Access Hospitality acquires Wireless Social: Access Hospitality, a division of The Access Group, has acquired Wireless Social, the provider of guest Wi-Fi, analytics and marketing solutions. Access Hospitality said the deal brings further breadth to its “comprehensive” technology portfolio, which provides IT solutions for all aspects of the hospitality business from guest booking, EPoS, table management and marketing to procurement, facilities management, training and hotel PMS. It added the integration of Wireless Social technology with Access Hospitality's solutions will offer customers further insight and understanding of guest demographics such as the tracking of ordering, time spent in the venue and frequency of visits. It will also enhance operators’ ability to target and personalise loyalty offers by engaging with customers on a real-time basis. Around 60% of guest data held by hospitality venues is sourced via the guest Wi-Fi. Wireless Social has worked with more than 600 multi-site operators and last year saw 50 million logins across 7,500 venues. The deal sees sector investor Imbiba exit its investment in Wireless Social, having invested £1.25m in the business in 2020. Julian Ross, founder and chief executive of Wireless Social, said: “Wireless Social and The Access Group are both dedicated to innovation and adding value to our hospitality clients. This new partnership will open up many new doors for existing customers of both companies, as we blend our collective expertise to deliver even more cutting-edge tech solutions to market. Our passionate and hard-working team, for whom I’m extremely grateful and excited, will also be rewarded with the career development opportunities and benefits that being part of one of the largest software companies in the world will bring.” Access Hospitality’s managing director Champa Magesh added: “We are delighted to announce this exciting acquisition which gives us a great opportunity to combine our innovative ideas, industry passion and robust data and offer an unparalleled level of insight and value.” Simon Wheeler, co-founder and chief financial officer of Imbiba, said: “It has been a delight working with the team at Wireless Social, helping it to develop and grow into the leading guest Wi-Fi provider for the entire hospitality industry.” Access Hospitality, which supplies IT solutions to some 10,000 hospitality sites across the UK and Ireland, recently announced a renewed focus on its front of house, integrated customer experience technology for all stages of the customer journey, which it said is now further bolstered by the acquisition of Wireless Social.
Propel to launch Premium Club tomorrow: Propel is evolving its Premium subscription offer by launching Premium Club tomorrow (Thursday, 1 February). All circa 4,000 existing subscribers automatically become members. The launch of Premium Club comes with even more benefits. All subscribers will be
offered a 20% discount on tickets to four Propel paid-for events – The Excellence in Pub Retailing Conference (14 May), Social Media for Profit (18 July), the Talent and Training Conference (1 October) and Restaurant Marketer and Innovator (two days in January 2025).
Operators will also be able to send up to four members of staff to each of our four Multi-Club Conferences for free. Premium Club members also get
exclusive access to six databases: the Multi-Site Database, Turnover & Profits Blue Book, the New Openings Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisor Database, the UK Food and Beverage Franchisee Database and the Who’s Who of UK Food & Beverage. Premium Club members
receive their daily Propel Info newsletter 11 hours earlier than standard subscribers, at 7pm the evening before. They also
receive videos of presentations at eight Propel conference events two weeks after they are held. This represents around 100 videos of industry insight over the course of the year. Premium Club members will be
sent a dedicated monthly newsletter that will highlight key updates in the sector and direct subscribers to all the vital content their membership offers. Premium Club members also
receive exclusive opinion columns every Friday at 5pm, which include the thoughts of Propel group editor Mark Wingett and a host of industry leaders from across the sector. A Propel Premium subscription costs an annual sum of £495 plus VAT for operators and £595 plus VAT for suppliers. Companies can now have an unlimited number of people receive access to Propel Premium for a year for £995 plus VAT – whether they are an operator or a supplier.
Email kai.kirkman@propelinfo.com today to sign up.
