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CHEQ, A Social Payment Platform Makes Its Debut in South Florida

CHEQ | January 09, 2023 | Read time : 01:35 min

CHEQ, A Social Payment Platform Makes Its Debut in South
CHEQ continues to grow globally with its debut in South Florida, including collaborations with the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park, Miami Dolphins at Hard Rock Stadium, and another stadium announcement later this month. CHEQ is the world's first mobile payment platform to enable social purchasing and gifting in restaurants, pubs, hotels, and stadiums.

CHEQ allows consumers to pay as well as send food and drinks for on-premise consumption from anywhere in the world. The platform allows restaurants and stadium partners to send exciting deals and free products to its users, driving sales, customer loyalty, and increased foot traffic.

CEO and Co-Founder Thomas Lapham founded the CHEQ platform based on personal experience. During the pandemic, socializing was difficult, and getting food and drinks was sluggish. Its technology resolves both challenges by allowing friends to connect remotely via the social gifting feature and by allowing customers to order quickly via mobile ordering.

Through technology, CHEQ aims to connect people and experiences and create good moments. The technology offers a way to enhance and share enjoyable moments with friends and family.

As the first ordering app available to independent restaurant operators, CHEQ's revolutionary technology may also be used outside sporting events and hospitality venues. In addition, restaurant owners can use the application without paying any equipment costs, commissions, or hidden fees. Also, customers can use the application to place orders in advance and avoid waiting in line at the venue while supporting local businesses.

About CHEQ

CHEQ is the world's first social payment platform, uniting customers and businesses to create a frictionless and amazing in-person experience. The global ordering and payment app developed by the company may be used by any restaurant, café, bar, or stadium to make transactions fun, simple, and stress-free. Additionally, users can send food and beverages directly to their friends from anywhere in the world. It allows venues to preserve their own branding within the app and maintain direct contact with guests. Restaurants and venues such as Hard Rock Cafe, Kaori, MaryGold's Florida Brasserie from Chef Brad Kilgore, and Vinya Wine & Market (Key Biscayne), and many others are all signed up to join CHEQ's social gifting platform, allowing users to send/receive drinks, food, and unique experiences to one another in real-time at each establishment.

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TerraPay raises $100 million in series B funding to expand global payments infrastructure

PRnewswire | April 10, 2023

TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company, has successfully closed its Series B equity financing round, raising in excess of $100 million in equity and debt financing. The funding round was led by IFC and supported by Prime Ventures, Partech Africa, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and a consortium of other investors. The funding will help further TerraPay's global expansion plans, especially across the LATAM and MENA regions, strengthen its existing pay-out network to 150 countries by 2024, support and accelerate its growth, and invest in the marketing and adoption of alternate payment methods for mobile wallets, like Request-to-Pay – an interoperable mobile wallet solution, at a larger scale. Furthermore, TerraPay also aims to expand its regulatory and compliance infrastructure including key license applications across the world. Currently, TerraPay's agile payments infrastructure and solutions platform offers business/merchant pay-outs, acquiring and issuing services, among others. The company has built a far-reaching network of partners and customers, present in more than 108 receiving countries and 205 sending countries with 62 settlement currencies. Ambar Sur, Founder and CEO of TerraPay, said, "We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of our Series B financing round. This latest funding is a testament to our exceptional achievements and the unwavering dedication of our team in delivering innovative payment solutions to customers globally. The continuous support from our investors and lending partners has enabled us to expand our infrastructure, enhance our network coverage, and accelerate investment in our operations, product development, and technology. We look forward to continuing our valuable strategic partnership with our investors and delivering continuous value to all our stakeholders, including customers, partners, investors, and employees." The cost of migrant remittances to developing markets remains expensive and well above the UN Sustainable Development Goals target of 3%. As a leading payments infrastructure company, TerraPay is committed to driving financial inclusion and specializes in enabling the delivery of cross-border remittances and instant money transfers, securely, and at a low cost. With the new funding, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for its remittance and payments solutions and continue its mission of making cross-border payments more accessible, secure, and affordable for all. IFC has been one of TerraPay's key investors since 2019. Talking about the Series B funding, William Sonneborn, IFC's Global Director of Disruptive Technologies and Funds said, "Low-cost cross-border payments are critical to financial inclusion and global trade. We are delighted to announce our continued support for TerraPay, as they deliver efficient payments instantly and securely, between individuals, businesses, and financial institutions, while also strengthening regulatory and compliance infrastructure. They are building a unique global highway for inclusive payments." "Since we originally invested, TerraPay has gone from strength to strength and we are extremely excited to continue to support Ambar and his team in this journey," says Pieter Welten, Partner at Prime Ventures. "TerraPay's global payment infrastructure is addressing real-world problems in emerging markets and its innovative payments solutions have the scalability, flexibility and usability its partners need. Cross-border payments represent a huge, global market opportunity and therefore we strongly believe the company will continue its profitable, fast growth trajectory in the coming years." Cyril Collon, General Partner, Partech said, "TerraPay has built what is today the leading global payments infrastructure allowing individuals and businesses across 200+ countries to settle any payment instantly in a secure & reliable manner. With this new funding round, Partech is proud to keep supporting this exceptional visionary team led by Ambar and help TerraPay to further accelerate its highly profitable growth ambition. Powering real-time transactions, small or large value, across the globe, requires innovative & inclusive pay-in and pay-out solutions with the highest compliance and security standards, and this is exactly what TerraPay has delivered every single day since we invested." "DFC is excited to support TerraPay's mission to expand access to financial services and inclusion around the world. Through its digital capabilities, the company enables users to seamlessly transmit cross-border payments connecting communities' oceans apart," said James Polan, Vice President of DFC's Office of Development Credit. TerraPay's success in raising over $100 million in the Series B funding underscores its position as a leading player in the global payments infrastructure space. The company has been profitable and is now poised to take its payments platform to the next level, expanding its capabilities and providing more seamless cross-border payment solutions to people all over the world. About TerraPay Headquartered in The United Kingdom, TerraPay believes that the smallest payment deserves a borderless journey as safe as the largest. The group has been building an ever-expanding payments highway that empowers businesses to create transparent customer experiences with an uninterrupted, secure, and real-time global passage for every payment, however small or large. Registered and regulated across 27 global markets, TerraPay is a leading global partner to banks, mobile wallets, money transfer operators, merchants, and financial institutions, creating a more expansive and inclusive international financial ecosystem. With access to payments infrastructure that spans the globe, their partners become beacons of the promise of global financial inclusion.

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Contentsquare Selects Ivalua to Digitize its Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Processes

PRnewswire | May 31, 2023

Ivalua, a global leader in spend management, today announced that Contentsquare, the global leader in digital experience analytics, has selected Ivalua and its implementation partner Cyrias to digitize its P2P operations.Contentsquare's AI-powered platform provides insight into customer behaviors, feelings, and intent to help brands transform the way they do business, allowing them to build customer trust through customer experiences that are rooted in security, privacy, and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. Contentsquare was founded in Paris and has 18 offices around the world, with more than 1,800 employees. In a context of fast-paced growth, Contentsquare was looking for a flexible and scalable P2P solution allowing the company to better monitor its spend, manage the growing volume of transactions with vendors, and streamline the onboarding and deployment of new suppliers. Contentsquare selected Ivalua's supplier risk and performance management (SRPM) and P2P solutions to streamline its P2P processes and improve operational efficiency by digitizing purchasing and invoicing operations.Enabled by Ivalua, their strategic procurement approach will allow Contentsquare to digitize its current procurement operations, and future-proof the solution for the company's evolving requirements. "Consolidating and digitalizing our processes with Ivalua's unified, yet highly-flexible platform will provide us greater visibility into our procurement activities enabling us to better manage our spend and forecast more accurately," said Nicolas Fritz, Chief Operating and People Officer at Contentsquare. "With its automation capabilities and insights into our spend, we will be able to make better informed strategic decisions, so that we can continue to focus on innovating as a business and serving our customers." "The entire Cyrias team is proud and thrilled to bring its expertise to support Contentsquare's procurement and Account Payable transformational journey with the key objectives of fastening accounting closing, ensuring proper segregation of duty, and reinforcing control automation and productivity," said Xavier Thevenet, Partner and co-founder at Cyrias. "Thanks to Ivalua's unmatched agility, our solution is well positioned not only to enable Contentsquare's procurement digitalization but also to support its ambitious development plans", said Dan Amzallag, Ivalua's Chief Operating Officer (COO). "We are delighted to begin this partnership with Contentsquare whose innovation-driven culture aligns with Ivalua." About Ivalua Ivalua is a leading provider of cloud-based Spend Management software. Our complete, unified platform empowers businesses to effectively manage all categories of spend and all suppliers, increasing profitability, improving ESG performance, lowering risk and improving employee productivity. We are trusted by hundreds of the world's most admired brands and recognized as a leader by Gartner and other analysts About Contentsquare Contentsquare delivers the power to make the digital world more human. Its AI-powered platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, feelings and intent — at every touchpoint in their journey — enabling businesses to build empathy and create lasting impact. The global leader in digital experience analytics, Contentsquare helps brands everywhere transform the way they do business, allowing them to take action at enterprise scale and build customer trust with security, privacy and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Its insights power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. Founded in Paris and with offices around the world, Contentsquare has raised $810m in investment funding from leading investors, including Softbank, BlackRock and others.

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Surfsand Resort Elevates Guest and Staff Experiences with Agilysys Property Management, Point-of-Sale, and Payment Processing Solutions

Businesswire | May 30, 2023

Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach, Oregon has built its long-held reputation as a leading vacation spot in part based on its enviable location overlooking the iconic 235-foot-high Haystack Rock just off the Northwest Pacific Coast. In 2022 the resort further elevated its stature by updating all the property’s systems prior to a property-wide renovation and expansion starting in November 2023. Surfsand also reinforced its allure as a destination for special moments by introducing various packages of themed experiences and upgrades individual guests and groups can reserve in addition to their rooms. Coinciding with these advancements, Surfsand decided to upgrade its operational and digital capabilities by choosing property management, point-of-sale and payment processing software and systems from Agilysys. In addition to improving efficiency for both guests and staff, the new software will help Surfsand unify data on guest preferences across various property experiences so that each stay can be tailored in advance with special amenities and offers, and so that staff can personalize their interactions with guests before, during and after each stay. The property’s diverse offerings include those that are family-friendly, such as Taffy the Puffin birthday bashes, guided tide pool excursions, group photo shoots and beach bonfires featuring s’mores; those with romantic appeal such as sunset dining on the beach, couples spa retreats and art tours; and those designed for pet lovers, such as pet-friendly rooms, furry guest welcome baskets that provide a towel, a placemat, bowls for food and water and tasty treats at check-in, and activities designed for pet participation. Surfsand General Manager Phillip Wilson noted that systems that make these enriched guest experiences easy to discover and reserve are integral to the property’s evolution.Wilson said, “Our one-of-a-kind location supports delivering unique guest experiences, whether visitors are designing their dream weddings, celebrating family milestones, or connecting more closely as couples. When evaluating technology systems, it was essential that we be able to tailor them to fit our hotel and the special things we do for our guests. Our guests are looking to book more than rooms; they want to book something special. Our technology systems need to make it easy for guests to connect with all the amenities and thoughtfully designed experiences we offer, so Surfsand can be not only their favorite resort, but the one to which they return most often to enjoy personalized experiences they cannot find elsewhere.”While the ability to tailor the technology to Surfsand’s unique offerings is important, Wilson said his number one driver in selecting systems is customer service he can count on. “I have worked with Agilysys and numerous other hospitality technology providers, and Agilysys’ support is hands-down better than all the rest,” Wilson said. “All of us users know systems, no matter who provides them, will have problems or even fail from time to time. Knowing that skilled and intelligent support is there to help and that response times are quick is hugely important. Agilysys has that advantage,” he said. Wilson also noted that properties that are not part of a standardized brand structure greatly benefit from the ability to tailor reports and functions for their unique guest and market data requirements. “In non-branded hotels, operations change and different needs pop up, so we often need custom data sets,” Wilson observed. “Other hospitality technology providers, including the largest ones, charge customers for any report you ask to have built. Agilysys accommodates diversity in how properties operate without exacting that financial burden,” he concluded. A pleasant surprise was how quickly the Surfsand staff members were able to learn the new software as well as operate it proficiently. “When software is intuitive and easy to learn, user satisfaction is meaningfully higher,” Wilson said. “We were pleased with how quickly our staff members became comfortable operating even the advanced capabilities of the system,” he added. Jeba Kingsley, Agilysys vice president of professional services, commented that Surfsand’s goals make the property an ideal customer for Agilysys solutions. “Helping Surfsand create deeper understanding of guests and staff over time so they can continuously evolve personalized, unique and enhanced experiences is the perfect role for Agilysys solutions,” Kingsley said. “Our solutions provide best-of-breed operating performance when deployed standalone, and also are designed to work together across a hospitality ecosystem to deliver exponential value as each solution contributes data to create and utilize a unified profile for each guest over time. We get energized when working with customers such as Surfsand who recognize the long-term advantage of using their hospitality technology systems to enhance guest and staff experiences and to take satisfaction to a higher level,” Kingsley added. Versatile PMS Capabilities Support Efficiency and Deeper Guest Knowledge Key drivers for Surfsand’s PMS selection were the ability to manage a diverse mix of accommodations and amenities; the ability to leverage efficient cloud-based operations while also maintaining offline operating integrity during Internet challenges; and rich digital and mobile options for both guests and staff.The system also equips staff to see and book available upgrades, dining and activity reservations and Experience Enhancement packages in a single session from a single comprehensive view without switching among different systems. In turn, guests also can experience personalized offers when booking in advance and while they are checking in. Intuitive interfaces, simplified workflows, and groupings of commonly used tasks also make user training simpler and faster. Proven Point-of-Sale and Payment Solutions Maximize Security and Convenience Agilysys POS and payment solutions enable Surfsand to use a wide range of traditional fixed-station POS terminals and mobile devices (across Microsoft Windows, Android and iOS operating systems) to match the needs and style of different venues and revenue centers across the property.Guests can pay for restaurant checks and other transactions using their mobile phones through one of the first point-to-point encryption (P2PE) payment solutions for hospitality validated by the PCI Security Standards Council. Surfsand can deliver secure electronic payments across guest experiences, including countertop, table service, EMV, mobile tablet, and signature capture scenarios. They also can choose from a broad array of U.S. credit card processors and can easily change equipment as technology evolves. “Agilysys has been a terrific partner in helping us to map out our hospitality technology evolution, and we look forward to continuing to create new ways to delight guests leveraging the advanced capabilities these systems enable,” Wilson concluded. About Agilysys Agilysys is well known for its long heritage of hospitality-focused technology innovation. The Company delivers modular and integrated software solutions and expertise to businesses seeking to maximize Return on Experience (ROE) through hospitality encounters that are both personal and profitable. Over time, customers achieve High Return Hospitality by consistently delighting guests, retaining staff and growing margins. Customers around the world include: branded and independent hotels; multi-amenity resort properties; casinos; property, hotel and resort management companies; cruise lines; corporate dining providers; higher education campus dining providers; food service management companies; hospitals; lifestyle communities; senior living facilities; stadiums; and theme parks. The Agilysys Hospitality Cloud™ combines core operational systems for property management (PMS), point-of-sale (POS) and Inventory and Procurement (I&P) with Experience Enhancers™ that meaningfully improve interactions for guests and employees across dimensions such as digital access, mobile convenience, self-service control, personal choice, payment options, service coverage and real-time insights to improve decisions. Core solutions and Experience Enhancers are combined in Hospitality Solution Studios™ tailored to specific hospitality settings and business needs.

Read More

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TerraPay raises $100 million in series B funding to expand global payments infrastructure

PRnewswire | April 10, 2023

TerraPay, a leading global payments infrastructure company, has successfully closed its Series B equity financing round, raising in excess of $100 million in equity and debt financing. The funding round was led by IFC and supported by Prime Ventures, Partech Africa, U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and a consortium of other investors. The funding will help further TerraPay's global expansion plans, especially across the LATAM and MENA regions, strengthen its existing pay-out network to 150 countries by 2024, support and accelerate its growth, and invest in the marketing and adoption of alternate payment methods for mobile wallets, like Request-to-Pay – an interoperable mobile wallet solution, at a larger scale. Furthermore, TerraPay also aims to expand its regulatory and compliance infrastructure including key license applications across the world. Currently, TerraPay's agile payments infrastructure and solutions platform offers business/merchant pay-outs, acquiring and issuing services, among others. The company has built a far-reaching network of partners and customers, present in more than 108 receiving countries and 205 sending countries with 62 settlement currencies. Ambar Sur, Founder and CEO of TerraPay, said, "We are thrilled to announce the successful completion of our Series B financing round. This latest funding is a testament to our exceptional achievements and the unwavering dedication of our team in delivering innovative payment solutions to customers globally. The continuous support from our investors and lending partners has enabled us to expand our infrastructure, enhance our network coverage, and accelerate investment in our operations, product development, and technology. We look forward to continuing our valuable strategic partnership with our investors and delivering continuous value to all our stakeholders, including customers, partners, investors, and employees." The cost of migrant remittances to developing markets remains expensive and well above the UN Sustainable Development Goals target of 3%. As a leading payments infrastructure company, TerraPay is committed to driving financial inclusion and specializes in enabling the delivery of cross-border remittances and instant money transfers, securely, and at a low cost. With the new funding, the company is well-positioned to capitalize on the growing demand for its remittance and payments solutions and continue its mission of making cross-border payments more accessible, secure, and affordable for all. IFC has been one of TerraPay's key investors since 2019. Talking about the Series B funding, William Sonneborn, IFC's Global Director of Disruptive Technologies and Funds said, "Low-cost cross-border payments are critical to financial inclusion and global trade. We are delighted to announce our continued support for TerraPay, as they deliver efficient payments instantly and securely, between individuals, businesses, and financial institutions, while also strengthening regulatory and compliance infrastructure. They are building a unique global highway for inclusive payments." "Since we originally invested, TerraPay has gone from strength to strength and we are extremely excited to continue to support Ambar and his team in this journey," says Pieter Welten, Partner at Prime Ventures. "TerraPay's global payment infrastructure is addressing real-world problems in emerging markets and its innovative payments solutions have the scalability, flexibility and usability its partners need. Cross-border payments represent a huge, global market opportunity and therefore we strongly believe the company will continue its profitable, fast growth trajectory in the coming years." Cyril Collon, General Partner, Partech said, "TerraPay has built what is today the leading global payments infrastructure allowing individuals and businesses across 200+ countries to settle any payment instantly in a secure & reliable manner. With this new funding round, Partech is proud to keep supporting this exceptional visionary team led by Ambar and help TerraPay to further accelerate its highly profitable growth ambition. Powering real-time transactions, small or large value, across the globe, requires innovative & inclusive pay-in and pay-out solutions with the highest compliance and security standards, and this is exactly what TerraPay has delivered every single day since we invested." "DFC is excited to support TerraPay's mission to expand access to financial services and inclusion around the world. Through its digital capabilities, the company enables users to seamlessly transmit cross-border payments connecting communities' oceans apart," said James Polan, Vice President of DFC's Office of Development Credit. TerraPay's success in raising over $100 million in the Series B funding underscores its position as a leading player in the global payments infrastructure space. The company has been profitable and is now poised to take its payments platform to the next level, expanding its capabilities and providing more seamless cross-border payment solutions to people all over the world. About TerraPay Headquartered in The United Kingdom, TerraPay believes that the smallest payment deserves a borderless journey as safe as the largest. The group has been building an ever-expanding payments highway that empowers businesses to create transparent customer experiences with an uninterrupted, secure, and real-time global passage for every payment, however small or large. Registered and regulated across 27 global markets, TerraPay is a leading global partner to banks, mobile wallets, money transfer operators, merchants, and financial institutions, creating a more expansive and inclusive international financial ecosystem. With access to payments infrastructure that spans the globe, their partners become beacons of the promise of global financial inclusion.

Read More

POS RETAIL

Contentsquare Selects Ivalua to Digitize its Procure-to-Pay (P2P) Processes

PRnewswire | May 31, 2023

Ivalua, a global leader in spend management, today announced that Contentsquare, the global leader in digital experience analytics, has selected Ivalua and its implementation partner Cyrias to digitize its P2P operations.Contentsquare's AI-powered platform provides insight into customer behaviors, feelings, and intent to help brands transform the way they do business, allowing them to build customer trust through customer experiences that are rooted in security, privacy, and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. Contentsquare was founded in Paris and has 18 offices around the world, with more than 1,800 employees. In a context of fast-paced growth, Contentsquare was looking for a flexible and scalable P2P solution allowing the company to better monitor its spend, manage the growing volume of transactions with vendors, and streamline the onboarding and deployment of new suppliers. Contentsquare selected Ivalua's supplier risk and performance management (SRPM) and P2P solutions to streamline its P2P processes and improve operational efficiency by digitizing purchasing and invoicing operations.Enabled by Ivalua, their strategic procurement approach will allow Contentsquare to digitize its current procurement operations, and future-proof the solution for the company's evolving requirements. "Consolidating and digitalizing our processes with Ivalua's unified, yet highly-flexible platform will provide us greater visibility into our procurement activities enabling us to better manage our spend and forecast more accurately," said Nicolas Fritz, Chief Operating and People Officer at Contentsquare. "With its automation capabilities and insights into our spend, we will be able to make better informed strategic decisions, so that we can continue to focus on innovating as a business and serving our customers." "The entire Cyrias team is proud and thrilled to bring its expertise to support Contentsquare's procurement and Account Payable transformational journey with the key objectives of fastening accounting closing, ensuring proper segregation of duty, and reinforcing control automation and productivity," said Xavier Thevenet, Partner and co-founder at Cyrias. "Thanks to Ivalua's unmatched agility, our solution is well positioned not only to enable Contentsquare's procurement digitalization but also to support its ambitious development plans", said Dan Amzallag, Ivalua's Chief Operating Officer (COO). "We are delighted to begin this partnership with Contentsquare whose innovation-driven culture aligns with Ivalua." About Ivalua Ivalua is a leading provider of cloud-based Spend Management software. Our complete, unified platform empowers businesses to effectively manage all categories of spend and all suppliers, increasing profitability, improving ESG performance, lowering risk and improving employee productivity. We are trusted by hundreds of the world's most admired brands and recognized as a leader by Gartner and other analysts About Contentsquare Contentsquare delivers the power to make the digital world more human. Its AI-powered platform provides rich and contextual insight into customer behaviors, feelings and intent — at every touchpoint in their journey — enabling businesses to build empathy and create lasting impact. The global leader in digital experience analytics, Contentsquare helps brands everywhere transform the way they do business, allowing them to take action at enterprise scale and build customer trust with security, privacy and accessibility. More than 1,000 leading brands use Contentsquare to grow their business, deliver more customer happiness and move with greater agility in a constantly changing world. Its insights power the customer experience on over 1 million websites worldwide. Founded in Paris and with offices around the world, Contentsquare has raised $810m in investment funding from leading investors, including Softbank, BlackRock and others.

Read More

POS RETAIL

Surfsand Resort Elevates Guest and Staff Experiences with Agilysys Property Management, Point-of-Sale, and Payment Processing Solutions

Businesswire | May 30, 2023

Surfsand Resort in Cannon Beach, Oregon has built its long-held reputation as a leading vacation spot in part based on its enviable location overlooking the iconic 235-foot-high Haystack Rock just off the Northwest Pacific Coast. In 2022 the resort further elevated its stature by updating all the property’s systems prior to a property-wide renovation and expansion starting in November 2023. Surfsand also reinforced its allure as a destination for special moments by introducing various packages of themed experiences and upgrades individual guests and groups can reserve in addition to their rooms. Coinciding with these advancements, Surfsand decided to upgrade its operational and digital capabilities by choosing property management, point-of-sale and payment processing software and systems from Agilysys. In addition to improving efficiency for both guests and staff, the new software will help Surfsand unify data on guest preferences across various property experiences so that each stay can be tailored in advance with special amenities and offers, and so that staff can personalize their interactions with guests before, during and after each stay. The property’s diverse offerings include those that are family-friendly, such as Taffy the Puffin birthday bashes, guided tide pool excursions, group photo shoots and beach bonfires featuring s’mores; those with romantic appeal such as sunset dining on the beach, couples spa retreats and art tours; and those designed for pet lovers, such as pet-friendly rooms, furry guest welcome baskets that provide a towel, a placemat, bowls for food and water and tasty treats at check-in, and activities designed for pet participation. Surfsand General Manager Phillip Wilson noted that systems that make these enriched guest experiences easy to discover and reserve are integral to the property’s evolution.Wilson said, “Our one-of-a-kind location supports delivering unique guest experiences, whether visitors are designing their dream weddings, celebrating family milestones, or connecting more closely as couples. When evaluating technology systems, it was essential that we be able to tailor them to fit our hotel and the special things we do for our guests. Our guests are looking to book more than rooms; they want to book something special. Our technology systems need to make it easy for guests to connect with all the amenities and thoughtfully designed experiences we offer, so Surfsand can be not only their favorite resort, but the one to which they return most often to enjoy personalized experiences they cannot find elsewhere.”While the ability to tailor the technology to Surfsand’s unique offerings is important, Wilson said his number one driver in selecting systems is customer service he can count on. “I have worked with Agilysys and numerous other hospitality technology providers, and Agilysys’ support is hands-down better than all the rest,” Wilson said. “All of us users know systems, no matter who provides them, will have problems or even fail from time to time. Knowing that skilled and intelligent support is there to help and that response times are quick is hugely important. Agilysys has that advantage,” he said. Wilson also noted that properties that are not part of a standardized brand structure greatly benefit from the ability to tailor reports and functions for their unique guest and market data requirements. “In non-branded hotels, operations change and different needs pop up, so we often need custom data sets,” Wilson observed. “Other hospitality technology providers, including the largest ones, charge customers for any report you ask to have built. Agilysys accommodates diversity in how properties operate without exacting that financial burden,” he concluded. A pleasant surprise was how quickly the Surfsand staff members were able to learn the new software as well as operate it proficiently. “When software is intuitive and easy to learn, user satisfaction is meaningfully higher,” Wilson said. “We were pleased with how quickly our staff members became comfortable operating even the advanced capabilities of the system,” he added. Jeba Kingsley, Agilysys vice president of professional services, commented that Surfsand’s goals make the property an ideal customer for Agilysys solutions. “Helping Surfsand create deeper understanding of guests and staff over time so they can continuously evolve personalized, unique and enhanced experiences is the perfect role for Agilysys solutions,” Kingsley said. “Our solutions provide best-of-breed operating performance when deployed standalone, and also are designed to work together across a hospitality ecosystem to deliver exponential value as each solution contributes data to create and utilize a unified profile for each guest over time. We get energized when working with customers such as Surfsand who recognize the long-term advantage of using their hospitality technology systems to enhance guest and staff experiences and to take satisfaction to a higher level,” Kingsley added. Versatile PMS Capabilities Support Efficiency and Deeper Guest Knowledge Key drivers for Surfsand’s PMS selection were the ability to manage a diverse mix of accommodations and amenities; the ability to leverage efficient cloud-based operations while also maintaining offline operating integrity during Internet challenges; and rich digital and mobile options for both guests and staff.The system also equips staff to see and book available upgrades, dining and activity reservations and Experience Enhancement packages in a single session from a single comprehensive view without switching among different systems. In turn, guests also can experience personalized offers when booking in advance and while they are checking in. Intuitive interfaces, simplified workflows, and groupings of commonly used tasks also make user training simpler and faster. Proven Point-of-Sale and Payment Solutions Maximize Security and Convenience Agilysys POS and payment solutions enable Surfsand to use a wide range of traditional fixed-station POS terminals and mobile devices (across Microsoft Windows, Android and iOS operating systems) to match the needs and style of different venues and revenue centers across the property.Guests can pay for restaurant checks and other transactions using their mobile phones through one of the first point-to-point encryption (P2PE) payment solutions for hospitality validated by the PCI Security Standards Council. Surfsand can deliver secure electronic payments across guest experiences, including countertop, table service, EMV, mobile tablet, and signature capture scenarios. They also can choose from a broad array of U.S. credit card processors and can easily change equipment as technology evolves. “Agilysys has been a terrific partner in helping us to map out our hospitality technology evolution, and we look forward to continuing to create new ways to delight guests leveraging the advanced capabilities these systems enable,” Wilson concluded. About Agilysys Agilysys is well known for its long heritage of hospitality-focused technology innovation. The Company delivers modular and integrated software solutions and expertise to businesses seeking to maximize Return on Experience (ROE) through hospitality encounters that are both personal and profitable. Over time, customers achieve High Return Hospitality by consistently delighting guests, retaining staff and growing margins. Customers around the world include: branded and independent hotels; multi-amenity resort properties; casinos; property, hotel and resort management companies; cruise lines; corporate dining providers; higher education campus dining providers; food service management companies; hospitals; lifestyle communities; senior living facilities; stadiums; and theme parks. The Agilysys Hospitality Cloud™ combines core operational systems for property management (PMS), point-of-sale (POS) and Inventory and Procurement (I&P) with Experience Enhancers™ that meaningfully improve interactions for guests and employees across dimensions such as digital access, mobile convenience, self-service control, personal choice, payment options, service coverage and real-time insights to improve decisions. Core solutions and Experience Enhancers are combined in Hospitality Solution Studios™ tailored to specific hospitality settings and business needs.

Read More

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