Retail Insider and Webloyalty launch top 20 rankings to celebrate best in the industry
London, 11 October 2017: Dutch airline KLM has been awarded the top spot on Retail Insider’s inaugural Digital Leisure and Hospitality Innovations Report 2017, thanks to its use of facial recognition technology.
Conducted in partnership with Webloyalty and published today, the report recognises the top 20 leisure and hospitality technology initiatives of the last year and draws attention to a number of industry trends including experimentation with artificial intelligence (AI) and solutions which improve sustainability.
KLM’s winning facial recognition initiative uses biometrics, allowing passengers to catch a flight without a boarding pass or interaction with a member of staff, speeding up the boarding process.
Social enterprise TooGoodToGo was second in the new rankings, highlighting the growing number of grocers and retail brands prioritising and investing in technology to aid sustainability. The app reduces food waste and generates extra revenue for restaurants through advertising leftover meals, making it eco-friendly and mutually beneficial for both restaurants and consumers.
Starbucks’ Mobile Order and Pay came third, with its hugely successful cashless payments enabling consumers to order via their mobile and collect in-store. The report’s recognition of the initiative, alongside healthy food restaurant Tossed’s tablet ordering technology (in 17th place), illustrates how food brands are working hard to develop in-store efficiencies to cut down queues and streamline the customer service.
The report applauded a number of hotels for their incorporation of AI technology into customer experience. Ranked fourth were the Wynn’s Amazon Alexa controlled rooms in Las Vegas, which have been lauded an industry first. Meanwhile, the Marriott Hotels and GoInStore’s use of real-time mobile technology to offer event planners virtual tours was awarded fifth place.
Innovations in delivery and fulfilment also featured prominently on the list. Starship Technologies’ automated delivery vehicles and Zume Pizza’s partnership with Momentum Machines to create pizza making robots ranked in sixth and 10th place respectively.
“The initiatives applauded in the report reveal just how successful leisure and hospitality brands are when it comes to innovating,” said Guy Chiswick, Managing Director of Webloyalty, Northern Europe. “While you might expect to see technological innovations in AI and automation feature on the list, it’s encouraging to see that technology is also being used address environmental challenges such as food waste, with an eco-friendly initiative taking second place. As the world becomes more concerned about sustainability this is definitely a trend to watch.”
Glynn Davis, Editor of Retail Insider, added, “From restaurants, to hotels, to airlines and coffee shops – one thing that’s clear from the report is the push from brands to create pain-free, convenient interactions. At the heart of this are digitally-driven technological innovations, which are taking place throughout the whole customer journey. In a list that’s ranked by industry experts, making the top 20 is no easy feat and I look forward to seeing what’s next for all the companies honoured.”
The innovations were scored by an advisory panel consisting of expert analysts and senior researchers from Just Eat, Domino’s Pizza Group UK & Ireland, Inamo Restaurant Group, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) and Berry Bros. & Rudd. The panel’s scoring was based on four criteria: innovation, commercial potential, potential influence across the sector, and potential benefit to customers.
The full 2017 Digital Leisure & Hospitality Innovations Report is available here:
https://webloyalty.co.uk/index.php?type=page&url=leisure-and-hospitality-innovations-report
