STONEGATE GROUP
One practical application involves processing gas safety certificates from different councils, each with their own formats.
“Document scanning technology will significantly streamline this process,” Ashlie says. “We’ve already begun implementing AI in select areas – integrating chatbots for out-of-hours bookings, using Microsoft tools internally and developing data extraction tools for pricing decisions.”
Growth in number of Stonegate pub sites since Ashlie Thurston joined nine years ago
The company’s technology partners are also enhancing their products with AI capabilities. Access is rolling out Evo, its AI platform, across the product suite, including an upcoming Collins Call AI feature that will allow guests to complete bookings offline without staff interaction.
Each company currently pays separately to solve these same issues with custom development.
“We all face identical problems – a pub might be identified by its name in one system, a site number in another, a pub number in a third. Product codes are alphanumeric in one system but only numeric in another,” Ashlie elaborates.
A vision for industry-wide standardisation Looking to the future, Ashlie is particularly excited about a strategic plan to develop a Standardised Data Model for the hospitality sector. Though still in its early stages, the concept has revolutionary potential for an industry that has traditionally operated in silos.
Access has offered to host a roundtable bringing together major pub companies to discuss standardisation, leveraging their existing relationships to facilitate this conversation where direct competitor engagement might be challenging.
“I’m particularly excited about our strategic plan to develop a Standardised Data Model for the pub sector,” Ashlie explains. “The major pub companies all use similar partners but have never collaborated on standardising our data.”
“This initiative could be transformational for the entire sector,” Ashlie says. “It’s what we mean when we talk about disrupting technology in hospitality – not just innovations like MiXR, but fundamental changes to how the sector operates.”
The problem is one of inefficiency and duplication. All major pub companies face identical challenges – a pub might be identified differently across various systems, and product codes may follow different formats.
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April 2025