Carnus Systems Named 2006 IH/M&RS Editors' Choice Finalist

Artificial Intelligence F&B Forecasting Technology Grabs Attention at the 91st International Hotel/M

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. October 14, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, November 20, 2006. The 2006 International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show(R) held at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York on November 11-14 proved to be one of the industries best shows in the recent past, featuring more than 35,600 in attendance and 1,250 exhibiting. Appearing for the first time at the show, Carnus Systems, designers of artificial intelligence F&B, labor, and revenue forecasting technology for the hospitality industry, was named a 2006 IH/M&RS Editors' Choice Awards Finalist.

"We believe that Carnus Systems' artificial intelligence forecasting technology is helping to show the industry that using guesswork and/or capture ratios to staff multi-million dollar F&B operations is a relic of the past. By using a scientific approach to generating forecasts and scheduling, hotels can more effectively provide consistent service quality and minimize unnecessary labor costs. The automation and accuracy of this software enables hotel managers to spend more time exploring new revenue enhancement and cost containment opportunities and less time playing with numbers." says Vicky Bradshaw, CEO of Carnus Systems.

Carnus Systems forecasting technology has quickly gained the attention of industry leaders. By demonstrating how artificial intelligence technology could successfully be applied to forecast within F&B departments, starting with the Pan Pacific Hotel in San Francisco, CA, Carnus Systems broke the long-held industry belief that poor-performing capture ratios and guesswork are the only way to forecast covers and labor due to radical daily F&B demand fluctuation. At the Pan Pacific Hotel, the Carnus F&B Forecaster yielded 90%-accurate daily restaurant and room service cover forecasts, allowing the hotel to staff appropriately. The Hyatt Regency in Jacksonville, FL, one of the largest Hyatts on the US East Coast and another major client of Carnus Systems, uses the Carnus F&B forecaster to accurately forecast for its restaurant and room service dining operations. Similar to the results achieved with Pan Pacific, the implementation of the Carnus F&B Forecaster at the Hyatt have yielded superhuman forecasting accuracies due to the technology's ability to learn the intricate labyrinth of interactions that occur between variables that effect F&B demand.

According to Timothy D'Auria, Director of Data Analytics for Carnus Systems, "F&B departments are complex environments that often experience radical daily fluctuations in demand. This makes forecasting in such areas an extremely difficult mathematical challenge that cannot be accurately solved using a capture ratio or guesswork. By looking at other industries such as engineering, finance, and medicine, we found that artificial intelligence was well-suited for the complexities of hospitality forecasting and scheduling. Given the technology available today, it is time the hotel industry to address the labor control and scheduling challenge once and for all."