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Choice Hotels Kicks Off 9th Annual “Mastery” Tech Innovation Summit, Operating at the Intersection of Hospitality, Franchising and Technology

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500 Choice technologists gather for trainings and workshops and to compete in a 48-hour make-a-thon to develop next-generation hospitality solutions

NORTH BETHESDA, Md., March 4, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH), one of the world’s leading lodging franchisors, kicks off “Mastery 2024” today, an annual week-long tech innovation summit where more than 500 company technologists come together at Choice’s Scottsdale, Arizona offices to learn and drive innovation through a series of gamified trainings and workshops that culminate in a 48-hour make-a-thon. In the make-a-thon, Choice associates ideate and build new software products leveraging advanced technology to drive profitability and value for the company and Choice hotel owners. During Mastery 2024, tech teams will develop solutions to speed up and improve the hotel onboarding process, measure and visualize a property’s environmental footprint, improve the customer service experience, and more. At the end of each make-a-thon, teams will present their new products to a committee of Choice executives, with winners receiving cash prizes and the chance to have their ideas continue to be refined and deployed across the organization.

“Mastery keeps us current on cutting-edge technologies like AI and helps spark creativity, innovation, and team building,” said Brian Kirkland, chief information officer, Choice Hotels International. “We want to make sure we are constantly innovating and trying new things so that we can continue to deliver value-driving technology for Choice, our franchisees, and our guests.”

Last year, a tool created during Mastery reduced daily tickets from 4,000 to just 40 using AI and other new technologies. Previous winning projects include online travel agency enhancements that yielded additional revenue and multiple security analysis and automation tools.

“Choice’s long-standing commitment and investment in technology provides hotel owners and operators of our brands with an edge,” said Anna Scozzafava, chief strategy officer and senior vice president of technology, Choice Hotels International. “Our hotel-facing tech is cloud-based, mobile-friendly and easy to use to ensure all owners can leverage our best-in-class tools.”

Choice recently announced the closure of its last data center, making it the first major hotel company to migrate its entire system infrastructure to AWS. Now fully on the cloud, Choice will continue to innovate and leverage the power of AI to drive even more business value for its franchisees. Choice has built and introduced industry-first owner-facing technologies, including the choiceADVANTAGE cloud-based reservation system; the Your Key to Profit platform, which centralizes profitability tools for owners; and choiceEDGE, which utilizes AI and historical trend analysis to help franchisees maximize room sales.

Choice Hotels has a history of technological firsts and innovation, including: 

In 1995, Choice launched the first hotel website with real-time rate and availability information.In 2003, Choice launched the first cloud-based property management system (PMS), choiceADVANTAGE.In 2009, Choice released the first hotel app for iOS.In 2014, Choice became the first hotel company to offer instant booking on TripAdvisor. That same year, Choice was the only hotel company listed on Forbes’ Top 100 Most Innovative Growth Companies.In 2016, Choice became the first hotel company to offer immediate in-app gift card downloads.In 2018, Choice launched choiceEDGE, the industry’s first cloud-based central reservation system (CRS).In 2019, Choice became the first hotel company to commit to being 100% on AWS (Amazon Web Services) Cloud.In 2021, Choice launched ChoiceMAX, an award-winning AI mobile-first revenue management solution.In early 2024, Choice completed its migration to the cloud.

About Choice Hotels® 

Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) is one of the largest lodging franchisors in the world. The challenger in upscale and a leader in midscale and extended stay, Choice® has over 7,500 hotels, representing more than 630,000 rooms, in 46 countries and territories. A diverse portfolio of 22 brands that range from full-service upper upscale properties to midscale, extended stay and economy enables Choice® to meet travelers’ needs in more places and for more occasions while driving more value for franchise owners and shareholders. The award-winning Choice Privileges® rewards program and co-brand credit card options provide members with a fast and easy way to earn reward nights and personalized perks. For more information, visit www.choicehotels.com

© 2024 Choice Hotels International, Inc. All Rights Reserved     

 

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SOURCE Choice Hotels International, Inc.

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Corgi Insurance Announces Artist Residency to Support Local Creatives at Corgi Cafe

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SAN FRANCISCO, July 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Corgi Insurance has announced the launch of its Artist Residency Program, a new initiative designed to support artists, illustrators, writers, photographers, filmmakers, and creators working at the intersection of technology and culture.

The residency will be based at Corgi Cafe, the company’s 24/7 community space in San Francisco built for founders, engineers, investors, and operators. Since opening, the cafe has become a home for hackathons, demo days, founder dinners, product launches, and late-night building sessions. With the residency, Corgi is expanding that community to include the creatives documenting, interpreting, and shaping this moment in technology.

Residents will receive workspace at the cafe’s central warehouse in San Francisco, featuring 30-foot ceilings, creative tools and materials, access to Corgi’s network of founders and builders, and opportunities to showcase their work through exhibitions, talks, installations, publications, and community events. The program gives artists proximity to the people and ideas driving technological change while bringing creative perspectives and storytelling into the startup ecosystem.

The launch reflects Corgi’s belief that the next generation of iconic technology companies will be built not only by engineers and operators, but also by writers, designers, filmmakers, and artists capable of translating complex ideas into culture.

“I fell in love with art and culture while working in crypto and digital art. Seeing creators flourish around community and new technology shaped me deeply, and that vision now lives on through Corgi Cafe,” said Trevor Owens, Head of Cafe at Corgi. “Some of the most important movements in digital art emerged not from institutions, but from people gathering in shared spaces, experimenting together, and supporting one another’s work. We want to bring that same ethos to Corgi Cafe. San Francisco has an incredible community of local artists, and the Artist Residency is our way of investing in the people documenting, interpreting, and shaping this moment in technology and culture.”

The Artist Residency is an effort to make Corgi Cafe a place not only where companies are built, but where culture around technology is created. Applications for the inaugural Corgi Artist Residency are now open. Local artists interested in joining San Francisco’s builder community and creating work alongside founders, engineers, and operators can apply today. The residency will launch in San Francisco before expanding to additional Corgi Cafe locations across the country. Apply here: corgicafe.com/residency

About Corgi

Corgi Insurance is the first AI-native insurance company. Backed by decades of insurance expertise, Corgi has raised $374 million since its founding, most recently at a $2.6B valuation.

Media Contact: Erika Lee, erika@corgi.com 

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Infobip research reveals APAC businesses scaling AI-powered defenses to counter surge in automated fraud

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Fraudsters are leveraging AI to automate and personalize attacks, but enterprises are fighting back

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, July 21, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — New research from global AI-first cloud communications platform Infobip reveals a growing surge in AI-powered fraud and enterprise defenses. Analyzing billions of interactions globally, Infobip’s 2026 Fraud & Security Report highlights a year of dramatic contrasts. There have been record volumes of blocked fraudulent traffic alongside the rapid scaling of intelligent, AI-powered defenses.

The report reveals that while fraudsters are using AI to scale and personalize harmful messaging, leading to a 77% increase in detected threats, businesses are responding in kind. Adoption of AI-powered fraud detection grew by 71% year-on-year, while pattern-based detection increased by 105%, underscoring a shift toward adaptive security.

Matija Ražem, Chief Commercial Telecom Officer at Infobip, said: “Fraudsters are using AI to automate and scale campaigns faster than ever, but AI-powered protection is evolving just as fast. The significant growth in AI-driven detection proves that leading organizations are no longer treating security as an afterthought, they are building it directly into their communication infrastructure.”

The report also highlights distinct fraud trends emerging across the Asia Pacific region.

Across APAC, enterprises are navigating an increasingly complex fraud environment as digital engagement and mobile-first banking continue to accelerate. At the network level, APAC is among the most technologically advanced regions based on Infobip data. Operator firewalls are highly automated, while mature AI-powered detection models can identify and block most threats without human intervention.

At the enterprise level, however, OTP-based fraud remains a significant challenge in several key markets. Certain territories continue to record elevated suspicious authentication rates, indicating structural fraud patterns rather than isolated campaigns.

Regulatory scrutiny is also intensifying across the region. In countries such as the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, and India, regulators have introduced stronger authentication requirements, reflecting a broader regional shift toward treating SMS OTP vulnerabilities as both a security and compliance priority.

This growing focus on fraud prevention is driving stronger enterprise action across APAC. For example, PLDT Enterprise strengthened security across Smart’s network after deploying Infobip’s SMS and Voice Firewall. The deployment helped reduce spam, smishing, and fraudulent SMS traffic, blocking more than 1.3 billion spam and fraud attempts while improving SMS delivery and overall network security.

“In APAC’s rapidly growing digital economy, trust is emerging as a key competitive advantage, and businesses need to make Network APIs a core part of their fraud prevention and authentication strategy. Companies should consider leveraging Network APIs’ capabilities such as Number Verify, SIM Swap detection, KYC Match, and Device Location Verification to better stay ahead of evolving threats while delivering seamless customer experiences. By taking this a step further and orchestrating these capabilities through a CPaaS platform, businesses can create a centralized, resilient security framework that helps reduce fraud without disrupting the user experience,” commented Goran Valjak, Director of Telecom Growth and Strategy Asia at Infobip.

Download the full Fraud & Security Trends 2026 report to find out more insights: https://bit.ly/3R2W9pl.

About Infobip

Infobip is a global cloud communications platform that enables businesses to build connected experiences across all stages of the customer journey, with AI as the driving force of innovation. Through a single, natively built platform, Infobip delivers omnichannel engagement, identity, user authentication and contact centre solutions that help businesses and partners overcome the complexity of consumer communications while driving growth and increasing customer loyalty. Infobip is focused on enabling and accelerating AI adoption as it continues its transformation into an AI-first company. Infobip’s technology has the capacity to reach over seven billion mobile devices in 6 continents connected to 10k+ connections of which 800+ are direct operator connections. The company was established in 2006 and is led by its co-founders, CEO Silvio Kutić and CTO Izabel Jelenić.

Recent award wins include:

Infobip ranked #16 in Fortune’s Europe’s Most Innovative Companies 2026 (June 2026), up from its inaugural #68 ranking in 2025.Infobip named a Leader in the Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) for the fourth consecutive year. Positioned furthest for Completeness of Vision for the second time (May 2026)Infobip named the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research RCS for Business 2026 Leaderboard (Feb 2026) Infobip recognized as a growth and innovation leader in Frost Radar™: Communications Platform as a Service (CPaaS) by Frost & Sullivan (Oct 2025)Infobip ranked as the number one Established Leader in the Juniper Research Mobile Messaging Fraud Prevention Market report (Sept 2025)Infobip ranked as a Leader in the Omdia CPaaS Universe Report for the third time (April 2025)Infobip ranked an Established Leader in the Juniper Research Conversational AI Leaderboard (Feb 2025)Infobip named a CPaaS Leader for the third time in the IDC MarketScape (Feb 2025)Infobip named one of the top CPaaS providers in Metrigy’s CPaaS MetriRank Report (Dec 2024) Infobip recognized as the number one provider in the AIT Fraud Prevention market by Juniper Research (Oct 2024)

 

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SOURCE Infobip

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Brown Health Medical Group-MA Data Breach Alert: Edelson Lechtzin LLP Investigates Class Action Claims

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National data breach law firm offering free case evaluations to individuals whose Social Security numbers, financial account information, government-issued IDs, and health records may have been exposed in the Brown Health Medical Group-MA data breach.

NEWTOWN, Pa., July 20, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Edelson Lechtzin LLP, a national class action law firm, is investigating data privacy claims arising from the Brown Health Medical Group-MA data breach, a cybersecurity incident that exposed the sensitive personal, financial, and health information of hundreds of thousands of patients. Lifespan Physician Group of Massachusetts, Inc., which does business as Brown Health Medical Group-MA, reported the breach to the Vermont Attorney General’s Office on July 16, 2026.

What Happened

According to a report filed with the Vermont Attorney General’s Office on July 16, 2026, Lifespan Physician Group of Massachusetts, Inc., doing business as Brown Health Medical Group-MA, experienced a data breach that may have exposed sensitive personal, financial, and health information entrusted to it by its patients. The incident affected at least 290,357 residents of Massachusetts and 86 residents of Vermont. Brown Health Medical Group-MA has not publicly disclosed the total number of individuals affected across all states.

Information Exposed

The Brown Health Medical Group-MA data breach may have compromised a broad range of sensitive personal, financial, and health information. According to the notice filed with the Vermont Attorney General, the exposed data may include Social Security numbers, financial account codes, credit and debit account information, government-issued identification numbers, driver’s license numbers, and health and medical records.

Who May Be Impacted

Individuals who are notified that their information was involved in the Brown Health Medical Group-MA data breach — including patients of Brown Health Medical Group-MA and its affiliated physician practices — may face an increased risk of identity theft, financial fraud, and medical identity theft.

Your Legal Options

Edelson Lechtzin LLP is investigating a potential class action to pursue legal remedies on behalf of individuals whose sensitive personal, financial, and health information may have been compromised in the Brown Health Medical Group-MA data breach. Through such an action, affected individuals may be able to recover compensation for loss of privacy, time spent responding to the breach, out-of-pocket costs, and other harms. The firm will evaluate your rights and potential claims at no cost.

Contact Us for a Free Case Evaluation

Speak confidentially with a data privacy attorney today: Marc Edelson, Esq., Edelson Lechtzin LLP, 411 S. State Street, Suite N-300, Newtown, PA 18940; Phone: 844-696-7492 ext. 2; Email: medelson@edelson-law.com; Web: www.edelson-law.com. Or click HERE to request a free consultation.

Recommended Protective Steps

Review your account statements, credit reports, and any explanation-of-benefits statements from your health insurer regularly, and remain vigilant for suspicious activity. If Brown Health Medical Group-MA offered you complimentary credit monitoring or identity protection services, consider enrolling before any deadline stated in your notice. Confirm whether your information was involved in the incident and preserve any letters or emails you received about the breach. Consider placing fraud alerts or a security freeze on your credit, and consider requesting an IRS Identity Protection PIN to guard against tax-related fraud.

About Edelson Lechtzin LLP

Edelson Lechtzin LLP is a national class action law firm with offices in Pennsylvania and California. In addition to data breach litigation, the firm handles class and collective actions involving securities and investment fraud, federal antitrust violations, ERISA employee benefit plans, wage theft, and consumer fraud

Media and Partnership Inquiries: Use the contact information above to connect with our team regarding interviews, co-counsel opportunities, and referral partnerships.

Legal Notice: This press release may be considered Attorney Advertising in some jurisdictions.

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SOURCE Edelson Lechtzin LLP

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