IHG Hotels & Resorts Selects TipBrightly as Approved Cashless Tipping Vendor for North America
Nearly 65% of people tip at least 11% more when they tip digitally versus with cash (Forbes, 2023 U.S. Digital Tipping Culture Survey )
QR Code Solution Solves the ‘No Tip’ Problem for Cashless Customers
IHG Hotels & Resorts (NYSE:IHG)
This agreement brings TipBrightly digital tipping to potentially thousands of properties in North America. As the hotel industry faces the unintended impact of a cashless society on staff – like getting no tips from customers who prefer phones or credit cards – IHG is making positive changes with their workers and hotel guests in mind. Workers like housekeepers and valets depend on tips to help pay their bills. Guests often feel guilty when they leave no tip.
Inspired by her mother, a housekeeper, Founder and CEO, Elle Rustique, PhD, grew up knowing how much tips mattered, especially for women. Her mother would take her and her siblings to McDonald’s whenever she earned a big tip. "I wanted to help women like my mother who spent her hard-earned tips on her children,” Rustique explained.
The female-run startup designed TipBrightly to solve not only the problem of guests not carrying cash but also to increase employee earnings and morale during COVID. With no app download needed, a hotel guest can use their mobile phone to scan a QR code placed in the room.
Research has established that consumers will tip more digitally, than with cash. TipBrightly’s Rustique explains, “It's no longer surprising to see $50, $100, $200 tips. The average tip is up to five times greater since TipBrightly launched. Our customers have reported employees earning $1 more per hour,” said Elle Rustique.
One of the challenges with digital tipping is making guests aware that there is now an alternative way. While digital tipping in hotels makes tipping easier, the overall landscape has been confusing with tipping options being suggested through P.O.S. systems, often inappropriately. In 2023, TipBrightly collaborated with IHG’s Kimpton’s Design Studio to make master branded signage for each of Kimpton’s unique properties.
“The future is indeed brighter for hotel workers,” said CEO Rustique, adding that TipBrightly is on track to reach $1 million dollars with 100,000 tips and a presence in every U.S. state by the end of the year.
ABOUT TIPBRIGHTLY TipBrightly is a female-founded, early-stage fintech and social impact startup based in Mountain View, California. The three-way, cashless guest tipping solution incorporates mobile tipping, guest feedback and business intelligence. TipBrightly’s mission is to create products that will educate consumers, empower employees, and enable businesses in making emotionally intelligent, data-driven decisions. The company is optimizing existing technology (QR codes) in the mobile and financial space to design more seamless and transparent systems of digital, cashless payments in industries whose employees rely on tip-based income.
Testimonials
“TipBrightly has been a great platform for our housekeeping team. We saw a drastic reduction in cash tipping during the pandemic and that trend seems to be keeping hold. The TipBrightly team made it incredibly easy to begin collecting gratuities in a new way. We collected around $7,000 in additional gratuities for our team members last year!” Libby Busick, Holiday Inn by the Bay, Portland, ME.
"TipBrightly was very convenient. I often do not have cash to tip and feel bad. This makes it easier and also helps me not forget,” explained L. Collins, a guest who stayed at the Kimpton Hotel Marlowe in Boston.
“A lot of our housekeepers have been with us since the beginning and since we’ve implemented TipBrightly, more tips have definitely gone into their pockets,” described by Tiffannie Sims, General Manager, Hotel Peter & Paul, New Orleans, LA.
“We have not had to hire a single housekeeper for over a year,” explained David McCartney, General Manager of Hotel Arras in Asheville, NC.
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Media contact information:
Elle Rustique, TipBrightly
elle@tipbrightly.com
Michelle McIntyre, MMC PR
michelle@michellemcintyrecommunications.com
Photo credit: Unsplash.com
Ellalinda Rustique
TipBrightly
+1 650-283-4844
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TipBrightly CEO & Founder, Elle Rustique, announces IHG's approval as a digital tipping vendor
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