“Relay was selected for its adaptive technology that will provide safety measures, allow for improved communications between staff members and provide a flexible platform that will allow us to locate and implement more efficiencies,” said Scott Lockwood, KHC Director of Purchasing/Technology. “We are eager to further streamline our back-of-house work to continue to improve our high-touch customer experience.”

Headquartered in Coralville, Iowa, Kinseth Hospitality represents award-winning select and full-service hotels, restaurants, catering and meeting facilities across 15 states. Kinseth Hospitality represents widely recognized, award-winning brands in the hotel and events industry including Hilton, Marriott, IHG, Radisson, Best Western and Wyndham, as well as, The Sioux City Convention Center, Twelve01 Kitchen & Tap, Rock Island Ale House, River Rock Kitchen & Tap, and McKnight’s Kitchen & Tap.

“We are thrilled to partner with Kinseth Hospitality and provide their employees with technology that will streamline day-to-day operations and prioritize workplace safety,” said Barbara Sharnak, Vice President, Business Development & Marketing Strategy at Relay. “Kinseth is a leader in recognizing that employee satisfaction and security at work collectivity influences not only positive guest experiences, but substantial improvements across all areas of the business.”

This partnership establishes Relay as Kinseth Hospitality Company’s exclusive alert device partner, deploying Relay’s next generation, voice-first technology in Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. The pocket-size, easy to use device will be readily available for Kinseth Hospitality employees working in management, guest services, housekeeping, maintenance and restaurant front-of and back-of-house staff.

The partnership expands its growing portfolio of properties, management companies, and brands who have selected Relay because it provides all-in-one functionality. Relay’s sophisticated technology is a significant upgrade from traditional walkie-talkies and do not burden employees with carrying multiple devices.

Unlike traditional two-way radios, limited by range and repeaters, Relay devices operate on WiFi and 4G networks that enable users to benefit from uninterrupted communications. The data, analytics, and mapping capabilities of the devices and their ability to integrate into sophisticated operations systems are recognized for aiding national operations like Kinseth Hospitality in finding operational efficiencies. Relay features include:

• Panic Alert: A single-button panic button solution to provide employers with the tools they need to give their employees the added protections they desire

• GPS and 3D-Mapping Capabilities: Allow logistics to better distribute staff quickly via a cloud-connected dashboard feature

• Accountability & Verification: Validates employees responsible for delivery or receiving of goods and services via auto-capture

• Language Translation: 15 languages for team members to use to communicate more effectively internally and externally

• Team Communications: Notifications via pre-recorded messages for the start and end of shifts

Hotel unions, state and local governments across the nation are proposing legislation for the safety of hospitality staff by mandating panic buttons for hospitality workers. Bills have been passed in eight states. The state of Pennsylvania (HB1944) and Georgia (SB389) are the latest to introduce panic button legislation. Relay provides ongoing updates on all legislative moves on Twitter and LinkedIn and will be releasing an update to their Legislative Guide on Panic Buttons this spring.

Does your company have news it would like to share with our readers? If so, we invite you to review our editorial guidelines and submit your press release for publishing consideration.

The post Relay Partners With Kinseth Hospitality to Implement Voice-First Panic Alert Devices Across More Than a Hundred Hotels appeared first on .

Further results revealed that approximately one in five respondents had felt they had been put in an unsafe situation or felt unsafe in general at work because of failure to connect quickly over radios. When dealing with malfunctioning radios, whether communication was out of range or an employee wasn’t able to connect on the right channel, among other issues, more than 70% of respondents resorted to using their personal smartphones at work to maintain operational efficiency.

The lack of confidence with workplace radios among employees comes at a time when the nation’s hospitality industry is facing a critical labor shortage brought on by the pandemic that has extended through two tourism seasons to date.

“It’s become clear that traditional radios often cause more operational problems than they solve,” said Chris Chuang, CEO of Relay. “Increasingly though, innovative workplace technology is gaining greater appeal as a driving factor of retention, and it’s essential that these employees can perform their responsibilities, safely and without any shortcuts.

The results are findings from a nationally-represented survey of 250 U.S. participants that are 18+ years old who work in the hospitality industry that have shared their experience with company-issued walkie-talkie radios. Other additional survey discoveries include:

• Slow front of house operations: Almost 40% of employees have had an operational issue or guest request take too long because of failure to connect effectively over traditional radios.
• Guest satisfaction scores suffer: More than a third of employees have admitted that guest satisfaction scores have suffered because of slow response times over faulty radios.
• Consensus to upgrade: Nearly 90% of employees stated they would feel better if their current employer updated their radios to something more reliable and capable of increasing guest satisfaction

Relay is building the next generation of voice-first technology for the deskless workforce through an innovative, durable, and highly adaptive platform accessible on demand across the device, mobile app and desktop dashboard. The company delivers voice-enabled technology for frontline teams to quickly connect to the people and information they need to get their jobs done safely and more efficiently. Relay has experienced a 1600% growth over the last six months, and recently launched its breakthrough panic button feature to maintain on-the-job safety for workers in hospitality and facilities management as an increased number of state and local panic button mandates come to pass.

Relay is a communications platform for frontline teams that replaces the smartphone and makes the walkie-talkie obsolete. A product of the team behind Republic Wireless, the push-to-talk, voice-first hand-held Relay device is easier to use than a simple walkie-talkie, has nationwide range with 4G LTE and WiFi, and is built upon a powerful and flexible software platform that can rapidly adapt to the needs of virtually any team. Relay’s vision is to empower frontline teams with technology that allows them to safely and quickly connect to the people and information they need to get their jobs done more efficiently.

Full details on the survey can be found here.

The post Research: Nearly 50% of Hospitality Workers Consider Switching Jobs for Better Workplace Technology appeared first on .