Field notes from the front desk

Thank you to Jena Tesse Fox at Hotel Management for covering the Park Lane New York deployment. The piece gets into the specifics of what the technology does and what prompted Highgate to build it this way.

The property

Park Lane New York opened in 1971 as the Helmsley Park Lane. After an $80 million renovation it reopened in 2021 under Highgate Hotels. It is a property with a particular kind of guest: New York City discerning, operationally demanding, and not inclined to wait. The technology brief was shaped by that reality.

What the platform does

Innspire built a customized, branded mobile app…

Innspire has announced a partnership with Optii Solutions, a hotel operations platform that uses machine-learning and predictive intelligence to manage housekeeping, maintenance, and service delivery. The first deployment is at The Don CeSar, the iconic resort in St. Pete Beach, Florida.

What the integration does

Optii's AI Smart Concierge connects directly into Innspire's guest journey platform. When a guest submits a request, whether through the app, the in-room TV, or via Innspire ONE's chat, the system automatically assigns it to the right staff member and tracks progress through to…

Thank you to Esther Hertzfeld at Hotel Management for covering the launch of Innspire ONE. The piece captures what the platform does across four distinct areas of hotel operations. Here is the substance of it, with some context on why each part matters.

What Innspire ONE does

The platform covers four operational areas. First, guest messaging: AI-powered chat that responds in the hotel's own brand tone and language, handles questions, makes recommendations, and anticipates needs without staff having to write each reply. Second, staff communication: a shared system that keeps teams coordinated…

Thank you to Esther Hertzfeld at Hotel Management for covering The Don CeSar's 2022 Innspire deployment. The article captures a dynamic that comes up often with properties that come to us with a specific brief and then discover a broader scope.

The brief was a mobile app

The Don CeSar, the iconic pink resort on Florida's Gulf Coast, approached Innspire to build a branded mobile app. The initial scope covered mobile check-in and check-out, digital key access to guestrooms, and F&B Everywhere, a feature that lets guests order food and drinks from the pool deck and have the order delivered to…

In October 2020, Virgin Hotels and Innspire announced a new contactless guest experience built around Lucy, Virgin Hotels' guest app, deployed first at their Nashville property. The integration required connecting a large number of hotel systems into a single, branded guest interface. Here is what was built and what it took to make it work.

What Lucy does

Lucy is the guest's primary interface for the full duration of a Virgin Hotels stay. Via the app or the in-room TV, guests check in and out, unlock their room, control lights, temperature and lighting themes, order room service from anywhere…