TIPMO™ by GratifID, the NFC-powered cashless tipping and workforce intelligence platform for hotels, today announced that hospitality technology veteran Sarah Taveprungsenukul has joined the company as Managing Director of North America Sales.

Taveprungsenukul is widely recognized for pioneering the hospitality cashless tipping category, making her appointment a defining moment for TIPMO’s go-to-market expansion. TIPMO will officially launch at HITEC San Antonio, to be held June 16 to 18 at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in Booth #2353.

“Sarah didn’t just join a category, she built it,” said Doron Dreyer, co-founder & CEO of GratifID. “When she founded Merci-Buku and its predecessor, youtip, she introduced the hospitality industry to what cashless tipping could be: frictionless for guests, empowering for workers, and intelligent for operators. Bringing her to GratifID as our Managing Director of North America Sales is more than a hire; it is a statement about the seriousness with which we approach this market and the people we trust to win it.”

For existing Merci-Buku customers, it’s business as usual with continued support and service. As TIPMO continues to roll out new capabilities, both existing and future customers will benefit from enhanced features, expanded innovation, deeper operational insights, and next-generation guest engagement tools.

Category Creator Joins Category Leader

Taveprungsenukul founded Merci-Buku with a clear conviction: hospitality workers deserve to be recognized and rewarded in a world that is increasingly going cashless. What began as a vision became a platform trusted by properties across the United States, spanning independent and boutique hotels, full-service resorts and casinos, food and beverage operations, and extended-stay properties.

“Over the years, I’ve seen firsthand how important gratuities are to hospitality workers and how much opportunity still exists to improve the experience for both employees and guests,” said Taveprungsenukul. “What excites me most about TIPMO is that it brings together many of the features and capabilities I’ve been waiting years for technology to catch up with — frictionless NFC tipping, stronger security, better operational insights, and tools that can genuinely help support employee financial wellness. TIPMO represents the next generation of digital tipping, evolving into a smarter, more connected, data-driven platform built for the future of hospitality.”

Transforming Digital Tipping with TIPMO

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TIPMO represents an opportunity to create more earning opportunities through frictionless tipping and use technology and data in smarter ways that can help improve quality of life for service workers. It combines NFC-powered tap-to-tip technology with operational intelligence, employee engagement insights and modern guest interaction tools designed specifically for hospitality environments.

"Digital tipping is no longer just about replacing cash," Taveprungsenukul said. "The most forward-thinking hotel companies are looking at gratuities as part of a broader strategy to improve employee satisfaction, strengthen guest engagement, and better understand service performance. Having spent years helping hotels implement and optimize digital tipping programs, I believe TIPMO represents the next evolution of the category, and I'm excited to help hoteliers and other hospitality service groups unlock its full potential."

More details regarding the TIPMO by GratifID platform will be formally unveiled at HITEC San Antonio next week. Dreyer said he believes the combined strengths of its technology platform and Merci-Buku's established hospitality footprint will help accelerate industry adoption of modern, employee-centric tipping solutions that benefit guests, workers, and hotel operators alike.

"Sarah is one of the most respected voices in hospitality digital tipping,” Dreyer said. “Her experience, relationships, and understanding of hotel operations make her uniquely qualified to help customers maximize the value of TIPMO. We're thrilled to welcome her to the GratifID team."