Technology and Hospitality News Update

While the new iPhone generally dominated September talks about technology, Apple is far from the only company launching new products this fall. Learn about how you can become a Best Western hotel without the Best Western brand, Google’s new travel app, and Snapchat’s foray into wearables.

Best Western’s New Franchise Model

Best Western introduced a new franchise model to try and attract and keep hotels that don’t want to keep up with brand requirements. With the new SureStay white label franchise, hotels that do not wish to stay in the Best Western design standards but provide exemplary service to guests can still access the benefits of a big brand infrastructure.

Best Western is currently recruiting for its first 100 hotels under the SureStay brands. The standard of performance is entirely based on service: to be considered for one of the three SureStay brands, hotels must achieve and maintain a 3.5 or higher rating on TripAdvisor.

Learn more at SureStayDevelopers.com >>>

Need to boost your TripAdvisor rating to be considered for a Sure Stay franchise or to boost your occupancy? Learn more about our Reputation Management solutions. Thinking of switching franchises? Our free Hotel Launch Marketing Plan can help!

Google Trips is the Next Big Travel App

Chances are, when you’re making travel plans you have flight reservations in your Gmail, itineraries in your Google Calendar, and will be using Google Maps to figure out how you’re getting where you need to go. Google’s Trips will organize all of this, and more.

Many of Google’s new features like Google Hotels and Destinations are helpful when you’re planning a trip, but not actually taking them. The new app will help you get around, plan your day, keep all your reservations handy, and allow you to download this information when you have Wi-Fi to use offline so you aren’t using all of your data. The new app will surely work great with the new Google Pixel phones to be announced October 4.

Learn more about Google Trips at The Verge >>>

Look Out, Google Glass: Snapchat Spectacles are Coming

Popular social network Snapchat (the company is now going by Snap, Inc.) announced a new piece of tech over the weekend that’s coming soon: Spectacles. The social app reaches 41% of 18-34 year olds in the U.S. daily, and they’re using this understanding of the young market to find success where Google Glass couldn’t catch on. They’ve corrected a lot of issues Glass faced – Snap created a fun, youthful design that’s less intimidating than Glass’ futuristic vibe; the glasses feature a light to indicate to others that it’s recording, taking down the creep factor; and the price tag makes it so that even if it’s a fleeting trend, people won’t feel like they’ve wasted a fortune.

Snap Spectacles will be sold in limited amounts for $129.