A report by Accenture showed that 75% of customers are much more likely to buy from a company that knows who they are, their personal preferences and can recommend relevant products or services. Welcome to the experience economy.

The experience is now more important than the product, and the last best experience that anyone has anywhere has become the minimum expectation for the experience they want everywhere.

How can businesses not only keep up but raise the bar too? Joel Montaniel is the CEO & Co-Founder of SevenRooms, a data-driven hospitality platform that combines operations, marketing, and guest engagement tools, where he leads business strategy and sales.

From neighborhood restaurants to international, multi-concept hospitality groups, SevenRooms is a hospitality platform that helps operators unlock the full revenue potential of guest data.

By combining operations, marketing, and guest engagement into one front-of-house solution, the platform allows operators to maximize profits, build brand loyalty, and enable personalized guest experiences.

Joel joins me on the podcast to discuss how they are helping clients and share real-world examples of how to be an experience maker. We also look into the future at how voice tech will help brands deliver personalized experiences through the hotel minibar, restaurant, and nightlife venues.

Other topics covered are the increased role of guest data – from remembering allergies and preferences to customized marketing and loyalty rewards (imagine an allergen-free mini bar for your gluten-free child during your hotel stay).

As sustainability becomes more important, we also talk about how tech can help eliminate food waste and how predictive technology will evolve to inform restaurants’ ordering to minimize food waste and maximize profit margins.