Category: Announcements

We all know there are bright times ahead for the hospitality and travel sectors as businesses are allowed to reopen. In the last 12 months of lockdowns and reopenings, it’s also become clear how the right tools and technology can positively affect the recovery for those industries. 

For this reason, we are pleased to announce we’ve joined the Prep Starts Now campaign along with several other suppliers and supporters of the industry. 

As part of Prep Starts Now we’ll be sharing best practice and guidance from ourselves and other specialist suppliers on a range of topics. The campaign will be covering topics from digital marketing to customer well-being and even staff and recruitment.  

The goal is to provide operators and managers with the information they need to get those transformative systems in place before reopening, to reap the benefits faster. Whether it’s a new order & pay solution, data capture for better digital marketing or slicker processes and procedures there are many, many ways that hospitality operators can prep now.  

We believe that guests are at the centre of all your preparation process and that guest communication is critical for the recovery of hospitality businesses. Our focus as a hospitality technology company will be to offer insights and tools to enhance your guests’ journey and maximise your revenue, both during and after the initial rush. 

We’ve all experienced to some degree the mad rush of reopening from last year. There’s more time now to get things in place that will make a difference later. This time is a prime opportunity to reopen not just as you were, but as you want to be.  

Our CEO & Co-founder, Allan Nelson had this to say about getting ready to reopen: “With reopening of the industry ahead of us, now is the time to prepare and to engage with your guests in a meaningful and personalised way. With a staycation market there exists a real opportunity for hospitality businesses to not only welcome these guests now, but to build loyalty and create opportunity for the future”. 

Since June last year, the increased use of technology in hospitality and travel businesses has provided a lifeline to open and trade safely, now’s the time to think about what more those tools can do for your business, staff and customers. 

Jamie McBride, our Head of Marketing shares his view about preparing for a sustainable recovery: “There exists for hospitality businesses real opportunity, both immediate and long term. The pandemic and public health restrictions may have changed who you should be targeting with your guest relationship building and marketing. By preparing now and looking to your data to make strategic decisions, the industry can look ahead to a strong and sustainable recovery”. 

It’s been great to see the attitudes to technology changing for both customers and businesses, but there’s still so much to learn and share. To get involved and discover what Prep Starts Now has to offer: 

• Keep an eye out for the logo and #PrepStartsNow 
• Follow us on social media 
• Follow Prep Starts Now partners on social media 
• Explore the campaign hub webpage 
• Comment, share and interact with Prep Starts Now articles and videos 

• Speak to Prep Starts Now supporting organisations for advice 

There will also be a series of exclusive offers available from selected Prep Starts Now partners, more details will be released soon. 

Discover more about the Prep Starts Now campaign: Prep Start Now – Supporting your reopening

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Press Release: Wednesday 7 October 2020

Hospitality technology specialist For-Sight has launched a £1.5 million project to develop the next generation of its proprietary data management and marketing platform.

A division of Edinburgh-headquartered integrated marketing agency Forth Communication, For-Sight is already the UK’s largest home-grown supplier of guest engagement technology, providing solutions to clients across the UK and Ireland, as well as Europe, Australia and New Zealand.

The project will see For-Sight migrate its existing platform to a new, cloud-based system, facilitating easier development and implementation of new modules and functionality, including third-party integrations with other existing hotel management systems, data sources and communications providers.

The project will also see For-Sight introduce data science to its solutions, allowing the use of artificial intelligence and predictive algorithms for the first time in a product of this kind. Front-end design improvements, upgraded data analytics and refined reporting will further enhance the user experience.

For-Sight believes the project will ultimately help the hospitality industry create more bespoke guest experiences, helping the business capture an even greater share of its domestic and international markets.

For-Sight CEO and co-founder, Allan Nelson, said: “With the impact of the coronavirus pandemic having a serious effect on the hospitality and tourism sector, hospitality businesses are needing to find new and innovative ways to engage and build relationships with their guests.

“This project will allow For-Sight to help hospitality businesses build back sustainable revenue through use of modern technology and automation, but also help them to deliver a more personalised and rewarding experience for their guests.

“Through this project and our team-based focus on delivering a great user experience, we aim to deliver the functionality hospitality businesses need to deliver exceptional service and revenue growth in a challenging environment. This investment in both back-end functionality and efficiency and front-end tools and innovation provides us with a foundation to scale up the business and deliver on our primary objective of helping as many hospitality businesses as possible.”

For-Sight has secured almost £750,000 of research and development (R&D) funding from economic development agency Scottish Enterprise in support of the project.

Scottish Enterprise managing director of business advice and services, Jane Martin, said: “The hospitality industry has been knocked sideways by the coronavirus pandemic, so it’s hugely encouraging to see a business based in Scotland investing in a product that can aid its recovery.

“Now, perhaps more than ever, guests are expecting exceptional levels of customer service. Fortunately, For-Sight’s data-driven technology is focused on that aim and has the potential to help hospitality businesses create increasingly personalised experiences that could boost bookings and repeat custom.”

The project is expected to create 16 new jobs. For-Sight currently employs 13 people in Scotland, with Forth Communication employing a further 15.

ENDS

 

Notes to editors

About For-Sight

For-Sight helps hospitality professionals to unlock the guest journey and provide a personalised experience at every touchpoint.

For-Sight unites Hotel technology systems to turn siloed guest data from your Property Management System (PMS) and other transactional systems into a central source of truth for each guest and their journey.

For-Sight’s CRM functionality and powerful multi-channel tools allow personalised communication and marketing campaigns to be delivered, at scale, to increase direct revenue, loyalty and engagement.

For-Sight is headquartered in Edinburgh, UK and is a Forth Communication Ltd brand.

 

About Scottish Enterprise

Scottish Enterprise is Scotland’s national economic development agency. We’re committed to growing the Scottish economy for the benefit of all, helping create more quality jobs and a brighter future for every region.

Follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

 

Contact for further information:

Jamie McBride
Senior Marketing Manager
jamie.mcbride@for-sight.co.uk

 

We’re thrilled to welcome leading serviced accommodation provider Urban Rest as a For-Sight client.

Operating properties of every size, from studios to over four bedrooms, Urban Rest focus on design, quality and flexibility to deliver superior serviced accommodation across Australia and New Zealand.

“As we continue our expansion in the Asia Pacific region, I am delighted to welcome Urban Rest as a For-Sight client!

We’re really looking forward to helping our new friends in Australia and New Zealand drive their guest engagement and marketing strategy forward.”

– Allan Nelson, CEO For-Sight

“After reviewing a number of off the shelf hotel CRM’s on the market, we chose to go with For-Sight due to their willingness to work with us to achieve our business objectives.

With For-Sight we were able to create triggered transactional emails that source content from our property content database, something no other system we reviewed could do.“

– Izabela Szumierz, GM Urban Rest

Hospitality technology specialists For-Sight will provide CRM & Marketing solutions to allow Staycity to enhance their guest experience.

Edinburgh,UK 27 August 2020 – For-Sight, a Forth Communication Ltd. brand, today welcomed its newest client, Staycity Group, after successful proof of concept period. Staycity Group, Europe’s leading independent aparthotel operator, has chosen For-Sight’s Guest Engagement, CRM and Marketing platform to drive forward their marketing and guest communication strategy.

“By partnering with For-Sight we’re enhancing our guest communications and Marketing while maintaining the highest standards in data security and compliance” said Paolo Dona, CTO at Staycity Group. “At a time when communicating with guests has never been more important, working with For-Sight will allow us to have more effective relationships with our guests to increase direct bookings, through tailored, personalised content and automation.”

For-Sight’s software, For-Sight Guest Engagement, delivers Staycity a world-class data management solution specifically geared to the hospitality sector, allowing Staycity to leverage guest data from their tech ecosystem through deep data segmentation, to provide personalised one to one marketing and guest communications at scale.

“We believe in showing exactly how we can deliver results and add value to our client’s business. After a successful proof of concept period, we’re very excited to be working with the Staycity Group.” said For-Sight CEO & Co-founder, Allan Nelson. “Staycity’s desire to embrace and push forward with new technologies to enhance their guest experience by making use of deep data segmentation, during a challenging period for the global industry, demonstrates their commitment to their guests and forward thinking. We’re delighted to support them on this journey.”

 

About For-Sight

For-Sight helps hospitality professionals to unlock the guest journey and provide a personalised experience at every touchpoint.

For-Sight unites Hotel technology systems to turn siloed guest data from your Property Management System (PMS) and other transactional systems into a central source of truth for each guest and their journey. For-Sight’s CRM functionality and powerful multi-channel tools allow personalised communication and marketing campaigns to be delivered, at scale, to increase direct revenue, loyalty and engagement. For-Sight is headquartered in Edinburgh, UK and is a Forth Communication Ltd brand.

 

About Staycity

Award-winning Staycity Group is a privately held company based in Dublin established in 2004 by CEO Tom Walsh and his brother Ger. The company has since become Europe’s leading independent aparthotel operator, offering quality short-term and long-term aparthotel lettings in 12 central city locations across Europe. The properties operate under the Staycity Aparthotels and Wilde Aparthotels by Staycity brands.

Staycity’s aparthotels appeal to both business and leisure travellers where they can enjoy the freedom, flexibility and comforts of home alongside standard hotel services. All apartments combine ‘home from home’ features like fully equipped kitchens and ample living, dining and work spaces, with hotel amenities like 24-hour reception. Many properties have an on-site Staycafé open 24/7 and serving a grab and go breakfast menu, snacks and pizzas. The company’s fast-expanding estate now includes properties open in Berlin, Birmingham, Dublin, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Lyon, Manchester, Marseille, Paris, Venice and York. The company is on target to achieve its stated aim of 15,000 apartments by 2023. www.staycity.com.

For further information, logos or media enquiries, please contact;

 Jamie McBride

Senior Marketing Manager – For-Sight

www.for-sight.co.uk

Tel: (+44) 0131 322 3753 / Mob: (+44) 07455 941 130

TravelTech for Scotland is a cluster group that will create a support network for travel technology pioneers to collaborate, promote industry events and nurture a community of entrepreneurs.

With Scotland’s travel, tourism and hospitality industry facing unprecedented challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, Traveltech for Scotland will create opportunities for businesses to use technology to recover in a sustainable way.

The newly appointed director of Traveltech for Scotland, Joshua Ryan-Saha, of the Edinburgh Futures Institute, said “The travel industry faces unprecedented challenges and we need to invest now in Traveltech to build a better, more resilient and sustainable future for Scotland’s travel industry”.

Led by the University of Edinburgh’s Edinburgh Futures Institute and Edinburgh Innovations, Traveltech for Scotland is funded by the Scottish Government and Scottish Enterprise. The initiative will also seek to nurture Scotland’s tech graduate talent and tap into the country’s research excellence.

 

“Scotland is home to world leading talent and innovation driven by data and has not only produced global traveltech companies like Skyscanner, but incredibly innovative traveltech companies like Criton, Whereverly, Travelnext, Freetobook and many, many others.  

Last year, turnover for digital technology in Scotland was £3.9 billion. It is the ideal location for traveltech start-ups, investment and a place where innovation can flourish. Traveltech for Scotland is a fantastic venture which will help realise Scotland’s potential as one of Europe’s leading hubs for innovation and traveltech.

I, and the whole For-Sight team, are delighted to be members and to support both TravelTech for Scotland and a sustainable recovery for our travel, tourism and hospitality industry.”

– Allan Nelson, For-Sight CEO & Co-founder  

 

Allan will be joining the Traveltech for Scotland launch event on 25 August at 2pm (BST), alongside Julie Grieve from Criton and Iain McNeill from Whereverly as they share their vision for Traveltech for Scotland.

You can register for the event here.