Jun-2024 By Restaurant

Popeyes says it is the first quick service restaurant in the UK to use AI for drive-thru ordering following a successful pilot.

Hostech conference to be held in February 2023

14-Dec-2022 By Restaurant

Hospitality technology conference Hostech will return next year with speakers from companies including BAO, Burger King, Mollies, and Wonderland Restaurants.

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I’ve got 99 problems, but the tech ain't one!

26-Oct-2022 By QSR Automations

99 Problems is the iconic song by Ice-T, from his 1993 solo album, Home Invasion. Currently, it feels like the UK hospitality industry is being bombarded from all directions, in what feels like a home invasion.

SSP to trail robot servers at Belfast's Sip & Stone Restaurant

19-Oct-2022 By Restaurant

SSP Group has become the latest hospitality business to trial robot servers at its venues.

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The future of hospitality tech. This time it’s personal.

29-Jul-2022 By OrderPay

With the cost of literally everything skyrocketing, it’s a good time to look at how tech is helping hospitality venues across the UK do more with what they already have.

Reef Technology approaches 100 delivery-only UK locations

06-May-2022 By Finn Scott-Delany

Reef Technology has launched partnerships with YouTube sensations The Sidemen and MrBeast to nearly 100 delivery-only locations in the UK.

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Hot TIP: introducing the new platform helping hospitality get back on its feet

15-Nov-2021 By Restaurant

TIP Hospitality is a new organisation and platform for hospitality professionals that has also been designed to strengthen the hospitality industry.

The battle of the bookings: How hotels can work with, not against OTAs

12-Oct-2016 By Hannah Thompson & Emma Eversham

As the industry gears up for two major hotel events in the next few weeks, experts have agreed that online travel agents (OTAs) may not be the ‘necessary evil’ they are made out to be, and may actually offer many features designed to help, rather than...

TECHNOLOGY

Age of the restauroids: Will robots become a reality in restaurants?

12-Sep-2016 By Joe Lutrario

They’ve been predicted for decades, but are we about to see robots finally become a reality in the dining room and kitchen?

Marriott launches social marketing programme M Live in Europe

26-Jul-2016 By Emma Eversham

Marriott International's real-time social marketing initiative M Live is being launched in Europe following its success in its US, Asia Pacific, Caribbean and Latin American regions. 

IHG: Travellers hold misconceptions about hotel bookings sites

09-May-2016 By Emma Eversham

Hoteliers could be facing a tough battle to encourage guests to book rooms with them direct after a survey revealed that 76 per cent use online travel agents (OTAs) because they believe they will guarantee them the best rates. 

APRIL FOOL

OpenTable app launches 'lickable' food pictures

01-Apr-2016 By Emma Eversham

Online restaurant reservations provider OpenTable has unveiled new 'lickable' technology which allows diners to taste dishes from their favourite restaurants.

Restaurants and hotels rank low on Twitter response survey

29-Mar-2016 By Emma Eversham

Restaurants and hotels have been criticised for taking too long to reply to Tweets sent by customers and giving a poor quality response when they do.

ASK THE EXPERTS

How to protect your hospitality business from cyber crime

29-Mar-2016 By Oliver Pinson-Roxburgh

Oliver Pinson-Roxburgh, systems engineering manager for EMEA at Trustwave, looks at some of the steps hospitality business owners can take to protect their hotels, restaurants and pubs from the increasing risk of cyber crime. 

Hotel Marketing Association partners with HOSPA

10-Mar-2016 By Emma Eversham

The Hotel Marketing Association (HMA) has signed a management agreement with the Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management and IT Professionals Association (HOSPA) to provide hospitality marketing expertise to its membership. 

Pubs and bars witness steep rise in contactless spend

29-Feb-2016 By Helen Gilbert

Contactless payments in pubs and bars leapt up by 188 per cent in 2015, latest figures from Barclaycard show.

Hotelympia 2016 identifies industry trends

24-Feb-2016 By Emma Eversham

The growth of free-from food, de-formalised dining and the kitchen as theatre are some of latest trends in the hospitality sector that will be explored in more detail at Hotelympia 2016. 

Mode Aparthotel by Bridgestreet coming to UK in 2017

12-Feb-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Mode Aparthotel by Bridgestreet is set to launch in the UK in 2017 having started operations to open the concept across Europe.

VIEWPOINT

Edmund Inkin of Eatdrinksleep on why hotels don't always need to invest in the latest technology

12-Feb-2016 By Emma Eversham

Edmund Inkin is joint owner of Eatdrinksleep, the company behind the Felin Fach Griffin near Brecon and The Gurnard's Head and The Old Coastguard in Cornwall where technology takes a back-seat. He explains why.

SiteMinder reveals highest revenue-generating hotel booking platforms

10-Feb-2016 By Emma Eversham

Booking.com has topped a list of booking platforms generating the highest revenue for UK hotels last year. 

VisitEngland Awards for Excellence finalists revealed

03-Feb-2016 By Liam Garrahan

VisitEngland, the national tourist board, has announced the finalists for its Awards for Excellence, paying tribute to businesses and individuals who are at the top of their game with customer service and practice.

London’s Jazz Café to be renovated by new owners

01-Feb-2016 By Liam Garrahan

London’s iconic Jazz Café has temporarily closed its doors for refurbishment and alterations, following its purchase by nightlife company The Columbo Group.

Aberdeen restaurant relaunches as Cue

28-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Aberdeen-based Beetroot Restaurants Ltd has announced the opening of CUE Barbecue, which replaces the company’s The Courtyard restaurant after a one-month renovation process.

Staycity to beat OTAs with direct booking campaign

25-Jan-2016 By Emma Eversham

Aparthotel operator Staycity is running a marketing campaign designed to beat the online travel agents (OTAs) by encouraging guests to book with them direct. 

#FoodPorn: How restaurants can cash in on the Instagram marketing revolution

22-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Over 78m images have been tagged with #FoodPorn on Instagram, with a further 173m posts tagged #Food. With interest in this area so high, what can restaurants do to cash in on the social network? 

Jay Rayner announced as headline speaker at NRB Debate

22-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Jay Rayner, the award-winning writer, journalist, broadcaster and food critic for The Observer, has been announced as the headline speaker for the 2016 NRB Debate.

#OMGB: VisitBritain campaign to attract more international tourists

18-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

#OMGB is a new VisitBritain campaign that encourages visitors to the UK to share some of their ‘amazing moments’ on social media to encourage others from abroad to visit Britain.

First Look: Inamo Covent Garden

13-Jan-2016 By Sophie Witts and Liam Garrahan

Tech-driven restaurant Inamo re-located its St James's site to Covent Garden last week and BigHospitality was one of the first to see it.

Hospitality employees prefer money to ‘workplace perks’

08-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Hospitality employees would rather earn more money than receive additional workplace perks, according to UK jobs website, CV-Library.

Surya Hotels group buys Dragonfly portfolio

07-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Surya Hotels has this week increased its portfolio by purchasing four Dragonfly Hotels in a multi-million pound deal.

Holiday Inn Express launches first Next Generation hotels

05-Jan-2016 By Emma Eversham

InterContinental Hotels Group has revealed the first of its Holiday Inn Express hotels to feature its technology and design-led 'Next Generation' rooms and innovations. 

Big Hospitality Conversation set for Dundee

05-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

The Big Hospitality Conversation is to take place in Dundee later this month, with over 50 Scottish hospitality and tourism businesses expected to attend.

Edinburgh hotel purchased by ‘high net worth’ investor

04-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Edinburgh’s Crowne Plaza, Royal Terrace, hotel has been sold to a ‘high net worth’ investor subject to a franchise agreement with InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG).

Seven hotel trends for 2016

04-Jan-2016 By Liam Garrahan

Huge company mergers, robot room-service, record-breaking occupancy figures and the announcement of the National Living Wage; 2015 was a busy year for the hotel sector, but what does 2016 have in store? BigHospitality casts an eye over the coming year.

Stanneylands Hotel bought for £4m

23-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Former Prima Hotels property, Stanneylands Hotel, has been bought by the owners of The Mere Golf Resort & Spa for £4.15m.

Scottish hotel performance slips in November

23-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Scottish hotel performance showed a year-on-year decrease in November as occupancy and room rates across Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen tumbled, according to the latest LJ Forecaster Scottish Intercity Report.

Service hiccups: Gold Service Scholarship finalists 2015

22-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Everyone can have a bad day every now and then, as the Gold Service Scholarship finalists have been discussing. In the latest in our Spotlight on Service campaign, we reveal to you some of the moments that left the best in the business rather red-faced.

Deliveroo and Crowdcube tipped as future tech giants

17-Dec-2015 By Sophie Witts

Restaurant-ordering start-up Deliveroo and crowdfunding site Crowdcube are among 15 firms being tipped as future stars of the UK’s digital economy.

One third of travellers anticipate greater spend in 2016

16-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

One third of travellers are planning to spend more on travel in 2016 than in previous years, according to a TripAdvisor study.

Heston’s dishes blasting into orbit

16-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Heston Blumenthal is to create seven dishes for British astronaut, Tim Peake, which will be blasted into space to give him a flavour of home during his six-month mission on the International Space Station.

Icebar London set for second London site in 2016

14-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Icebar, an ‘ice experience’ bar concept, is set to open its second site in London in 2016.

Travelodge plans three shopping centre hotels

14-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Travelodge has announced plans to open three hotels in shopping centres across the UK in a £22m deal.

Tourism Industry Council to help implement Government’s tourism plans

11-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

Hilton Worldwide, along with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, has announced the launched the Tourism Industry Council in the new Parliament.

‘Super-budget’ plans in pipeline for EasyHotel

09-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

The scale of opportunity for a super-budget hotel chain is ‘much greater than previously anticipated’, according to budget hotel chain, EasyHotel.

SACO: The Serviced Apartment Company announces growth plans

04-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

The Serviced Apartment Company (SACO) has announced that it is to double the size of its operation.

JD Wetherspoon admits data breach

04-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

JD Wetherspoon has become the latest hospitality business to admit that some customer and staff data, including credit and debit cards, names, mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and dates of birth, has been accessed illegally by a third party.

New Amba Hotel to focus on service and guest experience

03-Dec-2015 By Liam Garrahan

The newly opened Amba Hotel Marble Arch is aiming to improve the heartbeat of hospitality by putting service and guest experience first.

YOTEL plans 12 hotels by 2018

01-Dec-2015 By Emma Eversham

Technology-focused hotel company YOTEL has unveiled 'significant international growth plans' that will see it have 12 hotels open by 2018. 

SPOTLIGHT ON SERVICE

Hotel 41: How personalised service took the boutique hotel to the top

19-Nov-2015 By Liam Garrahan

In the next installment of our Spotlight on Service campaign, Malcolm Hendry, general manager of London’s five-star Hotel 41, explains why front-of-house employees are integral to creating a positive guest experience.