SevenRooms and Marriott Reveal Global Partnership

Fresh from launching the innovative Pre-Shift pre-service tool, SevenRooms has announced the platform’s latest partnership.

The announcement shows the confidence that some of the most recognizable hospitality brands in the world have in SevenRooms capabilities.

Specifically, the platform is now a preferred restaurant technology provider throughout the 万豪酒店 portfolio. In fact, Marriott Hotels is leveraging the SevenRooms suite of tech solutions at several of their brands in more than a dozen countries. This translates to over 8,500 properties using the platform’s powerful booking, relationship management, and marketing tools.

Among the brands utilizing SevenRooms tools are The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, EDITION Hotels, The Luxury Collection, and W Hotels.

The latest news to come from SevenRooms again underscores the platform’s commitment to growth and longevity. After more than a decade in operation and service to hospitality operators, it’s safe to say the company has reached ubiquity.

You may not operate a hotel or operate within a hotel. You may not oversee a multi-unit or multi-concept business. This news should be no less important to you.

When developing your tech stack (a service KRG Hospitality provides) it’s important to choose platforms that are here to stay. Otherwise, your investments of time and money go up in smoke. Likewise, the disruption to operations and service as you seek a new platform are harmful to you, your team, and guests.

So, it can be wise to not just dig into the platforms you’re considering, it can be smart to see what companies trust them as partners .

SevenRooms is a platform that we’re comfortable recommending to many of our clients. And no, we’re not paid or otherwise compensated to do so.

To learn more about SevenRooms partnering with Marriott International, please visit KRGHospitality.com .

Raise the Bar: Service vs. Hospitality

During the 2023 Bar & Restaurant Expo in Las Vegas, Mia Mastroianni , Art Sutley , and Phil Wills addressed what separates service from hospitality.

For the sake of those who are unfamiliar, a brief summary of each member of this informative panel. Art Sutley is a nightlife and hospitality expert recognized by Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and Thrillist (among other publications).

Phil Wills and Mia Mastroianni should be recognizable to anyone who has watched Bar Rescue. Wills co-founded Spirits in Motion, a beverage consulting agency. He’s also a bartender’s bartender who’s passionate about hospitality. Mastroianni, equally as passionate about the art of hospitality, is a seriously talented bar professional and hospitality expert who doesn’t take herself too seriously.

It’s difficult to imagine a more qualified trio when it comes to discussing the differences between service and hospitality.

What is Service?

Before they all dove in, Sutley shared a simple but impactful take on the guest experience.

“It’s checking boxes,” said Sutley. “We want each guest to check every box, and a few extra.”

That description helps draw a line between service and hospitality. Per Sutley, Mastroianni, and Wills, service is a transaction and meeting expectations. Reinforcing this idea, Wills said, “Service is black and white; it’s simple.”

Operators and their leadership teams, after developing their steps of service, can literally or figuratively track the service transaction. Training staff—from onboarding to pre-shifts—on the steps of service and an operator’s non-negotiable standards ensures the guest experience transaction is delivered as expected.

Worryingly, Mastroianni expressed her concern that the quality of service appears to be dropping. If that’s true, however, that provides an opportunity.

Per Sutley, the industry is getting more difficult. There are more competitors out there, and guest expectations are becoming increasingly stringent. So, if Mastroianni is correct and more concepts are failing to deliver on the expected service transaction, operators who commit to building and training teams that deliver high-level service will stand out.

Please visit KRGHospitality.com to continue reading.

Leverage These 3 Sports for Growth

Sports receive more than three million mentions daily on social media and in online communities, and three sports are driving conversations.

Media-monitoring and SaaS platform Meltwater ‘s recent report shows growth in media mentions and community engagement. The report, “2023 Industry Snapshot: Sports,” also identifies three sports that are growing globally.

Most restaurant and bar concepts, at least throughout North America, can benefit from sports. They have televisions, at least decent audio, and the proper licenses to air sports and other programs.

At the risk of oversimplifying, that means that any bar or restaurant can be a sports bar. Before anyone begins furiously hammering out comment underneath this post or an email to send me, I’m not saying any bar or restaurant can automatically become a great sports bar because they have TVs. I’m simply saying that operators who want to leverage sports and specific sporting events are at a good starting point to do so.

With that caveat out of the way, let’s check out what Meltwater has uncovered regarding sports.

Sports Conversations

According to Meltwater, sports is a hot topic every day of the year. On average, there are 3.16 millions mentions of sports each day.

And that’s just on a “normal” day. Last year, that number jumped to well over 12 million mentions during the FIFA World Cup.

Meltwater identifies 2022 as a particularly strong year in terms of growth for sports conversations. That boost is expected to carry into 2023, providing savvy operators with opportunities to leverage sports.

Per Meltwater, sports social media handles, hashtags, and keywords have grown by more than 20 percent. That’s significant growth.

Now, let’s look at the sports driving much of that growth.

Football

When I say “football” in this context, I mean the sport some people call “soccer.” So, not American football, which Dave Grohl and Crown Royal pointed out is a Canadian invention during Super Bowl LVII.

For the past few decades (at least), much has been made of Americans maligning football (soccer). Well, all the tropes of that mockery may be wearing very thin.

Last year, mentions of football keywords were up 56 percent—in the US. The second-place country was Nigeria with an increase of 33 percent.

Globally, the sport’s online conversations went up by 32 percent. The day of the FIFA World Cup final? That number exploded to 630 percent. Could be smart for operators to begin planning their World Cup promotions soon.

Keep reading at KRGHospitality.com .

Ocean Casino Resort Summertime Celebrations

Ocean Casino Resort is celebrating an impressive milestone all summer long through creative local business partnerships.

This summer, the resort will reach its fifth anniversary. The festivities will begin May 26, a month before Ocean’s “birthday.”

However, rather than focus solely on the resort and casino, Ocean is choosing to celebrate the community it serves as well. These fifth birthday activations and initiatives are an excellent lesson for operators across all hospitality business categories.

I’m sure operators—all hospitality professionals, really—will agree that restaurants and bars are integral elements of any community’s bedrock. Increasingly, the same can be said of hotels. In fact, large hotel groups are investing in the development of smaller imprints that are tasked with the mission of serving locals and local businesses.

When a restaurant, bar, hotel, or nightclub reaches annual milestones, it’s largely due to community support. Sure, businesses in destination cities benefit greatly from tourist visits. However, for most markets, longevity is anything but assured without local backing and buy-in.

It’s clear that the importance of local support isn’t lost on Ocean. This summer’s celebrations include several local partnerships and community initiatives to pay that support back.

Local Partnerships

Last year, the Ocean leveraged the demise of the Choco Taco . So far in 2023, Ocean has supported Philly and KC during the Big Game , and gotten creative with cocktails that raised funds for the?Girl Scout Troops of Southern and Central New Jersey.

Local partnerships are key to Ocean’s five-year celebration:

• The Seed: Created Seeds of the Ocean for Ocean’s five-year anniversary.
• Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall: Seeds of the Ocean lager will also be available at this local beer hall.
• Rhythm & Spirits: Joining forces with Little Water Distillery to feature their gin in the Oceans 5 cocktail.
• Little Water Distillery: Their Rusted Revolver Indigenous Gin is the star of the Oceans 5 cocktail, mentioned above. The distillery has also created the Chocolate Cake Martini, featuring Bar 32 chocolate shavings.
• Hank Sauce: For those who prefer their celebrations spicy, Ocean and Hank Sauce have collaborated on Across the Boards. This hot sauce will accompany food items at restaurants inside Ocean.
• Tony Boloney’s: They’ve created the High 5 pizza to celebrate Ocean’s birthday. This is another collaboration within a collaboration, as it features Seed of the Ocean lager and Across the Boards hot sauce.
• Bar 32: What celebration is complete without something sweet? Bar 32 (a bean-to-bar chocolatier) and Ocean will be offering three commemorative chocolate bars: the Berry Pretzel Bar, Party Pretzel Bar, and Salty Peanut Butter Bar.
• Mudgirl Studios: Ocean has commissioned several handmade, one-of-one pieces from this non-profit that will be featured not just in common areas on the property but also in some of the guest rooms.
• Atlantic City Arts Foundation: To help celebrate its fifth birthday, Ocean has collaborated with the ACAF for a three-panel mural that will have a home at Tennessee Avenue Beer Hall.

Creative & Compelling

What I find most notable about these local partnerships is how several of them intertwine.

Not only did Ocean commission an exclusive beer, a local restaurant chain is using it for a pizza. That same restaurant chain is also using a hot sauce Ocean had created to celebrate their milestone. There are other collaborations that bring Rhythm & Spirits, Little Water Distillery, and Bar 32 together.

However, Ocean is doing more than just supporting a select group of local businesses. Mudgirl Studios employs and empowers at-risk, homeless and formerly incarcerated women. The ACAF, as one would imagine, inspires and empowers people to pursue the arts. Both support and strengthen communities throughout Atlantic City, and Ocean is giving back by supporting them.

In addition to all of that, the celebrations kick off on Memorial Day Weekend with a $300,000 sweepstakes. All in, there will be more than $5 million in promotions and giveaways in play over the course of this summer. From June 24 to July 4, Ocean is putting up one million dollars for a second sweepstakes.

Then there are Tesla giveaways, birthday fireworks, the Birthday Bar Pop-up Experience at 1927 Lounge inside Ocean Resort Casino, and Ocean’s sponsorship of the Atlantic City Beer and Music Festival.

Again, it would be easy for Ocean to have simply planned a celebratory weekend, week, or month, focusing solely on themselves. Instead, they’re involving several small businesses and community organizations.

To continue reading, please visit KRGHospitality.com .