Discover how FPG is transforming front desk operations, guest experiences and bottom lines—one upsell at a time.
If you're in the hospitality industry and looking to uncover untapped revenue opportunities, this deep-dive interview with Geoffrey Toffetti, CEO of Frontline Performance Group (FPG), is essential listening and reading. Originally aired on Software Spotlight, the 35-minute episode explores how FPG’s platform, IN-Gauge, is driving millions in incremental revenue for hotels around the world.
Michael Bernzweig: Welcome to Software Spotlight your weekly deep dive into the transformative world of Software-as-a-Service. Each week, I sit down with industry titans, innovative leaders and game-changing executives to bring you exclusive insights you won’t find anywhere else. From emerging technologies to market trends, Software Spotlight delivers the strategic intelligence you need to accelerate your SaaS career and stay ahead of the curve. Let’s dive in.
Michael Bernzweig: I'm thrilled to welcome today’s guest, Geoffrey Toffetti, CEO of FPG. Geoffrey, welcome to Software Spotlight!
Geoffrey Toffetti: Thank you, Michael. It's great to be with you—I really appreciate the opportunity.
Michael Bernzweig: Fantastic! I know from our audience that there’s a lot of interest from professionals in the hospitality space. So, for those who aren’t familiar with you or FPG, could you tell us a bit about your journey?
Geoffrey Toffetti: Sure. My career started in hospitality. I began as a valet at a beach resort and worked my way up to Director of
Guest Services. A colleague moved to Orlando and invited me to join a new company he was working with. I became their first hire—pre-revenue. I spent 11 years with that company, helping grow it from zero to over 600 employees, with billions in revenue and global operations. After we sold the company and my options matured, I met Ziad Khoury, the founder of FPG. It was a small but promising company with a compelling value proposition: helping businesses increase guest satisfaction and revenue at the point of sale—hence the name Frontline Performance Group.
With my hospitality background, I saw an opportunity to take FPG into the hotel vertical. Today, we’re in nearly 2,500 hotels across 110 countries. We’ve transitioned from a consulting and training business to a full SaaS company. We took decades of field experience and codified it into our software platform, IN-Gauge—a complete toolkit for running a world-class point-of-sale sales organization.
Michael Bernzweig: I love it. And it would be an understatement to say the total addressable market is anything less than enormous.
Geoffrey Toffetti: Absolutely. While the broad opportunity is in the trillions, our direct addressable market is about $10–15 billion. But really, anywhere revenue flows across a desk or phone line is within reach for us.
Michael Bernzweig: So what’s the core challenge you’re solving for your customers? Geoffrey Toffetti: It's really about two things: revenue and guest experience. Take a hotel, for example. A guest books in advance, and the hotel knows the room and rate. But that may not be the best room for the guest—or the best one available. Without proper tools and training, front desk agents often give upgrades away for free or don’t offer them at all.
What we provide is a combination of:
- Deep expertise in transactional sales (32 years of experience)
- Tools to measure performance and quality,
- And digital training to make frontline execution easy and consistent.
Michael Bernzweig: So you’ve really automated and structured the entire process.
Geoffrey Toffetti: Exactly. The only thing we don’t automate is the agent-guest conversation—but we train them how to do that effectively. There’s no mystery. Michael Bernzweig: Are there specific types of organizations that benefit the most from your platform?
Geoffrey Toffetti: Yes. In hospitality, there are typically three entities: the brand (e.g., Marriott, Hilton), the management company (who runs the hotel day-to-day), and the owner (who owns the asset). Sometimes they’re the same; often they’re not. Adoption varies across these groups.
But some groups are now generating hundreds of millions of dollars in incremental revenue—and it’s high-margin revenue, since there’s no added cost to upgrading a guest from a city view to an ocean view.
Michael Bernzweig: Same staff, same rooms—more revenue. Geoffrey Toffetti: Exactly. And when they start seeing results—within the first 30 to 45 days—they often realize they can do even more. Michael Bernzweig: That’s incredible. But what’s the most critical part of onboarding? Geoffrey Toffetti: The first 30 days are make-or-break. We still use live instructor-led virtual training initially, because a human connection drives excitement and engagement. We roll out by department—front desk separate from restaurants, for example—and support multiple shifts. After that, training continues through our learning management system, accessible via mobile or web.
Michael Bernzweig: And after onboarding, how do you ensure long-term success? Geoffrey Toffetti: We give clients a Foundation Framework—a simple guide to maximize the program. We assign a Client Success Consultant (CSC) and appoint an internal champion for each location to be accountable for incremental revenue. There’s a structured communication cadence, and the program matures over time. From learning to offer upgrades, to advanced sales dialogue and multi-department integration—it’s a progression toward greatness. Michael Bernzweig: You mentioned 2,500 hotels—does that number reflect properties or clients? Geoffrey Toffetti: Properties. We have about 2,500 hotel buildings and around 150 client organizations globally.
Michael Bernzweig: So FPG is truly a niche expert in this field. Geoffrey Toffetti: Yes—and we’ve acquired our only two real competitors. We bought Drake Beil & Associates in 2015 and later acquired TSA Solutions out of Singapore during COVID. That gave us their IP and client base, which we’ve integrated into our platform.
Michael Bernzweig: Smart moves. Are most of your new clients coming through referrals?
Geoffrey Toffetti: Definitely. Hospitality is a tight-knit industry. The market might be huge in terms of rooms, but only 3,000–4,000 organizations control most of it. Referrals drive growth. There was even a time when a hotel executive didn’t want us working with his competitor across the street—he called us his “secret weapon.”
Michael Bernzweig: Let’s talk expansion. What departments within hotels are you focused on? Geoffrey Toffetti: Mainly front desk and food & beverage. These are the most impactful. Spa and retail contribute less, so they’re not our primary focus. Some hotels are generating $8 million a year in upsell revenue—without new overhead or CapEx. That’s massive value.
Michael Bernzweig: Incredible. So what’s next?
Geoffrey Toffetti: Three areas:
- Deeper penetration in food & beverage, where we already have 7,000 restaurants within our 2,500 hotels.
- Retail, since it often runs on the same point-of-sale systems.
- AI, which is where things get really exciting.
We see a huge opportunity and a gap in the market, to use AI, not to replace human labor but to support and augment human capacity. Doing it in the frontline is straightforward, we have an immense amount of data, we know what works and what doesn't, so we can give guidance. We can coach using AI agents. That's something we're focused on, how do we help the frontline become even more productive. Generally, when you go on vacation, you want to be greeted by a person, not a robot. There's a very long tail of human interaction in hospitality, we want to use AI to maximize that, not diminish it. Michael Bernzweig: Absolutely. What’s your take on data privacy and AI in this space? Geoffrey Toffetti: Two big concerns:
- Employees pasting proprietary data into public LLMs—big risk.
- Confusion about AI models embedded in platforms. But when you're building agents internally on your own data, the risk is much lower. You're not "feeding the LLM," you're using its processing power securely.
Michael Bernzweig: That's a key destinction. And it's great that you're preparing your team for responsible AI use.
Geoffrey Toffetti: Yes. We train staff to anonymize data and use best practices. The upside is immense—what used to take years can now happen in months.
Michael Bernzweig: Geoffrey, this has been an incredibly insightful conversation. Thanks so much for joining us on Software Spotlight.
Geoffrey Toffetti: Thank you, Michael. I really enjoyed it.
Key Takeaways from the Conversation
- IN-Gauge’s ROI averages 25:1—turning every dollar spent into $25 in high-margin upsell revenue
- FPG supports 2,500+ hotel properties across 110 countries.
- The platform is focused on front desk and food & beverage touchpoints—the biggest drivers of incremental revenue.
- Onboarding is powered by live virtual training + digital LMS, ensuring quick adoption and performance tracking.
- FPG leverages AI to augment—not replace—frontline staff, using years of operational data to provide smart coaching and performance insights.
Related Reading: Pre-Arrival vs On-Arrival: Which Upsell Wins?Case Study: How New World Hoiana Beach Resort Achieved a 60% Upsell Revenue IncreaseHotel Front Desk Training: How Role Play Boosts Confidence and Sales
Discover how FPG and IN-Gauge can help your property unlock its full potential:👉 Request a Demo 👉 Download Our Hotel Upsell Playbook
