Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

Being that the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami is only a couple of months away, this special IHS Series episode features the VP of Development, U.S. & Canada at Minor Hotels, Genna Panagopoulos!  Genna joins the Suite Spot podcast to discuss: The Minor Hotels Brand & Special Announcements The Independent & Lifestyle Hotel Landscape The 2026 Independent Hotel Show Creating Unique Experiences for Travelers And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here for the second season of our Independent Hotel Show series. That means we are gearing up, if you can believe it, for the Independent Hotel Show here in September and Miami Beach. I am so excited and equally excited to bring in a familiar voice. We had her on the podcast just a couple months ago in New York City, Genna Panagopoulos, VP of Development North America at Minor Hotels. Genna, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Genna Panagopoulos: Hey, thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Yeah, excited to have you. We were talking off camera. Typically, I usually do the virtual interview before meeting you in person, so this is a little bit more comfortable here, virtually back in, in, I think you’re in Atlanta. I’m here in our TMG headquarters in Orlando, but second time on the Suite Spot. We really didn’t get to get into your hospitality background, kind of a tradition here. Wanna introduce you to our audience a little bit more, intimately and in depth. Talk to us a little bit about your background in hospitality and the journey that led you to Minor Hotels. Genna Panagopoulos: Well, it starts a long time ago because I grew up in the hospitality industry. Typical greek immigrant story. My father came here with just a few dollars in his pocket and ended up building a pretty successful restaurant business in Detroit. So if you ever are in Detroit, if you say Jimmy, the Greek people will know him. But I went to, I obviously grew up in Michigan, went to Michigan State, really, and started studying hospitality with the intent of taking over the restaurant business. And then I did an internship for my father and realized I did not love it as much as he did. And so I ended up falling into the hotel space and specifically hotel investment, real estate development, and have just fallen in love ever since I started my career at Davidson Hotels and Resorts back when they were in Memphis, actually on their business development team. And then they moved to Atlanta, ironically, next to IHGs headquarters. So I was with Davidson for a few years, hopped in over to IHG, where I was for 10 years, did everything from feasibility to business development to even brand, which is a little bit unique. And I don’t wanna undermine that because I had a lot of people say at the time, why would a developer ever go to brand? Like, that’s, you’re where you wanna be. But for me, it was so critical to kind of unlocking new opportunities in the future because the skills I gained in a year and a half on the team work just the role that I’m in now is super helpful because it’s, it’s kind of like wearing two different hats, right? A creative versus a mathematician. So anyways, I was there at IHD for 10 years, and then this opportunity at Minor came up last summer. I was so ready and excited to take on like a new challenge and I thought that it’d be a really fun and exciting new endeavor for me with this combination of my background. So, it’s exciting. Minor’s been super supportive and it’s a little weird to go from working in an office with thousands of colleagues to being the one of one in an entire continent, but it’s been great so far. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And what a unique opportunity. We’re gonna talk about that here in a moment because I think it’s absolutely fascinating. But your story is very familiar. I mean that we hear all the time from our guests, a lot of them start in that f&b kind of space and then transition over to the hospitality side, but super comprehensive skillset, which I’m sure has set you up for success in your role at Minor Hotels. Now, we met face to face at NYU IHIF, where just a couple weeks removed. I call this kind of takeaway season where everybody’s on LinkedIn, kind of frantically typing their takeaways and what they felt about the state of the industry right now, what we’re looking back on New York City, maybe you could start kind of zoomed in version of how that event for you and then maybe back up with an industry lens on some of the biggest takeaways from your time at New York City. Genna Panagopoulos: So from a Minor perspective, we had a really successful conference. So we had tons of meetings while we were there. Really good ones too, on some deals that were hopefully perpetuating. And then we’ll be announcing maybe by the Independent Boutique Hotel Show, but it was, the energy was very live, the excitement for Minor Hotels, was very visceral people, I think, you know, hoteliers are really looking for brands that understand their position. And because Minor is, you know, I always describe it as an owner first, then an operator, now a brand, right? And we still own an owner lease a vast majority of our portfolio. So we know what it’s like to be in their shoes, quite honestly. So it was a successful, like I said, the energy was there. It’s very validating to know that a lot of our marketing is working and all of the, the word of mouth and the fact that we’re out there, iI’m having to educate people less and less with every conference about who we are. So that’s great. Zooming out on an industry lens, you know, I think, you know, even just looking at beginning of the year to NYU IHIF, this sentiment is very different, right? You know, at the beginning of the year there was so much excitement over the World Cup. You and I spoke about that at NYU and it’s, it’s obviously been tempered quite a bit, and the K economy is still happening. We’re seeing luxury, the rates of the projects that I’m working on, I’m just shocked at how high they are and, how well the competitors are doing in the upper luxury space. It’s really fascinating. So I’m definitely seeing that as well. But the sentiment, and appetite to grow is definitely there. People are still looking to place equity, not ton, not huge amounts, but we’re, we’re seeing that there are still gaps on that front. Ryan Embree: The resiliency of our industry, I think, continues, right? It just, the momentum there, every single time we see a headwind, we continue to push through, which is really, really cool to see that owner. And, and from a development, I mean, new brands, new projects being announced, this is the space that we’d love to see, you know, more and more because there’s more and more demand growing travelers continue to prioritize travel and the experience economy, which is great for us hoteliers. So we just need some more rooms here, which is obviously what you’re tasked with, right, Jenna? So, but I wanna talk about Minor Hotels. I know you talked about needing a little less education now, but educate us here on the Suite Spot. I mean, Minor Hotels, brand spanning from select service all the way up to that ultra luxury segment ton of brands. They don’t have time for all of them today, but maybe you could share some of your personal favorites and within the hotel, Minor Hotels portfolio, what makes those brands unique? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, sure. So yeah, like you said, we now have 12 different brands, four of which were launched last year right before I joined the company. But we have these two lineages, I think within Minor Hotels history, right? We have our roots, which come from Thailand, and Anantara and Avani are great examples of that. And then we have our European roots from acquisitions over the years. So we’ve got brands like…that came from Portugal, NH, which is a very established brand out of Madrid. The four that we launched last year, offer really unique things that we never had before in our portfolio. So as we were looking to grow, we knew that that was something we’d have to have to kind of have on our menu of options for potential hotels, because some of these brands don’t work in every asset type and not every market, though most of our brands have a lot of flexibility to be able to grow into different asset types. But I guess my favorite, and I’m really excited about the Wolseley hotel brand we launched last year. So Minor International owns, which of course, Banner Hotels Resorts is a part of, owns Wolseley Hospitality Group out of London. And there’s a really beautiful institutional restaurant called the Wolseley that’s very famous. If you ask anybody from London, they definitely know the Wolseley. In fact, most people I know that just traveled to London know the Wolseley. So we own, we own that company and decided to take that brand into the hotel space, which is interesting because it’s a restaurant moving into the hotel world. And our first one will open in New York next year, but it’s been really fast. I think it’s really fascinating. There’s a lot of membership club opportunities with that one. And so that’s kind of an new trend we’re starting to see in the luxury space. Ryan Embree: It’s gotta be great to be able to have that breadth and spectrum of property or investment type for an owner to come in and say, this is maybe the market that I’m interested in pursuing, and then figuring out and kind of curating and tailoring what asset, what brand is gonna fit best there. And we talked about this a little at NYU, but I think, again, your job is so fascinating. You have this well-established, extremely popular worldwide brand, and here you are tasked with bringing it into the North American market, right? I’m sure there’s a lot of envious developers out there, what has been kind of, and really you only get to launch a brand like this into a new market only once. So what has been kind of your approach, Jen? I’d love to get kind of the background on what’s been your approach and what kind of feedback you’ve been initially hearing. Have owners been kind of waiting for this, you know, to arrive here and, and what are you hearing from owners right now? Genna Panagopoulos: It’s a tale of two stories as they say, right? So in the luxury space, there’s so much excitement. We are very established, people in that space know us, and wanna be the first to help us develop here. So that’s where we’ve seen the vast majority of our interest. Now, when you shift to looking at some of the upper upscale through the select service brands that we now also offer franchise, which I don’t know the stat off the top of my head, but it is a large component of those properties, those segments are operated by third parties and franchised. So being that we’re newer into that space, that’s where the challenge has been. So, but yeah, in terms of the hardest thing and I have to tackle every day is where do I spend my time? Because there’s constantly deals coming my way. We have to, we have to be quite strategic and mindful about what has the most likelihood of being the best representation of our brand in our target markets. So early on, when I started, I think the first four weeks of me taking the role, I had developed a pretty cohesive development strategy of where we wanted to spend that time. And where that is really any of the top, let’s call it 20 markets in the US that have international demand. So we have top markets that don’t have as much international demand, and we’ll look at those, but we just think that our value is gonna come from driving international business into these hotels. And then totally opposite from that, with Anantara, our, you know, wellness, upper luxury experiential brand. We are really excited about finding deals in kind of everywhere else except for those urban markets, right? So hard to get to places. Last week I was driving through Utah and Colorado, six hours in between each of them. So just to give you a little flavor, we were looking at a couple different opportunities in those states. You know, Hudson Valley is somewhere we wanna be Montana, Wyoming. So, you know, it’s a little bifurcated our approach to our various brands. But we’re trying to be very diligent and strategic about it. So we don’t get distracted by things that aren’t going to help us grow here. Because once we have good examples, we really believe the first few have to be really good. Once we have those, we’ll be able to drive further, further growth at a more quick pace. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. And what you were talking about how best to spend your time, I think that’s a, a challenge that hoteliers have had since the dawn of this industry. But it’s very exciting and very cool to hear those different approaches because, you know, you have the privilege of having that background, of having that history and, and culture already built over an in another market, bringing that here. But you also have the exciting new flavor of providing something new, maybe in some, some very experiential markets right now, which experiential travel is just absolutely exploding another traveler trend right now. And you already have some several success stories we touched on at NYU. Let’s dive a little deeper into some of those projects, Genna. Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so we’ve got, I guess our next one that I’ve already kinda spilled the beans on it, but the releases are already out there, but the first Wolseley in the world will be opening next year in New York in the former Lambs Club property. And I think it’s just such a fantastic market to open the first Wolseley hotel. You know, theoretically it could have been in London and hopefully we do have one in London soon, but it’s a very special cherished brand and it’s not the one thing I also just wanna spend a moment on, even though it’s luxury and it’s this very quintessential British kind of formal service style, it’s egalitarian at its roots, it’s really meant for everybody. So you could walk into the, into the Wolseley in London and see celebrities next to politicians and you’re Joe Schmo walking in off the street, you don’t need a reservation. And so I think it’s a really beautiful evolution of the, of the history of that brand. And I’m so excited for it to land in New York. Ryan Embree: So we can announce right now in 2027. The Suite Spot will be on site. We can do nice little episode up there hopefully. Genna Panagopoulos: Next, next conference in New York. We’ll be able to do it there. Ryan Embree: Alright. <Laugh> Genna Panagopoulos: Yes. And then a little, actually, I guess the next one that’ll open in 2029 is Anantara Turks and Caicos, which is a 100% residential hotel, really, really beautiful resort heavy wellness, you’ll find with Anantara. We really lean into the wellness, longevity space. And so, we pride ourselves on always being at the forefront of the latest wellness, the direction wellness is going. And so longevity, for example, right now is very important to us. And we’re seeing that bleed into the residential space. So, you know, just the way that’s getting threaded into the residential experience, into the hotel guest experiences is very fascinating to watch. And then in 2030, we’ll also have another Anantara in Miami, very close to design district. It’s kind of at the epicenter of where design district, Edgewater and Midtown all meet the views from the hotel will be incredible. There’ll be a helipad, a 30,000 square foot spa. And then a mix of hotel rooms, residences that people are living in, and then also residences that can get rented out to hotel guests as well. So we are super excited, I think, you know, having these three hotels in these three markets, right? We’ve covered New York where we already have a hotel, by the way, the NH collection, Madison Avenue, we’ve had there for a few years, which we actually own. And then, you know, Miami, which is a key market, obviously very heavy international demand, but just if you had to tell me to pick one plate, one urban market to put it an Anantara, that would be it. And then Turks and Caicos is such a important market for U.S. leisure travel. So these couldn’t have been better, better markets for us to be entering and launching region. Ryan Embree: Congratulations. What a strong pipeline and really cool projects you’re working on, excited to kind of see those and the announcements as they start to roll in and the pictures, those views that you’re talking about. But I think, you know, the Turks and Caicos property is something we’ve been talking about on the podcast. That CALA region is also booming right now. So, you know, it’s not just, I think sometimes when we say, you know, obviously bringing into the North American market, we tend to go a little bit more domestic, but to expand that into CALA I think is gonna be absolutely critical. ’cause you’re right, so much of that US domestic travel is now spending, you know, time and money in those areas, and looking a little bit more towards that for their experiences. So exciting all around. And of course we love, you know, we’re based here in Florida, so we’d love a new project. We’ll, we’ll definitely be keeping an eye on that Miami project that you have. But this is speaking of Miami, this is our independent hotel show series. Talk to us, you know, why you feel some of the Minor Hotel brands fit within this independent and lifestyle category. And what advantages do you see independent hotels or even experiential brands and lifestyle brands have in today’s hospitality landscape? Genna Panagopoulos: I’ll answer that last question first. If you don’t have that experiential, that’s table stakes today. So, we’re, I believe we’re only gonna see that become more and more important as the years go on. Because if you look at the consumer data of what the younger demographic, where they’re spending their money, it’s not experiences. It’s not, it’s no longer on goods. So having these really cool, unique experiences that they can travel and and receive is gonna be critical in terms of what we have to offer for independent hoteliers, keep in mind this is our roots, right? We started our, our company was founded by Bill Heineke, who, fun fact, and I can’t remember if I’ve already told you this, but the reason we’re called Minor is that he went to go start his business at a very young age of 17. And when he was getting his his business license, they said, sorry, but you need an adult to sign with you ’cause you’re a minor. So he’s really one of those serial entrepreneurs, wicked smart, wicked great at launching businesses, but he was an independent hotelier. That’s how he got his start. So he’s still driving a lot of the vision of the company. And I could tell you coming from a larger brand company into this environment, it is incredibly entrepreneurial. And because we also own hotels, but also operate for a lot of our owners, we truly believe we have this, like this hotelier mindset. We’re more of an operator than we are a brand at this moment. And so I think that could help lend itself to independent owners who are looking for a little bit of support. And we’re here to lean in as much as they want and as little as they want, but there’s benefits to it, right? We can help save on OTA costs, we can help save on purchasing. We’ve got great technology to help with forecasting and revenue management and and so on. So there’s definitely places to tap in. And I think particularly now more than ever with our two collection brands that we launched last year, so I started telling you this, but I didn’t finish telling you the brands that we launched, but two of them that we launched last year are collections. One is minor reserve collection, which is in the luxury space. And then Colbert collection, which is more upper upscale, maybe entry luxury. And those are just such, they’re primed for independent hotels, right? That’s why they were launched. To be able to keep the heritage and the name of an independent hotel play off of it, but then get all the back support, all the things behind the scenes that consumers will really never see, but it’ll help make operations much more efficient and smooth. And so we think that’s where there’s a lot of opportunity and we’re, you know, we’re priding ourselves on that. We’re here to be a partner and not a brand that’s telling you have to do it this way. So that’s where we’re really thinking this is the opportunity for us in that space. Ryan Embree: Well, it says, it says a lot that, to have two collection brands dedicated to that space really shows the investment in the future of these kind of independently run or branded properties and see the opportunity there because again, looking, you mentioned the lens and view challenges about independent hotelier and brand is very different from those big brands that have the scale to kind of combat those challenges a little bit more efficiently. So, you know, independent hotels, we always talk about on this series specifically are looking for any edge or opportunity to differentiate themselves to the traveler because they are really first in line to present a one of a kind experience. If you think about it, one of those places is f&b, a trend that obviously Minor Hotels has taken and ran with, especially with converting a f&b brand to hospitality brand. How have you leveraged the f&b theme with potential owners and when you’re having these conversations with investors, as you look to bring Minor Hotels to North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, so, well first we have a, when I was doing my onboarding in Madrid and Amsterdam, I toured our Anantara in Amsterdam and they had just, maybe they, a couple months before they had just concluded a chef series where they brought I believe 20 or 30 Michelin rated chefs under their roof and had a food festival, which I had never seen that. Like how amazing to bring. I didn’t know that, that that many Michelin chefs would be side by side cooking for each other, right? But it’s a really special thing. And I think that shows you that Minor is very credible in this super experiential high end f&b space separate to that. And so we have the talent in-house. Separate from that, when you look at our brands and the way our Colbert brand, for example, our Colbert, I don’t even wanna call it a brand ’cause it’s a collection. It’s not really a brand the way we thread food and beverage into the guest experience, right? So each hotel is completely unique within the collection. We don’t want any two to really look alike, to be honest with you. But as part of the one ritual that you can, that you can count on as a guest at every Colbert is a food and beverage driven experience. So whether that’s a bespoke cocktail that’s mixed for you, right as you enter the door, or maybe, after you’ve checked in and you’re in your room, a bell cart is a food and beverage bell cart of sorts is delivering a special experience to your door something that ties back to the identity that the hotel has, but is very curated and special, right? Not something that’s like a here’s the, the chocolate chip cookies we made today. No. Right? We want something really beautiful, thoughtful, creative, and that shows the craft in it that either ties to the experience or the identity of the hotel. So I think that’s really important and those little things go a very long way. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And those are the little things that add up in the independent hoteliers world that can, you can have the edge, right? And I mean there’s a whole now space with food tourism. I mean, it’s got a name for it now. That’s how large this trend is. And hoteliers are looking at F&B very, very differently than they did five, 10 years ago. It was a first a place where they started to look and say, where can we cut costs? Where can we make efficiencies? Now the brands that I think are doing it right are leaning into it. They’re seeing it as a part of their guest experience and also a huge opportunity for their local markets too. I think people, you know, in locally have looked at through a different lens at what a hotel F&B experience can be. And when someone comes to town, they might not be going to that restaurant. They might be going to a hotel or a resort, and it having that experience there. So very interested to see, right. Genna Panagopoulos: It’s, I don’t mean to interrupt you. But I just wanna say, I was recently having the conversation because when I started in the industry, we would joke, you could, you could like blow a cannon through a hotel restaurant. Nobody wanted to go to a hotel restaurant. Back in the day, they were cool. And it was like, oh, I’m staying at this hotel, meet me at the restaurant. But for a while, you didn’t wanna go to a hotel restaurant. It was vanilla, it was boring, it had no identity. It was just an extension. It was just a restaurant within a hotel. Now it’s such an important driver of bringing people to that hotel, whether local or visiting from out of town. And so there’s such an opportunity. I just, I look back at the time that those hotel restaurants were not attractive. And now I’m like, no, it’s such a beautiful component to an experience and I’ve seen really amazing destination hotels that are operated by the operators, but have a totally unique identity that’s very strong and compatible with the hotel, but not homogenous with the hotel. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. It’s very, very cool to see that evolution. And I think it’s only, again, as the trend continues to grow, I think it’s only gonna get stronger. You’re gonna see more emphasis on that f&b experience. And I personally can’t wait. Because I love those types of experiences to kind of see that evolve. And we’re gonna learn a little bit about maybe some of your favorite f&b experiences within the portfolio here. So let’s do my favorite part of the episode. Some rapid fire to get to know you Genna and the Minor Hotel portfolio a little bit better. Let’s start with one of your, you talked about maybe future favorite views at your property, but right now what is one of the favorite views at your properties in the portfolio? Genna Panagopoulos: I know you’re trying to do rapid fire, but of course I’ll just story tell a little bit. Ryan Embree: <laugh> No, not at all. Please. Genna Panagopoulos: The Avani in Amsterdam, I had the opportunity during my onboarding with Minor to go to Amsterdam for a few days. Because we have a ton of hotels in Amsterdam. And I got to stay there and I woke up, I think it was a Sunday morning, and I had one of the upper level rooms and floor to ceiling windows. And I just, I watched the city wake up. It was so cool to see the sunrise from my room, but also the canals were coming to life. People were in boats and I had this cup of coffee and they had a great lounge here. And it’s not, it’s not a fancy hotel, right? It’s an approachable lifestyle of hotel. But it was really, it was so beautiful. I had this like Minor Magazine I was reading and I read the full thing. It was so lovely. And I’m actually taking my daughter there in a few, in two weeks, because I loved it so much. Ryan Embree: Very cool. Yeah. And she’ll get to have that view of the, the property as well. What about favorite fact? A fun fact about one of the properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Okay, so one of our new Colbert collections, that I believe is open now in Florence. It’s called Port Rosa, which it translates to Red Door. And it is actually one of the oldest, it might have been the first hotel actually in Italy and one of the first hotels in Europe. So it’s just so funny ’cause here we call our historic hotels 200 years old. And, and here we have like an 800 year old hotel. So I think that’s, I don’t think I could top that. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that puts it in perspective. Favorite signature dish? We talked about f&b experiences at one of the properties. Genna Panagopoulos: So I know I’m talking a lot about Amsterdam, but that was, it obviously left an impression on me, but at the Tivoli, which is one of our entry luxury brands, very well established in Europe, they really pride themselves on food and wine. And so culinary is a huge component of that experience. So I get to eat at the restaurant in the Tivoli called Ombre. And they really try to weave in creativity and art into the overall experience. And so they took it, they took inspiration from Rembrandt, and so Ombre is one of the 12 colors of Rembrandt’s palette. And so they, they had a beautiful way of weaving that into the food, the color of the food, the color of the menu, the names of the menu items. And it was just a beautiful, and you could watch the chef finish the food right at the entrance. And it was just, it was remarkable. It’s also on the canal. It was an evening candle lit room. It was beautiful. Ryan Embree: I mean the marketing team for some of these properties I’m sure has no shortage of content and storytelling. I mean, this is every hotel marketer’s dream. What about favorite guest experience or amenities at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: That’s a good question. The, also in the Avani in Madrid, so, when I had wrapped up, I had trained in Madrid. I went to Amsterdam for a weekend, came back to Madrid to kind of give everybody my 2 cents of how the project or how the onboarding went. And I was only there for one or two nights. I was so tired. I had been gone for like two weeks. I missed my kids. But I came back and the Avani in Madrid as my welcome city had a smoothie set up. And I had never seen this, and I don’t even know if I’ll ever see this again, but they had a little, a little tiny, I think it’s called like a bullet blender, right? That I could blend in my room. They had the most beautiful, I don’t even know what fruit it was, but it was sweet. It was delicious. They had a variety of milks next to it that I could mix with the fruit, and then of course a little ice bucket and some honey. And it was just everything that I needed. I was so tired from being on the road and to come back and have this really like, cool, healthy, nutritious, it was so, it was like they were reading my mind of what I needed. And I’ve never been in a lot of amazing hotels. And again, Avani is not a luxury brand, but they totally nailed it. And then about an hour later after it, ’cause I had checked in fairly late in the day, they showed up at my door with this beautiful wind down tea set up, and it was, you know, tea can be hit or miss. Yeah, it was so beautifully floral and delicious. And I’m not even a tea drinker. And I loved every moment of it. And they had the most perfect cookie to compliment. Ryan Embree: It’s brilliant by the way, that smoothie, because it makes you a part of the process. It makes you feel a part of the experience. I’m sure a ton of people are sharing that on social media. They’re talking about it. I mean, how easy could it have been to just deliver a smoothie, but for you to kind of be a part of that experience, I think makes it a little bit more special. Very, very cool. I’ve never heard that either. Very cool. And then the last but not least, favorite piece of artwork at one of your properties? Genna Panagopoulos: Thats a tough one. Coming back to the fact that we have an NH hotel in Amsterdam called the Schiller, with tons of authentic Danish artwork. But I’ve also heard that the Tivoli Puerto Gaia has a lot of remarkable pieces. In fact, they have over 70 pieces of authentic art. One of my favorite artists is a Spanish artist…and his works are there. So I haven’t seen it in real life, but that’s on my bucket list. Ryan Embree: Well, I’ll tell you, this was probably the most internationally friendly rapid fire that we’ve had here. When asking these questions. You took us to Madrid, Amsterdam, Italy, all over the place. So, we’ll definitely, I can feel the hoteliers now doing some research on these hotels and planning their vacations. Let’s shift to the Independent Hotel show. It’s happening September 16th, 17th in Miami Beach. And remember Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Genna, and I would love to see you there. Genna, you recently joined the show’s advisory board. Congratulations on that. What inspired you to get involved with this event and how do you see it supporting independent hoteliers? Genna Panagopoulos: First of all, thank you. And I’m really flattered to be on the advisory board. When we started our, when I was working through our development strategy as part of that, we were talking about the various conferences we wanted to attend. And we really think that we’re different from a lot of the big players that are already here, right? We’re trying to not be aligned with them, but a totally different offering. And so for us, it was really important that we find these independent hoteliers, boutique hoteliers that, again, are looking for somebody to help support them and maybe make their lives a little bit easier, but not be always watching over their shoulder. And so for us that this was perfect, I actually hadn’t come across it until they reached out to me. And it came about 48 hours after we had said, we need to find a show or a conference that has specifically this. And it just fell into our lap. And so we, it was, it was very serendipitous and we’re very excited. In fact, I hope we can continue to attend and I’ll be bringing my colleague from Mexico actually to help run the process with us while we’re there. So we’re excited. I also think that we could learn a lot of what independent hoteliers need and their challenges are and be able to help them out. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s a very, very unique event. I’ve had the privilege of being to the show since its inception a few years back. So much learning, there is something special when you put a group of independent hoteliers together in a room. The networking that goes down. It really is unlike any other event I’ve been to. So, again, hope you will join Genna and I in Miami Beach in September. We hope to see you there. As we wrap up today, we got a couple more minutes. What is your vision for the future of Minor Hotels in North America? Genna Panagopoulos: Listen, we don’t wanna be as big as everybody else that’s here, but we wanna have a really good foothold. I don’t think I mentioned this, but we have a little over 600 hotels worldwide, including in pipeline. And we’re really everywhere except for North America. And so it just feels like the right progression, of where we even have hotels in South America, in Mexico, right? So we’re really kind of closing in from all directions. And so we just wanna have good hotels here. Good representation on, fun fact, British and US travelers make up the majority of Anantara guests worldwide, even though we have no Anantara here in the U.S.. So, Norin England. So people want it, and I think once they’re here they will absolutely come. So we’re excited. We just want what we want. A good representation of hotels. Hopefully that’s somewhere around 20 to 30 hotels in the coming years. Ryan Embree: Well, you’re off to a super strong start. Congratulations again, Genna. It’s exciting to be here, kind of at the starting line of this Minor Hotel’s journey in North America. It will soon follow suit, like the rest of your brand is. So we’re excited to watch that unfold here in the upcoming years. Genna, thank you so much. We know you’re busy. You mentioned it before. We appreciate you taking your time, spending some time with us and talking about Minor Hotels and in the Independent Hotel Show. Again, we’re, we’re excited that we’ll both be attending there in Miami. And hope you will too. So Genna, thank you for your time. Genna Panagopoulos: Thanks for having me again. Ryan Embree: Alright and we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. Thank you for listening. To Join our Loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Social Success Series is back with a brand new episode featuring a very special guest and hospitality’s no-nonsense voice, Mr. Scott Eddy!  Scott Eddy joins the podcast to give audiences his perspective and insights on where the future of hospitality is headed, social media growth in hospitality, and how AI technology is the biggest innovation that the industry has ever seen. If you are looking to stay ahead of the hospitality technology curve by getting the latest hospitality information, tune in to the episode. Cassady Quintana: Welcome to the Social Success Podcast, where we have conversations with top hospitality professionals about successful digital marketing strategies, emerging trends, and how to connect with today’s travelers. I’m your host, Cassady Quintana. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Social Success series. My name is Cassady Quintana and I am the brand ambassador here at Travel Media Group. And today we have an awesome guest. I am super excited, a hospitality influencer, celebrity to me. Super excited to have the no nonsense voice of hospitality. Mr. Scott Eddy, thank you so much for joining me. Scott Eddy: Thanks so much for having me, man. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, super excited. So, right now you’re in Spain. We talked a little bit about that, but for people that may be a little bit unfamiliar with you and your history, talk us through how you got involved in hospitality and how you got to where you are today. Scott Eddy: Yeah, so I actually didn’t come from a hospitality at all. I came from investment banking, which I think gives me a very different lens of the world. So I look at hospitality through psychology, positioning, ROI, branding human behavior before I even look at aesthetics, which actually means nothing. after my banking career ended, I went to Thailand on a two week trip, and after four days I called my mom. I was like, I’m never coming home. I love this place. And I ended up living in Bangkok for 11 years. So I went over there in 99, several years before social media came out. So for the next four or five years, I basically just partied my butt off all over Asia, made a lot of friends and just getting acclimated with the region. ’cause it was just, it’s like a different world over there. So then social media came out and I started the first digital agency in Asia, and we were the biggest for five years. And all my clients were hotels. So my very first client in this industry was the first Aman property on earth. Aman…, which was in Phuket. And that really taught me the whole quiet, luxury, luxury persona. Like that whole thing. It really like it was like a, like a, like a weight in my brain that is still there today. It’s really, really stuck with me and a lot of things that I learned from that project. Really, I use it every day. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. No, that’s awesome. I feel like a lot of the people I talk to and we talk to here, it’s kind of a similar story. They fall into hospitality, they don’t realize, and it happened to me too, like I was working just in normal social media marketing before I got into hospitality. And that’s kind of how it happens for a lot of people. So you live in hotels, you’re traveling constantly. A lot of people would only dream of that. I wish I could do something like that. So for you, at what point did you realize, like, this wasn’t travel anymore, but you could kind of turn that into your brand and a business for yourself? Scott Eddy: So, okay, so as I was doing the agency, and again, I just hired really smart people that worked at advertising agencies. And just watched them. But during that time, that’s when social media first came out. And I’m very early on every platform. I was probably first 2000 people on Twitter. And Twitter was it back then. So that’s actually where I built my brand. And I was the first American expat in every Asian country to have a million followers on Twitter, which back then got me headline news, which got me speaking gigs, which got me consulting gigs. So after a while, all my business was coming through my social media. And again, this is back when there was no term influencer, there was no term personal brand. There was no, that might have been a thing, but it wasn’t a thing. So eventually I just decided to sell the agency because it just made no sense to me to have a brick and mortar office paying 37 full-time employees when the clients are coming through my phone or my computer. Like, it just didn’t make sense. So I sold it and started traveling around. In total did 11 years in Thailand, one year in Philippines, one year in Sri Lanka, four years in Spain, one year in Portugal, and one year in London. And then I came back to the US in 2015, thereabouts. And that is when I literally blew up because that is when real budgets were starting to be applied to social media marketing. And I was approached by a PR agency as soon as I came back to be the travel host for the first video, for the first travel show that was gonna be a lifetime. And it was like a Anthony Bourdain type show. It was called Video Globetrotter. So that solidified me in the U.S. Then I just started doing just huge campaigns with F1, with Air New Zealand, with like, all these big brands. I was a brand ambassador for Lexus for two years. I mean, it was, it was very, very cool. But when I, before I came back to the States when I was in Europe, I was just looking at like what was gonna happen when I went back to the States and I was like, well, I don’t want to get a lease and like have like a normal life. I haven’t had a life for a very long time. So I ended up selling everything that I own while I was in Europe and even now. So I was born in Michigan, but I was grow, I grew up in Fort Lauderdale since I was little. I used to only have a storage unit in South Florida. So I used South Florida as a base in between all my trips. But I’m there two, three days. Like, I was just there this past weekend. I went to F1 and then I came to Europe right away. That’s awesome. So, yeah, I mean, it just happened. When did it happen? Who knows? But it just, I’ve been in the trenches of hospitality marketing for 17 years, since day one of social media. Not that we were doing social media strategies on day one. Back then it was like websites and SEO and graphic design. Remember when people paid for that? Cassady Quintana: Yeah. Scott Eddy: So the services side is very different now. But it’s fun. But it’s fun and hospitality, like it’s the greatest people in the world. Cassady Quintana: I couldn’t agree more. I mean, how could you not be happy with being able to travel to all these places and meet new people and stay in different hotels and you’ve experienced, a wide range of different hotels. So when you think back of all these places you’ve stayed at, for you what makes a memorable stay versus one that’s kind of forgettable? Scott Eddy: And I’ve had both. The difference is emotional impact. That’s it. Most luxury hotels today are physically beautiful. And emotionally empty. The industry has been become obsessed with that whole polished and everything else. But forget humanity. Guests don’t remember the sink design or the way the lobby looked. They remember how your people made them feel. And I’ll give you a perfect example, and this is not to put them down, but I just left Tulsa. I was there for eight days. I mean, you’re talking about Tulsa, Oklahoma. Like it’s not New York City, it’s not Paris, it’s not Hong Kong, it’s Tulsa. And I was at the Marriott there. And again, this is not a ultra luxury property, I’m telling you right now, I stay over 300 nights in hotels and have done so for the more than eight, nine years. This was the best employees, the best staff that I’ve ever met in my life, ever. And I’ve lived in Asia for 13 years. And Asia has, I mean, the best of the best. But I mean, it, it was crazy. Like the finance lady coming out and she’s like smiling and laughing with the staff. Have you ever seen finance person smile? Like that’s where the creativity goes to die. That’s the person who’s telling me, no, no, no, we don’t have the money for this. Like, it was unbelievable like every day I was just like pinching myself. I’m like, is this real? It was just, it was really crazy that the best experience that I’ve had ever in hospitality just happened. Cassady Quintana: Oh, that’s awesome. And I feel like this is something that a lot of hotels should be posting about on social media because I always say like, your hotel and the way it looks is part of the experience, but what makes it memorable or what makes it terrible for people is how the service was. So, and that can be hard to translate online. So when you are looking at a hotel, social media page for you, like what makes something make you gravitate towards it and wanna engage with it, rather than it being a promotional or sale. Like how can hotels translate that inhuman experience and how awesome their staff is and how awesome their staff makes you feel to social media so that potential guests can feel that through the phone? Scott Eddy: I mean, first off,I browse through social media profiles of hotels every day. I mean, I’m, I’m talking dozens and it’s, it’s honestly most of it just makes me wanna throw. It is ridiculous. We are in the most feel good, fuzzy warm feeling industry in the world. And they can’t stop taking these gorgeous pictures of rooms and dead pictures of an empty swimming pool. And like, it’s unbelievable. Most hotels, social media feels like it was approved by seven people in a boardroom and a legal department. That’s the problem. Everything is safe, polished, filtered, and emotionally flat human beings connect with people, not corporate perfection. When are you gonna wake up? Like, I don’t understand. It’s 2026. It’s almost as if they don’t have a calendar. Like show it, show the chef, show the bartender, show the housekeeper, show them, show humor. I mean, like, it’s crazy. Cassady Quintana: And I think that’s the thing, like when Instagram first came out, it was that opposite, right? We need the perfect photo, we need the perfect shot. We have to use the perfect filter. And now it’s, it’s kind of gone to the opposite. And maybe this is with AI becoming so pertinent in all of these things, but people want to see that real moment. Because it’s hard to imagine yourself in a perfect photo of a hotel room. Like, I wanna see someone enjoying their coffee, or like you said at the pool, things like that. So obviously you’ve followed this since it’s started and it’s changed. We’ve seen new trends. We’ve seen Instagram change its algorithm completely. So beyond that human emotion, is there anything else that you think hoteliers are still getting wrong in 2026 with their social media? Scott Eddy: I mean, the biggest mistake hotels are still making is thinking that content is the strategy. Content is not the strategy. Content is the vehicle. Emotional relevance is the strategy. Anybody can create content. Now, do you have a phone? You can create content, you have AI, it can create content. So the value is no longer in simply producing the content. The value is in perspective, storytelling, culture, trust, leadership, and emotional connection. That is the number one. Most hotels still have no clear voice online. What I love to ask hotels. I love to say, what is your brand personality? They don’t know how to answer. Like, how do you not know that there’s no founder visibility, there’s no staff involvement, there’s no community building. God help you if you can find a GM. They’re heading in the office. There’s no understanding of platform psychology. I was talking to a guy who is part of a group of a hotel group, and they own 11-17, they owned a bunch of hotels. And I asked him about one of the properties. So before we hopped on the call, I went on every platform to see where they are, how active they are. That way I have the ammunition. We get on the phone and I ask him, what about X, Y, Z property? I couldn’t find them on TikTok. Why aren’t they, oh, I don’t like TikTok. That wasn’t a question. Cassady Quintana: Right. Scott Eddy: And then, with me, I dive deeper. I’m like, why don’t you like it? kids dancing. Come on. That’s the way it started. I said, the average, the average age demographic that’s most active right now is 38 to 57. Luxury brands are killing it on TikTok. I love when people say can’t sell luxury on social media. What? These are the people that aren’t on their phones. Right. Come on, man. Cassady Quintana: No, and I love that you mentioned that because especially TikTok, it had that, that image, especially in 2020 of just being that platform where people dance. But it goes beyond that now because we’re starting to see integrations with, Booking.com on TikTok and Expedia on Instagram. Like, there the conversation of is important is long gone. Now it’s, why are you not on this? It’s kind of almost weird and embarrassing if you’re not on social media. Like, what do you mean you’re not on social media? ’cause that is, and especially my, I’m older, gen Z, but as these new demographics start to have buying power, this is where we’re searching. Likeand it, and like you said, TikTok is now that age group of 30 to 50. Like those are the people with the most buying power. So what do you mean, like that it, and it’s hard to get people to see that sometimes because when they have that preconceived notion of what social media is, to try and get them to a point of believing in it is tough. But I mean, the proof is in the pudding. We can show them how important that is. So kind of in that same world, I mean we’re seeing a lot of influencers in hospitality now. And we actually, I did an exercise last week where I was searching, hotels and the most viral videos and most of them came from influencers. So where do you see the value with influencers in hotels and maybe where do you see that continue to go? Scott Eddy: The problem with the whole influencer space, and I hate that word so much. Just because influencers ruined, just like marketers ruin the term marketing. Influencers have ruined the term influencers. I mean, it’s just such a egotistical. Ridiculous word. It’s just such a saturated market. So much so that I don’t even work in South Florida and I rarely work in Florida. And if I can avoid it, I rarely work in the U.S. I’d much rather work overseas. South Florida, it’s like all the big cities are just saturated. So, I mean, of course in between all my trips I get offered to do a million free things and I’m like, bro, I’ve been building my brand for 17 years. Like I’m not in the intern stage right now. Like, I already built my brand. I don’t, I don’t need your $20 meal for Instagram posts. I appreciate it though. But I mean, most hotels, they still evaluate influencers completely wrong. They obsess over follower accounts instead of trust and audience alignment. I can’t tell you how many times, so if somebody doesn’t know me, they don’t follow me on LinkedIn or a lot of other platforms and they just look from the outside looking in and they just see a big audience. So the first thing they’re gonna say, okay, this guy’s an influencer. Which I don’t mind. I still being an influencer, I hate it. But doing that is still a lot of what I do. Because yes, I travel with a video guy. They’re get and a photographer, one of the top photographers in hospitality by the way. And they both arrive here on Friday and we’re going on a cruise. So I do travel with a video guy and we do long form storytelling. We do a lot of things and we do complete photo shoots and this and that, but they always want my distribution. So like, I would never run away from that because I have a very good audience. I’m deep in the wine world. I’m deep in the finance world. I mean, my audience spends, so I know creators with massive audiences that couldn’t drive a booking if their life depended on it. Meanwhile, smaller niche creators, which strong trusts absolutely crush it because their audience actually listens to them. Listen, it’s the micro influencers that are killing it right now. Their engagement rates are in the teens, people like me, people with over a million followers, generally if you have a anywhere from one to 3% engagement rate, you’re killing it. I get very high engagement. So I mean, I just figured it out two days ago because I’m launching a new website and new media kit and whatnot. I just did my media kit or my engagement rate on Instagram so far in 2026 and I’m at 6.5%. Oh, that’s awesome. I mean, that’s like top tier, right? For somebody in my space. But I mean, most macro, most big, I think they call ’em mega like over one, two, 3 million. You’re lucky if you get one to 2%, but the numbers still work out to somebody who has 20,000 who’s getting an 11% engagement rate. Things like that. So, I mean, hotels need to stop treating creators like vending machines. Here’s a free room now, make us viral. It’s not a strategy. I can’t tell you how many hotels tell me that they want to go viral if I can help them. And I, and I asked them, I’m like, what is getting going viral gonna do for you? And they can’t answer going viral 90% of the time, does nothing. My photographer that I traveled with, he did a hyperlapse video on a river cruise that we were on of like a locks opening up and closing. It was very cool. I think it got like 12 or 15 million. I’ve never even gotten those numbers. I mean, he’s still sitting, like, he didn’t gain a hundred thousand followers. He didn’t get 10,000 brands commenting oor wanting to work with him. Viral does nothing without a proper strategy attached to it. What I mean? So the, the problem is these brands, they don’t do the research. I can’t tell you how many times I get reached out to and they’re like, Hey, we want you to do this campaign. And I’m like, this is not even my niche. Oh, sorry. It was a copy and paste email. Well, no kidding. Of course. It was like, it just, listen, over the next few years, creators are gonna evolve into, and they already are full blown media companies, production, distribution, consulting, storytelling, community building, all of it. The creator economy, let me tell you, and I’d much rather call it that than influencer space. It’s becoming one of the most powerful engines in hospitality because the bigger AI gets, and listen, a lot of these companies will go to the wayside. But AI, the technology is here. The bigger AI gets, the more valuable humans are gonna be. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. We, we say that all the time, especially because AI is gonna fuel the tech. But at the heart of hospitality is the people and it will always be the people. And you can’t replace that people to people emotion. And like you said earlier in this episode about how that’s what you remember the most right. Is how the staff made you feel. And AI will never be able to do that. So I’m glad you brought up AI because we are seeing that start to shape the traveler journey. Like I mentioned with the integrations with Expedia and Instagram and their AI agents that are building these itineraries. So where do you think AI and social media and hospitality are headed now and in probably the next couple of years? Scott Eddy: I honestly think that most of the hospitality industry still underestimates how massive this shift is. This is bigger than social media. This is big tech, bigger than mobile phones, bigger than websites. AI is fundamentally changing how humans make decisions, right? We’re moving from search behavior to recommendation behavior. And that changes everything. Your website is no longer the front door to your brain. AI is becoming the front door. Yeah. Travelers are increasingly asking ai what hotel fits their personality, what cruise line matches their lifestyle, where they should go for a specific emotional experience. Yeah. So now your digital footprint matters more than any more than ever. Consistency matters more than ever. The brands that survive this next era are gonna be the brands that feel the most human, have the clearest voice and create the strongest emotional connection online, generic corporate garbage. You’re done. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, and we’re already in the middle of that. I feel like we know a lot of us, we don’t necessarily know how big AI is gonna be and where we’ll be this time next year. I mean, I bet in just a few weeks we could be having this conversation again and it would be something new. So course it’s definitely always changing and I recommend everyone that’s listening to this episode to follow you because this is the kind of stuff that you’re talking about and you’re following and it’s, it’s super important. Hotels are busy and a lot of the time they don’t have the time to do the research. So if they can find people like you to get that information from, it’s extremely helpful because it’s, it’s changing every single day. So if you can stay up to date and understand it and what’s going on and how you need to adjust your social strategy and your marketing strategy as a whole, you’re gonna be ahead of the pack. And so with that, thank you for all that awesome information. I kind of wanna shift gears to get to know you a little bit more Sure. With some rapid fire questions. So first thing that comes to mind that you can think of. So favorite hotel you’ve ever stayed in? Scott Eddy: I have a couple, but let’s say Kuda Duke in Maldives. Cassady Quintana: Alright. I love that. Scott Eddy: It’s insane. Insane. Cassady Quintana: Okay. And then what do you think is the most underrated destination right now? Scott Eddy: Right now? Sri Lanka. I lived in Colombo for a year. It’s seriously underrated. I think it’s, I mean, and it’s already bubbling, right? But I think it’s just gonna explode soon. Cassady Quintana: Is there a best time of year to visit there? Scott Eddy: Just like, you’re in Orlando, right? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, I’m in Orlando. Scott Eddy: So, so just like us, winter time is their high season just like Florida. Cassady Quintana: Okay. Noted. Perfect. Okay. Do you have any travel habits that you swear by? Scott Eddy: Yeah. I, and this is a life habit. I mean, just ’cause my whole life is travel, but I wake up super early every day and I’m up for the sunrise and I go for sunrise walks. If you ever follow, especially my Instagram stories, I’d post sunrise almost every day. I think there’s no better way to start the day. I think it’s impossible to have a bad day when you start the day like that. Cassady Quintana: Right. That’s why they recommend you get 10 minutes of sunlight every morning. Right. There’s, there’s something to that. So definitely everyone follows Scott’s Instagram so you can get that morning motivation for your walks. Okay. One hotel that is crushing social media right now, or one that you’ve seen recently that you loved? Scott Eddy: Wow. That is a great question. Wow. That’s a good question. <laugh>. You can, there’s a lot out there you can tell. I didn’t really go over your notes, <laugh>. Cassady Quintana: That’s okay. Scott Eddy: I never do. ’cause that’s like the, that’s when you get the raw answers? Cassady Quintana: Exactly. And then you overthink it. Scott Eddy: Let’s go back to that. Let me think about that for a couple minutes. Cassady Quintana: Okay, perfect. Well that was the last rapid fire question I had. So maybe people just need to follow you and find out later.. Scott Eddy: But let’s talk about brands as a whole. So like, I love, I love fun luxury and I guess they would call them luxury lifestyle or whatever, but I love the one hotels. Okay. All over. I really love, so if you really follow, I used to be, I used to do a lot of work with Ritz Carlton pre pandemic and now they’re just garbage. But horse, the guy who co-founded it started Capella. Capella Hotels is really cool, really fun. It’s just, I like brands that don’t take themselves too seriously. I mean, I hate the whole corporate stuffy stuff. And listen, I’m titanium bonvoy, like I stay in Marriott properties all over the world. Just so I can hit that status. Right. It’s easy because they’re large, they’re boring. The marketing is, I mean it’s, it’s so vanilla, it’s so beige. It’s so like, like it’s forgettable in 10 seconds. Never used to be, and it’s interesting. I remember when W first came out when they were Starwood. W was awesome. I mean fun, great, great, great. Like the marketing was like, just so off the chart and now they just look like any other hotel. Cassady Quintana: Which is so interesting. ’cause social media is like the place to be crazy and be fun because there are really no rules. And like why wouldn’t you be, especially if you were that at one time and your competitors are doing that. Why? I wanna, I wanna know like what the logic is behind that. Like are they trying to keep an image or? Scott Eddy: No? Well, well the ones that are that fly a big flag like Marriott and Hilton and that, they always hide behind, oh, well I can’t do that. ’cause of brain guidelines. Right? So you can’t show fun. Of course you can, right? They just hide behind the rule book and everything takes 15 approvals. So by the time you do have a good idea and you want to execute it, it’s gone. Cassady Quintana: It’s too late. The trend is over. Scott Eddy: It’s about speed. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I’ll definitely go check out those brand Instagram pages. ’cause that’s the kind of stuff I like to look at. I mean, that’s what makes me as a traveler, I don’t really have much brand loyalty. So I like to do research and look at their Instagram pages and social media, and I’m gonna pick the one that looks the most fun to me. So super important. Okay. Well as we wrap up, Scott, I’m so excited we had this conversation, but for anybody that’s listening, what are you up to next? Where can they find you? You have any campaigns or exciting things coming up? Scott Eddy: I mean, I’m pretty much, I mean, you’re all of this month I’m going, so the, the the top vacation club company and now they’re transforming into just hotels. Nice. But, it’s called Ante in Mexico. So they just launched their ultra luxury cruise line here in the med couple weeks ago. And we’re going out there to film and, and to shoot. That’s the cruise we’re joining on Saturday. And then I’m spending the last two weeks this month in Rome. And then next month I, I’m going to Ellie Miami the first week of June. And then I go to Sicily to speak at a conference. And yeah, so I’m going nonstop and at the same time I’m doing a whole rebrand. So in the next few days I’m launching new website, new logo, new everything. So it’s fun. Cassady Quintana: Well, perfect. By the time this episode comes out, you’ll have your full rebrand. Scott Eddy: There you go. Cassady Quintana: So when people listen to this and they find you, you’ll be ready. So, perfect. Well, I’m excited to, to watch your travels and of course I’m connected with you on LinkedIn and love to see everything that you’re up to. I’ll make sure to follow your Instagram too so I can get that morning inspiration for my Sunrise walks. But thank you so much for taking a little bit of your time out of your day. I know you’re super busy with travel and things going on, so I really appreciate it and I know our listeners do. So thanks for joining me. Scott Eddy: Thanks for having me, man. Cassady Quintana: All right, cool. Well, thank you everybody for listening to another episode of the Social Success Series, and we’ll see you next time. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so you don’t miss an episode. The Social Success Podcast is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Cassady Quintana, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.

NYU IHIF 2026 was full of insights and thought leadership from some of the best and brightest hospitality professionals in the industry.  In this episode of the Suite Spot, you will get to hear from some of the most influential and biggest names in hospitality in the exclusive interviews we were able to cover at the event.  NYU IHIF is the epicentre of hospitality brands, capital, and fast-paced dealmaking – opportunity moves fast, and so should you. This is where the rebound takes shape, where leaders uncover what’s next, and where relationships turn into real transactions. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree and VP of Marketing here at Travel Media Group. Cassady Quintana: And I’m Cassady Quintana, Brand Ambassador here at TMG. Ryan Embree: And today we are fresh back from NYU IHIF 2026. My second time in attending this incredible event. Cassady, your first, what were your thoughts? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, I thought overall was a great event. A lot of optimism, especially as we’re heading into the summer season. So I thought, you know, the conversations that we heard on the panels and the ones that we were having with people were awesome, and a lot of you know, good things coming out of that. I feel like the biggest topics that I heard, there were three major takeaways I took from a lot of the panels and people we were talking to, but one being that K-shape economy that we’ve heard a lot about, right? We know that luxury is still outperforming while economy segments are feeling a little bit more of that pressure especially as we head into this summer season and looking at some of those trends. And then I think one of the biggest topics we have been talking about since the beginning of this year is the World Cup and how international travel we thought was gonna be booming. We were expecting a lot of busy hotels, but it’s kind of been on the softer side, and we’ve actually seen international travel dip a bit. So I think right now we’re kind of in that wait and see period of maybe you know people are waiting to see if their teams make it out of the group stages and then they’ll plan on booking a hotel. So keeping an eye on kind of that last minute travel. But the biggest topic that we were talking about a little bit last year, but the biggest one this year is AI and how hotels are using that within their systems. You know, there’s a lot of trends around using that for more personalization and being able to use it to look at your, you know, revenue optimization and how you’re performing online. So finding ways that we can use AI that doesn’t take the hospitality out of hospitality and doesn’t replace that human element. But that kind of went with that overarching theme of the entire event, which was sharpening the edge. So the thing I took from that is that the hotels that are really gonna win are the ones that are understanding their guests and using AI to further that, to further get to know their guests, to make that experience a little bit better. Ryan Embree: You know, and we had some incredible conversations and interviews with some professionals that we’re gonna share here in a second. But just to kind of jump on what Cassidy’s saying, we’re at a really cool inflection point in our industry right now as we go gear towards the busy travel season. So it’ll be interesting to see, you know, we had the opportunity to meet with development person from Minor hotels who’s looking to bring their brand into US and Canada, which will be very interesting. We know how they have a huge global footprint, a lot of interest early on in getting into the Americas. Uh, we then visited with AHLA and Kevin Carey and his team doing such wonderful work over there advocacy for our industry and some really cool initiatives that we were able to sit down with Kevin for a few minutes and chat about, uh, Jan Freitag from STR our hotel Data North Star and compass. They just released a revised forecast for the hospitality industry. So we went over some major points of that revised forecast and finally we got the opportunity to sit down with president and CEO Best Western Larry Cuculic. What a wonderful conversation about the best Western brand and how they are implementing, um, some of that AI and technology into their brand, and capitalizing on not only the World Cup, but also America 250. So wonderful insights that you’re only gonna find here on the sweet spot. Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoy these exclusive interviews from NYU IHIF 2026. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Sweet Spot. We are live on location at NYU IHIF 2026 here with Genna, the VP of US and Canada Development for Minor Hotels. Genna, thank you so much for taking the time to stop and the busy big apple and talk with us today. Genna Panagopoulos: Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Excited about, this show. A lot of energy, a lot of buzz. You know, when you come to an NYU talking to ownerships, a lot of capital here, what are the conversation kind of stem around, and what does a successful NYU show look like as you head back to your home base? Sure. Genna Panagopoulos: Successful NYU would really be finding some deals, perpetuating some deals. So hopefully advancing some opportunities and it’s really all about for right now because we’re relatively new into the region. Educating our owners and the, the broader development community. So, you know, some of, some of the players do already know us, but in the luxury space, but there’s a lot of people we gotta get out in front of and introduce Minor hotels to. Ryan Embree: And this is a great place and, obviously a great city to do that in. What has been kind of the feedback? I mean, you’ve been tasked with this enormous job. We have such a great brand, worldwide, you’re bringing it here to us, Canada, and North America. What have been some of those initial conversations and hearing that and initial interest and feedback from owners? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah, we’ve had a lot of feedback and interest on Anantara. So some of our, you know, established luxury brands that are pretty well known when you know the luxury hotel space in a global environment. Sure. So those owners have actually come to us saying, we’re really excited about the opportunities here. So that’s one piece. Of course we have NH Hotels, NH collection, and NH, which are very well known brands, especially in Mediterranean, Europe. Yeah. And, Central and South America. So there’s excitement around that too. Ryan Embree: Does it help, I mean, having such an international brand, we got the World Cup here, right? In a couple months. You kind of using that as maybe some momentum as you kind of come into, and introduce this brand into the Americas. Genna Panagopoulos: Absolutely. There’s a lot of, you know, I’m also educating Minor of the markets we wanna be in and so that’s definitely helping as well and putting some places on the map. Ryan Embree: And let’s talk about that because there’s been some announced projects already right here actually in New York. Talk about that project a little bit. Genna Panagopoulos: Yes. Thanks for asking too. We have a Worsely Hotel that’s opening, here next year. It’s gonna be super exciting because Worsely is a restaurant brand that we are taking into the hotel space. So it’s the first of its kind and nowhere better than to start in New York comes from London. So there’s a lot of correlation between the two markets. Ryan Embree: One of a kind hospitality venue and a one of a kind city, so. Exactly. But another project we’re really excited about just ’cause we’re home based, obviously in Orlando right down the road, a bright line away in Miami. Talk to us a little bit about that project and how that’s different. Yeah, Genna Panagopoulos: It’s a high rise building built in Miami. Hasn’t started construction yet, but it’ll open in 2030. It’ll be an Anantara hotel with branded residences, both private branded residences and, um, ones that will be able to be rented to hotel guests as well. Super wellness oriented. There’s gonna be a really extensive spa. Right. Very experiential. Wonderful for the residents that are gonna be buying, the residence. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. It sounds like you guys are really taking care of all of the kind of popular travel trends right now. Right. FMB has really had this resurgence in hospitality with the project here. Wellness, obviously a huge piece of what hospitality is leaning into and what travelers are looking forward to. So having that flexibility between the brands too, I’m sure is a definitely a fun place to be when having these conversations with owners. But you talked about another project in Turks and Caicos. Genna Panagopoulos: Turks and Caicos. So we have an Anantara in Turks and Caicos that I believe will open in 2029. So in order we’ll have one in New York next year, and then 29 on Ontario trips and Caicos 2030, Miami. Ryan Embree: So no shortage of news on the Minor Hotel side. Congratulations to you and your team. Thank you. As you wrap up, I mean, what’s your vision? What’s your goal? As you bring Minor Hotels into the North American region? Genna Panagopoulos: Yeah. Well, if I think about next year at NYU, I hope people, more people are coming towards us. Excited about us being a different brand a different mindset. So we offer, we think of ourselves a little bit differently from the parent brands that are already established here because we have, you know, ownership still of most of our portfolio or we lease most of our portfolio. Um, so I hope there’s more inbound traffic coming towards my way. I hope people generally just walking down the street know us a little bit more. Certainly. You know, white Lotus helped us with Anantara, so there’s a lot of people who Oh, yes, are are diehard Anantara fans because of that. But that’s what I’m hoping for. And eventually we’d love to have an office here. So as long as we do our, our, our work, right, we, we get a strong pipeline, we’ll be able to have an office, a regional office in, in North America. Ryan Embree: Incredible. Well, super exciting. Can’t wait to catch up on all the exciting projects that you have at Minor Hotels. This is the first of a couple collaborations we’ll be doing with Minor hotels, so make sure you stay tuned. Congratulations again, Genna. And thank you for taking the time to speak with us today. Genna Panagopoulos: Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We are live on location, New York City at NYU IHIF. I’m here with Kevin Carey, President and CEO of the AHLA Foundation and COO of AHLA. Kevin, not your first time on the Suite Spot. Appreciate you taking some time and joining me here today. Kevin Carey: It’s lways a pleasure to spend time with you. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s fun.Incredible event so far. NYU obviously AHLA, AHLA Foundation Forward has a huge presence here. What does, you know, when you come to the event like this, we always talk in hospitality, these events are always going to exist no matter what. Technology comes down the pike because hospitality, we’re people, right. We like connecting. What is a successful NYU IHIF look like for you and your team? Kevin Carey: Well, It’s always an important period of time in the year at, as we approach midyear to check in with our members, to have that conversation about the advocacy issues we’re leading on behalf of the industry to hear how the business performance is tracking as well. And just to build enthusiasm and engagement for the events and the initiatives that we’re leading, not only in the association, but with the foundation as well. Ryan Embree: And none more important than the No Room for Trafficking initiative that you and your team have done some fabulous work on. I mean, we have all sorts of brands up on stage, sometimes with differing opinions here and there, but one cause that everyone in our industry has really gotten behind, and it’s the work of you and your team, is this No Room for Rrafficking? We always like to spread awareness of this. Talk to us a little about, about on that front and the progress you’re seeing and making. Kevin Carey: Well, this is a longstanding commitment that the industry has to human trafficking prevention and awareness. It started in 2019 with the development of the No Room For Trafficking Initiative and its focus on training and expanded in 2022 to include the Survivor Fund. So this is an area where AHLA and the foundation specifically serves as a convening entity to bring the industry together to rally around this important issue to work, to build awareness that’ll drive prevention of human trafficking, and also to gather funds to help support survivors. So this is a commitment not only on a longstanding basis, but also on a going forward basis as well. Ryan Embree: And such inspiring stories that you’ve told over the years. And people, you know, hoteliers and other people listening to this can really get behind and encourage people to kinda look at that initiative. Another kind of initiative that you’ve done in these events that, when we’re talking about these events is forward. We had a record breaking attendance a couple months ago in the spring. Talk to us about how that is. And you actually have some of those the forward initiatives here at NYU. Kevin Carey: We do within the foundation, our mission is to advance the workforce of the industry. And we do that through a focus not only on the current workforce, those over 2 million associates and colleagues who deliver hospitality day to day, but also how do we attract the future workforce to the industry. I talked about being a convening entity. The foundation brings together the industry across all segments. And there’s two areas where we believe we can make a difference. One is around human trafficking that we just spoke about, but also around the forward initiative which is geared towards, and its purposes to advance women in the hospitality industry and in leadership roles in the hospitality industry. So we were delighted to host our most recent forward conference in Atlanta, back in April. And the results were outstanding but really the momentum and the impact that that forward is having is really, which has us so enthusiastic and committed to this initiative moving forward. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that’s gotta be so cool to see industry leaders in hospitality raise their hands and want to be a part of this movement and really see the results from that. Kevin Carey: Well, it’s grown from just being a conference, that started in 2018 and had about 150 people at the first event to now over 1100 attendees. But as it as it has expanded from a conference to a leadership development curriculum. And you mentioned the forward exchange, which took place, here in New York earlier today, where it brought together over a hundred early and mid stage career and professionals of women and some men who are participating along with their peers to focus on networking and building those relationships so they can be well suited and take on roles, over time in the industry. Ryan Embree: Really cool to see. And again, probably some incredible stories coming from that over the years as the as the initiative matures. One thing that, that hospitality in general, really looking forward to, we got big summer, right? We’re usually really excited about summer is just ’cause of the travel season, kids being outta school. But this summer in particular, we’ve been looking forward to for a couple years. We got World Cup on the horizon, finally. We played just a couple miles from here and in America 250. What are you kind of hearing from hoteliers and how are AHLA really, gearing up for these big events, showcasing our industry? Kevin Carey: Well, these are really defining opportunities, for the industry to support those guests to welcome that demand, to drive the hospitality infrastructure over time. So there’s a lot of enthusiasm around the potential that that represents and as we’ve seen on stage already today the results in the first part of the year for the industry have been positive. a number of the outlooks are increasing the Revpar and ADR and other industry metrics, here with the these large events we are still waiting to see some of the demand materialize and we’re in a critical period of time right now, about 10 days out before the games to see that hopefully what’ll be a late surge in bookings, then translate into further business success for the industry. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Hopefully, and hopefully see that international travel continue to come back to North America, you know, a lot of hoteliers, hoping for that. Zooming in a little bit on a AHLA summertime, also time for interns, right. Come in and we’ve talked about this before. I mean, internships, mentorship in hospitality. So critical. I mean, throughout the years we’ve had these staffing shortages and we’ve talked about getting creative, our industry, getting creative on ways to fill those roles, internships being one of them. Talk about a little bit about the AHLA internship program and what these interns are are ready for this summer. Kevin Carey: Well, it’s not new. We’ve had a well established program from a number of years now. And, and we’re excited annually to bring a number of interns into our team across each function. we’ll have an interns in the government affairs team, in marketing, in the foundation. it’s so refreshing to engage them in our work to see their enthusiasm about their future to see them pick up valuable skills and experience of being in an office environment, learning more. And you know what? They, they have a real impact. They have some fun along the way as well and we have a wonderful session at the end where they get to present the results of some of the work in the initiatives that they’ve been working on. So it’s an annual opportunity that we look very forward to. And they’ll be starting just in about a week’s time. so it’ll be a great another repeatevent for us. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Love to see it. You know, again, any way that we can have more exposure to all sides of hospitality. Beause as we know, it’s not just, you know, the front desk. There’s so many elements to it and there’s none more demonstrated by how big our hospitality industry is than by the hospitality show that you put on. And this year is gonna be right in our backyard. In Miami, Florida. Get us a little bit excited about what we can expect at this year’s fourth annual. This is our fourth Hospitality Show, correct? Kevin Carey: So we started in Vegas, went to San Antonio, we’re in Denver last year. A lot of enthusiasm coming out of Denver for the content. And then what’s unique about the hospitality show is it’s really the only conference in the industry with a focus on operations and how operations is driving profitability. So there’s a terrific enthusiasm and people are looking forward to being in Miami, coming together in Q4, all segments of the industry represented. So we’ll have the brands we’ll have management companies, owners, service providers, suppliers, independent hotels also play an important role in the industry. So we’re about to open registration and that’ll really kickstart, the focus on November 2-4 in Miami. Ryan Embree: Well we’re looking forward to it. We’re hoping to go 4/4 on covering the hospitality show. Especially with it being right there in our backyard. Kevin, we know you’re busy. Thank you so much for taking the time to speak with us today on some of these important initiatives. And hopefully we’ll see you in Miami in just a few months. Kevin Carey: Hopefully I have something else on. Ryan Embree: Alright. Appreciate it. Thanks. Kevin Carey: Thank you so much. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree. here live at NYU IHIF 2026 here with Jan the National Director of Hospitality Analytics at CoStar. Jan, you were just on a panel. Thanks for taking the time to jump off and speak with us. Jan Freitag: Absolutely. Ryan Embree: State of the state, love the name obviously you’re the north star of hospitality data out there. Jan, revised forecasts just came out. Talk to us a little bit about those points that you were sharing with the audience today. Jan Freitag: So we’re suggesting that RevPAR this year is gonna grow 2.8%, which is very different from the way we looked at the world at the ALIS Hotel Investment Conference. First quarter performance was much more stronger than we had expected than the public traded companies had expected the brands or the …. And a lot of them have revised their year end forecast up. So, you know, we followed suit. Now they, most of them just revised their forecast by the outperformance of Q1. But we’re suggesting No, no, there’s momentum. So we actually took our forecast up by a lot more to 2.8%, 2% driven by ADR and 0.8 by occupancy, which is really good to see. ’cause it implies that demand is outpacing supply. You know, so we get occupancy gains and then some pricing power. Ryan Embree: Love to see that. I mean we were here a year ago with Amanda who is talking about trying to decipher through the noise, a lot of noise right now. But great to see the momentum with those revisions and so important to have those revisions because the landscape can change ever so rapidly as you know. But talking about the supply, talk to us a little bit, go into a little bit more in depth and then obviously every market is different. What markets right now are running a little bit hot on supply? Jan Freitag: Yeah, so fational forecast for Supply goes to 0.4%, not a whole lot. Right. The long run average is 1.6, so we’re well below that. The number of rooms in construction used to be between, we know, 150,000 – 160,000. It’s now 140,000. So it’s sort of staying there. It’s just so expensive to get anything done. And interest rates are still high and could go higher. Who knows, we’re not making interest rate forecast. But you know, there’s definitely no longer this idea of how we should cut, you know, interest rates twice this year or so. I think those days are gone, you know, and so now the question is, okay, so where are people getting things done? And you can look at it by markets. So a couple of them are usual suspects. So Nashville, very strong, Dallas, Houston, Denver, Phoenix. So those are markets sort of in the smile states, sort of in the Sunbelt that still get a lot of people moving there. And you know, migration determines the economic performance. And so we’re seeing a lot more room supply growth there, but there’re just a lot of markets where it’s very, very hard to get anything done because of that higher cost of construction and of the higher interest rate. So I would single out those markets, but overall the picture is rather muted. On the supply side. So what that means then, for existing owners is the time to renovate is right now percent. Because you want to be the new kid on the block with the new hotel, there’s not a lot of new competition coming. This is time to renovate and really put your best foot forward. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And you know, one of the other topics we talked about, or you talked about rather on stage was segments right now luxury, doing very, very well leading the way. Obviously a lot of bifurcation, that K-shaped economy. What are you seeing across the segments right now? Jan Freitag: Yeah, I mean there are no wrong answers in luxury, right? I mean, luxury last year was the winner. This year is the winner. We’re projecting, very healthy RevPAR growth double of what we’re saying for the nation. We think the luxury class can materialize. And then what’s really nice to see is that for upscale upper midscale midscale, there’s also RevPAR growth there, which we hadn’t seen last year. And to me that speaks to the strength really of the American economy. But it sort of permeates toward all income classes. Now the exception is was and unfortunately will be likely the economy sector now even there we’re suggesting RevPAR’s growing, but it’s just, you know, 0.8% call that flat for all intent and purposes. Ryan Embree: International travel too, obviously World Cup on the heels of this. What are you see any interesting data points there you wanna share just right ahead of the America 250 and World Cup? Jan Freitag: There are two very different vibes coming from the panel that I was on. Adam Sacks prior to US presenting was talking about, oh wow, international inbound is really still quite a bit lower than it was in 2019. But the gentleman from the NTTO, the National Travel Tourism Organization was like, no, we’re projecting rock and roll, really strong growth of international inbound. The truth is probably gonna somewhere in the tween this year. World Cup is gonna drive a lot of international travelers. What I’m wondering about though is are some of those travelers basically stealing from 2025 and from 2027 and now they’re saying, oh, let’s not go in 25, let’s go in 26. And then when next year comes around, they’re like, we just went to the us you know, and not go in 27 either. So I just hope that the more positive spin from the government comes true and this and, and not that we’re just sort of packing everything into this year and then international inbound is gonna deteriorate. Ryan Embree: So many interesting data points. Anyone in particular you have your eyes on where, you know, obviously we love a nice rosy outlook and try to look for opportunities through all of the data that’s out there, but anyone’s that are like unexpected data points or something that you’re at least keeping an eye on right now? Jan Freitag: Yeah, so there are a couple, but the one that I’m really focused on is consumer price index. Everything is getting more expensive and so that means that hotels will see their cost increase. And the big question then is how much of that cost increase can they pass on to the customer? And I just told you that our ADR forecast for this year is 2% and inflation is gonna be what, 3.5 or something? I mean, it’s gonna be much more than that outpacing that. So that’s really the crux and I think that’s what we here at NYU, to talk to owners and investors and management companies have figure out, okay, so how can we keep our margins expanding even maybe how do you do that in this environment where top line growth may be not keeping pace with with inflation. So the CPI number is really something I’m keeping an eye on. Ryan Embree: Yeah, pretty challenging time right now. when it comes to margins and hospitality that we, again, trying to suss out and figure out here, what are those maybe opportunistic data points that you’re seeing that you’re saying this, this is really good, maybe unexpected on the other end of the spectrum? Jan Freitag: Yeah, I think the Americans are wealthier than they ever have been. And Adam Sachs has this fascinating data point where he shows at the emerge that the middle class in America is shrinking, but part of it is because a lot more people are rich. So people are moving up the income chain and that allows ’em then to spend more money on experiences, very clear that people favor experiences over goods. And we are right in that Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: That continues to be the experience over stuff. We love to see that. And then you’re kind of here celebrating an anniversary/birthday of your podcast, is it? You know you’re, you’re usually, typically used to be in the host, not so much the guests, so thank you. Tell us a little bit more and maybe where our hotel audience can find the insights that you provide. Jan Freitag: Yeah, and thank you for having me. So we have our own podcast. My colleague Isaac Collazo from STR and myself get together once a month. It’s called Tell Me More, A Hospitality Data podcast. And three years ago at juniors across the street over cheesecake, we sort of hatched the idea. And so now we’re, I don’t know, like, you know, almost 30 episodes into it. And we get together once a month and we just sort of riff on the data and hopefully you can join us. Ryan Embree: I love it. That’s awesome. Well, Jan, thank you so much. Very busy time. Appreciate you stopping by and talking to us. Jan Freitag: My pleasure. Thank you so much. Ryan Embree: Alright. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are live at NYU IHIF 2026 here with Larry Cuculic, President and CEO of BWH Hotels. Larry, thank you so much for taking time outta your busy schedule to join us here on the Suite Spot. Larry Cuculic: It’s my absolute pleasure. Thank you for the invitation and for allowing me to share some thoughts with regard to the success and BWH hotels. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We’ve got a lot to cover cause you’ve got a lot going on right now. But let’s start with this event, right? NYU IHIF, lot of major brands here what does a successful NYU look like for you and your team? Larry Cuculic: To us, a successful NYU is interacting with developers and investors such that they’re aware of what BWH has become. We’re now 18 brands, over 4,000 hotels in over a hundred countries and territories from premium economy up to luxury hotels. We acquired world hotels about six years ago. And so it really is continuing to educate about the possibilities of their associating with BWH hotels because we would be singularly focused on their success if they partner with us. And you’re also in a powerhouse panel tomorrow, the Executive Exchange Hospitality Performance Strategies for Success give our audience a little bit a sneak peek of what you’re gonna be talking about on stage. Larry Cuculic: Well, we’re gonna be talking about of course, the economy near term as well as long term projections for what that looks like. we’ll be talking about the importance of loyalty programs. We’ll be talking about the impact of really the economy and things like labor insurance and how we as brands need to focus on the success of our hotels by offering them programs to really offset that impact on net RevPAR. Ryan Embree: And I’m sure one of the subjects and topics that we brought up on your panel, certainly something we talk about these hospitality events is, AI and technology. And we had the privilege of having SVP and your CTO Bill Ryan on at the Hospitality Show a couple months in October, gave us a little bit of lay of the land when it came to AI and technology. How do you feel personally that this technology is really changing the way that travelers choose hotels, but also how they have their hotel experience, their guest experience? Larry Cuculic: Sure. So the first thing we’re doing is we’re reinvesting in our .com as well as our app. And we want them to be easy to use intuitive, but we also wanna make sure they have content that convinces guests when they’re shopping that our hotels will provide them kind of that customization and personalization. ’cause it’s not about a commodity, a hotel room, it’s about all those things that we can offer. By way of example we’re partnering with an AI agency to kind of harvest content with regard to where our hotels are located in those communities. At the same time, we’ll take that harvested content and we’ll filter it through our hoteliers who live in those communities and create the content that will be the AI answer when somebody’s looking for a place to stay. And they’ll know that we want them to have the best possible time while we’re in that community, not just staying with us as a hotel, that we recognize that people don’t want just to stay, they want really a journey. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Something that we aspire in hospitality to provide that not just a hotel stay, but an experience. And we talked to Joelle Park about the power of storytelling and how that can play a component in one of the best stories, obviously that you just had a really exciting announcement with is America 250 and the story of this great nation. So talk to us a little bit about that partnership and what BWH Hotels is doing with America 250. Larry Cuculic: Well, we are a sponsor of America 250, and we’re encouraging our hoteliers to embrace the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation. And part of that is not just USA 250, we also have the 100th anniversary of Route 66. We have hotels that have been with us, believe it or not, we have a hotel that’s been with us 75 years. And it speaks to the heritage of our brand. So we’ll be leaning into the history of this great country. At the same time we’ll be leaning into the history of our great brand and encouraging people to travel and see the United States and all that it has to offer no matter where you go. And the beauty of our hotels we have 2200 of them in North America and wherever they’re going to go, we want them to know that we have a hotel that will meet their travel leads such that they can experience really the 250th anniversary of USA. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s a really exciting partnership right in at an inflection point with the World Cup as well. So introducing maybe some international travel also to the brand and the nation. You know, you’re a great following on LinkedIn. I encourage our audience, if you haven’t, make sure you follow Larry, but one of the things you’re reflecting on your North American regional conferences that you’ve done up to this point in 2026 and you quoted to say that you want BWH hotels to become the most welcoming brand in the world. What does that mean to you and how is your team working to achieve that? Larry Cuculic: Well, welcoming means that we’re gracious hosts, but it also means that we’re, I’ll call it easy to do business with understanding, being flexible and recognizing that we are somebody you’d want to be partners with. Whenever anyone walks into a hotel we should tell them, you know, welcome, we’re glad you’re here by way of example. But I used to think of it that way in terms of being gracious host and everything that happens at the hotel, but when I think of welcoming, I also want to think about our new.com and app. Again, it’s that ease of use and personalization so that when you go there, we know it’s you and we want to help you make good decisions with regard to travel. So welcoming is about ease of.com, the app we’re redoing our loyalty program. I think Joel probably talked to you about that. And we want the loyalty program to be welcoming as well. Well, what does that mean? Well, that means that when you interact with us, you’ll know how many points you have. You’ll know they never expire. You’ll know that you can use them to buy down the price of a room at any point. That you don’t have to, to have as many points for a full stay to leverage those points. It’s a value of the program. And of course welcoming. I always lean into the importance of being not just a gracious host, but somebody that appreciates our guests. To me, that’s welcoming because you have to recognize that people, they’re traveling with their families, it’s something that you wanna leave a terrific impression on them and their family. And you also want them to know that we appreciate that they’ve spent their hard-earned money staying with us. To me, that’s being appreciative gracious hosts. And that’s part of the welcoming. It’s not, the welcoming doesn’t just happen when they enter. Welcoming has to be entire stay. Ryan Embree: So key. And the brands that kind of make that connection with their travelers, especially in a time where, I mean, we just talked about in this interview AI technology, there’s way more places become disconnected, to find that connection, that human to human connection. Very important right now. So as we wrap up the interview, obviously at these events we’re always, whether it’s the hospitality data we’re looking into, whether it’s a conversation, we’re always trying to take a glimpse into the future, trying to predict that future. Larry what do you see, what’s your vision for the future of BWH Hotels. Larry Cuculic: People will always wanna travel. And for us, if we can become that welcoming brand that appreciates our guests, we will build that loyalty. When we build that loyalty, that program will grow. Our revenue delivery brand direct will grow which is the lowest cost for us in terms of that reservation for our hoteliers but what I think I would also offer to you is we’re also very focused on thoughtful growth. And what that means is if you grow your loyalty program, you also wanna make sure you have hotels that are in locations where guests want to go. Be it London, be it Rome, be it Frankfurt, be it Bangkok, no matter where it is around the world. And so, you know, we have a, a focus goal of 5,000 hotels, which means we will grow thoughtfully, but with our guests in mind. And because when we have a hotel join us, our sole focus is the success of that hotel as well as having a quality hotel where guests want to go. Ryan Embree: That’s awesome. Well, we wish you nothing but success. Hopefully maybe can join the Suite Spot when that 5,000 hotel opens and we can celebrate that together. But in the meantime, thank you, Larry, for taking the time out of your day to join us here on the Suite spot. Larry Cuculic: Well, thank you. Thank you for the opportunity. Very much appreciate it. Speaker 2: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this celebratory episode, The Suite Spot hosts two TMG veterans, Director of Product – Respond and Resolve™, Jackie Avery, and Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, on the podcast to commemorate the 10 year anniversary of the Respond and Resolve™ digital solution.  Jackie Avery discusses what the milestone means to her and her team, and how responding to reviews is the foundation for connecting to guests and why it’s critical for hoteliers to give authentic responses to their guests. Jason joins the podcast to share the history and evolution of the Respond and Resolve™ digital solution and how it has become the industry solution service it is today.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot, a celebration, my favorite type of episodes we have on the Suite Spot. Very excited to share a milestone and achievement, a celebration, like I said, a 10 year anniversary of our award-winning, industry leading Respond and Resolve™, review response solution. Here with the Product Director of Respond and Resolve™, Jackie Avery. Jackie, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery: Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. I’m so excited to talk about this too. Ryan Embree: Congratulations, what a feat. 10 years of responding to reviews. We are gonna have the opportunity to speak with Jason Lee, our Chief Technology Officer, and we’re gonna talk to him about really the history and evolution of this solution, and really guest feedback management in general, how that’s evolved over time. But with you, I thought we’d start with talking about present today and this solution respond and resolve, again, responding to guest, hotel, guest reviews. What makes this so special? What is the secret sauce? Why has it seen such an explosion of growth from our hotel partners, and what do people love about it? Jackie Avery: Yeah, so I’d say everyone on my team probably has a different answer to this, but for me, it really comes down to passion, time, and flexibility. So we’re really passionate about that connection making, you know, that moment with the guest truly matter. Taking the time to really connect in that way with them. And I’d say, I guess right, others might say, well, you know, these other people within the industry or at the hotel also have that passion and, and care about that connection. So, I think we all agree that that’s really important. But then you come to also adding in time. So someone might be able to dedicate an hour to responding to their guest reviews, or maybe even a few hours a week, and they feel really good about that. But like for us, right? This is day in, day out. This is what we do all day long. We really have the time to not only have the passion for that connection with the guest, but take the time to think about what they wrote and how they wrote it. And so, and there are gonna be people who have the passion and have the time, and I absolutely do not wanna diminish that. I’m so happy that they do. I’d say the third, and just as equally important aspect though, is flexibility. So this is an ever changing landscape, right? One moment. The M dash in writing makes you sound human. It’s casual. This is how you connect. The very next day, that’s an indicator of AI. If you’re using that, no one thinks you’re you. So in the past, right, you would start writing a response and you just wanna make sure you’re not sounding defensive, you’re not being dismissive of, whatever their concern is. And that’s still important, but that’s not where you start anymore. You start by convincing someone that you’re a person, you’re sitting at a computer taking away from all of these other aspects of your job, and you’re like, my first step is showing everyone that I’m me and I’m real. So, on top of all of that, right now, you’ve got that going on. Maybe, you know, you feel like you’ve got a handle on it. There is a very intense, again, ever changing landscape when you’re thinking about the political climate, the economic climate, and those impacts the guests and travel. We all know that. And so it’s really hard to meet a guest where they’re at. If you’re not keeping up to date with everything going on. You have to be aware of those shifts that are happening all the time to everyone. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s ever changing, especially over the course of a decade, which has obviously been the timeline of this solution here. And you’re absolutely right. I mean, that authenticity is so key to show the guest that you actually care about what you wrote. And you’re right, there’s a challenge now to almost convince that guest that I am real. I am listening to you and I’m connecting. And there’s a reason why in this age of technological advancement and AI, we were talking about it every single day. We’re at the peak of technological advancement. Every single day we move forward, there are still hotels that come to us and say, we want to maintain a human to human connection. We don’t want AI to be responding or generating responses that are going straight to our guests. Why do you feel like that is, and and what are the feedback you’re hearing for these hotel partners? Jackie Avery: Yeah, so when you zoom out, right? Guests are the entire reason that hotels exist. So when you’re considering reviews and checking reviews before you stay somewhere or leaving a review, after you’ve departed, these are really important aspects of the guest journey. They’re a part of your guest experience. So when you are a property who is fully invested in your guests having a great experience at your hotel, you want them to be surprised when they come in the best ways. You want them to leave with the best memories and spread that by word of mouth and online, you understand that you have to continue that real connection the same way you want to at the front desk in those points online. You have to connect with them human to human in that review response. Ryan Embree: You know, Jackie, one of the things that I think makes the solution so special, and something you’ve done a great job of is curating this team of professional writers where a lot of these writers here went to school for writing and communication. You know, these are degrees that are their specialty. They have a passion for this, right? And you talk to a general manager nowadays maybe they didn’t, maybe they don’t have a passion in writing, right? Like, that wasn’t why they got into hospitality to say, I wanna be a writer. But, you know, you created this team that also understands the nuances of the hotel world. It’s the only vertical that we work with in hospitality. And there’s so many of those little nuances that you have to teach and you have to incorporate in your messaging and in your review response writing to make sure that is articulated so clearly to your guests, or really it undermines your reputation as a whole. Talk to us a little bit about some of those nuances, maybe some examples and how you’ve been able to generate just this team of, again, just incredible writers. Jackie Avery: So, I’m fortunate because we’re doing this episode to celebrate 10 years. So we know what we’re looking for and we have experience in how to train specifically writing for hospitality and guest reviews. So fortunately, you have these degrees where people come in, they’re educated, they know how to write well, and then you have this training based on real world experience. And having seen the evolution of guest reviews. You used to get it where guests only left reviews when they’re angry. That’s not the case anymore. Guests go, they love the praise of feeling rewarded for leaving a good review. They wanna leave a good review. And having written so many, right? Each individual learns something and takes it back to the team. So it’s consistent workshops, it’s creative workshops, it’s adjusting to the new landscape, right? Being aware of what is seen as AI and what is AI. Being able to identify a review where a guest used AI to leave it, maybe. Or also being able to take a moment and pause and know the best way to reach another human when they’re being skeptical. So where as someone on property, right? They’re so focused maybe on, well, I wanna let this guest know that’s not how we do things, or that’s not really what happened here. And this professional writer on the team realizes the first line of this review was, and I bet a bot is gonna answer this. You have to cross that bridge first. You have to tackle that first. And if you don’t know how, it’s gonna be really hard to get your actual message across to this person that you really want to. So, we’re always building on what we know, because we realize what we know today can’t be what we rely on forever. Everything is gonna be different in three months. Everything will be different in one year. And when you’re set up to be able to make those adjustments, and you’re excited about that, when you love writing, when you love being able to write in a different way and connect with someone, and this is your passion, you know, you thrive in that landscape, it’s not a challenge that you don’t wanna take on. You look forward to it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And you’re absolutely right about the landscape. Completely changing. Sometimes, even though over the course of 10 years, I mean, booking has their pros and cons. They actually essentially solicit some of the negative feedback so that you can address that character count, right? With a TripAdvisor and maybe now going into reviews with no content at all, and responding to those PPI and personal information using people’s names in those responses. Is that something that a site allows or not? All of these are things that you wouldn’t really think through in responding to reviews, but it’s so critical and so important because, again, it’s an underlying foundation of your reputation management. And why do we respond to reviews to show we care? So if that care isn’t being shown, it really undermines your reputation. So, anything that lasts for 10 years obviously, means that it’s a success. I’m sure you’ve heard over the years some really, really rewarding pieces of feedback from our hotel partners. Can you share, we love a good story here on the Suite Spot in the podcast. Can you share any examples, maybe just one or two of some special moments or conversations with some of our Respond and Resolve™ clients? Jackie Avery: Yeah. Thinking back, because it feels really relevant this year, because it does seem to be happening more frequently, I think back to an email I got from a client, and they were going through it, their property started receiving hundreds of reviews within an hour to, because of something happening within the city, it was something going on. That was happening citywide and really had nothing to do with their hotel. And you can imagine in that moment, they’re fielding calls at the front desk from guests who haven’t arrived yet. They’re trying to ease concerns from guests in house, and their online listings are just being flooded from people who aren’t there and are just saying stuff. And really, it’s just because of the city they’re in and something that the property has nothing to do with. So in those moments, I’m so grateful that we can help. I got this email from this hotel, and they were just like, thank you. I had so much on my shoulders, and I know I have this support and this, and I put out these things, you know, to these other people at the property who help us. But in that moment, I knew, I knew you guys were there. Yeah. And I knew that you could give advice on what to do. You’ve seen it before. You helped guide my steps. And I’m so grateful for that, that our years of experience mean that in the moment a guest can be served face to face, and we can be assisting, you know, with things happening outside of this property’s control. Ryan Embree: And what a line to tiptoe too, if AI is involved, right? And that, and the messaging is not communicated the right way there, it could mean so much more than just a one star review. It could mean detrimental damage to your reputation, especially in those moments of crisis. Jackie Avery: Absolutely. And some sites let you edit what you post back and some don’t. So the stakes are high. And it’s happening fast. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Very fast. And so, as we wrap up our conversation here, and again, congratulations. As Product Director, you look at this, what do you look at this 10 year milestone? What does it mean to you and what’s your vision for the future of this solution? Jackie Avery: Yeah, this milestone, I feel it, I feel it personally. Not just for me but my entire team. When you genuinely care about connecting with other people and helping and being support in this way, it’s really easy to feel the joy in what you’re doing. So this milestone, to me, is just something that I am reflecting on that I’m so grateful, I’m so grateful to be able to work with clients across the country and help people out there connect in a space where they’re expecting not to have that opportunity. More often than not, people are expecting not to hear back, or they don’t wanna get their hopes up that they will hear back, but they do. Yeah. And it feels great. And I love that. Ryan Embree: Yeah. The stakes can’t be any higher right now when it comes to that. And hotels are getting creative with trying to figure out ways to connect with guests in a world where, you know, you don’t have to visit the front desk anymore. You can, you don’t have to interact with hotel staff anymore. So hotels are trying to figure out ways that they can keep a constant line of communication. And this is always gonna be a place where guests are, are gonna be, do not make it a one-way conversation. They’re gonna continue to leave feedback. Are you genuinely listening? Are you authentically responding? And we’re so grateful to have you on this podcast to celebrate this milestone. Thank you, Jackie. And congratulations again to you and your team. Jackie Avery: Ah, thanks so much. It was great to be here. Ryan Embree: Next wee’re gonna be talking with Jason Lee, Chief Technology Officer at Travel Media Group, where we’ll talk a little bit about the history and evolution of this Respond and R™esolve solution, which just turned 10 years old. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Welcome to part two of our 10 year celebration of TMGs Respond and Resolve™ review response solution. I am here with one of the architects, CTO, Jason Lee, congratulations to you and your team 10 years. Jason, you know, we love a good origin story. Talk to us, bring us back 10 years ago when you started, maybe it was even before 10 years. But tell us a little bit about how Respond and Resolve™ came to be and kind of the evolution of the solution that now turns 10 years old. Jason Lee: I mean, I think we at that time, we had been kind of doing reputation for hotels for a little bit, mostly in post-day engagement. And then also monitoring reputation scores and reputation flow. And we were getting questions like, hey, can you handle review response? And so we sat down and we were like, we’re getting this more and more. And we had salespeople that were saying the same thing, like, hey, I just got the phone with this guy, and he said he would buy except if we had this product. And so we sat down and we started thinking about like, what is it gonna take to, to get this done? And we had, we happened to have a tech summit during that same time, and we all sat down. So at that time, it was all the tech leaders we had and our tech team as well. And we really just kind of mapped out, like, what would it take to, to do this? Yeah. And at the time I was like, listen, the only way this is gonna work, anybody will even buy this, is if they can ensure that whoever is providing them the response is gonna do it in their voice is gonna be able to do it in a way that they would do it. Speak to their guests in the way that they would wanna be spoken to. And so we sat down and we put together what was kind of the building blocks of what is today’s, Respond and Resolve™, Travel Media Group. But at the time was even more complicated. It had multiple touch points. So it had a single, it had a touchpoint of the review coming in. It had a touchpoint, after the response where we would audit the response before the response went to the hotel, the hotel would then approve the response. And then once the hotel approved this approved the response or edited the response, it would come back to us and we would touch it one more time before we would then publish that response. So we had this, like, we had a three touch internal, like four touch, if you include the hotelier system. And, you know, and of course, you know, anybody who’s done any kind of product work or anything would think like, that’s an insane amount of touches, that’s a crazy amount of scaling. And so then our secondary thing was like, how do we do this based on the number of reviews or whatever? And we weren’t even thinking that way. We’re like, because there’s an unknown number of reviews, how do we even do this? So we started the product out with, with that kind of cadence, with 20 reviews being kind of the core. So you get 20 reviews a month, and it was TripAdvisor only. Yeah. And you had this one critical response. So we would like, you know, if there was a, something that really, that happened that was really bad, we would write this like very specific kind of PR version of a response. And that was the original product. So we put it all together, we put our price point out, and, and I believe you were the first person to sell one to a hotel. So, so as we got that going, then it was, you know, then, then we went through the rest of kind of like the evolution of the product. But at that time, it was something I think one other company was doing, but we, you know, we didn’t really know what they were doing or how they were doing it. So we kind of took our own path in how we created it. Ryan Embree: And we were talking off camera about, you know, some of the challenges. And maybe I think it’s through some of the unexpected. ’cause you think about, all right, you know, if tomorrow, you know, someone was like, let’s, let’s create a company that responds to reviews, and then all of a sudden you start building that and you come across these challenges, these, these issues, these problems that you’re like, well, I didn’t think about that. I just kind of thought about the output and input. What were some of those kind of learning lessons along the way, and how did you kind of adapt to that, whether using efficiencies technology, because it’s a lot more difficult than just saying, Hey, we’re just gonna respond to your reviews. I think the biggest challenge and where we had our biggest evolution in the solution was in when we converted what we were doing. So at the time when we started it, we were using third party data. And we were pulling some stuff, but some stuff was being pulled through a third party vendor. And it wasn’t until we launched one view where we controlled the entirety of the dataset. And not just the entire, not just the entirety of the dataset, but the frequency of the dataset, which was insanely important. So this has to do with when it is received from the time that it was published live. And so that in itself sort of opened up this new lane, but in doing so, it also opened up our eyes to this really one like incredible flaw to our system, which was how we were pricing it. But that has to do with how we sort of viewed the, the universe of reviews for a single property. So when we started, we had that 20 Right. The next little jump was, well, maybe we’ll start charging by the room. And this was something we had heard other other vendors doing, and we’re like, oh, this is a good idea. We’ll start charging by the room. What we found immediately was that we were massively overcharging some hotels. And way undercharging other hotels. So a destination 80 room hotel could be doing three or four times the review volume that a 250 room corporate hotel was doing. Like, that’s straight up like extortion on one side and then just us just like.. Ryan Embree: And extended stay sometimes, you don’t have the frequency. Jason Lee: Completely, completely. So, so I think pricing, getting that pricing down. So once we then controlled the universe of reviews, we then, so at, at the time we launched OneView, we had a 360 view of a 365 to be exact, day view of a properties reputation. So we could sort of forecast their total quantity of reviews over a year and then, and then, and then sort of amortize that out to create pricing around review flow. So I believe we were one of the first to do review flow, and I think we might still be one of the only companies that prices that way, where we actually look at quantity of reviews and surveys that a property gets. And then we price knowing exactly what we’re going, what we’re up against, including the 35% ish increase over the summer months that that happens just based on review flow. You know, guest flow. So, so I think those were those big things, kind of those big hurdles, like, internally pricing it the right way, doing it in a way where we could, we could ensure that whatever we said we were going to do, we could 100% do. We had the staff to do it, we had the technology do it, and all the pieces in play. And then I think from there, it was then understanding the sort of undulation of the acquisition of review data. And that is a crazy space because, if you’re scraping the data directly from a site, then you’ve got that whole thing that that’s going on where sites are continually sort of trying to thwart that. You have the API side of that where you can get API but that requires you to get these relationships with these various sites. And so, so our, we were just like, just, just dogged determination To like secure better and better and better and better data sets. And we did that through, eventually through getting partnerships with the major review providers like Expedia, Booking.com and Google. And so inside of doing that, we were able to really secure a data set that then allowed us to respond in a timely manner and efficient manner, and in a way that, you know, could completely solve this issue for a hotel. Ryan Embree: I think some of the biggest learnings or we’ve had is through those challenges, but also through the close relationships that we’ve had with our hotel. Partners and those hotels that we say it all the time when it comes to reputation. I mean, feedback, you want feedback, right? Whether it be from your partners who who travel media group are working with, whether it be from your guests, and you’re a hotelier, you want that feedback. Because that means it’s striking some kind of cord, whether it’s good or bad. ’cause then you can make adjustments. So, the actually hearing what our hoteliers had to, to, to say about our, our reviews and our I’m sorry, what they had to say about our responses helped us. Collaborate or calibrate rather their voice and tone and everything that to kind of get us right in harmony with how they wanted responses. And I think for me at least, it was very surprising to see the spectrum at which people wanted, how they wanted their responses handled. Whether it’s, you know, we don’t want an apology ever to be heard on our responses or, you know, we, we always apologize whether it’s our fault or not. We’re always going to say the customer is always right. And there’s everything in between. We want our voice a little bit more laid back. We want it more of a professional tone. You know, you’ve gone through these patterns and trends of try to use keywords in every single one of your review responses. Aside from the challenges, what have you learned? Maybe talking to hotel partners or hearing them, seeing some of that feedback that comes in about our responses. ’cause I know, although you’re the CTO, you’re very close to that feedback and are in there and seeing what our hotel partners are saying every day about our responses. Jason Lee: That’s a great question. And I think it hits at the evolution of the benefits of this need. And I think that’s what’s so interesting about, about doing this for this length of time. So in the very beginning, I talked about that very complicated setup that we had where we were like approving the response before we sent it to the hotelier, and then we had the hotelier approve the response and edit the response, and then we publish the response. We kept a bunch of that together. So we kept the right approved by the hotelier edit and resolve or audit and resolve, process on our side. And so in doing that, even though it was overkill in the beginning, we had people saying, we don’t wanna approve it. We don’t wanna approve it because we’re, because we’re like, this takes too much time. And because I’m not around on the weekend or whatever. And, but what ended up happening is that as the sort of understanding of what review response was doing, so the review response kind of needs sometimes is hinges on what is the downward pressure to get this done? So is this coming from my management company? Is it coming from the brand? Is it coming from an OTA that says I’ll get better placement if I do this this way? So this becomes this becomes thing. Or like you said oh, I heard that I get better SEO get better placement if I use keywords in my responses. So this becomes this sort of meta benefit. And I think through the through line that we took from the very beginning and way before, I feel like a hoteliers wanted us to do it that way. And maybe today there’s still a few hoteliers that are just like, whatever, man, just get it done. You know, is that we really wanted to communicate with the guest who wrote the review. And we wanted to make sure that whatever we were writing in our response, that that communication was clear. It was clear in gratitude on five stars. It was clear in empathy and resolution in one star reviews. And it was, it was really trying to find that balance when there was no feedback. Even if the get, even if the hotel didn’t care maybe as much about the content of the response that they trusted us to make that response. But what we find is like now, 10 years later, that where, where we have had a complete shift in our property profile at Travel Media Group, where I think we started with a lot of economy properties and select service properties where we’ve, we’ve reached into these incredibly large resorts luxury properties. Some of the nicest properties in the United States are our clients. And I think it’s because we’ve stuck with that. So you talk to the hotelier that has a $200 or $300 a night guest, or even a $1,200 a night guest, in some cases, their feeling about the retention of that guest is very different than a select service, than a select service. But they’re, but they’re also their version of, like, that this activity promotes acquisition of guests. And so the stakes are high. In this space. And I think we’re reaching into like a whole new era where this information, the review and the response are affecting generative search. And we’re reaching a whole new era of economizing the search time with massive amounts of review data. In an individual research session for a guest is really changing the importance of this activity together. So I think, I know I kind of took a windy road on that, but I think the biggest thing is that the evolution of expectation from the guest, but also then from the hotel has changed. And we’ve stayed close to it this entire time. And like, like everything that we do at Travel Media Group, we are sort of singularly focused. So we’re so focused on this as this. We probably, when I talk to hotels sometimes, they’re like, man, you are really exaggerating the importance of this activity. And I’m like, no, it’s everything. This is like, this is about you securing the relationship with this guest. This is everything. But hopefully you want a partner like that has that sort of dogged determination to make sure that it’s done correctly. But I feel like, so to kind of wrap this up, I do feel like that that is what we’ve done, that’s been the through line is like focusing on the need and like you said, focusing on the voice make, altering account by account. So now you’re talking about a few thousand hotels. That we’re scaling, you know, we’re where we’re like in the off months, we’re doing somewhere, you know, around 20,000 – 25,000 reviews. And we’re able to then inside of that still create personalization, still create a voice of a hotel. Still be able to hit the right kind of policies, the right kind of renovation details, the right kind of care to each individual review, or each individual guest as we see that to make this thing work. Ryan Embree: I mean, every hotel we have found out is so drastically different from the way they want thing hand handled, but also, just their properties are different, right? Their locations, their markets, occupancy drivers, the type of traveler that they bring in that they want to attract. There’s so many different elements. That speak to that. And it’s with the, Jackie and her team do a fantastic job to the point to the precision, we want to be completely aligned with that hotel partner. And what you were talking about was some of the newer luxury properties that we’re now partnering with. I mean, the stakes are high in the sense of they’ve had decades long reputation. They have built that. And it is no longer a negotiable for them to make sure that that reputation is protected. And a solution like this, like respond and resolve, really can help solidify that and also just serve as such a foundation and a security blanket in case some of these, Jackie had a couple examples of these things right now that can go wrong at a property. We hate to see it, but it happens every single day in a trusted partner like Travel Media Group and Respond & Resolve™ team behind you can really help give you a little bit of peace of mind for a hotelier. And you’re absolutely right. Obsessed is a great word to put it and passionate about review response. I mean, this is something that we’ve done for 10 years, but I think it’s been a little bit longer that we’ve been in the reputation game. And you know, you can’t, in 2026, you know, we, I had a podcast episode, late last year where it was actually with the co-founders of ILHA and they were talking about how you cannot in 2026 cannot be a complete expert at every aspect of hospitality. You just can’t. It’s just, it’s one of those unique industries where you can’t know everything about everything. You will never be the expert of chemicals for your hotel pool. But it’s important to know those things, and it’s important and critical to have a valuable partner that knows those things. So you think about that as one element, chemicals in a pool, curtains, flooring, review response is a very important element to your digital and online reputation there. And we talked with Jackie about, you know, obviously AI and how that has certainly changed in the last 10 years. And it’s how it’s come in, talk to us, because I think a lot of times people might hear us and think that we are anti AI or anti-technology, and it’s actually the exact opposite. It’s an incredible piece of technology that we can use in elements of reputation, but not necessarily for the actual response. So how are you kind of using AI? And we do have an AI solution, not 10 years old yet. We’ll be doing that in in several years. But talk to us about how you’ve used technology and AI kind of hand in hand with Respond and R™esolve for the past 10 years. Jason Lee: Yeah. I mean, I would say in the last 18 months we have evolved our core platform probably more than we did maybe in four years. So we’ve done a lot recently. And a lot of it is that a, like a whole new world of data analytics has been opened up. By this, so something that I would needed maybe two or three data scientists to help me with. I can do, can do with, with an API through anthropic, or through Open AI. And working with members of my team and putting some data together, we’re able to find like really interesting insights. And so the first thing we launched last year was the guest experience snapshot. And that was an a completely AI driven report. And the sort of origin of that was to show the hotel the top things that was that a guest was experiencing great. And then the top things that they, that was going wrong, and some of that was to show them multiples of the things that we were responding to. So the things that, so using this data to kind of, to shine a little light on like, Hey, we can only say sorry for this so many times. You know, but also to show them the other side of it where it’s like, Hey, this is where you guys are winning. You guys are winning in these very, in these areas. And this feedback isn’t always a negative. There’s a bunch of great stuff in here. And I think, so we’ve then continued that by continuing to analyze trends to continue to analyze, review flow, to analyze the sentiment data. And it just continues and continues and continues, as we sort of unlock the use cases of these tools. But for us, I think like the big pieces of the tools that are really exciting coming forward are the ways that we can scale personalization, in a way that we couldn’t do without major data science. And, and so we’re able to scale personalization, so taking the personalization that a hotelier gives us about very specific things about their property, and not writing the response based on that, but sort of confirming the response against the voice. So I can take a response and confirm then the voice, you know, and it says, yeah, this, this matches what they’re, what they asked us to do. And so that can get very, that in our world, that’s probably one of the more complicated pieces of it, especially where you have a very lengthy voice note, you have a massive policy note. You have a massive amenity amenity note. So these are these these spaces where a writer could get turned around on something. But where this could verify, hey, the response you just wrote is missing this one piece. Ryan Embree: Notes are changing seasonally based on restaurant menus, based on programming that the resort is conducting out. And its amenities classes that it has timing. I mean, all of those elements are notes that that can be provided and are so important. I mean, we think of it as oh, well, if we get a date wrong or if we get an item wrong, I mean, that has a pure, such a big impact on the guest experience and their impression of your hotel. And the care that you’re taking, so it’s just one of those elements, again, we talked about it with Jackie of, you have to prove essentially at this time that you’re not AI and that you do care and that, it’s so important to these guests and hoteliers, all this. Jason Lee: I think that’s where it all boils down to is that when I get that email from Booking.com as a guest that’s from the hotel, and I open that up and I read the response to the review that I wrote, does it feel authentic? Does it feel like it came from them? Does it mean anything to me? Is there any kind of meaning to that at all? Or is this like, or does this intensify, does this intensify my advocacy of this property, or does this intensify my anger? And you or does this turn me around? Does this make me wanna and I think these are these opportunities you have in this space that does make a huge difference. And I think AI will help us enhance the personalization of our individual properties and help help us, like put that really, like that perfect response together that helps the guests know that they’re cared for. Ryan Embree: It’s a feeling. I mean, Jackie talked about it getting that feedback from our partners about, this was a repeat guest, this is someone that stayed with us and they talked about our response back to them. They thanked us. And those are the moments that we strive here at Travel Media Group for, and we’ve seen so many over the last decade of doing this review response. And here we are at 10 years as you look towards the future, the landscape ever changing, you know, what do you see kind of for the future of Respond and Resolve™? And maybe we can open it up just to guest feedback management. I mean, were really at a inflection point I feel like right now. Jason Lee: Yeah. I mean, I think, I think it’s kind of more of the same in terms of what this has been about all the all along, which is the guest experience. And how do we react to the guest experience react to the specific experience the guest is giving us in a response, but act then multiple guest having similar experiences. How do we react to that? How do we improve the guest experience over time? And I think that that’s where the opportunity is right now, is that there are so many tools available to us to understand this in a much more granular level, in a much more specific level. So the old way of, of asking questions, I think of guests, I think is gonna go away at some point us sort of like, asking guests the same questions over and over again. You know, would you recommend, how clean was your room? What was the breakfast like? You know, rate that, I think we’re gonna get to a spot where we sort of understand these elements, but we can take broader textural, data points and start to really dial in to, so what does a 3 in breakfast mean? What does, what does it mean when somebody says that they would recommend at a 7? Or a thumbs up or a thumbs up or a thumbs down. I think this is where, you know, this is where these kinds of scales get a little funky. And so AI could help a guest actually articulate themselves in a response in a survey, for example. AI could also obviously take this data and take patterns of data and help a hotel understand the fail points of their service. And I think those are these really amazing opportunities for hotels that want to engage there. And, but all of this together is also doing something really interesting in the generative search world. So, we’re seeing people flock generative search more and more and more because it economizes that effort. I can read hundreds of reviews, I can have hundreds of reviews read for me and summarized, based on a very specific question. So I can ask about the breakfast, for example. And I get this summary. So none of that is gonna come through a three on a guest experience survey a guest satisfaction survey is not gonna affect that. But the 25 Expedia reviews that you’ve gotten in the last 90 days will. And I think those are those things that start to inform the traveler are going to be the quantity of signals. Whether they’re positive or negative and then the sort of inference of that signal, it’s not binary, it’s not good or bad, it is this other thing. Which is sort of the feeling of a guest. And I think a AI is getting better and better and better, and is getting to a point where it can sort of relay the feeling that multiples of guests have had about your property to a prospective guest. And that either should thrill you or it should scare you. Because this part of technology that I think get that we are all enjoying in some ways, right? Because it’s saving us time, it’s saving us effort, but in other ways, there is no place to hide. So you can’t hide behind, the first 200 reviews that you received at your hotel anymore. Where you got that, the first 200 reviews, you netted out a 4.4, and you’ve sort of been riding on that for the last like five, six years, more and more. That’s score is going to be irrelevant. Ryan Embree: That’s what I was gonna say, that I think the historical data is just gonna become less and less vital and critical. And it’s gonna be a moving type. It’s what you want. It’s absolutely something in the now what is the guest doesn’t care about what your hotel was like five years ago. When somebody at the front desk had a great, was really personable and friendly to them. They want to know what that front desk agent is doing today. What that room looks like today. So it’s going to be this living almost a living reputation. Jason Lee: And it is today. Yeah, it is now. But it’s different because, because a guest won’t research that deeply. It is today, I think it’s living today. And I think the hotels that are winning today will continue to win. Because it means that you’re doing the right thing by your guest. And I think that continues this cycle of sort of looking at the guest experience and finding your fail points and fixing ’em, finding ’em, fixing, finding and fixing is the real key. But it’s also empowering your front desk. It’s, it’s making sure that nobody leaves your property upset. It’s all of the things that we should be doing anyway that affect thhis. This is true hospitality. At its core but I think, what’s interesting about what AI is doing is it’s kind of shining a light into the, I guess, residual needs here. But I think this also gives you an unprecedented opportunity at your hotel to share this information with your staff, to, to take this back and, and really like, like dig in and make it work. The other thing I was gonna say, the other thing I was say on that, what I think on the future of guest feedback management will be the number of companies coming in an AI play today is crazy. There’s a lot of new companies that are coming in there, and there’s, and then there’s like long-term companies like Medallia, and Qualtrics and other companies that are offering AI responses inside of their platforms. And I think this all economizes that activity, but it does not remove our obligation to have authentic voice at our property and to communicate with guests that need to be communicated with. And the guests that needs to be communicated with. If you communicate well there, and I’ve said this over and over and over, if you communicate with the guest who wrote the review, well that will impact guest acquisition a hundred percent. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Jason Lee: So the authentic voice is gonna be at a premium. The canned voice, the canned templated voice of AI, I think will end up, will end up being able to spot it. I mean, I think in some ways it, nothing changes, right. In other ways, everything changes. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Yeah. I absolutely agree with you on that, Jason. I think it is going to be a priority for hotels that truly care to rise above the sea of sameness. And as your response and the templates, you know, that was kind of that first tide, was that the templates you wanted to show your guests that you actually cared, write something that looked better than a template. Better than a thank you for your feedback. ’cause that’s what all you were getting. Now, the, the reputation response ecosystem is even more ingrained because more and more people are coming in and using AI to respond. You’re going, it’s going to be a premium to show that you’re going to be looking for those edges and places that you can show guests that you care differently from the hotel next to you. And authentic review response, caring review response is gonna be one of those. Jason Lee: But authenticity all the way around, I mean I saw this I saw a video of the CEO of Marriott talking about specifically saying, use this technology to give yourself more time with the guest. Give yourself a few extra minutes with the guest to create relationship to create authenticity in person. Ryan Embree: The general manager of the future might look closer to the general manager of the past than it does right now. Interesting times. Here to celebrate, again, 10 years of Respond and Resolve™. Congratulations, another milestone, another chapter. Congrats to you and your team, and thanks for celebrating with us here on the Suite Spot. Jason Lee: Thanks, Ryan. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot Road Trip is back! Tune in to the latest episode to hear from hospitality leaders from Choice Hotels and Newport Hospitality Group, as they celebrate the ribbon cutting ceremony for the Comfort Inn & Suites Orlando Sanford Airport.  Check out the exclusive interviews with Andre Hickman, Wayne West III, Adam Hill, & Dena Hansen, only on the Suite Spot.   Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embry, here for a special edition of the TMG Suite Spot Road Trip Series right down the road in our backyard in beautiful Sanford, Florida to visit the grand opening and Ribbon cutting event at the Comfort Inn and Suites Orlando Sanford Airport. We were invited to cover this celebratory event and talk to some of the instrumental individuals that made this property happen. Andre Hickman, the owner of the property, Wayne West III, president at Newport Hospitality. Adam Hill, VP of Operations at Newport Hospitality. And finally, Dena Hansen, Director of Sales at this beautiful, gorgeous new property opened up here. We had the privilege to cover it, bringing it to you in this episode in a busy hotel lobby celebrating the grand opening of this property. We hope you enjoy. Wayne West III: Well, welcome and thank you for coming to the celebration of the opening of this great hotel, the Comfort Inn and Suites. So make sure I get it right. Between Orlando Sanford Airport. Thank you very much. This hotel is a great example of what happens when you put a lot of smart people together and visionary people in a growing market like the Sanford Airport area. So thank you again, we’re, it’s great being here. Uh, my name is Wayne List. I’m the president of Newport Hospitality. We are honored that we get to operate a couple hotels for Andre Hickman, who I’ll reduce introduce in a little while. You’ll hear me use a couple, you’ll hear me overuse a couple words as I talk to you tonight. Really, really proud of the Hickman family. When you walk through the hotel and you see the amenities that he’s put here, how thoughtful he was and how intentional every decision was to be successful, and not just successful for him, but to make sure that all the guests are well taken care of at every touch point in the hotel, whether it’s the guest laundry or the cabana, or the pool or the exercise room. He was very, very thoughtful. I’ve, I’ve been blessed over the years and I’m trying to find my partner. Mike. Mike, I know you’re here, Mike. Yes, the tall one over here. Mike and I have opened up a lot of hotels in our years. Uh, I’m not sure we’ve opened up one Mike, that the owner was as thoughtful about every step along the way and cautious and careful and trying to do it just right for the long-term legacy of this hotel. So I’ll have to thank the Hickman family for that. If you look at the design, the finishes, the touch and the construction, the touch points are just incredible for a hotel. So the Hickman family, if you would kind of raise your hand, Andre and the Hickman family, a lot of them are over here. We want to thank you personally. I want to, I wanna talk a little bit about businesses in the area. Um, the airport obviously is, is booming. Uh, Boomba, which I know has been here a few years, but needed a desperately needed a hotel in the market. I spoke to someone the other day that was so excited. We had, they had a hotel in the market to use Go Port, one of our biggest clients here. Uh, really want to thank the community, the leadership of the community, the chamber, the folks that have joined us, um, the lending and financial partners, which really is a testament to, to Andre and his team and his legacy of all the development that he’s done. Uh, the folks from Choice Hotels are here. If they would raise their hand, I’ll lose you in the back. We have Joe, who is the leader of the Choice Hotel, sys the choice, comfort in hotels system. So great to have you with us. Uh, I wanna thank some people particularly too personally here. You’ve met Mike Clinger. He raised his hand. We have a lot of our people here that worked really, really hard with Andre to get this right. Andre did the hard work. We came in behind him and tried to fill in where our responsibility of opening up a great hotel. But I’ve got Sandra Lucas here. I saw Sandra and her husband, Sandra’s in charge of revenue for about two thirds or a third of our portfolio of 36 hotels. Uh, Adam, Adam, where are you? Adam Hill. Adam is the back. Adam is the vice President of operation for this hotel. Reports to Andre about the hotel. Uh, Whitney Ties is Whitney is in the back. Whitney’s our, our chief commercial officer and senior vice president, also an owner along with Mike and I, Mike Pinger. You’ve met, uh, Matthew Hoffman, who I hope all of y’all have met, is the general manager of this great hotel, the back, Dina Hansen, who everybody needs to beat tonight because we want her to book business with you. She’s our director of sales of both of our hotels. And part of the remarks I’ll make is about, you know, why Sandford, we’re the first hotel, I guess this close to the airport anyway. I know there’s a couple of other hotels in the market, but we don’t pay a lot of attention to those. I’m sorry if I’m offending some of the owners and general managers that are here, but that’s the truth. Uh, the airport’s booming. Andre’s had this in his line of sight for a long time and waited for the time to be right. Uh, it’s always difficult building a hotel. It’s always difficult putting a great amount of equity down and then a year, a year and a half of, of painful getting it to the birth thing, right? Yeah. Not nine months, but a true year and a half. So we thank you for that. We thank all of our partners that are here. Thank you very much for showing up. This hotel I mentioned a little earlier, has a lot of amenities, whether it’s our shuttle to the airport, whether it’s the outdoor pool, the cabana, um, the, if you haven’t seen the exercise room, we have 36 hotels. Many of them are larger than this. None of them has an exercise room that has the quality touches and is as large as that. We’re gonna be super attracted to sporting groups that are going to Baba. We’re excited about joining and, and partnering with them. I, I will tell you, as Andre built this hotel, it was all about the messaging of getting it right for his family, our guests, and our team members. So it wasn’t just about Andre. He really made the decisions based on what, how he’s gonna be successful here is taking great care of our guests and great care of our team members. I hope you all will come back. Join us lots and lots in your relatives here, your colleagues here, your weddings, events here. So thank you very much. It is really my honor. Now to introduce you to Andre Hickman, who is the developer of this property. Probably many of you know Andre. He, he’s done several other ventures in this market. We have another great hotel. We operate him for him in Sanford. But it really is just an honor and a pleasure to be here with y’all to do this grand opening. Uh, again, it was so thoughtful and so intentional. When you walk around, those things don’t happen by accident. Those things happen because this gentleman here was thoughtful about it and really tried to produce the best hotel he could in this market. So thank you very much. It was great talking to a lot of y’all. Tonight I’ll let Andre take takeover. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot live at the grand opening of the Comfort Inn & Suites, Orlando Sanford Airport here with the owner Andre. Andre, passion project, multi-year project. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears coming. We’re here finally at the grand opening, the ribbing front. How are you feeling right now? Andre Hickman: I’m ecstatic. Yeah, it’s been a long time in the making from the first phone call to finding the property and signing the franchise and, and, uh, just very blessed to be here today. Ryan Embree: A lot of choice representation, because this is really a star property for the comfort brand. Talk to us about the words I keep hearing is intentionality, very deliberate on all the amenities where even things you were talking about in your speech over here about even where parking spaces were. Talk to us about, you know, the passion behind this project and why you wanted to make it so intentional and so deliberate. Andre Hickman: Well, it was a labor of love a lot of years in the making. Yeah. Uh, we’re near the airport and so we did a little bit of theming with the, the metal and the, and the airplane wings and the, the portico. Uh, we did a lot of extra features. We, we had another com We have another comfort in in Sanford, and I wanted to do things a little different. Yeah. And so I went bigger, bigger, bigger, bigger. So bigger pool, bigger deck, barbecue grill area, bigger lobby, taller ceilings, bigger rooms, bigger bathrooms. Um, we wanted to do a walk-in shower. I really don’t like curtains and, and glass doors. And I said, you know, if we can make a, a walk-in shower and a comfort in, that’d be quite a feat. And so a lot of design work, and we’re really pleased with how it came out. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I love doing these types of episodes and grand openings and talking to owners like yourself because you don’t get these stories sometimes in the background of the labor of love, like you speak of in the background. Now I’m a resident of Seminole County, here in Oviedo, but we’re here in Sanford, just right up the road, yet a couple Sanford City officials here, also welcoming this new business. Talk about, uh, the special place in your heart and location. Just, just a couple miles from the airport closest actually to the airport right now. Andre Hickman: We’re very fortunate to have county and city commissioners here today. Several choice representatives. Flew in to see the new hotel. Uh, we’re here by the airport. We had some airport folks here. It’s, uh, quite a, quite a unique spot because we’re located almost halfway between the Sanford Airport entrance as well as the Boomba Sports Complex. Yeah. And I think we’re in a unique spot to, to hopefully capture, uh, visitors from both those markets. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. That’s what you want. And it is the, uh, be able to attract all in every segment. Um, congratulations here on this project, Andre. Again, labor of love. It turned out perfect. We’ll let you get back to your grand opening party. Thank you so much for visiting with us. Andre Hickman: Thank you. Speaker 4: Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We are here at the grand opening at the Comfort Inn and Suites, Orlando Sanford Airport here with Wayne West, the third. Wayne, we saw you out in Hunter a couple years, uh, weeks, months ago. In Atlanta. Here we are in Sanford, Florida. Beautiful property opening up here. Tell us a little bit about this project. Wayne West III: Well, this is the second project for this owner we’ve operated for, for 25 years. Great owner. Takes great care of the guest, take great care of my team members, and obviously build a beautiful hotel. And the word I will use for Andre Hickman, the owner developer, is that it was so thoughtful about this property and every little nuance of it is intentional to take great care of the guest. Whether it’s a sports team coming into the boom by complex, or whether it’s distressed gas staying at the airport, which is only quarter of a mile away, the airport entrance. He was just so intentional and so thoughtful about every aspect of the property at his own expense. Yeah. He really put a lot more into this than the typical choice hotel. Ryan Embree: We talked right now, we talked at Hunter about, right now it’s about strategic growth for Newport and it needs to be the right partner. Wayne West III: Yeah. Ryan Embree: Why was this project and this owner the right project for you at Newport? Wayne West III: Well, actually we’ve been blessed enough to, to work for Andre for 25 years. When he started talking about this three years ago, he involved us from the very beginning. He was, he would come out to the site and look at it. He would talk about what the drivers were going to be, what he wanted to do to take care of those drivers. And frankly, he needed to be financially successful, but he’s put a tremendous amount of equity time and energy and effort into this to get to this product. Yeah. So he is a perfect partner for us. He’s a perfect partner for Seminole County. He’s a perfect partner for all the business around him. Ryan Embree: It’s absolutely beautiful property. Very unique. Like I said in his speech, he was actually talking about, you know, using some dry erase on some parking lots. That’s how, you know, how intentional and deliberate each decision there. We love that in hospitality, right. ’cause sometimes now they get accused of just the big box hotel. This certainly doesn’t fit that bill. Wayne West III: No. And I think if you would talk to the choice people, this is the showcase for them though. This is an example of an owner that did it right.And in some cases, what above and beyond their brand standards, just to make sure the guests are taken great care of. Ryan Embree: Love to see it, continue to see those guest expectations elevated and love to see. Can’t wait to see the feedback that everyone gets. Appreciate you taking the time to spend some time. Wayne West III: Great to do that. Thank you again. Good being with you. Ryan Embree: Thank you. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot at the Comfort Inn & Suites Orlando Sanford Airport here with Adam. Adam, thank you so much for taking the time. Wonderful project, beautiful property. Just spoke to Wayne about really the high level relationship between ownership and Newport Hospitality Group. You’re the boots on the ground. You’re a little bit closer to the project. Talk to us a little bit about the story. ’cause it, you know, it didn’t just spread out of the ground. That’s a labor of love, right? Adam Hill: This project is probably 10 plus years in the making. I mean, the Hickman family, started one of the drawing board literally over 10 plus years ago. It’s one of our longest standing partners. They’ve been with Newport for almost 30 years. So for them to take this and do it, I mean, Andre painstakingly worked over the plans. They were written. I came on board about three years ago. And I was like, we’re never gonna get this over the finish line. So then we went from the site and we started with moving some dirt excavating, getting the walls up, moving it. And I mean, the project has just come to life in the last two and a half years. It’s ridiculous. But I mean, just to see all the love and hard work that the Hickman family have put into it is just amazing. This is probably the best choice product out there. You’re not gonna see a Comfort Inn like this. It’s very unique for 107 rooms, all the square footage, every room is meticulously designed to be exceptional. Ryan Embree: Absolutely an incredible story. A beautiful property here. 10 plus years in a challenging environment. Right now for hospitality. Talk to us about, you know, having that communication with ownership with the contractors, making sure even the GM, the agent, the director of sales, who’s probably planning these rooms before the hotel’s even open, trying to get some groups in here. So talk us through a little bit about that process and how that communication is key to. Adam Hill: So I think we’re very fortunate in this market. I mean, like I said, we’ve been here almost 30 years. We’ve established great grounds, great roots with the businesses that are here. We knew that the businesses were gonna grow. Even during COVID, this hotel did not suffer. I mean, this hotel did extremely well. And they’re talking about our sister hotel in the market. But, so when we knew when this room was gonna be built, we knew with Boomba right here, the airport growing, there was an opportunity. We seized that opportunity. I know there’s several other hotel projects that were planned. They’ve never got off the ground. We got this off the ground and I mean, we were able to get the financing behind it. We were able to get a solid GC that had never built a hotel before. And I mean, this is a hotel that a GC did not ever built. So I mean, it was a very, like, the stars aligned. We got a perfect team. So just tremendously happy with how it happened. Ryan Embree: The excitement was matched. We had a couple representatives from the city of Sanford talking about this property and it was equally matched because they’re excited about the airport being right here. And that’s gotta be great for the location. How is that kind of working with the city in tandem with them to help a project like this move across the finish line? Adam Hill: So I, again, our partnership extends beyond just the Newport team. So Dena serves on the Seminole County Chamber of Commerce board of Directors. We have Andre who serves on the sports district for Seminole County, so forth. So we’re very connected. We’re a very community partner. We make sure that we’re very active in our community by giving back. So, I mean, that’s opened a lot of doors for us too, where we don’t really have a major challenge of getting our head in with city leaders. ’cause we give back at the communities that we work in. Ryan Embree: Love that. That’s hospitality at its core, right? So, Adam, appreciate it. Congratulations on the property. Congratulations on the project. Biggest celebration for you as well. We’ll let you get back to it. Thank you so much for joining us. Adam Hill: Thank you. I appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot at the beautiful Comfort Inn and Suites Orlando Sanford Airport here with Dena, Director of Sales. You have now become the envy of every director of sales in this area. ’cause you have the nicest, most beautiful property here. Thank you for having us at your grand opening and ribbon cutting. Talk to us about this passion project. It’s just absolutely gorgeous here. Here we are in the lobby. Dena Hansen: Thank you. Well, thank you for coming and celebrating with us. Our property has really been built and created by design for those travelers coming in, not only for cruises, but the sports teams that are traveling in. We are about a mile from Boombah Sports Complex, and they have a lot of different tournaments, whether it’s baseball, lacrosse, field hockey, so lots of comfort here. We have 107 rooms. Most of them are double queens. Again, thinking of those families coming in, and I like to say it’s like Texas over here. Everything’s bigger. The pool is bigger, the deck is bigger. There’s a cabana with some lounge seating. There are two barbecue grills with patio seats as well. So if you don’t wanna go out and spend that money on food at a restaurant, uh, you’re welcome to go to Publix, which is two miles down the road, grab some food and just grill it up and have a good time. Ryan Embree: What type of traveler segment are you really getting interest from and like, inquiries for groups? Dena Hansen: Yeah. So in the beginning, a lot of wedding blocks, a lot of reunions, obviously a lot of sports blocks coming in for boombah but most recently the word has gotten out from corporate companies and they’re wanting some corporate rates. They wanna utilize our meeting space. So it’s, it’s kind of ebbs and ebb and flows a little bit. But very exciting. Ryan Embree: This location has really been starved for something here. We had a couple of city officials here that were talking about this and so happy they were equally as excited to be opening this up because the airport is growing so much. What is some of the feedback that you’ve been hearing? You’ve already have some guests in here we’ve seen coming in and out of the lobby doors. What is some of the feedback that you’ve been hearing so far from maybe the individual travelers and then maybe some of the groups that you’ve hosted here as well? Dena Hansen: Yeah. So positive feedback all around. I don’t think I’ve heard one negative thing about the hotel. They enjoy the space. They love the pool area, especially for families that have littles. There’s a sun shelf on the pool. So it’s easier for them to watch the kids. Just the extra space and how wide and open and comforting everything is is amazing. Somebody actually said they love our sheets. Ryan Embree: Okay. Yeah. That’s a new one too. Awesome. Well, I wanna wrap up by just talking about maybe the relationship that as a DOS you gotta have really good relationships and connections with local businesses. Obviously the community. Seminole County, I’m a resident of Seminole County, right down the road. So, talk to us a little bit about how you’ve been able to build those and give back to the community and how they’ve supported you, and vice versa. Dena Hansen: Yeah. So, not only are we a part of both Seminole County Chamber and the Sanford Chamber. I’m on the board of Directors for the Sanford Chamber as well. And doing that it is really all about building the relationships, maintaining contact and just helping each other out and partnering together. That’s really what it’s about. So if, if they need a meeting space, we actually house the Sanford Chamber breakfast, weekly breakfast meetings for Q3. We’ll be here every Wednesday from 7:30AM – 9:00AM. Shameless plug. But yeah, relationship building, it’s mandatory. Nobody wants to do business with somebody you don’t know. You wanna know that you’re gonna be taken care of. And when you walk through those doors, I guarantee you from the moment you step through to the moment you leave, we have you. Ryan Embree: That’s hospitality. Dena Hansen: Living hospitality at its best at Comfort Inn & Suites Orlando Sanford Airport. Ryan Embree: Dena, thank you so much. Thank you. Congratulations. We’ll let you get back to the party here. Thank you. And celebrate this incredible property. Dena Hansen: Thank you very much. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The next stop on the Suite Spot Road Trip takes travelers to Delray Beach, Florida, to visit the newly re-imagined property, Hyatt Place Delray Beach, with special guest and General Manager of the hotel, Taylor Wauhob.  This recently renovated property boasts incredible ocean views, robust F&B, newly designed interiors, and an attractive location that supplies plentiful fun for the whole family.  Tune in now to hear the full episode and why Hyatt Place Delray Beach should be your next vacation destination. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for another edition of the Suite Spot Road Trip. We are here down south, just a bright line trip away from our TMG headquarters at the Hyatt Place, Delray Beach, a beautiful property, which I’m so excited to talk about and showcase today, with the general manager, Taylor. Taylor, thank you so much for hosting us here at your Hyatt Place. Taylor Wauhob: Thank you so much for having me. It’s such an honor to be on the show and really excited to tell you about Delray and show off our property. Ryan Embree: It’s a beautiful property. It’s an incredible location. I can’t wait to get all into it, but in hospitality, we love a good story, right? We love talking about experiences. We come from different brands. Sometimes we fall into the industry, sometimes we went to school for it. So share a little bit us about your professional journey and the hospitality career that brought you here to the Hyatt Place. Taylor Wauhob: Absolutely. My journey into hospitality was certainly unexpected. I got a job at a front desk during college, just needed something to do in the downtime. Ryan Embree: Heard that before. Taylor Wauhob: Yeah, it’s something to keep me doing the right thing. And I fell in love with it. I was really nervous stepping into it. It’s a lot of guest interaction and I was a little shy at the time, so I wasn’t sure how it would go, but I really loved it. And I didn’t know what life after college was gonna look like for me. So I decided to just invest fully in that role and see where it took me. And thankfully I worked for a management company that really invested in internal growth. And so just a few weeks before graduation, I was offered a role as a manager in training. And I was excited to have an idea of what my future would look like. So I pursued that and I’ve moved all around the country I had with that company, and it eventually brought me to Florida where I finally felt like, all right, this is a good spot to put down some roots. I found Kolter Hospitality, which has such a beautiful portfolio, so I really liked the opportunity to grow within a company without having to leave the state of Florida. So I started here two years ago and this is where we’re at now. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s incredible and a true reflection on the transferable skills of hospitality. You really can go wherever across the country, and then you end up at a beautiful property like this. Well, congratulations. The property recently underwent a complete renovation, a complete design reimagination. Obviously those story, there’s always a story with those, right? Sometimes headaches, but they’re passion projects that end up looking like this, like we have here. Tell us a little bit about the renovations, what guests love about it, and then maybe personally what you love about it. Taylor Wauhob: Yeah, absolutely. I think I started at the perfect time. I came into the property about three months before the renovation was gonna start. So I got to see peak season at this property pre-renovation which was certainly a challenge. It was an older hotel. There was some condition challenges that we were facing, but I also got to see the guests who still loved this property, even despite that. So it was great to interact with that clientele and then be here through the whole process. And I’m really thankful that I still have over 50% of my team from pre-renovation. Ryan Embree: That’s amazing. Taylor Wauhob: Yeah. It is, it is no easy feat. Anybody who’s been through it knows that you hope to never do it again, but it was certainly worth it. So it was really cool to see this all come together. I think it’s really easy to look at the individual items and kind of think how is this gonna come together as a design. But the designer did an incredible job. It’s got a really coastal feel now, and I love that it really fits Delray Beach. There’s no other Hyatt place that you’re gonna walk into and have this design or feel this kind of property way. So it’s been really nice to see our guests come in and be so pleasantly surprised at the changes and just how much it fits the area now. Ryan Embree: Any elements that you particularly like? Taylor Wauhob: It’s bright and it’s airy, which I absolutely love. But my favorite is our bar. We’ve got such a beautiful light fixture over that bar. With big open windows, so you can see everybody walking around downtown. And it’s just a really great draw right there. Ryan Embree: It’s a unique property for a unique location. And I had the opportunity yesterday evening to walk around. We were talking about, you wouldn’t even known it was a Tuesday night. It felt the energy, the vibe, the feel felt like a weekend. There were kids playing in the green areas and families, there was nightlife going on. I think I walked by a couple live bands that we’re playing as well. Paint a picture for those who aren’t familiar with Delray Beach about the location of this property because you’re steps away from a lot of of great, just nightlife and food and beverage, everything. Taylor Wauhob: Well, you summed it up really well. You can go for a stroll, you wouldn’t know what day of the week it was, and you wouldn’t know who lives in the area. Really, it’s a little bit of everything. It’s such a great draw for families, for college students, for retirees. If you just walk from here to the beach, it’s a mile away in that walk. You’re gonna hit every kind of cuisine you could imagine. The best seafood, of course, you’re gonna hit great bars that have patios, live music, outdoor games or rooftops with coastal views. You’re gonna pass by all kinds of different events. There’s comedy shows, there’s concerts, there’s the retro arcade where kids and families can hang out, but you can still grab a drink and hang out for the day. Great boutique clothing stores, every kind of gelato and ice cream you can imagine. So just so much lively stuff going on. It’s really great. Ryan Embree: Very cool. And obviously nightlife, food and beverage, big draws to this area, but great for events as well. When people are coming in. Groups that come in behind us here is the front desk. I’m sure one of the most common questions is come in and you’re like, Hey, where’s the best place to eat? What is some of your staff saying? And then maybe, what are some of the food and beverage options you mentioned the bar before that you offer here on site for guests? Taylor Wauhob: Well, we always try to make sure that we’ve got something for our guests who come in and they just wanna be able to unwind here and not have to step out. As much as we love Delray, we also want them to be comfortable just on property. So we do have a really great small menu, but it caters to a little bit of everything. We’ve got some good chicken caesar salads, some sandwich options, flatbreads, wings, you know, all the necessities. And some of those items are available 24/7, so if you’re coming in off a late flight, we’ve still got you covered. And then we’ve got our grab and go market, which has some great options as well. Fresh pressed juices and sandwiches and things like that. But outside of the property, there’s really too many options to count. But some of my favorites, we’ve got Geronimo’s that just opened up. It’s a new tequila grilling bar, a beautiful patio and awesome spot to hang out. We’ve got Gabriela’s, which is an amazing modern Italian restaurant. And then right next to that is Hyde Park Steakhouse, which is a little bit more elevated. They’ve got a live piano player in the evening sometimes. It’s a really cool environment. Ryan Embree: Oh, awesome. And again, just steps away from the properties location, which makes it really nice. Local events, obviously big occupancy drivers for the hotel as well. What are some of those bigger draws that get your guests and travelers here? And then maybe some of those events, local events that you might not know about those secret finds? Taylor Wauhob: Absolutely. So our biggest one of course, is gonna be the Delray Beach Tennis Open. Happens for two weeks every February. We are the premier location for that. We’re the closest in walking distance. Just a block away from here and even if you don’t like tennis or don’t know anything about it, as I don’t, it is so much fun to attend these events. This past year, this city of Delray actually started a window decorating contest. So all of the local businesses participate, and we set up these huge window displays. We didn’t win this year. We’ve got a little chip on our shoulder about it, so we’re coming back strong next year. But it’s really fun for everyone to participate and vote. Ryan Embree: Awesome. And any kind of smaller local events that people might not know about? Taylor Wauhob: Yeah, absolutely. Again, we’re the best location for that too. Right across the street from us is the Arts Garage and Old School Square. So the Arts Garage is a really cool venue that offers comedy shows, live musicians, plays all kinds of different performances. It’s a really intimate venue that offers, you know, drinks. So you can hang out for a little bit before and after. And then Old School Square has an outdoor amphitheater, and then that huge lawn. One of my favorites is during Christmas time, they set up the 120 foot Christmas tree. And inside of it is Santa’s workshop, so it’s really fun for everybody to hang out and take pictures. It’s a good event. Ryan Embree: That’s awesome. People taking pictures, obviously sharing a lot of that on social media. You and your team done a great job on Facebook, Instagram, make sure you follow the Hyatt Place, Delray Beach there, social media presence. We talk about it all the time on this particular podcast about how important it is. Why do you think as a hotelier, who has managed multiple hotels. Why do you think it’s important for hoteliers to have a strong social media presence today? And how are guests kind of using this local area in their own social media feeds and maybe even the property? Taylor Wauhob: Yeah, absolutely. Well, it’s no secret that the new generation of travelers is looking more at things like social media, and they care more about that. And with things the way they are today, everything’s so expensive. If people are gonna take the time to invest in traveling, they’re no longer looking for just a hotel to stay at. And then to get out and experience the city. They want every aspect of their stay to be part of the experience. And so I think that’s where Instagram and all of social media becomes so important. They wanna see is the property gonna provide some sort of unique experience while I’m there in the evenings? And for our property specifically, I mean, it’s so easy to make it look good on social media. It’s just really beautiful property. And so it’s done a great job of highlighting all of the things that people can do. Even when they’re not in Delray, they can grab a drink at our bar and hang out in all of these really beautiful spaces and make the most of it. We’ve got a great second floor outdoor pool that has a really resort vibe to it. And so I think our guests see that. And a recent example, we had some girls stay here actually, and they put together a really cute video of them going through the hotel and unpacking and, and then their time throughout Delray. And it was cool to see them highlight and tag us in in that love Ryan Embree: That, I mean, that’s every marketer’s dream, right? They’re telling your story for you. For hoteliers that aren’t on that platform or aren’t kind of social listening, so to speak, they miss out on that opportunity. So it’s so important. And because again, your guests, when you have a property like this, your guests are engaging with you and they might be doing a great job of telling your story. And other travelers want to hear guest experiences too. You know, of course we love to take our pictures of our properties that look the best it’s ever looked right and our nicest meals. But that real authentic, I know that’s a term we throw around a lot, but to get that real world authentic experience, Taylor Wauhob: And they’re always gonna see it differently than we see it. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. Taylor Wauhob: So, you know, my favorite part of the hotel might not be what the guests are loving the most. So it’s really cool to see what they’re experiencing and loving about our property. Ryan Embree: And that learning can translate to other things, right. You start to see that there’s a particular area of the hotel being showcased a lot on social media. Maybe you add something there. Maybe there’s a programming or an element that you add there to even amplify that even more. So I’ve heard some incredible stories. That was a great example that you had there. I saw on your Instagram recently that the properties Instagram recently, I wanna get this right, that you guys received the Hyatt 2025 Commercial Team of the Year Essentials Awards. Congratulations to you and your team. Taylor Wauhob: Thank you so much. Ryan Embree: Talk to us a little bit about that award and what it means to you as general manager. Taylor Wauhob: Oh gosh. Coming off of a renovation year. It means so much to get that award. I mean, this team just, went through a lot with the renovation. It’s incredibly difficult. So renovation was 2024. We received this award for the 2025 year, which our first year outta renovation coming outta that reno, the market didn’t know who we were. We were essentially a brand new property. We didn’t know who we were or how we wanted to establish ourselves. So we really had to come together as a team and decide what do we wanna be in this market? And so we put in a great deal of effort to make sure that we were the friendliest hotel in the market. So, you can stay anywhere. You can pay for a clean room, you can pick any hotel within walking distance of this area. But what sets us apart is our team and the effort that they put in. So to kind of rebuild our reputation, earn back the market share that we had lost during renovation, and prove to the market once again that we are a premier destination to receive this ward was just showing us that all of our efforts did not go unseen. So it was really great to be able to celebrate what that meant with the team and feel like we earned it. Ryan Embree: It’s amazing. And shown through your leadership with the retention of the employees too, to see through that, obviously challenging time, but to be on the other side of it and then to reap the rewards of that award. So congratulations on that. But to speak to your point, and I think, you know, it’s a great lesson for hoteliers to kind of find that north star and encompass of who you are. And even if it’s to the detail of we want to be the friendliest, that might not be an award necessarily that you’re, that you’re winning, in a market like Friendliest Hotel. But if you get buy-in from your team on that can really, again, act as kind of a compass or North Star. Taylor Wauhob: Absolutely. I mean, I can’t be here every day. I can’t interact with every single guest. So knowing that my team is carrying out that vision, and still moving forward in that direction, even when I’m not here, it just, it makes a world of difference and they really earned it. Ryan Embree: So cool to see. So we always like to wrap up with a few fun, like rapid fire questions. So get to get to know you, get to know the property location a little bit better. So you mentioned it. Favorite view at the property? Taylor Wauhob: Oh, favorite view. Room 413. Ryan Embree: Okay, we got the room. The first room number that I’ve heard on this question. Taylor Wauhob: It’s got beautiful floor to ceiling windows in a curved wall in the living room that looks out, out in all of downtown Delray Beach. And you can see beautiful sunrises from that room. It’s amazing. Great for bridal parties. Ryan Embree: I like it. 413, remember that. It’s a little tip, but a note. Favorite signature drink or dish, either at a local spot or here at the property? Taylor Wauhob: Okay, well I’ve got two then. So if you’re on property right now, we’ve got our spring collection. Cocktails and mocktails. My favorite right now is the lavender lush mocktail. It’s actually great. Really refreshing. And then Rocka Hula is a new restaurant in town. They have the coolest custom cocktails. I mean, shock and Instagramable. This is the place to go. It’s really great. Ryan Embree: Okay. We’ll have to check that out. Favorite piece of art or design? At the property or around Delray Beach? Taylor Wauhob: I would say our elevator landing. We’ve got a really cool octopus mural. It’s beautiful. Everybody loves to take pictures right there. It’s my favorite. Ryan Embree: See, that’s one of those places you could see on Instagram. Probably. Favorite fun fact about the property. I always like asking this question ’cause there’s just so much. I always get some really unique answers that if you never ask you’ll never find out. Taylor Wauhob: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So everybody thinks the big draw for Delray is Atlantic Avenue, which is one of them. But we are also located right here on Pineapple Grove. Which is a historic arts district, but back in the 1900’s it actually used to be Pineapple Farms. And it was second only to Hawaii in production. And so now it’s famous for that. There’s a sign on both ends that says Pineapple Grove. Ryan Embree: I saw that. Taylor Wauhob: Yeah. Yeah. There’s all the lights on the streets, so it’s really beautiful. Ryan Embree: Very cool. Okay. See the fun fact learning stuff. So as we wrap up today, you know, I ask you as general manager, newly renovated property, just got that award. You spoke a little bit about to it, but what, what’s the lasting impression as people kinda walk out through this lobby that you hope to impart on departing guests and what they remember about their experience here? Taylor Wauhob: I think it coincides really well with Delray Beach. People come to Delray, who have never been here before, and they’re very surprised by it because, you know what to expect from Fort Lauderdale or West Palm, but you come here and it’s got all of the nightlife and activity that you would want from a big city while still having this really small town charm to it and they call it The Village by the Sea, and it really lives up to that. So I love that guests leave Delray feeling pleasantly surprised and they feel the same way from our property as well. And that’s always my goal at least. But they really come in expecting a standard Hyatt place. Tons of people have stayed at a Hyatt place. But we’re very different than that. And so people show up and they’re excited at something new and then they get that same experience from Delray and they walk away just feeling like they got so much more than they ever expected. So that’s always our goal to impart on our guests when they leave. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, really appreciate you hosting us. You’ve got a beautiful property. Thank you. Incredible location. You know, again, you and your team are are knocking it out of the park here. Taylor Wauhob: Thank you. Ryan Embree: We hope to be back soon. Thank you so much, Taylor for taking some time with us. Taylor Wauhob: Absolutely. We’d love to have you again for a little vacation. Ryan Embree: All right. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for joining us on the Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

On May 31 – June 2, in NYC, the industry-defining NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference is taking place. In this Suite Spot episode we are pulling back the curtain on what to expect at this year’s landmark event. Joining us on the Suite Spot is Alexi Khajavi, President of Hospitality, Travel, and Real Estate at Questex. In this exclusive preview, Alexi breaks down the 2026 NYU IHIF agenda and shares why this year’s gathering is more critical than ever for hospitality leaders, hoteliers, and investors.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree here with another hospitality event preview with a very familiar guest, very excited about this conversation. It’s spring, so right around the corner, we know what’s next, one of the premier events of the hospitality event calendar. Here to talk with me, a frequent guest, Alexi Khajavi, Questex, President, Hospitality and Real Estate. Alexi, thank you so much for joining me again here on the Suite Spot. Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, great to see you. Great to be back. Ryan Embree: Yes, it has been too long since we last spoke. We were out in Denver together at the Hospitality Show there on stage. Alexi, you were talking about everything that happened over the course of an entire year. I feel like from October to where we sit right now, in the middle of spring, it’s felt like a complete change. Whirlwind. I’m not even sure if when this episode’s released how much there could be even more change, but since then, so ground us. Give us a little sense of the state of hospitality and the sentence EE everything that you’re feeling right now. Alexi Khajavi: What we saw each other end of October in Denver, just at the conclusion of the hospitality show. And I guess, yeah, to your point, every day is, like an like a year or or seven years for that matter. So, six months on I mean, some consistencies, and I suppose the consistency is the volatility just in the geopolitics, macroeconomics, local state of affairs. And that does have a knock on effect on, on tourism and hospitality certainly. But some of the themes are consistent and that is that it is a, a continued challenging operational environment. rev pars have which we talked about rev pars, we were starting to see some normalization after they had been really on a only an up into the right performance for the prior three years. We started seeing that slowing down in Q3, Q4 of last year. And that has continued. One of the, the aspects, and a lot of people are talking about it, is a Ks shaped economy. And so you’re still seeing some, some interesting and pretty exciting, RevPAR ADR growth on the luxury side of that upper part of the K, if you will. And in the lower K of the market, you’re, you’re seeing increasing and continued challenges. Right? And I think everyone is sort of asking two questions around that, which is one is how much more runway of growth does the luxury market have? And then in on, on the sort of upper upscale midscale and economy, is the economic conditions going to encourage a trading down of the consumer. Speaking to David Pepper, for example, from Choice yesterday, they are seeing some positive RevPAR growth in that upper upscale, which, they’ve got a lot of hotel stock in. So I think the question is and we’re seeing some data that the customer is still traveling. They still see both on the leisure sh leisure side from the experience economy, travel as not being discretionary and not being something that they’re willing to give up, but something that they may trade down for make it more economical, domestic tourism, and drive to staycations those types of things versus the international travel, which certainly was in demand for the last three years. Corporate travel, I think that’s, that’s directly tied to GDP and the economy. But again, corporate travel has actually been coming back. It lagged leisure tourism recovery. So that’s been, performing quite well. Again, business is done face to face. It’s why we do live events in the, in, in, in the sectors in which we serve. So, continued operational challenge, questions around demand, a lot of impact from AI on demand, and how that demand is coming to your brand.com or to your property website, how they’re searching. SEO is in massive disruption. So, it’s not a typical recovery at this point. It’s, it’s fragmented, it’s bifurcated. It depends what part of the market you are in. There’s divergent recovery that’s sort of replacing that, that high tide lifts all boats. That uneven demand is translating into really kind of diversity of performance. And so it depends what markets you’re in. So the operating side is, is is tough. It is becoming harder and it is becoming more expensive. And yet there are some tools out there, AI and others, and technology generally that’s offering a lot of opportunity for optimization, efficiency, productivity in those areas, which will flow through to the bottom line. And then we’re also seeing, kind of a bifurcation in the capital markets. On, on, on the big side, there is a ton of capital that is chasing hospitality, moving from other asset classes whether it be office or retail or industrial. And they’re moving into hospitality for all the reasons that it’s operational real estate. It’s a tailwind market from the experience economy, despite the fact that we are cyclical, right? It goes up and down, but there’s a ton of liquidity. There’s a, there’s a wall of money that’s chasing, the asset class ranging from your owner operator franchisee, which is looking to grow from three properties to 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, whatever it may be, to institutional capital, which really never looked at a hospitality in general. So that’s creating more diversity in the type of investors which is coming into the market. So again, all of that challenge could unlock the transaction market. And then with those transactions, we see this regeneration of capital CapEx is deployed, and that’s really good for the industry. I mean, nobody likes to see falling net operating incomes, in running hotels. But that being said, it means that people have to be hyper-focused on how to run those hotels more efficiently. Why we run the hospitality show. And at the same time, NYU coming up, a lot of new capital coming into the market, a lot of capital chasing that, trying to figure out where the deals are, where to deploy that capital. And again, that’s why we have events like IHIF EMEA in Berlin, which was a few weeks ago. And to your point, NYU IHIF coming up in five weeks. Ryan Embree: It’s so many storylines in our industry right now that we’re chasing. We’d even touch on the upcoming summer, summer World Cup and events like the Olympics here in a couple years that are also gonna have a massive shift in international travel, which has been down. So again, so many challenges, but also think opportunistic time right now in hospitality and being at a spot like NYU is one of those places to capture those opportunities, to learn more about that from your peers, to have those conversations. Networking, I mean, I’ll, I’ll turn our attention there with some impressive numbers from the event. 2200 delegates, 450 plus C-suite executives, 400 plus investors, and $132 billion in assets under management there. So it’s impressive, like I said, impressive feat and number that you have all gathered in, one of the hospitality meccas of the world, which is New York City. What makes this event different from other hospitality events, and why is it a really a can’t miss for, for hoteliers investors this year? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I would say it’s a couple of things. One which you touched upon, which is, New York City financial capital of the world, it is the gateway city for the us it is, a hospitality driven economy. But it’s also one of the most thriving, financial market economies, in the US and certainly the world as well. So, that if you were to think, where do you hold an investment forum in any sector, but for that matter, in hospitality, New York, no better place, right? The money is there, the banks are there, the professional services are there, the brokers are there and many of the, the top brands are on the Eastern Shore board from DC and Maryland, up to the city here. So, it is just simply having it in New York. Second, it’s got a 40 year history associated with the New York University and the School of Hospitality and the John Tisch Center of Hospitality. It’s the only event where a portion of every dollar and revenue spent there goes towards supporting the next generation of hospitality professionals. So, we continue to partner with NYU and the School of Professional Studies. There, it’s an incredible partnership, which we’re just privileged and delighted to continue. And the fact that labor and talent is a massive challenge for the industry that, that you’re, you’re supporting a school which is turning out some of the most talented future hospitality professionals in the world by attending or sponsoring that’s goodwill. And, and we’re just delighted to be able to support that. So, that, again, I think is another anchor for why NYU is just such a special event and is different from a lot of the other good events that are, that are out there. And then lastly, NYU is part of a global portfolio of hospitality investment forums. And so, we have our event in Berlin. We have an event in Manchester, UK. We have an event in Athens, Greece, which is focused on the branded resi and the resort, segment, which is international and frankly, one of the fastest growing segments in hospitality. And then we have our Asia event in Hong Kong. So, we’re able to still bring in that global capital, those global operators that want to do business, want to bring their brands, want to deploy capital, want to invest in the us. So it’s not just a New York show, it’s not just a US focused show, but it’s a North America event where how do operators, how do investors, and how does the ecosystem of professional services come in and facilitate and drive deals to invest in the US and North American hotel market and all those things coming together, make it vibrant, make it diverse, make it one of the most active deal making conferences in the circuit. It really is for the investors to connect, with each other, but also the rest of the segments and the stakeholders, as it’s very diverse and fragmented industry. So deals get done. I mean, it was just on a in a conversation, a few weeks ago talking about a deal that’s been, announced since then. But they met in New York last June and really kicked off those conversations there at New York. And that ultimately consummated in a deal, in the fourth quarter of, of, of last year. We know that that’s what our value proposition is, and we know that’s why people spend their time with us and invest in, in NYU and we expect it to be even more vibrant and active on the deal making side, this June. So it should be should be a good event. Ryan Embree: That’s why I was gonna say, I had the privilege of attending for the first time last year, and I think the biggest difference for me was just the energy and the buzzing, and it just, it felt like what you said, it felt like deals were moving forward, whether that was the first time someone was connecting and networking, or whether it was something where these, these deals are not done in a vacuum or a silo that they take time, they take effort, and they take meetings like this, right? This connection, sometimes it’s, especially in a challenging market, can be the thing that brings a deal across the finish line. So it was palpable in the air when we were at that event last year. And it was a, it was a who’s who in hospitality too. You turned one way as a brand leader over here. Next is a president of asset management company. It really was an an extremely impressive event. I wanna get your thoughts, Alexi. You mentioned the sister events, the IHIF emea, which just wrapped up here at the end of March, obviously completely different markets that we’re talking about, but I still think holistically, there’s probably some lessons, feedback and sentiment that you could probably share that will translate into NYU, right? And some of those themes that are gonna make it there. What was your kind of, I guess, overall sentiment about the event and how just the energy and hotelier’s feeling was around that event? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I mean to go back to the start of the podcast, every day, there’s been something else. There’s been a, a ton of volatility in the market, a lot of uncertainty in, in the world. We still have a, a conflict, going on in, in Europe with, Ukraine and Russia. We now have a conflict happening in the Middle East. You’ve got macroeconomic conditions of still tariffs and the inflation that is causing interest rates still remain elevated, albeit they’ve, they’ve come down, over the last sort of 12 months. Elevated however, to historical, all of that creates uncertainty in the market. And as an investor said in, in Berlin, we can, we’re very good at penciling in risk and quantifying, the impact of that risk on both present day valuation. And a 20 year IRR, what is harder to pencil in is volatility and uncertainty. The certainty of risk is fine because you can quantify, the impact that that risk will have on the business. What you can’t is the uncertainty. And so with that, what we saw in Berlin, however, is that really is driving a lot of engagement around the expertise and the speakers and the sessions. We really pride ourselves on not having the same speakers every year saying the same things. We always leave a portion of our programs sort of unfinished, if you will, or, started but un unfinished because, because of that volatility in the market. So we saw a huge amount of engagement with people in the, in the sessions, in the rooms, which is interesting because at the end of the day, it is a deal making conference. And people are in meeting rooms, they’re up in suites they’re in the lobby and they’re, they’re engaging with each other, they’re there to do business. But we saw a lot of engagement, increased engagement with the sessions that we had. We then saw those individuals that were in a session often go out of the session and engage with each other and engage with speakers. And so one of the things that we’re doing is creating content fueled networking. So, a session will then lead to a round table where the speakers will stick around and the delegates or the folks that were in that session as an audience are able to then continue that conversation and go deeper and get into an actual conversation rather than just sort of a q and a that’s, that’s tagged on at the end. So it really created a, I think, a huge amount of engagement and peer-to-peer conversations. And really, I think people seeking a perspective. When, when you’re in a volatile market, really the most important thing you can do is to, to talk to your peers, to talk to your competitors, to talk to your mentors and get different perspectives to try and create some fidelity of what didn’t work or what has working, or what are the things that you’re trying out that’s really exciting. I mean, we really love that because, an open market, a transparent market, and an engaged market on the buy side and the sell side is a more informed market. Everybody needs that, right? It just makes markets more efficient. It make every, makes everybody better operators, and it creates a transparency as to where those opportunities are. And that’s, that is a, a tide that does lift all boats. The other thing I would say, Ryan, is, is that there’s always this question in an, an investment forum, like IHIF, like NYU as to what the sentiment is. And we’ve been tracking investor sentiment for the last five years now, since, January of 2020, which was an interesting time to first sentiment. Yeah. And it’s interesting because it certainly went down during COVID, no news flash there. It quickly rose up from 22 to 21 to 24, and then it’s leveled off since then. And it’s kind of just, a few index points gone, gone up or down depending on all of this volatility Liberation day last year, which was the first day of April, if I’m not mistaken, which was actually right during IHIF was created a lot of pessimism. It, however, was replaced with some optimism as interest rates fell down. So the sentiment to that question was, was actually quite positive. I think maybe through just the density of volatility or the consistency of volatility. People are somewhat getting used to it and separating noise from substance. And, and really there are the, there are more deals coming to market. We are seeing a diversification of capital coming into the market, lot of high net worth, lot of family office, a lot of institutional capital, sovereign wealth pension funds. And what that’s creating is more demand. So you’re starting, when we talk to the brokers, you’re starting to see a number of underbids in terms of a mandate comes to the market. A transaction occurred, but there was 6, 7, 8 under bidders in that transaction that shows interest, it shows appetite and it shows that the bid ask gap to a certain extent is narrowing. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean in all cases that valuations have come down. I think buyers would like them to, but at the end of the day, I think capital, and we’re seeing capital become more confident and have more conviction in the market, but that also there are regeneration opportunities through CapEx deployment, through repositioning and through other levers that they have to pull, that they can take an asset that is performing at x and through CapEx and better operations and better plans, better brand, make it X plus y. And that was really the sentiment coming out of Berlin that the market is opening up, that there is a diversity of capital coming into it that’s creating a lot more demand and through a number of different sort of challenges, or let’s just say realities on the operator side, you are seeing a higher interest in selling. And I think that that will start to, to narrow the bid ask gap and look the unlocking of the market. We’ve been waiting for it for two, three years. It’s been a challenging market, but I think everyone’s seeing some optimism. I think the wishlist is, is that we reduce the amount of volatility in the market, but that’s an uncontrollable from your and and my perspective, we don’t have much control of that. Ryan Embree: Yeah. But I think the industry’s skin is, is thickening to that, right? And we’ve talked about that, how it’s our new normal is the constant state of change. And I also think it’s something, I’m not sure if we’ve talked about or thought about this too much, but we really saw worst case scenario just six years ago of being like, where everything dropped to none. When we’re assessing risk, we’re a lot more battle test. This industry is a lot more battle tested than maybe previous than it had previously. So some of these uncontrollables, like you mentioned, that yes, they are headwinds, yes, they are challenges, but it’s those investors right now that see opportunities that assess that risk and say there could be some really, really great upside at a at a time right now. And one of the places also where there is a lot of uncertainty, but I would, I would almost phrase it in the sense of a, of a positive uncertainty is the impact that AI is gonna have on our business in the future. And the gains and dividends that we can yield from those have really just scratch the surface. And we talked about this, and I wanna bring that into the conversation ’cause it’s hard to not talk about it anymore, right? It, I think we don’t go a, a podcast episode without bringing it up and people filling out their bingo cards on AI and technology. But I want, I wanna take us back to where we were a year ago, and maybe we can do this an exercise. Alexi, what would you grade right now, our industry, which historically has been maybe on the lighter end of the spectrum of a technology adoption, but what would you, what grade would you give it? Because I think we’re at this weird inflection point where hoteliers and brands and management companies and really everybody’s starting to look and saying, alright, we’ve implemented some ai. Where are the dividends? Where are the results? How do I measure these successes? What, what grade would you give and how do you think we can improve there? Alexi Khajavi: You know, that’s a, that’s a great question because it’s not an easy one to answer. Sure and not to cop out of giving you a specific answer, I would give it a a non-applicable, because the reality is, is that technology as a whole, in terms of using technology as a tool to optimize the hospitality market, I would certainly give ourselves a c plus. I think that’s historically been where we have failed for many reasons, which we can we don’t need to go into right <laugh>, we know, we know that. But I think, I think AI right now is there is an overestimation of its impact on the near term, and there’s an under appreciation for its impact on, on the long term. Love that that’s, that’s quickly, quickly changing. I mean, if you, to your point, if you just look at the last six months, massive wholesale change, and I, so I think that that’s changing very quickly that people are starting to appreciate this. This is enormous, both in its capacity to be a force of good as well as its capacity to be a, a force of bad, to sort of broadly call it as such. But that being said, I think there’s sort of two themes around ai. One is on the, on the sort of operational side, AI has, has largely, I think been distributed as a individual choice through the industry and the departments. And the overall, whether you’re on the brand side or the operator side or the investor side, I know that there are mandates and there are committees and everybody’s sort of got their own playbook to how they’re using ai. But at the end of the day, it’s gonna come down to any individual that’s using it or not using it in their respective role. And that’s all over the map. Some people are using it, some people are not. And, and frankly, I think those that are using it are going to be better off for their r and d and just their effort to try and figure it out. Because the more you use it, the better off you become at using. It’s, it’s a tool like any tool, right? You, you need how to use how to use that tool in order for it to do the job you want it to do. So in that case, I think we’re probably no different than some other industries, which are certainly spending a lot of money on it and trying to figure it out. The other aspect of it though, that I think is really interesting is that it is already changing, particularly those frontline manager roles. A GM, for example, that is using AI will have more time to do the things that a GM should be doing, rather than all of the back office stuff, which AI can do at scale and at pace, and to a high degree of quality with oversight and q and a being done, not just to let AI go do all those things, but that, that frees up your general manager to go do the things that really drives guest satisfaction. Respond to RFPs, take care of guests, drive revenue, be present in the local market so that you’re capturing demand drivers, in your local city or wherever you may be. So, I think if that individual GM is using AI effectively to free them up to do what a GM really should be doing, and probably why that person went into being a GM in the first place, then I think we’re gonna start to see the progress. But we haven’t really started to measure it yet. I also see on the positive side, other industries, IE healthcare are also realizing that AI is doing a lot of back office work at a very high level, or high degree of, of quality. And that’s now freeing up their own people. And what they’re finding is, is that maybe we should be engaging, empowering those roles in a hospital or healthcare broadly to be taking care of patients in a more human hospitable way. And so, in some degree, I think the long-term impact will be that other industries are now going to start looking at hospitality as being a, at the vanguard of driving human powered experiences that will drive back to revenue and premiumization and ultimately profits. So we’ve always looked to other industries for, God, we’re, so, we’re Luddites, how do you do this? What, how do teach us in hospitality? I, I think we’re going to start to see other industries look to us to, how do you actually take care of a guest, a customer for that matter? How do you do that to create loyalty to, to a, to increase average order value or ticket receipts. So I think that’s the opportunity to answer your question in terms of one area that I think is directly and already being deeply impacted is distribution and search. Search is been a, a topic of discussion for the last 30 years. And we’ve largely gone through this used SEO to fine, the white hat, the black hat the right levers to pull your all tags, your meditechs, I mean, the whole thing, right? Brand equity, la la, la. Well, AI replaces all that in one fell swoop, and nobody really knows how that’s going to play out. But on the sort of doomsday perspective, it completely wipes out your brand equity online in a search engine. On the positive side, it reinforces it because AI is simply pulling from algorithms and behaviors on the internet to sort of drive, it’s, it’s results. But again, we don’t know the answer to that. And I think already revenue management, sales and marketing distribution, those are the areas where I think in the next six months, we’re gonna be having a conversation that is gonna be completely different than the conversation we’re having today. And we’re gonna be focusing a lot on that because that is one of the areas that today is being completely upended. Ryan Embree: I one hundred percent agree with you. I think that’s where a lot of the hunger and the appetite and thirst for knowledge right now of why maybe there’s more engagement in those sessions than you’ve seen before, is because I think people are starting to, if they haven’t already started to understand the gravity of where we’re at in this inflection point and the massive disruption that this is going to cause and do not want to be left behind. And I think you’re right. There was a fascinating point you made in there about the GM and their role, and we all, the big fears around AI are, are AI replacing jobs? And I would say when it comes to hospitality, it could really upend what the, the role of a job, right? Your GM might start looking a lot more like the GM of 40 years ago when you first got into hospitality, or where you weren’t having to do those tasks. And we almost have to learn this new job. It might be the same title as general manager, but you’re doing completely different things, which is a fascinating topic to talk about because we’ve been training these young hospitality professionals in the way of what a GM is today. That role could look completely different here in the next three to five based on the, on the speed and acceleration of these, of AI tasks that they’re doing. So it, I could talk about it all the time. We do talk about it all the time, I feel like, but it’ll be very interesting to see that impact that it’s making. I wanna switch back to NYU, and this is one of my favorite questions because there’s so much intention in these, in these shows, and that’s why I love doing these episode, these preview episodes, because you get to, to learn all the work that goes in, you’ve told me before you start on these events, day after, sometimes even now hours after that first one ended. So this year’s theme sharpening the edge. Talk to us a little bit about how the team settled on this and, and the story behind it and how you’ve incorporated it into the programming a little bit. Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I mean, sharpening the edge is, an ode to the investment, nature of the event. It’s a deal making conference and it’s in New York. And so it’s a very sort of public market Wall Street saying, where do you find your edge or where do you find your alpha compared to another investor? If all you’re doing is chasing, the broad returns of a market or an asset class for that much, or for that matter, then you’re, you’re gonna be, at the whipping end of the overall broader market. It’s not a good place to be in a volatile market like this. And it doesn’t drive the outsized returns that investors are looking for. So it really is a tip of the, the cap to where we are. We’re in New York, we have a lot of Wall Street, public Market, New York Stock Exchange, synergies there, Sarah Eisen from CNBC, comes up and moderates the CEO panel. Most of the CEOs head down for interviews, on Wall Street and CNBC and Squawk Box and so forth. And we have that partnership still with CNBC this year. So, but as you shift it to what’s happening in the capital markets as it relates to real estate and more specifically to hospitality, private equity has been the dominant capital type in hotel investment. And that’s been the case for the last decade. And today that’s really no longer the case. It’s PE is still extremely active, but it’s more diversified in terms of across investor types. So we’re seeing, again, as I said, family offices, high net worth, a lot of sovereign, a lot of institutional capital that is growing materially, that is looking to hospitality to, to deploy capital. And with that, you’re seeing a lot of opportunities around value add. PE is really your value add investor, right? They’re looking for an underperforming asset or an asset that has the ability to perform at a higher level that’s sharpening the edge, that’s driving alpha. And so PE is really looking at this as a great opportunity as institutional capital comes in and is looking for stable, more stable returns, securitized assets, and an annuity like return over a longer hold period. It’s a great opportunity for private equity to exit in a market in which it’s been tough to exit. That being said, global hotel and fund allocations in hospitality and real estate has been tough, but it’s growing and it’s coming back. And so you’ve got a lot more money coming back into the market. And, and that’s really, a positive thing. We having events across Asia, Europe, and the us it allows for us to drive that cross-border capital. US capital has been less active, but despite all the challenges, we still see a lot of, international capital, which wants to invest in the us. So that kind of diversification of capital is a real, real positive for the market. It, it means more liquidity, it means more exit opportunities to get off, on the off ramp for PE or any other investor. As more capital comes in, it offers more opportunities to exit. It provides or, or enables less sort of seasonality, if you will, in the marketplace, right? There’s less of that volatility in the marketplace as all as well. So really the sharpening the edge is about having the education, the networking, and the quality of people in the room that have the money are looking to deploy and know how to create alpha. Getting those individuals together to hear from each other, engage with one another, and ultimately, build relationships with the ecosystem that helps a deal get done, transact that transacts, underwrites that deal, and then drives that alpha from an operating value creation perspective. Those are the folks that are in the room at NYU. Ryan Embree: And you’re right in the middle of it. I mean, I remember waking up at the, the marquee and seeing Chris Nasetta on CNBC and a few hours later seeing him just a couple hundred feet up on stage in front of me. I mean, that’s the possibilities right there. Alexi Khajavi: And talking to people, right? I mean, this is the beauty of the hospitality industry is there’s really good people, right? They’re just, at the end of the day, you may be running a public company, and on TV, you’re sitting there talking to a franchisee of a Hampton that wants to meet the CEO. So it really kind of creates this very magical engagement where the fifth floor, sixth floor, seventh floor, eighth floor of the marquee are just a hive of activity with the best and the brightest from a franchisee to Chris Nasetta, to your point, there’s not many places that create that access and that transparency and cross engagement from such a diverse, but focused, sector, as NYU. So it’s a real, real special place to be. Ryan Embree: A thousand percent. And last year you used this forum to really get us fired up for some of the sessions in educations. And now you’re talking about, especially with your experience here earlier in the year, people being more open to that, being more thirsty and, and hungry for that information, looking up and down the programming. Because we know you spoke to last year the detail and depth that your team goes to create these panels, and sometimes even putting on stage opinions that differ, that go head to head to one another, to try to get that friction to try to get a rise out of that engagement. Looking up and down the agenda this year, which sessions, if you had to pick a few, do you have your eyes on? Alexi Khajavi: Well, there’s some, some obvious ones, but always at NYU, we’ve got some, some exciting ones as well. And the first one, our first session actually Monday morning, Anthony Scaramucci, the Mooch, who is an investor himself actually owns a restaurant as well, but certainly, podcaster and just an expert, on the economy, politics, the Trump administration having worked, I think 10 days, there, if I’m not mistaken. So, he’s gonna kick us off. We always have a marquee name that’s relevant to the industry, but he really has his finger on the pulse as to, one, what are all the geopolitics and the macroeconomics, in the overall state of the economy and the country, what impact is that having on the investment markets on where the opportunities are? Alexi Khajavi: And as he runs a restaurant what is he seeing? What does he think specifically of the hotel space? So I think that’s, again, that’s, that’s just not something that you get at any of the other hotel investment forums, but you get that and you’ll get it right, served with breakfast on Monday morning. So we kick off big and we kick off bold on Monday. Obviously Monday has, is a great day. We have the CEO council on Monday as well. Or sorry, the CEO panel that’s the five top brands, again, interviewed by Sarah Eisen, which they have a great rapport with. And that really does set the tone for what they’re seeing as the opportunities. Clearly they are on top of demand and where RevPAR and ADRs and occupancies are going, how they’re performing and what the differences are by chain scale. There will be a lot of conversation around how much gas in the tank does luxury have I’m sure you’ll hear differing views on that. And then are we gonna see a return to some of the midscale and upper upscale, as potentially people trade down but still travel and where’s economy, where’s extended stay? We’ve also seen these brands make some interesting investments in new concepts, graduate hotels, which is last year, yo hotels glamping and branded resi. That’s a big day. In fact, we’ve got a full day of content on branded resi with active developers developing properties right now that are branded resi mix of hotel, mixed use, retail, hospitality and so forth. And then capital markets. Capital markets our Cap Talks session is probably one of our most popular, and that’ll be a mix of both active US investors as well as foreign capital, international capital investors, sovereign Wealth, as well as private equity, which continue to look to deploy capital in the US. Alexi Khajavi: We then have Danny Meyer, who’s the founder, and CEO of Union Square Hospitality, Shake Shack. And obviously a number of other incredible Union Square restaurants in the city here. But and then you’ve got your breakouts where you will be focusing a lot on the investment development market. Asset management is a key thing, how do you drive Alpha through the operations of these hotels? So there’s a ton of content. We’ve left a lot of time for networking. We know that’s where the deal making is the eighth floor, which is the lobby level. We’ve extended the event to include the Broadway Lounge, which is this beautiful lounge overlooking Times Square. We’ll have, food and beverage in there throughout the days. Great space to network amongst all the delegates, including the ninth floor where we’ve got Marriott and Hilton taking that space. So it’s just a ton going on. And the program’s out, it’s 90% there. We still got a few couple of marquee names that we’re going to announce over the next few weeks. But really, if you’re gonna be, if you’re in hospitality, investment development and operations where you’re driving Alpha, there really is no other place to be on the first and 2nd of June. You’ve gotta be there. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I can attest to it again, first time last year have the privilege of attending officially announcing the Suite Spot will be back at NYU this year. We can’t wait. Our associate producer’s gonna be traveling with me this time. This is her first time. And there is even a first timers meet and greet that you do as well at the event, which I had the privilege of partaking in networking last year. What type of tips for any hoteliers investors that might be considering or even attending the first time, what, what one piece of advice would you drill down for this event as the best piece? Ryan Embree: I would definitely get on the app. I know that the serendipitous meeting, which to your point, you bump into the CEO of Hilton or Marriott for that matter, is great. And that’s, there’s good value in that, but we have about 70, almost 80% of all delegates are on the app. That’s great. And that’s a great place to find people and to be found and it also gives you all the other information as the agenda speaker bios, but it allows for you to reach out to other delegates. So I would definitely do, that’s, something that can be sometimes just overlooked or just not not done. And then I would go to the Sunday evening reception if it’s your first time that’s at the marquee, six o’clock, we get about 500 people there. A good mix of veterans and, and first timers. I would certainly do that. I would try and plan out your days ahead. It’s amazing how with all that, with all everything that’s going on, you can easily kind of get sidetracked. So if there are some sessions that you wanna see, you can bookmark them in the app and make sure that you, you don’t miss those. But, I would, get some sleep, stay hydrated and be prepared to have some full days of education, networking and just a whole lot of fun. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And some of the receptions that are after hours at the end of the day, are absolutely amazing too. And I know you have sponsors that kind of do that, sometimes onsite, sometimes offsite, encourage, those to attend that in full force as well. Hospitality, we definitely know how to, to host a party, that’s for sure. So Alexi, we appreciate you hosting us here on the Suite Spot and previewing this year’s 2026 NYU. We are counting down the days until June. Thank you again to my audience to learn more information. Obviously visit the website, make sure you register. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today, Alexi? Alexi Khajavi: No, just very much looking forward to seeing you there and the other 2400 people that will be joining us. So, looking very much forward to it. And appreciate your time. Ryan Embree: All right, thank you, Alexi. Thank you for listening to The Suite Spot and hope to see you at NYU in June in New York City. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this episode of the Suite Spot podcast, we’re heading to the prestigious Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration at Georgia State University. We sat down with the school’s Director, Dr. Benjamin Lawrence, to go behind the scenes of one of the country’s top hospitality programs. In this video, we explore: How Georgia State is shaping the next generation of industry leaders.  The innovative curriculum driving modern hospitality education. Insights into the future of the hospitality profession. Whether you’re a student, a professional, or just passionate about the industry, you won’t want to miss this deep dive into hospitality excellence! Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot for another edition of our TMG Campus Crawl Series. We are here in the heart of downtown Atlanta at Georgia State with Dr. Ben Lawrence, Director of the Day School of Hospitality Administration. Thank you so much for hosting us and being a hospitable guest. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Happy to have you down here. Go Panthers! Ryan Embree: Well, we’re excited about this. You know, we’re here in Atlanta. We’re gonna talk about the location. But before we get rolling with this episode, Dr. Lawrence, this is your first time on the podcast. We would love to hear. Hospitality is all about collection of stories, right. Of individuals. Share a little bit about your hospitality journey and how you came here to the Georgia State, Day School of Hospitality. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So, people sometimes are surprised about my past because I was born in Singapore and I grew up in Indonesia, and I came to the States when I was 18, and I came to the States because I wanted to go to the best hotel school in the world. And so, when I was 17, I went to one of those high school, like, what are you gonna be when you grow up? And this Swiss hotelier said, you wanna go to hotel school? Go to Cornell. So, I applied to Cornell and I arrived in the States when I was 18, and I went to Cornell. And so, I went to hotel school there met my wife at, she was a hotelier at Cornell. After I graduated, we ran an inn in upstate New York, historic inn, went back to get my MBA, then worked, in a couple of different industries for a while. Went back to Indonesia to help my family and their business, and then came back to the States. Then I worked in a community college, a couple of community colleges, teaching hospitality. Then I went back and got my PhD at Boston University and my PhD, focus was in franchising. And I know we’ll talk a little more about franchising in a minute. But, franchising is the primary form of distribution of our product. After I graduated from Boston University, I got a job back at Cornell. So I went back there and I was a food and beverage professor. People always laugh. What was your professor? Food and Beverage? So I taught the most of the freshman students at Cornell, Food and Beverage Management. And I also taught, a multi unit franchising course there. And then this position at Georgia State opened up and a benefactor of ours gave money for an inapt professor in franchising. And there’s nothing better as an academic to get inapt professorship in the area that you study. And the weather in Atlanta is a lot better than the weather in Ithaca. Ryan Embree: I don’t know this week my, uh, my… Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : True. We’ve been cold, but it’s gonna be 80 degrees. 80 degrees this weekend. So when my kids moved down here from Ithaca, they were like, oh my Lord, you can play soccer in January, and we have a pool. So, I really loved working here in Atlanta. Georgia State is a very dynamic place. It’s a large state university, so very different from Cornell, but we really transformed the lives of our students here. So I’ve been here, I was here for seven years as a faculty member, and then just last July I became the director of the the Day School of Hospitality. So, we’re working on a lot of interesting stuff here. I’m excited about the position and excited about the potential of Georgia State and Atlanta. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Excited to share it with our audience and your story. Dr. Lawrence is a true indication of what hospitality is international. Right? We say that all the time. Hospitality is the language spoken all over the world. Your journey is certainly a reflection of that across the globe and, and now across the country here. So, share a little bit about the school’s history, Georgia State’s history, and where you think that this program is unique based on maybe others across the country. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So Georgia State was founded, the university was founded in 1913 as the kind of nighttime business school of Georgia Tech. And that has evolved over time. We’re a very large university. We are over 50,000 students here. And we’re a very diverse university. So we graduate more African Americans at Georgia State than any other university in the states. So we are a majority minority institution and a research one institution, so an R1 institution. So, we are not only a research powerhouse, but we also transformed the lives of our students. So we are the Day School of Hospitality, was founded in 1973, as a school of Hospitality, and was named in the eighties by the founder of Days Inn, Cecil B Day. So that really ties back into the franchising story, into the entrepreneur story. You had a local Georgian building, a brand that became worldwide brand, which is amazing. We joined the College of Business, and now we’re a school embedded in a business school. So there’s two forms of hospitality programs. There’s hospitality programs like UNLV or University of Houston. They’re standard loan colleges. And then there’s schools like ours that are embedded in a business school. So those are two basic models. There’s advantages and disadvantages to both. One of the advantages that we have is that we are in a college of business that allows our students to take many different courses from marketing department to computer information systems. One of the disadvantages is that we tend to be fairly small. So cost guide programs in business schools tend to be smaller, than standalone colleges. I took over the program in July, and we’re working on our strategic plan right now to grow the school to get more students. Because industry’s always looking for great hospitality students. And also looking to expose hospitality to students in other disciplines. And so if you’re a real estate student, if you’re a finance student, if you’re a student, a psychology student, right? So getting those students among all university students interested in hospitality. And I think that’s, that’s a model in which, will help grow enrollment. Well, only our majors and our minors, but also students just interested in hospitality. Many of our students are working in hospitality, right? They’re working as waiters or they’re working at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. So, they’re exposed to the industry especially being here in Atlanta. Ryan Embree: Even if they’re not in hospitality jobs, you could still be using hospitality skills within those jobs. Which is very important to share because, I think there’s that common misconception of, you think of a hospitality or a hotel worker, you think of all the disadvantages sometimes, right? Of like the holidays, the long hours. It’s a 24 hour business. But at the same time, there’s these different departments, whether it’s accounting, marketing, all the HR, these different avenues within hospitality, that you can be exposed to franchising. And being, which we’re gonna talk about. But one of the things is you look for that strategic plan, I think is a huge advantage, is obviously your location. Right? You’re in the heart of downtown Atlanta. It’s massive headquarters for global brands, sports venues, I mean, state of the art sports venue. You got World Cup coming here this summer. Talk to us about how you’ve used this location to your benefit for the students and prospective students. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah. I mean, we have people on campus all the time. We have headquarters for ISG is here. We have, you know, we can walk from our campus to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, state Farm. We have the World Congress Center here, which is one of the largest convention centers at the day school. We don’t really have that many physical facilities. We don’t have a restaurant, we don’t have a hotel, but we don’t need to because we have Atlanta. Right. So that is a huge advantage for us. When we want people to come to campus to speak, they just need to just turn the corner and they’re here. And so we get great speakers to come to campus. Our students are engaged with the local industries here. Atlanta is the capital of franchising in the us Right? So if you think about the brands that we have here, Chick-fil-A, inspire brands, Rourke Capital. Rourke Capital, which is one of the largest private equity companies that owns Inspire and go-to Foods and over 50 franchise brands. And Atlanta’s growing. Right? And so if you’re a student and you come here, you can stay here afterwards, right? So if you’re a student at Cornell and you go to Ithaca, you’re probably not staying in Ithaca, right. Because there’s not much there. People have to get on a plane and they gotta fly to Ithaca to be in class. And so that is a huge advantage for us, right? Absolutely. For universities that are based in cities where people wanna work, that is a huge advantage for us, not only for our students to get internships, but afterwards to be able to live and work with, within the community. Ryan Embree: A hundred percent. And some of the schools and programs that we’ve visited, have laboratories and incubators that they use. Your lab and incubators are right outside these walls, right? So it’s almost like your classroom is the city of Atlanta and, and ’cause so much hospitality is going on every single day in those moments. So, incredible advantage that the students have here and the alumni network, which we’re gonna talk about here in a minute. But, you know, you talked about your, your strong background and franchising and entrepreneurship. Obviously you have a passion there. It’s, it’s kind of your strength and background share with us how you kind of incorporated that into the curriculum, into the day school hospitality. Sure. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So when I came here to Georgia State, one of the things that my endow professorship they wanted me to do was basically talk about franchising for students overall. So I teach an undergraduate franchising course. And in that course, even though franchising obviously is central to the distribution of hotels and restaurants, franchising is everywhere. Everything in a strip mall is franchised. And students don’t understand that, right? Students don’t realize that. The other thing that we have here in Georgia State is we have an entrepreneurship innovation center. And so I have a joint appointment with them, and one of my passions is to get entrepreneurship students to think about franchising as one route to entrepreneurship. We have all these headquarters here. Even if you’re not gonna become a franchisee, you might go work for a franchising company Sure. As accountant, as somebody in marketing or in sales. These are large companies. Or you go, might go work for a franchisee. You know, one of the pathways to franchising is ownership. Now that can be difficult for students, and that’s one of the things that we’re gonna be working on in our strategic plan, is figuring out how do we get students in ownership positions, right? So we are a public university that, 40% of our students are Pell Grant eligible. Right? So they don’t come from money. It’s figuring out how we can change the trajectory of our students’ lives and transform their lives is something that is, one of one of our goals and franchising is a wealth creator, right? Some of the wealthiest people I know are franchisees, right? If you own 20 Dunking Donuts, you’re doing pretty well. You probably have a license plate that has donut on it, right? So, I’m very passionate about franchising. Now there’s good franchising and there’s bad franchising, right? So, there are some franchise brands that I don’t suggest students invest in. And part of that is kind of understanding what franchising is about, right? It’s a partnership. So in the class we talk a lot about, you know, these are two options. These are two options for that you might wanna pick as a franchise, which one would you pick? And understanding kind of the owner who owns a franchise brand, what are the parameters of the contract? And exposing students to that pathway. There’s not that many programs in the US that focus on franchising, and there’s very few endowed professorships in franchising. And so one of our goals going forward is to work more on exposing more students to franchising in general. Ryan Embree: It’s such a great opportunity. I mean, I think all of those success stories where franchises were sometimes built from these schools and now are such job creators of what you’re talking about. So to kind of arm your students with that knowledge, whether again, they’re looking to start their own franchise, become a part of a franchise, or work for a franchisee. Incredibly wealth of knowledge there. So really, really cool work that you’re doing there. The school has really deep roots in the business community. You mentioned some of the major brands. How have you seen this kind of fast track students hospitality careers or even like through internships that you’re doing at the on on school? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So we, so one of the things we tell students is get internships right away. So, start with doing internships and get into those businesses and start working. ’cause once it’s the best way for them to kind of feel out the company and know if it’s the right fit for them as well as the company filling them out. So we, we have, we have more internship opportunities for our students than we can fulfill, right. Everything from going to the masters or engaging with Mercedes-Benz Stadium or working at State Farm Arena, working local hotels. We could have double the number of students and we still have opportunity for them. I think, you know, Atlanta’s a growing city, right? We’re continually growing. We have a great ecosystem of universities here in Atlanta, not only Georgia State, but Kennesaw State, Georgia Tech, university of Georgia’s not that far away. Georgia Southern. So we have a great ecosystem of universities here, and that helps to kind of feed the need for the businesses, and especially in the hospitality business. Where, we’re building one of the largest entertainment centers here in Atlanta. $5 billion is going to create, create this Centennial Yards, which is this transformation of downtown. So it’s a really exciting place to be. And businesses want our students, our students tend to be the way we describe Georgia State. Students are students with grit. Many of our students are working while they’re going to school.They can’t afford not to work. Luckily in the state of Georgia, we have Hope Scholarship. So most of our students are going, are getting their education covered. And at the day school, we provide a lot of scholarship money. So if you’re a Georgia State Day School student and you don’t get a scholarship, I’m saying, why aren’t you getting a scholarship? You should be applying for one. We have a lot of good, you know, we have Hunter Scholarship for the Hunter family. We have lots of industry partners that understand the benefit of providing our students with scholarship money and offering paid internships that get them, get them engaged and working, in the industry. And we have FIFA coming. So what a great opportunity for students to get a front seat to an amazing event, is to work a FIFA event. Ryan Embree: It’s wonderful advice. And would encourage, students that might be finding this, if you have required internships, would you even I had them when I went to school, get eclectic with it. Like, expose yourself to as many things as possible, because this industry has so much to offer. And this is like a first time glance at what you might wanna do in your career. A lot of the hospitality professionals I’ve talked to have fallen into these types of careers where you could have a fast track of being like, I know exactly what I wanna do. ’cause I had the experience of this internship. So it’s great that you continue to put your, your students in positions like that. And the learning from it will last you here until the end of your career and until their alumni, which we’ll, we’ll talk about, right? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : And then also study abroad, right. We have two study abroad programs that we do. One is fully funded, so we pay for everything for the students. Unfortunately, location, it was Dubai in Abu Dhabi, so we had to, we’re gonna have to retool that for this year. But we pay for everything for our students to have an experience that is just out of this world. And we also have a European study abroad experience. So I’ll say, you know, the getting, taking advantage of those experiences and trying different things, right. Don’t go to the same company for four years. Try something else. Try something new. And when you’re in Atlanta, you can do that. You don’t have to go anywhere else to go work at State Farm and then figure out like, I wanna go to Mercedes-Benz or gonna work at Inspire Brands. It’s all here. Ryan Embree: It really is. And a lot of, obviously, alumni have come and worked at those organizations. Talk to us about, you know, the alumni network, how you continue and your role to try to foster that. Because if you can show a student, Hey, this is the path you can take and this is where you can get to, and the opportunities that kind of expand and open up to you when you graduate from here it’s a powerful thing and, and powerful way to get people through the doors. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah, absolutely. We are a large university, so we have over 300,000 alums. And if you think about it, students who go to Georgia State are probably most likely gonna be living in Atlanta or somewhere else. We’re a large city and we have lots of opportunity. So vicinity wise, you have a lot of alums living in this area. And because we have, we’re such a large school. If you ask someone, do you know anybody from they went to school at Georgia State, probably they did, or they, they got a master’s degree at Georgia State. Or you know, their, their, their sister did. So everyone’s always willing to help too. Right. So this feeling of like, you know, the idea that, you know, you’ve come from a certain background and, and you’ve achieved, graduated from Georgia State. There’s always people willing to help. And I’ll say the hospitality industry is, this is an a industry of opportunity. So there’s people that work, start working in as a waiter and then become CEO of the company. That trajectory happens. It might take some time, but this is an industry that values hard work, grit, personal attention to customer satisfaction. But it’s doable. And so that’s what inspires, that’s what inspires me about Georgia State, is that I can see our students grow over time, and I can see those students in management positions in the future, and that’s gonna change the trajectory of their life. Or they might own a franchise, or they might start a franchise. If you think about a company like Zaxby’s, right? It’s was started by students, you know, it was started at Georgia Southern. And those two founders are now worth billions. So the idea that we can change the life of students and, and we can do that here in Atlanta, is something that I’m really passionate about. Ryan Embree: And, you know, so we kind of spoke to the students now, the hospitality professionals that might be listening to that be open to being a mentor for these younger students. Because, I sit across the table. I had the privilege and honor of sitting across the table for some incredible hospitality leaders. And every single time I ask them about their hospitality journey, there’s typically always a name in there that they attribute a lot of their success as a jumping off point or a starting point for their career. So be on either side of that, right. To be the person that helps someone, or be the person that reach out to someone for help. It’s hospitality. It’s a people serving people industry. That’s why we love it. That’s why we’re in it. So definitely recommend doing that as well. You know, the success of the program has been recognized as Top Hospitality School across the country, multiple accolades. You talked about the research at the top of the episode. Talk to us a little bit about, you know, that what the accolades mean to you and kind of how it’s helped prospective students kind of recognize Georgia State as one of the top hospitality programs. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Absolutely. The, you know, one thing is we’ve been around a while, right? So we’ve been around over 50 years, and I think being embedded in a business school helps us as well. Our students have a very strong business background. They have to pass accounting and finance courses. They have that strong kind of analytical background. And then they take their hospitality courses. We have a lot of students that are, we’re known for students with grit. That don’t get their hands dirty and are willing to like, do the, do the operations type jobs. I’ll say that, you know, operations jobs are the foundation of kind of understanding the business, right? You might wanna be a revenue manager, but you don’t really understand what revenue management is about until you work the front desk and understand that business. Absolutely. So, you know, for a long time, we’ve, you know, we’re at a top business school. We’re at a large state university for a long time. We’ve put students into the ecosystem. So when people think about us, they think about those students, and we’re gonna build upon that going forward. So, we we’re working on a strategic plan to kinda strengthen those fundamentals as well as specialize in and expand our portfolio to things like entertainment and sports, which is all about hospitality, right? Absolutely. Because students today, they really passionate about live events and sports and entertainment. And that’s all part of that hospitality ecosystem, right? Hospitality is part of most things we do. It’s like we’re in a service economy. We’re in experience economy. Most of the qualities you learn in a hospitality degree, you can apply in any type of business. So I’m very proud of the fact that we are at, we’re an ACSB accredited school, so we have that business foundation. At the same time we have specialized interest in things that are really important to hospitality. So franchising is one of those that I think we can build upon going forward. Ryan Embree: I mean, you talk about that younger generation loving live events. I mean, look on social media and you also see, them standing in line for food and beverage item. Like that there’s such passion, and that younger generation that they can bring to hospitality and we get the privilege of serving them. So, one of the places where you have a strong alumni presence and even student presence. And the reason we’re here is covering the Hunter Conference 2026 over at the brand new beautiful Signia Hilton, Atlanta. Like I said, a lot of, Georgia State involvement there. Special relationship between the two organizations. Give us some history there and how that’s evolved over the last couple decades. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Absolutely. So it’s a very special relationship. We are one of the co-founders of the Hunter Conference, starting in 1989, with less than a hundred people. And now we have 2000 industry professionals coming to Atlanta from one of the largest hospitality real estate conferences, in the U.S. So obviously the Hunters have a scholarship. We have students, our students run the conference, right? So Sarah [Moss] is the Chief of Staff, is one of our former students. Maddie [Thibodeaux] runs a conference, is one of our former students, previously an intern. So we have an internship program, that we run where this year, Heather was the, the intern there, really helps us to get those students start working in, you know, an amazing event and expose those students and all our students have access to the Hunter Conference. So regardless if you’re a real estate student or a finance student, a hospitality student, psychology student, you can access the conference. We also, Mitch Shaw, endowed the Bradshaw Speaker series, in honor of his father. And every year, we have amazing, amazing person from industry come and talk about their life journey. And so Tony Ressler was the speaker this year, transformer of the Centennial Yards, investing in the owner of the Hawks, and exposes our students to those industry professionals. And so I look forward to every year for us to have that event. It’s very special relationship that benefits our students and benefits our faculty. Getting access to that. And it’s less than a mile from here. Right. So we, I can walk from my office down to the Signia Hotel, look at all the development down there, engage our students with amazing content. Ryan Embree: What, what an opportunity for your students to be involved in that event. And, you know, we just talked about the power of mentors, right? And there could be, your mentor is sitting right there. I mean, it, it’s an incredible conference. We have the privilege of covering it over the past couple years. Now, as it enters its new chapter at the Signia, it continues to just grow and grow and really appreciate the relationship that Georgia State has there. And it’s so cool to see those students, we’ve seen students at that conference from, from all over the country, love to see that. Because again, those are those opportunities that we talked about where it’s like, you gotta take advantage of that and you have it less than a mile, you know, away from your campus. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : Yeah. And the thing is that when you talk about mentors is that, you know, many of our students, their parents, they’re first generation college students. They’re first generation college graduates. Like, I’m a first generation college graduate immigrant to the U.S. Your parents really don’t know how to help you in that. So, especially for our students and other students, they’re first generation graduates, they need those mentors to help them. So they don’t have parents that are working in the corporate environment that are telling them to get this internship. And so I would say, you know, if you’re if you’re opportunity to mentor a student, you can change the trajectory of their lives. And that is gonna pay dividends in the future. There’s nothing more rewarding than looking at a student and seeing their, their change over time and their position in an industry. Ryan Embree: It’s a great segue ’cause we’re gonna give some advice here to a couple exciting chapters and young professionals lives. What advice would you give to hospitality students right now? Because right now, you know, I pose this question by always saying, if I were, going into hospitality, there’s a lot of noise outside of our industry right now about AI and technology taking jobs. And we’ve talked about this where it might kind of be an opportunity for hospitality right now. So what advice would you share with them kind of hearing this? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : I tell all the marketing students and the finance students, the CIS students come to hospitality. We got jobs. AI is gonna impact our industry, right. But we’re always gonna need that personal touch. We’re always gonna have to have that touch with the customer and have those personal relationships. And so understanding how AI is gonna impact the industry is important. We’re even changing some of our courses to better understand how we can use these tools to improve performance, to improve customer satisfaction, to reduce wait times. But at the end of the day, we’re in a human business, right? We’re about human experiences and people crave human experiences, right? So, you know, the live events, the reason why we love live events is because we live in the digital world a lot. And so this is the, this is I think a turning point for hospitality for us to really become central to people’s lives. Post pandemic, people want to connect with other people. We are in the business of creating amazing experiences. And if we can create American amazing experiences and bring people together, that’s what hospitality is about. So I would tell students, students that are graduating, this is an amazing opportunity for you. Go out there, find a company that you are passionate about and work hard and work in operations, understand the business. This is your opportunity to, people say, I don’t wanna work in operations. I understand the business. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you. Who knows what’s gonna happen in the future. But I’ll say, we have jobs and we will have jobs in the future. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And when you said that operations point, I love it. ’cause you’d be surprised how many front desk agents, bellmans, I’ve talked to across the, across the table that are now in corporate America because, but that’s where they had their start, and they attribute a lot of their success to saying, I was on the front line doing these jobs, doing these work. That’s where again, whether it’s a first job, entry-level job or whether it’s an internship can be so formative and foundational for your career. Now, let’s turn our attention to maybe incoming freshmen, right? They got the next four years daunting before they graduate and get out into the, to the world. What advice would you give them coming to Georgia State and the Day Hospitality School? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : I would say take advantage of that time, right? So these are four years in which you can do anything you want. So have some fun, right. Go to events, post pandemic. You know, we we’re somewhat of a commuter school. We have dorms on campus, but a lot of our students are still living at home. So it may take some effort to get in a car drive downtown and meet up with an industry professional, but that’s where the value is. That’s why you’re in Atlanta, right? That’s where the school is about network. Meeting people, learning about other people, creating that network. And I would say get an internship from day one, look for an internship every year, get an internship. That summertime is a time in which you can invest in yourself. And classes are one thing, but really college is a lot about trying to figure out what you wanna do besides just the classes. Select your classes you want to take, and then engage in clubs and go do study abroad. Both my kids are Georgia State. Were Georgia State students, and go do study abroad. Go do whatever you want. This is a time in your life to explore. And you don’t have a mortgage. You might not have a car. You can do anything you want. And we’re there to support you. If you want an internship in Atlanta and you’re a Georgia State student, we can find you one. So, I mean, that to me is like, just be excited about that time of your life and AI, you know, AI is gonna impact our industry, but it’s not gonna take our jobs. Ryan Embree: And, and raise your hand and volunteer. I mean, this you got the World Cup. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to be involved in something in this amazing city. I mean, there was only a select number of cities, Atlanta being one of them. What an opportunity to be involved in an event that is gonna span maybe something you look back on, where people are coming from all over the world, to be here in Atlanta. So I love that advice, especially for those younger freshmen, just starting their journey. Well, so now we’re gonna, now we’re gonna share a little bit about your vision. So as we wrap up today, you talked about the strategic plan. What’s your vision as you look at the second half of the 2020s for the school here? Dr. Benjamin Lawrence : So we’re really focused on broadening, hospitality past hotels and restaurants and focusing on experiences. And so we really want to be the school that drives and understands how people wanna live their lives through experiences. And so focusing on, on entertainment, focusing on sports focusing on live events, focusing on hotels and restaurants. But people go to restaurants for, for different reasons, right? The transactional component of a restaurant, ordering online and Uber, that’s important. But the other side of going to restaurant is celebrating, right? Sure. And engaging with the people. And like, and you gotta understand where you are. Are you providing a transactional type approach where you’re just giving a meal or you are providing an experience. And we feel that the, there’s lots of value in creating those experiences. And so when you think about hospitality as creating memorable experiences, really broadens the perspective. Every time of service is about creating an experience. And so our plan is to focus on experiences generally, and then also to invite students that aren’t hospitality students to understand the business. So, you know, hospitality programs and business schools are never gonna be huge, right? You have other departments, but what we can do is we can get a marketing student say, listen, come to Hunter and you realize that like they may be maybe 20% of people in that pool are marketing people, right? Sales and marketing. Or accounting. So exposing hospitality to a broad set of students to show them the opportunities, right? We have a lot of opportunity for students. The trajectory of those students that are hardworking, that wanna it is, is very steep. And so that is our strategic plan going forward to figure out how do we can expose hospitality generally to the whole university, not just the school of business. And then to focus on being experts in creating memorable experiences. And I’m excited about the future. We’re in Atlanta, we’re at Georgia State. We have so many positive attributes. We’re investing $80 million in our campus downtown. If you haven’t had an opportunity to come downtown Atlanta, let me know. Send me an email, because we are transforming, downtown Atlanta, and it’s a place that people want to work, play, and stay. And, that’s just gonna improve as we invest in Centennial Yards and the stadium complex. Ryan Embree: One of the advice I always received was talking about the investment behind a school. If you see that it’s growing, it’s a growing university, there’s investment into it, it’s a place that you want to be so, certainly reflected here at Georgia State. Those experiences that you talked about so important. I mean, think about when you were in hospitality school, even when I was in hospitality school. Now the, the lanes of hospitality and specialties that you can get your degrees in because it encompasses just so much right now and it continues to grow. And as far as exposing more and more people to hospitality and its opportunities, it’s exactly what we’re here to do on the TMG campus cross. So we are so happy that you had us here and, sat down with us and, and took some time outta your day to do this with us. Dr. Benjamin Lawrence: Thank you so much. You’re doing important work. And go Panthers! Ryan Embree: Alright. Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time on the SuiteSpot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Celebrating 200 episodes of the Suite Spot! 🎉✨ The hospitality landscape has undergone a radical transformation since our first episode. In this milestone celebration, host Ryan Embree takes a retrospective look at the Suite Spot’s journey from Episode 1 to Episode 200. The conversation dives deep into the accelerating pace of technology adoption and the digital transformation that has redefined the guest experience over the last several years in hospitality. Whether you’ve been with us since the beginning or are just joining the journey, tune in to hear what Ryan is most looking forward to as the Suite Spot embarks on its next 100 episodes. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Cassady Quintana: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Suite Spot. My name is Cassady Quintana and I’m the brand ambassador at Travel Media Group. Today’s episode is a little bit different, but very special as we celebrate our 200th episode. We’re flipping the script a little bit. Instead, our usual host, Ryan Embree, is stepping into the guest spot. Over the past 200 episodes, Ryan has led countless conversations with industry experts, leaders, and tons of insights. But today we are turning the spotlight on him. So whether this is your first episode with us or your 200th, we’re super excited you’re here. And Ryan, welcome to the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Thank you. Thank you. It’s, it’s a bit odd to be on the side of the mic, but I like it. Let’s do this. Cassady Quintana: I’m super excited. I feel like, you know, you’ve led countless conversations and, but not many people may know much about your story. So, before we jump into a little bit deeper conversation, tell us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to this spot. Ryan Embree: Yeah, so, you know, I’ve had the, the privilege and opportunity to start my hospitality journey and career, to be honest with you, like a lot of our guests have, which is right on the front line of hospitality. And I started as a kind of a pool bar server out at the Gaylord Texan, a beautiful, beautiful property out there in Grapevine, Texas, which I still visit to this day as a guest. And then had the opportunity to work at some incredible, resorts out here in Orlando where I, where I’m based point Orlando, where I was a bellman, and then eventually a front desk agent. And then the Grand Bohemian, which is a downtown property, very different from the resort property that you see in Orlando. Gave me a completely different type of experience traveler segment. Again, started there as a bellman, but also, moved through operations to the front desk as well. It was some great experience that kind of got me there. I took a pause from hospitality and went into kinda, apartments and residential for a couple years up in Atlanta, but always had a passion for being in hospitality and eventually got the opportunity to come back down here to Travel Media Group, here where we partner with so many hotels and resorts across the globe. And then kind of led to this podcast, which we’re gonna talk about today, which is, which is all of the subject matter today. Cassady Quintana: Yes, absolutely. It’s awesome hearing your history. Because like you said, it’s similar to a lot of the guests that you have on the podcast. You know, you kind of maybe don’t know if that’s gonna be your passion, but you get into it and then you end up never leaving it. So, as you stepped into this role at Travel Media Group, you started on one side and you ended up in marketing. What was kind of the inspiration behind the Suite Spot and how, how did that come to fruition? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, honestly, it was inspired by just trying to educate hoteliers and hospitality about digital marketing a a topic and a subject that changes so frequently and so often, right? I mean, I think some of the episodes that we did at the very beginning of this podcast aren’t even relevant today because of the amount of change and transformation that has happened in this industry. And it makes for an extremely exciting and compelling subject matter to talk to those who are on the front lines and who are experiencing it from day to day. So it always keeps me on my toes about the subjects and topics that we talk about. But, you know, a lot of the series came from inspiration based on the conversations that we’re having every single day. You know, some of those leaders that I talked to, so many of their stories started on the front lines and, and they kind of fell into the career, like you were saying, Cassady. And what I wanted to do is see, you know, we have such amazing hospitality schools over the, the entire country, especially right here in Florida. One of the main inspirations of our TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl was to showcase that, to show young hospitality professionals that this doesn’t just need to be a summer job that you fall into and are there for a 30 year career. There’s career paths, there’s growth here, and it’s such an exciting industry. So a lot of the inspiration for some of the series and subject matter that we do know, another one with our Spotlight series where I’ve had the privilege and opportunity to showcase some of the most incredible hotels are based on the fact that at Travel Media Group, we work and we partner with those hotels and resorts. Whether it’s managing their guest feedback or whether it’s managing their social media and creating a unique and content for them, whether it’s video or social content, and to be able to showcase some of those properties has just been such an amazing experience. And something, you know, I learn something every single day. Cassady Quintana: Oh, yeah, me too. And I’m glad you brought up this series that we do on the podcast, because that kind of leads me into my next question. If you had to take everything you’ve been able to do over the last 200 episodes, what would be your favorite part about hosting the Suite Spot? Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think we’re gonna talk about it here in a minute, but I think it’s about just the, the transformation that has happened since the beginning of this podcast. You know, Suite Spot episode one, which I encourage any of my listeners. Do not go back and listen to that. It was my first time doing this two, here we are at Suite Spot 200, 8 years later, and how much has changed? I love kind of leaning into that and seeing, just in the, something that I remember in Hospitality school, my professors and teachers telling me that hospitality is literally the oldest profession out there for sure. It was the first thing hosting people and how much has changed just in an eight year span in 200 episodes, but also learning about people’s journeys and stories. I know I shared a little bit about mine, but it truly is one of my favorite questions to open up the podcast with talking about people and their journey because it is such a melting pot of experience that we have in hospitality. It makes for some really compelling content. And you’ll find that a lot of the guests that I have have a particular mentor or an experience that really opens up their eyes, Cassady, and changes and transforms the way that they view their career. Whether, and that’s why I always encourage, whether you’re a young hospitality professional or a more seasoned one, look for those opportunities to connect with someone there, because so many of those stories have someone that’s been meant so much to them, right. Has been kind of the guide to them, their Sherpa, so to speak, on their hospitality journey, and has led them to a place that they have just this incredible passion and love for our industry, which, so I love to hear that. And just again, the melting pot of brands. You know, when someone says, I worked at Hilton for 10 years and then moved to IHG or Marriott and, and I was, you know, an independent hotelier, and then I moved to a more branded hotel. I worked at a small, independent, or a major convention resort. All of those experiences shape who you are as a hospitality professional. It gives you lessons. So it kind of like makes this skillset that’s so unique that no two hospitality professionals are the same. And I find it absolutely fascinating to dig into that. Cassady Quintana: No, I love that because every conversation you’ve had listening to it, it’s, you know, the principles of hospitality stay the same, but their stories are completely different, like you said. And even one person story that at a boutique hotel is completely different than their experience at a branded hotel. So how much, you know, again, those principles stay the same, but how diverse your career and hospitality can be in the multiple different departments you can even be in with one hotel. So, you know, you mentioned how much hospitality has changed since you started the Suite Spot. What’s kind of the biggest change that you’ve seen either in digital marketing or hospitality in general since episode one to now episode 200? Ryan Embree: I think it is the digital marketing aspect of it and the technology. I mean, I don’t think we can do a Suite Spot episode now without talking about AI and technology. Right? And you are spot on Cassady with the, the premise of the principles of hospitality have stayed the same, but the way that we engage with it, the way that our travelers engage with technology or the expectations of technology have completely flipped upside down. And like I mentioned before, I think some of the episodes that I did early on educating some of these hoteliers, I mean, we had episodes very early on, Cassady, that we’re talking about the importance of having managing your reputation on review sites, the importance of posting on social media. You know, some of those tips and tricks that I was sharing then would be just second nature to a seasoned hospitality professional. They would be like, why are you educating me on this? I know, I know how much of an impact it makes. But that’s so cool to see that transformation of one time. You know, the inspiration being of, to educate hoteliers on the importance of these things to now being like, now we’re more in depth conversations. Now we’re sharing actionable insights with our hoteliers on how to respond to guest feedback, how AI search is playing into, is playing into some of this content. It’s very, very exciting to be, but that, that is probably one of the biggest changes that I’ve seen since, since starting. This is the receptiveness to digital marketing and technology. And it’s really just become now such a foundational piece to success to any hotel or portfolio. Cassady Quintana: I couldn’t agree more. And one of my favorite things about the Suite Spot is when you always ask your guests to kind of look in that crystal ball into the future of hospitality. So I’m gonna do the opposite with you. If you could go back eight years to younger Ryan, what’s one piece of advice you would give him before starting this, this podcast? Ryan Embree: Great question. I think, listen, very early on we kind of didn’t know what we had with this Suite Spot. We had a lot of conversations about, I remember back in the episodes 40 to 80 about seeing if, if there was an appetite for this out there. And, we started getting more and more guests and, and started to get more and more people reach out to us wanting to be and share their insights. Which I just, again, so privileged for that opportunity, but just to listen and, and ask more questions. Yeah. I mean, I think you can never, the experience that we have, we live sometimes entire, just based on our business, that being open 365 24/7, we can live almost an entire life in the span of six months. Right? I mean, you think about some of the fires that you have to put out, some of the incredible experiences that you’re able to share or been through in six months, that time sometimes spans an entire career for people outside of hospitality because of the nature of our industry. So you cannot get enough insights experience. There’s been an experience, it’s happened before at a hotel. You know, someone has put their laundry on a fire sprinkler, and they’ve seen that kind of bust open an entire floor. We’ve had elevators go down where guests are stuck. There’s always a story for something. There’s always a solution for something. There’s also a special moment. You know, I know I tend, we tend to sometimes think about those as, oh man, this was the worst case scenario. But you really think about some of the incredible special moments that happen in our industry. It’s so unique. People getting married when loved ones are sick, and we’re hosting them at our hotel hospitality. We are there for travelers and guests at sometimes the most critical points and pieces of their life. And we get to be a part of that. There’s not a lot of injuries, industries that can say that. So, listen and ask questions. That’s what I would say. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I love that. I think that’s great advice. So, you just talked about all these experiences and stories you’ve heard. Are there any episodes or particular guests that really stand out as your favorite or one that’s really memorable to you? Ryan Embree: Again, another great question. You know, I think for me, the most memorable episodes, are the ones that I’ve recently been able to do where we’re covering hospitality events. I mention this on the podcast a lot. There’s something special that happens when hospitality professionals are in the same room together. They share the same challenges and struggles. They’re seeing the same trends. Even though the markets and segments are completely different, a lot of times you’re seeing the same trends. Sometimes those conversations at those events that we have are very therapeutic for a lot of hospitality professionals that I talk to. Of like, oh my goodness, I’m sharing in the struggle or challenge with someone else. They understand where I’m coming from here. But it also could set the foundation for fundamental change in the hospitality industry, which I think is so important. And, you know, one of the things, we obviously had to do this podcast through the pandemic right? In 2020. And there were those conversations that I would have with professionals, and I’d ask them, I mean, you’d flat out, do you think we’ll ever be traveling again to conventions or will business travel ever come back? Right. I think that’s the way I specifically phrased it. And a lot of them were like, yes. And, and predicted, you know, looked into that crystal ball and said, absolutely, there’s something special that happens. I hundred percent agree with it. It was something that was missed. We talk about that term revenge travel that carried us through those, the early 2020s. But I think that there’s like this revenge connection that happened at those events where you come and, and I think you go to those events after losing it for a couple years with a different mindset that you had before. I think people genuinely connect differently now than they did prior to the pandemic, right. Because it was taken away from them. So those are the most special moments is to be able to connect with hospitality professionals at those events. And we’ve had the privilege of covering quite a few of them. And hope we get the opportunities to do more. So we’ve got some new ones on the horizon, by the way, so stay tuned for that. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, for sure. Well, I love that story about the Pandemic, because especially now too, we’re in such a digital first world that even going to those conferences now, you know, we’re a few years past the pandemic, but it’s still special because we are so digital first, and we don’t get to meet people outside of our hotel or our management group that often. So being able to hear, and like you said earlier, the stories and we’re going through the same struggles or we’re celebrating the same things, or we get to learn new techniques or a way that another property is doing something that we would have never thought of on our own. So, super exciting and yeah, I’m super excited for the conferences and shows that we’re gonna get to go to in the future. So speaking of the future, looking into that crystal ball, like you like to say, what’s next for the Suite Spot after episode 200? Ryan Embree: Hopefully it’s a lot more episodes and we’ve had some incredible guests over the last 200 episodes. I’m not sure if going back in time talking to myself, giving him that advice to listen and ask questions. I’m not sure if I could have predicted that we’d be here at 200 episodes. So it’s such a cool accomplishment. But what I look forward to growing the podcast in different ways, I have shared this before. I’m a UCF Rosen grad. So the Hospitality school and TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl was something very near and dear to my heart when we launched it. And sitting on stage with Dr. Mejia at UCF, where at my alma mater where I went to school, it was a dream come true for me. And the experience of being able to go to UNLV and FIU and FAU Georgia State now and seeing those series grow has been just been so fortunate. Ryan Embree: But what I’m most excited about are some of the other pathways and opportunity that, that it’s creating because it’s not slowing down, which is, which I love, right? The appetite, which we’re always so nervous about early on in our industry just continues to grow. I mean, every day we’re getting more and more interest or people reaching out, being like, I wanna share this about my brand. We’ve got so many things to celebrate in hospitality. And one of the things is you Cassady and, and your new, Social Success Series, which again, the appetite for that has just been absolutely incredible, the work you’re doing and the hospitality professionals that you’re talking to. So I’m very excited for the work that you’re doing, Cassady, and, and how you’re going to help grow the Suite Spot. But it’s just been, it’s been a wild, crazy ride. And we’re just going really where the current takes us at this point. And it’s up to this point, has led to some really, really cool opportunities. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. Well, I’m super excited to have been able to join this podcast with you and maybe take a little bit of a different avenue with the social media and social success in that, in that regard. So definitely, you know, we’re kind of covering all grounds in hospitality now. I feel like we’re, we’re hitting on all cylinders. So how do you kind of hope that the Suite Spot continues to support and influence the hospitality industry moving forward? Ryan Embree: Yeah, you know, I, again, I hope that the appetite remains really, really high for this type of information. And I think it has, I mean, we have that I talked about that genuine connection that happens at conferences and hospitality events. I can feel that when we do episodes and panels, which we’re hoping to introduce to the Suite Spot in the future as well, to get multiple point of views, because you’re absolutely right, Cassady, what you’re talking about is a completely different lane. It’s very fast changing, very fast paced. Hotels are trying to navigate these waters of social media and how they’re changing. They’re trying to get a leg up on the algorithm. Again, I think early on we did an entire episode based on Instagram reels introducing it. And now there’s a whole strategy probably just dedicated Instagram reels and Facebook reels and, and how that changes. I mean, some of the, with social media, I mean, we look at platforms that a lot of people look at and say, you know, younger kids are saying, I, I’m not gonna be on a Facebook that’s an old person’s social media. I mean, that is the type of transition that we’re, that that transformation that we’re talking about today. So I hope to again, continue to educate and be able to share these hospitality leaders insights and what they’re hearing, what they’re seeing, so that hospitality can grow together. Because I think, I know they’re, obviously, we have a competitive space here and everyone’s fighting for occupancy and ADR but at the end of the day, our industry moves the fastest when, when we’re all on the same team, when we’re sharing these insights and we’re not in these silos and we’re in this really cool time right now where we have so much data, so much opportunity to use that data in a variety of different ways. I hope to be able to share some of those insights and use the podcast as a medium so that we can bridge some of these gaps that we’re seeing to hopefully just continue to enhance the guest experience. Cassady Quintana: Well, I think you’ll have no problem doing that because every episode you put out, I learned something new. There’s always something new to talk about, a new platform, a new strategy. So I think that’s the beauty of hospitality and what you’re doing at the Suite Spot is there’s never gonna be something we can’t talk about. We’re not gonna run out of things to talk about. Like some other industries that stay a little bit the same, right? Technology’s always advancing, especially with AI. So the subjects are endless and I think the Suite Spot, maybe we’ll be sitting here in a few years hitting episode 400, who knows? But yeah. So as we kind of wrap up here, is there anything else you would like to say to your listeners maybe that have been with you since the beginning? Or anybody that’s, you know, starting to listen this year? Ryan Embree: I think, you know, my biggest message to them and and to everyone is, is thank you. I remember doing this podcast and, and it was a solo episode on episode 100, where we talked about some of our most popular episodes and we got to 200 very, very quickly. I feel like that was just like last week, right? But I wanna say thank you to all of our guests that kind of made this possible, but also to everyone that has helped make the podcast what it is. So Brandon Bell, who edits all of our, our podcast, Bary Gordon, who does the, the graphic design and, and makes all of our clips look so amazing and beautiful, Cassady, you, our brand ambassador, taking, taking the lead on a new series for the podcast and helping grow that, my entire marketing team, the marketing coordinators that we’ve had in the past, I mean, you do something 200 times, there’s so many hands that play a part in that. Ryan Embree: So I’m just so grateful for that, grateful for my old marketing director, Anne Sandoval, who came to me with this idea to start a podcast, to my leadership team here at Travel Media Group, Dana Singer, our president, who has believed in me through all of this. So there’s so many people I can thank, but I just, I look at the 200 episodes as just with immense gratitude and appreciation for the journey that’s led me here. And it’s a cool, exciting milestone and chapter. It’s a number, but, you know, I think the work is not done. I want continue to grow our audience, grow the insights and anything that we can do to push our industry forward. So thank you all. Thank all of our listeners for this to make this milestone so special. Cassady Quintana: Well, absolutely. Well thank you to you, Ryan, as well, for going to all these events and these campuses and these locations to bring us this awesome content. Because without you there would be no Suite Spot. You know, you’re the brains behind it and you are the vision. So thank you for, you know, sacrificing some of your personal time to go to these different places and bring us these episodes. Because like I said, we’re learning something new every single time. So I’m excited to be a part of the journey and see, you know, just how far we can continue the Suite Spot. And there is no ceiling for us right now. So I’m super excited to continue that with you. But thank you and thank you to all of our listeners for listening to this episode of The Suite Spot, and we will see you on the next one. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this special episode of the Social Success Series Podcast, host and Travel Media Group Brand Ambassador, Cassady Quintana, sits down with the Brand Social Media Manager at Arlo Hotels, Dino Jevric, so discuss the ever shifting landscape of social media and how hoteliers can optimize their digital presence on platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and booking sites. Cassady Quintana: Welcome to the Social Success Podcast, where we have conversations with top hospitality professionals about successful digital marketing strategies, emerging trends, and how to connect with today’s travelers. I’m your host, Cassady Quintana. Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Social Success Podcast, a Suite Spot Podcast powered by Travel Media Group. I’m your host, Cassady Quintana, and today we’re gonna be talking about the importance of having an authentic social media strategy. Joining me today is Dino Jevric, Social Media Manager at Arlo Hotels. Dino, thank you for joining me. Dino Jevric: Thank you for having me. So excited. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, me too. So, to start, tell us a little bit about your role, maybe some of your history and how you got involved at Arlo Hotels. Dino Jevric: Yeah, so, I’m the social media manager at Arlo, so I lead social media brand wide, across multiple properties and outlets. And basically my role sits at the intersection of brand content and performance. So, from day to day, as you probably know in social, it’s a different challenge every day. There are some days where I’m working on the production side of things. Some days I’m working on planning performance on other days. So it’s a constant mix of creative and analytical work. And I think ultimately in my role, I’m not just focused on making things look good, I’m focused on how our content actually influences our guests journey. And that’s all the way from discovery to conversion. And kind of how social plays a role in every step of that process. So that’s basically my role at large. And yeah, that kind of sums it all up. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, no, totally. That’s awesome. And kind of, we’re seeing this evolution of social media. So in your experience, how are you seeing how people are discovering hotels through social media now versus maybe how we used to through Google or OTAs? Dino Jevric: I think that there’s definitely a very, very big shift of how people have been discovering hotels, especially in recent times. You know, historically people have always gone to, you know, straight to Google and asked, you know, best hotels in X area, right? Or they go straight to the OTAs, like TripAdvisor and stuff to find out what people are saying and, you know, different reviewers and stuff. But I think that now what we’re really seeing is that people are using social media in its place, and they’re using social media as a search engine, and people are turning to platforms like TikTok or Instagram to, you know, examine their options and see what hotels look like in real life and hear experiences of what it’s like to stay there. And not only are we like, and that’s only from, you know, the top of the funnel, what we’re really used to seeing, but we’re now actually seeing it move down further into the funnel into actual booking behavior. So with platforms like TikTok where they recently integrated booking.com and Expedia directly into the app, it’s allowing viewers to book without ever having to leave the platform. So they’re discovering hotels there, they’re seeing what the hotel stay is like, but then they’re also now a lot of the opportunity to book through these apps. And on top of that like we’re seeing this gap between OTAs and social media really closing, Expedia did a report recently where they found that 80% of travelers still use OTAs,at some point in the booking journey. However, social media isn’t falling far behind with nearly 60% of travelers also using social media in their path. So I think that we’re really starting to see that gap shorten, and yeah, that’s kind of what the future of social media with the travel industry is where it’s going. Cassady Quintana: And it’s kind of crazy to see because those integrations, like you mentioned with Expedia on Instagram, booking.com, on TikTok, like how quickly that happened and how quickly it’s gonna continue to happen. So I always think about hotels that aren’t on social media all, or still haven’t bought into how important social media is, and like how far they’re falling behind, and it’s just gonna continue to get worse. So as we see that kind of shift happening, what do you think hotels should be thinking about the most when they’re starting to plan their social media content for the upcoming month? Like, what’s really important and what should they keep in the front of their minds? Dino Jevric: I think ultimately hotels need to realize that social media is more than just a marketing channel. I think, you know, historically social media has just been a place for hotels to kind of post pretty photos and, you know, showcase the spaces in their hotels. But I think that content is now moving away from being aspirational. And it needs to, now, because of this introduction of being able to book on these platforms, it needs to now be way more informative and decision driving. So, you know, instead of those static, you know, luxe polish content and photos, hotels need to invest in reality. And that’s a really big thing that we’ve been doing at Arlo, is really showcasing the hotel from a real standpoint and really showcasing the experience that you get before you even step onto property. So yeah, in the end, the hotels that are really gonna win are the ones that are treating social as a bridge between inspiration and conversion, rather than just a place to post content. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. I agree. And I kind of like this shift in Instagram, right? When Instagram first came out, it was super, you gotta add a filter, it’s gotta be the perfect shot. Like it needs to look its best. And now it’s the total opposite because of AI and because of all this fake things we’re being fed, Instagram’s kind of reverting back to, well, no, we wanna see real people. We wanna see real events, we wanna be able to see ourselves in those experiences. So kind of what type of content do you think is performing best when people are in that discovery phase or when they’re actively looking for somewhere to stay? Dino Jevric: I mean, the answer is very, very obvious. I think it needs to feel real. The type of content that you need to be showcasing is stuff that feels real. You know, no one really wants to see another photo of, you know, a perfectly made bed. No one wants to see, you know, those still life images of, you know, your lobby. People really want to know what the experience actually looks like rather than just a polished version of it. And I think targeting concepts like a day in the life, or even like taking people around the neighborhood are different ways that people can showcase that and that brands can really capitalize on these things. We’ve implemented this a lot at Arlo and we’ve seen like very sizable results from it. So yeah, I think that that’s really the key is kind of just showcasing the real side of hotel content. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, it’s interesting ’cause some of the properties we work with here at TMG, it’s like they have these wonderful photos that are, you can definitely tell they had a photographer come and take these photos, right? And we’re like, that is so great for your website, but this is not gonna move the needle on social media, right? This, there’s nobody in this photo that’s, it’s empty, it’s an empty room, it’s an empty lobby. Like that’s not how your hotel feels on a regular basis. So how can we make that feel better? And, you know, sometimes we’re implementing AI, Hey, can you add a person at the front desk? Or we’re finding ways to make it feel a little bit more real. So I wanna shift gears a little bit, and you know, another part of your role is you’re managing multiple properties within one brand. So what do you think is like the biggest challenge for people that are in that kind of position? Dino Jevric: I think personally the biggest challenge for me, I mean, managing the social for all these different properties is a challenge within itself. But I think that personally the biggest challenge for me has always been balancing those different voices and personalities. For those who are not familiar with the Arlo brand, we are lifestyle hotel brand with seven properties in the United States. We have four in New York, we have a Chicago location, Miami and DC which is newly opened. And all these properties really shine in their own way. Williamsburg is known for its nightlife, Miami, it’s known for its leisure and laid back vibe. DC is known for his its historical perspective. So we really wanted to find a way to make all of these brands unify under this umbrella social media account, but then also just showcasing what makes each property unique. And that was a really big focus for me when I joined Arlo was kind of trying to build that consistent brand voice. And I think that’s where a lot of hotels, especially hotels that are managing more than one property, tend to struggle a lot, is kind of protecting the individuality of each location and really making location shine. And there are some brands that, you know, venture in the way in the path of creating different accounts for different locations. And I think that for us, the number one thing was, you know, Arlo is a brand, Arlo is a community at its highest point Arlo is, it’s more than just separating properties. It’s all about Arlo as a brand. And I think that’s something that each property does withhold, but they each showcase it in their own way. So yeah, I just, I wanted everything to feel cohesive and not copy and pasted. So yeah that would be the biggest challenge. And I think that we’ve definitely succeeded in that. Cassady Quintana: Well, I don’t wanna make you give away any of your secrets at Arlo, but how do you find that balance between the brand voice, but also letting each property still show some of their personality? Dino Jevric: I think, and I think the number one thing that people would think about is, you know, that there has to be some sort of like guideline. There has to be like this of rules that we have. You know, you can’t talk about this about in regards to this hotel, you can’t do this in regards to this hotel. And I think that it’s not, it’s less about strict, a strict set of rules and it’s more about a framework. There are things that stay consistent across the board. You know, when we’re talking about a brand, like, the service that we provide is consistent. The community that we cater to is consistent. And there are things that do change each property, like I mentioned, like we have Williamsburg that is very historically known for its rooftop parties, for its nightlife. And we’d like to cater to that. However, when we have a property like Miami who also does activate and does have these nightlife events and stuff, we find that we’d like to talk about that and we’d like to, to capitalize on that, but we gotta do that in another, in a different way because of the difference in personality. So the consistency comes from the foundation, but the personality comes from the location. So that’s kind of what that balance is and what makes the content feel both cohesive and still authentic in each space. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I love that. That’s awesome. And I feel like a lot of hotels, ones that we’ve talked to, they understand the importance of social media, but a lot of the time they get stuck because they feel like they’ve already talked about every single, every single thing there is to talk about their property, right? We’ve already posted about our rooms, we’ve already posted about our pool, we’ve already posted about our events, but I feel like a lot of the time hotels forget that their hotel is just one small part of a person’s trip where their experience and there’s a lot of things happening around the hotel, right? So do you guys ever tailor content differently depending on the location, which you touched on a little bit, or the audience for that specific property? Dino Jevric: Yeah, I mean, we do it all the time. I think that’s a really big part of our strategy. Like I said, each location has a different audience. It different expectations, different reasons people are staying there. In Midtown we probably have a lot of people who are staying, it’s their first visit to New York, it’s in a very central location. You’re, you know, minutes away from 42nd street or minutes away from Madison Square Garden. So that could be a reason that people are staying in Midtown. But then when we have, you know, our other New York City property, Williamsburg, people say there are a lot for leisure, people say there are a lot to experience the nightlife aspects. So there are lots of different demographics that we’re targeting and different reasons that people are staying there. So our content needs to reflect that while the brand does remain consistent, the way we’re bringing it to life on our social media is really tailored to the audience that we’re trying to reach. So yeah, we’ve done this in a different, in different ways of showcasing the different locations on our property, on our social media accounts. And I think that we’re doing a great job in that. Cassady Quintana: And I think even beyond just the location, there’s a lot of opportunity for hotels to partner with other local businesses or the culture that’s in that area. So for you and for Arlo Hotels, how important is it to highlight that local neighborhood or that culture in the social media content? Dino Jevric: I mean, Arlo is always culture first. I think that for us, it’s really, if you go on our social media, you’ll understand what I’m talking about. We really do put culture and the community at the forefront of everything that we do. And I think that it’s an essential part of our social strategy there. People aren’t just booking a room, people aren’t, I always say Arlo isn’t just a place that you rest your head at the end of the day. It’s not just a place that you come to crash and stuff like that. You know, we have so many activations, we have so many cultural moments happening on property. So ultimately people are booking our locations for an experience. And if you aren’t showcasing the neighborhood and culture, you’re really leaving out a huge part of that decision making process. So to kind of work on that and to kind of capitalize on that, we developed a series that we do on our social media called ,Know the Neighborhood. And that’s our way of bringing that concept to life. So we basically take our followers throughout the neighborhood of our different properties, and we showcase boutiques in the area, monuments in the areas, sightseeing, attractions in the area, and try to really highlight these different neighborhood gems and, and spotlights so that people can actually picture what their stay would look like beyond the hotel itself. So at the end of the day, like as much as we’d love to just showcase the hotel, I think that the neighborhood does really add a different element to that. And I think that a lot of brands need to really be focusing on that as well. Cassady Quintana: I absolutely agree. I feel like that’s something hotels forget a lot about. Again, like you said, it’s not just a place you’re laying your head at night. That’s just a small piece of your experience and it’s even important for people that may be from that area. I love that. Know Your Neighborhood series you guys are doing, because I live in Florida, I haven’t been to your property in Miami, but I would love to watch and I’d love to learn more about the area, especially if I ever do go down there and visit. Like now I feel like I know what to expect and I don’t feel as nervous. And it’s comforting to feel like you know, what the property’s gonna be like and the area too, because it can be overwhelming, especially you guys in New York, like those properties, that’s a lot. New York is a lot. So if you can feel a connection to the property, connection to the area before you even go, you’re already, you know, five steps ahead. So shifting gears a little bit, are there any trends right now? I love to talk about trends in social media because I feel like we could talk about something right now and in a few weeks it’s gonna be something new. So what trends are you noticing in hospitality, social media right now? Dino Jevric: I think a trend that is here and is here to stay, and that is really shape reshaping the social landscape in terms of hospitality, is showcasing authentic human content. And I know people might be thinking like, that’s not necessarily a trend that isn’t like, you know, a fast moving pace moment. But I think that when it comes to trends in social, in hospitality, social media, that is one of the biggest that people really do miss out on because they’re really focused on what’s culturally happening in… And that doesn’t, that, you know, that doesn’t mean that brands shouldn’t focus on what’s happening in culture and really honing in on that. I am someone who loves going off of all these different cultural moments and what people are talking about. But I think the real big general trend that we should be following is showcasing authentic human content, things that people can connect to, things that people can emotionally connect to. Dino Jevric: I think that on social media, a big issue is that we find trouble in emotionally connecting to content, which is why it’s hard for people to then book a hotel. So yeah, that’s really the key there, so doing things from showcasing your team, going behind the scenes of a big moment or event that you’re doing on your property, interviewing your GM or guest experience team, these are all things that people are really drawn to and that really promote the au authenticity and story driven moments that give them an inside look into your brand and how it actually operates. And something that we’ve actually done recently is we launched a Behind the Door series where we take our audience into these big brand moments and these behind the scenes, restaurant openings and living room gallery installations, and it really builds a connection between a brand and an individual before they even stay with you. And I think that it’s definitely important now that we are in Arlo’s tenure anniversary, that we’re leaning into this even more and bringing people closer to the brand through things like behind the scenes content and social first campaign. So really excited about, things that are coming within the next year, but this is something that we’re really, really, using as the backbone to our social media strategy. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I love that. And it’s awesome. It’s kind of the same thing I mentioned of, if you feel like, you know, the area or the property, you’re already five steps ahead. But beyond that, if you feel like you resonate with the people that work at that property, I talked about, previously in a webinar I did that, I went to resort in Mexico last year and I stalked their social media. And when I got there, I feel like I already know, I already knew the people that works there, even though I had never met them. But because that property was so adamant on posting their people, because your people is what makes your property special, right? You could have the most beautiful hotel, it could be having, it could have the most stunning amenities, but if your service and your people don’t match up to that, the experience falls short. So I love that you guys are doing that. I feel like people first is the way to do social media because of course we’re gonna connect with real people other than just a still image of an empty room. So kind of as we wrap up a little bit, I love to ask all my guests this, if you could give hoteliers that are trying to improve their social media right now, one piece of advice, what would you give them? Dino Jevric: I think that the biggest piece of advice that I would give is really focus and hone in on the ever shifting landscape that is social media. You know, social landscape is always shifting and you really need to be shifting alongside of it. It’s important to stay curious. It’s important to be culturally aware and have your finger on the pulse of all things that are happening within the hospitality industry. But it’s also important to not get too comfortable with one approach of social media. I think more importantly though is really focus on content that’s actually valuable to your audience, and not just visually appealing. I think going back to what we were talking about in terms of people just, or brands just posting images of a bed, images of an empty lobby, it’s really not driving people to your hotel. It’s probably driving them away because they really can’t connect to that. And I think that if you consistently create content that makes someone say, I could see myself staying here, or I could really see myself enjoying this experience, you’re really already ahead of most brands. So those are two pieces of advice that I would really give that are really, really important to succeeding in hospitality, social media. Cassady Quintana: I love that. And previous, you mentioned Arlo’s coming up on its 10 year anniversary. First of all, congrats to you and to the team. That’s such an awesome place to be. It’s super exciting. Do you have anything you can share with us, maybe some exciting campaigns or announcements coming up? Dino Jevric: Yeah, I mean, it’s been a long time coming. We’ve really developed as a brand over the past 10 years and we’ve succeeded in so much. But yeah, this year is our 10 year anniversary. We have amazing, amazing, amazing offers coming very, very soon. I’m pretty sure that they’re probably gonna be launched by the time this is posted, so I’ll just go ahead and talk about them. But for social specific, we’re actually launching a 10 year throwback drop. So you’re gonna be able to stay like it’s 2016 and we’re gonna be dropping $100 same day rooms every day from 10 to 11:00 AM hotel local time for those that are in different areas. But yeah, that’ll be happening every day for the rest of the year. We’re partnering with some huge social media partners to kind of get this campaign going. So yeah, I’m just really excited to see where that goes. Yeah, the brand is really happy with where we are. We owe it to the community. We owe it to the people who have been loyal guests and people who we continue to welcome every day. And yeah, we’re just really, really happy to be in this position celebrating 10 years, with you guys. Cassady Quintana: As you should be. That’s an awesome place to be and it’s super exciting. We’ll make sure we stay up to date on everything you guys are launching. So Dino, thank you so much for joining. For our listeners that are here, where can they find you? Dino Jevric: Well, you can find me. I actually just launched a new newsletter, called the Pickup Report and where I dissect what’s happening in social media, specifically within hospitality, and I dissect topics like the one that we discussed today from a creative and performance perspective. So you can find that on substack and LinkedIn. But personally, you could find me on LinkedIn, first and last name. Be happy to connect with all of you. And yeah, if anyone has any questions or anything, I’d love to discuss. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. Well, thank you Dino, again for joining me. This is such a valuable conversation and I hope our listeners get something out of it. But thank you for taking the time to join me today. Dino Jevric: Thank you so much for having me. Appreciate this opportunity. Cassady Quintana: Perfect. And thank you to all our listeners. We will see you next time on the Social Success Podcast. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcast so you don’t miss an episode. The Social Success Podcast is produced by Travel Media Group, our editor isBrandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Cassady Quintana, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.

The 2026 Hunter Conference in Atlanta Georgia was a major success! So many hospitality professionals and industry leaders converged to share insights, best practices, challenges, and strategies for the future.  The Suite Spot had the opportunity to attend the industry event and interview some of the best and brightest that hospitality has to offer. Tune in to this special episode to hear from executives, brand leaders, presidents, and more from some of the biggest brands in the hospitality industry.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. Fresh Off the highly anticipated 2026 Hunter Conference, which certainly didn’t just fit the bill. Exceeded expectations. What an incredible event, what an amazing couple days in Atlanta, Georgia at the New and iconic Signia Hilton, Atlanta. There were powerhouse panels and education, incredible networking, truly defined. Their theme was The Home of Hospitality. Certainly hit that over that next those couple days there in Atlanta, Georgia, we had the privilege of covering the event. We have some exclusive interviews to bring you, which I’m so excited to share with you on this very episode today. We visited with our friends over at Newport Hospitality. We celebrated a milestone with Hospitality America. We checked in on the development side at PM Hotel Group and sat down with the brain leader of Graduate by Hilton to talk about that exciting brand and everything that they have cooking over there. Who also knows how to throw an incredible party, which they did in tandem with the Hunter Conference, with a ludicrous concert that capped off. And just, again, an amazing couple days in Atlanta, Georgia. We’re so excited to bring you these interviews, and we’re gonna be bringing it all to you here on the sweet spot. Thanks for tuning in. Speaker 2: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot Live on location 2026 Hunter Conference. Excited to welcome in, Wayne West, the third president of Newport Hospitality Group. Wayne, thank you so much for taking some time. Wayne West III: It is a pleasure to be with you. It’s a pleasure to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, excited to be here. It’s a sleepy cold morning right now, but we’re warming things up here in Atlanta at the Hunter Conference. Tell us a little bit about your experience and, what do you think about the new location, the new digs? Wayne West III: The new location is great. We’ve been downtown at the Marriott for so many years. I think this is new. It’s fresh, it’s invigorating. It truly is. One of my favorite conferences. I mentioned to you, the Hunter Conference is a relationship kind of conference where you get to sit down and spend time with people one-on-one, whether it’s your brand, whether it’s other owners, whether it’s my peer group. So I enjoy this one a lot. Ryan Embree: I mean, it’s great because I think one of the things, you get a bunch of hospitality people in the same, in the same room. You start talking about some of the challenges that are starting to arise. And right now we got some headwinds, profit profitability, hotel margins, very slim, rising construction costs, operational costs. But you have a philosophy, control what you can control. How do you bring that philosophy to Newport Hospitality Group as we usher in 2026? Wayne West III: Number one, I have really good people. My colleagues are strong at my, my, my corporate level as well as the property level. You know, for many, many years the industry was, had a vibrant ability to drive RevPAR, and it seemed like it was increasing three to 5% every year that slowed down. We continue to push that where there’s opportunities, but what I think we do best and my operational team does best is control the big things. Control, cost, control your labor. We spend a great deal of time working on that every single day. We work with the leaders at the properties to make sure that we’ve got the appropriate, uh, levels of payroll and the appropriate levels of resources to the levels of business at the time. So I, I, I think a great deal. We’ve always spent time on that. But it’s even more and more important as your RevPAR may not be increasing as quickly as payrolls are. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Operational efficiency, really, really key. Try to look for every inch that you can get right now. We had the opportunity to meet up with your COO Brendan McCoy at the Hospitality Show out there in Denver. He was talking about the growth of, of Newport Hospitality Group and was really focused in on talking about strategic growth with the right partners. What does the right partner mean to you? And you see opportunity out there. Wayne West III: I do see opportunity. We’ve recently taken over a hotel with the perfect partner, has a few hotels, but her focus wants to be on development. She is aligned with us culturally. She has the right kind of hotel. She maintains it well, but she thinks she can make more money developing the next hotel and is leaving operations to us. So the first thing we wanna do, we wanna make sure that we align philosophically with her vision, anyone’s vision of the hotel and how it’s gonna be operated, how we’re gonna treat the guest, the employees, and how we protect her asset and grow it and make it more profitable. But I think that’s the key thing, is aligning with a partner that aligns with your vision. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And that alignment is really can be found in rooms like this, right. At a Hunter Conference, when you’re networking, you’re having conversations over that because it is key, that alignment, making sure that you and the owner are kind of hand in hand, especially in a time where it’s a little bit challenging, looking for operational efficiency. A lot of people, subject matter topics talk about AI and technology, right. Trying to fill those gaps. Talk to me a little bit about the philosophy and how you approach AI and technology. Is it more about the guest experience or employee empowerment? Wayne West III: Let’s be honest, AI has been around a long time. If you go back to revenue management 25 years ago, instead of, you know, we started leaning into computers to do some of the analysis for us. So I think this matured over the year and it continues to evolve. And I think it’s evolved expeditiously over the last few years, right? We first used ChatGTP to help us write sentences, and now we’re analyzing data. I think we’ll continue to evaluate how to make us more efficient, but really more effective with the data. I think we need to make sure we’re not consumed by the data and ask AI to help us with the right questions and get the right data to make quicker decisions and better decisions. So I think we’re testing it today, all the different kinds of AI out there. We’re testing it in all the disciplines. We’re testing it in HR, we’re testing it in operations. We’re testing it in sales and marketing. We’re testing it in HR. So I think when you apply it to those and then see what bubbles up and see how, how, what best results you get. But let’s not be consumed by it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Wayne West III: Because you gotta take care of the guests first. Ryan Embree: 100%. And I think, you add those things up, you add those little gains up, that’s, and, and kind of take a step back and look. Now you become more operationally efficient. You control what you can control what you said, and hopefully improved your business there. But that’s great perspective to look back. ’cause you’re right, technology is no stranger to our industry. It’s been there just been maybe in a little bit different path. Wayne West III: We called it it something different. Truly it is intelligence that helps make us better. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Use it correctly. Love it. So, another thing we like to try to do at these conferences is look into a crystal ball. Try to predict the future, right? Everybody’s telling you what’s next, three, six months and down the line. What’s your vision? Maybe let’s start wide at the hospitality industry and then maybe you can dial it down from Newport Hospitality. Wayne West III: Again, I think I said it early, you know, we’ve been spoiled by the ability to grow our rates every year substantially. That’s slowing down. So we’ve gotta be smarter. I think a big opportunity is food and beverage globally from the, in, from an industry standpoint, I think doing food and beverage right drives preference to your hotel. I came up in the food and beverage world, and I think when select service hotels came along, we, we weren’t as good at food and beverage as we were 20 years ago. And we’ve let outside restaurants and bars wildly successful take a piece of our, our business. So I think we can do better if we would concentrate a little more on food and beverage, finding out what the guest really wants, needs and desires are when he checks into your hotel, and that that guest will come back. It will drive preference and it’ll drive RevPAR. So I wanna concentrate on that a bit. Ryan Embree: Great differentiator there for guests. Also attracting locals. If it’s a nice restaurant, you know, it’s your hotel restaurant isn’t of that of the same 40 years ago. Right? So, um, what about Newport Hospitality Group? Will you see the vision there? Wayne West III: We’ve got a couple letters of intent out today. Great brands, great owners. Two, were buying into one or actually purchasing a hotel. It’s the right hotel in the right location at the right time. We think we add some value by some additional sales and marketing that Whitney will do with her team. Whitney and Kirsten will do, whether it’s digitally or whether it’s just a different way of looking at our guests and attracting the guests. So we’re trying to find the major brands in our niche markets. Maybe we’re not in Washington DC but we’re in Frederick, we’re not in Jacksonville downtown, we’re in Jackson, the beach of Jacksonville. So we do really well in the secondary markets. We know, well, we’re in the south, we’re in the Northeast corridor all the way down from, you know, from Brooklyn, New York to Orlando, Florida. So we’re looking for that sweet spot, but I think many, as many companies are today. But we’re trying to identify that one that we can either reposition through some capital or reposition, because we’re just gonna take a different view of, uh, the revenue side of it. Ryan Embree: Well really appreciate you taking some time and stopping by Wayne. So thank you so much for having being on the Suite Spot with us. Wayne West III: Good to be with you, Ryan. Nice to meet you. Thank you very much. Ryan Embree: We’ll talk to you next time. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. Live at the 2026 Hunter Conference here with Ben Campbell, CEO and President of Hospitality America. Ben, thanks so much for taking some time to speak with us today. Ben Campbell: Absolutely. I appreciate the time, Ryan. Ryan Embree: It’s a cold, sleepy Atlanta morning. Very cold outside. But the, it’s warm and hot energy in here. We got some panels, we got some networking going on. There was some great activations and programmings last night. First time here at the Signia Atlanta. You’ve been to Hunter a couple times. What does a successful hunter look like to you and what do you think about the new location? Ben Campbell: I love the new location. I love the marquee. I love the historic nature of it. And, and we all got used to, to the marquee and then the multi-level there. Um, here, I got here early just to figure out where everything was, uh, this time to know where I was going. But, um, what a hunter success, success looks like for us is really extending relationships, making new relationships, and then getting outside of our echo chambers of our companies or our hotels and talking to other people and seeing what they’re seeing, what’s happening with the industry, what are people looking to invest in, where do they think it’s going? You know, got to listen to Chris Nassetta, uh, CEO of Hilton yesterday and provided us with some, his insight and, which was great takeaways that we’ll be able to take back to our company and make decisions. Ryan Embree: Some really cool announcements you typically get at these shows feels like a new brand’s popping up every single day in hospitality, but it is, you’re absolutely right there, I mean, you get a bunch of hospitality people from different markets in the same room, and all of a sudden those challenges start to arise and bubble up a little bit and maybe some innovative solutions outta that. But 2026, obviously a massive year for Hospitality America, 30 years. Congratulations to that. When you hear that, Ben, you know, as CEO and President, what does that milestone and chapter mean to you? Ben Campbell: Me, personally, first, it’s an honor that I’m able to be the CEO of a 30 year company and take it into the next 30 years. When I look back, it’s really about, legacy and consistency. And so for a company to get to 30 years and, and we have some contracts, we have two contracts that are 30 year contracts for us and clients. And so, you know, it’s a lot of work to, to maintain that. But it’s also a real testament to our founder Chris Cargon. It is the legacy that he has left behind and that he has poured into this company that now I have the honor and the rest of our team and, and employees have the honor of taking that into the next level. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to hear that, to hang your hat on a story of three decades worth and to usher in this new, this next 30 years first. So congratulations there. Obviously lots change in hospitality in 30 years. I’d say lots change in the last five. And we might be at a inflection point here with everything around AI and technology, which we’re gonna speak to in a second. But what do you attribute to that longevity and success of Hospitality America and this company? Ben Campbell: We boil it down to three different things. So we have what we call the HA Promises. We have three stakeholders that every single day we wake up and we say, are we delivering the promise to our owners, to our team members, and to our guests? So everything that we do, we boil it down into those three pillars and say that every guest comes to our hotels and we have, we’re making promises to them that we have to deliver. Same with our team members, and definitely to our, our owners. And so I think it’s through that lens that we’ve been able to have a 30 year career and knowing that really we’re here to service the guests and we’re also here to service our clients, which is our owners, and deliver on those, perform, deliver the metrics and the performance that they expect and that ultimately we said that we would do and that we are delivering on. So, that’s why I say it’s really the consistency of the company. Also I think, you know, we’ve been scaling at, at a good rate, but it’s been very strategic in how we do it. And so we have 30 year relationships. I don’t want to take on anything that’s gonna put that in jeopardy. Swo we’re very selective on who we bring in and knowing that, okay, I can be very successful with this for this owner, and we’re building a great relationship. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We’re hearing that right now, more and more, not just looking for growth, but that strategic growth for the right partners. So key right now, especially in a challenging environment where margins, profitability hard to come by right now. But another place that Hospitality America has received some recognition recently is around its people, uh, which is, you know, the USA today recognized as top workplace for two consecutive years and top workplace for frontline workers. I think, you know, you come to a conference like this, obviously the big notes are about the AI technology, but how have you invested in people and seen those dividends pay off? Ben Campbell: Yeah. When I came under leadership of the company in 2022, that was a big focus of mine because we were having to rescale the company and really look at the industry and everybody was fighting for the same talent in the same talent pool. And so, like, again, the legacy of Chris Cargan, we said, we need to really define what that looks like objectively on who we’re bringing into the company. And so we boiled that down to our core values, which is outlined as a, uh, acronym P.E.A.C.H. Passion, excellence, adaptability, community, and humble. And so when we seek that talent, they know what they can expect from us, and we can tell them, this is what we expect from you. And when doing that, we’re holding everybody accountable. And so everybody, then we can say, okay, this is who we are. Peach. What we do is the HA promises. Ryan Embree: So everybody can strive to meet those metrics for the owner, each other as the team members and and our guests. And by holding that accountability training toward that accountability, and then everybody’s on the same page, that’s really what I think gives us the recognition. Last year when we did that survey for USA today. Really proud to say that 90% of our 850 employees responded to the survey. So just getting that type of engagement of completing the survey was a big win for us. We might have some exciting news come out by the time that this podcast dropped. Ryan Embree: Alright, well, we’re excited to hear about it, Ben. And congratulations to you and your team again. The conversations that I’ve had with industry leaders, those strong management companies have that kind of north star that you’re talking about. It looks like you have those two and those that, that culture that you’ve created over there, obviously the 30 years incredible milestone. Typically a time for reflection in looking at the legacy in the past, but also looking towards the future. That’s what you typically do on those big anniversaries. So what is the vision for the future of Hospitality America look like for you, Ben? Ben Campbell: Vision for us is still growth. Um, there’s a lot of opportunity out there. Uh, again, I think that, you know, how we do that is, is maybe a little different than we have. Um, we have two great relationships. Like I said, today we operate for five different ownership groups. We will expand some of that, uh, but we’ll also look at expanding through acquisitions. We, we’ve historically grown through development through our partnerships. Um, and so there might be a lot more acquisitions. I think right now when you look at the industry and the values of these assets, you know, the replacement costs, a lot of times you can get into an acquisition that much less than it would be to, to replace that. So I think a lot of that is what we’re hearing at Hunter as well. Um, a lot of owners are feeling that we are feeling that as well. Um, and so there’s some great assets that are coming onto the marketplace that I think three or four years ago wouldn’t, back to your question on what we see for the industry. I think the, you know, we, yesterday you heard Christmas set us say that bifurcation of the cake shape economy is gonna be coming together. I agree with that. I don’t think it’s gonna stay that way forever. Um, I think that the top end has just had a lot more cash reserves that they could bleed off over time. Yeah. The middle market is generally where we’ve, uh, been really, really well. And the Hampton ends, the Fairfield ends the, um, and then higher up we do tapestries and we have a motto and tribute and things of that nature. I think that’s where the industry is going. From an experience side, yes, they want a curated experience and a very intentional experience, but also they want to know what they’re gonna get to. So I think that’s where we are right now. We’re kind of feeling those effects of, okay, we’re, you know, we’re curating the experience, but it may not be taken to that next level. And I think that’s where we need to continue to elevate and continue to spend our dollars to ensure that when the guests show up at the Signia or one of our hotels, like a tapestry or the motto of Bentonville, they walk in and they’re blown away that by the experience because they can tell every single detail is thought through. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s very cool to see the experiential travel really blow up right now. Guests loving that, but looking for that consistency, like you said, every guest wants that unique experience, but they do want it at a consistent level too, of, of meeting or matching their guest expectations. So Ben, thanks for taking some time, uh, to speak with us. Congratulations on all the milestones and we’re gonna look, uh, for that news that you were sharing. Ben Campbell: I appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. And, uh, we’ll talk to you next time on the Sweet Spot. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embry here with the Suite Spot live on location at the Hunter Conference 2026 in Atlanta, Georgia, here with Paul Sacco, Chief Growth and Development Officer at PM Hotel Group. Paul, thank you for taking some time. Paul Sacco: Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Excited to talk about this. We’re the new venue. Uh, you visited the Hunter Conference before. How does this compare and, and what does success really look like for you when you leave Atlanta here? Paul Sacco: Yeah, I think it’s been a great conference. Perhaps a little hiccup with some of the weather Sure. And people getting in. But I think Teague and League and the team at Hunter have done a great job, really producing a terrific conference. And it’s really well attended now. So we’ve had great experience so far in terms of what does a good conference look like? To me, it’s all about connections. So it’s all about making sure that when you come to a conference like this, sure you have meetings scheduled for deal advancement on projects, you’re working on relationship building on some of the new relationships that you are building upon. And that that’s structured, but also that you leave plenty of time to walk the floor because inevitably you’re running into people that you share common stories with, you’re connecting with maybe there’s some things to do with, and it’s just great ’cause our business and our industry is really all about connections. Ryan Embree: That’s how, that’s where it’s built. It’s a big little world hospitality run into a lot of people. And when you get a lot of hospitality people in one place, they’re gonna start sharing best practices and maybe some of the challenges that they’re having right now. Absolutely. Especially with margins, uh, profits, people are looking out for that edge to figure out what’s next. Where do you think there’s opportunity when you kind of see the landscape right now? Is it a particular region, a segment that you like? Paul Sacco: Yeah, so we operate in full service and toward luxury segment as well as select service and then independent and boutique. And we all hear a lot right now about luxury and leisure leading the way. And we hear a lot about mid-scale extended stay and extended stay generally leading the way. And we’re in those categories. I also think there’s really good opportunity if you are thoughtful about the, the possibilities thoughtful about the deal in urban markets, on core branded hotels. I think there’s still some really good opportunity. You have to be thoughtful about your basis and about what the demand drivers are. But I think there’s some future opportunity in the near term there. I think there will be transactions that start to happen more. We’re starting to see some more pip pressure now from the brands. We’re starting to see some more lender pressure. I think the period of extend and pretend is perhaps coming to an end. Yeah. And there’ll be some transactions that occur out of that. We’re seeing more marketed deals as well come across. And I think that’s been across segments. Fortunately for us, we’re really focused in on each of those three segments as a company and we can capitalize on the right opportunities. Ryan Embree: And that’s where those strong connections come in to make those deals move across the finish line at the end of the, the day. Absolutely. Now PM Hotel Group, you talked a little bit about it, but it’s a competitive landscape out there. Where do you find opportunity to differentiate yourself from other management companies? Paul Sacco: So it is a competitive environment for sure. We’re a top 15 management company now. We do not have any particular goal or pressure to be a certain number of hotels. That’s really meaningful on two fronts. One, it means we can grow smart and do deals that make sense for our company, deals that make sense for the owner in terms of using our operation makes sense for our team. And secondly, it’s really important because it, it allows us to remain accessible to ownership at the highest levels of our company. So we always say that if there’s ever a time where an owner can’t call me or Joseph our president or others in our company and get a response that day, then we’ve grown too big. And that’s really important to us. And since we’re an independently owned company and we’re not private equity owned, we’re not public, we don’t have any of those quarterly quote unquote nug pressures to grow. We can be really thoughtful and strategic about the deals that we do and the owners with whom we’re working and remain accessible to them. Ryan Embree: Well it puts you also in opportunity to kind of maybe be first in line when a new developer or owner wants to go a certain route. You’ve got kind of the story to tell them and and share with them. Paul Sacco: We hear it a lot in reality. We are of the size and scope that our senior team remains very accessible to ownership groups, to asset management groups, et cetera, based on the size and nature of our company. I think there are some others who can say that as well. And there’s some others who are a lot larger and it just maybe just makes it more difficult to do that as effectively. Ryan Embree: Definitely. Now another topic on everybody’s bingo card here. Conferences like this is AI and technology, right? So what’s the philosophy over at PM Hotel Group? Are you guys using anything on the development side and how do you utilizing it? Paul Sacco: Yeah, I think there are some really good tools within ai, even just using ChatGPT and Gemini in order to do market research, really market assessment tools. And that’s a great way to get highlight overview of what’s happening in a market if you’re looking at a new deal, if you’re traveling to a market, a good way to gain sort of initial information and a feeling for what’s happening in a market from a development perspective. Now we tend to dive in deep and back all that up as we advance with some really good formats like CoStar and some others that are out there that help us really assess a deal and assess our business. So on the development front, I think that’s how we’re approaching things on the operating front. I think AI will continue to evolve in a way that it helps, makes operations more efficient, whereby there can be data assessment on check-ins and checkouts, which can help with labor and staffing needs and assessing those types of things. And then of course, on the commercial side, really harnessing the way that people are doing intent-based searches now. Because people will go into ChatGPT or Gemini and they’ll put in an intent-based search. We find a lot that our independent and boutique hotels come up in those searches. But how do you capitalize upon that and how do you harness that in a way to turn it into reservations? Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Everyone looking for that edge right now, right? Like I said, to combat those margins right now, which are challenging in your position, you’re always looking for the next opportunity, the next deal. What’s your vision for PM Hotel Group as you grow into the back half of the 2020s? Paul Sacco: So again, we’re a privately owned company and we grow very strategically. We’re not under any certain pressure, again to have a certain quote unquote nug. So that’s been very effective for us and we’ve been really thoughtful about the owners that we’re doing deals with, the types of deals that we can operate. Effectively key for us is that we’ve done a couple of small strategic partnerships, siteline a year or so ago, modus by PM Hotel Group before that. And the combination of that has put us into all these different segments that we just discussed. But it’s put our reach from Hawaii to California to the mountain states, all the way to the East Coast with different types of products. So we can really capitalize on that and harness the fact that we have coverage and reach in a lot of different markets and market knowledge. So I think for us it’s just about growing smart. It’s about putting a lot of effort behind commercial and technology. We’re, we’re making a lot of investments in that space right now so that we are out ahead of AI advancement and technology advancement. And we’re even in a sort of muted RevPAR growth environment now we’re focused on RPI. And we’re focused on TRevPAR and making sure that operationally and top line wise, we’re getting more than our fair share. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, Paul, congratulations to you and your team. We’ll continue to keep a close eye and we’ll let you get back in there. And for all the good stuff, the Hunter Conference has to offer. Paul Sacco: Thank you. Ryan Embree: Thanks Paul. Ryan Embree: All righty. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot live on location at the 2026 Hunter Conference here with Parker, Graduate by Hilton Brand Leader. So excited. I love this brand, it’s very exciting. But before we get talking about your brand, talk to us a little bit about your brand, where you came from and your history here in hospitality. Parker Henderson: It’s fun. Actually. We’re here in Atlanta. This is where I was born and raised. My parents met working for Delta Airlines, so I grew up traveling. Dad worked for Delta for 32 years. And so grew up traveling. And when I got to college, I knew that was something I wanted to major in. Went to Appalachian State University, majored in hospitality tourism management. Worked at the front desk of Comfort Suites when I was in Boone, North Carolina. And then did my internship. And I had a great professor who I was like, I’ll just do my internship and here I’m at already at the hotel. No big deal. He was like, no, you need to go somewhere. You need to do something. And so, Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina, they were interested in me. So I did my internship. There happened to be the 99 US Open, everything went really well there. Came back as a manager in development and I was with ClubCorp, who owned Pinehurst for about five years. They moved me to a location in Austin, Texas. Stayed there for a while. Resort Company wasn’t really growing. And meanwhile this beautiful 31 story Hilton was being built in downtown Austin. And I remember seeing that and it’s like, I want that. And I was always in front office operations, so I was able to join the Hilton Austin as assistant director of front office. And that was in November of 2003. And I’ve been with Hilton ever since on property roles for about a decade in San Diego, Baltimore, Orlando. And then joined the corporate front office team in 2012 where I focused on front office operations, efficient use of our property management systems, which are proprietary to Hilton, and then was able to work and get exposed to the brand side and then joined Embassy Suites brand in 2021 and just love that world. Also during the pandemic, my pandemic fun was getting my master’s in hospitality from Virginia Tech. They had a campus in the DMV area up in DC and fall of 2020, I became an adjunct professor in that program. So continuing to do that, I’ve always believed in the power of that intersection of hospitality and education. So when Graduate came through in 2024, I was the first one to raise my hand saying, okay, I’ve got the brand experience, I’ve got the university passion. And so it’s been a great experience since then. Ryan Embree: That’s so cool, Parker. And you know, we were talking about this, I’d love to hear those stories of people that went to school for hospitality and now look at you, you’re on the other side of the desk, you’re, you’re the teacher and, and you know, influencing the next generation of hoteliers, which is so cool. So obviously college and universities have, I’m sure you don’t get tired of talking about those never, especially in your position. But for those who maybe aren’t as familiar with Graduate, talk to us a little bit about that brand, maybe a little bit of a story as well. Parker Henderson: Absolutely. So Graduate Hotels was created in 2014 by AJ Capital. They found that there was great opportunity to have upper upscale position, lodging, bespoke design in these hotel, in these university markets. And it’s been a great success. They started with just one or two properties. They grew to 34-35 properties and then Hilton acquired them in spring of 2024. Since then, they’ve all come into the Hilton ecosystem, 35 assets total currently. And so they’re live with Hilton Honor, they’re live with all of the team member perks with Go Hilton and everything that you expect. But also they’re tied into all the benefits of being Hilton, Hilton Worldwide Sales, Hilton Supply Management, Hilton University, all the training programs. And so the hotels have done a great job of kind of onboarding, keeping the authenticity that makes graduate special while using the engine and all the power that comes with the distribution network of Hilton. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to hear. And you know, when I think about people and their universities and their colleges, passion is the first word that comes up. And to marry that with your brand and people are also passionate about travel. That’s such an exciting, probably space to be in. And the fact that you, that you get to talk about, these projects and here we are in Atlanta, a very cold unseasonably cold day here in March. But you know, we’re at the Hunter Conference talking to investors, owners, developers. You’re having these conversations. What do owners and developers get excited about when you’re having conversations about your brand? Parker Henderson: The passion, like you said, there’s such storytelling and such a passion to tell a story either about some where somebody lives currently, where their alma mater is, or maybe if they didn’t go to college or university where they were in that youthful optimism phase of kind of the late teens, early twenties, where you really don’t know where your path is and it’s just kind of starting and being able to bottle that up and put that into a project. That’s what gets people excited. The fun part is that the product is so special, it’s so bespoke at each university, at each college town, but they perform wonderfully. We, we have above market performance and revenue and occupancy and we continue to capitalize on those high impact times, home football games, move-ins, graduation, all of that type of stuff. But also with the Hilton system, we’ve been able to expose them to so much different areas of business, whereas they may have had to rely on online travel agencies In the past a lot we’ve been able to kind of broaden that to introduce more business travel. We’ve been able to work with Hilton Worldwide Sales, get more groups, meetings and events into the hotels. The average Graduate hotel is 167 keys and about 4,000 square feet of meeting space. Now with the 35 hotels, that varies greatly. Some are small as 70 keys. Some are as big as 304 keys. Some have zero meeting space. We’ve got one with over 23,000 square feet of meeting space. So there’s a lot of variety there. But all of them can play into the different mix of business that Hilton Worldwide Sales promotes. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s incredible ’cause you know, none of these properties are the same because probably none of these universities are the same. None of these markets are the same. So I’m sure it’s a passion project again, but also creating these memorable experiences around those really cool times and being able to tie your brand in there definitely means something special. Now you have a couple projects, special projects that you’re working on right now. Talk to us a little bit about those and, and maybe that differentiation between them. Parker Henderson: Sure. With the development side, as soon as Graduate came into Hilton became a brand that we were able to franchise. So we have been working with our development committee, that’s why we’re here at Hunter Investment Conference. But we’ve got about 60 different deals in various forms of negotiation. We’ve got a number of deals signed that we’re excited to work on. I’ll highlight kind of four ’cause I feel like they tell a good story. We’ve got Flagstaff, Arizona, that’s gonna be by Northern Arizona University, brand new build, new to Hilton owner. Very exciting project that’s gonna do some amazing storytelling about Route 66, about Northern Arizona University and just the Flagstaff community. You’ve got Boulderado, a historic, a hundred and something year old asset in downtown Boulder, right by UC Boulder. This is gonna become a graduate by Hilton Hotel. This is funded by AJ Capital. They own that. So that’s showing continued interest in the founder of the brand into Graduate by Hilton, which is something that means a lot to me. It means that we’re protecting the brand in, in meaningful ways. We’ve got Graduate Laramie that’ll come online by the University of Wyoming. This is an existing Hilton Garden Inn that’s reaching the end of its term with that project. And we’ll transition and go through a painstaking renovation to tell the cowboy story of the University of Wyoming. And that’ll open as Graduate Laramie. And then in New York, we’ve got Graduate Syracuse. This is actually owned by Syracuse University. This is the institution building something, 200 keys from the ground up. It’s gonna be absolutely spectacular there. Ryan Embree: I can talk to you about each one of these projects and which makes them so unique and, and that’s again the cool part, probably why both the owners and developers love it. Guests love it as well. But let’s get to know you in the portfolio a little bit more intimately. So let’s talk about maybe one of your favorite views on one of your properties. Parker Henderson: There’s a lot. So Graduate East Lansing, east Lansing, Michigan, Michigan State University, if you look out any of their front side windows, you’re looking right into kind of the arboretum of Michigan State University. It is gorgeous rooftop of graduate Auburn, Alabama. If you stand at the War Eagle Supper Club on the roof of Graduate Auburn, you’re looking directly towards the scoreboard and the stadium at Auburn University. Yeah, it’s fantastic. Gosh, there’s so many different ones. I could, like literally, even in Princeton, you’re looking down the street, down Nassau Street towards the gates of Princeton. You’re the fun part about these properties. And I’ve been able to go to all 35 locations both in the UK and the US. And the great thing about them is the location. Most all of them are at the intersection of Maine and Maine. They’re all walkable to campus, no further than about a mile away from the university they are next to and surrounded by the most popular restaurants, bars, shopping, points of interest, the museums, whatever it may be, they’re in the heart of it. All Ryan Embree: Such tradition rich places and spaces that these properties are located in tells a an amazing story. And sure, your guests get to be a part of it, which is really cool. What about signature dish maybe or a local tradition or something like that? Parker Henderson: So all of our restaurant, or excuse me, all of our hotels have a breakfast. Usually that’s kind of a cafe with a barista led concept. Many of those go by the name of Poindexter Coffee. So we have about half the brand that have a Poindexter coffee. Those are phenomenal in themselves. Then in the evenings we require hotels to have bar and dinner at all their locations. One traditional dish may sound basic, but it’s so good. We do a really great smash burger in fries, and that’s something you can find at almost all of our locations. Just a really good smash burger. Ryan Embree: Very cool. Well, you know, and I didn’t prep you for this one, but what about if there’s, is there anything, I mean, because obviously colleges and universities that they’re, they have a lot of, sometimes quirky traditions that, that are in the area. Are there any hotels or properties that have any of these local traditions or anything like that? Ryan Embree: Well, the storytelling, storytelling is one of our values at graduate and all of our hotels portray storytelling. We use maximalist design, we use layering of story upon story, but I think one of my favorite ones I was speaking about graduate Princeton, their headboard, if you’ve ever looked at a picture of graduate Princeton, their headboard looked like these hand carved canes and they’ve got like etchings in ’em and all different kinds of things. And I remember asking the general manager, Michael, it’s like, what is this? Why does it look like hockey sticks above my bed? He’s like, well, back in the 1860s, students used to hand carve their own canes and walk around campus and around the 1860s the upperclassmen decided, nope, the freshmen shouldn’t be allowed to carry those. So they would like beat them with their sticks and, you know, not allow the freshmen to carry them around here. So now that does not continue, but it’s now kind of an intramural fall sports festival every fall for called the Canes Prix. So it’s one of those traditions and one of those stories that you walk in and any Princeton student or alum would get that immediately. Yeah. But from somebody who went to Appalachian State would never have heard of that, it would never have known that tradition if it wasn’t for that quirky headboard. Ryan Embree: And there’s that special connection with the guest that is, that knows that, but also the guests that maybe not like, well, what I’m learning about right now, love that tradition. Like that’s very, that’s some cool history, you know, associated with the property in the university. So obviously a lot of growth. You just talked about the pipeline for this brand, but what’s as brand leader, what’s your kind of vision for the next, you know, three to five years for for Graduate by Hilton? Parker Henderson: Absolutely. We’re looking at kind of making sure that everything within the hotels we’re optimizing as much as possible. So I always love to base everything we do on our values. Our motto at Graduate is we are all students. Our values underneath that is what is fearless hospitality? We’re curious. We’re unapologetically unique and we’re storytellers. And so with that just kind of capitalizing on that and moving that into just grow within the next few years we’ll have several new openings. We’ll have more announcements to share on that. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, we’re excited. We’re gonna keep a close eye on the graduate story and yeah, we’re excited to thank you for stopping by and talking to us. Parker Henderson: Absolutely. Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the latest TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl episode featuring University of Nevada, Las Vegas!  Special guest and Dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at UNLV, David  Cardenas, who joins the Suite Spot to discuss the exciting curriculum and academic program of the college and how it is preparing the next generation of hospitality professionals. Ryan Embree:Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Ryan Embree:Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We are here for another edition of TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl. Yes, we are bringing it back. And we are live on campus at UNLV’s Harrah College of Hospitality here, with the Dean of the Harrah College of Hospitality, David. David, thank you so much for inviting us and, and, you know, bringing us here to your beautiful campus. David Cárdenas:My pleasure. Thanks for allowing me to share a little bit about this amazing program and share a little bit about the wonderful things that we do here. Ryan Embree:We’re so excited, like you said, the inspiration behind this series was just to showcase some of the amazing colleges and schools of hospitality around the nation. UNLV certainly fits the bill. We’re gonna talk about that and some of the amazing things you and your faculty and students are doing here. But before we do that, we always like a little bit of tradition. One of the things unique to hospitality is learning about people’s background because you come from different brands, sometimes different segments, sometimes you fall into the industry. Tell us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you here. David Cárdenas:Yeah. So, a little bit about myself and how I got to where I am. So, I was born in Ecuador, lived there for most of my childhood. I came to the United States to go to school in the Carolinas. And, my start in the hospitality industry is a little bit untraditional, but maybe a lot more people actually go through it the way that I did. So I was in college, and like most poor college students, I had to, to find a job. And so, hospitality was where I found it. You know, bussing tables, washing dishes, cooking, and I loved it. And that’s what paid my way through school. At the time, I was a pre-med major. I wanted to be a real doctor, what my daughter says is a real doctor <laugh>. David Cárdenas:And so didn’t think anything about being in the hospitality industry while I was doing it. And, but, little by little, even in school went from, you know, a server to a supervisor to, you know, assistant manager to, by the time I graduated, I was running food and beverage operations. And my boss at the time was like, hey, you should really think about going into the hospitality industry. And said, no, I’m gonna be a doctor. And she’s like, just do it for a year. So one year turned into two, two into three, year four, my mom’s like, you’re going to medical school? And I’m like, no, I don’t wanna go to medical school. But I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing, and I hadn’t taken an accounting class. I’d taken physics and taken biochem, but I’ve never taken, you know, an HR class, and I had to go back to school. David Cárdenas:So, you know, after working in the industry for four or five years, you know, I was like, I needed to go back and get an education. And so I went back and got my master’s degree, and knowing that my path was gonna be in the hospitality industry, I thought I was gonna be a corporate trainer. I loved working with people, loved getting them you know, trained to do what, if it was serving or, you know, being a cashier, being a manager. That was what I loved to do. And so that was what I was hoping to do. And when I was in my master’s program, realized that I love to teach and I loved to do research, got the opportunity to get my PhD, one thing led to another and got into academia. But didn’t ever think about the hospitality industry when I was in school. But that’s kind of how I fell into it. And I don’t regret any of it. Ryan Embree:Well, I love what you said there. It’s the untraditional traditional route of hospitality, and that’s actually one of the reasons we started this series, is to showcase that you can have a career here. There’s so many elements to it, as you said, and you know, in some ways you are kind of training, you know, the next generation of hospitality. So it goes full circle. So, share with us a little bit about the rich history of this school and the college here. David Cárdenas:Yeah. So the, the university or the college was established in 1967. So over 50 plus years of being part of the hospitality education industry. And you know, I think that there were no better place to have hospitality education than to be in Las Vegas. And the growth of Vegas as the entertainment and hospitality capital of the world was lockstep with the College of Hospitality. And as the city grew, the college grew, and, a lot of people were attracted to come to Vegas and work to thinking about it from an entertainment standpoint, from the hospitality standpoint. And then they would come and get a degree here. And then they’d start in the industry, and they’d become the giants in the industry. David Cárdenas:So, you know, it’s pretty amazing, you know, talking to a lot of the alumni, you know, they came here, didn’t know much about it, weren’t quite sure. Many of them came here because of the basketball team. You know the rich history of what happened with basketball, and then just kind of got their foot in the hospitality industry or the gaming industry. And then our alumni start, you know, moving up in the industry, and we have the Bill Hornbuckles of the World, which are, you know, the president of MGM or, you know, Carlos Castro, the President of Resorts World. All of them, you know, kind of started here and grew up to be stars in the industry. Ryan Embree:Yeah, it’s incredible. And, you know, it’s interesting you bring up sports because, you know, obviously, sports have now also transformed Las Vegas. The city’s going through this transformation with sports. But, you know, talking about, for those who aren’t familiar, you know, I had the opportunity to walk around campus a little bit before this interview and could literally see the top of the Paris Eiffel Tower from campus. For those who aren’t familiar, you know, you are just blocks away from the Strip. Talk to us about that location and what it means for some of the students, and really just kind of propelling themselves right into the hospitality industry, you know, steps away from this place. David Cárdenas:Yeah. So if you’ve never been to our campus and never been to Hospitality Hall, it’s the Taj Mahal of hospitality education, and we are a mile and a half away from the center of it all. You see, most people have seen it on television or in movies, the Strip, right? We see that every day from our campus, which is pretty amazing. And what that gives us is access to people that most other universities don’t have access to. You know, at any point in time that executive can come and walk here and give a guest lecture. Or more importantly, at any day, our students can do a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bellagio Fountain Club or Tour Allegiant Field or, you know, go up the Eiffel Tower at Paris. David Cárdenas:So you know, there are many universities that come here for a week to experience it. Our students have it full-time. The other thing about that is that those executives teach classes for us. So currently we’re teaching an entertainment class. The Vice President of Entertainment for MGM, Paul Davis, is teaching that class. And so the people who are actually doing it out there are here. And that’s just an amazing experience. The students, when they go to do their internship, they go a mile and a half away. They don’t have to travel for hours or go during the summer. They’re right here. So, I think proximity is one of the main reasons we are ranked number one in hospitality. Ryan Embree:Yeah, it’s incredible. It’s so unique. I mean, I remember being in hospitality school myself as a UCF Rosen grad and seeing the Las Vegas strip on a PowerPoint, you know, that a professor puts up and you just, students here just look out a window and it’s right there. Very cool. So, more recently, the school just announced a new strategic framework for the college. That’s not something that’s done overnight; that obviously takes a lot of work and effort. Tell us a little bit about that process and what that framework looks like. David Cárdenas:Yeah, so it was very much a collaborative effort. So I became Dean a little bit less than two years ago. So March 1st will be my two-year anniversary here. And when I came here, I was in awe. We have amazing faculty, great support, our alumni were doing wonderful things, but I also saw that if we stood still, others were gonna pass us by. And I often say, you know, I didn’t wanna be the, the Sears of Hospitality Education where we could kept doing the same thing over and over again and we didn’t innovate. And so we went through a year and a half process of looking inward of who we are, what do we do well, what are our values, and what do we need to do to continue being a leader in hospitality education. So we did hundreds of listening sessions, focus groups, surveys, lots of meetings, lots of emails to try to figure out where we’re gonna be going to create what we have as our new vision. David Cárdenas:So our new vision is creating global leaders who inspire unforgettable experiences. So we wanted to make sure that we portrayed that we are developing leaders. So we’re developing those people who are going to be developing that next sphere or the next amazing event, or, you know, the next mega event. And having that amazing experiences of what we do. And the pillars that we have that are under that foundation are student success, knowledge, global leadership, and purposeful engagement. And so for us, we wanted to make sure our students had that most amazing experience. And it was global. So Vegas is an amazing place to learn, but we wanted students to go to Macau, and we want students to go to Auckland, and we want students to go to Madrid, and learn from those types of experiences, and really be that place where engagement, because hospitality is all about being engaged, that they were doing that part. David Cárdenas:The next part of that strategic plan was that we restructured our college. We’ve always been known for hospitality education and hospitality operations. So if you’re operating a hospitality organization, industry, that’s what we were known for. Again, as I said, Bill Hornbuckle at MGM is running an operation. So that’s still gonna be core to what we do, but we’re expanding into areas such as sport, entertainment, travel, and tourism. Gaming has always been something that we’ve done well, but we’re gonna expand that. And then the other big area is hospitality technology and incorporating AI and the tech part into, into the hospitality industry. Ryan Embree:Yeah, and that’s what I want to talk about, ’cause you mentioned innovation a lot in that new strategic framework, and technology is moving so quickly. I mean, it’s insane to think some of the students that are starting their journey now, the technology is gonna be completely outdated by the time they end their journey. Right? So how do you approach technology and hospitality, and maybe also getting your take on just where you think the industry as a whole is with adopting technology, which is typically an industry that’s been a little bit slower in the adoption of technology. David Cárdenas:Yeah. So I don’t think we’re ever gonna catch up. But I think our job is to make sure that we’re exposing our students, because even as you said, once they graduate, it’s gonna be different than probably what we taught them in that is to think about how they’re adaptable to that technology more than that tech. Because the tech that I learned back when I was going to school is irrelevant, but it’s more about the integration of technology, the adaptation of technology. And I believe that, you know, we’re talking about AI right now, we’re teaching that in our classrooms, it’s a central focus of what we do, but in four years, we’re probably talking about CB or OS or I don’t know, something else. There’s gonna be a little bit different, right? And so it’s more about the critical thinking skills, the adapted skills, and technology’s always gonna be with us, and I don’t think it’s gonna replace everything that we do. David Cárdenas:We were actually having a conversation with a gentleman this morning, a little bit about that, you know, who’s scared, like, he’s like, you know, I’m gonna lose my job. Well, maybe there’s gonna be jobs that are gonna be lost, but we’re gonna create new ones. So when we developed the washer and dryer, were we mad that we don’t wash our clothes by hand? No. We were very happy about that. And there were jobs that were eliminated from that perspective, but we created new opportunities. And the thing about the hospitality industry, it’s all about the customer. And you’re gonna need to have that human connection. So for us, and specifically in our degree, it’s the interaction between the human and the technology, the interface between that and teaching our students, that when that human component is important, when that technical component is important, and how to manage both the human and the tech part. And so that’s kind of what our focus is for our degree. Ryan Embree:Yeah. I mean, it’s so important, you know, technology needs to empower those employees, students that are gonna be going in because they’re gonna have an expectation ’cause I think, obviously we look through the lens of, you know, what is this generation gonna be doing with technology, but also how is the industry going to adapt to a generation that is used to technology and they want to use it, they’re anxious to use it and saying, Hey, let’s do this in some of our individual processes. And, you know, some of the best ways that you can explore technology, how things are done or run in hospitality, is through internships. You mentioned it before. I was required to do a couple of internships when I went to hospitality school, but it was great because it exposed me to so many different elements of hospitality. And you mentioned it in your journey. I mean, you didn’t know which way to go there. It could be overwhelming for a student, but internships are a great way to get exposure there. How do you implement that into your programs? David Cárdenas:Yeah, so I think one of the key things about hospitality education is the immersive experience that you have to have. And so, you know, I’ll get to the internships in a second, but we have to make sure that in the classroom, they get the best of the best, the best faculty member, you know, so that content needs to be there, but then if they can’t implement it, they’re not gonna be successful. And so that applied approach is the second part that we do. And we require all of our students to do a thousand hours of applied work in the hospitality industry while they’re in school, because we want them to understand the stresses of it. We want them to understand, you know, how difficult it might be or the long hour being on your feet to do all of that is part of what we do. David Cárdenas:In addition to that, all of our students are required to do an internship. So, in addition to a thousand hours, they have that internship. And the other thing that all of our students do is a culminating experience. So where they’re putting everything together, they’ve done the thousand hours, they’ve done the internship, and the last thing they’re doing, some kind of immersive activity. It could be running our student-run restaurant, the Bistro410. It could be putting on one of our mega events, like the UNLVino, or it could be developing a new game for our casino. So applying all that is really, really important. We want the students to get their hands dirty and have that as part of their educational experience. Ryan Embree:Yeah. You know, a lot of the leaders I’ve had the privilege of having on this credit, a lot of those early learning, internships, and mentors. That was that first foot, or that was that first, you know, step into the industry. So really, really cool to see there. You mentioned partnerships, local partnerships, very, very important. Obviously, proximity has a lot to do with it. How important are having those partnerships and, you know, how does that also set students up for success after graduation? David Cárdenas:Critical. And so we wouldn’t be successful if it wasn’t for our partnerships and alumni, and what they give back. They’re opening their doors from as easy as providing internships for our students, hiring them for full-time jobs, being mentors, being guest speakers. But they’ve also been very generous with their wallet. If you’ve ever had a chance to walk through Hospitality Hall, you’re gonna see all of those names on all of our rooms. So you have the MGM Rebel Grounds, our coffee shop, you know, you have, Chairman Tso’s, who’s Ambassador Hotel is one of the largest hotel groups in Korea, who has theirs. You know you have Caesars who’s given to us. All of them have been a part of who we are and have developed who we are. David Cárdenas:You know, so they’ve been very generous to us. They helped build this building. This building is completely paid off because of them. And they help provide over half a million dollars of scholarships every year to our students. So, to make it affordable for them. One of the coolest partnerships, one of the most coolest partnerships that we just recently had, the president of Wynn called me, he’s like, Hey, David, I wanna send students to Macau. I wanna do a study abroad. We’ll pay for it. And they’re like, awesome. Let’s give them that experience. Let’s figure that out. So I mean, they open doors. They support our students. And they really are the ones who give us that leg up so that our students are successful. Ryan Embree:It’s so cool. And, you know, a symbiotic relationship between, you know, the partners who are also investing in the students here, because this can be the future leaders of their organization. So, you know, having those close partnerships is so cool, important, and a lot of cool stories. I’m sure that you’re hearing from your students as well. Well, I’m gonna pick your brain a little bit. I think, you know, I love having these opportunities to, you know, speak to educators such as yourself. I wanna give some tips out there, maybe to just some younger, hospitality professionals. What would you say to those who are about to enter, you know, finishing up their education career here at Harrah Hospitality School and entering the workforce? What tips would you give them? David Cárdenas:So, as they’re about to transition from hospitality education to be a hospitality leader, I think it’s to continue to network and to continue to build your educational skillset to be successful. So I think that the learning process does not stop once you finish school. So, figuring out how you continue to learn, continue to grow, to be able to expand your thoughts, you know, so it could be, you know, through professional development opportunities. It could be attending conferences, it could be just traveling for fun and seeing how things are in different areas. The other thing is to continue to stay connected to your university and to the programs. We have an amazing Boughner Center here for our students. It’s our career development center where it helps with internships and jobs, but it’s also available for our alumni. David Cárdenas:So if an alumni is thinking, Hey, I wanna change jobs, or I’m looking for another opportunity to continue to have that partnership with the university allows you to have that ability. And then thinking about how to pay it forward. I guarantee you that almost every single one of our graduates, somebody helped them get to where they are. It could be through a scholarship, somebody might have mentored them, it could have been an amazing faculty member. Well, what can they do to help that next generation? So they’re never too young to start mentoring. They’re never too young to start helping students find jobs because, you know, somebody helped them. So, thinking about how that might help somebody else. Ryan Embree:Yeah, I love that. And hospitality, we talked about it off camera before we started, but hospitality is a big but small world, and you’ve got a lot of connections out there. You’d be surprised, you know, how many people on LinkedIn, you see, you scroll down to their education, and it’s someone from your alma mater, right? That’s right down the road or doing a position. So love the advice there. What about those freshmen or, you know, younger just starting there, what tips would you give them as they enter, you know, the next four years of learning and education? David Cárdenas:Yeah, so I think no matter what, get involved and get engaged. Say yes to everything. The more experiences that you could have at a younger age, the better you’re gonna be. You know, is it gonna be hard work? Yeah. Take that, you know, take that difficult shift, you know, work those weekends, work those nights, because that’s where you’re gonna grow and you’re gonna experience and you’re gonna meet people. You know, if you have an opportunity to go hear a guest speaker, go to it. If there is an activity where you can volunteer to do an event, volunteer. Join a club, you know, all those things are gonna be very important. The time goes by very, very fast. And I do believe that we have amazing faculty who teach in the classroom that are amazing, but most of the learning is gonna happen outside of that classroom. David Cárdenas:So the more you can do outside, it’s gonna benefit you from there. The other thing is talk to people. Don’t be scared. You know, I have so many times, the students are like, I didn’t wanna bother you. Bother us. That’s why we’re here. That’s why we have office hours. You know, don’t be too nervous and, you know, make that interaction. I think it’s gonna help benefit you. And you get to meet people, and the doors are gonna open, and before you know it, you’re gonna have this amazing network base. Ryan Embree:Cool. And we’re hospitality people, right? We love people. That’s why we’re in this business. So, yes, definitely agree with you there. All right. So as we wrap up, I want to talk about, obviously, we have the new strategic framework, but as you look beyond, right, your vision and what are you most excited about right now when it comes to the, the college? David Cárdenas:Well, you know, we just finished the strategic plan, so just getting it implemented and started, so we’re working on a whole bunch of new degrees and getting those out and rolling those out. Those international partnerships are really, really important for me. You know, now it’s really thinking about how do we implement those things? And then also knowing that even though we have a strategic plan, we’re gonna adapt to that. Things are gonna change, as I said, you know, figuring out what the next AI is and making sure that we incorporate that in what we do. And you know, I think what I’m most excited about is that we have an amazing team. Our faculty and staff are here to support our students, and they’re gonna do whatever it takes for them to be successful. And that’s really exciting. So no matter where we go, we’re gonna have a team behind us to make that happen. Ryan Embree:Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking some time outta your busy schedule to let us visit here. We covered a lot. We covered, you know, technology, the history, and the school. Any final thoughts before we wrap up? David Cárdenas:I really appreciate it. So I think the, the last thing is that if you’re thinking about going to the industry, get an education, you know, no matter what, no one can ever take that away from you. I think that that education is power. So if you don’t get a degree in hospitality, get your degree in something. Always be a lifelong learner. And we’d love to have you here at the Harrah College of Hospitality. So come join us. Ryan Embree:Awesome. Well, thank you so much. Appreciate your time. David Cárdenas:Thank you. Ryan Embree:Alright. Ryan Embree:To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.  The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities have partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 2, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We hope you enjoyed episode one of our special edition Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. This is episode two where we’re gonna sit down with Karen Mendez and David Rosenberg, who’s gonna talk to us about the exciting updates from the postcard, cabins and outdoor collection brand from Marriott. We talked to Bill Stachler about revenue optimization. And lastly, we sit down with Albert Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Hotel Equities. We hope you enjoy these interviews, out in Las Vegas. Ryan Embree: Hello Everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Karen Mendez, VP of Operations, and David Rosenberg, President of the Focus Services Division and Outdoor Collection. Karen, David, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Karen & David: Thank you for having us. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, let’s talk about this conference. First of all, nearly a thousand people are gonna be here on site. This is very, very exciting. Um, talk to us a little bit about what you’re kind of expecting for these next couple days, and then we can get into your role a little bit. Karen, we’ll start with you. Karen Mendez: Oh, great. Thank you. Um, this is really exciting for me. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, this is, I’ve been in the hotel industry 26, 27 years. I’ve been to a ton of conferences, and what I’m most excited about this one is bringing the postcard general managers. They have never had an opportunity to get together like this and really talk about their business. So I’m just excited for them to build off the energy and to meet everybody within hotel equities face to face, and really just know that what they do matter. Ryan Embree: David, what are you excited about for the next couple days here at that leadership conference? David Rosenberg: I appreciate that. So our theme this year is Transforming Together and 2025 was an incredible year with the additional postcard, cabins, springboard, hospitality, our continued organic growth, not only in the US Canada, but as now we have presences in the Caribbean and Latin America. And to come together the one time a year where we get to bring an entire leadership team. It’s just inspiring to connect, learn from each other and share this time together. Ryan Embree: So cool. And so it’s just a testament to the comprehensive nature of hotel equities portfolio. I think, you know, one of those spaces, obviously postcard cabins and the, the, um, outdoor collection that we’re gonna talk about. Karen, you want to talk to us a little bit about your role and, um, what it, you know, how it kind of correlates with the outdoor collection? Karen Mendez: Sure, my pleasure. Um, we started working with postcard cabins last year, um, in January with a specific goal of bringing that brand and launching it into the Marriott ethos. So the past year, my job has been molding the two cultures, all the systems, the general managers onboarding, and getting this team ready for Marriott and getting Marriot ready for outdoors. Um, it’s been a really exciting journey, a lot of learnings and yeah, now we’re, we’re a year, a little bit over a year full into it, about six months, uh, launched on outdoor collection and really just excited to continue to see this brand grow and scale and, and see what we can do. Ryan Embree: What an accomplishment. And congratulations seeing your team. David, what about you? David Rosenberg: From my perspective, this is new territory, right? Um, it’s a segment of the business that really, uh, was born through COVID as people looked for different types of, uh, experiences. And what we found is it’s sustainable and, uh, it allows a segment of the traveler to enjoy something different than a brick and mortar hotel experience. Uh, what we’ve also found is this is a great opportunity for a drive-in market. So most postcard cabins are within an hour and a half, two hour drive of major cities, major destinations, and it, and it’s experiential and it allows people to enjoy nature in a way of what’s important to them. So it’s a drive in trip, it’s flexible, and it’s not camping, it’s not glamping. It’s a little bit of a combination of both. And we have found that customers really enjoy this experience. Ryan Embree: I wanna drill into that because I wanna get your opinion on why you think, David, that has such staying power as a model and how it’s not just one of those, uh, you know, fads that kind of pass by hospitality. This has some real staying power here. So much so that Marriott has, you know, has going all in, so to speak, with the outdoor collection. David Rosenberg: So with Marriot’s launch of outdoor collection, they also see this opportunity to scale this business, and specifically for 25 to the 45, uh, demographic, um, that really, that have really morphed into this hybrid work environment and allowing them the flexibility to, uh, extend weekends. So these cabins have wifi and they have things that, uh, they’re not typically for a business traveler, but it allows, uh, the flexibility for someone they want to be online or if the opportunity to completely unplugged Yeah. Uh, and get away from their day-to-day life. And we’re also finding that it’s a short-term booking, that it’s, it’s, it’s just so instinctual that it’s not a trip that’s planned months out. In fact, we find that most customers of booking these cabins, uh, three to seven days out, and, uh, and again, the feedback we have received from customers through Marriott surveys, through online, uh, reputation management, um, is just outstanding. Ryan Embree: No, I love, I love to hear that. And Karen, you know, on the operations side, I mean, as David mentioned, it’s very different type of experience out there. How do you kind of ensure, uh, guest satisfaction and make sure that, you know, the travelers that are are getting there, obviously getting the experience they want, um, but also with the level of service that they expect? Karen Mendez: Yeah, you know, it brought a unique challenge. Um, postcard cabin is a hundred percent contactless. So our entire guest journey, we do not have a front desk. There’s not a main lobby. Everything. The tone has to be set through a text message, um, from the day that you arrive. And how do you do that with a Bonvoy member? And how do you make that BONVOY member feel appreciated? And how do they find their cabin? It’s been an adventure, and what we’ve learned is that guests like the adventure. They like that little satisfaction that they get. Like, I kind of found this place on my own, and I had all the directions that I had, all the tools, and it really sets the tone correctly at the very beginning of the state to have that disconnection that David talked about. Um, and then it’s just making sure it’s really hotel basics, clean rooms and everything in working order, because there isn’t a front desk to go and talk to. And so having those hotel basics in there, it’s really molding the two of the outdoor and what, you know, what you expect a hotel. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Fascinating to hear. And, uh, you’re right. I mean, it’s, it’s an experience unlike any other, but at the same time, that foundational piece still has to be intact there, uh, with the lo the unwavering loyalty that Marriott, uh, Bonvoy members obviously have for, for the brand. David, walk us through the postcard cabins model, you know, for maybe, uh, uh, someone that’s not too familiar and, and why it works operationally. David Rosenberg: Yeah. So there are 29 postcard cabins everywhere from the East coast, uh, up in the Catskills to the West coast in Big Bear in in California, and good, as Karen mentioned, the contactless journey. Um, when we first got involved, very different than a hotel playbook, and we were very, uh, focused, we were very specific on how do we make this work for this customer where not only they have a great experience, but being a new segment of the business. We need the customers to be the marketing engine to grow this business through their feedback and what they like. And what we have found really through Karen’s operational expertise and the platform she created and has now executed with the team that less is more and focusing on, uh, execution, reservation check in, checkout and services in between. The guest just wants to know they have what they need. Everything is prepared in advance for them and allow them to journey how they choose. Sure. And, uh, every story is different, but the common thread we hear is people love this journey. Um, these cabins are well appointed. Uh, the bedding is fantastic, the little kitchenette, there’s showers, all of ’em have fire pits and, and picnic tables. So the opportunity to really cook outside, over open wood campfire, but sleep under the stars with massive bay windows where you do not see another cabin from your cabin, but could just enjoy the sounds and sight of nature, allows people to relax and refresh and recharge. And again, the feedback has just been overwhelmingly positive. Ryan Embree: Well, to reiterate your point, I mean, the guest being the most powerful storyteller out there, I mean, what, what you just kind of set the table on, uh, if you see or hear that experience from a fa family member, a colleague or a friend, um, how powerful is that and being the ability to do that. Very, very cool. Karen, you mentioned your GMs are gonna be here at the leadership conference, who is very exciting for you. How have you really mobilized your team to, uh, achieve that consistently high guest satisfaction score that David’s talking about? Karen Mendez: Um, really listening to feedback. I think we were all a little nervous starting this journey, and I think, uh, in the very beginning we decided to sign with TNGI think it was important for us to be consistent in the brand voice, knowing that this was a new brand and people were gonna be interested in knowing about it, but also taking that feedback that we were getting and being nimble and really trying to say, Hey, is this working? Is this not working? Um, and really working with our partners in Marriot to say, okay, this isn’t gonna fall in line with a typical Fairfield in or this model model this is, and how can we make this successful? Um, and really just having open conversations. So I, I think that from like looking back at this whole, the last year, um, the general managers really just believed in the product and then stayed true to it, but then also knew that there’s a lot of flexibility. We had to sort of at times guide our ship into the way that we wanted to <laugh>. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, listen hospitality, you know, sometimes it, it gets a bad rap for not being flexible or nimble in some of the, you know, brand standards or anything like that. So being able to, you know, know that this is a new brand, you have to make changes on the fly and your GM being open to those, um, and listening to that feedback, right? Our travelers are giving us the blueprint for a perfect stay, every single review or piece of feedback they leave. So, uh, very, very cool. Now, uh, obviously the major part of this last year was the, what you and your team did with the integration with Marriott. How David has that become, you know, being a part of a major brand ecosystem? How has that influenced performance, uh, and confidence in the postcard cabin motto? David Rosenberg: Yeah, I think having the Marriott engine behind this brand, and it is a relatively new brand, was critical. 80% of our reservations come now through marriott.com, um, 350 million plus BONVOY members. Uh, Marriott is fully committed to the outdoor collection postcard, cabins being a founding member of outdoor collection. And we believe we’re just getting started. Ryan Embree: So cool to see. And like you said, a a major brand like Marriott coming in with the outdoor collection really shows that it’s a staple. It’s not one of those passing fads. It’s, it’s here to stay. So, uh, I, you know, one of these things I talked, um, you know, in another interview about these conferences, we always try to like, to predict the future look into the crystal ball, so to speak, right? So I want kind of ask you both kind of what your vision for the future is, now that you are fully integrated, uh, what do you see this brand kind of transforming into transformation obviously being a major theme here? Karen, we’ll start with you and David. We’ll, we’ll end on you. Karen Mendez: Yeah. I think outdoor environment is limitless and almost what it has. I think what makes postcard very cool is the disconnection part of it, where you are on your own individual journey, but I think outdoors can be group environments. It can grow into so much more, a little bit more high scale and a little bit more roughing. It. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw people in Yorks with a brand at one time, you know, in the future. I think there’s a lot of limited po possibilities for it as it continues to grow. And, um, I’m really excited to see what the future brings. David Rosenberg: Yeah, I would add that growing population of 25 to 45 with discretionary income. We have 29 postcards. There’s plenty of capacity, opportunity, the entire country, Colorado, Wyoming, the, the Midwest, uh, Canada, um, there is so much opportunity for, uh, outdoor collection or this type of business. I think we are in the first inning, uh, of what’ll end up being I hope, a very successful, not just brand, but a segment of our business that seems to be untapped. Yeah. And couldn’t be happier that we’re starting with Marriott, uh, major brand distribution to, um, their channels, the Bonvoy members. It’s powerful. And I would anticipate over the next five plus years, uh, we’ll be talking at this at a much larger scale than 29 assets. Ryan Embree: Well, plenty of outdoors to go around, like you said. Uh, you know, very cool to see this brand and everything at its infancy and so many more of those storytellers and experiences just widening and broadening and, and now with the power of Marriott behind you, uh, sky’s the limit, so to speak, on, on this, uh, segment and brand. So, congratulations, Karen and David. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today. Karen & David: Thank you. Thanks, Ryan. Ryan Embree: All right. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are here at day three at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Bill Stachler, SVP of Revenue Optimization. Bill, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you, Ryan. Scheduled to come talk to us. Appreciate it. Bill Stachler: It’s fun to do. Ryan Embree: Guys have had a busy couple days here. Uh, I wanted to talk to you about kind of the, uh, how the event goes so far and what you hope to glean, uh, to glean from, uh, you know, connecting with your peers here. Bill Stachler: Yeah, this, this is fun for us. And, you know, revenue management teams, we’re always remote. We’re always in our house. We’re in a small office, no windows. And, uh, it’s great to see the teams come and look for their revenue manager. Yeah. And all, all the, all the happys and all the conversations, you know, it’s, it breaks the monotony of we stare at spreadsheets, we look at the computer and they’re actually getting the intermingle. So it’s fun. It’s, it’s a good experience for everybody. Ryan Embree: I’m sure. And you know, we’re gonna talk about it here, but there’s that, that close relationships between revenue and operation, so critical. Uh, but before we get into that, uh, give us a little bit more insight about your role and maybe hospitality journey background at led you here. Bill Stachler: Hospitality Journey background. I, I, I guess I, I’ll, I’ll start with that and I’m gonna age myself a little bit. So, um, I started in the hospitality industry a long time ago, and I was at a resort in Scottsdale and I was the, um, director of rooms. And one day, um, I worked for Red Lion. They brought in a new gentleman, his name was Stu Maines. They just hired him from American Airlines and he was going to start Revenue Management. I checked him in and we started talking and he asked me to launch. And before I knew it, I was the first revenue manager at Red Lion. Oh, wow. So I went from, I was on the wrong side of every merger. I was at Red Lion that got bought by DoubleTree, that got bought by Promise, that got bought by Hilton, that got bought by Blackstone. Um, and I was, I was there for about 26 years with Hilton. I was the senior director of revenue management for franchises. And, uh, joined he’s team about five years ago. Ryan Embree: Very cool. And you know, one of your thi one of your elements of your story, uh, is something we hear all the time whenever I ask about hospitality backgrounds, is just, is typically like a mentor or somebody that really influenced you or, or got you excited about hospitality and then just the transformation evolution between brands and, uh, gives you a lot of experience. And, you know, one of the things that when you talk about with revenue optimization is you have to look at the macro environment. You have to see kind of what guests and travelers are, uh, the sentiment that they’re feeling and how that’s going to translate into bookings and try to predict that. Try to put your finger on that. Um, what do you think in today’s climate right now, which is challenging, um, but what do you think right now travelers and guests are feeling, and how does that translate to what you’re doing? Bill Stachler: Well, you know, unfortunately, and you may have heard this from other people on our team, it, I wish it was a bigger picture, but it’s become a very street corner to street corner mm-hmm <affirmative>. And what is generating business in each one of these markets? What is, what has fallen off? Yeah. You know, we’re going through the winter now and, uh, had some really interesting learning experiences from the outdoor collection. Yeah. You know, I forgot that if there’s a blizzard, nobody can come <laugh>. Um, so it’s, I think, I think the idea is to keep the pulse on each individual market. Yeah. And then look at the bigger picture. We do it every week. We go through and we look at the, the major cities. We have a lot of secondary and then tertiary markets. Sure. Um, so it becomes even more intricate Yeah. As opposed to bigger picture. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And I think that’s has been the evolution is you have to get dialed in because you have the data, which we’re gonna talk about because each market is so different. Then you have things, uh, like the World Cup a couple years ago, Taylor Swift, what we were talking about. You have these events that come through that really have a, a major impact on, um, sometimes your entire year. Um, but you know, there there’s also a misunderstanding that it’s just about pricing. What other factors beyond pricing or levers can you pull, um, that operators are focusing on right now to make, uh, you know, to make end meet? Bill Stachler: Yeah. Good point. Um, I can’t price myself out of anything. I, I, I like to believe I can. Yeah. I, um, base is so important and hitting those windows has become even more important. I spent a lot of time with the, with, with our marketing team about our presence for each one of our properties and where we positioned, um, things that I’ve never quite honestly cared about, are focused on Sure. Is now one of the most intricate parts of, of what we do and are we priced to the, what we’re delivering. And that’s, you know, everybody wants more rate. Rate. I can’t tell you a day where somebody doesn’t go, bill, we need more a DR. Right. However, you know, it’s like we, we played a game yesterday with our focus service GMs on the RevPAR game, 10 hotels length, the stay when is things coming in? And it’s just trying to get everybody on the same page, I think is the most important about what is our, what is our price value, and are we pushing the envelope when we can? Ryan Embree: Yeah. And it’s those little, um, margins, tweaks, changes that make the difference Right now when margins are so tight. Bill Stachler: And when Star came out for this year, it was 0.8, they’ve already revised it to 0.6. Yeah. So the game’s gonna be, can you sell out when you can? Yeah. Can you find that extra two rooms? Can you find a penny, a dollar? Yeah. And, you know, those are the things that it’s, it’s going back kind of a little bit of old school to the how many details can you pay attention to at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. And trying to identify trends. You know, we’ve just, before we got on, we were looking at you and I, I was pulling up my star report. Sure. One week doesn’t make a trend. Yeah. Even three, four weeks doesn’t make a trend. But we’re always trying to identify, catch the wave. Yeah. Or get in front of, um, things that might not go the right way. Ryan Embree: That’s a great point. And you know, one of the places where you can maybe find that edge is in the data and the analytics, um, which we have more than ever now. Right. I don’t think, I’ve been to one of these conferences within the last three years and heard about AI and how that’s, you know, giving us more data, but it’s leveraging that. How are you using that on your end with the data and the analytics side? Bill Stachler: Yeah, there’s a million reports available. And I think consistently looking at the same reports, I think is more important. The more noise isn’t always better. Um, we’re actually spending time with my group today for about a half an hour just talking about opportunities using AI to, whether it’s shop, get more informed about what’s going on in the market. Um, I make everybody use it for email. Yeah. Um, and we’re, we’re just, we’re just trying to get ahead of that. Yeah. My goal always is I wanna be a disruptor in every market. Um, but that doesn’t mean in the week for the week, it’s, we’ve been focusing in out 90 days. Yeah. You could see patterns. We have the data, we could see who’s booked. Yeah. And going after some of those targets. The, just what we were just talking about, those three extra rooms, that one extra dollar rate, you can get that when no one else is paying attention. ’cause everybody’s so hyperfocused in inside of 14 days right now. Ryan Embree: It’s, it’s very, I important. ’cause that booking window has certainly evolved and, and changed a little bit. Bill Stachler: It’s inside a week right now. Yeah. It really is. Ryan Embree: Well, and what you need, there is some close relationship between your operations team and, and the revenue management team. Uh, speak to that and how, you know, something like this where you’re getting together with those, how, how closely you need to stay in contact. Bill Stachler: Well, each one of my people has, uh, they’re equal or the VP of operations for every asset I sit in between Pete and Dave in my office. So we’re, we’re together every day. So, um, on top of it, we have our sales connections as well. So if all three of those are on the same page and they’re, we’re not looking at the same data, we’re not looking at the same opportunities and or same challenges, we’re never gonna be successful. ’cause if you don’t move the whole ship towards the right direction, you’re gonna be challenged. Ryan Embree: Staying consistent. That’s where the, the magic happens there. Um, what, how do you, you talked about how, you know, market conditions right now and not focusing so much on, you know, two or three weeks doesn’t make a trend. Ownership groups right now, though. They’re looking at, they want that extra dollar, they need that extra dollar. How do you keep them focused on long-term stability and not so much focused on that volatility that might change from data? Bill Stachler: That’s, it’s hard. I mean, everybody wants to do better, right. And we’re very owner centric. We’re very transparent. They have access to the systems. Um, we could talk about a week, or we could talk about last night I two emails, what happened last night. Um, I think the big key to that is making sure that we’re all in the same, again, I go back to the same page, but that we’re having the communications, we’re explaining what we’re doing. We’re open, open-minded to some of the, some of the opportunities. I have no problems with testing anything, but if we have to test something, I always tell everybody, you gotta put your hands under, under, under your legs for at least a couple weeks. If we’re gonna try to test something, can we push, can we push? And we’re, we’re willing to make mistakes to do better. Ryan Embree: Well, and that again, lends to what we talked about, giving you more data and you can learn from those, uh, successes and sometimes even better lessons learning from those failures. Bill Stachler: It’s okay to fail. Yeah. Let’s just not do it all the time. Right. Let’s not make the same mistakes over and over again. Um, we have a couple tests going on right now. Uh, there’s three specific ones in my head. Um, one of them is an absolute failure. The other two we’re kind of in the gray area. So we’re kind of excited to see if, if we can’t leverage that in different markets, you know, I like to believe that every one of our markets at least has a couple clone markets Yeah. That are gonna act the same way. So we, what we do is we have a weekly meeting, and then we have at the end of that, we have about 15 minutes where we share, and we have an ongoing team. So somebody’s trying something, somebody sees something. And, you know, we’re over 20 people now and we, we cover the us It’s a constant beeping in the corner of my Yeah. But they’ve, they’ve all adapted to it and they’ve all kind of championed it. So we like to stay ahead of everybody. Ryan Embree: And thats the benefit of scale, that hotel equity is, uh, that hotel equities brings. Well, we’re gonna wrap up and I’m gonna challenge you. Gimme some, uh, hopeful good news for hospitality and, and 2026 and and beyond. Bill Stachler: I’m excited about the summer. Okay. Um, you know, the winter’s been rough. I mean, we’ve had some, we’ve had some challenging weather. You know, we have, we have the World Cup. We’re gonna wait and see what happens with the World Cup. Hopefully that brings, um, some extra demand. We had a really good summer last year, and, you know, the group, the group position in a lot of the bigger brands gets better as the year goes on. Sure. So, um, we all benefit off of that. Ryan Embree: We heard a lot of that kind of stormy weather, doom and gloom at the beginning of last year, but ended up being, like you said, a really good summer for a lot of hotels and on markets. Bill Stachler: It’s, you know, uh, the glass half full, glass half empty. I’m always the guy who doesn’t like the glass I got.So we, we, we always the, the idea is change the story. Ryan Embree: Love it. Well Bill, thank you so much for taking again, time outta your day at the leadership conference, and, uh, we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot coming to you live from the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Albert Smith, COO at Hotel Equities. Al thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today. Albert Smith: Fantastic to be here with you. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Busy couple days here at the leadership conference. Buzzing, you can feel the energy here. Almost a thousand attendees. It’s been an, an incredible couple days. Um, I wanna talk to you about the theme, transforming Together. What does that mean to you and what do you hope to get outta these, you know, couple days what spending with your team? Albert Smith: And again, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Uh, you kind of hit it at the beginning. Transforming together, we’re as large as we’ve ever been, right? We had a merger about this time last year and, uh, we’re, we’re topping off 12, 13,000 employees across the entire enterprise. So transforming together is really about synergizing our enterprise, providing stability, getting people to know each other, leveraging best practices, and, um, being able to do that in a intentional and meaningful way. Ryan Embree: Ben Rafter, your CEO, uh, talked about fit over volume. You just mentioned this is the biggest you’ve ever been. Uh, how do you continue on a operation standpoint to be disciplined about growth, um, and not kind of lose that identity? Albert Smith: Lemme go backwards for half a second. Biggest is fine. This is the largest we’ve ever been. Being large is not necessarily important to me. I wanna be really good at what we do. So, to answer your question, um, a level of operational readiness, the tools, the support, the people, the expertise to make sure that as we grow, if that’s what needs to happen, that we do it well and we can stabilize very quickly. Ryan Embree: You are also expanding into some new horizons. We had some really exciting conversations about postcard cabins and just the brand and, and everything you’re doing over there. Really cool. Even entering into new segments like Caribbean and and Latin America. Um, how do you do all of that scale operationally, but still, you know, not making it a one size fits all? Albert Smith: That’s a, that’s a great question. First of all, continuing to rely on our fundamentals and expectations. First and foremost, um, we have been very intentional about building different operating, um, divisions and applying very specific expertise within those divisions. So if a new asset comes along in either Cala in our lifestyle division, full service, focus service, outdoor hospitality, we’ve got no shortage of resources that can lean in, absorb, provide stability, and, uh, at the end of the day, um, uh, provide value for our owns. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, each segment, each market, very different. Um, you know, the diversity of, uh, Cala and that region too, being able to have an onsite team there, uh, I think critical, we talked to your team about that, uh, with having such a large portfolio, Al Albert, when you’re trying to roll something out to everyone, how, how is that methodical testing before bringing it to scale? Right? Because I wanna make sure everything works functionally and, uh, fits within your culture Albert Smith: Unofficially. But I’ll give you a little bit of a sneak preview. We have a fourth operating vertical, if you will, and we’re, we’re at the moment calling it HE Labs In a very controlled environment, and by the way, leadership, there is tech forward. Uh, but a variety and diversity of resources to help stand up whatever it is, we’re beta testing, right? Uh, so in a controlled environment, we’re able to test a new technology, uh, explore new markets and done with no shortage of resources that have been there, done that stood up operating verticals in the past. Um, so we, we, we tested out, we refine along the way and, uh, when it’s ready, we either roll it out in a very methodical way, training, communication, uh, no shortage of support to make sure that, uh, training wheels on the front end, but you can take them off very quickly and, uh, trust that, uh, those that, uh, need the ride the bike can do it, uh, efficiently. Ryan Embree: It, it’s brilliant. We hear a lot of, uh, brands doing something very similar trying to roll out to their franchisee. So what with, uh, portfolio of your size, I mean, um, you to see that kind of strategy and methodical, it’s gotta also be really great for your employees to know that they, this has been tested. You know, you’re, you’re making sure that you’re making a run on it and it’s being ruled out and delivered in the right way. Um, so hotel equities scale nowadays is a, a, uh, asset. It’s a privilege and, um, uh, an advantage. How do you make sure that your own property teams are, uh, seeing that as a, uh, advantage rather than a complexity? Albert Smith: Lemme make sure I answer that question correctly, but our shared services are, are important, right? So accounting is agnostic to style, right? Um, it is agnostic to style. There’s some nuance there, but we wanna make sure that the shared service that we have within our company is strong. It is, but it allows the experts across lifestyle, full service, outdoor hospitality, where there’s, in some cases brand nuance or in some cases needs to be more marketing forward. How we tell the story, how we go out and acquire guests, how we create awareness, uh, shared service allows us to, first of all, that’s the backbone, but let’s the experts do their job, lean in and ultimately support the property level teams so that they can operate efficiently. Ryan Embree: Alright, so Albert, as we wrap up operationally, been asking a lot of your, your team members, kind of, what’s the vision for 2026 and beyond for hotel equities with all this growth? Albert Smith: Well, first of all, transforming together, right? You gotta, you gotta start somewhere. We’ve been doing it. We’re, we’re coming together in a meaningful way. The stability portion is gonna be really important, uh, but making sure that the fundamentals are there so that we can execute at a high level. Ryan Embree: Well, really exciting. Like I said, we’ve had a lot of your team members here talking about all the strategic growth. Uh, love to continue to see hotel equities and, and what’s next. Hope to see, uh, you here and, um, everyone transform together. So Al thank you so much for taking the time. Albert Smith: Ryan, It was a pleasure. Thank you, Sir. Ryan Embree: All right. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Last week’s 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.  Did you miss any of the panels, sessions, or key moments? Don’t worry!  The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 1, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here from the Sweet Spot for a very special episode where we head out to Las Vegas, Nevada for the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. There we had the opportunity to sit down with several key team members from the hotel equities team. In this episode, we talk to Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer, who talks about the strategic growth of hotel equities and where they see opportunity. Becky Ley with commercial and strategy tips and trends that she’s seeing right now within the portfolio. And Maria Parla, who is focused on that Kala region, the Caribbean and Latin America, uh, region, which hotel equity has been growing is so excited about Can’t Wait to Bring It all to you in these next three episodes in our special Hotel equity episodes, part One. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Sweet Spot. This is the host Ryan Embry here at the RA Resort and Casino Las Vegas at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer. Greg, thank you so much for joining me here at the conference. Greg O’Stean: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We just talked about it, almost 800 or almost a thousand attendees about to file through here. We’re right next to registration. Uh, this is your first Hotel Equities Leadership. Greg O’Stean: It is. Ryan Embree: What are you excited about? What do you hope to take away from these next couple days? Greg O’Stean: So, as you said, my first, I joined April of last year, so I just missed last year’s conference. Very excited about this one. Very excited to talk about all the things that have happened in the last year. More importantly, talk about where we’re going Sure. As we are transforming together and as we’re changing, you know, what is a great company today and making it even better. So I’m excited about that. I’m excited about meeting all the folks who make it happen every day. Yeah. Because most of the people coming here today are the leaders from our hotels, from the properties. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you there. At the headquarters where I work, there are no cash registers. Right. <laugh>, we, we, we don’t make any money at the headquarters. We spend money. Yeah. But, but the company lives and dies by what happens in the field. Yeah. And those people are here, and I’m excited about that. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool. And there’s something magical when you get those onsite property Yeah. People all together, because we’re gonna talk about it here in a second, but, uh, you start to hear patterns, trends Yeah. Things bubbling up that, you know, you have properties all over the country. We do. But it could be a property, you know, that shares that struggle across the country. That’s right. And then be able to discuss those issues and, and challenges that, uh, hospitality right now, you know, continues to phase, but also all the, all the great trends that are on the horizon. Greg O’Stean: A hundred percent. And we’re growing across Canada and Latin America as well, but just in the US. Each state is a little different. You talked about being from Texas, very different from Georgia, very different from California. But there are patterns across, yeah. Right. And so when someone from Oregon says to someone from Florida, uh, here’s what I’m experiencing. And they go, oh yeah. Have you considered this? Or, here’s what we’re doing. Or, here’s a new tool, or, here’s what I tried. Sure. Right. And you take the best of the best and share those best practices. That’s, that’s what makes a company great. That’s what makes a team great. Otherwise, we’re just a collection of individuals sitting out at properties with no real vision and no real teamwork. Yeah. Ryan Embree: Well, absolutely. And again, it’s, it’s, it’s times like this, places like this that, that make that special happen. Now, Greg, you said you’ve been here, uh, you know, just less than a year coming up on a year. Um, tell us about, you know, obviously, uh, chief Development Officer always looking for new opportunities for the business. But tell, talk to us a little bit about your role, um, with, within Ho Hotel equities. Greg O’Stean: So, so my role is really the, it’s the intersection of the type of owners that we want to have, but people that actually own the hotels that we manage. Uh, because today we have largely one type of owner profile, and there’s really five or six out there, more institutional owners, more private equity groups, more family offices. Each owner profile has a different, you know, different, uh, goals, different hold periods, different things that they’re looking for. And so we wanna diversify our owner base. We also want to diversify our geographic base. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Grow into markets where we’re not. Um, we want to expand in the markets where we are. ’cause there’s synergies with that. But we also want to change. Really, if you look at where we are today, there’s a, we’re a company that consists largely of smaller hotels. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. A lot of select service hotels. Sure. Lot of independent hotels today. Now, because of the Springboard acquisition, um, and some larger, you know, 200, 250 keys, we’re gonna move that average up. We’re gonna give more full service hotels. We’re gonna give more luxury, more resorts. Not to abandon what built us, but to just diversify and have more to, to grow, not just for the sake of growth Yeah. But to grow strategically. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I was really looking for this conversation because I think you have some really unique insights we talked about, about the insights that you can glean from when you get a bunch of hotels together, but also when you’re talking to owners and investors constantly, I think some common trends and themes also start to percolate a little bit. They do. And you get to have to, you have the, the firsthand experience of being able to see those and hear those stories and insights from multiple people. What are you hearing right now when it comes to owners, investors, and, and a climate right now that it, again, it’s a little challenging right now. Greg O’Stean: It’s a challenging environment, no doubt. And that’s what we hear from the owners, right? It’s, you know, with labor costs going up, materials costs going up, inflation, but your top line is really not growing. Top line is flat at best, right? Yeah. So your margins are shrinking. Sure. So, and, and a lot of investment is reconsidering whether or not they still wanna be invested in hotels. Right. Because your typical institutional investor or real estate investor doesn’t have to invest in hotels that can choose, you know, to invest in a data center or multifamily or whatever. Yeah. So a lot of them were questioning like, well, what do I do now? Like in the past I could buy or sell or refi. It’s hard to do all of those right now. So the next best thing you can do, or the best thing you can do in a challenging environment is revisit your relationship with your manager. Right. If, if you can’t sell it for the price that you want and you can’t refinance it for the, for the proceeds that you need, and you can’t change the flag, because most of the time it’s a long-term agreement. Right. Then what can you do to make a difference? Reconsider your relationship with your manager. Yeah. And that’s the opportunity for us. Ryan Embree: No, absolutely. And, and especially with a portfolio, the size of yours, the sheer experience Yeah. That the organization has and the history that it hangs its hat on. Um, you know, what, what have any of these conversations kind of influenced the opportunities that you’re choosing to pursue? And I think all as equally important not to pursue right now. Greg O’Stean: Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t do. Ryan Embree: I’ve heard that before. Greg O’Stean: Yeah. And I learned something at my last, well, two companies ago, um, and this was actually a client who told us this bigger is not better, better is better. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right? And there’s a lesson in there just growing for the sake of growth, just to be bigger, just to be the fastest growing. We don’t want that. That’s, that’s not what we’re about. We’re talking about strategically growing, which means the right owners, the right markets, the right types of hotels, uh, and, and really aligning our vision with the owner’s vision. Right. Why, why are they hiring us and making sure we’ve got the right relationship. It’s hard to turn deals down, but sometimes again, the best deals are the ones you don’t do sometimes. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I, I, I love that. And, and strategic growth, what you’re talking about. How do you, uh, you know, without giving any maybe secrets away of, of the trade, like what, what do those conversations sound like to differentiate hotel equities? Um, because it feels like, along with, uh, obviously a new brand popping up, there’s also another ho hotel management company around the corner. Greg O’Stean: Yeah. Everybody, when we talk to them, everybody wants to know what makes hotel equities better, special or different, right? Because it’s easy to put all third party management companies into a, a bucket and say, you’re all a commodity, you’re all about the same. So what is it that we do that’s better special or different? And the answer is really in the performance of the hotels, right? We, we have to be able to tell stories that relate to that specific owner. So if that owner has a 200 room hotel in Orlando, we need to be able to show them, well, here’s three other hotels in Orlando. Here’s what it looked like when we took it over and here’s where it is today. We can do that for you. That’s what resonates with the owners. Ryan Embree: Well, and you got a lot of stories to choose from. Yeah. Um, on the, on the, when you kind of look at the landscape right now, are there any, you talked about geography, are there, are there any places you think that there are opportunity asset types? Uh, you mentioned. Greg O’Stean: We definitely want to do, uh, more luxury, more upper upscale, larger hotels. We’re not, we don’t have much of a presence in the Northeast, so there’s a lot of opportunity for us up there. We should have a larger presence in places like Florida and Texas. So we’re working on that. We just expanded some in Texas, but Texas, as you know, is a big state. Massive. So there’s a lot of room, a lot of room there. A lot of room in Florida. Um, so, and really we, we will follow where our investors are going. The smart investors, the institutional ones are saying, okay, maybe we’re done with Nashville for now. We’re done with Austin for now because they’re renovating the convention center. Sure. Where are we going next? And we help them find those markets. We help them go to the next place. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, some of these can look, these locations, markets look very different. You know, Nashville, Austin running really, really hot right now. Yeah. Um, and again, with the expertise to be able to kind of guide those ownership and investors to say, Hey, this is, this is a good opportunity. Greg O’Stean: And that’s what they look to us for, right? Yeah. That is a sign of a good management company. You’re not just managing their hotels, you’re helping them manage their company by showing them, this is where we think the puck is going. Right? This is where we think the next opportunities for your company will be, are in Kalispell, Montana. Right. Wherever they may not be thinking because they’re so focused on, okay, what’s happening in my portfolio today? We can help them see, well, this is where you wanna be in two years, three years, five years. Ryan Embree: You know, a lot of these conferences, uh, that I attend, investment conferences around the country, uh, relationships, whether it’s the brand and the property, whether it’s a management company and an owner investor, those are always dissected during these, uh, yeah. These types of events. Uh, you know, hotel equity is known for being very owner aligned. What does that mean to you on the business development side? Greg O’Stean: Well, so the, the main reason that we are in business is to deliver better returns for the owners, the people who have entrusted us with their hotels. And a lot of our owners, the, the cash that we return to them is what’s feeding their families and sending their kids to school. Right? Yeah. So if you’re not aligned with that owner, you’re not gonna have a very long relationship. Right. It’s very different from an institutional owner that might have 200 hotels and you miss the numbers one quarter on one or two of them, you’ll have some conversations. Yeah. And, and you’ll make some adjustments. But when you’re dealing with an owner whose family is depending on the cash flow from that hotel or the next generation of that family, they need to know that they trust you. They are entrusting you with their lives, not just their investment. Right. Yeah. So it’s understanding what we’re in business for, who we’re in business for. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I guess especially again, with this climate, that, that’s another thing that they talk about is, is, you know, where profit profit margins are really, really tight right now. You need those trusted experts. ’cause hospitality is such a wide ranging space. You can’t be an expert at anything. So leaning on those industry experts in the places that you need them, recognizing that one you need. Greg O’Stean: And answering the phone when they call. And having the right person that when they say, Hey, I have an issue, and they say, I’ll get right on it. Yeah. Right. And that gets harder and harder the, the larger you become mm-hmm <affirmative>. Because you could become more layered and more structured and they say, oh, well, I used to deal with Ryan, but now Ryan is often another thing. Now I don’t know this person. It’s not the person that I had the relationship with. That’s, that’s why you have to balance growth with your relationships and, and where you’re going because you, you can’t lose that trust that you built. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, another thing that we love to do at these events, especially in hospitality, is try to predict the future, right? Yeah. Try to look into that crystal ball and see, uh, what, what do you see 12 to 18 months or even maybe hearing from owners and investors right now about what, what they want to see out there other than returns, of course. Right? Greg O’Stean: Yeah. So, so we get our opportunities really from three main areas. Someone builds a hotel, someone buys a hotel, or someone changes the manager of that hotel. Um, it’s very difficult to build a hotel right now because costs and returns, and in the short term, it’s just not, uh, economic to build a hotel costs too much to build Sure. For the term that you’ll, that you’ll get as far as buying a hotel. The last two year, the, the last really good year, high activity year was 2019. Yeah. Then you had COVID, the, the, the entire pandemic and the recovery from that for the last few years has been a bid ask gap between what, uh, sellers are willing to, to accept and what buyers are willing to pay. Yeah, I’ve heard that that’s, that gap is closing. So this year you’ll see more activity than last year. You’ll see. And I’m not making that, I mean, the brokers will tell you the same thing, but the brokers are always optima. If you ask, if you ask a broker, they’re always gonna, its always a good time to make a deal. Next year is better. It’s a great time to do a deal <laugh>, but, but they are, they are all saying that. But I also, in talking to the buyers and the sellers, and they have pent up demand where they’ve got to put the money to work. Right? Yeah. Especially when you’re in the institutional arena. So I’m looking for more activity on the buy sell side. I’m looking for less activity on the build side, unless it’s just a really unique opportunity. Um, and I’m looking for more activity from people changing managers because there’s less options available to them. But also I think people are generally more optimistic than they were six months ago. Yeah. Um, almost like chaos is the new norm. Ryan Embree: I’ve heard that. We’ve heard that a lot from industry leaders. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we’ll continue to look, um, but, you know, a stable ship here with hotel equities and Greg, thank you so much. We hope you enjoy, you’ve got an incredible two and a half days planned here, you and your team, looking forward. Congratulations. Forward. Uh, thank you for sitting out with me. Greg O’Stean: Thank you. I enjoyed it very much. Ryan Embree: Thanks. Awesome. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone, Ryan Embee here with the Suite Spot Podcast. We are live here at the Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. I’m here with Becky Vealey, SVP of Sales, Full Service & Lifestyle Division. Thank you so much for being with me, Becky. Becky Vealey: Oh, thank you for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: This is exciting. I know the energy is all around. You guys have almost a thousand attendees. I heard. We do. Incredible. Next couple days full of education panels, connections, hospitality is all about. What are you most excited about for these next couple days? Becky Vealey: Oh, without question, the collaboration between all of our peers. Um, I think it’s great when you can get everyone together and, you know, some of these people we’ve never even met. Yeah. So it’s an amazing time to have everybody in one place collaborate, you know, um, just peer to peer, you know, collaboration. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. A lot of newcomers here. And first timer, we’ve been seeing those on the, on the badges, which is really cool. Before we get too much into it, since this is your first time on the sweet spot, tell us a little bit about your role here at Hotel Equities and maybe give us a little background on your hospitality journey. Becky Vealey: So I’ve been in the hospitality industry for about 30 years. Um, I joined Hotel Equities in 2022 as part of the Greenwood Hospitality strategic partner. And so I became the, uh, senior Vice President of sales for Lifestyle and full Service divisions. And so I oversee the sales initiatives for a multi-brand, uh, portfolio, Ryan Embree: And we’re gonna talk about that because this sales and commercial strategy has been through a ton of transformation. Mm-hmm. In fact, uh, the, the leadership conference, the whole theme is around transforming together. Yes, yes. And I think that segues great into this question. Mm-hmm. How has that commercial strategy and sales really transformed over the last couple years? Yeah, Becky Vealey: I, I think a lot of ways, I mean, and you’re gonna hear me repeat this probably numerous times, but that, that, uh, relationship between sales, revenue management, marketing, and operations is key. And making sure that that’s the solid foundation for any commercial strategies. Um, that hasn’t changed. You know, regardless of pre pandemic, post pandemic, that is a killer. Right. Um, and then just making sure that we’re creating a commercial strategies for the properties and being very detailed in what the property needs. Not doing a broad brush stroke Yeah. Of strategies. It’s, it’s not a one size fits all anymore. Ryan Embree: No, no. It’s, I mean, especially in a portfolio where we just, you know, was talking about postcard cabins that could look very, very different from, of course, full service. And, and we’re gonna talk about that here in a minute about those differences, um, and similarities between those commercial strategies. Um, where do you think that the industry still has to improve on commercial strategy right now? Becky Vealey: Absolutely, Ryan. So I think the commercial, um, strategies have to be tailored to the property. It cannot be a playbook that, you know, is brush striped across all the properties. And then again, strong alignment between commercial sales, revenue management, marketing, and operations. Ryan Embree: I think this is a great place for that. So it’s not so siloed. You can actually hear some of the challenges that maybe a revenue manager is having in one part of the country, very similar to the other one, and how to kind of combat that. So there’s that exchange of ideas that happen at a time like this that I think is really, really cool to see. Um, especially in a portfolio, a growing portfolio like yours. Now, uh, every property here wants to grow its market share, right? That’s the ultimate goal. But how do you do that without, uh, sacrificing long-term positioning? Becky Vealey: That’s a great question. So I think understanding the asset and the guest and the market is key to this for long-term growth. And then making sure that our rate positioning is where it needs that we have price integrity, and that we consistently execute, I think are the key things. Ryan Embree: And we have so much data right now, more than ever before, to kind of pull these levers and for you to get to know your guests. So, uh, absolutely knowing your guests app is gonna be critical and, and key, uh, to that. Now, we talked at the top of the episode, uh, about your title, uh, overseeing both the pool service and the lifestyle division. Uh, you talked about with lifestyle hotels, a lot of storytelling involved there Exactly. Grow, uh, that brand. Um, how is there comparisons between the two segments so you see it, Becky, and maybe some differences? Becky Vealey: Yeah, it’s really interesting. Uh, full service hotels, of course, lean in on various revenue streams. You’ve got transient group food and beverage banqueting, and a host of other ancillary revenue streams. And the sell cycle, of course, is much longer. And the segmentation can be a little more specific. And then on the lifestyle size, it goes back to what you mentioned. It is really the brand storytelling, the experiences, and then the activations on property are key to drive demand in the lifestyle division, you know, strategically. Um, the two may be different, but those foundational pillars of growing commercial are the same in both. Ryan Embree: It’s really cool to see, uh, the creativity right now in lifestyle hotels. It’s kind of having its moment right now, the activations, like see some of the programming that these properties put on, and I’m like, it’s so impressed and it’s really cool. It goes back to your point though, if you can do that in the correct way, and your guess is now the ambassador of that brand, whether it be social media reviews, um, it, it’s so important and could really be a key driver or success. Um, so where do you see kind of commercial strategies breakdown at the property level and, and what do you kind of put in place to prevent that, Becky? Becky Vealey: Yeah, I think lack of communication. I mean, that’s number one. Um, two, I think that there, when there is like a lack of shared accountability that always creates a breakdown and then just inconsistent execution. You know, if everybody’s not, you know, doing the same thing from the same playbook, that creates issues. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And, uh, you never wanna see that, uh, obviously happen and, and not knowing who your segment is, I think that’s what you’re talking about, uh, of kind of keeping staying in the dark. We talked about it. There’s more data out there than ever lean into that, make sure you know who you’re trying to attract and, and get to your property. Uh, we had Greg Osteen on talking about, uh, growing and diversifying the portfolio. Super exciting. How do you make sure you do that without kind of losing, uh, your vision and, and as you continue to grow and diversify Hotel Equities? Becky Vealey: Yeah, I, I think it goes back to the foundations, right? You know, you have to have that strong, and again, I’ve kind of a broken record here, that strong collaboration between sales, marketing, revenue management, and, uh, operations is key. Um, and then I think just always looking forward and ensuring that the messaging is correct, that we have rate integrity, and that our positioning is correct. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, thank you so much for taking the time. Uh, wishing you a very successful next couple days. Really excited to hear about all the insights you and your team are gonna glean from this. Becky Vealey: Thank you, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Thank you for joining me. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We’re at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Marilia Pergola, VP of Ops, Caribbean, and Latin America. Thank you so much, uh, for joining me today. Marilia Pergola: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We’re here. It’s, uh, middle of the conference right now. Exciting. There’s an energy buzzing around people all around. How’s it going for you? And, you know, what is something that when you’re done with the conference, you hope to have a, a, a good takeaway of, Marilia Pergola: I don’t even have a year with hotel equity and for me, just be here with almost what, 700 people that I think, uh, they said, uh, it’s incredible. Just to see so many new faces for me and still share all these experiences for me is, is very exciting. Yeah. And also shared the experience from us in the color region as well with the team here in the us. It’s Ryan Embree: One of the most exciting pieces of hotel equities. And we’re gonna talk all about that, but I want to get a little bit about your specific role and maybe a little bit about your hospitality background that led you to hotel equities ultimately. Marilia Pergola: So I have 26 years working in hospitality, and I have been in different roles. I have been working my career actually started at Hilton and I have been in sales revenue management, also general manager. And, uh, and now I have the opportunity to be with hotel equities and working with different brands and, uh, learning more and more every, every day, you know, so when I think my, my role at the, with the hotel equities and the hotels we operate today is really making sure that the properties, they have the support on day to day to make sure that they comply what they have to comply in terms of not just the agreement, but also with the brand, the standards, and make sure that the owners, they’re happy with the results and they’re satisfied with our, what, what we are doing at their hotels. Yeah. So this is my, my day to day Ryan Embree: <laugh>, I’m sure. And a lot of nuances, you know, being in that region. We’re gonna talk about it. You know, we had Greg Oste on, uh, on this interview and was talking about long-term goals of hotel equities to grow in this Cala region. Um, what, how does, how do you make that, how do you and your team make that a reality? Marilia Pergola: I think we go back also to operations know if we don’t have, uh, the right team on board. And I think for us, the most important thing is our team. Yeah. It’s people. If we don’t have the right people on board with us in this, uh, adventure of growing hotel equities in the color region, this is not going to work. Yeah. So for us, it’s a long term always with the, with the owners. This is what they expect. And also the brands, when you work with brands, you need to have this long-term relationship, and this is what we are working for. So we are setting up a good team in terms of operations, because if we have, uh, uh, the strategy is just to give us all, like this direction and the operational excellence, I think is the key for, for that to happen. Ryan Embree: And a, a key, uh, component of your strategy was to keep, uh, the, a local in-market team, uh, for that. Why is that critical? And and why was that a priority? Marilia Pergola: Yeah, that is critical. It’s not even negotiable, I would say. Uh, we need to make sure that, uh, it, it, that is a lot of nuances. No. And just the local, uh, labor laws, the taxes. If you don’t understand that, if you have a team that don’t understand that or just operating the hotel from far, uh, you’re gonna be reacting instead of leading. So this is not going to work. And also the owners, they need to feel that to trust us that they know what we are doing. And there’s so many things that we can do. And in the color region, you have so many countries and it’s so different. It can be so diverse that, uh, we need to understand that and not just even talking about also the, the language. You need to speak the language to communicate properly, not just with the hotel team, but also with the ownership group. Make sure that we are all aligned and we are talking all the same language, you know, and, uh, in a good way. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, and, and that can, uh, you know, we talked about it, so many nuances there, uh, between different countries, I’m sure developing. Um, you already have several projects, which is really exciting. Um, any, any projects, upcoming projects that you’re excited about or even maybe a project that you feel like fits the strategy and vision of what you’re, what you’re trying to look for? Marilia Pergola: Yeah. We opened the first hotel that we opened the color region was the Hampton in Saint Thomas, USVI. And, uh, it’s doing very, very well. It’s a very nice product and a very good location owners, uh, happy as well with the results. Good. The, the Normalist Arenas, it’s an autograph collection. Dominican Republic, it’s an also a very nice project we just opened in November last year and is also doing very well. So I think all these projects they talk about hotel equity is growing in color region and we are super excited. Next week actually, we are opening the CITAs Resort in HaCo in Costa Rica. I’m flying from here to Costa Rica to open the hotel. And, uh, we are very excited that there’s so many other projects to, to come in the pipeline and different islands in the Caribbean and also Mexico and the Dominican Republic. Ryan Embree: No shortage of, uh, bucket list vacations, uh, for you and your team, uh, let’s switch to an owner’s perspective. Uh, what you think excites an owner, uh, about operating in this collar region? Marilia Pergola: I think, well, well their focus is rent profitability, right? Yeah. That is the first one. And this is what they all they want, uh, they want, right? Uh, but I think what they’re excited and what they expect from us is that knowledge in terms of the culture and everything that we just mentioned about all the challenges. And I think nowadays, globally, we are all facing a lot of challenges. Now. It’s not just the Caribbean, Latin America. Uh, I used, we used to always here in this conferences with the hotel business, US was never a country that was facing so many challenges like it’s facing now. We are used to that in the Caribbean, Latin America region. Unfortunately, it’s our reality day to day. Uh, so I think the owners, when they know that people that know everything that is happening understand all these challenges, they feel that we are valuable. And I think this is a very important thing for these owners. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s, it’s what you said, it goes from being, you know, reactive to leading. Uh, like you said, I I, I love that point. Marilia Pergola: And also having the, the team in field to help. Yeah. Not operating from far right. This is, I think it’s key and having the right team in place Ryan Embree: Yeah. Feet on the ground for sure. Definitely helps. Um, you know, the whole theme of this conference of Sears transform together, right? Uh, we talked about, you know, this is a different region with different nuances, a lot of diversity there. How do you stay true to that region but also not feel disconnected from the hotel equities as a whole? Marilia Pergola: Now we work as a team. What is good is that the hotel equities in the color region, we have, uh, the empowerment to make all the decisions in the, in each market. So we can do that. But we are part of all this, the entire system. No, not just the distribution system, but also the support in terms of the commercial, the distribution, revenue management, shared services. So we work all together, uh, the development team when they need help as well. Our team is also helping. So we are all working together, marketing, revenue management. Uh, we are part of hotel equities at the end, but what is important that hotel equities in the color region, we can make the decisions for the market in the market to the owners that we have the relationship. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I’m sure that’s a great selling point to owners and investors thinking about, you know, taking on, uh, what the bot, Marilia Pergola: It’s a peace of mind for them because they know that they’re dealing with people, they understand what they’re talking about and not just trying to explain to someone that doesn’t leave that reality. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. So, um, you know, another thing at these conferences I’ve talked about before is we always like to try to look into the crystal ball, predict the future, so to speak. Um, you know, in 2026 and maybe beyond, what’s your vision, uh, for the collar region and, and how it continues to grow within hotel equities? Marilia Pergola: Yeah, I think first thing, we need to make sure that we are providing the support to the hotels that are under operation. Now. We need to make sure that we are not, uh, paying attention to them. Uh, but we are also working with the team to make sure that we are scaling our team to, to grow. Uh, as I mentioned too, we have our hotels under construction now. Yeah. Uh, in the pipeline. And what, it’s interesting that we have different, uh, brand tiers now from select service brand to full service lifestyle, luxury hotels. So we are working with the hotels under, uh, there are under construction, but we also always prepare to any deal that can just show up like a quick conversion. Sure. We are always ready for that. So the team, it’s all on board to, to be prepared for any quick conversion so we can step in and take the over the operation and do the best, what we do every day. Awesome. Ryan Embree: Well exciting times, uh, in your region and, and congratulations to you and your team. Uh, we’ll be on the lookout for all these new projects coming up. Thank you. Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The inaugural episode of the Suite Spot: Social Success Series is here!  Join first time host and Brand Ambassador at Travel Media Group, Cassady Quintana as she sits down with special guest, Aislynn Roberts, the TMG Enterprise Client Success Manager, as they discuss the latest and greatest social media trends and landscape for hotels.  This first installment of the series is the beginning of a new age for the podcast and we hope you enjoy the discussion between two social media gurus on how hotels and property management groups can not only optimize their social media presence but also how they can see the greatest return on their social media investment. Cassady Quintana: Hello everyone and welcome to our very first episode of the Social Success Podcast, A Suite Spot podcast powered by Travel Media Group. I’m your host, Cassady Quintana, Brand Ambassador here at Travel Media Group. Super excited to finally kick off this podcast. You know, the reason we decided to start this was because of the success of our social success webinar series that we did last year and we’re still doing to this day. But I was hearing a lot of feedback from people that were watching and there’s a lot of opinions and hot takes about hotel, social media, but not nearly enough conversations with people that are actually in the thick of it working in hotel social media. So I thought, what better way to have Aislynn Roberts, our Enterprise Client Success Manager here at Travel Media Group as our first guest, she is working with partners and talking about these topics every day. So Aislynn thank you for joining me. Aislynn Roberts: Thank you for having me. Cassady Quintana: So kind of before we get into social media, I want people to know what your role is like. So just walk us through kind of what your day-to-day looks like. Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, of course. So as the enterprise Client Success Manager, I have a unique opportunity to work not only with individual property owners, but I also work with brand team execs and the C-Suite for hotel management groups as well. So it’s a very interesting role in which you are talking to these executive teams a lot around overall portfolio trends. What you’re seeing across the board industry, news updates, especially if you consider meta, how many times they’re updating. Making sure that they’re in the know of what’s happening, but also giving them trend analysis for their portfolio. What’s working well, the performance, what we’re seeing across the board versus when you’re talking to individual properties, it’s very much focused, right? What their individual goals are, what they’re trying to achieve, and, and really honing in on what works well for them. And social media content wise. The conversation becomes very much focused into their amenities, what their guests are, what type of audience they’re looking for, versus what the C-suite and brand. It’s overarching, right? Like how can you continue to capitalize this across the board? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, I totally agree. And so when you’re having these conversations, what are some of the biggest concerns or reservations that you’re hearing the most from these people you’re speaking with? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, it can differ across the board. Most of the time it really depends on each individual’s comfort level, which surprisingly matches throughout the executive team. So whether you’re individual property level as you go up, dependent on your personal use, your personal comfort with social media, your conversations could be the same or it could be vastly different. If you’re talking to a director of marketing or VP of marketing who’s eats lives and breathes social media. So, those conversations shape a little bit different, but there is a lot of fear of not knowing what to do, right? Not understanding how it works, fear of doing something wrong, or needing to be a hundred percent professional and completely photogenic and photographed and all this stuff. And like, and that’s not necessarily what social media is about. So, and then for the individual property level too, you go into time consuming, right? So they’re already in their day-to-day dealing with guest requests, having to follow up with groups that are coming through, dealing with fires that they have to put out sometimes literally that are going on at the property level. So to them, like giving them an extra task of having to think about how to create content can be very much like, whoa, like I don’t want anything to do with it. Or hard for them to wrap around their head and they just get added stress to their normal day. Cassady Quintana: And I feel like once you have, all that stress of social media, it’s easier to just put it on the back burner. Because like you said, their day-to-day is dealing with actual guests, you know, they were hired to deal with guests and do things at the property and social media is usually put to the back because it’s like, I can’t even think about that right now. So obviously you’re having these conversations, you’re educating them of the importance. Have you seen that shift with leadership and and how seriously are they taking social media now? Aislynn Roberts: Absolutely. So definitely among the brand teams and the C-Suite, when you, when you talk to them, the seriousness of social media’s definitely shifted. They understand it’s important. They know the role it’s playing in the traveler’s journey and how people are using it to make a booking decision. Especially when you’re considering the younger generation who grew up on social media. So it’s a definitely different market at the individual property level. You do still have some, but some are still a little bit slow to the take in understanding it because they themselves don’t use it or they’re only using it to communicate with their friends and family. So they’re not using it as a way to plan their trips, but when you get down to it and show them how it’s using, or you talk about booking dot com’s update where that’s now through Instagram, it opens up the eyes a little bit more, but the C-suite and brand teams definitely understand it. And that’s why you’re seeing more and more brand initiatives come out regarding social media. And it’s the hotels and themselves are almost like at a scrambling trying to figure out how are we gonna meet these brand standards, make sure we’re reaching to it because they’re still a little bit scared of how to move forward. Cassady Quintana: Well, it’s a lot. And I don’t blame them for being scared because you know, me and you look at these social media trends all the time and every week there’s something new coming out. So I can’t imagine working in a hotel and then having to stay up to date with all this. And then on top of that, your brand is sending you these requirements. It can be a lot. So kind of when they get past that hesitation and maybe they understand it a little bit more, what’s really exciting to them on social media? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, so sometimes it takes several conversations. It’s not like an overnight switch of the mind where they start to see this. So I think what I’ve learned working, especially with brand teams and C-Suite, is that they generally have two departments for everything, or not several departments for everything. They have an operations team, they have a revenue team, they have sales and marketing. So sometimes those teams don’t necessarily communicate with all the trends that they’re seeing across the board. So if your operations team handles your reputation and your online reviews, they’re not necessarily communicating the feedback and trends that they’re seeing that way into like the sales team, right? Sales teams know what they’re targeting, they know what their budget is, they know what type of groups they’re trying to reach to bring in business into the hotels. But necessarily that’s not portrayed across the board. And what I’ve learned is that when you relate the guest feedback into turning it into an easy social media content strategy, they start to see that connection. So oftentimes, especially at the property level, when I’m talking to individual GMs and they’re weary and they don’t know how to get started, I leverage their guest reviews. So, you know, your really positive feedback that highlights everything great about your hotel, the amenities your guest really love, that’s an easy property feature post for sure. You know, write something about your shuttle or your complimentary breakfast or whatever the great thing that keeps being highlighted. If you are seeing some gaps, service gaps, whether it’s concerns about a specific policy or you had a shuttle but you don’t know where to find it in those reviews, that’s a great opportunity to do an info share an update on social media where you’re sharing, Hey, this is your pickup location for your shuttle, or these are the times. I’d say a really great example is parking. We get a lot of reviews that mention parking. Sometimes it’s about, oh, the garage is confusing. I don’t know where to find the garage. Especially if you’re in a downtown market. A simple video of just driving down the street, showing where the entrance to your parking garage is, could do a lot as far as like educating and having that transparency to perspective guests. Cassady Quintana: I think it’s interesting ’cause you mentioned earlier about these hoteliers wanting to be perfect on social media, feeling like they have to have the right shot. They, they don’t have a professional camera, but like you said, social media, it can be super easy. Take the, take the video of driving to the garage or take a video of your breakfast spread or show a sunset outside your pool with your iPhone. We have some of the most amazing cameras on our iPhone, and it doesn’t have to be rocket science. Social media is all about authenticity, which we’ll, we’ll touch on a little bit. So kind of where are you seeing from your perspective, you know, you’re talking with multiple different kinds of hotels. What’s the difference between hotels that seem very confident in what they’re doing on social media from those that might be a little bit stuck or uninspired? Aislynn Roberts: So I think the main thing that separates them is when they realize that their personality matters online just as much as it does in person. So especially if you’re a property who consistently gets praised for your service and your team members and the attention that you do. So that is all their personality that’s coming across the board when they’re face to face and interacting with these guests, that same personality should mimic onto social media, right? So when you think outside the box, when you keep your true personality into your content, you start to see a little bit more success because you’re having fun with it. And that’s what social media is. You don’t wanna be so polished that it becomes a mundane task that you have to do on a weekly, monthly basis. It should be something that’s super fun, you think outside the box, but keep true to who you are and showcasing an experience. Because that uncapped storytelling that you have with social media, being able to create this experience and identify that, but also get people to dream about it and wanting to have that experience is ideally where you want your social strategy to be. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, absolutely. So kind of in that same lane, where are you seeing these hotels start to overcomplicate things on social? Aislynn Roberts: Definitely the idea that it needs to be polished, like their website. So, you know, we work with a lot of hotels that don’t have the images. They don’t have a professional, photographer that’s gonna come out, or they only have the images are on their website. And those are great images to have, but doesn’t have to be polished. Like you said, it could be a cell phone. You just go out, take a photo. I’m sure you have team members. Every property has team members that have cell phone or maybe you’ve had to tell them, Hey, don’t be on your phone so much at work. It happens, it happens here. So you know, when that happens, if they, if you kind of create this interest or you’re like, Hey, if you’re walking around the property on your break, or, if you have a restaurant and the chef makes you something to eat for lunch, take a quick photo of that dish. Use it for your social media content. So it doesn’t necessarily have to be super duper polished in order to be able to have success with it. But the more content, the more image and video you have, the better to keep your feet fresh and get people to stay connected with you. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, absolutely. And then kind of on the flip side of that, where are you seeing hotels underestimate, you know, a lot of the things you’re having to do is convince these hotels that social’s important. A lot of the individual properties are not seeing it yet. So what are you telling them that they’re underestimating of the potential they could have on social media? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, they’re definitely underestimate the value of it. So when you talk about social media, especially if you’re looking at, if you’re dealing with maybe the revenue team or Director of Finance, for Suite Suite and the brand teams, they are all numbers based. So they expect, “Hey, we’re we’re doing a marketing strategy, we have this in place. What am I getting in return from it?” And I understand it, I get it, but social media doesn’t operate that way. So they’re truly underestimating the value of the reach associated with it versus the cost. So it’s not necessarily about what I’m getting physically in return for it, it’s the potential, the longevity. So you have this ability to tell your story in a way that nobody else can tell it. No advertising campaign that you do can tell a story the way a social media content strategy can do. And it’s the ability to really to connect with people at every point in the traveler’s journey because people are on social media looking at things in different ways. For different reasons at different times during their day. So it doesn’t matter what you post, you’re targeting everyone during that piece and during their journey. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. And I think it’s important. You know, we hear the ROI of social media all the time, and that’s not usually a physical number. You don’t, you don’t see that. Maybe you see it through engagements and your followers and all and clicks and things like that. But for me, I set it on my webinars before, you know, I went to a resort last year in Mexico and I felt like I knew everybody that worked there because of their social media. And that’s not something I actively told them, but I was so comfortable there already because of the things they were posting on social media. So if we can get that message across and hotels can tell their story and show their personality, like that’s what matters most to these guests on social media and that there is no number that can show that obviously them returning is a sign that it’s working, but it’s, it’s hard to give those exact numbers. And, you know, some people believe in, some people don’t. So we just keep preaching that same message. But so when our team, when we start to work with these properties and we’re talking through their strategy, maybe they’re starting from zero or they have some type of presence, how important is creativity versus consistency? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah. So that’s a really great question and an interesting topic because you have a lot, like when we talk about people who are scared of it, it is that creativity. They don’t know where to start with it. They don’t know to go with it. So, but when you take the concept of consistency and you talk about, SEO and like all the stuff that’s going into social media now and the searchability of it, it’s really what consistency that drives content and drives performance. So I mean, if you, if you think about it, you know, a lot of people get stuck on, oh, virals the only thing that’s successful. If you talk to anyone that’s went viral, I guarantee you most of the time the answer is gonna be it was a fluke. Right. You know, they didn’t plan it. It’s not something that they knew what they were doing, it’s just, it’s something that resonated with a lot of people and it took off. But they got to that point because they had a consistent lead into that they were consistently posting. So when that, when that one viral moment went out, then people looked at their past content, decided, oh, this is a cool page. I’m gonna stick around and follow along with it. So the concept is you need both. You definitely need both. But consistency is what drives, and if you to kind of peel it back even further, we talk about sports, right? We both like sports, right? So think of your favorite sports team. You’ve been to some games, right? Cassady Quintana: Of course. Aislynn Roberts: Do you follow them on social media? Cassady Quintana: Yes. Right. Aislynn Roberts: So the experience you see on social media is the same experience you get at the game. That’s what social media is about. You’re selling an experience. It’s not, I mean, you are selling your property, but it’s more important to sell the experience that a traveler can have. To have that connection and be able to like, Hey, I can picture myself here. So when I am in town, whether it’s two months from now, six months from now, I’m gonna think about that property when I’m planning my trip. Cassady Quintana: I love the sports analogy. I think that’s a good way for people to understand. You know, when we talk about hotel, social media, it’s easier to see it when you can compare it to other industries like a sporting event for example. Or maybe you’re going to a music festival or any of those things. They’re all experiences. Sometimes we think of hotels as just somewhere to lay my head at night. Of course, at the end of it, that is the most important thing of why someone’s staying at a hotel. But if you can make the full experience something that they remember, it’s more than just somewhere they laid their head at night. So, kind of shifting gears a little bit. You know, we talk about authenticity on social media. Now we’re seeing an overwhelming amount of AI kind of content. So how do you think this is gonna play into hotel strategies as we move forward? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, so I do think there is a proper, a good way to use ai. I think there’s definitely a use case where AI does benefit and can help you a lot. But to your point, you know, people are definitely craving authenticity so they can spot when it’s fake really, really quickly. I mean, it’s all over now in my feed where it’s like, tell me your post is AI without telling me me, it’s ai. Right? That’s a constant thing. And every single post has hundreds of comments on it because people can feel it. They want the real stuff, they want the authenticity and the reason they want that, it goes back to they’re trying to have an experience, right? They want a true experience of what’s they can do at your property, in your area, what they can go and see things to do. So there, there is a way that you can leverage AI and think about it. Maybe not do the whole thing ai ’cause it is spot able, right? People can see it. But think about if your GM and, you know, you don’t have a lot of photos. You have only like your empty professional photos for your website, which are great for your website, but think about how you can take that, pop it into an AI image editor, say, add two guests checking into my property. And now you have this great lobby photo with actual people in it, which is a true experience, right? If I see that I am gonna see the same thing when I walk in and it enables and furthers the reach and performance of that content. ’cause now people are envisioning there. Same thing for our pet friendly hotels. I work with a lot of pet friendly hotels who love to promote that, but very little of them have images of actual pets in their property. And it’s something that I’ve always recommended. If you have someone coming in, ask them if you could take a photo of their pet. And it’s still one of the last things. But imagine again, throwing it into an AI image tool and you just say, add a pet in this guest room, whether it’s on a compliment pet bed that you have or it’s on the actual bed in your room. And just now me as a pet owner, I don’t have to worry about leaving my dog behind when I want to go and stay because I can see, oh she’ll be comfortable here. Cassady Quintana: I think it’s gonna be important as we continue to head through this year and we’re already seeing OTA integration with AI and Instagram and TikTok and being able to create your whole itinerary on Instagram to really focus on what the gray area of AI is on social media, right? Because what you said, the examples you gave are a great way to use AI to show a real experience that could happen. But if you’re using AI to generate images that are not possible, things that you don’t have on your property, maybe you wanna expand the how big your gym is or what the equipment you have in your gym is, that’s something we wanna stay away from. So it’s gonna be important, and I’m sure both of us are gonna be watching this year, how AI continues to evolve and how social media platforms are evolving with it and what people can post and what, what works and what doesn’t work. So kind of as we move into this year, what do you think these hotels should be paying more attention to on social? Aislynn Roberts: Interactions. So, and that’s actually, more of a focus for social media too. Like they’re updating their algorithms to focus on reach and true real interactions. So that’s gonna be really big, but not only just with social media also in person. So how are your guests interacting with your property, with your staff, with your amenities, what they’re using the most. ’cause that’s gonna be an easy way to develop and fill in your calendar for most of the year. If you have a set schedule of content that, you know, like I wanna cycle through fitness center posts every month because it’s a highlight. We have five peloton bikes or, or whatever equipment that your guests really love about you, it makes it easier to fill those small gaps with your creative moments. Yeah. So if you strategize on your consistent right off the bat and you know, every once in a while I’m gonna do this and, and this, then those creative moments come in and those small moments, but online interactions present a little bit differently. So it’s comments, it shares, likes, post reactions, and in those moments you get interactions throughout every piece of the traveler’s journey. So knowing what they’re interacting with the most, is it a static post? Is it a video? Is it a real or a carousel image? And that could change throughout the year and it can change year over year. So it really just depends on what travelers are doing. But knowing how they’re interacting with it, understanding that and being able to adapt to it is gonna be key to be able to continue to see performance, have success with it, and be able to promote your property the way you want. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. And I think it’s important, and I know our team here at TMG is constantly looking at those reports and seeing how things are performing. So it’s important for hotels that may not be working with us to set a reminder on your calendar. You know, every month I’m gonna take a look back at our interaction, see what kind of content was performing, what kind of content may be flopped and we won’t do more of that and we’ll do more of this instead. And paying attention to those things and paying attention to when they’re interacting with it, especially, you know, we’re heading almost into spring break season and then it’ll be summer. And what content is gonna resonate with those guests at that time is important. So if you’re not taking a look at your interactions, you’re just posting blindly, right? You’re not, you’re not understanding what your guests actually want to see and what they’re enjoying to see. So you personally, Aislynn what’s exciting you most about where hotel social is headed? Aislynn Roberts: There are a lot. So I do like that social is becoming the new search. And I have an exercise to challenge everybody that’s kind of listening here. But you know, when you take into the fact that social is the new search, how they’re using it, how the journey is becoming more integrated because of the social search, you’ll have a better idea of what strategy to put in place. And we all use social media. I don’t think I’ve ever met anybody that doesn’t use social media in some manner. So when you’re on social media, you’re, there’s many moments where you’re just scrolling aimless. It’s mindless, right? You’re going through it, you’re just going through, maybe it’s right after work, you’re decompressing and you’re just scrolling through things. Me, that’s reels. I scroll through a bunch of reels and if it, sometimes it’s a quick pass rate, sometimes I watch the whole thing. Other times I’m searching with purpose and I’m scrolling with purpose ’cause I have attention behind it. Whether it’s, I wanna go to a new restaurant, so I’m gonna look them up, see what their menu items are, or if I am looking for a hotel and I wanna see what’s happening there. So those are purposeful scrolls. I’m actually trying to find something about it. So with that in mind, that’s a search engine tool, right? I’m purposely scrolling for something, try to find things. So one thing that I find that’s super enlightening when you kind of look at this is if you do sort of like a focus group, ideally non hospitality people. ’cause as hospitality people, we’re a little bit more in tune. So we might go a certain way with it. But you know, if you do both and an integration of both, but your family, your friends, ask them, let’s plan a trip to Denver, Colorado and find out where they start. You’ll be surprised. I think that most of them will start on social media now, and it’s because that mindless scrolling has created an algorithm for them that when they do Denver, Colorado, they’re gonna get videos of things to do in Denver, the best restaurants in Denver, they’re going to get all this stuff. So now they’re like, okay, this might be an interesting place. I wanna go here. And then they go to search for rooms, hotels rates and now is your property meeting the amenities that I require or the things that I need? And then it goes into, you’re moving more into that booking. So just a fun little exercise. I find it super fun when I do it, you know, whether where they start off and it’s just showing that social media is moving into this more frame and it’s getting far more focused with search and trip planning. Cassady Quintana: It’s not even getting just more focused on the platform itself, but we’re seeing, even on Google, there’s a tab at the top that now says short form video, right? So if you click that, that’s social media videos. So we’re gonna see that continue to evolve into Google and other actual search engines. But I love the term “social is the new search”. I feel like I’ve said that a million times and I preach it on our webinars all the time. But it’s true. And it’s just gonna continue. Again, like I mentioned, those OTA integrations, being able to do everything in one platform. I’m sure once we see the development of that, eventually there’ll be a way for hotels to add their booking right into the platform too. And that’s exciting, right? That’s exciting. And it’s exciting that you can make it that easy and you can share the, your entire experience before a guest even stays with you. So these are the conversations I wanna continue having with people. But Aislynn, thank you so much for joining me. I know we’re gonna continue to watch these trends and talk about these things throughout the year. But thank you for joining me on this first episode. It’s been a blast. Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, thanks for having me. Cassady Quintana: And thank you everybody for listening and we’ll see you next time on the Social Success Podcast.

The 2026 Hunter Conference takes place on March 16-28, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Signia by Hilton. Tune in to the preview episode as hoteliers and hospitality professionals prepare for the cornerstone industry event.  Special Guest, Madison Thibodeaux, Senior Manager, Events & Partnerships at Hunter Advisors, joins the Suite Spot to share insights and behind-the-scenes details about what conference attendees can look forward to from speakers, panels, themes, F&B, and much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree here, a familiar episode, if you can believe it. I’ve got a jacket on because it is absolutely frigid outside, but we’re thawing out. We’re getting ready for conference season and covering some of the biggest hospitality events of the season with the first one being the Hunter Conference. And I am here with, even though this is the Suite Spot’s, third time attending the conference, we have a first time guest, which I’m really, really happy to bring in. Maddie Thibodeaux Senior Manager, Events and Partnerships at Hunter Advisors and Conference. Maddie, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Madison Thibodeaux: Thank you for having me, Ryan. I’m really excited to be here. Ryan Embree: We are going to have a constant theme throughout this episode of a lot of the things you love about Hunter, but a lot of new things on the horizon as well, which I’m sure you and your team have been extremely busy. We can’t wait. Hoteliers can’t wait. Sponsors can’t wait. This is gonna be one for the books, but before we get into all that, Maddie, we have kind of a tradition here on the Suite Spot, especially for our first time Suite Spot guest. Tell us a little bit about your background in the industry and the journey that led you to Hunter Advisors and Conference. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah, I would love to talk about that. So my journey almost pretty much started at Hunter, which I know you’ve had Sarah as a guest on your podcast as well, and I’m sure she has a little bit of a similar story. But I was a student at Georgia State University, the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality. I am one of the odd people that when I got to college, I already knew that I wanted to be in the hospitality industry, which I think is a rare story that you hear. Most people typically fall into it. But I went into school knowing that I wanted to be in event management. I wanted to plan events. And so throughout college I had a few different internships in hospitality. So I got some experience in the different sectors of hospitality. I worked with a catering company. I worked at a hotel in Cape Cod one summer, which was a lot of fun. Got some operational experience in hotels with the front desk and housekeeping. And then my junior year of college, Dr. Debbie Cannon at the School of Hospitality made me aware of the internship that was open at Hunter for their conference intern. And so I applied for the role, got it, accepted it. I worked for Hunter my junior and senior year. Got a lot of hands-on experience planning the event as the intern. And something that Hunter does really amazingly is they really give anyone on their team, even if you’re an intern, a platform and a seat at the table to where you can really innovate with them and present your ideas. And some of them you can see like actually come to life. And so I had a lot of great mentors at Hunter who really, you know, prepared me as a student with my professional development. And so had a great time with Hunter once I graduated from Atlanta, moved out to Chicago and started working in the trade show side of things for an exhibitor services company called GES and got a little bit more trade show experience so that I could come back to Hunter and, you know, give a little bit of insight into other events going on in the world, even outside of the hospitality industry, and kind of bring that knowledge back to the team. And so just recently this past summer, I joined the Hunter team in this new role and it’s been really exciting and really happy to be here. And I got a taste of the corporate world, but really ultimately I was missing the family feeling of Hunter. And so they welcomed me back with open arms and now I’m back with the Hunter family. Ryan Embree: It’s such a cool boomerang story to hear. And you know, something we hear a lot about in hospitality, unlikely path, like you said, a lot of people don’t go get into hospitality and that’s something we’re trying to change here on the Suite Spot. We obviously have our hospitality campus call, which teaser we’re gonna talk about here in a little bit. But to get more people to think about career or careers in hospitality as more than just maybe a summer job and what exposure that must have been for you as a student. And I ran into actually the dean at FIU’s Chaplain School of Hospitality, Dr. Chang at Hunter last year. And he was telling me about all the students and the involvement as a hospitality student myself, back when I graduated all those years ago. This is the type of exposure that can really open your eyes to show the hospitality is more than operations. It can be anything, events, F&B, there’s so many different sides and unique spaces in hospitality. And getting that exposure I’m sure was, was really cool. And now you get to be the person to expose other students to that. So that’s really cool. So give us kind of our Suite Spot audience, a little bit of a behind the scenes look at your role over there at Hunter Advisors and the role that it plays in the Hunter Conference. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah, so I love my role. I feel like I’m really lucky to be in this position because my job is really just talking to people, building relationships, working with our partners and really being that advocate for them. They tell us what they need, like why they’re attending Hunter, what their goals are in attending Hunter. And it’s my job for us to really give them that platform and that space to do business and have a positive experience at Hunter. So I’m really lucky to be in this role on a personal-professional development aspect level of everything. I get to meet so many people in the industry, hear about their roles and what they do, and really use that to shape who I am. You know, like how can I be doing a better job in my role? And so I feel like I’m in a really lucky space where my job is really just talking to people and making friends. Who doesn’t who doesn’t love that, right? Ryan Embree: But you be, you bring up an important point because you know, at the top of the episode I mentioned it, I mean this for a lot of people. I tell people all the time, you know exactly when the Hunter Conference is happening because it literally feels like it shuts down LinkedIn in the hotel space and everyone is there, Who’s anyone, and what you said, Maddie, everyone comes for different reasons. We’ve seen brand launches, we’ve seen acquisitions in mergers that happen between management companies. We say it all the time, but as much as a few years ago we had to go virtual, the event space now is more important than ever. And that’s why, deals get done in these places. Owners, brands, management companies, general managers, even all the way down to hospitality students can glean and learn so much from this event. And that’s why we are so proud to be headed there back again for the third consecutive time. But as we mentioned, a lot of new things including its location now, funny enough, last year, quick story, we were at the Hunter Conference covering it as we do, and the morning of the second day we were actually at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta doing our spotlight series. So we were actually spotlighting the property, talking to some management over there, while it was at the same time being announced that Hunter would be moving locations to that. So just some, some really cool, kind of like fortune there. But what are you most excited about of this new location and what can attendees expect from being hosted here? Madison Thibodeaux: So as you know, from your Spotlight series, yeah, it’s a brand new development. I think it’s been open, gorgeous for three years or so, and there’s so, it’s so modern. It’s very refreshing. There’s so much natural sunlight, which when you’re attending these conferences and with my trade show background being in convention centers and you’re in there all day, you’re like, what, what time is it? Is it still light outside? Is it dark? You don’t really get that feeling here. It’s very airy and refreshing. And I think the layout of it for our event too, it’s really, it’s an easy flow. Things are just kind of stacked on top of each other and it’s really easy to get from point A to point B. So there’s been a lot of opportunity over there for us. And then where Signia is located in downtown Atlanta, it’s right next to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the State Farm arena. And being close to those places really opens up a lot of doors for us as well. And we’re excited for our attendees to, explore that side of Atlanta a little more too. The Monday night of our event, there is a Hawks game, and the Hawks have already partnered with us and they’re offering discounted tickets for attendees. And so there’s a lot of new and exciting things attendees can explore within the Signia and also around the Signia in Atlanta while they’re there for Hunter. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool, Maddie, because you’re absolutely right with it being a new build Signia property, they built that for event space. They knew exactly what they were doing the natural lighting, even the stories behind, you know, if you’re an attendee or hotelier that plans to attend Hunter. And please do find out all you can about some of the names and the stories behind some of the conference rooms. It is, is really the, the, the way they described it was a love story to the city of Atlanta. Um, there’s so much meaning, and I, and I love these new builds now that put so much passion and culture of their local community into these projects. And, um, it’s really shown they’re so excited to be headed there and, and staying there for the first time. Like I said, just a little bit of a taste of it, but excited to be there. Now, another element of Hunter that maybe new to many this year is the recent Hunter, advisors rebrand. Can you share these rebrands, especially with such a strong legacy that Hunter has, it doesn’t happen overnight, right? A lot of thought process, very meticulous, a lot of intention behind a rebrand like this. Give us a little bit of a, kind of a background of the rebrand and what it means for the brand moving forward. Madison Thibodeaux: Absolutely. And I’m really glad you’re bringing this up ’cause exactly like you said, there was a lot of thought behind this, a lot of intention and a lot of hours from our team internally, just going through every single detail going in there with a fine tooth comb going through our website, every single line. We wanted to make sure it was portraying the Hunter voice in the appropriate way. And my favorite thing is when people stop me and say, oh my God, I saw like your new website, a new logo. It looks so great. I’m like, you don’t understand how much that means ’cause of how much time went into this. And so really our goal behind this was we wanted to have a brand that really conveyed a little bit more clarity, confidence, and connection when listening to people in the industry and not just, you know, the investors that we work with on a day-to-day basis, but the broader hospitality landscape. There’s a lot of people out there that don’t know Hunter Advisors and Hunter Conference are under one entity under the Hunter name. And so we wanted a brand that conveyed that connection a little bit better. So people know that when we’re planning the Hunter Conference, we really have this unique perspective where our organization we’re in this business on a day-to-day basis. And so really wanted to have that give a little bit more clarity and bridge that gap a little bit better between Hunter Advisors and Hunter Conference. And then going a little bit deeper with the actual design of the rebrand, you’ll see that it’s very modern and contemporary. It has a very clean look. And I think that is a testament to Hunter’s commitment to always evolving and innovating and growing and showing that, you know, we are adaptable and we listen to the industry and we want to bend with where it’s gonna take us. But at the same time, still remaining very true to our core values and what Hunter is. And it’s being that organization that’s very personal and people centric. So we’re not compromising those core values. But you don’t, evolution doesn’t mean that you have to compromise those things. And so it’s a very exciting time for us. And I’m glad you brought it up because it’s something I love talking about. Ryan Embree: I bet. Yeah. It’s exciting new chapter, and it still pays tribute. I mean, you, you mentioned the word family at the very beginning, you, it’s a legacy here, there’s a family, this is a family business at the end of the day. So, you know, to be able to have this rebrand still stay kind of true to what you said to its roots, but also see that it’s evolving into this new era is super exciting. And that along with the, the location change for the Hunter Conference this year, really, really excited. So we’re gonna get into it. Let’s, let’s talk about the conference. You know, a lot of work, you know, Sarah, always comes on these preview episodes and talks about how day one after the conference is done, you’re already looking to next year. So a lot of time, a lot of, sweat equity has gone into this conference. Give our audience a little bit of behind the scenes, look at what that process is like, and as you start to plan the programming for the event. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah. So, I actually wanna correct, ’cause I was watching that video with Sarah and I was like, Sarah, come on. We don’t start just day one after the conference. We’re planning this year’s conference and already making notes of like, oh, let’s do this different next year. So it’s a really exciting time and especially this year with the opportunity to do everything new and in a different way. There’s a lot of things like our gears are turning. So it is a really exciting year, but with our programming in particular, I would say we approach it the same way that our advisors approach a transaction. And, you know, it’s very intentional, it’s very disciplined, and we have a deep respect for our audience. We’re always listening to them and we wanna be, you know, respectful to that and give them information that they’re here and want to hear. And so I attend a lot of industry conferences too. And so there are, there are a lot of buzzwords that go on in our industry. And for example, AI is one of them. And there’s a lot of confusion out there still, and it’s still very new and people don’t really know where to go and where to turn in that realm. And so something that Hunter wants to do, it’s something we’re being very intentional about, is when we’re hosting a session, we don’t want it to just be like a broad overview of this topic. We wanna get into those details in a sort of case study format. Like these are the tools that we, as a hotel owner, this is what we’re using, these are the partners that we have that are providing these tools to us, and this is what’s worked for us. And so something that is new this year, we’re introducing what we’re calling focus sessions. And so it’s similar to a breakout session. We’ll still have a normal breakout session track, but these focus sessions are 20-minute conversations with two to three speakers. And it’s truly, it’s a conversation, it’s a case study, here’s what’s working for us. And so these hotel owners can leave with, you know, actual actionable items. Like, this is what I should be implementing with my organization. And so we’re, we’re really trying to lean into that and be really intentional with our programming this year. Ryan Embree: It’s so important because it really sets the tone, especially for when you have a lot of investors. You have a lot of owners at an event. You know, some of that programming makes for great icebreakers, great sessions on, you know, maybe the start of a conversation, about something that they heard, something that resonated with them, something that they can use in that conversation when talking to an owner or a management company that’s gonna further the conversation there. And that’s where I think, again, the live event space conferences right now is in this special place because we’re in a very tricky place. I’m sure we’re gonna talk about it and, and it’s within programming, within the programming of this year’s event. But it’s going to be those, those human connections, quite frankly, that are going to move deals forward and move our industry forward, quite frankly, with some of the challenges that, that are going, the cost of labor, you know, just rising costs in almost every element of hospitality it feels like. But those conversations really spur kind of change and might be the first step towards that. So anything you’re most excited about on the agenda when you look at it? Madison Thibodeaux: So we do have some really exciting keynote sessions this year. Chris Nata, the CEO of Hilton is one of our keynote speakers. We have kind of parallel to the hotel industry, but we have a speaker coming to talk about the World Cup that’s gonna be hosted in Atlanta. So giving a little bit of that tourism perspective and what people can expect and what goes into planning this global event. And then also the Barat Shaw Leadership Speaker series that always happens at Hunter. This year the guest is Tony Ressler, who’s the owner of the Atlanta Hawks. And so we have a lot of these really fun, kind of industry adjacent speakers also coming to the Hunter Conference and really excited to hear those sessions. Ryan Embree: I love that the Hunter Conference looks sometimes, like you said, kind of adjacent to the industry because it’s sometimes those outside voices that can give some really great perspective. Because we talk about it all the time on the podcast, hospitality is really in everything that we do and in almost every vertical out there. So, of course they’re learning lessons from us. We certainly learn lessons from them especially in a time of really, deep change right now and, and transformation. So, one of the things that has stayed that is, is a staple of the Hunter Conference and, and it looks like it’s still on the agenda, is the Hunter Conference Award for Excellence and Inspiration. And this year’s recipient, Glade M. Knight, Founder and Chairman of Apple REIT. Talk to us a little bit about the award, Maddie, for those that might not be familiar and why Glade was the right choice for the recognition. Madison Thibodeaux: Absolutely. Yeah. So the history of this award, it was really created to honor leaders in the hospitality industry who have shaped the investment landscape, but not just through scale and success. So not just you click on their LinkedIn and you see the steps that they took to get to where they are, but really the people who have shaped it through Integrity, vision and the impact that they made on the people in their organization and the ecosystem around them. And Glad Knight is just the perfect person who embodies that. He made a really large impact in our industry. And it’s a really timely year to honor somebody from Apple Hospitality because they did just celebrate 10 years being a part of the New York Stock Exchange and also 25 years as a business. So it’s really timely for us to honor the person who got them to the position that they’re in today. Ryan Embree: A lot of milestones to celebrate, very strong parallels to the Hunter Conference, right. Celebrating some milestones. So 2026 will, as I mentioned, will be my personal in the Suite Spots, third time attending the conference. Love the programming that you put together. I think we shared some of that, but also the networking, right? I hear those conversations happening. We see those, you can’t, you can’t miss it. Everyone’s kind of in the lobby, it’s buzzing. That’s why I love about walking into the Hunter conferences. That energy that you feel just walking in from those conversations that are happening, you’re moving to a new location. I’m sure a challenge was to make sure that that buzz, that energy, that networking was gonna translate seamlessly to the new location. How have you and your team ensure that? Madison Thibodeaux: Yes, so networking is probably the most exciting part of the Hunter Conference, I would say. Like the programming is so important, but really people are coming to Hunter to do deals. So networking is a huge part. And something that’s really cool about the Hunter Conference is that just having a chair at a table is like really prime real estate at our conference. People wanna sit down and network and do deals with people. And so with our new facility, there was a lot of opportunity, what are gonna be the new hotspots where people are standing and having those casual conversations. Something new this year we’ve rebranded our exhibit hall to now be called The Hub. And we were really intentional with the design of the hub. And it’s a, the floor plan is this circular design, which was created to give that sense of the attendee, have that sense of exploration. They’re not just walking up and down aisles talking to sponsors in their booth. They’re really having to get in there, walk around, see what’s going on. And I think we’re gonna touch on it a little bit later, but our theme this year is the home of hospitality. And so the Hub is designed to look like a neighborhood. So our diamond sponsors, each of them have an activation inside the hub where, you know, their booth is thematically integrated into the neighborhood. So someone is the library, someone is the pet shop, someone is the creamery, and they’re positioned in all different areas of the hub, giving people that sense of exploration. So they wanna get around and, you know, have that starting point in networking. You walk over to IHGs Booth and they’re greeting you with, you know, a bottled water because they’re the flower shop and you need, gotta water your flowers. And so we’re really excited about that. And yeah, so there’s a lot of networking that happens at the conference and the Hub I think is gonna be the hotspot for people to go and, you know, start those conversations and we’re excited for people to see the design of that. Ryan Embree: I love that. I mean, you know, again, credit to you and your team for re-imagining what the sponsor floor could and should look like. Because I think you’re absolutely right. I think events have evolved and changed and the way that, you know, these attendees, hoteliers, owners, investors, what they’re looking for is also is also changed. And they’re not looking for that maybe what we would call, I guess, old school style where it’s going through, you know, and seeing the vendors and they’re standing behind a trade show booth that’s more interactive. The conversations can spur some more creativity, some activations love to see those. Because those are the things that kind of make those memorable memories, so to speak, so that you remember them after the show, which is what, which is every sponsor’s goal. Madison Thibodeaux: There’s something else I wanna touch on too. With the networking aspect of Hunter, something that we’re really proud of and something that I’ve heard people say to me directly is that even though Hunter brings in around 2300 attendees, the conference feels so intimate. And I think our team does a really great job at making it easy for people to casually bump into somebody and start that conversation without having to have a designated meeting with each other. And we really want, that’s a strong value of ours, is to make our event very approachable and easy for people to integrate and feel like, they can walk up to anybody and have a conversation. And something that meant so much to our team. We were just at another conference and a staff member from the University of South Carolina came up to us and we have a lot of student volunteers from all over the country that help put on the Hunter Conference on site. And she was like, our students love coming to Hunter. They say it’s just really approachable and they feel like they can actually join in on these conversations with hospitality leaders. And I think that’s really important because if students are saying it, then emerging hoteliers probably also feel that way. We want them to feel really welcomed at Hunter and know that this is the place that they can go and really have a seat at that table. Ryan Embree: Well, that goes back to that theme that you were talking about, home of hospitality, right? And that southern hospitality feel. So, you know, last year’s theme was Elevate Your Game. One of my favorite parts of our conversation with Sarah every year is talking about the theme. And I know it’s just a couple words, but it’s so intentional. Like the theme to each one of the conferences that I’ve been to, and I’ve seen it integrated throughout. Like once I know what the theme is, I can see it incorporated into everything. And I love that. So I wanna talk about it and touch on it and kind of talk to our audience about the thinking behind this year’s theme and the intentionality behind it. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah, so I think it really goes back to what we were talking about with the rebrand and how we want people to know that Hunter is evolving, but at the same time, our roots are the same. Like, we’re still this family business. And I think at a certain level of the theme, the Signia, that is our new home. And so we’re introducing this new home to our attendees and we’re welcoming them into our home and home being where family is and to kind of really tying into how Hunter is this approachable place where people should feel comfortable and feel like they’re, they’re home with us. And so we’re just excited to really share with our industry this new evolution and new era of Hunter, but still being loud and proud about, we’re still the Hunter family at the end of the day. Ryan Embree: Well, very cool and eager to see, again, how you and your team kind of incorporate that theme into the event this year. We’re gonna switch gears because, you know, one interesting thing that we’ve found in common, you talked about at the top of the episode, was your journey as a hospitality student. I also went to UCF Rosen, so two hospitality students talking to each other. That’s exactly what we want to see, right? So I mentioned we have a series called the Hospitality Campus Crawl. Georgia State has a special relationship with the Hunter Conference. Talk to us about that relationship there and then maybe kind of how the Hospitality School set you up for success and where you are for your, your hospitality career. Madison Thibodeaux: Absolutely. So the Cecil B Day School of Hospitality at Georgia State University is a co-founder of the Hunter Conference. And so we have a really deep relationship with the team over there. And similar to my start at Hunter and Sarah start at Hunter every year, we welcome on a conference intern from the Cecil B Day School of Hospitality Student Base. At the same time we also offer free admittance for all, Georgia State students. ’cause we really want them to get involved in, they are a part of our origin story. So it’s a way we give back to that university for being a part of that team with us. And then we have the Barat Shaw Leadership Speaker series, which, you know, is put on by Mint Shaw from Noble Investment Group honoring his father. But that is a speaker series that was also partnered with the school for that speaker series to make that happen. And so there’s a really deep relationship with the School of Hospitality at the Hunter Conference. I am forever grateful for the School of Hospitality at Georgia State for where I’m at in the professional world. I was a student that really, I wanted to get involved. I wanted to know my professors, you know, really well, and I wanted them to know me in return. And that school, it’s really, you know, what you put into it is what you get back out of it. And they have a really strong commitment of fostering their students and setting them up for success. And there’s so many opportunities there and they send their students on different trips. And when I was there, I was able to go to Prague and attend the ISHC conference where, you know, Lee, our chairman is one of the members there, and some people from our board members are members there. And as a student being able to be in the room with these industry leaders, really it sets a student up for success so that they attend these conferences and they don’t feel really lost. You know, because our industry is so small, you see the same people at all of these conferences. And so it gives you that confidence and kind of helps without imposter syndrome when you’re new into the industry, if you just know a familiar face and you know, from there they can introduce you to more people. And so the school does a really good job at not just educating students in the classroom, but giving students those opportunities outside the classroom to really get hands-on in the industry, start meeting those people so that when it is time for you to graduate, you have a list of people you can reach out to for jobs. And so I’m so grateful for the school and everything that they provided to me because I wouldn’t, I wouldn’t be with Hunter with without them. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to hear your story, Maddie. And you know, I would just say for any hoteliers listening to this, that plan on attending, talk to these students, talk to these hospitality students. Because if you’re also looking for trends of where hospitality is headed, you need to be talking to the next generation of hoteliers and hospitality professionals, what they’re learning, what they expect from hospitality, what they’re looking for in their first job, right? We’ve talked about it all the time about this younger generation looking for an ease of technology, that they’re going to just assume that your brand, your management company, your hotel, has already implemented it into its systems. So this could be a great kind of conversation to have with the students to say, what is your expectation when you come out of hospitality school for what a career looks like? How quickly do you wanna move up in hospitality? Do you wanna stay in one place? Do you want to travel? These are all benefits and perks of hospitality and the young minds of hospitality professionals are such a great way to try to figure out what hospitality might look like 5, 10, 15 years down the line. So, we’re super excited here at the Suite Spot to announce that we will be on campus at Georgia State during the Hunter Conference to do another episode of our Hospitality Campus Crawl, at the Hospitality School at Georgia State. I’m so excited. Maddie, thank you so much for connecting me over there. We talk about hospitality connections, this is that in motion right there. So we’re, we’re so happy to feature that school and share some insights and see what these young professionals are getting ready for in this world, this ever changing hospitality world. So, we’re coming up to the end, as we wrap up, you know, I’d love to talk to the hoteliers that are having attended a Hunter conference or are really considering joining for the first time in 2026. What would you say to them, Maddie, and maybe some of your top tips for first time attendees? Madison Thibodeaux: I would say, you know, Hunter is the place to be. You’re missing out if you’re not there. Aside from the things we talked about, like our programming and the networking opportunities. There’s so much more that happens at Hunter beyond what you see on the program. And our partners do a great job at keeping attendees busy throughout the event. And this year, something really exciting that we’ve never done before. Two of our partners are hosting late night events on property, so really easy for anyone staying at the Signia to hop downstairs and attend those events. And it’s gonna be a lot of fun. We have some live music, maybe even a couple big artists that people might recognize at these events. And so it’s something really exciting for us. And, you have to be there to experience it. You can’t just see the pictures on LinkedIn and have fomo. You gotta be there. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, I cannot wait. Its gonna be an incredible conference, I would say is if you’re planning on attending, obviously do. But just to exactly what Maddie said, embrace it. Every opportunity, so much is going on in our industry. It’s changing faster than ever. And this is the conference again that people mark on their calendar because it marks a big brand announcement or these mergers and acquisitions or just to network and get to know more of your hospitality community, which we have been so fortunate to do these last three years and we can’t wait to do again. And Marge, hopefully in some warmer conditions than it is right now, Maddie. But thank you so much for your time today. Really appreciate it. Cannot wait for March and The Hunter Conference. Any final thoughts before we wrap up? Madison Thibodeaux: I just wanna say thank you so much for having me, Ryan, and for highlighting the Hunter Conference. We love having the Suite Spot there every year as well. And yeah, I just hope to see everyone there. Ryan Embree: Alright, well thank you so much. Thank you Maddie. Thank you for listening to the Suite Spot, and we will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the very first Suite Spot episode of 2026 as special guest and Director of Product – Respond & Resolve™, Jackie Avery, features the Top 5 Guest Sentiment Tags of 2025 and what the key findings of these tags mean not only to hoteliers but the industry as a whole as we kick off travel in the new year. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. Happy New Year as your host. As always, Ryan Embree here with another one of our favorite annual traditions. A great way to start off and kick off the year here with Jackie Avery, Director of Product for our Respond and Resolve™ review response solution for hotels. Jackie, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery: Thanks. It’s so great to be here. I look forward to doing this every year, so I’m happy we’re back at it. Ryan Embree: Yes, again, it’s an annual tradition. It’s a benchmark for the beginning of the year. It’s actually one of our most viewed and listened to episodes of the year, and I think it’s because hoteliers really want to get a sense of what’s going on over the course of the calendar year when it comes to reviews. To set this up off the top, we are looking at reputation, sentiment, data, the data within online guest reviews, that Travel Media Group actually pulls, and a lot of these reviews you and your team are responding to. Jackie Avery: Yeah. It’s exciting. So if it’s your first time here, welcome. And if you have been watching us the past few years, welcome back. We’re excited to kind of talk through, some of the data that we kind of went through. So to put it under perspective, we’re looking at information analyzed from over 45 million sentiment mentions. Ryan Embree: That’s an incredible number. The popularity and importance of guest feedback and reputation right. Now, I know we talk a lot on this podcast about AI technology. We’re always trying to see what’s next, but there’s no replacement for word of mouth. Right? And whether that’s physically telling someone about your experience or sharing that, what we’re talking about today, sharing that online with guest feedback and reviews, you can take away so much from that. And hoteliers, travelers obviously are looking at sentiment data, trying to figure out whether they should choose the one hotel versus another hotel. Hoteliers are looking at this data, digesting it, and trying to figure out how to improve on the guest experience. But what we’re doing today is trying to find the top five sentiments. Talk about some themes. What does this mean when these types of sentiments are found in your guest feedback? Are there things you can make operationally changes? Is it training at the hotel? Is it capital investment? Sometime some of it, like location, which we’re gonna talk about unavoidable, right? You can’t just pick up your hotel and move it. So really interested to see the list. We always start from the bottom of the list and work our way up. So kick us off with number five. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, it’s so powerful to spend that moment reflecting. Yeah. Sometimes it’s just taking the information and putting it into this bite sized way for you to process it. So hopefully everyone finds it pretty easy to kinda, you know, come along this journey with us. So, number five, it had over 3 million sentiment mentions, right? So that’s a lot of people talking about it. And we’re talking about facility amenities. Now, some people are listening and they’re going, well, I don’t have a pool, so of course I, that didn’t get a mention for me, or, I do have a pool. Of course they mentioned that, but stay with me on that. That’s actually its own category. So here we are talking about the lobby, the hallways, seating areas, elevators, luggage carts, right? So now think about, put that into perspective. More people can really relate. So I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m come, coming to a hotel, right, I’ve had a long travel day. I’m a little tired. I am, you know, feeling antsy. I just wanna get there. But when I get outta my car or I get to walk in, I’m feeling that excitement. I’m ready for my trip to start no matter what I’m doing. I’m like, here we go. So then you’re taking that all in. Of course, travelers are mention mentioning this, right? You have those first impressions of a hotel, it gives you pause. So sometimes things that you feel as a hotelier or as someone who works at, at a property, maybe you just brush past ’em. It doesn’t mean a lot to you. It’s no big deal. Sure. You’re maybe not sure why somebody positively mentioned it or negatively mentioned it, but I wanna put you into the shoes of a traveler who’s just arrived. They’re finally at their destination and they’re ready to start their stay. Look at your hotel through a fresh lens. Was the hallway welcoming? Was it kind of dark? Did the elevator come right away? Were there any luggage carts available? Right? Did it excite you to see somewhere that maybe you might meet your friends down in the lobby and you guys might hang out there before you headed out later. So all of those things I challenge you to now kind of view your facility amenities from that first time arrival guest perspective. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that’s a great point Jackie. And, you know, I started my career in hospitality as a Bellman, so, it was very easy to kind of take all of that for granted seeing that lobby. But you’re right, these travelers are more than likely seeing it for the first time. You know, one thing I’ll also say is the way that we use the facility amenities has really evolved the way that we’re building new hotels right now. Especially the work from home or work from anywhere type of traveler, that could be their office space for the entirety of their trip. So they’re looking at your lobby, they’re looking at your public space and amenities a little bit different than historically they might have done. And again, the brands, development companies, they are building for this type of traveler. So not surprising to see that category tag fall into the top five. Let’s move on to number four. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. So, kind of shifting down this year, number four is gonna be location. So, as you mentioned, I think a lot of people feel trapped when they hear this sentiment being mentioned. Like, well, I can’t move my hotel, but actually you have a lot of power here. You can control what you’re saying about your property. And guests are mentioning your location in reviews positively, negatively, but it’s being brought up, right? Uh, so when I think about that, I think about when I’m traveling with my kids, I’ve got two young kiddos. Location is so important for me, not necessarily is it just right near the main attraction I wanna attend, or, you know, is it close to the place I’m going? But I’m looking at, are people mentioning it’s near a grocery store? Is it near a pharmacy? Is it near everything that I need or that I may need when I’m traveling with young kids? If it’s not, that’s fine, as long as I knew that. Because then I’m gonna pack, right? I’m gonna prepare for everything I might need. There’s a big mental load with that. So you can ease traveler stress and turn even just maybe what isn’t this amazing location into a positive tag if people felt like they knew what to expect with it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I think that’s a huge part of it, is setting expectations for location. If you claim on social media or your website, that you’re close to the airport and you’re 40 minutes away from the airport, that might not be close proximity to some travelers versus another. So you’re right, the location is really based on the expectation of the traveler and what’s convenient to them. You really want to put in perspective to that traveler. If you look at, everybody has Google Maps, right? And, and has used that app for if you have your hotel and nothing else around you in the traveler’s eyes, you really have kind of failed them as far as showing them or giving them an expectation of what that location looks like. You want that thing to be filled with dots. You want them to know exactly where your restaurants are in comparison to your hotel. If there’s an airport, attractions, as you mentioned, even things like grocery store, pharmacies, minute clinics. I mean, you know, you never know, especially with, with people with families or children or pets that they might be traveling with. These are very, very important places to your traveler that that could make the difference between a good experience and a bad location. Jackie Avery: And I think sometimes we come in with our own feelings about, well, we have a good location, or we don’t, but think of all the people traveling. All the people staying at your hotel, you don’t necessarily know exactly what they’re looking for. You might think that your location is are just fine, but actually it’s exactly what they want. Ryan Embree: And a great place, again, as respond and resolve™, a great place to really put that location in perspective is your review responses, right? Jackie Avery: Absolutely. Someone praises your location or they express dissatisfaction. That is exactly where you get to share the details. And people reading those review responses feel informed and they trust you. And now they are excited for their trip. They feel even more prepared, they don’t feel stressed, and they’re ready to get going. And, you know, those positive sentiment tags are gonna come your way. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So important. You know, whether it’s travel media group responding your reviews, or even a team member the property. Have them really paint a clear picture for your traveler of where they’re at location wise. ’cause obviously this being the number four tag, it’s very, very important to travelers. Moving on to number three. Jackie Avery: Yeah. So number three shouldn’t be a surprise with over 3.6 million mentions, it’s gonna be cleanliness. So it’s moved up this year, which, I think people kind of expect this to be brought up. And I think when you’re putting this into perspective, I want you to think about the different ways you approach this yourself as a traveler. So I kind of mentioned before, if I’m traveling, you know, with my family, these might be some things I’m thinking about. Every once in a while I get to kind of have a little getaway or stay at a hotel with just me and my spouse. So my husband and I we’re going away, maybe we’re headed into our hotel room. You walk in and you’re like, wow, it’s so nice in here. It’s so clean. And you have this added positive feeling of I didn’t have anything to do with it. I’m really on vacation, even if I’m traveling for business or even if I am on vacation. It’s just, just a short getaway. It is this positive feeling that compounds itself, right? So, not only that, but right now, everyone, you know, stress is high and everyone wants to acknowledge hardworking team members. So when you walk in and you see that room and you just feel the freshness and you’re excited to stay there, they’re so grateful for that hardworking housekeeping team and they want to praise that hard work. And so you’re seeing that mention in reviews more often. The tag right now is predominantly positive. People are not coming in and just saying, it was this, it was that. It’s actually just praising the hard work being done and how grateful they were to stay somewhere where that was something the property prioritized. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to see, I mean, we’ve done this episode, we were talking about it off camera now for five plus years. And obviously during that 2020, 2021, even 2022 year, this was a very, this was a difficult tag to kind of talk about because a lot of guests kind of saw cleanliness through the eyes of health and safety and almost saying for hotels, if it wasn’t clean, then there was a lack of empathy or even caution towards that, that guest wellbeing. And now we’ve kind of shifted. I think the expectation is still, you know, I think everyone still expects a clean room, but it’s kind of moved away from there. And that housekeeping that you’re talking about that’s even evolved within hospitality. Now you sometimes have to opt into hospitality and overnight service and things of that nature. Sometimes you have to stay a minimum amount of nights. This needs to be clearly communicated. A big theme of this episode right, is such clear communication to set the proper expectations. If something like that is a policy at your hotel, especially around cleanliness, or you’ll see that tag, fall more on the negative spectrum, right? Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it’s hard, I think for people sometimes, especially right, they’re working so hard, they’re, they’re running these property teams, they’re maybe overseeing multiple hotels and they feel misunderstood. Like, well, this is the reason we have that policy and price matters to people. So we’ve been able to make this accommodation to keep our price down. And don’t the guests get that? And how do they not understand this? I think they feel upset, but also just because you have a certain policy, it doesn’t mean the sentiment is going to be negative about it. But it will be if you hide it. Yeah. Right. If a guest feels like you misled them. No review response, you know, will help you recover, recover from, you know, lying. Right. You have to be clear, you have to be transparent, and then you can just withhold what you need to do. And the guests will understand because they expected it. And if they need assistance and you assist them, of course, now you’re going to get that above and beyond praise. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I think a great parallel to that is when it, they first introduce kind of not cleaning, exchanging your towels every single night. And then it was explained that there actually was more of a green initiative and that you could opt into this. And, you know, once travelers kind of got that, and especially those savvy travelers that were doing it more and more often, they understood that this isn’t the hotel trying to mislead me or pull back on the guest expectation. It actually could be something that benefits, is a green initiative and could happen to help the planet or help the earth. Right? And then your guest feels a little bit more vested in that, and there’s that little sense of pride and good feeling surrounding it. So, and I think that’s a really good parallel whe\n it comes to cleanliness. But, so important still in the guest experience as we saw at landing at number three on this, on this list. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. So I think now we’re jumping over to number two, right? Which feels like the perfect segue. ’cause we jumped to over 5 million mentions. Ryan Embree: So almost double from number. Jackie Avery: Yeah. We’re steep, so, we’re talking about staff, which fits perfectly with everything we’ve said. Now your staff play a huge role and they’re never not going to, it doesn’t matter what kind of travel you are. If you’re traveling solo ,family, just a couple and you’re having a quick getaway, those team members make a difference. And right now, traveler expectations are going up. People want unique experiences. They want to feel like something special is happening for them. Your property wants them specifically to stay. And I will say team members are rising to that challenge. Properties are putting their best foot forward, they’re getting positive mentions and they are doing small things that really resonate with guests that feel personal. Right? It’s more than just your name on the tv. It might be that you put something in the comments that you’re celebrating and they went above and beyond the expectation there. And from the get go that staff has immediately mentioned, your special moment and your stay is off to a great start. Ryan Embree: Well, you think about unique stays, you said every single guest nowadays wants a unique experience. What’s unique about your property, your people, you’re never going to be able to replicate the same exact staff across any hotel. And for you to get culture and service buy-in from your individual team members, they can make or break. This is the second most mentioned aspect of your reputation online. Meaning that this has the second most important lever to impacting your reputation online. So if you get buy-in from your team members right now, which is so interesting because by the way, we spend so much time talking about AI and technology and trying to predict the future of hospitality. And yet again, the second most important or talked about part of the hotel experience right now are the people. And that is the reason why this is gonna continue. Ryan Embree: We’ll probably do this episode here for another couple years, or we’ll probably do this episode for the foreseeable future and staff will always be included because it is such a memorable piece of the hotel experience. And it’s cool to see, I mean, you think about those moments, I still think about to my days as a bellman or a front desk agent sitting behind the front desk and someone recognizing me because they had heard or seen my name on a review. It’s a really cool moment and it kind of a welcoming place of, you’re starting off on the right foot. It’s that first impression of, oh, you’re Ryan from, I read you about you on the reviews. It’s such a fun place and I’m sure probably one of the most rewarding spaces when you work with a hotel to see their team members celebrated and rewarded on online review sites. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. And it doesn’t surprise me at all that people were praising you online, you helped everyone have a great stay that’s so fitting for you. I wanna point out in reviews, I guess, I think sometimes people kind of get in this loop where they feel like, okay, well sometimes my team members can’t fix that, or this guest expectation is unreasonable, or I can’t change that. There’s nothing I can do here. So I’m always gonna have a neutral or a negative kind of sentiment, but that’s not the case. Guests sometimes understand more than sometimes. Understand that you can’t actually fix everything, but your team member can make them feel heard, can make them feel valued and respected. And that’s what we see in review response. It’s not always that they gave me money back or they moved my room or they did this, but it’s like maybe someone, you know, there was a noisy train outside and they had a white machine. And they proactively offered it, right? Or they didn’t, there wasn’t one available, but they went and found one or they offered me some tips on how to get here more easily because I expressed frustration. It’s sometimes it’s just taking an extra minute and listening to that guest in the moment and trying to help them, even if you can’t actually fix all of the problems that staff member plays such a valuable role in helping that guest feel a bit better about whatever may be happening if things aren’t perfect. Ryan Embree: I completely agree. And, you know, hoteliers are always trying to figure out how to kind of pull the lever to generate more feedback and reviews. I’d be so curious to hear the percentage of reviews that are left on sites, because of an individual. Because they say, you know what? I’m gonna leave a positive review because Jackie at the front desk went above and beyond for me. And I normally don’t leave reviews, but I’m going to because she made my experience special. I’d just be so curious, again, to see people being the reason our staff or team members being the reason that a review and guest feedback, especially in positive, right? Sometimes it’s negative, but most of the time a positive review was left because of the impact that his team or staff member made. Jackie Avery: Yeah. And definitely, and it’s almost like gift giving, right? If you take the time to praise an employee, you also feel good about that. You are like, I’m so happy I took the time to say something about the service I received. So people like to do it. So, mention it’s gonna be this situation where it keeps compounding upon itself. Just bringing more positivity and more, you know, kind of great reviews and great sentiments and eventually great stays to everyone who you know, who’s on your property. Ryan Embree: So powerful. So powerful to see. So we’ve made it, we’re up here at the top of the list. Number one, what was the number one top sentiment for 2025? Jackie Avery: Yeah. Number one. So 8.3 million mentions, kind of dominating the conversation is accommodations. So no shock there. ’cause you’re traveling and it’s your room, it’s the home away from home. I think here, what I’d like to say first is kind of put aside some of the things you immediately probably thought like you thought the bed and did they have a refrigerator? Put that aside and maybe focus a bit more on stuff that may not come as naturally, but plays such a big part of if people are happy. So again, I told you I have two little kids, so think traveling a family of four, you’re excited, you put your key, you go get in the room, you turn on the lights, how’s the lighting? Is it what you wanted? How’s the temperature? Are you comfortable? Are you worried that you’re gonna be hot or cold? Or do you not have to feel that stress as you walk in? What’s the layout? Are we gonna feel cramped in here or No, this is exactly what I expected. I can’t wait. We’re already picking our spot. I’m gonna put my suitcase here. Let’s put your suitcase there. The kids are opening the drawers, they’re looking through everything. Feel that moment because that’s what your guests are doing. They’re not walking in with a checklist going down your room details, but they’re going off what they expected versus what they arrived. Yeah. To right that moment. You, it’s so hard, I think, to do that when you’re in and out of a hotel room for the thousandth time. I’m not saying that’s easy, but it is possible. Right. Kinda like circle back to number five where I said walk in your hotel room as if it, your hotel lobby is, if it was the first time, do that every once in a while with your hotel room. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Walk in and in your mind have a different mindset. Am I a solo traveler? Am I traveling as a family? Am I having a couple’s getaway? And now walk into the room? What do you notice? Because that’s what they’re noticing and right now they’re talking about it a lot. Ryan Embree: Yeah. They’re, it’s the number one, a aspect of their stay. Again, not surprising. Um, great perspective though on that. And I think, you know, as hospitality people, we host so many people per year, right? You could have a hundred plus rooms and all of those with a average night stay of, you know, 1.5. You know, you’re seeing so many people faces and they’re experiencing different things. Putting your yourselves in the shoes of that traveler and, and looking at those important pieces. Is it, is it too noisy Right When you come in, how’s the noise? Uh, am I concerned about my neighbors? Uh, you know, all of these things are, are normal kind of feeling and sentiments. And that’s what, how, how this gets onto review sites, right? Is is the true feeling about the stay, about the accommodations, the room, you know, this is hospitality and then it’s a combination of your staff and the entire experience. So really cool to see. Um, as we wrap up, I, I thought it’d be fun. Um, any any parts or elements of the, uh, hotel experience that you expected to be on this list or maybe were shocked that weren’t on there? Jackie Avery: I wouldn’t say shocked, but I would say I kind of wish it was, uh, I would say I love talking about kind of the food sentiment, not just ’cause I’m a foodie and I, I enjoy the great flavors, but, uh, because of what a powerful impact it has on people’s stay. So it didn’t make the top five, but it was an honorable mention with 2.8 million, you know, kind of different records. Yeah. It’s, it’s a big deal. And uh, I think when you hear food, you think breakfast. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. But it actually, it’s so much more than that, right. It’s, you know, is there a candy dish in the lobby that people can grab from or are there treats available for your pet? Or let’s see, some people have, you know, fruit infused water at the front desk that’s just this special touch or whatever gift basket in your room that you didn’t expect with some snacks ’cause you had a late arrival. These are such memorable moments and people love to talk about them. Yes. Uh, so I wish it was in the top five. Uh, it’s creeping up every year, so maybe next year. But, uh, I’ve definitely got my eye on it. Ryan Embree: I think hotels are having a complete renaissance in f and b and it’s been one of the themes that we’ve actually talked about several guests on the sweet spot about how, uh, independent hotels, even branded hotels, are really leaning into the f and b side. Jackie, you know, you and your team have the pleasure of, you know, partnering with some amazing hotel partners, which also include some restaurants within there. What are some of the tips and tricks that you share with your team about responding and the nuances of responding to a restaurant review and maybe some of the things that, things that you can incorporate in the response versus maybe your hotel review? Jackie Avery: Yeah. So obviously I’m not gonna give away the tricks of the trade here, but, uh, I will say keep your menu close. Yes. While you’re responding, you want to know, right, uh, what the person who left the review was looking at and menus change all the time. So if you don’t even know what was available when they dined with you, how could you appropriately respond? Yeah. I would also kind of keep in mind what experience were they going into? Is it a hustle bustle hotel? Is it you can feel the vibes of the hotel from the restaurant? Or is the whole idea you’re supposed to be feeling like you’re not in the hotel anymore? Sure. So, uh, you really need to get, uh, keyed into the atmosphere and the specific menu that was available when that guest stayed. Otherwise, I think it’s really hard to give an authentic, careful, caring response. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. A restaurant in Miami Beach on a Friday night, it’s gonna have a very different atmosphere and vibe to, you know, a a branded hotel, uh, maybe off the highway, right? And, and responding to those two reviews could look and sound very, very different. My little tip, I don’t do the responding to reviews, but my little tip is storytelling. Your culinary experts, you know, telling their story, they have immense passion. Some of the most passionate people that I’ve talked to in hospitality have been, uh, chefs and f and b uh, culinary artists. To get that passion and to put it into your, uh, social media, your website, your reviews and and responses. So important. And also share if you have a story with sourcing how you source your food. Uh, local sourcing, so important right now and things, you know, travelers care about Gen Z, younger travelers. This is the type of stuff that they want to talk about, they wanna share with their friends. And again, have that kind of feel good moment there. So those are my 2 cents on tips. Jackie Avery: Absolutely. And you’re not wrong. Those are going to be mentioned in reviews because kind of what we mentioned earlier as well, it feels good to share that you dined at a place that was doing this Yeah. Or that was serving this. So as long as you put that information out there, they’re gonna keep spreading it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And reviews great barometer with how well you’re telling your story. You think you’re telling your story about your chef for your locally sourced food. If you’re not seeing that mentioned or talked about in your reviews, uh, it’s falling flat, it’s not hitting. And that’s just not for f and b, that’s for your hotel experience too. ’cause I, I’ll talk to guests on, on this podcast, they’ll share some amazing fun facts and then we will go to their website and can’t find it anywhere or their reviews and can’t find it anywhere. So make sure, you know, that’s all part of getting your team members a, a, a part of the story and sharing that with the, sharing that with the guests. Great tip. And again, you want a barometer with how well it’s working, just check the reviews and um, hopefully Jackie and her team will be responding to those. So Jackie, thank you so much. Um, always so interested to kind of hear this, this list and gear us up for 2026. Yeah. Are you, uh, thank you so much for being on the podcast and thank you for doing this with me. Jackie Avery: Yeah, thanks for having me. I love going through it all. Um, I can’t wait to see what we’re talking about next year. I know. But uh, you know, of course I’ll work on getting you some of those data points you were interested in. Maybe we’ll get some of those staff mentions next time. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’ll be here before we know it. Ho Hoping for a record breaking year. It and travel is certainly not slowing down, so can’t wait to talk with you, uh, about it. And good luck to you and your team as, uh, you head into 2026 and continue to partner with our hotels across the country. Jackie Avery: Yeah, thank you. Thanks so much. We’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. Thanks for listening. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the final Suite Spot episode of 2025 with our annual Year in Review retrospective episode with Travel Media Group President, Dana Singer. Learn about the highlights that took place this year for the organization and what our hotel partners and Suite Spot audience can look forward to as we prepare for 2026. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot for an annual tradition. One of my favorite episodes. We were talking about this off camera, about how many years in a row it’s been that we’ve done this, but it’s such a cool time, obviously, end of the year, beginning of a new year, such a time for reflection. And, you know, looking into the future and with me today is a very familiar guest president at Travel Media Group, Dana Singer. Dana, thank you so much for joining me back on the Suite Spot. Dana Singer: Absolutely. Good morning, Ryan. Ryan Embree: From the comfy confines of our TMG headquarters and Maitland. So grateful for you having the opportunity to join me on the sweet spot too. You know, look at TMG year in review. We do this every single year. Dana 2025 has been an exciting year. It’s been a year of innovation, productivity success, obviously on the Travel Media Group side, but more importantly for our hospitality partners. And I’d like to start by just kind of reflecting on this past year and sharing how TMG has grown as a company, but also how those efforts have made meaningful contributions to our hotel partners. Dana Singer: Yeah, sure. 2025 has definitely been a successful year for Travel Media Group. We celebrated a number of milestones, but most importantly, as you just said, you know, for our hotel partners that we collaborate with and support every single day, it’s been really exciting to see their growth. One of the most significant markers of our progress this year has been the expansion of our teams. Increasing the depth of new talent across multiple departments has strengthened our ability to deliver the level of service our partners rely on. And it’s been inspiring to see fresh perspectives join our longstanding expertise. Everyone’s working together towards the same mission. It’s all about delivering industry leading solutions and an outstanding client experience every step of the way. Internally, our goal is to anticipate the industry’s needs, and based on that, we’ve developed new solutions. We refined our existing services, and we’ve continued to advance our technology. Every innovation has centered on the question, how can we empower our partners to achieve their goals? And our commitment has always been to help hoteliers succeed. And we achieve this by innovating without compromise. And in 2025, I believe we’ve done so in more meaningful ways than ever. Dana Singer: It’s so cool to see and to, quite frankly, to be a part of, to see the success of our hotel partners, new partners coming on board, um, along with new team members here at TMG, helping our partners, succeed and achieve those milestones and goals. Because I’ve had several guests on this podcast talk about the guest expectations and how not only are they rising, but they’re becoming more complex, especially with the integration of technology, it’s becoming faster than ever. The pace and acceleration of these guest expectations. And the same applies to, you know, our hotel partners. How has TMG kind of maintained to stay one step ahead and really positioned itself as the leader as we try to enhance the guest experience in our services at TMG? Dana Singer: Yeah, I mean, exceeding guest expectations is the foundation of success in hospitality. So it’s vital that we not only adapt, but we anticipate what hoteliers will need next. And this year, innovation has once again been at the center of our business strategies. You’re gonna hear me talk about that a lot, probably this morning. One of the most exciting recent advancements has been the launch of Smart Response. And this is our hybrid human AI review response solution, which has been added to our existing suite of response services. And what makes it unique is its incredibly advanced AI training that’s built on more than 2 million reviews that our in-house professional writers have personally crafted. And so that depth of expertise provides an unparalleled technology with nuance authenticity and hospitality care that hotels expect. Every response generated is overseen by our team of professional writers to ensure accuracy, empathy, and alignment in each property’s unique voice. You know, across the board, every team at TMG has been laser focused on elevating our services, refining workflows, and galvanizing our partnerships. We’re so committed to understanding our management company partners needs to ensure a positive guest experience while improving operational efficiency without compromising authenticity. So, you know, just seeing the real impact of these efforts is, is rewarding. I mean, I love hearing about the wins and watching our partners grow, and that’s what makes the work that we do so meaningful. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it really is, again, so cool to be, to be a part of those wins with our hotel partners. And I think at the foundation of a lot of the innovation and advancements to our solutions, Dana, have been conversations, meaningful conversations that we’ve had with our hotel partners, not just this year, but over the years. You know, whether that’s talking to, you know, we’ve covered a ton of hospitality events, from the Suite Spot standpoint and hosted some really industry leaders and professionals, thought leaders in hospitality. And from our educational webinars that what we host our brand, ambassador Cassidy hosts every single month. Where do you think that, or why do you think it’s important rather to kind of grow in these areas and how has it helped improve the business? Dana Singer: You know, as you mentioned, the best way to understand what hoteliers are facing day to day is to be in a position to really listen and understand their strategies. And it just doesn’t matter, you know, if that’s in person at an event or virtually, you know, these touch points allow us to deepen our understanding of how to develop our innovation roadmap to better serve their needs. And throughout 2025, if we look back, we’ve really doubled down on our commitment by attending major industry events as a press resource. This includes the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, NYU IHIF, the Independent Hotel Show, and the Hospitality Show. And next year, we’ll be adding even more. These interviews that we conduct at these events are an important facet in keeping the industry in tune with trends and leadership strategy. It’s just one small yet crucial part of what’s shaping the hospitality industry today. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s been, again, such a privilege to be able to talk to industry leaders, thought leaders, you know, across the country. You know, some of the team members at TMG have been able to speak on panels at some of these events and share their insights and what we’re learning from our hotel partners. That is the catalyst for meaningful change in hospitality because 2025, it’s been a challenging year for hotels. The industry is becoming more complex and a time, there’s almost, there’s only a finite time that a hotelier has to meanwhile their daily duties and responsibilities continue to grow. So being a resource for them, as you mentioned, Dana, on the education side, has been huge. And we’ve heard, and the feedback and engagement that we’re getting, people are craving that connection right now, especially in hospitality. It’s really, really inspiring to see and hear from, from our hoteliers. And again, 2025 big year for hospitality, big year for Travel Media Group. From your standpoint, Dana, how do you make sure as a leader, we’re continuing to make that impact that TMG’s known for? Dana Singer: Yeah, you know, 2025 has been very validating in terms of strengthening TMG’s position as a trusted leader and partner in the hospitality industry. And there are a number of notable highlights. We’ve worked diligently behind the scenes to develop robust partnerships with important industry platforms. This year we finalized our direct integrations with Booking.com and Expedia, and this enables us to build review response workflow efficiencies that are unparalleled in the hospitality industry. We’re also honored to lead the industry with a unique, scalable social media content creation solution that’s developed specifically for hospitality clients. We achieved several milestones with that solution, including surpassing 1 million custom-crafted social posts. And that’s especially important as today’s travelers increasingly rely on social media to make their booking decisions. We celebrated the eighth year of our Suite Spot podcast. We’ve now surpassed 190 episodes, and clearly we’re, we’re just getting started. The podcast features guests from a wide range of hotel brands and management companies, and this platform allows them to share their diverse perspectives with a global audience, with messages that resonate, across the industry. I could go on and on, but ultimately, the true measure of our impact comes from the feedback that we receive, whether it’s from our partners, listeners, or other industry professionals. It’s clear that our initiatives are making a difference, and that motivates us to keep innovating and raising the bar. Ryan Embree: Again, I’ll circle back to just being such a privilege to work in hospitality. You can feel the passion of the hoteliers that we work with, that I speak to on the podcast and conversations that we have across the country. It’s such a special industry that we work in that we get the privilege to work in every single day. And at the top of the episode, I mentioned this episode represents a great time of reflection to look back on this past year to see how far we’ve come as an organization with our hotel partners, and celebrating the milestones and goals that we’ve been hand in hand with our partners to help them achieve, but also to look towards the future, right? And to see what’s next. That’s always so inspiring as you kind of get geared up for a brand new year. So, Dana, as we mentioned this and we wrap up the, not only 2025, but this episode today, can you preview anything for our Suite Spot listeners, what to look forward to in 2026? Dana Singer: Yeah, sure. You know, our teams are already hard at work, shaping and implementing new initiatives for 2026. Every conversation we have starts with the same question. How can we better support our hotel partners in the industry as a whole? Essentially, we wanna give them what they need before they know they need it. As I reflect on 2025, it’s been a year of growth and innovation, and we’re committed to carrying that momentum, into the new year ahead, and I can promise there will be new introductions of creative strategies and solutions to help our partners succeed to all of our Gen Z subscribers. Get ready for an exciting new addition to our podcast series that focuses specifically on social media. Everyone is excited about what 2026 will bring for TMG and the hotels management companies and brands that we’re committed to serving. Ryan Embree: Yes, I am geared up and ready for 2026. I know me and my team, the podcast, the Suite Spot team is ready to go. We’ve got some incredible content planned for you, so stay tuned here. Very excited to see all the innovation that comes out of our organization at Travel Media Group, but also hospitality as a whole. This might be the most exciting time to be in hospitality right now with all the disruption happening, all the innovation that we hope to bring all of those value and insights to our customers, our partners and, and hospitality community every single day through, like I said, our educational webinars, our podcasts, some of the innovative solutions, that we’re partnering with hospitality in. So, again, Dana, as we kind of wrap up today, I think I’ve asked you for this the last couple years, is just kind of a final thoughts wrap up to this year as we kind of put a book into not only this episode, but 2025. Dana Singer: Everyone with this as we wrap up 2025. What resonates most with me is seeing how our work has helped our partners succeed. The commitment and passion that all of our team members have for our industry is evident in their work every day. They show up and take big swings that propel our partners forward. We never get tired of hearing about how our solutions support our clients by saving time, enhancing guest experiences, and ultimately strengthening their reputations. And that’s really what it’s all about for us. So, to our listeners, if you’d like to learn more about what partnership with Travel Media Group can look like or what we do, now’s a great time to reach out. We look forward to talking with you, and I can assure you, that you’re in good hands and of course to our hotel partners, thank you for your continued trust, and collaboration. And Ryan, thank you for inviting me to the Suite Spot this morning. I always enjoy spending this time with you. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you. I know, you know, you take time out of your day, especially around this time of year, which can be obviously really crazy with the holidays, but appreciate you having these conversations again. So inspiring, so exciting. We are ready for 2026 here at Travel Media Group. I know the industry is ready to start a brand new year and really appreciate your thoughts and insights and joining me today, Dana. So thank you for joining me on the Suite Spot. Dana Singer: Yeah, my pleasure. Ryan Embree: To all of our listeners, Happy New Year. Thank you so much for joining me. Whether this is your first episode listening or 190th, we’re so excited to be celebrating 200 episodes at some point in 2026, but again, we’ve got all credible lineup of content planned for you. But sincerely wish you nothing but the best and a happy New Year. So thank you for listening to The Suite Spot, and we will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

As 2025 closes out, the Suite Spot wraps up with the latest inductee into the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. CEO of Hotel Equities, Ben Rafter, joins the podcast to discuss all things hospitality and technology and how these two components come together to make the perfect guest experience for travelers. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree here with a very exciting, informative episode continuing our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. This is our series where we are talking to those industry leaders and brands, management companies that are paving the way forward. I’ve got an absolutely amazing guest, I’m excited to speak with him today. Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities. Ben, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Ben Rafter: Thanks, Ryan. Looking forward to it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’re gonna have fun conversation, talk all about hotel equities, but on the Suite Spot we do a little tradition where instead of just doing your normal bio, I actually like handing it over to our guests to kind of talk through their hospitality journey. because sometimes you get a little bit more insights. Us hospitality people, we got mentors. We come from different brands, sometimes fall into hospitality, quite frankly. You know, talk to us, our Suite Spot hotel audience, a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to your role as a CEO over at Hotel Equities. Ben Rafter: Sure, I fit into the fall into it category, without a doubt. I was a, uh, tech guy for better part of 15 years, mostly startups. Sold two of ’em and after selling, the second one was locked out of the industry for a year and got a phone call from a hotel guy. And he said, what are you doing? You want to come to Mount Everest with me? And just because nothing better to do for the next month. We packed up and headed over to Nepal and on about the third day he said to me, so what do you think of the hospitality industry and hotels? And it was dumb enough to open my mouth and give him my opinion that you needed to sort of fuse together larger than life hoteliers, which was his background and kind of quant tech data, guys like me. And over the next 20 days, we hashed out starting a hotel company literally on the side of a mountain, in this case. And after that ended, it was 2008, the market crashed. We had a new president. I flew to Hawaii and we started with four hotels in Hawaii. And it’s been nonstop ever since. So definitely not a traditional way to get into the industry. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. You give new meaning to kind of climbing the corporate ladder, so to speak, when, when talking about that. But I think that’s what honestly makes hospitality so fascinating. Because yours, honestly, a lot of the majority of the guests we talked to Ben, hospitality was not their final destination, so to speak, what you were talking to. But I think it brings new perspective and obviously insights into an industry that, quite frankly, we’re gonna talk about it in a minute, but needs some more technology integration into hospitality right now. And to fast forward to today, obviously a strategic merger in May, 2025 with Springboard Hospitality. It’s been extremely busy second half of the year for you and your team, including a couple exciting announcements we’re gonna talk about in a second, Ben. But, you know, can you share some of the biggest kind of takeaways and lessons you’ve learned for the business, over this past six months? Maybe give us a state of the Hotel Equities as you would say. Ben Rafter: Yeah, absolutely. I mean one thing, coming from sort of independent and generally either gateway market or leisure focused. You learn how diverse some of these markets are and how much different it is running a courtyard or a Rest Inn or a Hampton in a suburb versus running a resort in the middle of Waikiki. And it’s been great kind of seeing both sides of the spectrum there. And then trying to figure out how initiatives or which initiatives work across the entire entity. And then which of ’em should be limited to $400 a night hotel or a select service hotel. And I gotta say, coming from the independent space where we’re all about content and drone shots and Instagram and social media and things like that, obviously walking into a suburban flagged select service hotel is a whole different, a whole different ball of wax, so to speak. So that part’s been great. We have great leaders in all of those divisions and it’s been great working with them. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, just adds to the exposure, again, what you were talking about. And to add to that, right. You know, in October you were back on a panel discussing outdoor centric hotels at the lodging conference in Phoenix, we talk about the spectrum of from lifestyle, and now you’ve got this experiential glamping. This was the perfect topic for you and hotel equities, obviously through your management of postcard cabins, which is with Marriott’s new outdoor collection. Talk to us, how about how you guys are really capitalizing on this trend, experiential travel, that glamping that now even the big brands are trying to get into? Ben Rafter: Yeah, every, everybody’s trying to get into it. So we were on all of the postcard cabins, and that was kind of the feature point of Marriott’s launch of the outdoor, their outdoor segment. It’s one, it’s been great. It’s an area that’s growing two and a half, a little more than two and a half times faster than the regular hotel on the street. Now, of course, you break that down by segments it maybe two times and maybe three times. And it’s also so new for the brands that they’re trying to sort of get their arms around it. And because you, you just have to think when you’re staying in an outdoor experience, you’re not staying in a city. And when you search on Marriott or Hilton or Hyatt or whatever, the first thing you usually do is you type in New York City, you type in Seattle, you type in whatever. Well, if you’re gonna stay in the middle of the national forest where the nearest city is 2000 people and you don’t know what it’s called, like how do you even search for this kind of stuff? And then you combine that with staffing, where, the GM better have a pickup truck and be able to go to the nearest Piggly Wiggly or whatever to go find whatever’s needed because you may be an hour away from the nearest area to get the entity. There’s no Sysco truck driving by in the middle of the afternoon. And then high seasonality. And the big question I think for the industry is going to be how do you fill some of these things on a Wednesday afternoon in off season? Obviously we’re targeting groups in corporate and to make them kind of intimate experiences where 8, 10, 15, 20 people can get together. But it’s, it’s a totally different space. But the great thing is consumers are really interested in it because they’re interested in branching out from their traditional leisure stay, and now they can find this kind of stuff. Ryan Embree: I mean, listen, as someone who climbed Everest, right, I mean that is all about the experience. The destination and getting to that is part of the journey and part of the experience, which I think is why people love it. And they’re gonna do a lot of your marketing for you to be honest with you, between the storytelling that they’re doing on places like social media, now all of a sudden they’re telling your story and, and people are, are, are just really seeing this in a time where we’re gonna talk about in a minute, technology’s kind of taking over, but being like, Hey, maybe this is a nice little escape for me and, and something different that is going to be an experience. You know, we talk about that all the time. And a true experience. Ben Rafter: Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be outdoor travel. The great thing about this industry in general, and the way it’s evolving and I’m looking forward to talking more about technology, is that people want something more and more customized and more and more localized. It could be a food vacation, it could be outdoor travel, it could be adventure travel, which to me is a different category. And the way that we’re now interacting and searching for these experiences getting much more advanced and people can now find them. Versus before it was, I know I wanna stay outside, I’m gonna research some natural national parks, and where do I go from there? Right. And now it’s a wide open space. Ryan Embree: You wanna see how many segments our industry has gotten chopped up into go to any hospitality conference. And you’re talking about heritage, travel, food travel, like you’re talking about travel, that’s multi-generational travel, right? It used to just be business and leisure. Which one are you on now? There are so many different ways and priorities the way that people and travelers are looking at travel through a completely different lens than they did a decade ago. And I think a lot of that, to be honest with you happened. What happened in 2020. It’s interesting to see brands, management companies adapt to those and try to be at the forefront of that because it’s these emerging markets and trends are popping up and they’re becoming widely popular. Ben Rafter: Yeah, it got it, it was accelerated for sure. In 2020, I, there’s a comparison I like to make. Back, back when I was a kid and was learning how to ski, we had the little skinny narrow, super long skis. It was difficult. Snowboards came around and everyone complained about snowboards ’cause they carved up the moguls or whatever. I can’t remember what it was, but ultimately the snowboards made skiing better and the ski technology advanced to what we have today. And I look at the emergence of Airbnb or things like that, they’ve really pushed the traditional sort of hotel lodging space to up its game. And I think we’re sort of seeing that with all these different concepts coming out. And I think it’s needed too. And we have one advantage over some of these, some of these transient vacation plays. And that is, at the end of the day, we still the human in most of the hotels. And I think we need to up the game in terms of the level of service that the people at the hotels provide and can provide to sort of make it so, Hey, I’m staying outdoors. I’m staying in a gateway city. I’m on a food vacation, whatever, but that person actually at the hotel is going to provide value to my vacation. Ryan Embree: They’re gonna supplement it, sometimes even be a part of the experience there. I think that’s the big knock on what we see on Airbnb is, you have to be the housekeeper, you have to be the concierge, everything like that. And they’re starting to adjust, obviously with what they’re doing on the tech side. So it should be interesting to see, but you’re right that that competition I do think has accelerated that and really interested. We’re at a very cool inflection point right now. And speaking of, you talked about your strong tech background, Ben, you know, when you come into hospitality, where do you think we are right now in this an overall technology cycle? And then maybe you can drill down a little bit more into, when you look at your portfolio at Hotel Equities, what’s your approach to kind of this technology? Ben Rafter: You may have heard the, or seen the big sigh on where we’re at in the industry. Since I got here has been behind, and there are a lot of reasons for it, but we’re gradually catching up. And AI although probably not over hyped, but over talked about AI will make a major difference in the hospitality industry because of the nature of what it is, much more so than other industries. We’re just not quite there yet. So, a long-winded way of saying we’re still behind. We have a lot of legacy backbone issues and technology in general. We have too many startups chasing too few solutions and then trying to prove that they can do other solutions. But the great tipping point coming up is how people are searching for their hotel stay, whether business or leisure is changing dramatically, how the back end of the hotel is operating is changing dramatically. And some of these solutions that are being built are now targeting these areas. So I’m not excited about the past, but I’m pretty excited about the future because everyone wants to talk about the front end and search, and that’s probably the more exciting thing. But just think about scheduling workforce in a 300% hotel and how effective and efficient that is becoming. And we need it because margins are being eroded. RevPAR is flat. Well, expenses are up 5%. And so we need to be able to squeeze out every ounce of efficiency in all of these hotels. And our owners are all demanding it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, you’re absolutely, I mean, the conversations we’ve had at covering hospitality conferences with leaders is talking about both sides of the desk. And the opportunity at both sides, because I do think we get that shiny object of the, how can we improve the guest experience andeven the sci-fi that robot coming down with the towels to do all that stuff, but it’s really gonna be those small efficiencies that get us to a closer place to what we’ve been talking about forever in our industry, personalization and, and this seamless traveler journey, right? Ben Rafter: Yeah. And we can figure out what, you know, we try to define a great hotel experience historically, or luxury historically, and what’s the thread count and how many fixtures are in the bathroom and all this other stuff, which is important. But now we’re nearing a point where we can understand, okay, what really means luxury or a great hotel experience to this individual guest? And it may not be five fixtures and a 600 thread count. It may mean something else, right. And the level of personalization we have is nearing where we can define that experience when the person arrives. But yeah, so that’s, it’s, it’s all really exciting. And one of the great things we’re pretty aggressive with technology as you might guess. And so we beta a lot of different products and I want to continue doing so because although, three outta four may not work to the satisfaction that we have, or four outta five, you do find the ones that do, and we can embrace and adopt those really, really rapidly. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I talked to a leader at the hospitality show back in October who said the modern hoteliers tech stack today is absolutely, it’s the most vast it’s been, and it’s gonna be very interesting to see, because so many people are doing what you’re doing, Ben, a lot of beta testing, a lot of trying out new technologies to try to calibrate it right to that point, to where we can be closer to personalization. And to your point about luxury, right? I mean, we’re even to a place now where if you’ve checked out White Lotus, the ultra luxury is actually removing technology altogether, right? So, but I think that’s, to your point of my luxury, could look very different from your luxury. And I think that’s what the true place of AI and technology is gonna get us to where we can personalize that perfect hotel experience no matter where we’re at. Ben Rafter: Yeah. And there’s a debate that you’ve had on this podcast and had with other people I’m sure is does AI help or hurt the most for flags for OTAs, for independence? Where is it gonna make the biggest impact? And I won’t say where I think it’s gonna hurt the most, but I do think it really, really helps sort of soft brands and independence, because soft brands and independence have the ability to tell a story, and they can augment that story through technology content sort of finally is king. We’ve been talking about content being king for 20 years, and now content finally will be king because people are searching and AI knows what I want or what you want almost as well as you do, right? And so just think of how you’ve changed using Google over the last 10 years, where now you’re generally asking it questions instead of typing in prompts, multiply that by 10, and suddenly we have AI that says, oh, I’m going to Honolulu. I usually stay outta Westin because that’s what I know, or a Marriott or whatever. But AI can say, oh, you’re gonna Honolulu here, stay at this place because it has a restaurant that you’re gonna love. They make a great cocktail, and they have this thing that you indicated you liked when you were in New York City. And so this is your thing. And of course, what AI really gets advanced is gonna say, and I’ve booked it for you and I requested this, and I’m gonna monitor it for the next 30 days to make sure the revenue managers will screw up and lower the price. And if it does, I’ll cancel and rebook it for you. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, all of a sudden you’re telling your story to a little bit different audience with that and trying to capture that agent’s attention, maybe that, so that they can kind of put you front and center in the eyes of the traveler and the guests. But wanna switch our converse along the same lines, but more of a cautionary tale in hospitality and technology. What’s obviously headlining the news recently, the Marriott Sonder story, and you commented on this on LinkedIn. I saw Ben, you know, you said, and I quote Saunders shut down highlights just how complex our industry has become, where tech integration, long-term lease structures and multi-state partnership must align to create a sustainable operating model. So in a time when technology, right now, a lot of people would argue is, I mean, every day is at its peak, right? We’re peaking every single day in technology. Why is still having the right partnerships in alignment still so important? And, and we still see a Marriott Sonder story happen today? Ben Rafter: Taking a step away from technology, I think the real lesson learned from Sonder, and it’s unfortunate because we learned it with WeWork too, is if you’re going to lease a bunch of properties, you better make sure, you can fill those properties through thick or thin because that lease payments come in due no matter what, right? Suddenly you’re representing yourself basically, and you’re trying to fill the owner’s shoes. And WeWork failed, and Sonder I think ultimately failed because of that. But underneath it, you have to make Sonder never carved itself out as, Hey, it’s seamless technology that gets me into my room with no interaction. And what is the additional value of that, and what will somebody pay for it? And then I think they plug into Marriott, I don’t know, obviously, but they plug into Marriott for broader reach and distribution. But now you’re searching New York City, you’ve got 30 other Marriotts who all have a well-defined brand, or probably a hundred other Marriotts in New York, you’re searching somewhere, right? And the seamless technology story just got lost in the whole thing. And then it’s like, okay, why am I gonna stay at this place over these other 20 choices I see on Mary’s site? And then ultimately the whole thing collapses. But it’s a classic case, a very long-winded way of saying it’s a classic case of technology for technology state sometime just doesn’t work. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And well, and it goes back to the storytelling part, right? Without a defined value to your brand. And if that’s not being translated to your guests, you know, it’s ultimately we saw what happens when that goes on. Ben Rafter: Yeah. And I’m going to put myself into the position of saying, I wanna be the last person on earth who gives up on human interaction as part of the hotel experience. And, you know, we could put in kiosks and everything like that, or robots or whatever. I think we’re better off investing in training our front of house people or all of our people, team members to interact better. And let’s use all these new technologies so that we can truly interact and provide a better experience. And yeah, maybe 25% of the audience, or 30% or 50, or whatever the number is, doesn’t wanna interact. But I think most people want the hotel experience to include people. Ryan Embree: We got to a place, I would argue where it was in 2020, it was almost, there was a risk to going to the front desk sometimes. So, you know, quote unquote, and people still did it, right? We still needed that human interaction, the brands made it easier than ever to get to your rooms without needing people. And we still wanted it. The, the travelers still demanded it in some way, whether it was house-keeping, whether it was interaction. So I think if there’s ever a use case, you’re absolutely right. And I’m there, I’m right there with you. I’ll be the second to last person there with you saying I don’t want that in my hospitality experience either. But we’ll switch gears here, Ben. Second, I had in late October, I told you I was out out at the Hospitality Show, caught up with Rob Robinson, a little bit colder than where he is in Hawaii, but president of the lifestyle division at Hotel Equities, we talked about lifestyle and independent hotels, we’ve talked about on this, on this episode continues to grow popularity just ever increasing. Why do you think these have remained so attractive to travelers? And how has, I mean, obviously Hotel Equities with that strategic partnership has really positioned itself as a leader in this segment. Ben Rafter: It’s growing because people want an experience, right? And there’s obviously a market for checking into a select service that’s the same no matter whether you’re in Dallas or you’re in Seattle or you’re in Vancouver BC right? But there’s also an equally large segment of people who are saying, whether it’s business or leisure or any of the hundred other derivations of travel, when I go somewhere, I wanna stay at a property that tells a story. And usually that story is going to be around the place. If you stay with our properties in West Hollywood or you stay where Rob is at in Hawaii, you should know you’re in Hawaii and you’re going to, you’re going to get that sense of place that you’re there. And lifestyle and independent properties just naturally can sort of expose that story a little bit better if they’re run well. And then we can market to that story. And independents have to, because the distribution capabilities of the flags are amazing, right? And so the independence, their only counter balance to that is, I’m going to market via the story that I tell and the content that I produce. And then of course, the middle ground and Marriott, and Hilton and Hyatt have done so well with it is the soft brands. And what I would like to see, or what I hope I don’t see is they start to harden those soft brands because an autograph with the flexibility to tell a story that’s still plugged into the Marriott distribution system in this case is, is a powerful thing. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So immersive these lifestyle hotels can be offering amenities and experiences that the brand hotels are great. And I just think people, when you want consistency, consistency’s there, but everyone doesn’t want to tell a consistent story. Sometimes they want a unique story. They wanna be immersed in their in the local culture that we don’t get the opportunity to see every day. That’s why we love travel. Ben Rafter: But we have to embrace it too and make the investment to do it. And I think there’s some ground, there’s, there’s some work wood to chop, so to speak, in terms of, you can’t just say your hotel’s independent or a boutique or a lifestyle hotel and then not invest in content and the activities that make it there. No, I think that’s where we need to grow a little bit. And as noted earlier when we were talking, I think we’ll be forced to, because the way that people are searching for these hotels, if we don’t, then the hotel’s gonna fail. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Listen, more seasonal, F&B options the better from local source places at these lifestyle and independent hotels, I will take that all day to make those memorable experiences. Ben Rafter: Well, and F&B is a good example because all of the major operators now have these relationships with the giant F&B providers, or for that matter, the giant F&E providers, and sort of turned F&B into a similar commodity. I could tell you the Sysco fries at 50 different hotels, it’s this, you know, it’s, it’s, oh, this came from Sysco or this came from over here, right? And so localized F&B and in Hotel Equities’ case, the ability to have a national relationship, but the ability to also give the independent restaurants and outlets the flexibility to do what they want with local vendors is critical. Because we’re sort of homogenizing F&B in the same way that we’ve homogenized a lot of hotels. Ryan Embree: I mean, that’s a microcosm of what’s going on in our industry as a whole right now, the return of the hotel restaurant, right? Which used to be, I think, a decade ago, well, decades ago, that used to be the place to be. And then all of a sudden it kind of got to that place, what you were just talking about, and now it’s reemerging. And I think a lot of brands, management companies, the smart ones are seeing that and seeing an opportunity to not just welcome, obviously outside travelers, but locals are embracing it too, about saying, Hey, you know, when you come into town, you might be staying with me, but I’m taking you to the local hotel restaurant for that experience. Ben Rafter: I mean, I guess it, it goes back 500 years to hotels are the gathering place. I was on a call yesterday. We have a cocktail bar named the Green Lady at one of the Hawaii hotels. And the person who runs F&B said, Hey, do I have to buy this and this and this? A memo must have come out, right? And I said, well, obviously no, like, who’s your audience? And he said, well, it’s 50. This is Hawaii, which is full of 10 million tourists and 1 million residents, right? And he said, well, it’s about 60% locals and 40% tourists. And obviously he’s buying highly, highly customized products for, in this case, for that, for that audience. And hotels have to be, it’s really easy to understand a restaurant that orders local and everything. The broader thing is the hotel needs to be the same way. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Like I said, microcosm of what’s going on, you know, throughout the operations and brand to be quite frank, gonna switch topics again, we’re covering everything today, Ben. Hotel Equities, in February, 2026, you guys are headed out for your annual leadership conference in Las Vegas, Travel Media Group, our parent company have the privilege of attending. We’ve spoke the last couple years in sponsoring the event. This will be your first time, I would imagine. And what are you most looking forward to, and can you share the impact of events like this have on a culture right now, where staffing, over the last couple years has still been a struggle for our industry? Ben Rafter: So events like this are critical. And its easy to say that, but at the highest level, and what I’m looking forward to most is you don’t see everybody very often anymore. Remote work has its place. Bigger company people are going to be, I used to try to get to every single property that we had at least once or twice a year, right? And as you keep growing, that becomes a little more difficult. Ryan Embree: And it might be tough now. Ben Rafter: Exactly. And so this is my chance to see everybody. It’s everybody’s chance to see me and to see other leaders of the team. It’s a chance for people from New York City and Atlanta to meet people from Honolulu and most importantly, trade ideas and figure out what’s working and what’s not. And I think a good management company or a good operator should be doing it not just once a year, but all the marketing people should be getting together. All the finance people should be getting together. And yes, there’s a cost to that, but the amount of creativity that’s unleashed from doing it is amazing. And we have, so that’s what I’m looking forward to. Ryan Embree: It would be a fascinating study to see how some of these major ideas and concepts, initiatives and hospitality as a whole, the groundwork is laid at these in-person events. And I think it can be traced back to and just to speak to the importance of getting together in a time where we thought, do we really need to get together as anymore, can we just say virtual? Obviously that that has a place for it. But I think the groundswell of support when you get a number of people together in one area having the same challenges. And I think that’s a powerful sentiment when you hear someone in Honolulu and New York City having the same exact challenges and trying to get through that is ground zero for trying to create creativity and solutions, which hospitality people, I mean, you think maybe I’m biased, but we’ve got the problem solving critical thinking skills. Because you need it. It’s a skill that you need every single day. You’re practicing every single day when floor floods or, or some, yeah. So you need that. Ben Rafter: People still put hangers on the little fire things and then the floor floods. You wouldn’t imagine, 40 years later, but here we are. No, you’re exactly right. No good idea. Oh, I’m sure there have been a few over the course of history, but we like to say no good idea comes from one individual sitting in their home office. Tapping away all the best ideas come from people interacting. Ryan Embree: Totally agree. Well, obviously this is also award season and a lot of those great ideas translating to the operations. I want to congratulate your portfolio hotel equities on a few of those. Notable recognition saw Marriott’s international top performing number one, top performing management company in the US and Canada for Q3, and some individual awards, the 2025 International Association and Full Service Awards, F&B Excellence, we just talked about F&B, and then opening of the year, the Vanguard Autograph collection, Ann Arbor Autograph collection. What do these recognitions mean to you, Ben, and and how does it reflect on kind of the reputation overall in the industry for hotel equities? Ben Rafter: Well, I mean, anytime you get an award, it should mean a lot to, to people. And it validates what we’re doing. And it validates that we’re doing it right to win awards from all the way to partnering with Marriott, who’s been a great partner throughout the years to winning. We got a Michelin key at an independent hotel, right? And then the Vanguard launch, it’s validation, and it’s not validation of what I’m doing, it’s validation that the team members who are actually executing on this stuff are doing a great job of it. So internally, what I’d like to expand is kind of rewarding people for that, that we started giving away money for people who created ideas. We’re starting to give away awards for people who, you know, there’s always the guest service component. We got a letter from Marriott just yesterday, two days ago, some guy had taken the time to write to somebody pretty high up and Marriott and saying, look, I had the best customer serviceI’ve ever had from this individual. It was actually was at the Vanguard, oddly enough. And it’s a necessity for me and team members to recognize that, because we talked a lot about it is human aspect of this industry is the most important. And a little side story when we were on the side of the mountain creating this, creating our hotel company 15, 20 years ago, the larger than life hotel guy who was not me, he said like, one thing you can never forget. Well, you’re looking at all these spreadsheets and data and all that other stuff is there’s a real guest in the room and in Hawaii that real guest may have saved a year for their one leisure vacation, that they’ve dreamed about possibly their whole life, right? And he said, never forget that there’s a guest in the room. And then he convinced me to put my cell phone in all the rooms. And we did that for the first 11,000, hotel rooms that we had. So, and it was worth it because it, every once in a while is a reminder that, hey, we are in the service business and people are, we are people first business. Ryan Embree: Listen, probably some pretty interesting conversations you had with guests having a direct line to you. But I think, very sobering to hear, again, that I think that’s great advice for anyone that is struggling right now talking, thinking about are we doing enough on the technology side to keep that north star there of, there is a guest in the room. This is what people are looking for. We’re hosting people in our home. So yeah, great advice there. I’m gonna quiz you on one more piece of advice, Ben. Because I think, I started this podcast, we’re almost 200 episodes deep. I always feel like it’s my kind of mission, especially for younger hospitality professionals that just coming into the workforce now, listen, when I when I came in to to hospitality, I didn’t have the looming clouds of, you know, AI might be be taking these jobs. So what advice would you give maybe a message of hope or even advice, tips that you would give to a young hospitality professional entering their career right now? Ben Rafter: For sure. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people like you, people like me, CEOs. I don’t know. I mean, obviously we have a lot of competitors and we compete with them for obvious reasons, but I don’t know a single one of them that would not respond to someone who reaches out and says, Hey, how did you get where you are? What do you like doing? I think I just use a double negative in the sentence there. But, I would, I don’t know, a single one who is not willing to help expand people’s careers. And then the second thing is complacency just kills. And if you have ideas, push ’em. And I was 19 or 20 when we did our first startup, it would’ve been really real easy to not do it. And then five years later, 10 years later, life changes. And if you have the idea, push it and do it, and you’ll be rewarded for it later. And you’ll never look back and say, oh, hey, I wish I wouldn’t have done that. Ryan Embree: Very good. And like what would it you have said if I told you 19-year-old, Ben, that you’d be given hospitality advice to young hospitality professionals. Ben Rafter: When I was 19, I was terrified to reach out to people, like, why would anybody talk to me? But, you know, we’re all out there. And so I think that’s two pieces of advice. One, reach out to anybody that they’ll respond. And then two, if you have an idea, push it. People, people are, there’s a lot of self-doubt out there. You have it, I have it. You think, oh, that’s not a good idea. Well, it’s not, you prove that it’s not a good idea. There’s just as good a chance. It’s gonna be a great idea. And if you’re implementing technology, get the implementation part done because, it’s great seeing a thousand different technologies, but 9 times outta 10, they don’t talk to all the other ones we’re using. Ryan Embree: There’s some tech advice at the very end. I love that. Right on brand. And so wrap it up into 2025, 2026. Can you share any notable developments right now in the hotel, equities, pipelines, or even projects that within the portfolio you’re excited about right now? Ben Rafter: Really excited about the Caribbean and Latin America and particular Mexico. I think in some of these regions, third party operators are just emerging. I mean, obviously pretty common in the US and in Canada. We have an awesome team down there and we’ve, we’ve kind of got it in our little laboratory so they’re protected. And I just think the impact they’re gonna make next year across the Caribbean and Latin America is gonna be fantastic. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Tons of market opportunity there. Keep hearing a lot of harder earned dollars spend down in that region for sure. Ben Rafter: Yeah. And fun stuff, great hotels and you know, obviously we know Hawaii pretty well. We know Florida really well. We know the traditional US vacation destinations. If I were the governor of Hawaii, I would grab about 10 members of the ledge, or 20, or as many as we could fit on a plane from Hawaiian Airlines or Alaska and fly somebody down. You probably can’t do it, but fly somebody down to Mexico, down to Costa Rica and the Dominican Republic, because if they could really see the quality of the product down there, they would be investing in more tourism marketing in Hawaii. So governor, uh, Josh Greenham, Hawaii pay attention. Ryan Embree: Well listen, we have a Suite Spot spotlight series that actually profiles some properties. You gimme a call, Ben, whenever you’re ready to spotlight one of those properties in the Caribbean, I’m happy to make the trip down there and help you out with that. So yeah. Ben Rafter: Awesome. I’ll look forward to it. I’m gonna hold you to that. Ryan Embree: All right. Well, as we wrap up the year and as we wrap up the episode, I think this is obviously a great time for a lot of reflection. Thanksgiving just happened. Looking back on 2025, what are you most proud of in 2025, and what are you most looking forward to in 2026? Ben Rafter: It’s, I mean, look, we got the Springboard/Hotel Equities combination done. And I’m really excited. So, we’ll call that the most proud. And I’m really excited for seeing where this combination goes in 26. But as the tech guy who seems to be more people focused than most, I mean, you look at this industry and we’ve got several thousand team members and I’m proud that they can deliver every single day. And I think everybody should say that is like, if you don’t have your team members, and if you don’t have your GMs on the front lines fighting, there’s nothing. And so I’m most proud of what they’re delivering. Ryan Embree: There we go. Awesome. Well, Ben, we’re excited to watch, continue to see Hotel Equities grow, wish you nothing but success, covered it all today. Got the large spectrum from your journey to tech and even Marriott, Sonder and, and covered some awards and developments. Any other final thoughts you got before we sign off? Ben Rafter: We’re all over the place. That’s fun. Makes it great. No, looking forward to seeing you in February. And I think you covered the most important thing. If you are young and new to this space, and Ryan, you teach and speak at I think UCF, but probably everywhere, do not hesitate to reach out. Just track somebody down and they will remember you five years later or 10 years later. And when I’ve long gone, you know, their careers will be going crazy. And that’s, you know, that’s good. We need more innovation. We need more young people. Ryan Embree: 100% agree. Hopefully there’s another podcast sitting on here and maybe they’ll be mentioning our names as someone they reached out to back in the day that we can only hope, right? Ben Rafter: We’ll go to Nepal or China climb an 8,000 foot meter mountain and, on the side of the mountain we can all, we can all share stories and create the next hotel company. Ryan Embree: That’s all you need to do. That’s it. So, all right. Well thank you so much, Ben, for taking the time. It’s been a pleasure speaking to you and like I mentioned, wish you nothing but success. And yes, we will see you in February at the Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. Ben Rafter: Great. Thanks Ryan. Looking forward to it. Ryan Embree: Thanks Ben. And thank you for listening to Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Newport Hospitality Group, Whitney Altizer, joins the Suite Spot in the latest episode of TMG Hospitality Trailblazers to give audiences a close look at what makes the Newport portfolio and brand unique in the hospitality industry and why social media is critical to a hotel’s success in the digital age. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. I got a fantastic guest. We actually had an opportunity to meet with someone from the, the Newport Hospitality Group just a couple weeks ago at the Hospitality Show, but we got a brand new guest here with us today, senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, Whitney Altizer. Whitney, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot today with me. Whitney Altizer: Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: We’re gonna have a fun conversation today. A lot of exciting stuff and news about Newport Hospitality, but as tradition here on the Suite Spot, hospitality, as we know, is one of those things where people can come from all different places, brands, management companies, and unique journeys that led you to where you are. So let’s hear about yours, Whitney. Talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to Chief Commercial Officer at Newport Hospitality Group. Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Well, I always joke that Newport raised me. You know, I went to Virginia Tech for business and hospitality, and then I moved to Atlanta and worked with Darden restaurants for a stint. You know, and I love the experience, but I just decided I needed a new perspective on food and beverage and the industry in general. So I ended up back in Blacksburg at a full service Holiday Inn that Newport actually owned and managed at the time. So 22 years ago, I walked into that Holiday Inn as a director of catering and sales, worked there on property, and then, moved up to the corporate director of sales, a corporate revenue manager. Then I was the director of Revenue and Digital. Then came along the Vice President of Comms Stratt, which catapulted me to where I am today which is the Chief Commercial Officer. Ryan Embree: Your story is a genuine reflection of our industry, of how many facets there are to hospitality, from everything from food and beverage to sales, to all the positions that you, that you held in, in between. You know, it’s one of the reasons a lot of people love hospitality is because you can really do anything within it, right? It’s almost its own ecosystem within our industry, and it’s really cool to see, and I’m sure that was, you had some incredible experience, which lends you to where you are right now and knowing different people’s positions. That’s what we hear is sometimes the most successful hospitality people are the ones that got exposure to those different aspects of hospitality and kind of use that in their experience today. Some of those, hospitality professionals maybe even had to, you know, during that, that 2020 era had to get into some of those departments that they hadn’t done in a minute, and certainly shared some experience there. But, we won’t talk about that time, but doing some research for this episode, I wanna talk about Newport Hospitality and their story. Right? I always find it so fascinating when we talk about to these management companies and brands about how they first got into hospitality and fun little facts. That the origin story really dates back all the way to the 1850s. It goes back way, way far. Could you give a little background on the early days, maybe not take us that far, but a little bit early days of Newport Hospitality and how it’s led to the amazing growth that you guys are experiencing right now in 2025? Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Newport, in my opinion, was built on hard work, dedication, and two families. So in 1990, we were officially founded by Bill Carey and Mike Pinger, and but as you noted, the story dates back much further than that. Bill came from a ranching and entrepreneurial background and was the great grandson of a man that had built a large land in cattle business in West Texas in the 1850s. And that cattle business is what went on to help fund the start of Newport, and then as well purchase a lot of the hotels that we currently own. Ryan Embree: Absolutely incredible. Just such a unique story. So happy that it’s on the website where I’m sure employees and and guests can even check that out and share that. And led to where you are today. And I want to talk about fast forwarding today, ’cause you got some exciting news, a new website on the horizon. Talk to us a little bit about this project and this new chapter, for Newport Hospitality Group. Whitney Altizer: Website debut coming soon. We are beyond excited. This has been a labor of love. There’s been joy, there’s been passion, there’s been divine intervention. We are just so happy to see it come full circle. Really the design intention was to speak to our partners, our clients, our team members, but do it all at the same time in the same platform, right? So we’ve tailored this website so that it doesn’t matter who you are or what you’re looking for, you will find the ability to get the information that you are looking for and the correct person to interact with you know, in this current climate of digital changes. Its been very interesting to walk through this process. It’s a lot different than, you know, 10 years ago when, when we started on WordPress, right? <laugh> Now it’s the AI integration, it’s large language models, it’s SEO. We’re taking into account all of those things, but trying to still keep the website intuitive and engaging for anyone that would visit it and be looking for information. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s, it’s kind of, it’s exactly what you said, Whitney. It’s very fortuitous timing as far as, you know, ’cause I’m sure even the way that websites are being designed and kind of strategically, you know, built today, it, you said 10 years ago, I would even argue just a couple years ago, is very different in the landscape, even with the way that people are trying to look for information, whether that is, young hospitality professionals trying to find out some background, about the hotel or the culture that, which we’re gonna touch on here in a minute, to ownership groups and developers that are, you know, trying to look for information. So, great timing, can’t wait to see it. But on that, that new website is, is gonna be that diverse, incredible portfolio that Newport holds right now. And as marketing people, we always love to talk about what’s next, right? What’s in the pipeline, what exciting project, what are you, what’s getting you excited right now about either projects or, or stuff in the pipeline right now at Newport Hospitality? Whitney Altizer: Yeah, so the biggest thing right now is that we’re gonna be opening a new Hotel in Q1 2026. So it’s currently under build right now. It’s with a partner that we already work with, Andre Hickman and Sanford, Florida. And this is his second hotel with us. We built his first hotel. Now we’re getting to build his second hotel with him. And we’re just beyond excited to see that all come to fruition and have two hotels in the same market with the same great partner, you know. And then of course, our Chief Development Officer, Sean, is always moving and shaking. He’s always got something on the horizon. And right now we’re looking at three potential acquisitions in Virginia, two in Ohio, and then a large expansion into the Northern Territory. We’re mainly east coast right now. Those are not over the finish line yet, so I can’t quite say much more than that. But we’ve been very thoughtful about who we wanna grow with, how we wanna grow, and making sure that we’re aligned with those partners so that we’re all walking together on the same path. Ryan Embree: Thats fantastic. And, you know, Sanford, right here in our backyard Travel Media Group’s backyard, right down the road, right down I-4 which, which could take a little little time depending on, on when you’re going. But, uh, but, you know, so exciting to see. It looks like you’ve already might already need some new changes for that, updated website here soon with some new properties. So we’ll continue to keep an eye on that. Another aspect that really stood out to me, you know, doing some research for, for this episode, as well as talking to Brendan at the Hospitality show was the commitment to employee culture. And I saw right now on social media, which you got a huge presence on. You’re running this voice of 35 campaign. I wanna talk a little bit about that campaign, but you were actually featured on there, Whitney, and you shared, we not only invest in our people, but the relationships with our owner as well as the community. So again, maybe talk about that, that voice of 35 campaign, what you’re trying to accomplish there, and then expand a little bit more on that, investing in people, relationships, and community. Whitney Altizer: Yeah, absolutely. Well, voices of 35 is something that we feel like captures the heart of Newport. It puts into words why I’ve been here for 22 years. So the intention was to celebrate the whole 35 year journey, the people that made it possible internally, externally, and then to reflect on those team members and their growth. So we’re really lucky that at the corporate level, we’ve got over 10 employees that have been with us for 20 to 30 years, so do the math on that. They pretty much been around since the, the inception. And then just even within my department, you know, a lot of the commercial strategy people have the same story that I do. One of my revenue managers, him and I started on property together 20 years ago doing banquets and catering, and I’ve gotten to watch his journey beside my journey. And that’s just really what Newport is, right? We invest in the person and then we help them figure out what will fill their tank what’s their next big step? What do they wanna learn? And then offer the learning, the support, and ultimately the positions to help them have a path that is what they’re interested in. Ryan Embree: Love to hear it. I think it’s a true testament to what you said, Whitney. I mean, having those stories within your organization of people there that have been there a decade, you know, two decades plus is something that, you know, we had a separate series ’cause the hospitality campus crawl, where we would speak to hospitality schools and educators and talking about this next generation of young professionals. And one of the challenges was just showing that this doesn’t have to be something that you fall into. It doesn’t need to be a career that you have a summer job and now next thing you know, you look up and you’re 30 years into it, you can actually pursue this as a 30 year, 40 year career. And having those stories within your organization, again, just huge testament and testimonials to the employee kind of culture and development that you’re doing over there at Newport. And it’s, it’s certainly paid some dividends. ’cause obviously you hear that, that term all the time of happy employees equal happy guests. You have an entire page dedicated right now to some of the accolades and achievements. I wanna make sure I get all these cover all these Marriott Partnership Circle Awards, Hilton Awards of Excellence. When you see that list, Whitney, in your position, what does that mean to you and how are you using it over at Newport to kind of earn more business, both on the traveler side, demand side, as well as ownerships and partnerships? Whitney Altizer: Well, obviously we’re incredibly proud of those awards. It gives our owners the recognition that they deserve. They’ve trusted us with their investment and it affirms that trust. It keeps our name active and respected in the marketplace. You know, it, it gives us something to put on the new website. Well, ultimately it’s just as important to our team members. It shows them that their hard work really does pay off. These aren’t corporate level trophies. These trophies were won in the lobby at the front desk, in the laundry room on the construct call. And they represent the regal people that are doing that exceptional work. You know, from a business standpoint, it demonstrates to our perspective owners and partners that we don’t just manage the property, we invest in it and we invest in the success. You know, as a revenue person, obviously strong performance translates into even stronger revenue, which allows us to reward our employees and then also provide owners with bigger returns. When I see that list, I think pride, validation and proof that what our we’re doing for our approach actually works. Ryan Embree: Incredible and hope to hope to see more of those come through and hope for more updates on that websites moving forward as you open these new properties and have them in the pipeline. But speaking of along the lines of online reputation, especially we kind of talked, touched on a little bit about the digital landscape of today where, online reputation a few years ago, maybe a decade ago, used to just be, here are the comment cards and reviews that I’m getting on my TripAdvisor now. It encapsulates so much more than that when it comes to reputation and one of those being social media. And I’ve seen you guys have a really, really prioritize a strong social media presence across your portfolio. What role, Whitney, do you feel that social media is playing right now in that traveler’s booking journey? Whitney Altizer: Yeah, well, I’ll start with a huge shout out to Travel media group. We partnered back in the summer, and, you know, you’ve just allowed us to take what we wanted to see and translate it. And that has been just phenomenal for us. You know, to us, social media is a huge role in a traveler’s journey, right? It’s the first way that they interact with your property. So we kind of think about it in three buckets. So strategies to sell, stories to share, and then stars to celebrate. So strategies to sell. It lets the guests see the value in choosing us. You know, it highlights the offers or the packages or something unique about that hotel. Stories to share lets us bring that experience to life. So they get a taste of what it feels like to actually be on property to the point where they already have a connection before they step foot inside of that building. And then, of course, none of this is possible without stars to celebrate, right? So that is the ability to spotlight our team and our, um, our special guests and show that engagement and responsiveness in real time. So to us, social media is, it’s the tangible, interactive way that we allow a guest to experience us and want to come and be part of us. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you. And you know, it’s a privilege to work with partners like Newport Hospitality Group Whitney, that really get it. And you encapsulated it, and articulated it perfectly with right now what’s happening with social media, especially with the younger generation that might even use it as the first place that they do search for a hotel or a property. And it’s much more now than does something look pretty on social media. It’s that feeling that you get, right? And we’re craving that feeling, especially in a time which we’re gonna touch on in a minute, where the one thing that AI is still will struggle with hopefully is feelings, right? And sentiment. And you know, what it’s like to walk in through a lobby on a busy, after a business trip where you’ve had maybe a delay because the airlines and you’re greeted just so warmly at the front desk and everything is seamless and nice. So, you know, these are the type of feelings that we, and sentiments that we try to capture in social media, because it can create that trust and authenticity, which, which we create. We’re craving so much right now. But speaking of AI, don’t think it’d be a podcast in 2025 if we don’t touch on some sort of AI and technology. So how are you and your team at Newport Hospitality viewing AI and and are you using it to more to empower your employees, which is one way that I’m hearing a lot of people are doing that, or is it to improve the guest experience? Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Can I say all of the above? Ryan Embree: Absolutely can. Whitney Altizer: AI is not a buzzword to us, and we have woven it into every day. So it feels like it’s normal, like it’s part of what we do and how we execute things. We use it in all facets. So we work with Lighthouse Analytics and that helps us with all of our revenue management stuff. And where there are big changes, I come in every morning and I’ve got a bullet point for each hotel from an AI tool saying, this happened, you should do this. And then of course, we allow the revenue managers then to make decisions based on all the information. But we use Collibra’s Hummingbird for all of our sales data mining. We use Core to communicate within the hotel to all the different departments. We use guest facing apps to welcome them and solve problems while they’re there on property. So we’ve just tried to make it something that is part of daily life so that it feels more personal and is still something that is just an extension of the people not machine led. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, and that’s what I was talking about empowering, employees and giving them the right data. I think that is, there tends to be this trend right now in hospitality where people are just like having this FOMO effect of like, I’m not utilizing technology and AI to the degree that I should, and my competitors are doing this, or they’re seeing these robots at these, at these shows that are doing this and that, and they have an expectation of where they should be. But really all of those use cases you gave me right there, Whitney, that’s creating an ecosystem and embracing technology and AI, and I think I feel like is probably the most far forward. You know, you can be right now because we’re seeing sometimes that those robots might fall flat at a hotel. It, it’s a big splash, but it’s not helping the daily efficiencies of everything we talked about how intricate hospitality is, how many elements there are to it. So there’s a lot of use cases in there. And finding those little ways I think is gonna be more impactful than going after the shiny big AI and technology that that, that seems so futuristic out there. And maybe your guests don’t respond to that as well as likely. So I talked about at the top of the episode, meeting up with SVP and COO, Brenda McCoy at the 2025 Hospitality Show in Denver, Whitney, a lot of panels centered around challenges to profitability right now, margins are tighter than ever, especially in today’s climate. The travelers feeling it in their pocketbooks or wallets. Where do you think there’s opportunity right now, Whitney, when you see our industry, especially for hoteliers and owners who are starting to really feel the weight of that economic uncertainty right now? Whitney Altizer: Brendan and I talk about this with our teams every day. Obviously operations and commercial strategy are walking together, intertwined, the days of set it and forget it, they don’t exist anymore. Every hotel, we have a very targeted plan right now to go after their business and their specific markets, because every market is different right now. The Strat calls some markets, the philosophy is, okay, we’re gonna use really competitive rates. We’re gonna drive occupancy, and then when a DR starts to recover, we’re gonna push up. We’ve got some hotels where it’s all about that base business and we’re having a hard time finding it right now. And so it’s, what are those new creative non-typical pieces of business that we should go after? Are we okay with the different stay pattern? Maybe we need to consider that L&R down the street that only has 50 rooms to give us right now and, and grow with them. So we work from a revenue management standpoint, but then of course, also on Brendan’s side, it’s about payroll and expenses and just managing all of that stuff. Clearly you can’t manage a hotel and a profitability, but you can certainly influence it. And so we’re just proactive and strategic, and honestly, we have to adapt on a daily basis. You know, the plan at nine o’clock on Monday morning may not be the same plan at three o’clock on Tuesday. And we’ve got a great team that helps us just do what we need to do at the right time. Ryan Embree: I would argue, and we might be a little biased here, Whitney, but hospitality people are, we love, we love a good challenge and ingenuity and creativity comes out in those times of challenge. And I think that’s what’s happening right now. Do we like to obviously like stress about all of this stuff and maybe not see the greatest news coming out? Absolutely not. But I do think it’s during these times where hoteliers start to get really, really creative. We raise the bar on our service because we almost have to at that point, and we kind of take it up a notch to say, okay, we’re gonna have to really fight for that occupancy right now. We’re gonna have to show that a DR has value and is worth it to our guests. And we’re we’re gonna get loyalty and get those guests to maybe spend a little bit more because of the service that we provide. So, you know, again, in a challenging time like this, I’ve been to enough of the hospitality conferences to hear the issues and, but I do think that there’s going to be some good that comes out of this time, and it’s going to be the management companies and brands that come together, like you were talking about Whitney, and come up with a well designed plan and strategic kind of cerebral plans to that that really thrive. And I think there’s still opportunity out there. It’s not, we’re not done growing as an industry. We’ve been down and out before. This isn’t there, but just to stay focused. So, one thing we switch topics a little bit to what we talked about. On this podcast, I have the privilege of an honor of having a lot of tenured hospitality professionals with ton of great experience. I’m sure you have the opportunity to interact with a lot of younger professionals. First getting into their, you know, career. I’d love to try to get just some nuggets of wisdom from leaders like you, Whitney, of what you would share. What advice would you share to the younger hospitality professional, maybe listening to this podcast early on, just trying to learn about the industry. What would you share with them today? Whitney Altizer: It’s really simple, Ryan. It’s live hospitality, be what our industry is, create a memorable experience with every person you interact with, whether it’s a guest, a partner, a vendor, your own team, someone in your parking lot. I think for me, a lot of my success has come from being able to be part of all those different teams. And so everyone sees I’m willing to do the hard things. I’ll roll up my sleeves, I’ll pour the water in the banquet room. I’ll do anything that we need to do to work together as a team and accomplish that goal. And to me, that’s how the trust is built. Leaders all the way down to the bottom right. And one of my most favorite quotes from Simon Sinek is that leadership is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in your charge. That’s the essence of hospitality. Take care of people, they’ll take care of the guests, the owner, the business, and if you take care of each other, you will be successful. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I love it. I mean, hospitality along with, again, being creative and, and in our problem solving, it’s also the ultimate team sport. Everyone has to kinda work together within that organization, within that hotel and ecosystem to make the best day. Your a tribute to that, to that story of be open to any opportunities too. Learn everything, you can be a sponge in hospitality because you never know what your next position is and the skills are so transferrable, right? Hospitality, it might be a different market like you mentioned in Sanford than up north right now, but the hospitality is the same, it’s still hosting guests, serving people, exactly what you were talking about, taking care of people. So, love that. Thank you for that, Whitney, if you can believe it, we are coming up on the end of 2025 and we’re headed straight to 2026. I mean, this feels like one of the, one of the fastest years as we reflect. This is always, I love this time of year, Whitney, ’cause it’s a great time to reflect on, on this past year and we love to look forward in hospitality, but also reflecting back, what would you say your biggest takeaway for 2025 is, and then looking ahead, you know, what are you most excited about for Newport Hospitality Group as we go into 2026? Whitney Altizer: So for 2025, I’d say engagement, right? Engagement, meaning understanding how travel’s evolved and continues to evolve. You know, we’re sitting in the middle of a government shutdown and a lot of travel delay right now. So it’s understanding what guests need, booking behaviors, their use of technology, and again, being able to shift, to help those people in that moment. But it’s also engagement in platforms. Newport’s been lucky enough to put a lot of new technology and platforms in the last 18 months. So a lot of 2025 was built on great. We got the platform. Now that we understand how to use it the best we possibly can, are we getting everything out of it? And, we’ve brought, brought in a lot of speakers about each one of those pieces of technology to help us do trainings to make sure that the general manager gets out of it what they need. And the director of sales gets what they need and housekeeping gets what they need to ensure that those were dollars well spent and they’re gonna catapult us forward. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we had a hospitality professional on the podcast a couple episodes ago that just said there’s no way that you can mentally be an expert in every aspect of hospitality, right? Like from the pH levels to your pool, to how you’re sourcing your food. We have a lot of unbelievable people and smart people in hospitality, but for you to be a savant with all of that stuff, it’s so challenging right now and it continues to get more challenging, especially with AI and technology that feels like it’s changing every single day. So to have those speakers have those professionals to lean on in our industry, so important. Love to hear that, that you guys are doing that. Wish you nothing but success for 2026. We’ll continue to watch that with all the new openings and, and pipeline development that you have going on. As we wrap up today, we covered a lot, advice for the young generation, AI and technology, social media, reputation, all the above. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? Whitney Altizer: No, I just really appreciate the time to be able to chat with you and we expect to see you with that Comfort Inn Sanford Grand opening. Ryan Embree: Let’s do it. Let’s, yeah, I would love to be there. Can’t wait to see it. And like I said, Whitney, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot, sharing some of your insights and expertise, with myself and our Suite Spot, hotelier audience out there. Excited to continue to watch Newport Hospitality Group grow and such privilege to be partnered with you as well. So thank you Whitney. And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Celebrations are underway at TMG headquarters, and we gather round to recognize the milestone of reaching 1 million social media ad spend across all of our hotel partners! This achievement would not have been possible without the continued support and trust of our partners, and their unwavering commitment to creating compelling stories and digital content for travelers, as well as fostering genuine connections with hotel guests. In this special celebratory Suite Spot episode, Travel Media Group’s Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, and Product Manager – Social Media, Brian Ross, both join the podcast to discuss the incredible accomplishment and what it means for TMG and our wonderful hotel partners. nbsp; Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back, we’ve been on the road, we’ve been visiting and hosting people on the Suite Spot virtually, but we are back here at the Suite Spot Podcast studio with a very familiar guest, Jason Lee, Chief Technology Officer, who we’re gonna have on in a second. Then we’re gonna be visiting with Brian Ross, our product manager, social media, to celebrate this incredible milestone. Jason, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Thanks. Yeah, glad to finally be back. Yeah, we’re excited to have you, celebrating a milestone today. A million dollars in ad spend for our hotel partners. Again, you know, with Travel Media Group, we work exclusively with hotels. Let’s first, you know, off the bat, huge accomplishment milestone. What does this mean to hear you kind of hearing this being there since the very beginning of this solution all those years back? Jason Lee: Yeah. It’s exciting. Obviously it is when you think about it in the increments that we boost posts at, it’s a lot of posts. Yeah. It’s a lot of posts for a lot of hotels. A lot of weeks of content. So just extremely proud of what it has produced for our hotels. But also for our amazing social media team that creates such engaging content and makes boost able and ad worthy content. Ryan Embree: Well, and that’s the important part because, you know, obviously a million dollars is a big number. But you don’t need necessarily a million dollars to run an effective ad campaign, and that’s what you were kind of talking about. With the small increments. Talk to us a little bit about that, because I do feel like sometimes hoteliers, rightly so, are intimidated with something like social media ad spend. They don’t really know where, you know, ’cause you can boost a post for as low as $5 all the way up to, thousands of dollars. And they’re still going to spend your money in one way or another. So kind of talk through that process because effectiveness is really the key to the game there. Jason Lee: No, absolutely. And I think it gets into how you create content. What is the cadence of that content? How often do I do it? But then it also gets into what am I trying to do? So you can create content and not boost it or put ads any kinda ad spend behind it at all. And you’re going to have that content on your page. You’re gonna reach out, your community is gonna see it if if they have that, you know, alerts or whatever set up for you. But what boosting does is it allows you to reach this audience that is not inside of your sphere. So it allows them to be able to see these posts, but even more importantly, it allows them to engage with these posts. So if they engage with them, now you kind of have them in the algorithm. Now, now you’ve got ’em a little bit. Right. There’s future state with these, uh, guests. But, but we’re talking about $5 increments. So for this very small amount of money, you’re talking about 10 to 30 x on reach and engagement. And, and that is incredible. Uh, and especially because it’s sort of like builds on itself because the more that a post is interacted with, the more feeds it’s inside of, you know, somebody shares this post. So now you’re like, obviously any content that is engagement worthy, the algorithm is gonna put out in front of people. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s that social media ripple effect. And, you know, we say it all the time for hotels. I mean, who’s not thinking or typing in their social media search bar, uh, about travel Yeah. Or thinking about travel or, or, and, and we’re at a really, really cool spot in our industry where we could be that social media post could be the thing that inspires someone to take action to say, I want to take this trip, or I’ve been thinking about this, and now all of a sudden you’re all in that all important algorithm that you’re talking about. And that’s really where social media ad spend comes into play. Because before it used to have to be either someone shares this information with you or a follower of yours interacts with that social media ad spend, um, really targets an audience that might not be following your account. Jason Lee: Absolutely. But is looking for travel in your area. Right. So, or is following content like your content. Right. And I think that’s what’s so cool, but you add to this, right? And so we, we’ve talked about short form video, uh, on this podcast before, but you add boost to short form video and now you’re in this whole other thing where it’s not about engagement as much as it is about time viewed. So if I watch an entire video of yours about your property or an about an event coming up or about your restaurant, right now I’m in this algorithm. Yeah. So now the next time I put content out, it’s pretty good bet it’s gonna be in my reels feed. So that’s, and that’s, and that’s very powerful, especially for a $5 boost. You could get out to three, 400 people. Right. And you get from that three or 400 people, let’s say you get 15, 20 people that fully engage with it. but you do that three, three or four times a week. Yeah. This is this, these are compounded numbers that really make a difference. Ryan Embree: Well, we always say it and have said it is had a parallel to the online billboard, right? Yeah. About seeing that sign on the, uh, the side of the highway. But you don’t know the intent of every single one of those people every single time someone drives by that billboard. Uh, whether you’re targeting the right person or not. Uh, when, when you’re doing social media ad spend, you have a, you can be a little bit more prescriptive there. Yep. And I think the conversations that I’ve been hearing, you know, at the hospitality show and, and these other events and talking to industry leaders even through the podcast is everyone has this interest right now in how hotels are being found. Ryan Embree: Right. Obviously the LLMs is what our, everyone is talking. Right. Right. But there’s a natural transition, especially in the younger generation of them going directly to Instagram and TikTok to figure out where to travel Yeah. And that to, you know, talk about that and what you’ve kind of seen or even heard from hoteliers and, and where that’s sitting in the booking journey right now. Jason Lee: Yeah. You know, I think social media, social media is really amazing. And I, and I do feel like where social media content sits in the minds of a lot of marketers is inspiration to travel. Like, it’s sort of like that’s where I draw to Yeah. You go, well, let’s say inspiration to travel. That’s the thing that gets me to want to travel. But we’re seeing more and more and more where inspiration travel is absolutely there. But pre-booking research is there. Post-booking is also there. So now I’ve booked my room and now I’m going to your Facebook page or your Instagram page to see what’s going on at your property. So, so now I’m in this kind of secondary thing, or I’m sharing that, I’m sharing that information, but then in post stay, so in stay, I, I shouldn’t, I I I got ahead of my skis there in stay. I think it’s also important because this is more information about what’s going on at your property, if there’s a valuable enough information that’s happening, and I’m not talking about every, every, uh, post is a pitch mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right. It’s every post is something that’s valuable to a traveler in a various state of their journey to you. And that is, I think that’s a really important distinction. There’s a time and place for pitch. And, and, but in, in, in the content that we create, we’re trying to engage travelers, but we’re also, we’re trying to engage them in those, in all of those phases. But in stay I think is also important. But if I engage with you in Stay it’s pretty good chance I’m going to start getting your content in post stay so I start to remember you. Yeah. So this is like, you can really hit every phase of the traveler’s journey. And I know that acquisition is on everybody’s mind, but this is more than that. This is, this is where you can develop a relationship and that, and I definitely feel like with Gen Z and the generations after that, this is where relationships are gonna be. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And where loyalty is built. Absolutely. Which is brand loyalty is built, which is what we’re looking for. You know, as marketers, obviously we want to inspire, but you know, we don’t want this to be transactional between guests and hotel. We hopefully this is the beginning of a relationship. And one of the places we’re trying to connect with a traveler in a world where we’ve removed a lot of friction in the guest experience where they don’t even need to speak to an employee anymore at your hotel. So this could be your mainstream of connection between you and the traveler could be social media. Yeah. Um, and, you know, it could be a social media ad that they first interact with that could get you there. And I think that transitions to my next question, which is sometimes the most effective social media isn’t a call to action of what you said. So, you know, how do you kind of talk to your team, the product, the social media product team about that and, and saying that, you know, we don’t need to put a book now, uh, and big lettering on every single one of our social media ads. Jason Lee: Yeah, you’re absolutely right. It, because I think it gets to that thing where it’s like, I don’t, so go to the boost post, right? So now I’m a traveler. I don’t know your hotel. I now see your post in my feet. And what is going to get me to engage there? It’s gonna be engaging content. Yeah. It’s gonna be an event that I might wanna visit or I might wanna see. It’s going to be a cool picture of your room or a cool picture of an aspect to your property that I didn’t know about. Or maybe a drink that your bartender makes that only your hotel has. Yeah. Um, or it’s gonna be maybe a point of interest in, in your town and your proximity to that. So it’s those things I think that are, that are sort of like, draw people in and once they know who you are, once they understand, oh, this is, this is a hotel <laugh> that’s given me this information. If they’re, if they’re viewing that in a boost, uh, environment, it means that at some point they’ve searched for a hotel in your area. Yeah. So I think it really gets into, like, going back to how we create content, it’s really looking at what are the things that are gonna engage travelers in these various stages. And so things like events and things like attractions, things like property features, really important pieces to this in, in their various states. And attraction, having an event added. Right. But also how your property is, you know, what your property is doing that week. Uh, and I think even things like what’s open and what, what’s closed or traveler, a, a positive traveler review, uh, reposting, something like that. These are all kind of cool pieces of information that make it so that you’re definitely showing the value of your property, amplifying the value of your property, but you’re not necessarily like, yet book now to save 30%. Ryan Embree: Well, you, and you think about that, if that message all of a sudden showed up in your scroll, right. How quickly we are you, you know, kind of swiping that thumb up and down through our post, and you see that kind of giant ad you actually even might have a negative connotation associated with your hotel. Because they’re gonna recognize that as an ad in within their feed inauthentic content that they never really asked to follow versus something like what you said something about the hotel experience or something engaging, something that actually is interesting to them who have this preconceived notion of already wanting to travel. Now all of a sudden there’s that interest you get into their feed. But it comes back to having that cadence of a posting. Because that’s the other thing. If they get to your homepage, they start scrolling through your feed and don’t see consistent content there, there’s going to be that mixed match of expectation. Jason Lee: Absolutely. But it also lays the groundwork for any kind of future promotion you want to do. So you gotta have this like, great ground game of like the block and tackle posts of the, the features and benefits of staying at your property. And then once you have that and you’ve got this nice feed of content that’s continually pushing out passively out to this audience, then there is ample opportunity to then amplify that with promotions and other kinds of things that have a CTA on it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. No, absolutely. I wanna switch the conversation to your role as CTO and you spearhead a lot of the development for our TMG OneView platform. And within that, we have a very, very robust social media suite that you’ve worked on, uh, with, with your team. One of the things, obviously with social media ad spend is a lot of people ask, you know, where, what type of analytics should I be looking for? We always hear the return on social, right? The ROI of social media. Completely different conversation there. But what have you built or developed into the platform to help show transparency and what should you be looking for? Jason Lee: Yeah, so in our platform, we sort of have like kind of two levels. So, as you go into our analytic suite on the top level, you’re gonna see total impressions, total reach, total engagement, and then you can break that down by site and look at all of the various analytics that that, that make up those, those bigger numbers. Right underneath it right, is our ad spend line. So each so each post that has a little boost, on it, so you can see how much of that content or how much of that audience came from the boost. So I click on the boost, and now I can see all of the boost information, and that’s the same kind of basic information, reach, impressions, engagements. Speaker 2: But what’s interesting about how that works is right, is that, is that you can see, hey, high engagement of a boosted post. And by the way, not every boosted post has the same number, uh, in terms of total engagement, right? Sure. Some of them have very similar, uh, a lot of them have very similar reach and impressions, but engagement is this really important number and engagement when we’re talking about that, we’re talking about likes, we’re talking about comments, and we’re talking about shares. Those are the real, those are the keys to this. Sure. Um, and then in video, we’re talking about total time watch and total and total times that a video is watched start to to, to finish. And those are really important metrics that to have in there. So our analytics suite has all of that sort of built on top of each other so that our hotels really understand the relationship between a boost and an ad and just a straight organic post. And, but then like basically what is the total number? Yeah. What did, what did this, what did this post completely produce? So we have a real, we have a lot of transparency in that. And, and now new to our platform we’ll be having that really broken out between, uh, Instagram and Facebook. So one of the things that we have, so every property that is connected to both Facebook and Instagram, when we boost, we are boosting that content that’s going out into both platforms simultaneously. The boost money is then divided out into that audience. So, so now the Instagram audience and the Facebook audience sort of are seeing this content simultaneously in their feeds. And so you’re, you can see where all that’s coming from. So it’s very cool, very transparent. Ryan Embree: No, I was gonna say it’s so cool because those are two completely different audiences. Sometimes with Facebook and Instagram. And again, this is where a lot of the younger generation, especially on Instagram is where they’re starting their searching. so to be on there definitely will give you an advantage over some hotels that, you know, believe it or not, as we enter 2026, some hotels still not prioritizing Instagram right now in their marketing strategies. Congratulations, Jason, again, on, on hitting this, this mark. super incredible, all the work that you’ve been doing, all that you’ve produced for our hotel partners, you know, I’m gonna, I’m gonna end our conversation on a lot of hotels out there, don’t have maybe a million dollars to spend on right on ads. But what would be one tip that you would share for social media ads for hotels? Jason Lee: I think the important thing, if you’re gonna do that and I’m actually gonna give the tip on boosts because I think Boost is, I think boost is really a very important thing. And I think ads and Boost is where you don’t have to be as sparing in terms of quantity. Where you don’t wanna put an ad out every day, but you could boost a post every day. You could boost a post or five days a week. We look at it, you know, at four, you know, four to five is probably perfect for a week and add a video to that, but it’s about cadence and consistency and inside of that cadence and consistency, diversity and content that is all appealing to a traveler. So as long as you have those things, a $5 ad spend, a $5 boost, right. Consistently delivered across four or five posts a week is gonna be fantastic. You’re gonna get a great audience. You’re gonna have a lot of like that audience that comes back, the audience that’s re-seeing all of your content and all of that is gonna create trust. All of it’s going to reinforce value. All of that is gonna amplify the, the awesome features and, and attractions in your area. And so it doesn’t have to be crazy, but it does have to be consistent, and it does have to be engaging. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It follows that, you know, formula that we hear all the time, the know, like, trust. They have to know who you are. They have to like what you do or what you’re providing them. And then they have to trust you to give it, social media in a very, you know, like you said, $5 increments could be a just a trust builder. That’s a great way to think about social media spend. So again, Jason, thank you for joining me here on the Suite Spot. Next we’re gonna be visiting with Brian Ross, our product manager, social media. All right. We are back here with Brian Ross, our product manager, social media. Brian, congratulations on this incredible milestone. You and your team must be very excited to hit this achievement. Brian Ross: We are. Ryan Embree: Yeah. You know, Brian, you have a little bit, obviously different role than Jason who we just had on. You are talking a lot more to hoteliers talking to your team about the content your game planning. You’re talking about these booths talking about these ads. So I really wanna pick your brain as someone that’s run all these campaigns to give some practical advice for some of the hotel listeners that we have here. I think we start with the question that we hear a lot sometimes, or maybe hoteliers have on their mind right now. You know, why should a hotel or a portfolio of hotels if you manage that even invest in ad spend in the first place? Brian Ross: Yea, even a low level boost on your posts. I mean, really low level, it’ll increase your, your three metrics that you’re looking at, your reach, your impressions, and your engagement. And your engagement is really what you wanna be focusing on. How many likes, how many comments, and how many shares are you’re getting on the posts, because that’s where you get beyond your ad spend reach and that’s where you start to get into organic growth. And that is, that’s where the meat is. And those engagements, as you know, as a guest or prospective guests are looking at your feed when they see those engagement numbers, that’s really what resonates. And that’s how, that’s how you can tell that you’re creating content that’s relevant and engaging. Ryan Embree: Well, it has a snowball effect. And ripple effect of what social media. So, you know, you get someone to share a post, now all of a sudden it goes into their feed and then you talk about it just keeps on gaining on one another. And that’s what we love to see that organic growth, because at the end of the day, these ads this boost everything that you’re putting in, the money that you’re putting into, hopefully that pays off on the organic side of things. And that’s what makes for an effective social campaign. And I wanna go through some of the tips that you would maybe share with hoteliers about the best way to approach social media ad spend. Brian Ross: It’s always gonna come back to creating engaging and relevant content. Like any marketing, you wanna be telling a story and you wanna be creating value, you wanna offer value with your posts. So, and that’s, that’s why I say a low level boost will do it. It’s not about throwing a whole lot of money at it. It’s about creating content that’s gonna be engaging and then take on a life of its own once it gets that little bit of a lift. Ryan Embree: That’s such an effective tip because, you know, it is intimidating out there if you’ve never done social media ad spend before because you don’t know whether you should be spending a lot or a little, we talked about it off camera, about saying at an effective $5 campaign could yield better results than maybe a hundred dollars campaign. And the way that we kind of likened it, or had a parallel would be saying, if you had an online billboard that was states away from your hotel versus an online billboard that was just a couple exits down, what do you think is gonna perform better? The same comparison can be made here with social media ad spend. We also talked about how you can use some of your reputation data to kind of maybe, maybe plan out your content. Brian Ross: What to post about. And especially if you need to be selective about your spend and you can’t boost every single post, but you wanted to kind of pick and choose your sentiment data is a really good place to start. Or you can, you know, you can lean into the things that are really strong about your hotel. You can also, you can also address things that come up a lot. It can almost be like, you know, there are a couple of ways you could think, like, what are the things, we get a bunch of phone calls about a day. We could make a post out of that. And sure. That is something that people are engaging you about already. So that’s kind of like knowledge. So the other thing that’s a really fun thought exercise that we like to go through with hotels sometimes is if you could say something to your guests at your hotel right now, what would you wanna tell them? What would you wanna tell a perspective guest? If you could say one thing, what would it be? And then that’s another way to kind of get into what might make a good, good post, a good communication. Ryan Embree: I absolutely love that because I talk to a lot of hoteliers about that sort of thing, and the answer I get when I ask, what type of social content, you know, would you like to share? And sometimes they’re, they’re kind of stuck. They don’t know what they’re like, we could talk about this, we could talk about that. But then you pose the question like that and you flip it and you say, what are the things that you love about your hotel and what are, what do you think makes your hotel better or more special than the hotel next door? And it’s a completely different conversation. It sparks something in them that they’ve, that they know, that they intrinsically know. But when it’s weird. ’cause when you try to put that on a post, it just, it doesn’t come out organically when you’re asked about that social content. So I love what you said there about maybe just flipping the script a little bit when thinking about that because your guests are telling you what they love every single day, whether it’s on reviews or face-to-face, it’s about sharing that and amplifying that using social media ad spend, which is what this whole episode is about. So, but, you know, what type of posts would you, in your opinion, should you consider boosting? And you know, obviously your team’s creating thousands of posts each day. You know what, do you have some examples for us? Brian Ross: Highlighting your team members. You just talked about what differentiates your hotel from the hotel across the street. It’s your people. Any kind of, if you wanna post about the fitness center, maybe there’s somebody on staff who is into working out and, and you could have them in the fitness center and you could have, you know, Jesse’s workout tip of the week or workout tip of the month, and you can highlight your fitness center through the eyes of a, of an employee. Same thing with, you know, a bartender pouring their favorite drink or mm-hmm <affirmative>. That, that kind of thing. And then, and then people will come to the co to come to the, um, property with a connection already. Yeah. You know, you know, that’s, that’s Marie. She’s doing the mai tai this this month. Yeah. Um, so it, it’s a really fun, and your employees will, will feel part of your campaign. Ryan Embree: And story. Brian Ross: In, in story. And, and they’ll share it and their friends will see it and they’ll share it. And it’s a really good way to create some organic boost. Another thing is to talk about what sets your area apart, what’s cool about what’s cool about your area, what are some of the attractions? What are some events that are going on? What’s the vibe of the place? You know, those kind of posts, that kind of content is less salesy. And that’s really kind of the key here. You, you know, if you’re gonna select what you’re gonna boost, you don’t want to, you don’t wanna boost things that are overtly like salesy about the, the hotel. Yeah. You wanna boost things that are, like we were talking about earlier, that tell a story, that add value and, and intrigue people about either the area or your location specifically. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s so interesting now in this digital age that, you know, we used to walk into a hotel and not know anything about it. Mom or dad would, would go and run out of the car and go see if they have any rooms available. And now we almost want zero surprises. We want to know everything. We want to know, this is what the lobby looks like when we walk in and when we check in. And not only do I wanna know what the lobby looks like, I wanna know who’s in that lobby. I want to know that Brian’s checking me in behind the front desk. I wanna know that Marie’s at the bar making drinks and gonna serve me my breakfast in the morning. Social media is a great way to give a POV of what that experience is going to look like when walking into a hotel. But there’s also some, obviously cautions that, things to watch out for, because again, social media ad spend, you can spend as little or as much as as you want. They’re not gonna stop you from spending. So what are some things to watch out for in your social media ads? You, you mentioned one of them already about being too overtly salesy. Any other tips that, that, uh, hoteliers should avoid? Brian Ross: You’re building a presence that people will look at and they’ll see a hotel that’s engaged with its guests and meeting them where they are. And not pushing your message, but meeting them where their interests lie. The other other thing you’re building is trust with the algorithm. As when you create consistent, engaging content like that, the algorithm is gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. Now you’ve got, you’ve kind of got it trained so that it sees your activity, it sees your creating engaging posts, so it kind of trusts you now. So when you, when you wanna put out that post about the promotion you’re running or the special, now it’s gonna trust you and it’s gonna kind of give you the benefit of the doubt, and it will push things out for you that if you just tried to spend money cold like that on something, it would kind of fall flat. So it’s important to create stuff that’s just not salesy and just engaging on a regular basis. That’s really the meat of your social media. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And I think that it’s cautious to also pick the right partner, you know, that kind of knows, because again, you can, you can spend, there’s unlimited spending in social media ad spend, right. That $1 million mark that we hit as an organization came through, you know, hundreds of thousands of campaigns with thousands of hotels across the board. So you, you have to pick the right partner. You have to pick the right industry partner that also knows what moves and people will engage with and build that trust. Right. Because it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a process. We talk about that. And for those hoteliers that are looking for a quick win and lots of bookings that might not be the right objective of what you’re talking about. You have to know why you’re, why you’re doing this. And social media is always a long-term play there, so how can we reassure hoteliers that we are moving in the right direction? There is positive momentum. What are the results that you look for to an effective social media ad spend strategy and campaign? Brian Ross: Sure. Well, the real eye test is always gonna come back to engagement. When you scroll your feed and you see, you know, the posts that aren’t boosted, maybe they get a handful of likes, maybe a comment or two. Then if your, if your boosted post is getting dozens or hundreds of comments or likes, now this is money well spent, you know, sometimes with our, with our hoteliers, what will happen is we’ll post about an event and that will become a hub of conversation through of users about the event. And even more so than the actual event on Facebook. People will be talking about, you know, ticket swapping and, um… Ryan Embree: Set list. Brian Ross: What song, what song are you excited? You know, asking guests a question like that in your post is a great, you know, is it, what song are you looking forward to hearing most at this concert? Or, you know, who’s what player in this game, if it’s a sporting event excites you the most, who are you excited to see? Yeah. That kind of thing. And, and it might be a little counterintuitive to think that that kind of discussion on your posts is value, but it really is like that is social media gold right there. Ryan Embree: It’s building conversation and community, which is what an objective could be for your social media campaigns, is to extend reach and build trust. So, Brian, as we wrap up, I think it would be really insightful for our hotel listeners to kind of hear your process, your team’s process with content creation and where social media ad strategy and campaigns fall into that process. Brian Ross: That’s great. Obviously every, every hotel is different. We really try to capture ev each unique hotel voice. We wanna speak to, um, a hotel’s guests, just like a hotel. Sure. Speak to the guests. And, and that’s, that’s always our goal. Um, as far as how we use the ad spend. This is another thing that you’re kind of almost purchasing when you invest in a little bit of boost on your post is you get to understand what’s working for your hotel and what’s working for your social media in those analytics. Mm-hmm. So as you’re getting the results, you know, some hotels are gonna find that talking about certain amenities are really gonna resonate with people. Or maybe they have a great onsite bar that people like and, and that will get a lot of engagement. But then other places, maybe they’re in just a cool area, or there’s something about the area where talking about attractions that are there or events that are happening are gonna create more engagement. So it’s about watching those analytics and then leaning into what’s working. And that is invaluable because that just snowballs. The more information, the more knowledge you have like that, the better informed you are as to what you’re gonna post about next. And the more successful your social strategy becomes over time. Ryan Embree: And the momentum just continues to build. And absolutely, before you know it, you’re just as successful as, uh, Brian and his social media team at a million dollars ad spend. Brian Ross: So good luck. Ryan Embree: To bring it all back. Well, thank you so much, Brian. Congratulations to you and your team. Thank you for all the practical tips for our hotel listeners out there. I hope to, to continue to follow you and the work that you and your team are doing out there. Last year it was, uh, you know, gaining a million followers this year. It’s the social media ad spend. We can’t wait to see what’s next, what you and your team have for us. Brian Ross: Thanks so much. You know where to find me. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Thank you so much. And thank you for listening to The Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Host of the Suite Spot podcast and Vice President of Marketing at Travel Media Group, Ryan Embree, breaks down the key takeaways from the 2025 Hospitality Show that took place in Denver, Colorado, last month.  Ryan shares not only his opinion on some of the most prevalent topics from the renowned industry event, but he also shares what panelists, attendees, hoteliers, and others had to say about the conference and the state of hospitality.  Tune in now to listen to the full episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot Podcast, and we are fresh off of our 2025 Hospitality Show coverage in Denver, Colorado. We are back here in our Travel Media Group headquarters, a little bit closer to C-level in our Suite Spot podcast studio. Absolutely incredible event. Wanna first think Questex and AHLA as well as the city of Denver for hosting from end to end. So amazing from the programming to the networking to the industry professionals that we had the privilege of interviewing. You can find all of those exclusive interviews on our TMG YouTube page, make sure to follow along. But in today’s episode, we are gonna go with our top takeaways from the Hospitality Show in Denver. And it really started right off the bat. I mean, this was an end to end, just jam packed insights, trends, everything a hotelier could want. You know, this was billed as one of the most comprehensive shows in hospitality. And from all of the education sessions that we saw, the panelists, the conversations that we had, the networking that went on again, hats off to the teams over at AHLA and Questex, where I’ll start my key takeaways is really one of the first quotes that really resonated with me as an attendee on the first day. And this was I forget who I can attribute this quote to, but was talking about how we ended the 2024 Hospitality Show in San Antonio. And everything that has happened between then and the start of the 2025 Hospitality show, an election, you know, a tumultuous start to the year, with tariffs, international travel, almost seeing double-digit drops in some places between some countries. And then now we have a government shutdown here. So, so many things that the hospitality industry had to deal with. And, you know, I have the privilege of attending multiple events throughout the year, and never have I ever been on such a rollercoaster ride. It started at the beginning of the year in March where we met a lot of hoteliers that were kind of bracing for impact. They were coming down this hill. Projections didn’t look great. A lot of sentiment out there was not was not awesome. Deals were not getting done. It just feel very like a crawl. And then all of a sudden summer came and as we were kind of bracing ourselves for this just dip or this terrible kind of cliff that we were about to, to fall off, we kind of opened our eyes as an industry and said, it’s really not as bad as it’s being made out to be. And a lot of hoteliers, as we saw and we interviewed, talked to, had some really good summers, had some really good numbers, occupancy, looking across different markets, some of the markets that weren’t doing as well rebounded. And they were starting to see a little bit of glimmer of hope. And now here we are at the end of the year and it feels like those storm clouds are brewing again. And we’re bracing ourselves for a new year in 2026. And maybe it’s because we’re just looking at the numbers. It’s budget season. We’re starting to try to forecast like we love to do and have to do frankly in hospitality, but it just feels like that worry is coming over us again. But to that, I feel like it’s in these times where there’s a lot of creativity and ingenuity that starts to really spur and, and it’s these events that could be a catalyst for real change in our industry. There were a lot of industry leaders up on stage over these last few days at the hospitality show in Denver that presented some pretty interesting ideas when it came to housekeeping, staffing, the booking experience and really challenging the status quo. And it’s these types of events that can really start a conversation and build a foundation and momentum for true change within our industry. We saw that change happen very, very quickly during COVID because it needed to, it was a necessity. But now here we are and we can all feel it. We can feel the belts tightening from the hotel all the way to our guests and consumers. And this is when we need to start looking around and trying to come up some fresh ideas. And, you know, some of those might not even be within hospitality. I mean, one of the keynote speakers was Chris Barton from Shazam, and, you know, trying to get these fresh voices maybe outside of hospitality. Blue Origin was another speaker talking about space tourism, maybe looking for some new channels. You know, space tourism might not be a couple years down the line in your portfolio if you’re a management company right now. But is it a trend that you can capitalize on, right? Are there areas where this could be happening within the next decade? You’re positioning yourself in markets that are going to cater to that demand, which could exponentially increase. It was truly amazing to hear some of the stories that we heard at the hospitality show when it came to space tourism. But all that to say doesn’t necessarily need to be hospitality led for these hospitality innovation to come from. And I feel like it’s during these times, during these events where you’re going to see that we had several different conversations. One with a leader of landing place hotels, the brand leader of landing place hotels who saw an opportunity, to do things a little differently with a brand. And they’re seeing double digit. They already accumulated a double digit pipeline right now in development. It’s very, very interesting. We’re at, we’re at a, a kind of an inflection point in hospitality right now as we enter 2026 and we in into this kind of unknown. But it will be really, really exciting to see what type of innovation comes from this. Because I do think this is when people are gonna start getting creative. ’cause those margins are just too tight right now, right? Between staffing, construction costs. The demand is still there, but the profits are not being seen. And that was, there was no, it was not an error that the Hospitality Show started its programming with multiple sessions on profits and how these management companies, brands can work together and these owners assets can work together in order to see profit margin increase. Because right now it’s just slimmed over these last couple years. And it’s being felt, it’s being felt throughout the industry. You know, it was interesting to see some of the leaders that I spoke to and interview, got the opportunity to interview, talk about capitalizing on some of these trends that we’re seeing right now in hospitality, you know, personalization, multi-generational travel, experiential travel, right? Marriott announced recently it’s outdoor collection and, you know, lifestyle brands, all of this mixed in. And I think what’s happening right now is the traveler, the consumer is feeling that tightening in their belt, but they still want to travel. It was, it has not been taken away from them like it was in 2020, but they certainly have to do some more due diligence. And when they do travel, which they’re going to prioritize, they wanna make sure they make the biggest bang for their buck. So they’re gonna start prioritizing and maybe looking for those hotels that they feel can give them the widest and breadth of experience, right? Rather than just be loyalty to those brands. So those brands are seeing that they’re trying to capitalize on these trends and they’re exploring more into the soft brand lifestyle division. We had heads of man of a couple different management companies talk about, you know, the patterns that they’re seeing in consumer sentiment and what they want out of their experience. They want to feel like they’re having a localized experience. We’ve always talked about that on this podcast about how to try to tell your story, how to make your guest part of the story, part of your local community, how to give them that community first experience. But now guests are clamoring for it. They’re looking for it, they’re doing research, they’re doing research in different places. That was another big trend and takeaway that I heard a lot is hotels management companies. They’re starting to look at how guests are using the booking journey right now. And l and where does LLMs fit into that? They feel like they don’t want to be get left behind in a search, just like I’m sure when Google started to aggregate all these hotels online, they didn’t want to be on page two or page three, right? So how can, when a traveler searches best hotels in this market, or maybe a little bit more specific of a search your hotel be retrieved in those how can your hotel be a part of those results, right? And I think more and more hotels are asking that question. It’ll be really interesting to see where that goes. AI and technology, it feels like it has to be a part of every programming agenda and conversation that we talked about now. But it is starting, I feel like, to settle into two separate camps. One that really wanna prioritize the employee empowerment, right? How can I use AI and technology to empower my employees to do their job efficiently? Something that we’ve preached at Travel Media Group where we have several AI innovations that help the employee get some really deeper insights into its online reputation. But also, you know, there’s that second camp of, well, we’re gonna try to go guest experience first. What can I do with AI and technology in order to make a big difference on the guest experience? And I think those two camps actually go hand in hand, to be honest with you. If you empower your employees to improve the guest experience, one is gonna happen towards the other. It’s kind of a symbiotic relationship. But it is interesting to see, because you talk about AI and technology, I think the one thing that everyone can agree on hospitality is you don’t want to be left behind, right? And there was an interesting keynote that was at the hospitality show, futurist that was talking about hospitality and how you have to, you don’t wanna be the first one into the bear cave of technology. You’d rather be the second person exploring the bear cave. And while I do agree with that, I do think it is gonna be those innovators that jump into kind of the deep end and try to integrate this stuff. I think guests right now, and consumers are out out of place where they’re still willing to accept a little bit of a learning curve when it comes to AI and technology, then they will be in, let’s say six months to a year. So it might be that first brand that goes all in that might be known as a trendsetter rather than saying, well, this was, this was rolled out prematurely. So we’ll be interesting to see more and more brands obviously rolling different things out. But I think, you know, they’re trying to go about this really systematically in hospitality as we know, a little bit late to the game with adopting some of this technology. I mean, you get to some of the hotels and some of the some of the technologies still very outdated. So you talk about rolling that up across a brand or a portfolio of hotels could take some time. So we’ll see how that plays out. You know, a couple great conversations. This is always a great show to look at the relationship between brands, management companies and owners, especially at a time, like I said, where profits are so tight, margins are so thin, who can bend a little bit more and what goodwill is that going to potentially serve in the long run here? I think there’s a jockeying for position between the brands right now. We’ve seen management companies, you know, sprout overnight and some really, really successful management companies start to make some strategic partnerships and start to get into areas that are trendsetting. You know, I think about hotel equities in the postcard, cabins, portfolio and play. I think it’s very interesting to see, and we’ll continue to see that because right now we’re at a place that just feels we’re getting a little stuck in our industry and we gotta figure out a way to kinda wiggle through it. And that’s where that creativity and ingenuity that I was talking about comes into play. And then finally, you know, my last takeaway from the incredible couple days that we had out in Denver was, first of all, what an amazing city. Denver, Colorado. And I love the fact that they actually, they had the mayor of Denver at the show was a part of the ribbon cutting ceremony. Rosanna Maieta from AHLA did a great interview with, the mayor of Denver and talking about how the city had teamed up with hospitality. And it was really inspiring and it was really cool to see Denver, you know, they talked about the importance of sports tourism. We were there during a Denver Broncos, Dallas Cowboys game. You could see that sports tourism dollar being spent all over the restaurants, hotels. So it is interesting in markets that might be a little bit more challenged right now, you know, we saw this last year with San Francisco, this year, Las Vegas. Can some of these city stakeholders come together with hospitality management companies, associations, professionals, and do some things to again, kind of get us unstuck in some of these markets that have been struggling? There’s other markets right now that are doing a fantastic job and we spoke to you know, some of the portfolio leaders that have assets in those, in those markets. And it was extremely compelling. Definitely suggests, if you haven’t already subscribe to our YouTube page, you can see all the exclusive content. We had eight incredible interviews with professionals, hospitality professionals, like I said, heads of associations, brand leaders and c-suite executives from multiple management companies. And it was just such a privilege and an honor to be able to, to kind of talk hospitality with them. So, you know, again, Denver was incredible, very excited about Miami next year. And if he didn’t get the opportunity, go check out my interview with Alexi Khajavi at Questex who did. I think one of the best ways we always have our, our hospitality show preview with Alexi, I think in the interview we had out in Denver was probably the best way to really hype up what Miami 2026 is gonna be about in a event that is so comprehensive. The independent hotel space is really bubbling up right now. Brands want to be independents, independents wanna act more like brands. There’s this, there’s this inflection point that we’re headed towards this fork in the road that we’re headed towards. And it’s all gonna culminate next year in Miami, an independent hotel capital of the world. We are very familiar, as you know, we head down there on an annual basis. I’m so excited that it’s right here in our backyard. We’re gonna take the bright line down. We’re gonna be bringing you so much coverage, exclusive interviews, and we’re gonna get, we’re gonna get a little bit more exclusive coverage and we’re gonna be doing a lot of stuff leading up to the show to prepare you for it. So I hope you’ll stay with me. Subscribe, follow, but to put a final bow on 2025 hospitality show. Incredible. Thank you again to AHLA and Questex for making this possible. Can’t wait to see what you have in store for us in Miami 2026. Thank you for listening to the Suite Spot, and we will talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the most recent AHLA Check-In episode with President & CEO of the AHLA Foundation, Kevin Carey! As a familiar face on the Suite Spot, Kevin stops in to give us the latest and greatest developments and advocacy work taking place at the American Hotel & Lodging Association.  Be sure to watch now to know what current events are impacting the hospitality industry. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree for another AHLA industry check-in this time with a familiar guest, Kevin Carey. Familiar guest, but a little bit different position. We’re gonna talk about that in a second. But he is the Chief Operating Officer at AHLA and President and CEO of the AHLA Foundation. Kevin, welcome back to the Suite Spot, Kevin Carey: Ryan, terrific to be with you again. It’s Ryan Embree: Great to have you. Like I said, you know, you’ve been on a couple times we’ve talked about that, but this time in a new role with AHLA, congratulations, by the way, on that. Can you share with our audience a little bit about the new role, maybe a day to day and what you get the pleasure of doing every single day, as President and CEO of the AHLA foundation? Kevin Carey: Well, I’d be happy to. It’s definitely keeping me busy, but it’s a good busy, and very much a rewarding, busy as well. And in my new capacity, where I get to lead the foundation, I get to work alongside a dedicated group of colleagues, Jen, Eliza, Kara, and Lindsay, to also a committed group of industry leaders, who were on our board of trustees, and the organization that we help to advance is one that’s focused just on that front on advancing the people of the industry, our workforce, so day in, day out, having that teamwork and collaboration, but also working with our industry leaders to put the people forward on the industry front, and to work to support not only our current employees, but also to identify the future workforce is a vital role and very engaging. Ryan Embree: So critical. Right now, you’re right, we’ve had conversations about it. We’re gonna touch a little bit on this episode, but, you know, I’d see AHLA foundation all the time, the work, the stories that you guys are putting out there, you travel the country just got back from the lodging conference a couple days ago. But, you know, for those hoteliers who, you know, see the brand, they see some of the stories, you know, can you share maybe some of the origin story of the AHLA foundation and really at the foundation, so to speak of its mission over there? Kevin Carey: I’d be happy to. The foundation has been around for 72 years. It was founded in 1953, as a scholarship fund. And over that tenure year and arc and of its existence has done terrific work. What I’ve also shared recently as we’ve been working through a process with our board of trustees as looking at our future direction is that in many respects, this is a young 72-year-old organization. And by that I mean a number of the most prominent and highly visible initiatives that the foundation is involved in right now, whether it’s our forward initiative or No Room for Trafficking. These are programs and initiatives that have really been created, launched and grown over about the last three to five years timeframe. So, while we’ve got a proud, uh, tradition and history, we also have a number of, of very important new initiatives. And the work we’re doing to advance the industry’s workforce and to ensure the people are front and center is really vital in the current environment. As we think about the industry’s future growth prospects. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s an incredible legacy. And to be able to, that’s what you want out of advocacy and foundational work is you wanna be able to say, we’re introducing new initiative strategies, the AHLA tackles so many important issues, but perhaps none more important than human trafficking prevention. Something that a lot of the brands have, have taken major steps to get behind. You recently held your No Room for Trafficking Summit, an event dedicated to that. Tell us about that event and some of the feedback that you were hearing from hoteliers on this really critical issue. Kevin Carey: Let me put that initiative in the context of our role and mission overall. So, as I talked about with being that young, 72-year-old organization, we really view our mission in advancing the workforce as being centered around how do we develop and support the current workforce today, the 2.1 million people who serve guests, and work together to create that experience as future workforce is being so important to ensure that over time we’re attracting people to the industry and they know the career pathways that are available, but a third area and this aligns with the No Room for Trafficking Initiative. How can we leverage our role as a convening entity for the industry, bringing together all segments of the industry, including the service provider and supplier segment, to focus on initiatives industry-wide, where we can make a difference. And in that respect, that’s where No Room for Trafficking fits in and really underscores the industry’s longstanding commitment to working to eradicate human trafficking. We created the No Room for Trafficking Initiative in 2019 with a focus on bringing training to the industry, so our employees on the front lines, vendors and suppliers as well, could see the signs and help provide that frontline and bring awareness to this issue. We also in 2022, created the Survivor Fund, so we could help provide funding meaningful contributions to local community-based organizations to help assist survivor of survivors of human trafficking get back on their feet and ideally create an opportunity for employment in the industry as well. So this is an issue that our work is not done. We’re reaffirming our commitment to this. We’re aligning, the work the brands do around this area with owners and management companies, as well. And you’re gonna continue to see us in this area leaning in on this important issue. Ryan Embree: So powerful. And, you know, I’ve had the, the privilege of attending the hospitality show, which we’re gonna touch on here for the last couple of years, and to hear some of the inspiring and, and moving stories from that initiative. And it’s, again, so powerful to see common cause like this, where all the brands are really trying to get involved vendors and the, like, you know, we really need the entire industry, to really team up against an issue like this. Good. Couldn’t agree more, not be siloed. Kevin Carey: Its obviously a global issue. It’s not unique to the lodging industry, but the lodging industry’s leadership in this area the industry-wide commitment to playing a meaningful role in this respect. And to your point, Ryan, the individual stories, just about a week ago, Eli and I attended an event at the University of Maryland, Baltimore Safe Center, which is an organization that’s providing critical services to survivors of human trafficking. And to hear, one of the program participants, a survivor herself, to help tell her individual story and how she’s now thriving, and shows the strength to share our own experience, but also serves, as someone who is such a role model for, others who are impacted by this area. So, through the Survivor Fund, we’ve now contributed close to $2.4 million, in grants, to community-based organizations to help them provide these surround, surround support services, to survivors. And we’re very proud of this work and the impact it’s having and our continued commitment to it. Ryan Embree: That’s an incredible figure, congratulations to you and your team, and, you know, so happy to hear that so many people are contributing to this. Now, another key initiative you touched on was the foundation really leading in its advancement of women in hospitality through its forward program. I’ve had the honor of having several hospitality, female leaders and influencers in the hotel industry incredible, who have mentioned this program. Can you share some of the details, of this initiative and the impacts that you’re seeing? Kevin Carey: I’d be happy to forward really is a movement, we’re so proud of the growth, that we’ve seen and the engagement since its launched as a conference alone in 2018. But now, the initiative has expanded from an event and a conference that we convene annually to leadership development through our Build and Elevate program, and as well, through the community building aspects through a network we’ve established, that has close to 5,000 participants, mostly women but also men who are engaged in this initiative and wanna play a role in helping to women to advance in the industry. So across each of those three categories, the conference and event, the leadership development, and the community building aspect of this forward, continues to grow, through awareness engagement. We’re excited, as we look ahead to 2026, to host our event again in Atlanta, Georgia, April 16 and 17. So, please mark your calendars. Ryan Embree: Yes, we will. It’s so awesome to see, you know, movements like that, like you mentioned, Kevin, because it’s something that organically starts to, you know, through the community and networks starts to build. And then you put an event like that forward conference that happens in the spring, and you can just see the energy and, you know, something that hospitality is, you know, really needed for us. We talked about the staffing shortage, you know, through these times a couple years ago and really inspiring all walks of life, even especially young people to see hospitality as more than maybe just a summer job at college, but a career path that they can go down. And I saw recently, I wanna make sure I get this figure right, the AHLA foundation awarded more than $700,000 in academic scholarships to 246 students nationwide. The Suite Spot has a soft spot for those college graduate, I’m a UCF Rosen graduate, you know, we did our hospitality campus crawl series where we visited different hospitality schools in the state of Florida. What is this accomplishment? When you hear that figure 700,000, almost 250 students mean to you and your team? Kevin Carey: First, a major thank you to our generous contributors over time who’ve provided funds who really see this as an investment in the future of the industry. So, we wouldn’t be able to distribute the scholarship dollars and see that the impact that they’re having without our generous sponsors and contributors over time. An interestingly right now is a unique period where we’re starting to get notes and emails back from some of the recipients of these scholarship funds and just the deep impact and the personal impact that it has so many of the students for sharing what this means for them and their ability to advance their studies and advance their careers, in this industry. But this is an important, aspect of our focus around ensuring we have the future workforce, to help enable and support the industry to thrive. So, whether it’s a focus on our affiliated schools and the two in the four year community, also looking to expand, our focus, you referenced the career pathways, Ryan, it’s, it’s vital that not only students, but prospective future employees just understand the breadth of roles, opportunities, and access that this industry provides. And what an attractive opportunity for career advancement and growth that the hospitality and the lodging industry represent. So we’re thrilled with the scholarship, aspect. Such a rewarding time of year to see some of those individual impacts it’s having. But know that we’ve got a big responsibility as we look to the next five and 10 years to be working on initiatives that can ensure that the industry has the people in place to deliver that hospitality and to help be an enabler of future growth. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. As me and you know, Kevin, it’s an amazing industry. The more we can be transparent, show these success stories, and more hospitality leaders I can host on the podcast that said, Hey, you know what, I got a scholarship from the AHLA foundation and went through a hospitality specific course of education. I think we’re doing our job there. Because, right now, staffing continues to be a challenge. But I think more than ever, there’s so many incredible inspiring, stories out there that have made have such a love for hospitality, and it’s such a unique industry. Kevin Carey: We had the opportunity, Ryan just, you referenced, lodging conference, to host some students, while in Phoenix. We had students from Howard University and Bethune Cookman. Many were pure play hospitality students. Others were in the business school, but were looking at and considering the hospitality industry. But the diversity of fields of study that they were coming from, from legal to finance to sales and marketing. But their eyes were opened about the unique qualities and attributes of lodging in the hospitality industry. And it was terrific, to see their eyes opened and the enthusiasm, that they were gonna carry back to them. And I said, you know, you can grow your career here in a meaningful way and from the entry level to the senior most levels, but tell your peers and friends as well. Beause we wanna ensure that people understand the opportunity that this industry represents. Ryan Embree: Great point, Kevin. I mean, hospitality conferences, there’s so many events that happen locally and nationwide. You know, the hospitality show that AHLA does in their regional events, great exposure. If you’re a young professional, highly, highly encourage you to go visit those network talk to industry professionals who’ve made a career out of it, because this can just only develop you professionally throughout your career. And mentorship, you know, we’ve talked about that. That’s one of my favorite questions to ask. And sometimes it comes up organically when I ask about people’s backgrounds and hospitalities, they’ll mention one or two names that were really strong mentors to them in their hospitality journey, which led them to where they were. And, you know, the AHLA runs a leadership mentoring program. I think sometimes people are intimidated sometimes when they hear that word mentor, right? And so, I would almost ask you, you know, what would be your pitch to any hotel leader or hospitality professional to be really embrace mentorship, whether that’s formal program like the one that you offer at the AHLA foundation or simply just by guiding the next generation. Kevin Carey: You mentioned, I think both of us used the word access, whether that’s the opportunity that the industry presents, but also how so many hospitality leaders, in our industry make themselves accessible. Just back to the reference I made to the students we hosted in Phoenix, I saw our chair, Mitch Patel, and a chair of our foundation, a new Senna with Hilton Supply Management, spending time with the students and having conversations, providing their LinkedIn credentials, probably their cell phone numbers as well. So mentorship can take a quick, it could be an individual interaction or it can be a more formal process over time. But it’s so essential, a plug maybe an industry friend and someone who just authored a book on this called, who Believed in you by Dean of Powell McCormick, and her husband, David McCormick, who’s the US Senator from Pennsylvania. Just an outstanding book that talks about power of mentorship and the role it’s played in so many individuals, careers and lives. And this industry really responds to that call as well. Our own mentorship program we’ve got 30% more in participants than we set as a target. And that’s linking together industry leaders with emerging professionals in the industry who are available to share their lessons learned and provide guidance, so people can have that access to industry leaders. So, we’re thrilled with the role we can be, we play as a facilitator and an enabler in that regard. Ryan Embree: And mentorship can come in all different types of forms. I mean, you mentioned it, you know, even responding to a simple LinkedIn message, telling your story, sharing that story. A lot of the times, that’s what I find so inspiring in hospitality is, you know, talking to a professional that’s been doing it for a decade, two decades, maybe you’ve even made a 30 year career out of hospitality. And how transferable their skills is where they’ve been able to go all over the world, travel and have that career that they’re so proud of. So mentorship can really come all shapes and forms. I think some of the, those most powerful ones are just sharing your story sometimes. And, you know, one of the places we get the opportunity to hear those stories is the GM of the Year Awards at the Hospitality Show. We’ll both be headed out to Denver. We ran into each other and at the opening ceremony in San Antonio at the party. You know, what’s, what’s your favorite part of the hospitality show, and what are you most looking forward to this year? Kevin Carey: What’s always best about that and that really aligns with the role, AHLA plays of bringing the entire industry together. There are a number of conferences, we attend them, they’re terrific, but that they may be focused on a particular function in the industry or objective, bringing the entire industry together from the brand companies to independent hotels, to management companies, owners, all forms and industry verticals of suppliers, as well students, GMs having the entire cross section of the industry ecosystem together in one place with a common focus on the purpose of the show, which is how do you leverage technology and operations to drive profitability? So it’s just great to have everyone together. We’re always gonna be strongest as an industry when we’re working together and being able to, through our roles at the AHLA and the AHLA foundation play, that convening entity role with our partners at Questex, is really just a terrific opportunity. And we’re looking forward in two weeks, to being out in Denver. Ryan Embree: It’s a must attend event. We’re so excited to be headed there. Once again, you know, we both love our industry, but it certainly it’s one of the most complex as well. There’s so many elements to it, which also make it so beautiful. And what we talked about, about how people can find different careers in any shape, size, or form in hospitality, because there are so many different elements that you’re exposed to, which makes for a great show, like the Hospitality Show, which hosts so many aspects and insights from that show. So we’re excited to be there. Hopefully we’ll get to run into you, Kevin, and get some what far go. Get some onsite thoughts there. But for hotels, listening, you know, always like to provide resources, education for the listeners, if they’re looking to get more information about, or even get involved with the AHLA foundation in some capacity, what’s the best way to do that you can share today? Kevin Carey: There’s so many avenues, of engagement, for AHLA as a whole, but the foundation in particular, we’ve referenced a number of them through our events, like Forward and the No Room for Trafficking Summit, through the work that we do to support current workforce through apprentice programs, and, and to engage with prospective future employers. So we welcome, that participation and engagement, in so many forums, beyond the Hospitality Show in Denver. We’ll be turning our attention to our annual night of a thousand Stars event, which we’ll recognize, the top employees, across a number of areas in the industry. So please, certainly visit our website, reach out to me directly and or our team, everyone who’s got an interest in helping to advance our people and cast that spotlight on the industry and help play a meaningful role in attracting the future workforce for the industry. We’ve got an interest in working with you and a place for you and one of our programs or initiatives. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, again, incredible gratitude and thanks for everything you know, that you and AHLA and the foundation does for our industry. So important. We’ll wrap up the same way we like to kind of to wrap up every episode, kind of looking into the future. What are you look most looking forward to for the rest of this year? And before we know it’s already gonna be 2026, so what are you excited for next year going into for the AHLA foundation? Kevin Carey: I’m really excited for the future direction as I referenced, we’ve spent a lot of time this year looking meaningfully at our portfolio of initiatives, working closely with our leadership in our board to ensure that we’ve got the right portfolio of initiatives and how can we expand those to have that right impact on supporting the current employees in attracting the future workforce. And again, where we can play that convening entity role and make a meaningfully difference in human trafficking prevention and advancing women in hospitality. So you’re gonna hear more from us on all those fronts and with our terrific team and my colleagues, look forward to having more discussion with you over time. Ryan Embree: We’re ready for it. Ears and eyes are ready to go. And like you said, you know, it’s got a legacy of a foundation, but still young in its roots and some of the, the major initiatives you’re doing. So thank you again. Any final thoughts as we wrap up today? We covered a lot. Kevin Carey: Sure. We certainly did. Thank you for the opportunity. I know I send greetings from my colleague, Rosanna, who leads, AHLA overall, and we’re working closely together on through both entities to really advance the industry, and also to support and advance, the people in the workforce of the industry. So we like to say that we’re, two, enter two entities, but one enterprise, working together to really make this industry a special place. Appreciate your efforts. Another, who give us a platform to share that. Ryan Embree: Thank you, Kevin. You know, we know your time is very precious with all the initiatives and, you know, traveling you’re doing. So appreciate you taking time outta your day to talk to us here on the Suite Spot. Thank you again for all the work you’re doing over there. Kevin Carey: Thank you so much. Thanks, Ryan. Ryan Embree: All right. Thank you. And we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to this special episode of the Suite Spot to hear from two very special guests of the International Luxury Hotel Association. First off, President of the ILHA, Barak Hirschowitz, and Co-Founder of the association, Jonathan Edelheit, join the podcast to preview the upcoming INSPIRE USA conference taking place on December 10-11, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  These two luxury hospitality experts discuss several important topics in this episode, including the humble origin of the ILHA, how the luxury hotel market is leading the industry in innovation, what attendees can look forward to from INSPIRE USA 2025, and much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot, episode 185, and from the title we are previewing another hospitality event. One of my favorite things to do look at, and this one, it’s a first timer for me, not certainly for our guests. I’m gonna bring them and we’re gonna talk all about it. The Inspire USA event hosted by ILHA, the International Luxury Hotel Association. My two guests with me today, Barak Hirschowitz, President of the ILHA, and Jonathan Edelheit, co-founder of the ILHA, Barak, Jon, thank you so much for taking the time and checking into the Suite Spot with me. Barak Hirschowitz: Well, thank you. It’s wonderful to be here and great to meet you. Ryan Embree: And we’re excited about it, excited about the event, but before we get into that, I wanna just start with a little bit of hospitality background. We always love to kind of start there. Hospitality’s such a funky industry. People come from different brands, they come from different backgrounds. Sometimes they fall into it, sometimes they fall into the industry with a summer job, sometimes they’re born into the industry. So I figured let’s go ahead and give our Suite Spot audience a little bit of background into your hospitality journey and what led you to the ILHA Barak. We’ll start with you and then go to Jon. Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah, thanks. So I started in the industry in the late, late eighties, early nineties. I went to Johnson Wales. I started as a, I started in culinary, as many people do in the hotel industry. And those were interesting times because back then there were really only a couple of places you get a degree in culinary arts. So it led me to, you know, travel abroad, which was great. I started, just before I went overseas, I did an internship at the Grand Floridian, which believe it or not, was still a fairly new hotel back then. And then started working abroad internationally, moved eventually to more the hotel side of the business. I worked in South Africa for some very well-known hotel brands. Sun International. Sun International is Saul K’s original brand that he had when he was still based in South Africa. So that, you know, today we know him for Atlantis and we know him for one, um, one and only hotels. But, um, back then he had Sun International, so I worked with him. I worked for a company called Halian Hotels, which had, uh, luxury hotels in, in South Africa, and actually a few up Africa as well. And, um, I had an opportunity, I guess my sort of real push, first push into luxury was in the late nineties. I got to help open a hotel called Bushman’s Klu in South Africa, which is a luxury safari lodge. The year, within a year of opening, we, um, we became a member of Relay and Chateau, which was a pretty prestigious, uh, pretty prestigious organization. And after I left a couple of years later, the hotel went on to win Best Hotel in the world, um, travel and Leisure. So, you know, that was a, it was really a, a great opportunity to see the best of the best in the world. I still to this day think it’s probably the most luxurious property I’ve ever stayed in, and still the best service, uh, that I’ve ever seen in any hotel. So it was great to be able to work in a place that had that level of, of, um, of luxury and, and, and guest experience. And so I think everything that I see compares to that time back then. So that’s really how I fell into the luxury hotel industry or came into luxury hotel industry. Ryan Embree: What an incredible story and journey, one of the questions I pose all the time on this to my podcast guest is, your favorite hotel that you’ve ever stayed in and to be able to work for the number one hotel or have at one point, probably an easy answer to that question. Then, Jon, let’s, let’s move over to you. Where is your kind of background, and hospitality and brought you to ILHA? Jonathan Edelheit: I think it was definitely an interesting path over to the ILHA, originally, out of law school, I actually went into the health insurance industry, and then I was the first one to implement corporate wellness programs, employee health and wellness before was employee health and wellness. I, eventually, um, got very passionate about options for healthcare and founded the Medical Tourism Association, which operates all over the world as the Global Trade Association. And, and interestingly that’s, there’s a big segment of luxury, uh, travelers in that who are traveling, who have a lot of money to travel for the best healthcare in the world, stay at luxury, uh, hotels, and also engage in luxury kind of wellness activities. And so, uh, from that space, we, we dealt with a lot of governments, tourism boards, luxury hotels around the world. And that was a little bit of my segue, um, not not sharing the full story of like how Barack and I met and, and the founding of the ILHA, but came in from kind of a, a different side of it and, um, you know, but very passionate about it. And you mentioned about, um, you, the comment about your favorite luxury hotel. When you say that, I feel like it always evokes in all of our minds, you know, we get this visual of a specific hotel or specific experiences that really make us love certain properties. And I feel like that’s something that the luxury side has, that the other side doesn’t have, where, you know, there’s that the, they’re so focused on these special moments in every single detail that it really, I feel like almost seers into your brains and emotions, like some of those special things. And you notice it when it’s not there at properties. Ryan Embree: Well, 100%. And that’s why you hear with, uh, especially the luxury sector. I mean, you have generations sometimes going to the same property or hotel that say, you know, my grandparents, I grew up here going to this luxury resort, you know, my parents then brought me, now I’m taking my kids here. You know, really in depth, uh, connections to our guests and travelers that you’re absolutely right, Jon, I think the luxury sector has, and, and it’s such a privilege to be in that space because you really get to emotionally connect with your traveler there. But I love hearing both your stories because it’s a, a, it’s a parallel of what we hear all the time in, in hospitality. One, uh, person that went to school for hospitality and culinary, and then the other one that went to school for something completely different and found themselves. And it’s the perfect mix and match, and that’s what makes our industry hospitality. So great. We’ve had the pleasure on this podcast. We’ve spoken to founders of management companies, you know, even a couple new brands, which seem to be popping up every single day, but I believe this is the first time that we’ve had founders of a hospitality association. So I wanna know what kind of goes through, you know, your mind, what’s the inspiration behind saying, Hey, let’s start this and, and give us kind of that, that background story about the ILHA. Jon, we’ll start with you. Jonathan Edelheit: Sure. I think what’s interesting about it is, is probably not many people that are like, let’s go start a, you know, let’s go start a nonprofit trade association, right? But I think you have to be passionate about wanting to bring change and wanting to bring innovation. You know, so you know, how ILHA was, was born, and I’ll tell my side of the story, and then Barak could share his is, you know, we saw this, this very specific fit within medical tourism with the medical tourism association within the luxury hotel segment. And that there needed to be deeper ties and connections to the space because everything needs to be integrative. Someone’s traveling for healthcare with their family, and they’re staying at a luxury property. Like it needs to be interconnected, it can’t be fragmented. And so we decided this was an area that we really needed to have deeper involvement from the luxury hotel side. And so I had reached out to Barak to speak at one of our conferences. And then I’ll let Barak maybe segue in from, from there as we, uh, you know, continue the line of the story. Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah. So I think, yeah, definitely I’ll bring you up to how Jon and I met because we started as luxury hotelers for those of that have known us since the beginning. I think what happened when I went to hotel school was we were taught that this is how luxury looks, this is how it smells, this is how it operates, this is how it feels. This is a, we all know that vision. If we’re, if you were in hotel school, uh, you know, even I think of like Alex Soar, president for Europe and Middle East, he went to Lassan, same thing, right? So when he, when we were talking about this, when he was in hotel school, it was, you know, it was marble, it was white table cloth, it was French chef, and pretty much that was luxury, right? So luxury was a very easy to understand, very easy to build or, or vision of what luxury is. And the guest expected, right? Then the internet came along and changed everything, right? So it changed our industry and continues to change it ever since. So let’s say for 300 years, luxury hospitality or luxury hotel industry looked one way, and then all of a sudden it went in a million different directions. And so, and with that, so did the growth of the industry. So at that time, those of us who had started to reach a point in our career where we were making bigger and bigger decisions, often those becoming quite expensive decisions. We couldn’t rely on the information that we learned from, let’s say, the traditional associations in our country that were, you know, the kind of associations that have been going back forever. Or the schools, they were what they had taught us was starting to change. Those rules didn’t work anymore. And so we started to but the internet was, was coming around forums. I dunno if you’re, I’m sure you remember forums were kind of a new thing back then. And so in the early two thousands, we created a forum called Luxury Hotels. And the idea was we invited 50, approximately about 50 hotels that I knew through the industry that were all kind of working internationally for brands, operators, asset management. Some of them were getting to asset management then. And the idea was just to kind of crowdsource or brainstorm some best practices to take on some of these new challenges. And so luxury tellers became this forum. It was around the time LinkedIn was starting as well. So, we moved on, we decided, oh, this looks like a cool tool. I’m not kidding you. And we started our group on LinkedIn, we had to tell people what it was, right? So they were like, well, what’s that? I’m like, it’s just a platform, but it’s kind of cool for this purpose, right? So we started the group and uh, we started just crowdsourcing, asking questions, and it was like a, for the forum just took off. And we were the first hospitality or travel group to ever had a hundred thousand people on LinkedIn. This was quite a long time ago. And at the time, we were a top 100, uh, group. Actually, LinkedIn asked us this. They used us at, they, they used our group as their example at their annual conference. And so of what groups can do, and so to, I mean, there’s so many things, but just to give you like some simple ones from the early days, right? Back then, Chinese travelers were first starting to travel and stay in luxury hotels around the world. And many of the hoteliers didn’t know how to cater for that, right? So we created one of our forum topics was we invited a couple of the hoteliers, uh, Peter Gaston was one of our co-founders, was the time he was he just retired, but he was one of the senior people for Ritz Carlton and Asia based in Hong Kong and a couple of others. And we said like, what can we do for guests that are traveling? And I remember one of the first things that came outta that was, you should put disposable slippers in the room, right? And here today, every time I open like a cupboard in any luxury hotel around the world, and I see the, so this disposable slippers, that was like one of the first things that really, like, it’s a great reminder of like the early days of the organization, but it was, it was, it was things like wifi, should we charge for wifi, you know, all these kind of discussions. We even had, I remember there was a Swiss hotelier that had like four or five ski lodges and was looking, was starting a loyalty program. And he asked for a name, and I think he got like 120 names or something in 24 hours. And he said he was able to pick like two or three names better than any agency could give him, you know? And that’s when we realized, wow, we’ve got some power. So at that point, a lot of the people who were quite actively involved in the forum suggest that we start an association, and we were told, I started to contact some of the existing associations and other people out there that, you know, kind of were involved with associations. And they’re like, why do you wanna do that? You know, the associations are like trying to be what you are today, right? Because back before then, associations, you, you couldn’t only get business information from school and then later on through your company, or if you wanted to know what other people were doing, you had to go to an association, an association event, get the association magazine. But now we had these new online forums where you could share information and it was a little bit more opaque. I mean, it was a little bit more transparent, sorry, and easy to get. And so, but at the same time, I think you need that connection and just structure, because we were all just volunteering our time. And that’s, as Jon said, he invited me to speak at an event. He had a very successful travel association. I the event that I attended, I think he had about four or 5,000 people at. And we were chatting afterwards, and that’s when he, you know, he suggested to us that we start the association, or at least to give us the structure of an association. As Jon mentioned, he went to law school, and so he really knew the ins and outs of that. So we were able to kind of combine the best of both worlds, which is this very large audience that we have, but then take in some of the structure of an association so that we could really employ some people to help this thing continue to grow. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s incredible foresight to see, I mean, LinkedIn in the early days, I remember that was just a big job board for a lot of people for you. So for you to see the foresight to say, Hey, let’s use this as open forum. Let’s stop. You know, Jon, you mentioned fragmentation of the industry sometimes and silos that what that we sometimes find ourselves in, but to exchange those ideas because the luxury traveler today is truly international, and the luxury segment. So to make sure that you’re sharing those ideas, seeing those trends, and I’m sure a lot of those get brought up at the, what we’re previewing today, the inspire USA, event that we’re gonna turn our attention to December 10th and 11th, 2025 marks the 16th edition. It’s gonna mark the first edition that I will be going there. Almost positive you guys have been at every single one. Maybe talk us through the evolution of what year one looks like in comparison to year 16 and what the, and what we have in store for in Vegas this year. Jonathan Edelheit: Cool. Well, Jon, you were pretty heavily involved in year one, so let’s give you, uh, let’s give you the, the start on that one. Jonathan Edelheit: Yeah, no, I mean, I think year one was interesting. I forget what city that took place in Barak, but, Barak Hirschowitz: DC. Jonathan Edelheit: Okay. Because I remember Orlando, we had the elephant. We had a 10,000 pound elephant to come in the room. Her name was Roxy. And that was a theme around the elephant in the room. The industry was this topic. But, you know, when we started, it was, you know, ILHA, you know, was built out at the same time as we were holding our medical tourism conference, because part of the purpose of that was to lend the expertise of, you know, running a trade show is not easy. You know, the executive producers, the management, the space, there’s a huge investment in, in organizing it to launch it. And so, you know, I, you know, it, it’s always exciting and stressful when you’re in events because it’s not just, you know, from the first events, I feel like is the hardest. But at the same time, as you grow, I almost feel like there’s more pressure in year 16 than than previous years, because you always have to be better, right? You’ve gotta bring in, you know, better speakers. You have to have growth. You have to really dive into innovation and what people want. So the first year, it was a smaller event, but great in the fact that it’s new, right? So people come, everyone’s passionate, and every year we’ve really, um, striven to, you know, grow and make the, the, the attendees more diverse, bring in always better speakers, you know, and, and stay on top of what’s going on in luxury hotels and travel all around the world so people can get everything. ’cause like you said, is back in the day, I feel like luxury travel was almost like very siloed in the type of people that would travel. And now it’s a very diverse industry. I’m sure there’s people who still potentially don’t under, uh, understand it because you also have segments of luxury that like, where wealthy people can’t afford those luxury hotels because there’s all these different segments going. What I’m excited about is just, you know, some of the niche in our events going forward, focusing on all these areas of personal experience and the breadth of where we’re seeing luxury, luxury go. But I’ll, I’ll turn it over to Barak. Barak Hirschowitz: So, and although our event was quite small, as Jon said, you know, at the first event, it was actually a large event. So what happened was, and this is the benefit of partnerships, right? So by meeting Jon, they already had four and a half thousand people coming to their travel conference. So he gave us space and the expertise and the lift to be able to build a co-located show within his show. So the amazing thing was that even though our show was a segment of his, you know, a smaller part of his show, and we did that for about three years before we were able to kind of really have the size to go out on our own. But those first couple of years were great because people who attended the event for them, I mean, they were able to attend basically two events in one. We had some really high powered, high level speakers because of the size of Jon’s event, and that really gave us a lot of cloud in the early days. So, you know, I can’t thank Jon enough for taking us and helping us have kind of those training wheels in the early days and make us, we were able to bat a lot bigger than we you know, than we were at that time. So that was great. I think it really helped us. Jonathan Edelheit: Barak, I just had the flashback to, I think it was after the three years, Barak said, Hey, listen, we, we need to be in a luxury hotel now, because we were doing it in convention centers, right? A luxury hotel conference can’t really be in a convention center. Barak Hirschowitz: Although I say I say that. And now it’s interesting because, and, and I know we’re the topic of this, this, this, uh, podcast is on the INSPIRE USA, but I’d like to mention that we inspire, Europe is returning for its third year, and it’s actually next month, uh, in November. So it’s, it’ll be the 12th and the 13th in Prague. And Prague is, we’re very excited because Prague doesn’t normally get larger conference. They’re obviously, it’s a very, very busy tourism city, probably one of the best, and busiest tourist cities in Europe. But they don’t get a lot of meetings there because large meetings there because of the hotels that are quite small. And so for us, even just to find a hotel that could hold more than a couple of hundred people was difficult. So we partnered with the grand with the Park Hyatt there. However, the event is actually taking place in the Czech National Bank headquarters Congress Center. So it’s their former, their former, stock exchange commodities exchange, which is the most beautiful you can imagine. The bank uses it, and Moody’s just had their European conference there. So it’s this very beautiful royal building, and it’s right across the street from the hotel. So we’re very excited to be having that there. But yeah, and that’s only because we’ve, there just wasn’t the capacity for us there, um, in luxury hotel, but fortunately in, uh, in the us there is, and so we’re, we’re back in Vegas again this year, um, at Resorts World, and we’re really looking forward to, to that. Ryan Embree: Well, that’s what I was gonna say, and Jon, to your comment, you know, you say bigger and better. So I’m expecting two elephants this year, uh, in Vegas, but you know, I don’t know. Jonathan Edelheit: I dunno if they’ll let us in the convention center. Where we either Orlando, our executive producer thought we were crazy, and it took about a couple calls over a month, and she was like, oh, you’re serious. And then two weeks later, she called back and said, you won’t believe it, Jonathan, but there’s an elephant sanctuary outside of Orlando, and we can get the elephant in the convention center. Said, we’ve never had a request like this before, but then they approved it. Ryan Embree: Hey, there you go. You know, and anything can, especially in Vegas too, anything can happen. So let, let’s try to make it happen. But I do wanna talk to you about that location is everything in hospitality when you’re talking hotels, but it, the same can be true with a successful hospitality event returning to Vegas this year. Barak, why, and maybe you can speak specifically to Resorts World, why was just this makes the perfect venue, for Inspire USA this year? Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah, so we had a wonderful event last year in Las Vegas. We’ve been we were a few years ago, we were at the Four Seasons Las Vegas, which we loved. It was a great event. They just, we just outgrew the space that they have there. Vegas is a, you know, Vegas is one of those places where you’re when you grow, if you get too big, I mean, if you get too big for the regular hotels, you still have to get a little bit larger to get into the very big spaces. So it’s kind of awkward and it can be tricky to find the right space. And last year we did with the Fountain Blue, we were very excited to be one of their first events from their opening, and we really enjoyed it. We try to change it up every year just to have something a little bit different. But Las Vegas was so successful for us that people just felt we should, we’ve never kept it in the same place two years in a row. We’ve always moved it kind of East Coast, west Coast, and, um, I chatted and so we, you know, we, we decided to, let’s, hey, let’s, we loved it. It was just so great being in Vegas, and it was easy for people to get to and there. And so we decided to look around, see what was there, and the weeks that we normally would do it at the Fountain Blue was, had already been booked from a year earlier. So we knew we were gonna have to be in a different location. Went over to Resorts World, checked it out, and while we were there, carnival uh, cruise Line was actually having a conference there. Arnold Donald, who used to the previous CEO had actually, um, been a speaker at one of our conferences previously. Uh, uh, and so I, I met a couple of his people there, uh, and they said, oh, come in and have a look around. And the space was perfect for us. So we, you know, we approached them and we’re very excited. It’s kind of a, it’s kind of a fun space because the area that we’re in is, it’s there, you know, the, the, there’s the normal convention side, and then there’s the part we, where we are is, is kind of like where the, a lot of the restaurants and things are. So it’s got a very engaged feel. Often I think you feel in meeting spaces, like you could be anywhere in the world. You know, meeting spaces tend to look a lot similar. What I’m very proud of this year is that both of our events are one in Prague and the one in Las Vegas, they don’t feel like they’re in convention space. So the space, for instance, that we’re in is multi, it’s kind of multi-floor, very unique space, but it’s also got views full floor to ceiling, you know, instead of looking at banqueting walls, we’re looking at floor to ceiling views of the strip. So, very excited about that. Ryan Embree: Yeah, you can’t get much better than that. And that’s the beauty of having those connections made. You know, you might have a connection having a conference or convention in the Hotel next door, and you can go ahead and poke your head in and maybe see if it’s right for, for your association. So, uh, very cool. Jon, any thoughts on, on returning back to Vegas this year? Jonathan Edelheit: I’m excited to return back to Vegas, and I’m also excited, while the Fountain View Blue is a beautiful property just opened, I think a lot of our attendees also, they wanna experience other luxury hotels. They want to see everything that they have from the rooms to like, you know, just all the different aspects of it. So I think it’s just cool to be able to move around and showcase that. And I think the thing that excites me the most is we’ve really created this special place where the VIPs in the industry, you know, the owners, the asset managers, the hospitality management companies, the GMs can come together in like kind of an intimate group and share innovation and connect. And I think we’ve fostered a really great environment where it’s not in any way clique-ish. It’s like you can, you know, you, you could be standing there and meet the CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines or, or Virgin Hotels or the owners, uh, you know, someone who owns a hundred hotels and, and just like a normal person, and you can have a conversation. And that’s one thing I really love about our show is, you know, we’ll participate in shows in the hotel space, but I feel like there, there’s these big exhibitions where just you’re just meeting exhibitors. It’s mid-level people and you know, you’re just, you’re learning of our products, but there aren’t decision makers. And I just love the fact that we bring those decision makers that kind of share what they’re doing that’s special and that we can kind of impact the industry, but bring it together in more of an intimate setting. And we’ve also always tried to really control, um, that while we have sponsors, you know, that it’s, that it’s a limited number of sponsors, that it’s the right sponsors and that, you know, there’s that those right connections take place. Barak Hirschowitz: Sorry, John, I was gonna jump in. Um, I’d also just feel like this is a good time to, just a big shout out to, um, Encore and Cvent our event partners. They, um, well, obviously Cvent has, they, they do all of our, you know, our ticketing and registration, and they’ve made that really easy. But Encore, they have been supporting us over the years with, with just amazing innovative, uh, event tech. But I try to push the boundaries a little bit every year and try to think outside the box on how we can do this. Last year we wanted all stages in one. I think for us, when we can speak to this, I think, you know, it really lends to networking when you can keep people in the same area. And I think one of the problems with events and event spaces is often you’re spread out all over different places. So we pushed them last year, um, or not pushed them, we challenged them last year to come up with ways to keep everybody in the same space. And so they created these stages within spaces, um, so that you never had to leave the main space to go to any meeting space. And it meant doing something that was very unusual and it was very successful. And so when we met this year, they were like, what are you gonna do for us this year? What are you gonna, what’s, what’s the challenge for this year? So I said, well, this year we are going to, I said, you know, to be honest, conferences are great and they’re really important. Um, and it does, we, we do try to keep ours limited. We’re not trying to be an expo, but at the same time, most people can’t go to them, right? And we have to be respectful that our audience and our community, most of them are not gonna be able to attend this event, right? If you have 500,000 people that are in one way or another, connecting with you and your content and what you guys do in participating, there’s no way. So what we do is we give away everything, all of our content’s given away. It’s all recorded, and it’s all shared for free to everyone that’s out there that wants it. We’ve always done that. And so this year, to make that easier, we, our challenge to encore and, um, Helen and Brad from Encore, who have really, and their teams, was to create stages that were actually recording studios. So this year, all the stages are actually recording studios, and they’ve, they’ve built them to look like TV studios. So when our, and also I said, we don’t want anyone to feel like when you have multiple stages, there’s always like, oh, we wanna be on that stage or the stage. I said, each stage has to stand on its own at its own level so that when somebody speaks, whether they’re in, you know, the bigger room, I guess you could say, or the smaller. So we took these unique spaces that they created and we really built, like for instance, to me, the one that’s standout is a full on, it’s a full recording studio in an all in kind of a converted, um, they use it as meeting space, but it’s a converted, uh, retail luxury retail space that’s right next to us. And, but it’s all glass. So people from the whole, so while there were gonna be, you know, it has seating as a stage would normally have, but it’s built like a TV studio and it’s all glass, and you can see it from across the Mall of Resorts world. So as people are at restaurants and shops, they’re gonna kind of that times square effect where you, you’re in Times Square and you watch them shooting TV shows, it’s gonna look like that. So we’re really excited about that part of it this year. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s so cool. Another example of you guys breaking down barriers and silos, again, to give that content out and share that with everyone. Especially, I mean, right now we are at a really unique time in our industry where, I’ve talked about it on the podcast before about, I think hoteliers are, yeah, I’ll create a new term here, like FOMOT, which is like the fear of missing out on technology. And they are really, really nervous about, am I implementing technology enough or are my competitors ahead of me? So it these intimate settings that you’re talking about, you know, like Inspire, USA, these are great forums and opportunities for hoteliers to talk about that challenges that they’re having, the wins that they’re having, you know, and, and actually get a better sense and calibrate where they sit in trends, issues, and challenges that they’re having in the hospitality space. And that’s what we’ve craved and missed so much when events kind of disappeared, uh, on us, uh, a couple years ago. So, really excited to do that. And, you know, looking at the speaker list for the event, it’s really a who’s who in luxury hospitality. We could almost have an entire episode based on this agenda that I’ve seen so far. But Barak, Jon, what, what sessions are you most excited about, uh, seeing in this year’s educational programming? Barak will start with you. Barak Hirschowitz: Well, I’m not gonna fall into that trap of answering that question, <laugh>. But I wanna, I think it’s important to kind of set for those people we’re, you know, I think for people who haven’t been to inspire, let me tell you what I think sets us apart, that’s different, right? So there are a lot of events out there, and we partner with many of them, right? And they’re all, you know, most of them are longer established than us, I would say some of them are newer. But what sets us apart is firstly that we have this advantage of, because we have this huge, our online audience, we don’t need our events to be. So for us, we always host the event at the end. Our event is always this inspire in Las Vegas, this event is always held at the end of the year. It’s held right at, you know, anything about hotel lifecycle. It’s held right after Thanksgiving, but right before the Christmas holiday start, right after, um, uh, ILTM. And so what happens is, there’s this weird thing, like the year is done, it’s finished. Everything you’ve done for the year is behind you. If you work for any company of any kind, you’re done. I mean, obviously if you’re in operations, you’re about to get hit with Christmas, but generally it’s that quiet period where you can say, the books are closed, everything’s done, and we’re about to go on vacation. So we catch everyone at like, I feel like I attend a lot of conferences, and I feel like they’re always, you’re rushing from one to the next. We have got this energy usually like, I mean, I was thinking like over the years, like the Eden Rock and the Biltmore and all the Christmas decorations already up, and there’s just this, you know, and the Hanukah just all the, like seasonal holiday decorations are up and the vibe is in. And so what happens is people come there and they’re, they’re in this mood already. Like, okay, I can breathe and I can actually focus and have a good time. The second thing that sets us apart is that we started this organization. Everyone told us in the beginning that you need to like, be specific. Like what’s your focus? I think our, our hardest thing that we had in the beginning was trying to get people to understand that we’re not, we’re a little bit of everything and not one thing. And there’s a reason for that. So this is the one event that you can come in and you can meet and sit in front of people who are very, very high level asset managers. People who are involved, who typically only go to real estate conferences or investment conferences. They don’t go to operational conferences, they don’t go to tech conferences, they don’t go to food and beverage conferences, they don’t go to wellness conferences. They don’t go to sales and marketing events like ILTM, right? Then you have the same people, heads of brands who only go to those kind of, you know, W-T-M-I-I-T-B type events. Then you have people who are very senior, but only go to technology events, right? And then, and so we can go down the line, but the thing is that our industry’s really split into, I would say design, investment and operations. I mean, sorry, the design investment and, and, and sort of asset side, real estate side of the business. Then there’s the ops side of the business, and then there’s the marketing side of the business. If I had to generalize, right? So I think most events fall into one of those three categories. And depending on what their level is, even if they’re very senior, they tend to go to those events in their category. So it was very hard to convince them to come to something that maybe only had a little bit in their category, but when they came, they got to meet people that they don’t normally meet, but at very high levels. But they also got to learn stuff. You know, there was a time you could, you could be in the real estate side of the business and not need to know what’s going on in marketing or investment. I mean in ops and vice versa. You could be in marketing and not really have to know what goes on in real estate, but the industry has been changing so fast and continues to just accelerate that. If you don’t have your finger on the pulse of everything, then you are not gonna be able to make those big financial decisions in your category. And so this event is the only event that I know of that brings together very high level people across each category. So you may come here and go, oh, there’s not enough for me. There’s only a few things on investment here, and I only go to investment conferences. You better come to this one because it’s for those that do come here and they come every year, they say, okay, now I understand it’s like a finishing school. It’s just you’re gonna start that new year in a few weeks with kind of a better, more well-rounded vision of what’s going on in the industry than just what they tell you at the, you know, in your siloed part of the industry. So that’s really cool. The other thing is, it’s really, it’s not, we, we, we kind of limit how big it gets because it’s the level of people we have don’t tend to come to expo type events and they love to network with each other and just hang out with each other. And so we keep it very small by that standard of events, um, just so that they can, they can network and they love it, and they come back and they see each other once a year and stuff like that. So that’s really cool and that’s different. And then the last thing I’d say is, Jon kind of touched on it, our partners are supporters. Our entire organization is, is supported by sponsors and partners. But we’ve realized that it’s not just money that they give us. They actually give us like the expertise to run. We’re expected today as hoteliers to be, to know everything about everything and every, that changes every month what the guests want, right? It goes from, this is innovative to like, you better have it, right? So they, they don’t, they don’t compare you to the other hotels anymore. They compare you to their homes. So if they use Netflix at home and they love to watch the show and they come stay in your Italian, they can’t easily put Netflix on the tv. Now think about this. That was something that was not important maybe two years ago. Okay? And so what we talked to them about is you need to know what is, um, I’m actually giving a talk about this next week, but in Texas, but you need to, you need to, well, we help them identify, I think we’ve learned over the years is what’s innovative versus what is now sort of expected to what’s mandatory. And that changes. So like, I mean, think of coffee, you know, like you, you, you could give, no one cared what coffee you gave in a luxury hotel room, let’s say six years ago, right? Maybe earlier then some hotels started giving great coffee. Today, if you don’t have an espresso machine in your room, they’re not happy, right? So think about that, like how quickly that goes from, and that’s because they have them at home. So they’re like, well, if we have this at home, why can’t you have this in a luxury hotel room? So beyond the fact that hotel rooms are showrooms, they’re also being compared to people’s homes. So that’s where our organization really helps. But I think also just the partners, the support sponsors, we stopped looking at the them as vendors and we started looking at them as experts at what they do, right? Who better to tell you what’s going on in the coffee industry and what the consumer demands than the top coffee companies in the world? We’ve also, you’ll probably noticed something a little bit different for us, we don’t really have an expo. We could have very easily with a ma you know, with an audience decides we have, we could easily have an expo, but we chose not to do it because it’s one of the reasons when you grow a large audience, you have, you really have to be, you need to respect their time. And we can’t over advertise to them. That’s how we grew. And so what we did instead was we found partners that we thought were the best, the business and our event is like a celebration for them. So they all come and you won’t see competing partners there, you see our partners. So we try to have one partner in each space. I gave some examples earlier. So you’re, you know, I think that some of the big expos are great ’cause they can show you everything that’s out there. But when you come to our event, you’re just gonna see the preferred partners of our organization. And, um, it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s interesting I think, ’cause we, we’ve spent time curating them and it’s, they’re great companies. Um, and at the same time, like I said, it’s, it’s a very, um, it’s just a, it’s, it’s a, a very, if you’re in the luxury hotel industry, it’s a great event to come and sit in front of some people that are very, very high level that you wouldn’t normally get to meet. They’re not in and out is what I mean. They’re not just popping in doing this session and going, they’re hanging out. So it’s, we create the space for that. Jonathan Edelheit: Ryan, you know, you’d mentioned something before about tech and I, I think it’s important because one thing I love about the luxury segment is that they invest, right? And they’re looking at the most advanced tech and the most, you know, the best experience they can give. And I notice it ’cause I always stay at different luxury hotels. I don’t stick to one brand ’cause I wanna see what’s going on no matter where I travel, Latin America, Asia, you know, uh, middle East, and you know, and then you, you see stuff you love and then you go to another hotel and you’re like, oh, this is so frustrating, right? Like, uh, uh, especially stuff you can do with your phone. But also, I was recently at a show, um, I won’t say what show it is, but like, big, big, big hotel, hospitality tech show and you know, and there was all different tech there, you know, like from the robot making coffee and espressos and cappuccino to other things. And, and I was talking and I was like, you know, going through and saying like, oh, this would be amazing. Like if this was at a hotel, like it wouldn’t be just cool for me. But like my kids, anyone with family members would love a robot making their cappuccinos. And I’ll sometimes talk to like, go around to look what’s innovative, what would be good for the luxury space, and talk to them. And it’s funny ’cause it’s like, how’s your adoption going? And they’ll be like, well it’s, it’s, it’s not, you know, we’re having a hard time penetrating the hotel space. And it’s like, who are you selling to? And they’ll be like, well, we’re selling to, you know, the, they’ll throw out the normal brands like mid-market, right? Or, or lower market. And I’ll be like, well, have you talked to the luxury side? And and they’ll be like, no. And I’ll be like, but you realize like they’re the ones investing in all this new cool stuff where mid-market and the lower market. Like, they’re not making investments in that stuff. And I think it’s important if you’re doing something innovative in technology or just innovative in the hotel space, the luxury hotels are very successful. Post pandemic revenue’s gone up, everybody’s spending money. There’s different segments. These are the groups that are willing to push the edge on innovation. And then the mid-market and the others are looking at one luxury. Every fo everyone follows luxury to see what they’re doing. For me, an exciting thing for the upcoming conferences, uh, one of the sessions on longevity, everybody says they do wellness. And I think, um, you know, like every hotel and then you don’t know what, what true is wellness or wellbeing, uh, ’cause right? ’cause every hotel is doing something very specific and sometimes it’s not defined. And I think we have some really great brands and some innovators coming to speak. And I think there’s gonna be this big change in the industry about, it’s gonna go from maybe general wellbeing to like very, there’s gonna be a niche of very, very serious where it’s like people looking at, you know, how do I live longer? How do I, um, my, my maybe my quality of life. So maybe I’m 70, but I’m, I’m, I’m, I’m 50 a 50-year-old. Like, you know, you know, in the 70-year-old body reverse aging, reverse disease, we’re starting to see a lot of luxury properties around the world roll out stem cells to reverse disease and reverse aging. I went through stem cells about a year ago, um, in my biological age reduced by seven years. And, uh, and we’re seeing this huge investment in properties now, bringing clinics in and looking at, you know, mixing, um, not, I wouldn’t say healthcare, right? You’re not coming and, you know, and, and, and, uh, and getting something where all my knee hurts or I’m sick. It’s more of I wanna know what’s going on in my entire body and I want all the most cutting edge like, um, supplements or tests or things where I can learn like how to reverse aging, reverse diseases, live a better life for me or my family members. And, you know, being at the front of it, and in a lot of these conversations as these projects are being developed are in the conceptual phase. I’m super excited because I think we’re gonna see this wave of a lot of longevity, serious longevity pop up in luxury hotels around the world. It’s already starting, but the wave’s coming and then projects get launched around true serious intense wellbeing. And it could be a mix of western medicine and eastern medicine. And I think that also what we’re seeing is people realize they’re not getting this from their doctor. They’re not getting it from, if they have insurance, insurance isn’t really covering anything. And so what they’re looking at is, where can I go take a vacation, but at the same time get this like complete check-in. And then there’s another segment of it that I think that depending on the segment of the guest and the, the, the wealth, right? There’s this signal, um, a virtue signaling was like, you know what? I just spent 25 grand for this, right? I just went to this luxury hotel and I spent 50 grand for this experience and now I’m gonna live longer and my family’s gonna live longer and we’re gonna live healthier. But I’m excited to it because I wanna go stay at these properties. I want to go through these experiences. Barak Hirschowitz: I was just gonna say, it’s, it’s very exciting. So we have, and Jon’s I think introduced us to some amazing, um, so, you know, if you, if you’re not able to come to the event, certainly keep following us. Um, you know, we’ve, we’ve we’ve learned a lot about longevity and how it’s moving. Some real examples like Clinique la Prairie from, um, Switzerland, for instance, one of the original Longevity institutes. Not many people know this. It’s, uh, what’s the cost to stay there, Jon, for a week? Jonathan Edelheit: Yeah, I I feel like it’s, I could be wrong. Like it could be like 40, 50,000. It’s not, yeah, Barak Hirschowitz: It’s really, it’s in the tens of thousands to stay there for a week, I believe. And they’ve just opened, um, they’ve opened in, um, in Dubai, um, in a hotel in Dubai. They’ve opened, um, their opening in Saudi, in China, in Thailand, um, all in partnerships with luxury hotels. And these are, people will pay to travel to these, um, to these longevity institutes that are now being built into luxury hotels. So that’s a really exciting part of it. And then just to, to kind of pivot back to the question that you were asking about, you know, some of the sessions coming up and who the speakers we have, I’m really, I mean, every year our team really knock it out the park with speakers, but the lineup this year is like, is the who’s who of everyone. So whether it’s on the investment side, on the finance side, I mean, we’ve got John Tore, uh, Dan Peak, we’ve got um, uh, Glenda Powell, we’ve got Jonathan Fick, all these people that are, I dunno if you, you know, check out our agenda. But they’re all like the heads of, you know, leading companies on the capital, on the real estate side of the industry. And then of course, big management companies, Walter Eisenberg’s back again this year with us for our CEO of Sage and a lot of the big management companies with president of Abridge for Europe, speaking in Europe. And so we have really the who’s who on, on not just the, the brand side, of course, you know, hor Hor Schultz is gonna be with us this year, one of the co-founders of Ritz Carlton, an iconic hotelier if there’s ever one. And so we have, it’s, it’s hard to pinpoint specific sessions, but if you wanted to kind of like see some of the diversity of sessions we have and how wide ranging it is, we’ll be talking about like investment. Obviously we, we know there’s headwinds right in, in, in the real estate side of the industry right now with capital markets being what they are. And we’re at the top of a long time growth in hospitality. So we’re starting to deal with some of those headwinds. So how we could turn those headwinds into opportunity. But we have literally like the biggest people in industry speaking about, right? So the, the, the who, who then you kind of flip to like sports tourism is a really big thing. Um, I’ve traveled for sport. I’m, I’m a marathon runner, so I, I do a lot of that kind of thing. So we have like, uh, it’s just really interesting ’cause we have like a session on, on, on how hotels are starting and obviously Vegas is a perfect example of Formula One. So, um, one of our partners, a DA cosmetics, I don’t know if you know this, but a DA cosmetics is part of BWT, which is the owners of the, of the, um, Alpine, uh, formula One team. So, um, they are, you know, gonna be talking to us. We have a confirmed 360 who, they’re providers, I don’t know if many people know this, but they, they’re behind some of the biggest concierge companies around there. Like when you go to one of those concierge companies and you say, Hey, I need tickets for Taylor Swift Front Row, can you get ’em? They’re the ones that actually get those tickets. And so confirm 360 are actually partnering with us, with us this year because they, they used to really just do this for elite concierge services, but now they’ve started to extend it to the hotel industry and, um, especially now that guests are relying more and more on the hotels for coming up with this kind of stuff. And so they’re doing an activation for us where, um, they’re gonna give our, our attendees an opportunity to go to the stadium, um, the Raider Stadium and take a tour, go back, back tour of it and things like that. So, um, that’s very, very cool. We have, uh, as Jonathan mentioned, we talk about things like wellness. Technology’s obviously huge, so we have a lot of sessions on, on that side, F and BI mean, for most of these investment people who attend, they rarely have F and b um, sessions, you know, so for them, they’re, they’re picking up on stuff that’s like sustainability and f and b and things that they maybe wouldn’t connect with at other conferences. So we’ll be talking about, um, obviously like the big labor challenges and some of the trends, brand and luxury, we try to look at the advantage of being at the end of the year is we kind of, we look at what people have spoken about already and then we kind of look at what’s really coming in. And I’m gonna tell you like my, my, I I, I have something personal every year that I kind of take on that. I think just from our big picture perspective as the president, like what is something that’s like right now, like this year that people haven’t quite clicked with yet. And for me, odd message, and like I said, I’m speaking about it next year, at our next week we’re at a vendor conference in Texas is, and I spoke recently at a conference for the, I was invited to speak at the, at the fitness industry, CEO summit, which is really unusual for me to be there. And they wanted hospitality in there. And it’s along the same lines, which is really, you know, guests are now expecting this kind of stuff, right? Like, I think fitness and wellness, this is the year that that changes, right? I think most guests are not happy anymore with your crappy gym. They’re not happy with crappy gym equipment. They want classes in the hotels. They want things like this. And so we’re actually partnering with some of the biggest fitnesses organizations. Not just the equipment makers, but actually gym companies too. There’s always gonna be the innovators, like, you know, Equinox and these guys who, who, who partner with these gyms, the Epic and Miami, who has, you know, a gym with glasses and one hotels and those brands that were, they’ve, they’ve been in it already, but for everybody else out there, you know, this is the thing where the guests are now starting, it’s the wifi of today. Like, what is your fitness offering at your hotel? And I think that that’s like, I think part of the driving, like I would leave with people today to start p their eye on that. And then also, but then how do we know we as hoteliers, how do we know when we need to do this? And this, my thing this year is your suppliers or yours service providers or vendors or whatever you wanna call ’em, they are often the brightest minds in your hotel when it comes to answering these questions. Right? We had, at our event last year, Serta, one of our longtime partner Serta Simmons, brought in sleep scientists. ’cause we’re in the business of sleep, right? And the funny thing is, we are terrible at it. Like we think we’re good at it, but we’re putting in LED lights, we have curtains that don’t close. We put super high thread count sheets onto mattresses that basically we didn’t know this. And their sleep scientists came in and said, listen, you realize if you go super high thread count, you’re saran wrapping a mattress and a mattress designed to take heat away from your body. So what’s the guest gonna do? They’re gonna crank up the ac. So not only are you paying for fancy sheets, the guest is unhappy and your your energy bill goes up. So by realizing that some of our ven our vendors are, you know, they’re not just selling to us, they’re selling in retail and they know what is, they know how to use their products, but they also know what the consumer market wants today, what, what’s important for them today and what’s coming. And so, you know, I think that that’s something that I, I I, our this year’s leave is don’t just look at your suppliers and your vendors as like somebody who brings you something or you purchase something from, think of them as actually the solution or the expertise that you need to make some of these decisions around. Like, don’t just go and go, Hey, I need 3000 mattresses. Go to them and say, how can you like, help our guests sleep better or help us understand how to do this better. You know, same thing, but we used coffee as an example earlier, like, how am I supposed to know about my guest today wants to know where this coffee was sourced, what kind of bean it is? You know, how am I supposed to know all this stuff? Right? Well, if you have a good coffee supplier, they can tell you and they can also tell you what the guests are expecting and what’s important to ’em today. And so, um, you know, that’s I think something that I just, I feel for us is really important this year is just really teaching the hoteliers how to look at their partners, just not as suppliers, but also as like as, as a wealth of knowledge to help them keep up with these guests that are, you know, constantly demanding something new because that’s what they have at home now. Jonathan Edelheit: And you can’t get, you can’t get away with you what you could in the past. I feel like, you know, if I’m at a luxury hotel and the coffee in the room is not good, it’s poor. Like that’s a reason for me not to come back to that luxury hotel as a little ’cause you just don’t expect it. Or you’re talking about the gym is, you know, when I go to Abu Dhabi, I love staying at the Grand Hyatt. It’s one half of the four is the gym facing the sea. Right. It’s gorgeous. You get like, they get it. I love working out. It’s a place. And then I, you know, and then you go to like, I think it was the St. Regis in Doha. And I go and it’s kind of like in the basement, it’s small, everything is packed in. It’s older. You’re looking at walls everywhere and you’re like, you know, like this is not the experience that your guests who are coming for, who this is important for them. It’s like you have to, you know, every guest has their own passion and you know, within that space, like, and you have to be able to accommodate them. And I think it’s so much more in the details of what matters to each of ’em that’s important. Barak Hirschowitz: We don’t, yeah. And we don’t, as hoteliers we don’t, what do we know about gyms? Right? So, you know, I I try, I also say to, you know, our industry has an incredibly high turnover. We always have. We always will, right? And as much as we try to improve that, it’s the nature of our business that whatever you bring in, it’s, you need to make it something that is, we’re not act, we, we have a high turnover. And that does tend to hurt sometimes us being able to kind of keep up as well with this demand. So not only are we like battling to kind of keep our staff and keep our turnovers low, but we’re trying to understand what these guests want all the time. And I think that’s where like, you don’t need to be an expert, but you can partner with a gym company who can tell you how to run a gym. I mean, as simple as take the equipment you have in it, let’s say you bought really nice equipment, but is it placed correctly in the gym? Do you have, you know, if I walk into one more gym and I look at a bowl of apples and some towels and a pa plastic water dispenser with paper cups, then I know you’re doing the absolute bare minimum congratulations. Right? But those guests don’t want that. They want, they go to the gym five times a week and they’re traveling and they want to have a similar experience. So you better partner with a gym or get a gym company to help sort that out. And I think that that’s where I think we don’t need to be overwhelmed, right? We just have to look at our partners and find the right partners who are experts at it and say, Hey, listen, we don’t know anything about gyms but our guests, it’s really important to them. How can we get classes in here? How can we make our gyms better, um, help us understand how to do that. Jonathan Edelheit: That’s, we’re, we’re harping on gyms, but I’ll go when I was, I was just in Malaysia at the, uh, was it the four c St. Regis. And I walk in and they have, like, I travel a lot and I get back pain from long flights and they have the, the one piece of the back equipment that I, that just solves all my back pay. And, you know, you see it and you’re like, you’re just so excited. And every day I go to work out, but to use that piece of equipment, I’m not a runner like Barack, but it’s like those things matter. And I think hotels need to ask the experts in the industry versus just saying, we just, you know, we’re gonna do the bare minimum, we’ll have the equipment and that’s it. I don’t think they understand the importance. Barak Hirschowitz: So, and they, but their guests understand the importance and, you know, again, they don’t need to know. They, they, you know, today’s GI guess the, the, the takeaway is that, you know, today’s innovation is tomorrow’s baseline and you need to kind of keep up with that. And that’s, I think what our association has really been trying to help a lot of, uh, hoteliers understand is, okay, where are we in the cycle from innovative? Like, cool, you can have it and you can really impress guests. Um, to, you know, the first time I ever saw classes in a, in a gym was when we held an event at the Epic in Miami, I mean in a hotel. And today it’s like, it’s gonna be normal. I would say within two years. Most luxury hotels will have some sort of classes, whether they’re virtual or not. So in, across whatever it is that we, whatever our is that our guests want, you know, we, we need to know where they’re at in that cycle. Jonathan Edelheit: The other thing is how do you measure and track stuff? So my wife’s traveling to a luxury hotel in like two weeks, right? And I’ve texted, I WhatsApp the hotel several times ’cause they have a WhatsApp number. They don’t answer, they don’t answer their phone for some reason a couple times. And they don’t respond to WhatsApps. It’s been three WhatsApps in 48 hours. So someone at that hotel has decided, right, I’m gonna implement this technology so guests can communicate with us easier. But what happens when that doesn’t happen? And I’ve had that happen on other trips where they have WhatsApp, they have what texting and it takes hours for people to respond. Then you go to a property where you do it and there’s an instant response, right? So it’s, you know, you can go adopt the most cutting edge tech, but are your people trained? Are you measuring it? Are you doing it right? And getting that, you know, that the benefit out of adopting it. Barak Hirschowitz: We’ll cover a lot of that stuff at the event of course. Um, and, you know, we’ll this is kind of what we talk about. So you’re, I guess we should, we should we, we could probably talk for days and hours, very passionate as you can see about this kind of stuff. But I think to kind of bring it back to the event a little bit and, and look at what we have, uh, coming up. I mean, it’s, I think you’re gonna have, we try to balance a little bit in each category. So one thing you can expect is that there’s going to be something at least two or three sessions very specific to your niche. And then we highly suggest you go to other topics that maybe you wouldn’t normally attend because you’re still gonna go to those other shows in your niche, right? This is the one chance you get to go listen to some of the speakers about some things that are very relevant to you, but maybe not something you deal in your day to day, especially at events. And then we have some fun stuff around the event as well. Um, we’re doing, like a vendor is one of our biggest partners that I, I mentioned, I’m speaking at their conference next week. Um, they’re doing a, like a whole networking thing for us on the, on the first evening we have a president’s dinner. I, it’s a invitation only event that we do. It’s, um, it’s, we don’t reveal it until we have a really cool, um, activations company that helps us put it together and we don’t reveal much about it until the time. Come to the event and find out. Um, there you go. Yeah. So there’s gonna be a lot going on. It’s, it’s really, I I think it’s, it’s big, but it’s, it’s, it’s, it’s a small event in that intimate, like if you come there for two days, you’re gonna pretty much get to meet most of the people that are there. And not that many events I would say can say that about, about networking. Ryan Embree: Well, that’s why I love these preview episodes because the intentionality behind these conferences. ’cause as attendees sometimes we just, you know, we show up, we see the agenda, we see all the programming and the intentionality behind your education, your programming, the activations and the hard work behind that and the, and the reason why, you know, even from the location to the time of year that you, uh, you know, you, uh, host this show. It’s so, it, it, it’s so methodical. It’s, it’s so cerebral and what you guys are doing. I’m, I’m so excited. I mean, you guys have got me pumped up and energized to go, uh, in, in December. Um, and one thing on wellness and longevity, I mean, we, we talked at the top of this episode about how, you know, luxury travel has a special connection to people, you know, through tradition, you know, and, and connection and, and that longevity, that wellness, you know, it, you can call the trend, you can, it’s, it’s here to stay. I think we’ve all identified that that’s just the natural next step with luxury because, you know, it’s obviously has a strong connection to our soul. The next part of that is your body, right? So that’s what the luxury travel is going to anticipate. Like you were saying, Barack anticipating the needs before you know it, you’re not waiting for those o other sectors, like John was saying, for the brand to mandate it. You wanna be in front of this, you wanna be the trendsetter. And that’s, that’s what luxury hospitality has always been. It’s been the trendsetter for hospitality. So as we wrap up, you know, I want to ask, it’s my first time going maybe with our audience, uh, considering, uh, attending, uh, for the first time. What would be one tip from each of you, uh, for a first time attendee of this conference? Jon, we’ll start with you. Jonathan Edelheit: Uh, I think it would be that that common phrase, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. Uh, just, just kidding. I would say, you know, be, be confident and, and you know, everyone is very open, right? So don’t be intimidated of, oh, I’m going and I, there’s a CEO or an owner or hospitality management company. You know, walk up, be friendly, engage people, talk to people. You, I mean, you could pretty much meet almost everybody at our conference, right? I think for everyone is very open to networking and connecting, um, and learning. And so come with that open mind. Don’t, don’t worry about, oh, is this gonna be a clique-ish event? So can I just go walk up and talk to this CEO of a hotel or the CEO of a hospitality management company? I, I think that’s one of the best things about, about our event is you can meet anybody, you can talk to anybody, learn anything. Um, so, so, so come with that and come with that mindset of you’re gonna be social. Barak Hirschowitz: For me, um, what I would say is, and I’ll, I’ll back this up. Um, I think that this event, what surprises a lot of people, I think a lot of shows, especially expos, they have sessions. I’ve spoken at those sessions and I think that they’re, they’re not the main purpose of those events. And so when people come, they miss out maybe on a lot of expertise that’s given. I think at our event, it’s really focused around sessions. Take the time. If you get a, if you get invited or you buy a ticket or whatever, and you come to this event, take the time to go to as many sessions as you can. I’ve had some of the most experienced hoteliers in the world attend sessions at our event, come out with like notebooks full of stuff because this event was actually built for the highest level of, of decision making in the industry. So we, we really have incredible content try to go to that. Everything is recorded and it’s gonna be given away for free. But I feel like, and at, at the end of this, uh, over the year, so you’ll get access to it. But I feel like if you come in person, it’s different. And I would say bring somebody, so the people who come to me, like the ones that really wow me every year are, I get, we get like general, we’ll get like a GM or an MD of a the luxury hotel and they’ll bring like a couple of their staff members with them, their team, and the next year they bring like two more and it’s like a reward for them because they just said it’s, they learn so much at that event and it just motivates them going into the new year. So I said I would back it up. I’ve, what I am prepared to do is I, ’cause I feel it’s really important, I’ve seen it over the years. If there is any manager, general manager, hotel owner, anybody who would like to bring somebody from their team, we’ll give them a pass. So if they buy a pass, we’ll give them a pass so that they can bring one of the, because I know it’s not always, you know, it’s expensive. The good news is this year, one thing about resorts world is that they have two, we have two hotels. So we have the Conrad and we have the Hilton. So you can pretty much find anything for your budget. I think the range is pretty wide with that. But at the same time, like I said, I, I think it’s super, it’s not just for you. I think we talked about our t um, industry having, we are in the business of people, we’re a people business. And if I learned anything about being in the best hotel in the world, it’s that where most other hotels fall short on the service side is that they don’t delegate enough expertise to, or, or even bandwidth to solve guest problems to their, to their, to the people below them, their line team and stuff like that. So I think that to empower them, not just being able to take care of their guests, but also giving really big picture understanding of what’s going on in the industry is very powerful and motivating for them. So again, I I advise that anybody that’s coming here for the first time, um, bring somebody from your team and reach out to us and say, Hey, Barack said that we get free passes, he’ll match whatever we buy. So my two passes, I’ll give you two passes because the more of your team you bring, I think the more benefit you’re gonna have and it’s gonna see right? It’s gonna go right through. It’s a great way to start your new year. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And, and those topics and sessions that you were talking about Barack have heard, you know, are great conversation starters. They’re great icebreakers for, you know, what John, you know, advice was, uh, to to talk about, you know, how people are implementing longevity into their hotel brand or, or into their luxury property. So, you know, there’s a lot of continuity there. Uh, really excited for that. Uh, hopefully there will be a lot of sweet spot listeners and, and luxury hoteliers that we meet out in Vegas. Appreciate both of you coming on. You know, as we wrap up today, would love to hear as co-founders, you know, here we are, 16th edition of the Inspire USA event. You said third edition of the, uh, inspire Europe. You know, what’s your, what’s your vision for the future of ILHA as we move into, you know, the, the back half of the, the 2020s? Uh, Jon, we’ll start with you. Jonathan Edelheit: Uh, you know, I’m excited to, uh, I would say expansion in other regions of the world. You know, we’re, we’re working on stuff where there’s tremendous innovation and investment in the luxury hotel side. Um, so we’re looking at, you know, how we could, I don’t, <inaudible> is diversify, but, you know, have more of a global presence. Like I said, we’re Brock, she we’re doing Europe, you know, we’re doing the US and the Americas. I think there’s a lot of exciting stuff going on. I think, you know, we’ve been super successful in being basically the biggest influencer and educator from a digital standpoint is really looking at how could we take that to the next level, you know? So it just, you know, very exciting times and, and just the investment we’re seeing in luxury hotel projects or in the luxury wellness and longevity, you know, looking at, you know, how do we, how do we help take that to the next level? Um, I I, you know, we’re just very excited. I think we’re, we’re very lucky ’cause we’re in this space of innovation and invest, which isn’t always happening in other industries. Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah, I mean, I, and also it’s interesting. We, I think we get to see like what’s going on around the world. Very, it’s, it’s kind of fun sitting in, like John’s speaking about, like we, as we know here in the US for instance, the, the, the, the investment side is slowing down, right? So in real estate, but we know that in, like John’s very big, he’s on his way to Saudi next week. Um, he’s involved in a lot of big projects that are going on in there and in Asia, some of the projects in Asia and stuff like that. So there is stuff booming around the world, and that’s what’s good as well as is that it, you know, when one area starts to dip, the other area picks up. And so we can kind of give a perspective of that. But I’ll also say that the, the future of ILHA is really not up to us. It never has been. It’s always been organic and we’ve, you, we have, we’re it’s not John or I, you the organization is, is, is, is, is hundreds of thousands of people. And what happens is that pockets of those people start to say, Hey, we want to do something, right? We have a chapter in LA that just, you know, kind of came up over the last couple of years and they’ve been incredibly active. They just went, they had an event, uh, recently at the region for the relaunch of the region, Santa Monica. Before that, they had another one for the rebranding of w at the W Hollywood. We had another group approach us from, uh, from, from London. And so now we have a chapter, uh, they’re on their like third event already. And it’s run by like the leaders of the Four Seasons, the, um, the head of the Claridges and some of the top luxury hotels, obviously, uh, global Asset Solutions, those kind of companies. So they’re, they’re coming to us and saying, Hey, we, we were involved in your systems. We wanna do more and we wanna do some local stuff. Can we take it from there? So the future of our organization has always been by the people. Like they come to us, we don’t plan, we just go with the direction it wants to go. And we’ve been like that since the beginning. And I think that that’s, that’s what’s helped us really be strong is, is, is not trying to like, try to steer it in any one direction, but let it go where it’s naturally gonna go. Ryan Embree: Love to hear that. And so cool to see those, those chapters and, you know, additional events popping up, but, you know, excited for the next chapter and, uh, you know, honored to be a part of it as well. You know, travel Media group, proud members, partners of the ILHA. So thank you so much, uh, John Barack, uh, for joining me here on the Sweet Spot. Uh, just really teeing off, uh, a an incredible event that I, I’m very much looking forward to. I know hoteliers are as well. Uh, and we’ll see you in Vegas in, in just a couple months now. Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah. And also thank big thanks to Travel and Media Group and yourself for, for your support and being innovative. You know, like podcasts are, are, are you, you’ve really been successful at getting your podcast, um, you know, to have a huge following in the hotel industry. And, and I think that we are excited to have you guys here and Travel Media Group, what you’ve done. I think there are not many, you know, as this industry constantly changes, they need, you know, the industry needs partners that are like kind of one step ahead and can guide them as I’ve taught, spoken about it. And definitely in the like hotel marketing space. You guys are sort of at the forefront of that. So we’re excited to partner with you guys as well. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you so much. We really appreciate that, Jon, thanks for joining me, Barack. Thank you. And like I said, we’ll see you in Vegas in just a couple months. Barak Hirschowitz: Yep. See you in Vegas. Ryan Embree: All right. Thanks for listening to the Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Check out the latest Suite Spot episode featuring SVP and CMO at Best Western Hotels, Joelle Park! Joelle joins the Suite Spot to discuss the incredible BWH portfolio, their Life’s a Trip campaign, marketing to different traveler segments, and much more.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for another special edition of The Suite Spot. I am so excited to bring in our guest today. We’re gonna be talking about everything, the Best Western Hotels and Resorts brand, but also marketing that is, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Joelle Park. Thank you so much, Joelle, for being on the Suite Spot with me today. Joelle Park: Thank you for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: We’re gonna have a great conversation about marketing, about your wonderful brand. Some of the recognitions that the brand has seen recently. And we’re gonna talk about some industries trends as well. But as per tradition here at the Suite Spot and really hospitality, we love to hear everyone’s kind of journey story that led you in. You know, sometimes we have people just fall into the industry, but at the end of the day, a lot of people fall in love with our industry ’cause hospitality is one of the, if not best industries to work in. Talk to us a little bit about your story, Joelle, and what led you to SVP and CMO at Best Western Hotel and Resorts. Joelle Park: Thanks, Ryan. Well, I’m really excited to be here and it sounds like many others. I have fallen into hospitality and fallen in love. I’ve spent over two decades in marketing overall working across brand strategy, customer experience, communications, and on every project, every account, it’s about driving results through innovative marketing. Early in my career, I started agency site and I partnered up some incredible brands in retail, entertainment, technology, and my last client was hospitality. And that’s where I fell in love with the industry. And now I’ve spent really more than 16 years in hospitality telling compelling stories. I have a love of travel personally, but I also just believe in the power of travel to make the world a better place. So I’ve been fortunate to take on some leadership roles spanning across loyalty. Now product development and something I’m especially passionate about is culture and customer experience, because the most powerful form of advertising really is the customer experience here at BWH Hotels. I have the privilege of leading our marketing, communications, loyalty and partnerships teams, and that’s encompassing of Best Western rewards and Worlds Hotels rewards. So excited to share more about what we’re up to. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s exciting to hear and it’s interesting because hospitality, you talk to a lot of hoteliers in the hospitality world, and they say, although it’s a massive industry, right, it’s a very small world. You run into people that you know all the time. Sometimes you’re working with one brand, then you go to another brand. But I always find it fascinating to find stories like yours, Joelle, where you start outside of hospitality maybe, and then find your way into it. Because I do think that really does show the passion and love that people have towards our industry because once that bug, you know, and it happens to travel too, it grabs a hold of you. It’s hard to let go. And here you are. And a lot of the hospitality professionals that I have spoken to they’ve had that exposure to other industries. And there’s just something about hospitality that is so special. And I think you nailed it on the head about talking about the power that travel has. And one of the things within travel is storytelling. And I’ve heard you in other interviews talk about your passion and storytelling, especially, particularly in marketing. How has that shaped your approach to local storytelling at the hotel level to create really what we’re all trying to crave right now, I think in this world with technology and AI, which is authentic connection between a hotel and and your guest? Joelle Park: Well, I’m very fortunate because the authentic connection is happening all over. And so I didn’t have to manufacture anything. I’ve marketed a lot of different things and sometimes it’s harder than others to unearth the purpose driven story behind a brand. But in hospitality it’s so clear. And at BWH hotels, a lot of people don’t realize we have 18 brands within the portfolio, 4,000 hotels around the world. So Best Western is just one of many. And so first of all, telling the story of the portfolio and that’s number one. I had no idea. And I thought, if others don’t know, I’ve gotta go and help them tell this story. But part two is shining a spotlight on the stories that are already happening at the local level. And the beauty of what we’ve been doing here the last two years with the storytelling through our campaign “Life’s a Trip” and through our overall marketing is it started with inspiration from what was happening in that guest to hotel staff interaction. Naturally, our hotel team members were sharing their favorite things about the area because they’re the soul of the destination where these travelers are. And so all I had to do, and my team and I was listen and spend a lot of time at the front lines, at the hotels, listening to our team members, listening to guests, and over and over again, we heard about the power of these small moments in a state where our staff, or even maybe it was through guest messaging, not just person to person, but they were making these local recommendations and unlocked how we enable experience. And that’s why this idea of Life’s a Trip was born. So the story sort of told itself born outta the local level. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool. And I’ll go to back to your point, Joelle, about talking about manufacturing. Because I think right now in a time we crave authentic experiences and moments in our lives, and I think as consumers we have gotten, especially the younger generation, really good at being able to see what’s real and what’s not real. And you’re absolutely right. I think for the hoteliers that listen to this podcast know, I mean, between the interactions that you’re having online through social media reviews and just everyday moments at the property, there’s just so much special that happens there, right? And if as you mentioned, just unearthing that and being able to have a place and a forum to share those stories, such powerful marketing. And if that comes off as organic, that comes off as true and real, that’s when you have something really special. And obviously being recognized, I’ve seen the brand in the news lately recognized by USA today, 2025 Readers Choice Awards, several accolades including best loyalty program, which is awesome and best extended stay hotel for sure, Stay Studio. As marketers, we love to see these type of recognitions, right? That means more getting to get the megaphone out and sharing all the great news about it. But what does this mean, these recognitions mean to you? And really how travelers feel about the loyalty program and the Sure Stay brand? Joelle Park: I think it’s all about value. The value that we provide that then in return makes us a brand and a loyalty program that guests value. So let’s start with the rewards program. Best Western Rewards, 64 million members. I think a testament to the power of it, but what a lot of people might not realize is we have brands spanning the category, everything from our luxury and upscale brands, worlds, hotels, all the way through economy, and sure, stay. So people see the value in the program because they’re earning these points and there is a hotel for every type of trip occasion. We also have a huge number of independent and collection hotels, and people are seeking experiences. You said it, Ryan, authentic experiences. And what better way than these collection hotels that allow the independent experience to shine and the points don’t expire? And that’s really unique in the industry. That’s our commitment to say, you earn these points with your hard earned travel, and so you deserve to spend them where and how you want. So that’s a big differentiator. I think part of what contributes to that award-winning loyalty as it relates to Surest Stay studio, this is a great brand in best extended Stay hotel brand. And it meets the needs of today’s evolving traveler with the kitchenette for short or really long term. And it’s not just for work, but for vacationers families, multi-generational family is a trend, and we see that. So some of the amenities we provided something like Short Stay Studio appeal to today’s travelers, Ryan Embree: It’s so great. And seeing the travel trends and we’re gonna kind of talk about that. But to have a loyalty program kind of blend with the eclectic brands that you have at BWH hotels, it really does make it kind of the perfect stay for any type of traveler out there because you see that, that travel is not just segmented into one particular area anymore, right? Or seeing more and more of a blend of people saying, Hey, I wanna extend my work vacation a little bit more. Maybe I do wanna bring my parents to look after the kids while you know me and the wife go explore the area. You know, these types of trips and travel are really starting to blend here and keeping a close ear and eye to the ground. And it’s gonna be those brands that have positioned themselves well to kind of be able to welcome any and all type of travelers that are gonna do the best. So, switching gears, Joelle, Larry Kulick, President and CEO of BWH Hotels recently shared on LinkedIn that at Best Western Hotels, we view technology as a strategic enabler for providing a great guest experience. Today we’re using technology and AI to continue to reshape the guest journey. And I think, I find this quote so fascinating because maybe other industries, we’ve talked about this, you know, AI and technology could be easily implemented and there, because there’s not so much of a human touch to it, but in hospitality, you almost have to be a little cautious and going full AI and technology because at the core of this, it is a very human human connection. You know, white glove service, you’re hosting people in a home, right, at a hotel. So how do you kind of find that balance? How is Best Western kind of find that balance there between human touch and technology? Joelle Park: Our philosophy is you don’t focus on technology for technology’s sake. You focus on technology and innovation to power what you uniquely offer to the world. And what we uniquely offer is taking care of people. So then the question we ask is, how can technology help us take care of people? And the great thing is, when you put that power, that innovation in front of your frontline team members, you can help them be more efficient in what they have to do so that they can focus on what they love to do, which is taking care of the guest. So as an example, check-in, check-in requires a lot of different steps that happen behind the scenes. And I like to think of it like a duck on the water. The guests should just see the ducks gliding seamlessly over the water. But you know what’s happening under that. It’s a lot of piddling, and that’s what our frontline team members are doing at the front desk to check them in efficiently, get them in the right room, make sure it’s clean, make sure they’re recognized for loyalty. So if we can use technology to simplify that for them, make it so obvious the at their fingertips or in their visual, what they need to know about that guest, guess what? The majority of that time they’re gonna focus more on delivering great service. And that’s what we are in service of and how we’re partnering with our technology team here. Ryan Embree: I absolutely love that. I mean, listen, as a front desk agent, more than a decade ago, the memories that I have from that position, Joelle, is exactly what you were talking about. It wasn’t, you know, the hundreds of check-ins or checkouts that I did over the span of the week. It was actually the conversations that I had with those guests. And a lot of that conversation happened after I had to get through the, all the rigamarole of the check-in process, right? So if there’s a place where we can get to where we can make things more efficient at, check-in, even any really touch points of the guest experience and be able to get to that place of connection, being able to say what brings you into town? I’d love to do some recommendations because as a traveler, as you were speaking to with the local storytelling, what what we crave as travelers is to feel a part of a community, right? So when we come into an area, we don’t want to go to the same places that we could go right down the block of where we left. We want to see the best places in town, to see the best views, to get the best places to eat. And front desk, front desk agents are the frontline workers there? And your first kind of string into what is that community like there? So anytime that you can, I love to hear leaders in hospitality talk about, it’s not about, it’s not about using technology to necessarily replace, uh, but enhance and to make, you know, give, give, uh, more power to our employees and be able to connect better with our guests. And, and we’ve heard this, you know, in in traveler’s sentiment, we’ve, we’ve seen in guest feedback about people talking about new technology that brands are putting out there. You know, we just wrapped up the busiest, time of year for our hoteliers and travelers alike. The summer season, everyone’s outta school, everyone’s traveling. I’m sure you have a very strong pulse being in your position. You have to on what both hotelier and travelers are feeling right now. How do you feel like your hoteliers are feeling going into the fall and winter months? And are you uncovering any guest trends, maybe some interesting guest trends between your Best Western guests? Joelle Park: I mean, it was, like you said, you read the headlines sometimes and you wonder about economic sentiment, but there it is, travel still going strong. People are prioritizing it. And uh, what we’re seeing is they’re prioritizing experiences over things. And so even if you can’t take the week long summer trip that you would’ve abroad, what we’re seeing is a lot of domestic travel. And so people are still making time for the road trip. Now, don’t get me wrong, there are still people, they’re, they’re traveling around the world and they’re making time for that. But in this time of economic uncertainty, even a small getaway for a weekend can be powerful. And that’s what we see come through in the statistics on, on occupancy, um, and even rate. And I think a couple trends that we’ve seen multi-generational travel, and you hear about the sandwich generation, those that have the aging parents and the young kids, and they’re recognizing that bringing them together. There’s some powerful moments that can happen when you’re not in the routine, daily routine at home. And you alluded to it, Ryan, the moment when grandparents and grandchildren can have time without the parents, there’s something beautiful that can happen there. And on vacation there’s a theory about when you’re outside of your routine, moments are more memorable. And so travel naturally does that. So that multi-generational, the last minute road trip, Hey, we don’t have anything going on, let’s get away for a night and we’re seeing that, and this is where we excel because many of our hotels are off the interstate or in a secondary market. So it doesn’t take a lot to just drive an hour and go, and suddenly you feel like you’re getting away. So those are just a couple examples of some of the trends that we are seeing and how we’re capitalizing on it, taking care of our guests. Ryan Embree: Well, I could tell you firsthand, I’ve definitely done one of those travel trends with the multi-generational travel, you getting grandparents involved and my kids. And yeah, I can totally see the appeal to that and those last minute road trips, I think speak to what you were talking about, Joelle, of people prioritizing travel before personal items. And I know, listen, we had this podcast during the entirety of the pandemic, and some of those episodes were not fun to produce, or conversations were hard to have. But there was always, there was always this hope that after we went through that, that there would be things that we could look back and say, we’ve learned some lessons, or it’s really shifted the way that we think about travel. And I think this is one of those things I think people, even in a time of uncertainty are going, you know what, it might feel uncertain right now, but it certainly isn’t as uncertain as it was back five years ago. Let’s take that smaller, maybe it’s a little bit smaller vacation, maybe it’s a little closer to home like you were talking about. So I expect those trends to continue to grow. Hopefully there’s a little bit more certainty and people feel a little bit better about what’s in their pockets and spend a little bit more. Our hoteliers would probably love to hear that on this podcast. But in that time, I do think it is comforting to know that there is, it remains a priority for people and it will be one of the last things that people stop spending their money on. So let’s switch gears to strategic partnerships. I have seen the Best Western brand in a lot of different places. It’s been in the news celebrating some most recently with the United Soccer League. How has these strategic partnerships really help fuel growth and build guest loyalty for the Best Western brand, Joelle? Joelle Park: Well, I’m a big believer in data to inform where we go. So, and listening, I mean, great, if you’re a great marketer, if you deliver great hostel, you listen to your guests and customers. And by listening, the data showed us that our BWH Hotels, which is the name of the portfolio, our guests have a higher propensity to love sports, a passion for it, and they traveled for it. And it’s for the big games and the local ones. And since we are really tapping into this idea of being part of the heart of the community with local recommendations, United Soccer League was a perfect fit for us because they are providing opportunities to play and watch soccer, such a passion for this sport in communities, all over the us. So they have the professional leagues, they also have the USL Academy for youth and developing players. And so this commitment to not just watching the game and the professional aspect of it, but to cultivating it in younger generations and people love to travel to see, this great sport and others. So it’s been a really exciting partnership. We’re bringing it to life together. We have an aspect of it called Hometown Heroes, where we’re celebrating heroes in local communities that are giving back to this sport in special ways. And it’s just another way that we find that when we tap into the fandom of our guests, we can create something really, really fun and great together. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool, soccer or football fans, some of the most passionate, you would argue fans out there. So to have that, to be associated with that brand brilliant move on your part, but really cool also that you get to celebrate, those heroes that you were talking about. And really looking forward to kind of seeing that strategic partnership in the future flourish. Congratulations to you and your team on that. And speaking of congratulations, as marketers, Joelle fellow marketers, we love to celebrate things, right? What’s the next project? What’s the next new development? What’s the next thing I can get out there talking about my brand and how loud can I yell at? Right? What upcoming developments or projects at BWH hotels are you most excited about? Joelle Park: I think one first, is really telling the story of this portfolio that we’re tired of being the best kept secret. And we heard through research, people think they know Best Western, oh, I used to travel there with my on road trips with my grandfather, but I think they don’t know about some of the incredible new brands we have. One I am so excited about and love to highlight is Aiden. Aiden is a modern boutique style, very trendy hotel. It really embraces the local area. No two are the same great F&B options. One of my favorites to highlight is the Aiden San Antonio River Walk, a speakeasy in the basement. You push a painting and you’re in. And Ryan, guess what the speakeasy is called? No Vacancy. So tie right back to hospitality. So just really fun ways to bring aspects of a neighborhood into the hotel experience. Aiden is just one of those brands we’re expanding globally. So stay tuned. We’ve got a lot of expansion in the Middle East. We have a wellness resort, a sanctuary that just opened up and that’s part of our world’s hotels property. So we’re seeing this wellness trend and it’s bringing it into the experience. And then of course our latest extended stay brand, at home we just opened our first one, all new construction, gorgeous, all the necessities but no unnecessary frills, so really efficient. So a lot of exciting brands in the portfolio and some new hotels coming into the pipeline too. Ryan Embree: Well, I’d love to hear Joelle, because I think, between that time that you just spoke, you mentioned F&B, wellness, simplicity, and efficiency. I mean, these are all hospitality and traveler trends. So you and your team having brands that speak to not just, any type of traveler, but what’s the trends that are fueling travel right now is really, really critical. And for any brand out there that is going to continue in a time where we talked about it, it’s a little bit uncertain times right now to making sure that you’re putting yourself in a position for success because you know what people are looking for when they travel, what they prioritize is so important is gonna continue to be so important. And you and your team over there sound like you’ve done a fantastic job. And checking out all of those brands that BWH Hotels has to offer, I have such a privilege and I’m so fortunate I get to talk to industry professionals like you and for my audience, I feel like I owe it to try to get as many nuggets of wisdom or pieces of advice that I can from industry pros like yourself. If you’re a young hotel marketer listening to this podcast trying to get inspiration or advice, what would you share with them as maybe you’re one piece of advice moving forward? Joelle Park: Get back to the front lines, make time for it. Even if you go into a hotel and sit in the breakfast area and observe, I love visiting our hotels. I make time for it because the light bulb moments often happen right there in front of you, and all you have to do is listen and be humble enough to know that those frontline team members are telling their stories every day. And then it’s our job just to amplify what they’re doing. I’ll give you a great example. Sitting in the breakfast area at a hotel recently, I recognized that the breakfast attendant wasn’t just clearing dishes, they were greeting the guests. They were asking how their day was making local recommendations. And I realized when you hire for a breakfast attendant, you wanna hire as if they are the concierge at the hotel. And I realized that’s asking a lot in this day with labor shortages and whatnot, but putting a different lens on how you can hire as a hotel operator, then as a, from a marketing standpoint, when you’ve got operators bringing that lens into the everyday customer experience, and if you’re a young marketer and you’re observing that, you’re gonna find those stories and mode of connection happening, and all we have to do is shine a spotlight on it. Ryan Embree: I love that. I mean, listen, the age old advice, that GMs used to share with me we’re, you ever really want to know how your guests are feeling, go sit in the lobby at breakfast because they’re gonna talk about it, right? And I think it’s such brilliant advice for a young marketer because I think we have a tendency to think that a lot of the connection and maybe the biggest connections are done online, behind a screen, maybe on social media or reviews. But really it’s getting those, those stories, those moments, those experience like you were sharing out into a forum like that. And those connections are not, they happen online, but the more powerful ones are the ones that happen on property and then that turn into some amazing digital moments and stories online, down the line, right? So I think just great advice. Thank you so much for sharing. As we wrap up today, we always like to gaze into our hospitality crystal ball, as I call it. You know, get a glimpse into the future. What’s ahead? How do you see the BWH Hotel’s brand 5-10 years down the line? What do you see and what’s your vision for the future, Joelle? Joelle Park: I think in five years we are no longer the best kept secret. We’re the best told story and we are up there as a powerhouse that people had no idea. And I hope people say, where did this portfolio come from? Global expansion. And I think what we are uniquely positioned to do is help travelers seeking that experience that isn’t your cookie cutter, where they want that really hyper-local recommendation. And it’s not just the thing that’s the top of TripAdvisor. I mean TripAdvisor is great in the emergence of AI. You can get a lot of recommendations, but I like to think of us like the local bookstore. There’s a shelf there and it has the local staff recommendations. So it’s great books, but with the why and the insider scoop and in five years time, I think people will realize that any BWH Hotel they stay at, they’re gonna get that experience and watch out world because here we are. Ryan Embree: Alright, well we’re excited. We’ll keep our ears and eyes open to all those stories that, that you and your team over at BWH Hotels are sharing with us and telling us every single day. So thank you. I know we covered a lot of ground. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? Joelle Park: I would just thank you for the opportunity and what a joy to share someone that has the passion for connecting the world through hospitality like I do. So thanks Ryan. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. We’re excited to hear it. Thank you so much for taking the time and again, like I said, we’re gonna keep a close eye on the brand and congratulations to all the work you and your team have been doing so far and wish you a great 2025 and into the future over the next couple years. Thank you Joelle. Joelle Park: Thanks, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Alright, and we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. Thank you for listening. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot takes a trip to central Florida to visit the incredible AC Hotel Orlando Downtown, part of the Kolter Hospitality portfolio. The Regional Director of Food & Beverage at Kolter, Robert Mason, joins the Suite Spot to discuss: Seasonal Menus F&B in the Guest Experience How Kolter Hospitality is Shaping F&B The Importance of a Social Presence for a Hotel Property Be sure to tune in to catch the whole episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, continuing our series of the Suite Spot Road Trip into the summer a little bit coming into the fall. I’m here with right down the road from our Travel Media Group headquarters, I-4. I know you probably hear that and think might be a long way away. I-4 can be congested sometimes, but not too bad of a drive here. We’re gonna talk about that today. I’m here with Robert Mason, Regional Director of Food and Beverage at Kolter Hospitality. Robert, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Hey, thanks for having me. And we’re gonna talk a little bit about your property today. We’re gonna talk a lot about the portfolio and your job here as the Food and Beverage Director, but I do want to get to, as it is, tradition here on the Suite Spot, get to know a little bit about your background and what led you to Kolter Hospitality. Robert Mason: Wow. So I’ve been 42 years in food and beverage. It’s all I’ve ever done. It’s all I know. I started in the culinary side. I worked all the way up to executive chef. I actually studied under a master chef in San Francisco Bay Area and, had a really fun journey through culinary for about two decades. And about 15 years ago, I made the transition to the dark side, as I say, got into the front of house operations. and it’s been a great journey. Work brought me to Orlando. In San Fransico, I was kind of a small fish in a big pond, but here I’m kind of, was kind of a big fish in a small pond, so to speak. Yeah, but Orlando has certainly grown and developed over the last 20 years that I’ve been here. And just having fun. And this opportunity actually came up right in the middle of COVID. I came from a much larger property down in South Orlando. And the reason I took this job was couple full first, you know, I like the company culture. I liked the fact that the Skybar had so much to offer. I saw the potential right away. And it’s a smaller, easier to manage kind of thing ’cause everything’s in one place as opposed to a big sprawling resort with 15 outlets and that kind of thing. But I have stayed with the company because I really do enjoy all the people I get to work with Sarah, I know, you know, Sarah and John from our corporate office and Scott, our president, they just do a wonderful job. And they’re really people first. We’re a really people first company. So I believe in the vision here and that’s why I stay. It’s awesome to hear. And your story resonates coast to coast, but I think it’s a true example of hospitality professionalism. ’cause it’s transferable skills, right? Yeah. You know, you can work at a hotel, whether you’re in food and beverage on one side of the country, and then move all the way to the other, side of the country, like your story. And here you are in Orlando, before we get to talk about your property and this beautiful skybar that we’re in right now,right behind us, I four can throw a rock to the Kia Center, Citrus Bowl right over there. Orlando City Stadium. For those that aren’t familiar, Robert, that might be listening to this podcast, paint a picture of why this is just the perfect intersection and location. You’ve got yourself a great location here. Robert Mason: We really do. We really do. So, you know, I always tell people we’re kind of three different operations within one. So during the week we get a lot of the downtown business people, a lot of the movers and shakers in downtown that come here for happy hour, A lot of celebrations. But then we transition on the weekend to really a sports venue before games, after games when the magic are playing. We’re full of magic fans. We’re kind of the go-to spot for magic fans here before and after games, especially when they win. And then of course when there’s events, you know, next week alone we have, I think six concerts in seven days. And so again, we’re kind of the spot that people wanna go to. They see the cutout of the building and they go, wow, that’s really cool up there. And so you could drive by and see that. So we’re right kind of in this intersection, where we’re close to everything. Dr. Phillips is a block away. Kia Center’s a block away. The soccer stadium’s two blocks away, so it’s just kind of right in the middle of all that excitement. And there’s more to come, I don’t know if you know, but downtown right next to the Kia Center, they’re gonna build a whole entertainment venue. A lot of things gonna be going on there. So downtown only continues to grow. It’s funny, mayor Buddy Dyer said 10 years ago that he was gonna make downtown an entertainment destination. And people thought he was crazy. But now it’s actually coming to fruition. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. We see here, we got a concert in just a few hours here at the intersection of I-4 and 408, but also the intersection of so many events, different types of travelers. And here at the AC Skybar, you really get to enjoy it all. And it’s really cool because I’ve seen over the years, I’ve been in Orlando resident now for almost a decade now, you see, start to see the skyline of Orlando. And this building is part of that iconic skyline. When people do drawings or people take photos, it’s very, very cool to see. But you also got a lot of people taking pictures of this incredible view right behind us. Talk to us about this AC Skybar and what guests just absolutely love about it. Robert Mason: So, obviously, you can’t go wrong with the view that we have. We get great sunset views 365 days a year. And sometimes, it’s funny, we’ll be empty and then sunset’s 10 minutes away and people will just pile in and, and go along the glass to watch the sunset. And that’s a lot of times what attracts people here. But I think what has continued to elevate our business and has continued to resonate with locals and our hotel guests alike, is not just the great view. That’s great. But it’s really a bonus, right? It’s our craft cocktail program that we’re so proud of. We’re so proud to announce that we’re four years in a row. We’ve been the number one rooftop bar in Orlando. So continue to do that. Our food program and our outstanding service team that just continues to make our guests feel welcome and welcome them back. Ryan Embree: Well, congratulations on those accolades. That’s super exciting to hear. I was a bit of factor of being able to enjoy some of that food and beverage and the hospitality that the AC Skybar had. Thank you for that. So generous. And you know, it was absolutely amazing. Got the steak sandwich and the banana old fashioned cocktail part of a seasonal menu. We’re gonna talk about that in a minute. But Robert, we’ve had a lot of conversations with operations people, marketing people, hospitality leaders. A big trend that is sticking with hospitality, especially over the last 10 years, is the impact that food and beverage has on the guest experience. Kolter Hospitality really, really focuses in on that. And you’re a big, obviously a big part of that. Share with us how you bring creativity to that and how it plays a role into the overall guest experience. Robert Mason: So I think it’s really a matter of involving the people that make it happen every day. I think there’s a lot of different components to it. Just to kind of digress a little bit. But you know, here at the Sky Bar, one of the things that’s made us successful and that we’ve tried to now carry down some of our other properties is this idea that hotel, restaurants and bars often feel just like that. They feel like a hotel, restaurant and bar. And so when we put this together and we said, what’s the vision for the Skybar? We didn’t wanna be another hotel bar, another hotel restaurant. We really wanted to have our own identity. So it’s everything from how we do our social media to having our own website. And a lot of times people will show up here and they’ll say, wow, I didn’t even know this was in a hotel. A lot of times people think, well, the hotel rooms will help drive food and beverage. We look at it the opposite way. We look at food and beverage as a driver for the hotel rooms, and a lot of times that’s what we see. And so, really just taking what we know sells, right? Staying on top of those trends, reading those periodicals, staying on top of what’s new, what’s hot, what’s coming out, what’s available to us. And really capturing that and then carrying that to our other hotels and our other properties and allowing them to kind of be experienced that and be exposed to some of that. And sometimes they’re not, right. We all get busy in operations. We all get busy in day-to-day. Sometimes they’re not looking at that stuff. Whereas myself and my counterpart Greg McGowan, we’re always looking at that. We’re always talking about new angles on how we can do things and how we can continue to elevate our food and beverage experience. And we’re just at the tip of the iceberg. I’m so excited for what the next five years is gonna bring. Because really our goal is to establish Kolter not only as hotel destinations, but to really establish us as food and beverage destinations that when people think of Kolter Hospitality, they think of not only great hotels, but they think of a great food and beverage experience. Ryan Embree: Well, you’re off to a great start here. Again, recognitions awards. I would encourage all of my listeners to go check out the website and menu. Talk to us though. We always love hearing from the people that create this. We’re about to transition from summer to fall, like I mentioned before. That’s a big time for you, right? Especially with a place with the seasonal menu. Talk us through that process because it’s a little bit more interesting than just saying, Hey, let’s go back and flip a page to what we did last year. Robert Mason: No, certainly not the case here. And it’s something that’s been an evolving process. I’m a big believer in getting people to buy into what they’re doing, giving the people that have to do it every day, a sense of ownership over it. Right? And so this is something we started kind of almost ad hoc a few years ago where we had a bar manager and he and I would sit down and brainstorm about the menu and we would talk through what our seasonal menu was gonna look like. And then I forget who even thought of the idea, but hey, why don’t we get some of the bartenders involved in this? Right? And so we took a day and we set up a bar upstairs. That’s how we used to do it. In the old days, we’d set up a separate bar upstairs. Now we just do it at the lobby bar and it has gained momentum, right? Because what we found is that all of the team, right, all of our mixologists wanna be part of that process, right? And so we certainly give some guidelines, we don’t wanna end up with five martinis on the menu, right? But, it’s really incorporating those flavors. So when we talk about fall, we’re talking about things like maple and fresh herbs and smoked drinks and things like that. A little more bourbon forward. And really focusing on those things and getting the team thinking about those things. But also bringing in some things that are new on the market that, that maybe they haven’t been exposed to before. Bringing in a grapefruit, hibiscus tequila, bringing in some kind of kitschy items that maybe not everybody else is using. We do what we call the sky high. I’m sure you saw it last night, right? With the bubble on top of it. And when we started doing that, nobody else was doing that. Now a lot of people are doing that. So we’re always looking for that point of distinction, that signature drink, that signature dish that people come back for again and again. Now that said, right, just like every year at Starbucks. You can count on it. I wait for the day that pumpkin spice lattes come out because there are certain things that are fan favorites that people come back here. We have a great pumpkin spice espresso martini that we serve and we serve it in the fall. We may tweak it a little bit from year to year, but we also want to incorporate fresh things every single year. And so what amazes me, and I’m just so proud of our mixology team, they are so creative, so passionate, and they just come up with new ideas all the time. And I’ve learned so much from them. So it really becomes a mutually beneficial process and just working with, such an outstanding team. Ryan Embree: It’s such a brilliant idea, Robert, because I think you talked about ownership at the very beginning and getting people buy into what were the culture here. And if you see that your drink was chosen to be on a seasonal menu, it’s a lot of pride I’m sure in some of those mixologists because there’s a lot of effort that goes into that. And also it keeps your guests really happy. Or even your patrons that, local patrons that might come in to see, Hey, what’s the, what’s the AC Skybar got in store for us this season? Robert Mason: It’s funny that you should say that because I just had a couple people email me this past week, say, when is your fall menu coming out? What can we expect? And so, so it’s great. And the other thing I just wanted to mention real quick was the team gets together and they do kind of these brainstorming sessions and research and development sessions and just to watch them go through that process now, is they’re not afraid of hurting each other’s feelings. It’s very collaborative. Like, hey, you know, what would make that drink better? I know it’s your drink, but what would make it better is this. And that’s how we end up with great drinks, like the banana old fashioned, right? It’s a total team effort. Ryan Embree: It’s gotta be so rewarding to see as a food and beverage director, and to that point of pride when you see those emails come through talking about that. When’s that seasonal menu coming out? Robert Mason: Absolutely. Ryan Embree: But you mentioned it at the top of the episode, Robert, you could have the view, you could have the drink and the food, but a lot of it has to do with staff, right? And this is something that we’ve talked to a lot of hospitality people about over the last couple years. It’s a shortness of hospitality workers right now. It’s been tough over the last couple years. You mentioned at Kolter Hospitality your passion and for their culture and what’s kept you here. How has that bled into hiring? How have you gotten creative with staffing? I mean, some of these, those things that you just mentioned have gotta be motivators for staff and recruiting and hiring. Robert Mason: Well, again, I have a couple of core beliefs, right? One of them is, I wanna give people the opportunity to have a better life and make better money year over year over year, right? Every year I want them to have a better quality of life. So that’s, that’s important to me, right? But the other part of it too is I want people that wanna come to work, right? So we want to have an environment and a culture where, yes, we have to have rules and we have to have certain things in place. But we want this to be a place that people wanna come, which is why people stay here. I’m a firm believer that the only way you have great service is when you have continuity of service. Where you have the same people doing the same job day after day and year after year. And so we think we’ve really created that culture here. But I think part of it too, is hiring is the most important thing I do. I always say it. And there’s certain things I can teach. I can teach somebody how to make a drink. I can teach somebody how to serve a table or pre-bus a table, but I can’t teach somebody that desire to have that excellence. That’s something you either have it when you walk in the door or you don’t have it. I call it the spirit of hospitality. So I’m always looking for people that have that spirit of hospitality. I use myself as an example. Like, I’ll be out, somewhere and I’ll hold the door open for somebody, you know, and my wife said, what are you doing? I’m just holding the door open for someone because that comes naturally to me. Because I like making people happy. I enjoy seeing people that are happy and I wanna have team members on the team that want those same things, that share those same values. And so I think that we’ve accomplished that and we continue to reinforce that. We continue to reinforce, Hey, we want you to treat this like it’s your own business. If this is your section and these are your tables, treat it like it’s someone coming over to your house. Like, how would you want them to feel? You’d want them to feel welcome. And so those are the things that I think are so, so important. And I think over the last few years, I think certainly since COVID, it was tough on a lot of people. And I think people lost that spirit of hospitality. They lost that sense of hospitality. But here at the Skybar, we’re trying to bring it back. We want everybody to leave here feeling like they’ve got friends here at the Skybar. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s venues like this that really raised the bar to back to service of where it was before. And that connection is so important, especially in food and beverage as you’re sure we look a lot at guest reviews, guest feedback, as I’m sure you do. And there’s a reason why that drink might just taste a little bit better with a friendly bar bartender and a listening ear. Or if that meal or that dish might just be a little bit more special because of the service that was provided at that place. And that’s true hospitality and certainly embodied here. And again, recognizing the awards that you guys have that you guys have recently gotten. So you mentioned social media, and that’s something that obviously over the time that you’ve been in this industry has certainly changed. Robert Mason: Yes. Ryan Embree: How can food and beverage outlets, hospitality, you get this picture of, how do you leverage social media to really spread awareness and the word about your hotel and this AC Skybar? Robert Mason: It’s a great question and I think it’s something that we have only recently gotten right. Something for the first few years, was kinda like, everybody had a little piece of it. And you know, as I always say, when it’s everybody’s job, it’s nobody’s job. And things kind of fall through the cracks. But we’ve recently hired someone who’s on our food and beverage team and she’s fantastic. And she’s got a background in social media and content creation and her name is Rebecca. And so she’s managing our social media now. And I think it’s visibility number one, right? I think it’s being visible to people. That means you’ve gotta be active on social media. It can’t just be 1 post a week. It’s gotta be 2, 3, 4 posts a week. Reposting things, engaging people who are responding to you and who are showing interest. I think that’s how you gain followers. And I think really it’s all about creating special things and special events. We’re gonna be doing a thing we’re gonna call Meetup Monday, which is gonna start in October, actually I think October 6th is our first event. And it’s really all driven by social media. So we’re putting it out there on our social media pages on Instagram and TikTok and Facebook. We’re gonna push it out on Eventbrite. And it’s really just getting those people who are finding us on the internet because our demographic, that’s where they’re looking. They’re not reading newspapers and things like that. They’re not looking on tv, they’re looking on social media and that’s how they’re finding us. And so it’s just continuing to be relevant and continuing to have great content. We’re gonna do a bartender focus starting in October, where once a week we’re gonna have one of the bartenders who talk about the seasonal cocktail menu. They’re gonna get to make that cocktail. We’re gonna do a short video where they’re gonna get to make it and explain it and the thought process behind it and what inspired it and really make that an interactive process. So people that are looking in from the outside into our social media, they say, wow, the Skybar, they really have something cool going on there. And I feel like I know that bartender. I wanna go see that guy. And so they come in, they say, oh, you’re that guy that was on social media. So it’s so cool to see that interaction happening. Ryan Embree: It is fascinating because I think there was a time where as travelers and consumers we were fueled by surprises. Like when come in and we’d be like, oh look, check this out. Look at this view. Oh my gosh, they have a skybar up here. And now all of a sudden with just this information that’s to us, especially with social media, it’s almost like we want that familiarity before we even step foot, right? We wanna know that Robert’s our bartender and he’s been mentioned on TripAdvisor, on Google for his famous martini that he makes. And it’s so fascinating that that’s happened because we want to know everything before we step foot because we want that familiarity. It’s, it’s very, very cool to see. And another great proponent of why social media is so critical for hotels and food and beverage. Right now we’re getting towards the end here. I wanna do some rapid fire. And get to know you and the Kolter Hospitality portfolio a little bit better. So listen, this one might be tough because of the view that we’re at right now, but favorite view at one of your properties. Robert Mason: My favorite view, honestly, in all of our properties, and we have some outstanding properties from East coast to West coast of Florida, is the view of the harbor at the Westin in Sarasota. They have just a fantastic view now, not to be outshone, but right down the street from them is the Embassy Suites. They also have a view of the harbor and a view of the Gulf of Mexico. So I have to mention them as well, but that view from their rooftop bar and eats is unbelievable. Ryan Embree: Unbelievable. All right. Picturesque for sure. Favorite fun fact about one of the properties. Robert Mason: Favorite fun fact about one of the properties. You know, that’s a tough one. I would have to say that my favorite fun fact about this property is that we’re always trying to create something new. And I’m gonna give you a little preview of something that we’re launching. In the next few months is we are actually going to, I’m sure you’ve heard of the igloo craze up in New York and the north part of the United States. We’re gonna be launching some cabanas, some private cabanas on our patio. And we are going to be using these for VIPs and they’ll be able to be rented by the hour. And it’s just a great fun point of distinction. Something different that nobody else is doing that we’re gonna have to offer here at the Skybar. Ryan Embree: Love that. That’s fantastic. That actually falls under my probably favorite guest amenity or experience. What about favorite signature dish at one of your properties? Robert? Robert Mason: My favorite, actually I was just at the Western Sarasota. And again, not anything against our chef. Our chef does an amazing job. All of his food is amazing and all of our hotels do a great job with their culinary program. But Chef Ryan has these ahi tuna nachos that he makes with like a wasabi aioli on top of ’em. And they were so good. He wanted me to try ’em ’cause he just put ’em on his new menu and they were so good that when we were done for the day, I snuck back up to the roof and had another order of them. They were so good. I was thinking about ’em all day. They’re really, really delicious and everybody should try it. Ryan Embree: Hey, paired with your favorite view on the portfolio. Well that sounds like a pretty good night. Well, as we wrap up, you know, one of the things we like to do, we like to start talking about our guest beginnings. We like to end looking into the future, gazing into that hospitality crystal ball. You’ve been in the industry for a while. See trends kind of come and go. What are you seeing right now in food and beverage that’s really maybe a future trend to look out for? I think people want to know the story. I mean, there trends come and trends go. There are certain things that I think, and one of the reasons and that we had the Skybar the way we did is, since I’ve been here in five years, there’ve been tons of trendy bars that have come and they’ve gone and they’ve come and they’ve gone. What makes the Skybar unique is we wanted to have a timeless experience, right? Something that would always speak and never go outta style. And there’s certain things I think in food and beverage that never go outta style. Right now, a lot of craft people wanna know the story, especially behind wines and craft beer and craft cocktails. Even it’s trickled over into the liquor side, the spirit side. People wanna know the story behind that tequila that they’re drinking. And the craft vodka has in the craft tequilas and the craft rums that is really, really hot right now. Espresso martinis continue to be hot in any form or fashion, but the twist this year has been the tequila espresso martinis. So again, wanting those craft martinis and that kind of thing. On the food side, I think farm to table continues to be red hot. People want to eat locally. I think there continues to be this drive, especially in our society for healthier options, gluten-free, vegan, vegetarian. So we always wanna speak to that and stay relevant. And I think that’s a good place to leave it because I think if you’re not staying relevant, it’s easy to fall behind and it can happen very quickly. So staying on top of those trends and really watching for those trends as they occur, both on the spirit side, the beverage side, and also on the food side, is something that Greg, my counterpart and I are constantly doing to keep things fresh and new with Kolter. Ryan Embree: Sustainability as well is massive, especially for the younger generation there. But you’re absolutely right. I mean, this is a timeless industry and I remember being at UCF Rosen of Hospitality, professor saying, this is the oldest industry that there is. Hotels, hosting people and feeding them. So, Robert, we appreciate you hosting us and feeding us yesterday and being on the Suite Spot and sharing some insights with our audience. Robert Mason: Thanks for having me. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

The busy summer travel season is just about wrapped up, which means the Suite Spot is due for another quarterly check-in with the American Hotel & Lodging Association to get the latest news and developments taking place in the hospitality industry.  AHLA President and CEO Rosanna Maietta joins the Suite Spot to discuss current hotel trends, industry challenges, the importance of mentors and mentees in hospitality, and more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. So happy that you are listening to us here and ready to bring you another incredible episode with our quarterly check-in with AHLA in a preview of the 2025 Hospitality Show. It’s my immense privilege to welcome in our special guest for today’s episode, President and CEO, Rosanna Mietta. Rosanna, thank you so much for being with me on the back on the Suite Spot. Rosanna Maietta: Good to see you again, Ryan. Thanks for having us. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’re excited to talk about the Hospitality Show. We’re excited to talk about AHLA. What we’ve been up to last time we were together was at NYU IHIF. Since then, the AHLA and the hospitality industry in general has been super busy, that super travel season, that hoteliers love to see travel all over the across the country. Catch us up on some of the top issues AHLA is focusing on right now and maybe some of the key wins that have happened year to date. Rosanna Maietta: Sure. It’s been an incredibly busy summer. There’s nothing like a quiet summer anymore. We’ve had a lot going on both in Washington and around the country. Obviously, the most important thing the administration has been focused on over the last six months of this year was passing the one big beautiful bill, which while it had many, many provisions tucked away in it, the ones that our industry was really focused on were those that impacted our small business community, our franchise community, and our employees. So we were focused on passing provisions like the 100% bonus depreciation and making that permanent, preserving the like kind exchange, deferring capital gains tax on real estate at point of sale. All those changes will help the industry reinvest and grow. But we also helped to promote the no tax on tips, which will support 800,000 employees in the industry who benefit from tips. And so we’re working on what that guidance actually looks like once that detail is developed and how, and educating our employers on how they can roll that out to their employees, but also provisions around overtime and child tax credit and family medical leave. So all of those things, were really important to our industry. And so we were really pleased to help get that over the finish line. Outside of Washington, there has been a lot going on, whether it is advancing legislation in markets like Boston or Philadelphia on human trafficking training and prevention, which our industry has been leading on to working in Los Angeles, where we have seen over the last two years very intense work around pushing back against onerous regulations that would essentially increase wages for the industry by 40% overnight. Simply a situation we cannot, we cannot handle because demand is so low in Los Angeles, it’s second to only San Francisco. And San Francisco in terms of occupancy, has been starting to see an uptick, whereas Los Angeles has not, it has not come back to pre-COVID levels. So we’ve been working really aggressively there with the business community to push back on that ordinance that has gone into law, but we are still working with city council to try to make some amendments that would make sure that the travel and hospitality sector is strong, especially in the lead up to some of these bigger events that we’re anticipating next year, whether it’s World Cup and, and a look ahead to the Olympics. So, a lot happening in some of those key markets. And then across the country at the state level, also working to promote a level playing field with short-term rentals and so impacting legislation in key states. Ryan Embree: Yeah, never a dull moment over there in our industry. You know, we’re in a constant state of change and disruption, a lot of these in positive ways, but it, we look to AHLA as kind of a north star for a way to roll out some of these things for both hotel employers as well as employees. So we’ll continue to look there and really appreciate all the work and advocacy AHLA continues to do on behalf of hoteliers across the country. Summer’s also a time for summer jobs and internships and I’ve had the privilege to interview on this podcast some incredible hospitality leaders. And if I had a dime every single time somebody was talking about how, I started as a summer job or a summer internship and then will look at where they are today, 30, 40 year career in hospitality. So important. I know AHLA, you guys have your interns. We host an intern here at Travel Media Group. Can you talk and speak to the importance of internships? It’s no secret that our industry obviously has been battling with staffing shortages continues to do so. How has internships and hospitality mentors, how can they play a role in helping young people see a career in hospitality? Rosanna Maietta: So, incredibly important. Who doesn’t remember their first internship? I remember mine, it was unpaid back in the day when you could do that. But it was essential to building the foundation of what it means to work in the hospitality environment. Working in an office environment or on property. You can learn so much. And that ability to shadow different people is really so meaningful. And I think that what you’re seeing, so many more sophisticated interns coming in with already depth of experience and can hit the ground running. And so I think that’s really so rewarding to see. We’ve had our own interns here at AHLA and we’re sorry to see them go. You wanna wanna hold on to all those good quality individuals? But again, couldn’t stress enough how important it is. I think you’re seeing more in more companies, properties bringing on interns or STAs or apprenticeships, those go a long way in creating that bond with the industry. And so couldn’t stress more the importance of having those. I think the other thing that we are really, that our AHLA foundation has really been focused on is building out a mentorship program and a leadership mentorship program that has been, we’ve been making the inroads for that for a couple of years. And that one-on-one connection, being able to rely on someone in the industry who maybe it has a career path that you are looking to emulate or is completely different career path that you could still learn from is really important. This year’s program exceeded our own goals. We had more than 250 participants from 80 companies, and it included all the different business sections, career levels, participants from all sorts of segments, whether independent properties or branded hotels, and even management companies. The other really important stat was that 83% of the participants on both sides, whether mentors or mentees, were from underrepresented communities. So I think that really also speaks to how diverse our industry is and how important that is to who we are and who we serve. So we do have that formal mentoring program. I would encourage anyone to reach out to the AHLA foundation if that’s something that you’re interested in. And I’m so pleased to see how many more mentors we have reaching out to say, I want to mentee someone. And I think that says a lot about who we are as an industry and that heart service mentality that we lead with. Ryan Embree: It’s so incredible. That’s an amazing stat. Thank you for sharing that with us, Rosanna. And it doesn’t, I think all of us also remember maybe our first internship, but, there’s a lot of people that I have on this podcast that also remember their first mentor, whether that was an official mentor or not, somebody that they probably looked up to followed in the footsteps, management companies, brands during this time, I will say, I know it’s been tough with staffing, but they’ve gotten really creative over the last couple years and looking for more resources. And this mentorship program, the AHLA provides, seems like a great outlet to go in there and try to find, because a lot of you have an incredible stat that you share about those frontline workers that end up being GMs can do. Do you have that at the top of your head? Rosanna Maietta: I believe it’s 53%. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s absolutely incredible. And there’ve been so many times where you talk about just finding a career through hospitality. We’re fast approaching National Hotel Employee day, September 1st, everyone get your social media profiles ready for that one posting on that day, over 2 million hotel workers in America. It’s absolutely incredible. You spoke about some of the mentorship ways, but what are some other ways we can kind of encourage people to share some incredible stories? I know at the hospitality show, one of my favorite places is the GM of the Year Awards and kind of recognizing those. How can we get those stories out there, get more people participating in our workforce? Rosanna Maietta: Sure. Well, and Hotel Appreciation Day or Dmployee Appreciation Day falls on Labor Day this year. So also, you know, doubly special and you’re right, I mean, our general managers are so critical to telling that story and we really view general managers as the best brand ambassadors for the industry, right? Because so many of them, half, as we noted, started in entry level positions and have risen to running, major properties, running teams moving around the country, and really have a full holistic view of what the industry has to offer. So we’re doubling down on our outreach to general managers trying to grow that network, trying to get them also more involved in, in both the storytelling, but being the ambassadors, whether it’s meeting with members of Congress when they come to their properties, or engaging in in local city politics and being leaders in the business community, that is so much more relevant when they are talking about how policies at the city and state level impact their employees, their business, their ability to grow and, and expand that sort of supply chain that depends so much on the hotel industry. So really, I think that is one key way that we are really focused on that. But we’re also trying to expand our network in major markets around the country that are heavy destination and tourism cities to develop that business community where we can really be talking about and leading when it comes to hospitality and talking about the benefits that the hotel and hospitality industry brings to cities. I still think that despite how much we contribute to local city, state, national economy, there really isn’t a direct correlation in a lot of people’s minds. And so we’re gonna, we’re you’re gonna see more coming out of AHLA in terms of reaching out to media, telling that story more broadly, really talking about the importance of the hotel industry. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. I mean, it’s the backbone of a lot of these, of a lot of these major markets that are hosting events. Like you said, we’ve got the World Cup coming up, we’ve got the Olympics, right on the horizon as well. A few years ago, Taylor Swift and her tour. What would those events be without hospitality workers? Right? And the role of a GM has, has certainly evolved over the last couple decades. Such a comprehensive role now and undertaking it is such a skill. I admire all the GMs out there and what they’re able to do in the role that they’re doing. And that’s why things like the Hospitality Show, I think are very impactful. And I wanna switch gears to the 2025 Hospitality Show. We’re gonna talk about that a few weeks ago on the podcast, we hosted Alex Khajavi of Questex, and he really spoke to the special partnership, AHLA and Questex, obviously the two organizations behind the Hospitality Show. How has that relationship evolved Rosanna and helped grow the Hospitality Show to it? It was just recognized again by multiple awards, by the fastest 50 grand awards by trade show executive. So already highly recognized show in just its third year. It’s, it’s really in its infancy. Rosanna Maietta: I mean, it’s crazy if you think about it. I mean, it typically these types of shows, they take years and years to gain that type of following. I mean, Questex has been a phenomenal partner, Alexi at the helm with Paul and the great team there. It’s truly been a real sort of melding of the mind, so to speak, coming together to really understand who our audience is. I think we are able to bring that they have depth of knowledge and running a flawless show at that scale and size. I mean, we’ve grown by leaps and bounds in just three years, so this will be my first show, so I’m really excited to be there and be on the ground. We’re expecting some 4,000 attendees, 300 exhibitors, so it is become a destination, a can’t miss show, and we are so thrilled to see how quickly it has grown and really become another anchor in the hospitality calendar. Ryan Embree: We’re looking forward to seeing some record breaking numbers again from the Hospitality Show this year. We’ll be there, have the privilege of covering the show for the third time headed to Denver this October. If you haven’t checked it out, make sure to check out and hopefully you’ll join both I and Rosanna at the Hospitality Show. Looking at the agenda and the programming that you and your team have put together, it’s a powerhouse between the speakers, the panels, the programming, and it makes sense, right? I mean, you have your ears to the ground of what the hotel you’re in 2025 today cares about the topics, the trends, what is everyone talking about in hospitality? What its a very compelling, comprehensive show is really the term that I would use because of how that role of the GM has evolved where it’s food and beverage, it’s amenities, it’s marketing, it’s sales, it’s everything all put together. What are you most looking forward to? I know this is your first year, but what are you most looking forward to when you take a look at that powerhouse of an agenda? Rosanna Maietta: Well, look, I think this show has gained so much traction so quickly because we understand our audience and what they’re looking for this year. It’s all about profitability. And then it speaks to some of the challenges that especially the owner community has experienced over the last several years, right? They’ve seen rising costs, they have seen a drop in revenue and demand across the country. And so how can we create content where they can walk away and feel like they’ve learned something, they can immediately apply something that they’ve gained to bring down their costs to shave a little bit here and a little bit there and do a little bit better next year. And so that’s why I’m really excited about the content and the quality of speakers that we’ve amassed for this year’s show. I always say that if you deliver good content, people will come back again and again. So our team really does do a phenomenal job in identifying what are those topics that will resonate this year, who are the speakers that people care about, want to hear about, but also bringing a little bit of people that maybe they haven’t heard, but who will give them something new and different. So you always wanna have a little bit of that element as well. So we are gonna have numerous tactical sessions that we’ll talk about, profit per square foot with panelists who will talk about labor issues and layout and operational efficiencies, things that really speak to hitting their P&L. We’ll be talking about sustainability and some of the rules and and regulations around the country that are impacting that, but ways that they can boost their properties. Performance energy costs are so much of a P&L. And so how do you, how can you reduce those while thinking about all the regulations you have to deal with as well. Beyond that, the main stage will have a solution stage and education stage, dozens and dozens of speakers. We have about 60 industry leaders who will be on all of those stages, talking about really important topics. But then we have some other keynote speakers that I think will be really be interesting from other industries that our industry can learn from. With Chris Barton, who’s the founder of the search app, Shazam, which I know is on everybody’s phone. He’s gonna talk about the power of ideas and taking chances. We have a tech future as who’s gonna talk about separate fleeting fads from profitable long-term trends. How do you make sure that you’re just not falling for the thing of the moment, but you’re really focused on that long-term gain over time as well. And then of course, with everything that’s happening, macroeconomic environment, geopolitical landscape, we have an expert from Tanto Capital Partners who’s gonna talk about global forces, reshaping markets and what does that mean for consumer demand and travel, especially in the, as you pointed out, where we are expecting these big gains and a lot of interest coming to the us. So really encouraging folks to go to the HospitalityShow.com and where they can learn both more, but also register. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s really comes at a perfect time, Rosanna, because I think right now, like you said, profitability margins are slim right now. It’s challenging out there and hoteliers are just hearing all this outside noise from a lot of things about maybe the macro environment that you were talking about, but it’s also a time of disruption, right? Where they’re hearing that all of this AI and technology is really gonna make them become more efficient. So I think a lot of hoteliers have this like kind of FOMO of like, am I not taking full advantage of this and or for my business? And I think places like the hospitality show, events like the hospitality show where you can talk, network with your peers, exchange ideas, hear what people are talking about, really kind of puts you at an equilibrium and really calibrates you and says, okay, this is outside of the noise. This is where I need to be focusing. This is the newest and best technology that I can be using for my business. Put you in a position for success. So along with the Hospitality Show, the major one that happens October, 2025, you actually have regional Hospitality Shows that happened throughout the, the year across the country. I rebranded a couple years ago to the Hospitality Show. I always like, I always like to ask about these because I think this really gives a solid pulse of the hotelier today without that outside noise that we were kind of talking about. What’s been your experience this year talking to hoteliers on the ground and how do you think they’re feeling sentiment wise, heading into the fall and winter, which are typically slower months? Rosanna Maietta: Sure. Great question and you’re right. I mean the regional shows have really allowed us to get that pulse check on our members, but also introduce them to some of the advocacy issues that we’re dealing with in their own communities. And so bringing in local leaders, members of Congress from their district that they can have that interaction engagement with, because it has to be a two-way dialogue so that our members can also share some of the concerns that they have with people who are making their rules and regulations that govern our business. They’ve been incredibly important. And I will say this has been a tough year for a lot of our owners and our franchise communities, our small business owners. Again, demand, depending on where you are, sometimes, you know, if you’re on the upper East coast, you’re seeing a drop in travel from Canadians. If you’re in the middle of the country in some of these tertiary markets, you’re doing okay. I think some cities like Nashville and Asheville are doing really well, but that’s not been the case everywhere. And so I think there has been a lot of concern about how some of these rising costs are really impacting business and that bottom line. And so that’s what we’re taking all of that information both into our advocacy efforts, but also into thinking about how can we create a show that will address some of these challenges and burdens that people are experiencing. At the same time, this is an incredibly resilient industry, and you will hear that time and time again from anyone that you talk to, and certainly brand leaders, but also also owners while they’re recognizing this has not been a terrific year, they are still expressing a lot of hope for the future. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And that’s what really where we like to wrap up and end our episodes here, Rosanna. Is kinda looking into that hospitality crystal ball and I think AHLA does a fantastic job of really bringing to the forefront those issues that are going to impact your business. And we sometimes attend these conferences and you hear, some of that outside noise and it really gets you center at what is, what are you advocating right now and what AHLA is kind of keeping an eye on. What does that look like for the rest of this year going into 2026? Rosanna Maietta: Well, we’re gonna come back and hit the ground running after Labor Day. I mean, Congress has a looming debt ceiling to negotiate and deal with. So we’re keeping our eyes on that. We’re expecting to hear a little more about some of the decisions around the tariffs and how many deals have been made, what are the details of those deals. So I think some of that certainty and will bring added clarity to the industry. I think you have seen sort of a stalling of some development because of that uncertainty. So hopefully you’ll see that tie turn going into next year once some of those deals have been announced and people understand what the impact will be on costs of building and new development. So we’re keeping an eye on that. Of course, H2Bs is something else we’ve been lobbying on very aggressively this year. That is always staffing challenges are always a challenge and have been an issue this year as well. So we’re working through all of that, making sure the administration understands how important that is to our industry in particular. And again, at the state and local level, continuing to fight for a level playing field. Sessions will start opening up again, so we’re gonna hit the ground running there, but as we look ahead to the 2026 midterm elections, so for sure Washington and outside of Washington will really be consumed by that. But it’s a World Cup year, so I think that there’s a lot of a hope for travel coming back at higher levels than we saw this year and people are preparing for that. And there’s a lot of general excitement around the industry for those events. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s great to see. And 2026 will certainly be the year of the international traveler coming back and hopefully seeing all the incredible hospitality that our country has to offer. So we appreciate you Rosanna, being here on the podcast and talking to our hotel, your audience about the important issues and all the advocacy work you and your team are doing at AHLA. So thank you. We appreciate that. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? Rosanna Maietta: Look, wanna thank you for putting a spotlight on our advocacy issues, but also the Hospitality Show. We look forward to seeing you there. We hope many of your, your listeners and viewers will join us there. It’s gonna be a great way to both wrap up this year, but with a look ahead to what’s to come. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’re excited about that. Hopefully we can catch up there in Denver. Rosanna, thank you for joining me on the Suite Spot here today. Rosanna Maietta: Thank you, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Thank you for listening as well. We hope to see you in October at in Denver at the 2025 Hospitality Show. And we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The 2025 Hospitality Show is fast approaching! While it is only a couple of months away, it will take place in Denver, Colorado, on October 26-28. Alexi Khajavi, President of Questex—Hospitality, Travel, & Wellness, joins the Suite spot to discuss the upcoming event and what attendees can look forward to this year.  Alexi shares insight on:  New Interactive Zones & Networking at THS 2025 Questex’s Quest Zero Sustainability Initiative The Changing Landscape of Hospitality Digital Marketing and the Importance of Social Media for Travel And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. So happy to be with you today, previewing the 2025 Hospitality Show. Yes, it is that time of year, this year. We are headed out to Denver in October. We’re gonna talk all about it, with a very frequent guest, a Suite Spot veteran at this point, Alexi Khajavi, Questex President, Hospitality and Real Estate. Alexi, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot once again with us. Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, great to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We’re gonna talk about the Hospitality Show, but it is crazy to think that this, we had you back on the podcast in 2023 when this was first announced, and here we are today. You know, this is three years strong. This is the third year going into it. You know, I wanted to start with you. We’ve talked about your journey. We’ve talked about your role, some of the mentors along the way. I’d love to just hear from you, Alexi, if we could go back to that podcast in 2023. What do you think the biggest change in hospitality that you’ve seen over these last few years? Alexi Khajavi: I’d say it’s half and half. I mean, on one hand, I think we were, we were absolutely correct and spot on in that hotel profitability and the complexity in hotel operations would only increase and would be in terms of achieving profitability would become harder, and more challenging. And I think we were right in that assessment and we continue to see a lot of challenges in the space. And now we’re starting to turn into negative territory in terms of operating performance with RevPAR ADRs and occupancy, which is normal, right? I mean, this is a cyclical, industry and it’s an industry that is dependent on the macro economy. So, we’ve had an incredible run, but I think looking back in 2023, we absolutely got that right. It was only gonna become increasingly more complicated and challenging, and that therefore profits would also be challenging in turn. What I don’t think we anticipated was how massively AI would start to impact not only our industry, but our world. And it is increasingly becoming, I think it’s, it’s gonna have a much more deeper impact on, in a shorter time than what we anticipated back in 2023. And not all of that, by the way, is negative. There’s a lot of positive opportunities that come out from AI, but I think we’re all trying to figure it out right now in the hospitality industry. Could be both a beneficiary, but will certainly and undoubtedly be impacted by it. But those are two things that I think we got right, and one, I think we, we didn’t anticipate the enormity of the impact of AI. Ryan Embree: Yeah, or the acceleration. I mean, in a industry whose technology adoption is typically slower than most, we’re, we’re up there right now, I mean, or at least hoteliers. And the market feels like hospitality is trying to embrace this maybe differently than other technological fads, right. And I think it’s really, really cool to see, you ever want to explain the complexity of hospitality to someone who doesn’t know hospitality? Go to the Hospitality Show and see all the vendors that are on that showcase list, and you’re gonna see everything over there. And I think that’s why hoteliers, I know I certainly I do, but hoteliers love the hospitality show because it brings everyone to one specific place. And the challenging operations that you mentioned, Alexi, continue to kind of stack up the hats that GMs can continue to put on and wear. It’s all in one place and at one location. And with this location being in Denver. So you launched the Hospitality Show in Vegas, I don’t think probably a great place to launch any type of show. Moved to San Antonio last year, right by right beside the Riverwalk. Here we are in 2025 in Denver making its debut in Colorado. What are you most excited about for this location? What do you think it brings to the hospitality show? Alexi Khajavi: Well, Colorado has a huge and vibrant ecosystem of hospitality companies, all ranging from, obviously, Veo and, the ski resort infrastructure that’s throughout Colorado, but you’ve got some incredible management companies that are based there, developers and technology. There’s a thriving ecosystem across the hospitality space. And all of those categories and brands that are within each of those are supporting THS and getting that local support as we did in Vegas and San Antonio is critical to the success. So I mean, bringing it to Denver, which is a great downtown, a lot of new hotels have opened up just in the last two, three years. So a really vibrant hotel stock that’s gonna be, where our guests and our delegates and our sponsors and exhibitors will all be staying. And we’re bringing the city into the experience. So, we’ve got, as always, we’ve got an incredible two nights of evening receptions where we bring the industry together from senior leaders to GMs and students and everything in between. But it’s just a great town. You know, there’s great restaurants, great sports teams. We’re there, you know, while both the NBA and the NFL are in action, and there’s a lot of that, hospitality ecosystem that we’re bringing into experiences, whether that be for the entire delegation or for guests just to take out clients, meet each other and network and so forth. We’ve got the University of Denver, which has a vibrant hospitality program also that we’re supporting and is supporting the Hospitality Show as well as Visit Denver and, and the Chamber of Hotels and the CBB. So, Denver is a great place to be. It’s a good time of year to be there in October. It’s typically not too hot and before the snow starts to fall. But look, at the end of the day, I mean, the local economy and the state economy really does appreciate the impact that tourism hospitality delivers to Colorado and the businesses and the labor and employment that depend on that. So, we’ve got a lot of support from the local market that is great. And that will be there in full force and it’s just a great town, right? I mean, it’s right downtown. Like San Antonio, you can walk to bars, restaurants in your hotel, you can go catch a game with the nuggets, and if you come in early on Sunday, I even think the Broncos are playing. So it should be a good time, in addition to all the education and the networking, and the inspiration that’ll be happening at the convention center. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’ve seen firsthand what you’re talking about, Alexi, about bringing that local flare. Some of the things you and your team did last year in San Antonio, a live mariachi band. So cool that that was day that Di de Los MUTOs was going on as well, as well as a World Series. You brought a little bit of that flare, so can’t wait to see what you got planned this year. We’re excited for it along with the obviously local community that has a big impact on this show. You have a great partnership with AHLA, and obviously we’ve had a lot of AHLA members kind of giving us some quarterly check-ins, making sure the hoteliers are up to date with the most important topics, trends, and issues out there that they advocate for. Can you talk about maybe that partnership with AHLA and how it’s kind of helped shape and grow this event? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah, I mean, look, AHLA at the American Hotel and Lodging Association is the preeminent association and membership community for the hotel and hospitality sector. And we started this in partnership with AHLA. We were both aligned around our commitment to not only the industry and the brands within the industry, but in terms of the importance of connecting the ecosystem with the products and then the solutions that go hand in hand in addressing that operational complexity that we talked about. But more importantly, in driving hotel profits. And the better off we are from an operational perspective, the better experience the guest has, the more the guest will return and continue to support the hospitality industry. And the win-win is that the rest of the value chain benefits as well. So the more profits that the fragmentation of the industry, the brands don’t own, the bricks, and there’s typically a third party or often a third party operator in the middle of that is operating that operating business on behalf of the owners under a flag for the brand. I mean, you can tell just from the business model, we’re a bit more complex, we’re a bit more nuanced, than a traditional, piece of commercial real estate. So, which makes it very fascinating, right? And then you add in this guest into the middle of that, and all of those guest, you know, expectations are changing as well. So all of that happening, you know, AHLA has a deep understanding of the industry, of the guests, of the operators, but more importantly, they’ve got a commitment to improving that ecosystem and that value chain. And so our interests are a hundred percent aligned around that. It’s why we launched the hospitality show is because the hospitality show is really the only event in the industry that brings both senior leadership as well as the decision makers in procurement, operations, general managers, food and beverage directors, revenue managers, sales and marketing, all across HR and finance. Those individuals that are all making decisions from senior level CEOs of the brands and some of the largest investment funds and groups to everyone in between. And that’s a really unique thing for hospitality in that many other industries, whether it be construction or technology or plastics or military, all have at least one event, which is what we call a tent pole event, where the best, the brightest, the most qualified and the most active in that industry all gather once a year. And, you know, hospitality didn’t have that. And the preeminent foremost association for the US lodging industry didn’t have that. And so that really was, for us, a white space in the industry and in the landscape of all the events that are out there. So, you know, AHLA is a perfect partner. They’re the right partner, they are heavily invested in this, and, you know, we make every decision all throughout the process and the planning and the post-event, AHLA and Questex, are side by side in it. So it really does put the stamp of approval, and it’s why, frankly, we get, the largest collection of CEOs and brands and operators and advisors all there with those owner operators. So it’s a great opportunity and it’s a great partnership, and we’re delighted to have them on board, and it’s a two decades long, partnership. So it’s only just beginning. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, it’s such a truly remarkable, unique event and what better place or maybe authority to go to for key industry issues than the advocacy group that is AHLA pushing some of these, these important issues that are, are so critical to our business. But you’re absolutely right. I mean, the programming that you and your team put together for this event is so intentional that it can speak to your C-level executives all the way down to your frontline, even sometimes students, what you were, you were mentioning there, and you’ve really, you’ve kind of gone through the process, Alexi with me on past episodes about talking about how you’ve incorporated and listened and listened to guest feedback. And I think for events that are going to sustain, grow and be successful, you obviously have to get that feedback from attendees on what’s missing? What do you like, where did we miss the mark to improve? And you’ve kind of gave us the behind the scenes of that process for you and your team. We saw some new additions to this year’s show the recharge zone, interactive zone, F&B zone. Can you talk about maybe these new components of the show and how it’s addressed, maybe some of the guest feedback you were hearing? Alexi Khajavi: One of the biggest feedback, points and topics that we heard was personalization continues to be both an opportunity and a challenge for hoteliers. And it’s, much more demand by the guest, right? The guest is choosing hospitality in large part because they want to be treated, with a human, personalized, authentic, you know, service. But behind that, it’s technology that really drives that. And so the the reality is that of the 50 some odd thousand hotels that are in the US, the overwhelming majority of each of those hotels, tech stacks is already outdated. So a huge amount of transformation needs to take uptake place across the hospitality, sector in terms of the backend tech. And that backend tech is what’s gonna fuel that human experience, that personalized delivery of service and experience and memorable experiences, basically that fueled the industry. So that was a, that’s been a really strong driving point as to how do you use technology effectively to empower humans not to replace the human component of hospitality. And then looking at, to your point, the departments within a hotel, F&B, revenue management, wellness, as well as, looking at the startups that are coming into the space, because the tech industry in and of itself looks at hospitality to the point you made earlier, Ryan, as being a late bloomer, a late adopter of technology, whereas many other markets, healthcare and so forth, have already invested heavily and have already incorporated a lot of technology into their infrastructure. So we’ve got a long way to go, which is, you could look at as being a negative, but is it’s actually a positive. We’re also launching and or what, not launching, but continuing with the general manager summit and luncheon, that starts on Sunday. We’ve got the GM awards, so we’re actually bringing over 500 GMs there. Um, Which is really one of the most, I’d say rewarding parts of THS because GMs are the unsung hero, of unrecognized, but we’re, we’re changing that. Again, that’s an Asian initiative, which we’re bringing into to the Hospitality Show. But we’re also looking at the cities and how the hospitality industry can work more effectively with their local mayors, their local councils and their state, local legislations. We’ve got Walter Eisenberg, CEO of Sage Hospitality Group, which is a local Denver, Colorado based, business, which will be starting us off on Sunday. We also have, Mehul Patel, who’s the managing director of Newcrest, one of the most well-known, he’ll be speaking with Heather Tre, who’s the vice president of Ofra International, one of the largest procurement companies that we have. And then on Sunday as well, we’ve got Chris Barton, which for those of you that don’t know, probably use the technology like I do every day, was the founder of Shazam. And he may be wondering, you know, why, why we’re bringing in the founder of Shazam and it and it’s because Chris identified this human need, which is when we all hear that song on the radio, you’re driving in the car, you don’t know, you know what it is, but you desperately need to know, you know, what that song is because you love it or you hate it, whatever it may be. And you use technology to fulfill a very human need, and it becomes a very authentic and a very sentimental moment when you can capture what that song is or what that tune is. So, again, we’re trying to change the aperture of just looking at hospitality through the various departments or the various, you know, sort of technologies that go into a hotel tech stack. We have all that. We’ve got over 500 exhibitors, but we’re trying to give people the opportunity to really think about how other industries are using technology and are looking creatively to solve human needs and human wants, and then to create these memorable experiences. So it’s a mix of both information and inspiration. And honestly, Ryan, one of the things that’s been fueling us this year based off of your question and what the feedback has been is that, in an age of information, ignorance is a choice, and there’s no shortage of information and knowledge out there. So not being knowledgeable about what those products and solutions are to driving hotel profitability is frankly a choice. And so the folks that are making the choice to attend the hospitality show and lean in are making that choice to improve their operations, improve their businesses, and improve their own profitability, which is all, which is a win-win for the entire industry. Ryan Embree: There you go. You can punch your ticket right there. That is a great selling point to get people inspired to go to this Hospitality Show. But you’re right, I mean, I still remember the inspiring words of Admiral McRaven in 2023 in Vegas, Aaron Andrews and Jose Andres last year, incredible keynote speakers. And obviously Jose had some very impactful stories about hospitality. But I think all of the lessons learned, you’ve mentioned it on this podcast with me, Alexi, they make for great icebreakers and conversations and networking and things that you can apply to different pieces of your business, which is so eclectic and complex as we’ve talked about. And one of those topics that can continues to be prioritized that we hear personalization is certainly one of the sustainability always a hot topic. Questex has its own initiative, Quest Zero. Can you share a little bit about that program and how you see sustainability evolving into the hospitality show programming this year? Alexi Khajavi: Yeah. Our sustainability in that Quest Zero is you, uh, as you mentioned, that is our, not only our, our initiative, but it’s our promise to ourselves and our customers, both, you know, exhibitors and sponsors as well as the delegates that we will repurpose, recycle and reduce all of the products, the services that we ourselves use to put into, and to put on an event of the scale that the hospitality show, uh, does. And look, that’s, you know, that’s often harder than it should be because there, it doesn’t exist the products or the solutions to solve something to reduce or to recycle. But in terms of signage, in terms of carpet, in terms of lighting and food waste, those are all areas which we address directly at the hospitality show. And we reduce as well as reuse. So the food, for example, in conjunction with the convention center, we’re very focused, very much focused on reducing that food waste. And where we do have overages of food, and we always do, we want to have our delegates well fed and imbibed, in hospitality. We then contributed and donate it to local charities and centers to support the needy. So, all of those things, frankly, are replicating what hotels, many hotels are doing and programs that already exist in hospitality. And so at the very minimum, we are a reflection of what the hospitality industry is doing in terms of our its corp corporate social responsibility. And look, it’s a journey. I would be the first one to say that, you know, we’re not perfect, but we’re on that pathway to improving all of those areas. And we continue to work with, you know, industry associations as well as AHLA to find ways to reduce and recycle and frankly just minimize the impact and the footprint that putting on our event of this scale does. But yeah, it’s very important to us and our partners and our customers, also support it as well. And they do their own initiatives, alongside THS as well. So, yeah, it’s a very integral part of not only Questex, but of the Hospitality Show as well. Ryan Embree: Well, and it helps the travelers guests, they’re asking for this stuff, right? This is more than just a traveler trend right now of people asking for sustainable practices, corporate corporations looking at a eco budget, rather than how can we make our travel a little bit more eco-friendly? So it’s really, really cool to see that momentum. And I think this is a show like the Hospitality Show, when you have different brands come together, different ideas come together, this is when we can help move that industry forward, especially on important issues like that. Again, our guests are asking for their craving, and they’re certainly prioritizing in their travel when they’re searching for travel. So you mentioned it before, Alexi, GM of the Year Awards, one of my personal favorite parts of the hospitality show, incredible stories, incredible people. How do we, one of the things we probably would still tell each other in 2023 is we’re still battling the staffing shortage to a degree, right? I think we’re always gonna have that, but how do we get some more inspiring stories like these incredible ones that we hear out from the hospitality show into the ears and minds of this younger generation to think of hospitality as a career and not just a summer job that you fall into in college and then fall in love with after that. Alexi Khajavi: I mean, it’s a big issue and there isn’t a silver bullet solution to it. But to your point, I mean, it starts one by celebrating, those general managers that most of them, frankly, have come through the ranks of the operational side of the business, right? I mean, they, you don’t just start as a general manager. You start, doing the night audit. You start as a bell cap, you know, you start in housekeeping, you start in the kitchen and really in an industry, and frankly in an economy that does struggle to create career paths and opportunities to start here and end up there with higher earning power, higher authority, greater responsibility. I mean, that’s the American dream right then and there, right? So, not to be, you know, romantic or hyperbolic, but the hospitality industry is hook, line and sink, or directly linked to what we all sort of anecdotally refer to as that American dream. Is that you can work your way up and you can move into management and increase your income and your lifestyle. Ryan Embree: And that’s what we all want, right? So celebrating those GMs is paramount to one, why the hospitality show exists. But second to your point, it’s just very, very special. You know, to see those stories, to hear those stories and to engage with those general managers from across the country is a very special moment. We do many touch points and different variations of it, we’ve got the awards, we’ve got the summit, we’ve got the luncheon, and then of course, they’re walking through the expo floor, they’re at the networking reception, so they’re a core part of the audience. And the CEOs, I like to tell the story, the past two years, and I would expect it again this year, Jeff Bti, CEO of Wyndham and others for that matter. I don’t want to just say it was Jeff, but you know, he’s right at the front row. He’s clapping on GMs from other brands because he knows, and he absolutely is connected in his own career. You know, similar story, knows that it’s those individuals which really do deliver the experience, but more importantly, it’s ensuring that those individuals get recognized and that they become lessons for others, whether they’re in the industry today or are looking for a career, that you have an opportunity in hospitality to grow your career and grow your own lifestyle and your opportunities. Which again, which then goes to the other point, which is then connecting it to young people and young folks looking to enter a career at college or at a vocational school or coming out of high school. Again, we have a perception as an industry, a misconception, if you will, that we are a summer job, we’re low paying and we’re low skilled. And nothing could be further from the truth because it doesn’t tell the whole truth, right? And so I think we are like our partnership with the University of Denver, we are connecting this with the school, trying to help the school to promote the incredible program that they have at the university. And David Corson, the dean there is on our advisory board, the planning committee for THS. So we’re gonna be bringing students there from that program, but others as well. And really our job here is to encourage greater promotion and understanding that the industry is a great industry to be in, and it provides a lot of opportunities, but again, you’ve gotta show it from real life people, right? You’ve gotta show that GM started here and ended up there and has a great opportunity and a great career to go even higher. And I just don’t know many other industries that you can do that. I mean, nothing wrong with them, but typically, you need a four year degree and you then have to start at the top, and you may end up somewhere near the top or hopefully at the top, but this is really one that you can start in any department and really then move your way around and find your place. And it doesn’t mean that you always have to end up as a GM or the CEO, but there’s plenty of opportunities. And as we’ve seen, this is a human deliberate. This is a human powered industry. So even with AI coming on board, it’s just gonna open up more opportunities for people to choose a career that they love and have a great opportunity to support themselves and their families, which is, there’s nothing wrong with that. Ryan Embree: I think that’s a great pitch to a young professional earlier in their hospitality career. But, and maybe I’ll go on the other side and, and maybe speak to the veteran hospitality leaders out there that might be listening to this. Also be open to mentorship of these young professionals to show them, share your story, how this can turn into a career. And to speak to the technology side, Alexi, that you were talking about, this younger generation coming in, they’re gonna see some of these processes that we might still have in hospitality and say, what are we doing here? Right? They might like look at it as old technology, and it could be an opportunity to freshen up what you’re doing. Definitely keep a listening ear because they’re gonna have expectations of what they want in their career. So hopefully we see more of that. Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, I think I don’t think you could be more correct in that statement. I mean we tend to think of it as, as, you know, the business needs to upgrade and needs to modernize, but the reality is, is that it’s still our employees and our colleagues are gonna be using these platforms and these technologies. And if your CSR your booking engine, your global distribution system, your guest management system, your revenue management system, whatever, all of these platforms that are all within that hotel tech stack, if they still look like something from 1984 platform a user experience, it’s failed already, right? It doesn’t matter how good the system is that you can’t get the users to use them. And as we wanna attract these younger talent, our platforms and the user experience part of that platform in order to improve, reduce the data silos, and in order to improve the API connections between all these systems talking to each other, and ultimately to really truly provide a personalized experience in hospitality, which can drive revenue, drive loyalty, IE drive money and and profits. The platforms have to be modern, they have to be user friendly, and they’re not in many cases. And so, the startup zone, that we’ve launched is really in many cases, in many ways, a curation of those new technologies, which are not only improving the solving a problem in the industry, but many of ’em, to your point, are actually trying to create a better user experience within the platform themselves so that the users, the employees and the colleagues that we have in the industry enjoy using it, which becomes, again, it’s a bit of a win-win there. Ryan Embree: Yeah. If any time, Alexi, it’s ripe for disruption right now with everything that’s going on. So, to be at that startup zone that you were talking about to learn, be open to these new technologies that maybe a decade ago, your organization wasn’t ready to make that shift, this is the time to do it. Because if you’re not here, you could be already five years behind. Speaking of kind of where we’re at right now, I want to give you a crazy hypothetical, but if you started the Hospitality Show, let’s say in the nineties, probably be very different to where starting it in 2023 and the role that digital marketing plays. We started the Suite Spot. It’s a digital marketing podcast. Can you talk to, I remember when I first saw the, the Hospitality Show, social media page come up, and now here you are, you got thousands of followers on social media. Talk to us about how digital marketing has played a role in really growing this show right now. Alexi Khajavi: I mean, marketing and demand generation capabilities in hospitality are woefully missing. Some of it is self-inflicted, but for others, for hotels with limited staff, a strategic marketing plan is frankly impossible or extremely challenging. There’s only so much you can do with a limited amount of staff. Talking about COVID, again, to your point earlier on, sales and marketing staffs were the first ones that were let go during the pandemic, and many of them have still not been staffed back up. So we lost this tranche of sales and marketing commercial know-how across the industry, and we’re still suffering from that today. So, you know, technology at its very core, hospitality technology exists to help hotels drive profitable demand through an omnichannel marketing plan. So, essentially how do you build a plan to target the right audiences on the right channel at the right time with the right price? Because the reality of dynamic pricing, which is in hospitality, is you and I can be staying on the same floor, on the same dates, in the same room type, and yet have paid completely different rate through different channels at different times. And that can’t be underestimated the complexity of that to get it right. And it’s not just just changing it willy-nilly, right? But it’s about optimizing the right channel to the right audience at the right time with the right price. And the right price is different for you at a different time on different channels. So it’s highly, highly, highly complex. And if you don’t get it right, you’re gonna be leaving money on the table. And if you do get it right, you’ll be outperforming your market set exponentially. So the campaigns have to be thoughtfully tracked and they have to be thoughtfully optimized, and they have to achieve a measurable return on investment, which is the other bit, right? Because how do you actually attribute what you did and what you spent or the resources you allocated to the return on that investment, again, achievable, doable with all within the technology that’s out there in the marketplace today, that didn’t exist frankly, five years ago and didn’t exist certainly 10 years ago, but exists today. But again, it’s about connecting that product or that solution to the right person, making sure that the labor and that the talent exists to use that properly. Because look, I mean take Meta Search or SEO programs, you know, those are marketing strategies that drive real results for a hotel to get seen on the most popular internet search engines influencing travelers. We’ve been talking about this for, you know, 15, 20 years, but talk about social media. My kids don’t go to the website, they don’t go to Google to influence our vacation plans. And they very much influence our vacation plans. They go to TikTok and they go to Instagram. And I can’t tell you how many hotels that are in destinations that we were going to, because we already knew we were going to Cabo San Lucas. But if they didn’t have a social media plan and execution and optimization and attribution plan, well, they’re not gonna get found. I don’t care whether you got five stars, whether you’re TripAdvisors, good, bad, sideways, those are things that I search for, but they’re not things that our kids and the younger generation search for, which frankly have either influenced my spend, our generation spend, or they themselves are getting old enough to make their own purchasing decisions. So sales and marketing’s a really critical area for the Hospitality Show, and we’ve built that up over the last three years. We have a partnership with HSMAI, so we bring their sales and marketing experts, and we’re bringing more of them this year, and we’re connecting them to more products and solutions that drive that demand generation and marketing capabilities. Because frankly, and I get no joy out of saying this, we still market hotels like it was 1994, to your point. Ryan Embree: The complexity spills over from the operational. I mean, you talked about how challenging it can be right now on an operational standpoint. Part of that operations is your sales and marketing and the digital landscape is changing at a very fast pace. And if you are fully not optimized on social media like you’re talking about, and those places are hard, we still think in old attribution models when it comes to social media and reviews sometimes of saying, how much is this? How many bookings is this post gonna get me? How many bookings am I gonna get from this five star review? And you can’t think like that. You have to think about your digital presence, they always call it the online billboard to try to make that translation to something physical. But if you don’t have that upkept exactly like you were saying, Alexi, with your, with your parallel there, you’re not gonna be found in, you’re certainly not gonna be chosen by the travelers once they get there. Alexi Khajavi: And the data is siloed still in the industry, right? Because of the fragmentation of the industry itself, because of the fragmentation of many of the technology platforms within this tech stack not communicating with each other. All of that data is siloed. And what that does is, again, we call ourselves a hospitality industry, but how many times have you showed up to a hotel, that you stay at often, I mean, this is me and I, and I will not name the hotel, but I stay there so much that I know who they are. And oftentimes they forget me because they’re seeing thousands of more people than, I’ve got an advantage in that human to human, occasionally a couple of them because we’ve made a connection, will remember me. Hello Mr. Khajavi, nice to see you again. But those that don’t, the fact that I’ve stayed there hundreds of times now will say, is this your first time staying with us? And, you know, there’s nothing that, that could have filled a moment after a plane ride and a taxi, and you’re tired to say, lovely to see you again, Mr. Khajavi. Breakfast is still serving, I know you like croissants, donut and a coffee. That creates a human connection. And that is what hospitality is. And I’m not asking, in this case, it’s the human that is actually performing better than the data, the technology, because a couple of the front desk staff remember me and I can tell you just that, hello, and that welcome back drives loyalty. It happens so intermittently and that there isn’t a data and there’s a solution for it. But the fact that in 2025, we still haven’t connected to that. And I’m a part of the loyalty plan. I stay there all the time. I know them, I know the ownership group, I know the third party management. So again, I’m not your normal John Doe coming off the street. I didn’t book through, you know, an OTA, I did everything right, quote unquote right, for the hotel to know me and not have to remember me, right? To have a popup come and say, Mr. Khajavi stayed with you last May, and he stayed with you for four nights and he got dry cleaning five times. The power of that. And those are the things that we can do. And those are the products and the solutions and the experts that are doing it, right, that owners, operators and GMs and food and beverage directors and heads of housekeeping are gonna meet and are gonna connect with in Denver at the Hospitality Show. Because until we get people together, together that are a part of that, and that know what’s working, what’s not working, how to make it work, we’ll never solve it, right? And we’ve got to solve this because if we don’t solve it, well now we’re just a commodity and we’re really losing out on the art of hospitality. And if we achieve the art of hospitality, I can promise you the profits and the loyalty and the demand will be much, much higher than what it currently is today. And there’s, that’s not a bad thing. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And loyalty will go through the roof, like you talked about, customer retention, it’s a snowball effect. And it’s events like the hospitality show that are gonna get us closer to being there. So if you’re listening to this, it’s the place to be. Let me make, make sure I get the dates right on this October 26th-28th in Denver. We will be there covering it. Again, bring you all the insights, exclusive interviews that we can. Alexi, wanna thank you for your time. Any final thoughts before we wrap up today? Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, it was great to see you again. I looking forward to seeing you in Denver and looking forward to seeing everybody else as well. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you so much for your time. We look forward to seeing you in Denver. Have a great rest of your summer and into your fall, and we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The next stop on the Suite Spot: Road Trip takes us to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to visit the newly opened Hyatt Place with special guest and Dual Property Sales Manager – Jennifer Odom!  Jennifer sits down with host Ryan Embree to discuss how a special property, such as the Hyatt Place Cape Canaveral, leverages its space coast location, social media, and community engagement to grow business and provide an exceptional guest experience. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot, in another edition of our Suite Spot Road Trip. We are just right down the road. If you could see the view that I’m looking at right now, the cruise ships coming in the ocean right here behind us. We are here on the Space Coast. We wanna welcome in Jennifer Odom, Dual Sales Manager at the Hyatt Place, Cape Canaveral. Thank you so much for hosting us at your brand new beautiful property, Jennifer. Jennifer Odom: Yes, thank you. No, it’s a pleasure to have you here. We appreciate the opportunity and are just thrilled to share with everyone just what a fabulous property we do have here on the Space Coast in Cape Canaveral. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. We’re gonna talk all about it, but before that, We were, we wanted to learn a little bit about you. Share with our Suite Spot audience your hospitality background and the journey that led you to opening this brand new Hyatt Place. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely love to. So I’ve actually been here in this area alone for 25 years. I was the typical story of the grandparents were the snowbirds that moved from Indiana and we followed. I came down one year and was like, why am I gonna go back to Indiana when I have all this with the beach and you know, the launches of the shuttles and so forth. And so that’s what drew me here. I ended up moving and as a young teenager, I had actually worked in a gift shop that was kind of connected between a hotel and a restaurant. And the front desk people would always come over and we would chat while they’re getting snacks and stuff, and they’re like, oh my gosh, John Glynn was just on our lobby, the famous astronaut, Buzz Aldrin’s here. And I’m like, how old do I have to be to come over and work at the desk? And so as soon as I turned 18, that’s where you would find me. So I started off my career at the front desk, was at that limited service property and then found out I had a real passion for it and ended up at a full service property right in Cocoa Beach, just six miles from us here. A different, a brand that I was with for about 20 years. So just got to experience everything from, you know, working, starting off front desk to a catering admin, to a group coordinator, to catering sales manager. I mean, I’ve worn all the hats, all of it. All the way up to a DOS. So, and then super excited, I’d taken a little break and what was phenomenal is I’d seen the article about the hotel here and at the time there was so many different properties that were being built around the area and just because of all the different markets and the growth. And what I actually found was that article and I was like, oh, I forgot, like that’s right, like this property. Like I’ve gotta go check it out. And so I came over and I did a tour right when they had the soft opening in February. And as soon as I went up to our rooftop bar, I was like, oh, wow, I could sell this like this, this is my property. So then that is how I came to the Hyatt Place here in Cape Canaveral. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool that, you know, I think hospitality is one of those industries where it’s because we’re all travelers, right? We all traveled as young children, maybe with our parents, and then we get to transition into, you know, maybe working the front desk in those entry level jobs. And then here you are and you’ve got a great career and your decades into a hospitality career that a lot of people enjoy and, and you know, get to have an opportunity like this. I mean, we open your doors February, 2025. I’m sure that was a labor of love to see that you found out about the property. Probably a lot of ways that travelers and locals are finding out about property, opening up a newspaper or seeing an article online and say, oh, this property’s opening up. This is exciting. Talk to us a little bit about the story of the opening and kind of paint a location of where we are because you have, you are right at the intersection of a lot of cool things. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. And thank you. Yeah, we have definitely a unique destination and location is just stellar. So for the hotel, to really kind of promote it in the beginning, obviously all social media channels and so forth. One of the other little known facts for our property here too is that one of our owners is a celebrity. So there was a lot of media, you know, our surrounding that. And so, to share, you know, Howie from the Backstreet Boys, he is part owner of the hotel here. So it was great that we had that. So that was going out on like Florida today and so forth. So really just to kinda, you know, to market that in the Orlando area and then here in Cocoa Beach, Cape Canaveral. So yeah, so it was just kind of what kind of helped to drive things here for the grand opening as well. Ryan Embree: And one of the, I mean, breathtaking features of this property is the Altitude 360 Skybar and Observation Deck. I mean, right when I walked out, I was like, this is it. You said that this was one of the things that sold you, I can sell this probably a sales manager’s dream to see a space like this. Talk to us a little bit about the inspiration and how it’s really put you guys on the map as a differentiator in this competitive market we’ve talked about. Jennifer Odom: No, absolutely. So certainly we are known as space coast, so just with the space industry from the days of the shuttle launches to then when it was corporatized and we now have all these rocket launches that are going off. We have obviously the beautiful port with all the cruise ships and the mega cruise ships. So there was definitely an awareness and everybody kept saying like, Hey, you know, we really need a great launch viewing area that we can really take all this in. And so unfortunately with some of the older properties in the area, just with their structures, they could not support like a rooftop, so without basically bulldozing it down and starting over. And so that being known to OCI hospitality, it was like, this is what’s really gonna set us apart and this is what’s really gonna put us on the map, like you said. And it has done just that, you know, once people come up and they see just how beautiful the deck is, we’ve already had inquiries for hosting launch viewing priorities, you know, for the rockets that are going off. And then also, you know, with hosting fam and stuff with the travel agents that come in that sell the cruise lines and seeing them make cruise ships and so forth. So it was just a killer strategy. It needed to be done. And we were the first to do it right here in Cape Canaveral. And definitely we’re seeing the benefits of it. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. And that’s the coolest thing about new builds is there’s a lot of intentionality and everything from, you know, an observation deck and Skybar being built as well as some of the things that we were talking about right behind us with. So some of the F&B experiences, including the breakfast where, you have multiple entry points and things of that nature, even down to the little details in the rooms, that we were touring earlier. Now you mentioned the space tourism, the travel for cruises. You know, you’ve been in this market for a minute. You’ve seen a lot of these travelers come in and out and check into your rooms. What would be one advice that you’d share, a piece of advice that you share with someone looking to visit the Space Coast? Jennifer Odom: Sure. No, absolutely. So what I would definitely recommend is coming over and staying more than just one night just because there’s just so much that you can see and tap into here, that a lot of people don’t realize. And even like during stays, like this morning we had a guest that was due to checkout and they wanted to extend their stay because they had found something else that they could go and explore. I definitely would recommend trying to book early just because we do tend to like, you’re already seeing that demand, even with us being open only five months now, you know, we are starting to feel like on the weekends and so forth. So, definitely kind of keeping that in the forefront. And then also, when it comes to the rocket launches, a great website to take a look at is Spaceflightnow.com. Just because we’re launching anywhere, it seems like almost two rockets a week, so you can just happen to be here and not even realize it that there’s a rocket launch. And so certainly we post that in our lobby to advise our guests and that way they can enjoy the rooftop and go up and see but with different variables, like it may be delayed and then going off the next day. So again, I would definitely recommend coming over to our area, staying more than just the one night and really kind of taking everything that we offer from the Space Center to Jetty Park for the beaches to victory casino lines that’s right here, the famous cocoa beaches, Ron Johns, I mean, that’s just to name a you. Ryan Embree: I mean, and you were talking about with the cruise travelers of, there’s so many things that can happen and that cruise ship, that massive cruise ship is not gonna wait if there’s a delay in your flight or you know, something happens on the highway on your route out here to Cape Canaveral. So getting here early I think is a great tip for those travelers to make sure you have plenty of time and then you get to stay in a beautiful place like this, who doesn’t love to do that. And they get hosted by Jennifer and her amazing team. So with a new build, new hotel, it’s always a challenge to get awareness out there. That’s where marketing obviously comes in. How have you been able to, maybe some of the creative ways, you mentioned the ownership, that was, that was very crucial but how do you build awareness, whether it be kind of traditional legacy, maybe relationships you built to new innovative ways to try to get the word out there about this property? Jennifer Odom: No, absolutely. So most definitely social media, all the channels, you know, that’s a must. We were very fortunate with the special media that was already surrounding us. And then some of the traditional ways was just making sure that we tapped into our chamber, and making awareness there. They came out for our grand opening, they helped us with a ribbon cutting. They actually had brought in a videographer that had done drone footage for us. So they’ve got that going on their website, which is amazing. And inviting a lot of our community in like Space Coast Office of Tourism with coming here, like our city mayor here in Cape Canaveral and so forth. And just kind of trying to partner word of mouth also. One of the other great things is that we own the country and suites, which we share a parking lot with them. So as our guests were coming in there, they could see this build. And so word of mouth saying, you know, getting them excited. Look at what we’re bringing to the area. A brand new Hyatt that’s the only one right here on the strip on A1A. So just certainly with the word of mouth on that. And then also those existing relationships and just inviting them and saying, Hey, this is where I’m at. Would love to see how we could partner. Maybe you have some other opportunities for us that we could try to be a wonderful fit here for you too. So just kind of a lot of different avenues with the strategy and making sure and just the awareness and educating people that we’re here and we’re open and we’d love to take care of you. Ryan Embree: And you’re at the exciting part, is you’re at the intersection of a lot of different types of travel, like we talked about, right? Like obviously we’ve really stressed on leisure, but group and business and travel has really picked up around here. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be steps away from the beach, and everything that there is to do. So talk to us about maybe that process and what that looks like here as a salesman when you get those inquiries and the flexibility of this space to be able to host those groups. Jennifer Odom: No, would love to and thank you. So most definitely. I mean, we just have such a unique destination that we have all markets that’s feeding into us, whether it’s the corporate business, the government business, we’re blessed to have all six branches right here in our area. We’ve also got the associations that are coming over the sports market, especially with USSSA, that came to the area in 2018. So certainly when you’re looking to owe something and looking at a hotel, we received those inquiries and then really we talk with you and kind of find out truly what your needs are, what’s keeping you up at night, you know, what are those three hot buttons or those major deciding factors and making sure that we’re a good fit for them. And what’s unique for our hotel here is that we do have such flexibility, with regards to, it’s 150 room property, we have a meeting space that is perfect for the smaller scale, say 25 people, where we can do up to theater, just kind of really depending on what that fit is as far as their program and what kind of setup they’re looking for. The other part of it is, is that we do utilize our rooftop for private events. We actually have a customer that is going to launch their consulting firm and so we’re doing an event for her on Monday. You know, and that’s exciting just to elevate it, to be on the, the Space coast to launch the new, you know, consolidation for Yeah. On Wednesday. Yeah. It’s so great. Um, and then, you know, obviously we’re in Florida so we always have to worry about weather and we have that backup. And what’s really nice is with the flow of our hotel and the design, is that we can take some of those larger events of a hundred, 125 people and actually accommodate ’em down here. ’cause the breakfast bar closes in the morning. So that space that we can utilize, we can obviously utilize this area here too for the place to read. That is a nice flow. And again, just kind of depending, if it’s more of a cocktail reception and so forth, the other great item is that again with that flexibility is that our sister property, the country inn suites, she also has, several meeting rooms over there and we’ve actually have shared, groups to where we’ve housed some here, they’ve done like a little executive meeting here and then they had more of the conference training right next door because it’s literally not even 700 feet to the front door for there. So, I mean, it is just amazing just with how flexible we can be and how we can cater to and take care of the needs of all the markets that are coming into the area. Ryan Embree: It’s very cool to see and you know, again, to have that peace of mind of being like, alright, if this plan A doesn’t work, we got plan B and C. And I think also we talked about it the way that, you know, group travel is trending, you know, you’ve got your big bigger events where you might want everyone involved, but then you want your smaller, more intimate places and meetings and for those to hold. And those might be with your stakeholders, those, those might be with your leadership team. So be able to have those spaces at in the same vicinity is really important to those planners for sure. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. Absolutely. Ryan Embree: So let’s talk about new properties, wave of excitement with local partnerships getting, I’ve seen it more and more trying to infuse the local community into a new property. How is that being done here at the Hyatt Place? Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. So Hyatt’s huge on that with local flavors. So what we have done is we have partnered with all of our local breweries to where just actually one of the ones that we utilize out of this six is just probably two blocks up from us, Curry Brewery. So we make sure that we have their local brewers of pilsner, we’ve got the Pineapple Creb that’s very popular for them. Ryan Embree: They can enjoy them right behind us. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. Right behind us here. Yeah. And then, um, we’ve also partnered with Oceanside Distillery to where we do their beach blonde rum. So again, so those are just to kind of name just a few that we do bring into the area. Obviously local seafood as well, that we bring in for like our shrimp ceviche that we offer upstairs. So definitely that’s huge in supporting our community. Huge in supporting our local businesses and bringing in that local flavor. Ryan Embree: And the great mural and piece of art. When you walk out on that observation deck. I mean, it’s so cool and stunning to see local artists you mentioned, helped you out with that. Those are the little kind of pieces of flavor that I think first of all, locals enjoy because they actually, it makes it feel a little bit more at home, but also people when they travel, they want to be infused in that community that they want to feel like they’re a part there. They don’t wanna just be walking into, you know, four rooms and a bed. So it’s those typical pieces that help make that a little bit more localized. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. Helps us to stand out. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Yes. So as we wrap up, we’re gonna end with a couple fast rapid fire questions to get to know you and this new property better. So you talked about the launches, you have a favorite space launch memory so far? Jennifer Odom: So that’s hard because I have a couple. Obviously coming from the Midwest, you know, I did not know what was going on here with being so young and so I fell asleep and we lived on Cape Canaveral and I woke up to our glass doors just rattling and I get up screaming earthquake! And it was actually shuttle launch that was going on that my mother had forgotten to advise me of. So that was kind of like my first introduction. It was a night launch, so it was beautiful. It lit up the sky. So that’s always just such a fond memory that I have. I would say most recently though, I was very inspired that we had the inspiration for launch that took place in 2021. And what was so special about that, it was just an ordinary crew that they had. Jared Isman came in, they had Haley who was a survivor of cancer that worked for St. Jude. They involved St. Jude with raising funds and they reached their goal. They actually exceeded it with raising like $240 million for them or maybe 240,000. I might be wrong on that one. But just to kind of see that and just kind of where the space tourism and where we’re going with it and that individuals like me and you maybe one day be able to go on a shuttle or a rocket, to outer space or even go to the moon. I mean, it’s just phenomenal. It kind of reminds me growing up as a kid and I’m kind of dating myself here, but like the Jetsons, who would’ve ever thought about that? You know? Right. And it’s all kind of come into fruition, which is just amazing. And I think that’s why I love this area so much just to be involved just in that little aspect because then it’s so cool. And then I still have, all the other markets that I’m just very passionate about. So yeah. So yeah, so that was kind of hard. And then of course the other two is the last shuttle launch of the Atlantis and the Atlantis is now displayed at Kennedy Space Center is just breathtaking. And if you’ve never been, you have to go. ’cause it just makes you feel so proud to be an American and kind of see what we’ve accomplished. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s so inspiring and every single time a launch goes up, it’s just so cool to see and I’m sure to have a view from up there those night launches. Oh, I mean that’s, you talk about social media content. I’m sure that would make for some great ones. What about your favorite rooftop menu item at Altitude 360? Jennifer Odom: Okay. So for upstairs it’s more kind of sips and savory bites that we have. So I think one of my favorites is the Elote Dip, which is like a deconstructed street corn dip with the ticking chips, which is really good. I’m always a fan of charcuterie boards and then more so I absolutely love like our space themed drinks. So we have the rocket fuel rum runner, love that. Dark matter espresso martini as well. So you know, just to kind of tie in with the area and stuff. So those are just some of my favorite. Ryan Embree: That’s so cool. One word that would describe a traveler’s experience here at the Hyatt Place Cape Canaveral. Jennifer Odom: I would have to say really for here would be elevated. Ryan Embree: I like that it goes right along with that. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. Just to elevate the experience, whether you’re here on business. I mean, imagine being here on business and just seeing that rocket launch as you’re trying to wrap up your day and check a few emails elevated by the Hyatt brand standards and just the customer service and just really showing that we care about you as an individual so you can be your best. And obviously taking our food and beverage to a new height that we’re elevating that as well, with the rooftop here. So love it, definitely elevated, would have to be the word. Ryan Embree: Then finally, favorite local partnership or collaboration. You were talking about some events that you guys are doing here too. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely. Oh my gosh, there’s so many. So you know, obviously we have a lot of not-for-profit in the area and so forth. And one of the really cool things that we get to collaborate on this year is that it’s a 10th anniversary of an annual event for the American Cancer Society. They actually host a marathon out at the space center where they actually run right there on the launchpad. And so since it’s their 10 year celebration, we’re working with them and collaborating to where we’re going to house registration here with packet pickup. We’re doing like a pasta celebration for them. We’re gonna house the runners and then that way they get up first thing in the morning and they head out to Kennedy Space Center and so forth. So a great partnership there. Another one is I’m very fond of the cruise business. They have such wonderful people that are business development managers, travel managers and so forth. So we’re actually gonna partner and house what’s called a familiarization trip where we, bring in some top producing travel agents. And so before a ship inspection, we’re actually going to host a breakfast in the morning. So why not a sunrise breakfast, get to see the sunrise, start your day, enjoy it, and then go over and see these beautiful ships that we have through ship inspections and stuff. And I mean, and there’s just so many more. So we’ll be here forever. Ryan Embree: Well, I love those events. I mean, ’cause they’re, you know, the, the events now are getting so curated. They’re getting so, and that’s where when you have a team that works with your event coordinator to like put those little touches to it, I think that’s what makes very memorable experiences. And that’s what really fuels in hospitality group travel right now is like, people are done with just the tired, boring event. They want everything curated, everything personalized. And both the, I think the event coordinators and the sales, the sales and group managers are helping them with that. And it’s making for a really cool moment in hospitality right now. So. Absolutely. Well Jennifer, as we wrap up, thank you again for hosting us here at your incredible property. Right behind us is the lobby. We always like to kinda wrap up the episodes talking about if you could overhear a conversation or, or what, what do you want your guests to feel as they check out and they kind of go head on home? What do you want them to feel and say about their experience here? Jennifer Odom: Really for us is just that they were really cared for and really, kind of creating, again, that fond memory just to take away fond memories with them. Sure. I mean, it, it, you know, that’s really what sets people apart. That’s what it’s all about, is just kind of creating those memories. During our time when you travel, whether it be for social, like going on a cruise or you’re here for a marathon, or you’re here for, you know, a company event and just knowing that they had just that experience again that was elevated that really did capture the moment and create that fond memory that they’re, they’re never gonna forget. And just to kind of share, we were up watching the Rocket Launch and there was a family here and the kids were young, maybe six and seven. They had never seen it. And I just happened to be upstairs trying to take a photo of the launch. And I captured this precious moment to where the kids, you know, dad had one kid on his shoulders and the mom was holding the other kid. And I just happened to have him in one of the photos and I was like, would you guys like this photo? Like I just, by chance, I didn’t mean to get you in the picture, but I did. You know, I captured that moment. Would you love it? And they were just absolutely thrilled to be able to have that. So, again, just kind of taking away just fond memories and knowing that we do truly care about our guests, obviously our employees as well. But, yeah, I would love for them to leave with that. Ryan Embree: What a special moment to share. Thank you so much, again, for hosting us here. Would encourage all of our Suite Spot listeners and audience, come visit Jennifer and her team over here at the Hyatt Place, Cape Canaveral. She’ll take great care of you. Check out a rocket launch, go absolutely jump on a cruise. So, so much to do here. Thank you so much again. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely, my pleasure. Ryan Embree: And thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Special guest David Audrain, CEO of Exposition Development Company, joins the Suite Spot to discuss the upcoming 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami and how Expo DevCo develops, facilitates, and hosts the convention. Attendees will also learn what they can look forward to from this year’s event and much more in the episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We have reached the crescendo of our Independent Hotel Show series. It is fast approaching here and with me to preview the Independent Hotel show. Miami got a very special guest, David Arin, CEO, and partner of Expo Devco, which owns and produces the Independent Hotel Show Miami. David, thank you so much for joining me. I’m excited to talk about this event that is just around the corner here. David Audrain: Thank you, Ryan. I’m very happy to be here with you and always happy to talk about our show. Ryan Embree: Yes, it’s an incredible show. We’re gonna talk about the history, but before we get into talking about the show, what you have geared up for Miami Beach in September. I wanna first talk about maybe your career journey and what led you to Expo Devco and your involvement with the Independent Hotel show, Miami. David Audrain: Well, I’ll, I’ll try not to bore everybody with too much detail, but, I grew up in Europe, to a English Father, American mother, born in the us, grew up in Europe, little island of Jersey, the original one, not the new one. Right off the French Coast. Actually, my father and his father’s business before was a Green Grocers, wholesale and retail green grocery business. So, I actually was walking in the back doors of kitchens of independent hotels from a very early age and always had some good contacts and good friends in the hotel business growing up and going forward. Ended up leaving Europe and moving to the US Back in 1989, I’d sold a technology business and moved to the US and ended up working for an association, happened to be the Texas Restaurant Association. And my very first trade show was a substantial show in Texas for the restaurant and hospitality industry. And that’s what got me hooked on the trade show business. So I’ve now been in the trade show business for 33 years, and worked for several major, some of the largest trade show organizers in the world. I’ve produced some of the largest trade shows in the world, everything from the largest automotive aftermarket show to the largest floor covering show to the largest apparel fashion, manufacturing industry shows. And ended up running the North American business for a major European company called Messer Frankfurt. Ran that for seven odd years. And then in January of 2012, my partner, who happens to also be my wife, Stephanie Everett and I left that business and started Exposition Development company, Expo Devco. We’ve partnered over the years with several companies out of Europe and produce different shows. And the one that’s obviously relevant to here is the independent hotel show. The company that originally launched the Independent Hotel show in London is a company called Montgomery Group. They’re a 130 year old family exhibition business. And they had started the Independent Hotel show in London, more than a dozen years ago. And I happened to visit it and talk with my friends that owned the Montgomery and really liked what they were doing with it, the specific niche for independent hotel, independent luxury boutique hotel operators. And that’s how, that’s how we, we first got started. Ryan Embree: It’s an incredible story. You’ve seen it all, but hospitality being the one that brought you into, being your first show, I think is super special to hear. And that’s, I think the beauty of hospitality, David, is that, you know, we all get to experience it. Maybe some of those other, maybe some of those other businesses or shows that you’ve been a part of, you might not really be in that business, but we’re all in the business of hospitality, right? We enjoy going to restaurants, we enjoy traveling, and it all circles back, which makes just for the perfect and a reason why a lot of people fall in love with our industry and some of our guests even on this independent hotel show show series, you know, really didn’t start in hospitality, but fell into it and have had decades long career since. You know, one of the things I’m sure putting on all of these events that we’ve talked about before, David, is you can’t just throw a a show anywhere and hope it’s successful. You and your team picked Miami Beach, some would argue the independent hotel capital of the world. Why is Miami Beach just the absolute perfect location for the show here in the us? David Audrain: You’ve got it right. I mean, the hospitality industry is all encompassing and the people that are in it from every side and of the world and the marketplace. And, but they really are in the hospitality business. I say I grew up around hotels and restaurants. I’ve obviously enjoyed traveling most of my career and life and experienced a lot more than the average the average traveler out there. When we first started talking about bringing the independent hotel show brand to the us, obviously we did our research. We looked into the, the marketplace and there are great places around North America, that could be hosts for the show. But what we really wanted to look at is where could we create a base that would create a foundation to launch the show? Because to be honest with you, launching trade shows is not for the faint of heart. It’s not easy. It’s a very competitive landscape. And today compared to, you know, 10, 20, 30 years ago, it’s probably even more difficult because people — Ryan Embree: Well, in an industry too, David, where hospitality, I mean, time is one of the biggest assets for, for somebody in hospitality. So for, for someone, an independent hotelier, to be able to say, Hey, I’m going to a show for a day and a half, you know, as long, however long that is, has to be super compelling. And I think that you and your team have done a great job of creating so much value and saying, you, this is a need to be at show. It’s going to be worth your time and then some. David Audrain: Exactly right. We have to create, we people don’t go to trade shows just for the heck of it. They go because there’s value, there’s value for their time, and it is, and time, you’re exactly right, is the number one criteria for value for everybody getting involved in it. And so in looking in doing the research, we looked at many places and Miami Beach is really just a great fit for several reasons. One, Florida in general has one of the highest concentrations of independent hotels, in the country. And within Florida, obviously Miami is a true mecca of independent brands, both, upscale and midscale. And so, that became a good, a good hub to be able to bring a really great local base to the show, but also, in terms of being able to attract people from throughout North America. And we have people coming from Central America, Canada, west Coast, you name it. We also wanted to be able to make it, easy and attractive. So in terms of the Caribbean, in terms of Central America, Miami’s obviously a destination for many, and it’s very attractive for that community to come in. And if you’re in the north, you know, north of the country and also in Canada, September, and Miami’s not a bad place to be. And of course, the general lift, the general attraction of the city itself, the airport access, all make it very convenient and very easy for most people to be able to get there in a one stop hop. Ryan Embree: And one of the underlying themes that we’ve had throughout this series, David, is talking to some of the advisory board members, which we’re gonna talk about here in a minute, is the theme of independent hotels really embracing the local community. And I think Miami and Miami Beach in particular, has such a strong culture is a strong cultural center. And it’s felt throughout the show, it, it’s really embracing Miami. And I think when you look at the larger independent hotel, just community and business model, that local community has to be ingrained in there because a lot, because the, the most successful independent hotels are the ones where the locals really embrace it. And it feels like you’re going to, travelers when they, when they go to a different market, they don’t wanna feel like they’re just going to another place. They wanna feel like they’re a part of the city that they’re traveling in. Independent hotels have a very unique value proposition, for travelers and can embrace that a little bit differently than maybe your flagged or branded properties there. Let’s switch gears to your advisory boards. Very intentional, David, that you just boast such an impressive, deeply engaged advisory board. This was intentional by you and your team. How has that group helped shape the direction and really propelled this show to where it is today? David Audrain: Certainly, advisory boards to us are a key element of how we build a new show brand. We have found in launching shows in many industries over the years, that it, as much as we might think we know about a marketplace, if we’re not particularly ingrained in that marketplace, we we’re not gonna know everything we need to know. So creating an advisory board, specifically of the target buyer audience is what we do is step one, we start working on two for two reasons. One, most importantly, to make sure we’re educated on what the needs of that marketplace are. What are they, what are they gonna get value out of? What kind of education, what kind of of vendor support at the show are they gonna find useful and interesting? And more importantly, what can they share with us to help us develop the right attractive content around the show that will bring more like them, to the show. Ryan Embree: I love that. And, you know, I want to thank you for giving me the privilege to speak to some of your advisory board members. This series has just been incredibly, really showcasing the eclectic collection of independent hoteliers. I mean, we started up in, New York with Cat Woods, we just spoke with Nicholas Gold out there in southern Utah and Gabriel Perez down in, South Carolina. So you really have taken hoteliers from all over the country. But I think it’s so important because although as spread out as they might be and different, their markets might be, you know, independent hotels still face very similar challenges. And it’s spaces like the Independent Hotel show where you can network peer-to-peer, get together, talk through some of those challenges, see what trends you’re seeing. I mean, that you talk about AI and technology, right? And how much that’s changed in the last three months, let alone an entire year. So to have a tradition of going to the independent hotel show year after year and saying, you know, what are you, what have you implemented at your property? You know, what are you seeing? What trends, how is this impacting you? International travel is a huge topic right now, and it’s all happening here September 17th & 18th in Miami Beach. A quick reminder to our Suite Spot listeners use promo code EMBREE25 for a complimentary registration. We would love to see you there. You and your team have done a fantastic job, David programming lining up in some extremely powerful panels. What are some of the sessions, conversations that you’re most looking forward to this year? David Audrain: Well, I appreciate you, letting us talk about the content that’s happening because, you know, there are two really key elements of why people go to shows. And again, I’ve been doing this an awful long time, 33 plus years now in many industries. And over that entire time we’ve been surveying our customers and we continue to every year. But from an attendee perspective, they come looking for three things. They’ve always, it doesn’t matter what industry, what region, anything about the shows. People come to find new products and suppliers, they come for education and they come for networking. Those are the three things they come to shows for. So every time we, every, we keep that in front of mind in everything we do about creating a show. We keep those three elements. What is, how is something we’re doing going to affect the ability to deliver those three things? In terms of the content itself, I think there’s some great topics and I absolutely zero responsibility for any of them. Our advisory board has been key to it, and our team have worked very closely with them to develop topics. So some of them that come to mind. I know the first time we’re having a new session on the importance of food and beverage and how hotels are losing revenue to things like DoorDash and Uber Eats, even when they have their own kitchens and restaurant facilities. And in fact, the founder of Indigo Road Hospitality Group, Steve Palmer’s gonna be speaking on that session. Well, and I think that’s gonna be very interesting for many. We also, one of the things that’s comes up a lot from the independence and particularly has been some of the rating programs, and we’ve got some, a great session, by Gina Taylor from the Forbes Travel Guide. We’re gonna be talking about how ratings are measured and issued and how it works and what these independent hoteliers should know about how they can improve their ratings, as they go forward. I think that’s gonna be very valuable, for a lot of the independents out there as we go through. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely, David, I mean, those are, those were two topics and themes that were, again, underlying throughout this entire series, the importance of food and beverage used that as a differentiator between some of the different branded hotels maybe in your market. And then, yeah, ratings are, are so important, right? We’re always, as independent hotels trying to show where we stack up against competition in our area. So trying to figure out how can I show value to my traveler, which is mostly that research now almost completely done online. Now there’s new avenues of doing that research through LLMs Chat, GPT, you know, how can you be put in a position to succeed? And I love what you said about the education is really just kind of the, the starting point, an icebreaker for a lot of these conversations. And that’s what I tend to do when, when we’re covering these events, is talking about some of the sessions and how it relates back to that particular person, that specific property or market. And I think that’s what really helps some of the best events I’ve been to have the best programming. And that for some reason, you just feel the networking was amazing at that show, but it really, it stems from the educational and the programming that’s put together. Because if those topics are compelling enough, those conversations now bleed into your networking events that, that theme of network. You said those were your three pillars, right? Networking being one of them. How have you incorporated that into this year’s event, and what can guests look forward to from a peer-to-peer connection standpoint? David Audrain: Several things, as I said, as part of the education programs. And in fact, we have two education stages, on the show floor. So they’re integrated fully into the show, and that’s purposeful, because what we found is that a lot of people want education and they, they rate it highly, but then when they get on the show, get to an event, they tend to get distracted by all the people they’re talking to and the people products they’re seeing and and the like, and they tend to forget about the education when it’s buried off the off in the building somewhere else. So what we’ve done purposefully is build these two stages on the show floor themselves, our innovation stage being focused very much on the, the type of content I was just talking about, hoteliers, talking to hoteliers on these particular specific topic. Our second stage is our business center, and this is more of a product and service driven new technologies, new products, new information that some of our key suppliers partners are able to share with hoteliers. And that’s where you’re gonna learn the latest about, you know, AI and some of the new technologies that are out, things like that. And these, these alternate these stages alternate so that people can go from pop from one to the other. And in between those sessions on the show floor, we have two specific networking areas, our lobby lounge and in the middle of the floor and our corner bar. And both of these areas will be easy, relaxed areas for hoteliers to sit out and network amongst themselves and take advantage of being, again, all on the show floor, all in one place that they can interact with the suppliers that are exhibiting. They can look at the products, they can network with each other, they can experience the education all together. Ryan Embree: Yeah, you know, there, there’s something, the Independent Hotel show is one of my favorite events to attend every year because of that energy that you feel, right when you walk in, you got that music going, everybody, you know, you start to feel, you can tell how well a show is gonna go based on, you know, when you first walk in. And the independent hotel show absolutely brings that energy. And those networking areas are always buzzing industry influencers. You can bump into someone, vendors, brands, hoteliers. It’s really the place to be. And you know, the, the last pillar that you talked about was connecting those suppliers to independent hoteliers. And we’ve talked over the years to independent hoteliers about how important that is because the brands, they have tons of leverage, right? They’ve got thousands of these, tens of thousands of these properties that they’re able to, you know, really get the best deals, connect you with the best vendors. They’ve got these big, you know, list of vendors, suppliers that you can choose from, independent hotels. It’s a little bit different. It’s a little bit more challenging out there. So it’s events like this where you can connect directly to suppliers, the latest technology. Tell us a little bit about how the Independent Hotel Show connects supplier to hoteliers. David Audrain: The trade, the whole trade show model literally goes back millennia, goes back to markets in, you know, in, in ancient times. One of the key elements about the value of trade shows is simply bringing buyers and sellers together in an environment that creates an opportunity for people to find new products and new suppliers for service companies, service providers and products sellers out there. It’s very hard to get in the door of somebody new physically to actually, when somebody calls you up, if you’re even answer the phone. You know, your willingness to give somebody you don’t know time in your office, in your property to come and actually show you products is limited. And it’s very hard for those companies to get into those new product. Ryan Embree: Well, and I would, I, again, David, I would even argue harder for hoteliers where you could be getting a call from linens,and then all of a sudden your pool supplier, echo Lab, you know, all of these different suppliers within an hour timeframe that has to do with so many components of your business. Hospitality is a very complicated business model. David Audrain: Exactly. And what we, you know, in the trade show business, what we know is that somebody who wouldn’t give you the time of day on the phone, or certainly wouldn’t let you set up an appointment to come and, and pitch them in their office or their hotel will be a hundred times more likely to spend five minutes at your booth on a trade show floor. It is the most, trade shows are the most efficient way for both buyers and sellers to investigate new products and services. For a buyer, you can come and you can see a hundred new products and suppliers in a day. You can’t do that any other way. And for a supplier, you can get in front of hundreds of new potential prospects or existing customers in a day that you can’t possibly do any other way. And more importantly, even if you could get a hundred hoteliers to give you a meeting in their property, you certainly couldn’t do it in a day, and you certainly couldn’t bring your, you know, your booth or your, your showroom to them as it goes forward. So that’s why trade shows, I mean, trade shows as a, as a tool are bigger today than they’ve ever been. Ryan Embree: I want to talk about that, David, ’cause I’m sure this is a, listen, you’re the first guest on our show that has this much experience in the, in the live event and trade show space, and probably will be here, for our next dozens of episodes. But I wanna pick your brain about that, because I’m sure there were a lot of times, you know, you think about over 30 years, you got the great recession, you had obviously the pandemic that I’m sure in each one of those spaces, there were times where people were telling you, Hey, this is it. This is the, let’s go ahead and start digging the grave for live events and trade show. We heard it on our end back in, in 2020. How has it evolved in in that time? And you’re right, I I truly think, especially with the rise of AI and technology, these peer-to-peer connections are going to be more authentic, meaningful relationship building than it’s ever been. Talk to us through some of that evolution, David, ’cause I’m sure you got some great insight there. David Audrain: Yeah, it is true. I say I’ve been doing this since the early nineties. And I was with the, at the time, at the late nineties, I was with, I had a senior exec role running a division for then, the largest trade show management company producer in the world. And around those late nineties, you know, technology was going crazy. The internet was exploding. And again, at that time, as you rightly said, everybody said, well, with the internet, why do we need trade shows? Why would we need, you know, everybody can go find everything online. And the reality is, you can’t touch it, taste it, feel it, interact with it, you know, you’re not gonna spend whatever you spend. I’ve got another show where we sell, where it’s a manufacturing, and they said, huge machines. People aren’t gonna go buy huge machines without seeing them. And they, you know, they’re not gonna, I’ve run shows in the fabrics and fashion industry and the like, and nobody’s gonna buy a sheet without feeling it. Nobody’s going to, you know, nobody’s gonna buy food without tasting it. These sorts of things don’t happen online. And so while the, you know, while everybody thought to everybody, a large portion of the world thought that trade shows would, you know, disappear because the internet would replace everything. What happened is the internet provided the ability for trade shows to become even more valuable because the ability of being able to customize information, of sharing personalized information needs became much more valuable and much more authentic. And the opportunity to create that link became much more efficient. The pandemic was, was devastating. The COVID-19 closed our industry down globally for a one to two years in many different places. Our own company didn’t produce a live event for 18 months. It was devastating, but what happened afterwards is the need for that interaction, that face-to-face interaction exploded the industry back to the point where within literally three years, the industry was as big as it was prior to the pandemic. And today is even bigger globally as an industry. So I, you know, I’m a little self-serving. I’m in the industry. I produce trade shows, but I personally believe very much that trade shows will always have a place and they will continue to grow in importance and value to people, because you can do more and a live event than any other means. Ryan Embree: I had the privilege of attending, you know, some shows early 2021, 2022, and I would argue the fevver and passion that people came back to, those live events were different. It was a completely different show. There was just like this exhale of like, okay, this is, and the conversations were more meaningful. It was just, you know, we always talked about revenge travel on the leisure side, people coming back and missing that, of course, everybody missed going on vacation, but I don’t know, you know, you speak to a lot of business professionals, I don’t know how many of them were like, man, it just feels good to connect again with peer-to-peer, you know, some of those people. And I still think that that is still happening today with the shows that are happening. And, you know, you and your team have done, like I said, a great job to kind of set this show up for success, exposure and growth. And it really is the must attend event for independent hoteliers vendors in the independent hotel space. That’s kind of my pitch, but David, I’m gonna give you the floor to, you know, some of our Suite Spot listeners. What would you say to somebody who’s maybe considering attending this event for the first time? David Audrain: It’s only our third edition here in the US. So we’ve been, you know, in growth mode, in building mode, for the show, the brand, you know, been a hotel show, in London’s been around for over a dozen years. It’s been in Amsterdam for since prior to the pandemic. And last year they expanded it into Munich as well. Our colleagues over there, Montgomery are doing a fabulous job. But this is only our third edition here in the US. And what we have done is focus exclusively on what the luxury independent boutique hotel operator needs. So our focus is very much on the full range of everything from lemons and bedding to furnishings and decor to technology and services, all, everything that they will need to run their, their hotel property. But most importantly, we’re focused on the fact that these, these are independently minded hoteliers. They’re looking at ways to deliver a unique experience with their property. And so we wanna make sure they have a range of products and service suppliers, to support them and of all levels as well. So luxury properties are gonna find plenty to find at the show and to work with. Mid-range properties are gonna find plenty, as they go forward. And that’s our, that’s our number one goal is delivering an ROI for the attendees that justifies them. Spending their time, gives them a lot of takeaways. You know, if you, if you don’t leave a trade show event like this with some new ideas and some new suppliers and products that you wanna look at, then you haven’t really tried because it is definitely there for the taking. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And you’ve done such a great job, like I said, listening to the feedback from the advisory board, from the attendees themselves each year that we’ve been there, been able to cover the event. We’ll be there again, obviously this year in September in Miami covering the event. We’ve seen more and more innovation, more and more, just growth in that, in that show. So such a pleasure and privilege to be, be a part of it. I want to thank you, David, for taking the time outta your busy schedule. I hope to see you obviously in September in Miami, along with all of our Suite Spot listeners. Any final thoughts before we close down the episode today? David Audrain: All I encourage listeners to do is, is visit our website, IndependentHotelShow.US. There you can see the great advisory board members and brand ambassadors that are participating and supporting us. All of the organizations, that are supporting the show and participating in the show. AHLA, for example, is doing some great sessions on current advocacy work as well as issues very dear to everybody’s heart on the human trafficking awareness, et cetera. And also you can see our list of suppliers that are participating in the show and get a and start planning plan for the kind of products you wanna look at, plan for the sessions you want to attend, and get together with some hotels and plan some time together to network and share and, and have a good meal somewhere in a great city of Miami Beach. Ryan Embree: I’ll be tuned into the session on podcasting and marketing for independent hotel shows. Thank you David, so much again for taking the time and joining me here on the Suite Spot. David Audrain: Thank you, Ryan. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much and we’ll talk to you next time. And hopefully we’ll see you down in Miami Beach in September. We’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The next episode in the Suite Spot: Road Trip series takes travelers to the newly renovated Marriott Pompano Beach Resort in Sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida! The resort’s General Manager, Leslie Weil, sits down on the podcast to share with audiences the transformative renovation, unique dining options, and enhanced guest experience. Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree as you can tell, we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio. Instead, we are on site at the beautiful Pompano Beach Marriott Resort. I’m here with GM, Leslie Weil. Leslie, thank you so much for hosting us here at your beautiful reimagined property. We’re gonna get to it today. Leslie Weil: Thank you for having me. Excited to have you. Ryan Embree: And this is kind of a combination, of a couple different series and we’re gonna share why that is special. Your alma mater, which we’re gonna talk about in a moment. But we’ve got so much exciting stuff happening right here on property. But before we get into that, we always love to hear kind of the background of hospitality professionals. Sometimes you’re jumping from place to place, sometimes you’re local, born into the industry. Tell us a little bit about your story. Leslie Weil: So, I was not born into the industry, but I knew very young that this is what I wanted to do. At 15 years old I said I wanna study hospitality and I’ve stuck to it for over 30 years now. I absolutely love what I do and I’m from Peru. I was born and raised there. And then after high school, I studied for one year in Peru and I moved to Miami to study hospitality in FIU. FIU is a wonder for a school. It gave me a really great beginning in the industry and I have not looked back ever since. I’ve worked everywhere from hostels to luxury hotels at all over Latin America and the United States. So really I was lucky enough to start in housekeeping and in the kitchen and then I just got to grow to be in a GM and I love it. Ryan Embree: I love hearing that story. It’s something that we’re actually hearing more of now. Are people going to school for hospitality? Before it was, I fell into the industry, fell in love with it, and now we’re seeing that intentionality into hospitality. I think it’s because of stories that you hear sometimes from mentors about seeing and obviously just the love of travel. Right? I think that that’s, that’s comes with it. Leslie Weil: I really think the love of travel and the love of meeting people. Always merging into what can I do with those traits? And then all of a sudden it’s like, oh, hospitality. And I think as a career, hospitality is a career that offers a little bit of every career into one. Yes. And hospitality is a world of sub worlds. So really it is true that still, I feel like there’s a lot of people that fall into it. Like, you need a summer job and often sudden you love it and decide that that’s what you’re gonna do with your life. Yeah. But I think being able to study it and understanding all the components from a hospitality standpoint really gives you an advantage as you start your career. Ryan Embree: And a lot of transferable skills as well. Where you know, you can be at a property in the Midwest and then move to a beautiful property here right on the beach right behind us. And that’s what we’re gonna talk about next. Leslie, is this complete, we’ve visited at the perfect time, right? You would say the complete reimagining of your rooms, your suites, amenities, your pool restaurant. Talk to us a little bit about this project and kind of the journey that got you here. Leslie Weil: So I have not been here for as long as the renovation has been but my team has. And it was definitely, a very long but very well thought of project. It was fully reimagined. Sometimes you go into renovations and I have done 20 openings and many renovations, but this one felt like an opening because we really closed out the tower, the pool, the restaurant, while operating from one of the towers, which is not always easy on the team. And it’s also not easy on the guest of course, but it’s truly amazing to walk in and feel such a fresh outlook in what this property was supposed to be. It doesn’t feel like it’s the same building. Everything was redone. Every single room. The lobby is completely new. We have the new pool, which is incredible. And that was made of two different pools. So legitimately, I feel like we exploded the pool deck. And then just made something new and really try to stay true to our roots. Meaning we are from Pompano Beach, we’ve been here for a long time and we wanna big homage to that. So really everything was carefully thought of to how to be a guest hub and a community hub and honor the city we’re in with the names of our meeting space, the restaurant and everything else. And we unveiled it last week. So it’s been incredible to see. Ryan Embree: Well, congratulations to you and your team. They’ve done a fantastic job. I had breakfast out on my balcony overlooking that beautiful pool. It was a great place to work for, for the morning for sure. Leslie, you mentioned, you know that not a lot of people, I have family here, so I, I visited Pompano, but not a lot of people know about Pompano Beach. That downtown completely revamped, completely redone, beautiful. Paint a picture for those that have considered visiting Pompano Beach. What you get out of this, this location. Leslie Weil: I think Pompano is booming. It was like Dan known Jame in Broward County. Everything has grown so much and then it kind of moved north. Pompano is quiet, it’s beautiful, it has pristine beaches. You have a pier, you have the lighthouse. So we’re in a privileged location because from some rooms you see the lighthouse and from the others you see the pier. There is a lot to do. Great restaurants, not just ours, but there, there’s a lot of things that are coming. We have a brand new residence, building right next to us, but there’s so many coming up. So if you are looking for a little bit more of quiet and real restored experience, it’s almost like you really feel like you’re on vacation without the hustle and buzzle of other beaches in Florida. Ryan Embree: Sure. And that’s the best place to be, right? Is where you feel like you can get away from it, but you’re not too far removed from it where you actually feel like you have to get in your car and and drive. So, let’s talk about those guests that maybe do wanna stay a little bit more tranquil. Like I said, enjoy maybe their breakfast or their dinner right here on the beach. Some of the amenities in that reimagination there. Leslie Weil: So, of course I think the pool deck is the biggest portion of the renovation. I think the best part of the last week has been seeing the faces of the guests saying like, whoa, this really came out. Okay. That’s fun. But really we want the guests to have an amazing experience from the moment they walk in. So at the resort, obviously you have the pool with your resort fee, you will get chairs and umbrellas at the beach, which the umbrella is not something you typically get, but it does get very hot here. So we wanna make sure the guests are able to enjoy. It’s a great benefit. Best of both worlds. And we do have, we call our beach and pool the citrus club, right. Citrus because obviously Florida is big on Cirus, like I said, we want to pay homage to where we are. So our citrus club pool and beach have a different menu than the restaurant and you can have bites there all day. And amazing drinks and frozen drinks. ’cause obviously we want you to stay hydrated, refreshed and happy. And you can go to the pool, then go back to the beach. There will always be at attendants and servers taking care of you. We also have a tiki bar at the beach, which is very unique to this property. Most times you won’t find that. So you really don’t need to go far. And if you just wanna have a drink while you wait to go on a business dinner, you can always go to the beach, which is beautiful. We want everybody to start their day amazingly. And we’re starting putting a pot of coffee at 6:00 AM So if you wanna go see the sunrise outside, you’ll have a cup of coffee and you can just watch it come up because it is really beautiful. I’m an early riser and I’ve enjoyed many of them. So I want the guest to enjoy that. Love that. And then for breakfast, lunch and dinner we have the Caster. The Caster is our brand new restaurant. Mr. Keer used to be, well a businessman that came in 1923 to Pompano for fishing and he stayed for business. So we say it’s one of the founders of the city and we wanted to pick homage to his name. Our restaurant is American/New American Cuisine. And we’ve kind of gone around the menu so many times to make sure something people love and enjoy being very different from your breakfast experience to your dinner experience and being completely different than what you can get at the pool. But it’s all interchangeable. And we also do in room dining from the restaurant. Ryan Embree: That’s incredible. I mean from sunrise to sunset, you really have truly have something for every single guest. I love that. Some really unique experiences. I’m sure that’s gonna pay off on things that we’re gonna talk about later with like social media and people taking those photos and sharing. Those are the type of experience that if you can curate those and create them for guests, it pays off in dividends because they’re sharing that type of content. Leslie Weil: A hundred percent. We’re now finalizing our wellness program. We’re currently doing daily yoga, but we’re gonna enhance it with some other fitness offerings or wellness. You know, it might be sound healing. It doesn’t necessarily needs to be like a hard workout. And we’ll have the water sports. So if you’re on a bit of a thrill, you can also go on your jet skis or kayaking and whatnot when the weather is not rough, of course. Ryan Embree: Yeah. That South Florida hospitality. Programming such a big part of resorts now and I think that’s something that the guests really have come to expect over these last couple years. When they check in, they say, okay where’s the programming? Where’s the schedule for my stay? So having the opportunity to offer that is a huge competitive advantage over your typical hotel that might not offer that to guests. I want to go back to what you were talking about. FIU, Chaplain School of Hospitality. Very passionate about it. Last year we had the opportunity in our campus crawl series to visit with Dr. Chang, the dean there. Wonderful campus. I’m a UCF Rosen grad. So we love in hospitality, there’s no rivalries. Everybody loves everyone. But talk to us a little bit about that experience of going to a hospitality school and how that prepared you for your career today. Leslie Weil: So FIU was incredible and it’s even more incredible now. I was very determined and when selecting where to go in the United States, I had some convincing to do with my parents. And Miami was easier ’cause it’s close to home. So I don’t think I realized how much FIU was giving me until I graduated. And that’s why I give back so much. And that’s why I try to stay close to the school. I’m part of the alumni board as a volunteer. Every time they call me, I go and speak to the students because the one thing that FIU has today is that it has a great alumni network. And when you’re in the chaplain school, you’re forever in the chaplain school. So I think the best that I got was firsthand that people talking to me about the industry. And that’s not something that was as common way back when. I think the curriculum at FIU was very hands-on. And it truly allows you to learn in a different way. So because they also expect you to work, to graduate, you have to work many, many hours to be able to get that diploma to make sure you know what you’re doing right. I really feel like it developed a passion and it allowed me to start, not necessarily, oh I graduated and now I have to be the manager really allowed me to work my way up and understand every department. But with that level of knowledge that having a career in hospitality and really learning in the school allowed me to grow faster because I got it. And I could relate to other departments. So I spent most of my career at the front office, but my accounting classes at the chaplain school really made a big difference to them moving me to accounting afterwards for a couple of years because I got it in a different way. And since then, FIU has grown tremendously, keeps escalating through the charts and I’m very, very proud to be an alumni there. And I see how they are involving us, the alumni, into the day to day of the students so they can really see what a career means. ’cause there’s this whole thing about, oh, you work in hospitality, you have no lives and in reality that’s not true. This is a life we choose and yes, it is a business that’s open 24/7, 365 days a year. But there is so much you can do there that it’s not always those crazy hours, but definitely it’s the most fun you’ll ever have. Ryan Embree: Yeah. it’s a very rewarding career. And I think, you know, more stories like you, Leslie, of hospitality professionals coming back and speaking to students and setting those expectations because you don’t want those false narratives out there about the hospitality industry and saying that this can be a career. If you love travel, which most of this younger generation loves to do, this is the place to do it. Amazing perks sometimes that the best that come with your job. Leslie Weil: Right. A hundred percent. Ryan Embree: That you take full advantage of. Yeah, I mean everything that we saw at FIU and the Chaplain School of Hospitality, so many labs, hands-on, so many internships that they were sending students to, we just need to encourage that in this industry as much as we can. And so cool to see you in great connection with that. I was talking off camera about advice that you would give right now. You know, it can be a little scary right now for college graduates. They’re coming in, you hear about AI, you hear about technology maybe taking jobs. I mean, what advice would you give to a young hospitality professional right now, Leslie? Leslie Weil: Think the biggest thing for me is staying curious. Don’t think you have all the answers, but never be scared to speak up either. I find that I was successful in my career because I always wanted to learn more. And no matter where you start, just ask what the other person is doing. Just take advantage of everything because you have in the back of your head, you already studied it so you know it. And no matter which role you have, where you’re front desk, cage and you’re in housekeeping, you’re in the restaurant, you’re gonna see many things because in a hotel, everything blurs with everything in a really good way. So stay curious, ask, ask how you can help, ask how you can learn. And that will prepare the career forward because you already know a lot of the information. And I find that those that succeed the most are the ones that hold the best of different jobs, which is great. ’cause hotel, you have a lot of side work, upward diagonal mobility. And if you stay curious and ask all those questions and also speak up when you see things that can be done better, you’ll always grow and succeed. Ryan Embree: Be a hospitality sponge out there. And I think it’s great advice because I think you think back on the, we hate to do it, but back on 2020 and the lessons learned, there were a lot of GMs, front office managers doing task and jobs that they had hadn’t done either ever or in years. And I think there was a lot of learning that came out of that. And that is just the perfect example and kind of parallel of just exposing yourself to every single department. ’cause you, as you mentioned at the top of the episode, so many aspects to this. You wear so many hats as a GM, the more exposure and the more skills and traits you can do are just gonna sharpen, sharpen your professionalism, moving forward, put you in a great position. Leslie Weil: And also earns the trust of the team, because they know you’ve done it and you are willing to do it. And yes, I opened the hotel in 2021 and we were cleaning rooms every manager from revenue accounting to myself. We were cleaning rooms every day. Some of them had never done it. Some of them were great at it without never done it. And then it also makes you think of the hard work that the housekeepers goes through every day because I can certainly clean 10 rooms in eight hours, but they’re cleaning 17. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean empathy is huge in our industry. Leslie, I for one would love to host whether I’d, I’d love to attend a wedding here. I’d love to attend a meeting here. Talk us through, I saw some new courtyard space that you have for events. Talk us through what it’s like that process, to have group travel here. Leslie Weil: So we have an amazing sales team and I love them. Not the job I would do, but when I have, do I do it? Yeah. And the great thing about this hotel is that we host a lot of business meetings, but we also host a lot of weddings. Sweet 16, quinceaneras. And they did in the past, it’s just the spaces are now enhanced and reimagined. So we have indoor outdoor spaces ’cause of course South Florida. But the beauty of it is that we do have a courtyard that it’s right next to the pool where you can have a small cocktail at a small event, but also you can have corporate games. We’ve done everything you can get married in the beach and come into the ballroom for the party and we have a great terrace in the middle of the two towers that we have that is space for whatever you want it to be. Whether it’s a wellness event. We’ve had a food and wine festival in the terrace before as well. And then the sales team will walk you through everything. We have a sales team that helps with the group. We have a director of events that help with all the event planning and a catering manager as well. So really everybody comes together to ensure that they event goes perfect from the moment the guests walk in until they walk out with so many different spaces. Actually, where we’re sitting right now is a meeting room that overlooks the water. Which is my favorite spot. Ryan Embree: Another place for a potential alumni mixer, right? Leslie Weil: Yes. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, let’s talk about where we are right now in the season, wrapping up the summer that we’d love those snowbirds coming down, enjoying our sunny Florida weather. What do you have prepared for those in the fall and winter time? Leslie Weil: Excited to get into that. Summer is always, it’s slow season. I say it’s slow because it’s not ever really slow. But we are getting excited to really our first season as our reimagined property. A lot of programming. We’re working to have music series DJs in the coffee shop. We are really trying to do everything to be a hub, not just for our guests but also the community. And what I found over the last few years that I’ve got to work everywhere is that for the guest experience, the best you can do is mingle them with locals. Because that’s how you really know what’s going on. We want them to stay at the resort, but they wanna know where the best, you know, play to go snorkel is or if there’s a surf lesson and then the locals will give you the best ideas. So really as we move along end of summer and beginning of fall, it’s easier to do a lot of things outside too. You know, the rain is always giving you, oh my God, what do I do to change it? So we’re working on a lot of activities for families as well where at least an hour a day the kids could be outside painting while the parents are having a cocktail by the pool bar or the beach. And really curating programming at least monthly where we will have a DJ, liquor sponsor partnerships where when you can have and try different cocktails while, you know, refreshing yourself outside by the pool and also inside. Ryan Embree: And that’s what you were saying, Leslie, is you were like, I wanna get the local community involved because this does have a lot of history with maybe some locals and staying in this area, but it also is a completely reimagined place. And also paying homage to those, that local community. So incorporating that such a smart idea, social media obviously a great place to put that programming out, encourage all of our sweet spot listeners to obviously follow the property onsite. How does that play into social media and online reputation? How does that play into like when, when you do a re-imagining like this? Leslie Weil: It’s huge and honestly, especially when you’re a brand and there’s a lot of photography guidelines. We rely a lot on social media for what’s happening now, right? Like it’s very immediate. So social media to me right now is really how we show the world what we’re doing real time, right? There’s a person having a drink at the pool already ’cause we just opened, right? And it’s there. So the speed and really aesthetic, right? What message are you trying to portray? For us, it was really important to start from scratch because the property doesn’t look at all like the prior property, even though it’s the same. So I think social media is huge nowadays as everybody knows and being able to respond and show guests, we do care. This is what we’re doing. You’re not always gonna get great feedback. So I always say it’s how you react to it. But really right now, if you go to social media, you’ll be able to see real time what’s happening on property and what’s able to happen in on property, right? You can look back for a wedding and then you’ll find the pictures. So as we build up, we have new social media for the hotel, but also for the restaurant. So we wanna make sure we showcase both. And like you said, we wanna be a part of the local community and that is the easiest way to get to everybody around because they’re not always gonna be guests. Ryan Embree: It’s so disappointing when, you go to a social media profile for a hotel, it’s the middle of the summer and the last post is about, you know, happy New Year, right? Because that real time aspect and the authenticity is lost. And that’s a real opportunity for guests both far and locals like we’re talking about to really get to know you and the property a little bit better and show your, your hospitality and care for us. Leslie Weil: We also were delayed so many times, as with every renovation that I really feel a lot of people were losing face on the fact, are they really going to open? So for us it was very important to showcase it in social media as soon as it was done. Like, hello, we’re really here. I know it took a while, but see us, you know, we’re beautiful. Ryan Embree: And to tell your story as well, I think you get a lot of people invested in that, right? The local community have been, wow, this has been under renovation for months on in and now we get to experience this for the first time and people loving it. Leslie Weil: One of the big things here too is that, like I mentioned, like an inspector would come and say, Hey, you know, my daughter had her Sweet 16 here. Like a lot of people from the local community did things at this hotel. So for them to be able to see it come alive, and the most immediate thing to do is social media. Ryan Embree: So cool. So cool to see. Well, as we wrap up here Leslie, as general manager, you know, as you see those guest experiencing this, this reimagined almost brand new hotel for the first time, what is your hope that they say and feel about their experience here as they leave the Fort Lauderdale Pompano Beach Resort? Leslie Weil: I think the best thing I heard this weekend that makes me realize this is what I want, is that it felt upscale yet approachable. You know, I want you to feel like you’re at home and that you can have a great time and be yourself, but really have memories that you’re building while you’re staying with us. I think that in hospitality, one of the most beautiful things is that we get to be a part of everybody’s life. Sometimes in their best moments and sometimes in their worst. But you want them to create a memory that they always can look back or come back to. And as we are reimagined those that were here before, we wanna wow them by feeling like they’re family and that they had a great time, but also those that have never been here to have that same feeling and that same approachability to the space that the others. Ryan Embree: I love that. It’s truly one of the best answers I’ve heard on that question, Leslie. So thank you so much for hosting us here at your beautiful Property. Encourage all of our Suite Spot listeners, come check it out. Come check out Pompano Beach, see what Leslie and her team have done here in this incredible property. Thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Leslie Weil: Thank you so much for having me, and I look forward to having you back and all your listeners soon. Ryan Embree: All right, awesome. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

Tune in to the next episode of the Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show series to catch special guest Nicholas Gold, who takes center stage on the podcast! As Managing Director of Black Desert Resort, Nicholas shares the early beginnings of his hospitality journey, the one-of-a-kind appeal of independent hotels, and how the newly opened Black Desert Resort is accentuating the guest experience in hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, or Ryan Embree here for another edition of our Independent Hotel Show series, episode #3, and we are getting closer and closer to September down where we are gonna have the largest collection of independent hoteliers and network. We are so excited to hopefully see you down in Miami Beach, September 17th and 18th. We’re gonna talk about that a little bit more, but I’m gonna bring in my guest right now, managing director Black Desert Resort and Red Mountain Resort, Nicholas Gold. Nicholas, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Nicholas Gold: Ryan. My absolute pleasure. Cheers. Ryan Embree: Well, we’re gonna have a fun time on this episode talking about your beautiful resort in Utah. I’m so excited. But before we get into that, before we start talking about the Independent Hotel show, which we’re both here for, let’s talk about your hospitality journey and the story that led you to a Black Desert Resort. Nicholas Gold: Yeah, sure. You know, it’s, I started when I was too young to know any better in the hospitality business. I at a fairly young age, I was working in a restaurant in London. I was the guy, you know, I’m relatively old, so we did a lot of tableside cooking back then, and I was the gang who worked the Gary Don, and that really spoke to me because it led me to, it fed my love of storytelling, which I’ve just been able to expand upon as I’ve grown in the industry, and that that juxtaposition between service and storytelling really is what the Independent Luxury Hotel is all about. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it absolutely is. Nicholas completely agree with you. Every amazing independent hotel has a story. You know, sometimes, sometimes it’s challenging in the, in independent hotel space. Give our listeners a little bit, you, you say you love storytelling. Give our, our listeners a little bit of story about the property that you have the privilege of, of managing over there at the massive Black Desert Resort. Nicholas Gold: Yeah. So we are in about 600 acres just by snow Canyon State Park, and we do a really good job of blending luxury hospitality with golf, wellness, dining, a huge residential living component. We’re building right now, we’re about to break ground on a 24-court world championship pickleball complex, which is certainly the wave of the future. And we just finished working on the designs for a four and a half acre waterpark, which is not gonna be open to the public, only open to our members and hotel guests. Ryan Embree: Absolutely incredible. And I think, it’s funny, we’re talking about storytelling here in, in independent hotels because you, you’re able to write your own story sometimes and be able to adjust and adapt to trends that you see out there. I see you mentioned wellness, a huge trend in hospitality right now, being able to do some unique things in that space. Pickleball, even on the amenity side, being able to do that and who doesn’t love, I’ve got a couple young ones, who doesn’t love a nice little waterpark to relax at as well. Nicholas Gold: I would also be remiss in missing the fact that I think we’re one of the only courses in the country to host both an LPGA tour and a PGA tour. Ryan Embree: Incredible. Nicholas Gold: It is pretty good. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Listen, when those young ones are at the waterpark, you know where I’ll be, I’ll be on the links with my buddies. It seems like that you got every something for everything over there at the Black Desert Resort. Its a massive property. It’s picturesque. If you’re watching us on YouTube, you can see Nicholas’s background right now. But it, if you’re not, and you’re listening to us on one of our platforms, I encourage you, this is a background that you do not wanna miss. For those who aren’t familiar with that area, Nicholas, that you’re in, paint really a picture for us of where you’re located. Nicholas Gold: Well, as I mentioned, we’re just outside Snow Canyon State Park, which is just north of St. George, Utah, about 25 minutes from Zion National Park. But we’re right underneath the Red Rocks of Snow Canyon. Yeah, I spent seven years in Hawaii and I spent a few years in Sedona. And when I got here, when I landed in Ivans, which is where the resort is, my first thought was, this is where Kona and Sedona met and had a baby. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And it, it certainly looks like it, it’s absolutely picturesque. Like I mentioned, encourage you to go check it out, we have had the privilege of talking to several independent hotels with Black Desert Resort, certainly being the largest one. And I think, you know, when people think about independent hotels, sometimes they think about this kind of small little mom and pop hotel. Certainly not the case for you, but I wonder with being such a large resort, how has being an independent brand benefited the property and given it the freedom to offer it some of its unique offerings to its guests? Nicholas Gold: I’ve worked for some smaller corporations, and I’ve worked for a lot of independent hotels. And for me, I found certainly for here, for Black Desert, being independent, you know, I’m not beholden to any legacy of any brand. So we can really speak of who we are, who Southern Utah is, and you know it’s rare, it’s rare in your career to be part of something like this that’s going to help redefine a complete region and do it with a purpose. And I think we would struggle tremendously to do that with a flag and to be part of a brand being independent gives us the flexibility and the ability to pivot if we needed to on a much faster basis than it would be if we were part of a larger organization. Ryan Embree: Its a common theme we’ve been hearing in this series, Nicholas. And I think you’re right. The community is almost able to embrace and support you differently than it would a major brand because it feels more connected to your property. And I think a lot of independents do a great job of embracing that community feel and make it, you it’s not just a flag that you can find in this city and in the city, 30 miles, 50 miles down the road. This is a unique story. You talked about storytelling and one of the places where independence certainly shine, I think, in an opportunity to, is their F&B experiences. Talk to us a little bit about Black Desert, how you’ve embraced the F&B experience and how that plays a role in the guest experience there. Nicholas Gold: Ryan, you’re right. I mean, food is a, food is basically an emotional connector, right? And it plays a huge role for us. My signature restaurant, the Salt is ostensibly a steakhouse, but it uses a lot of seasonal ingredients. It uses a lot of local ingredients. All our beef all comes from Utah. Most of it is grass fed. We try and use as much local product produce, as well as protein as entirely possible. 20th Hole, which is our, let’s call it sports bar for a better, better use of the phrase. We have some things that our members and our homeowners will find comforting as well as something to explore for those visiting. So what we try and do is balance what is familiar with what is interesting whilst using as much local product as possible. Ryan Embree: I love that. And that’s part of the story too, is local sourcing you, we got on the wellness trend, but also sustainability and local sourcing. Such a huge hospitality trend right now that I feel independents have the freedom to maybe dabble in a little bit more than maybe your brand standards, of a flag, a property under a flag would be able to, so cool that you’ve implemented that into the F&B experience over there. We were talking off camera about how the pictures, the background that your property sits on your resort sits on, Nicholas, it kind of speaks for itself and it’s, I’m sure social media, you’ve got a huge social following tens of thousands of followers, fans online. How has that like user generated content and digital marketing impacted the property success and really helped tell that story that we’re talking about here? Nicholas Gold: It’s absolutely amazing. And talk about how powerful storytelling is. Yeah, we’ve, we’ve only been open for a few months and yet a lot of our followers and content creators are rabid. I mean, it’s just such an easy, easy thing to shoot and shoot well, that it’s so picturesque, it’s amazing. Our guests do an incredible job of capturing and sharing the absolute awe of the plate. From the sunrise yoga shots to drone footage of the lava fields. This authenticity has been our best marketing tool. So instead of us telling the story, our guests are replacing us and telling the story themselves. And that resonates so strongly. It’s incredible. It’s, been our best marketing tool. It really has. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to hear and it’s so cool when that happens, because it’s not something that you can force Nicholas, a lot of the time. It has to kind of grow organically. That’s how the best social media stories are kind of told is organically, authentically, that picture used to be, let’s go ahead and get the professional photographer out here and get the most the best looking picture. And now people wanna see what things look like in real time. They want to see what am I going to experience? ’cause I might not catch that sunset at the, at just the right time. I wanna see what that Salt Steakhouse looks like on a busy Friday night. I want to feel like I’m there. And that’s where that true user generated content can really come into play. And you were talking about those rabid fans online. I also think there’s something to influencers and followers of the independent hotel community that just have a passion for that space, maybe more than they do for branded hotels sometimes. And I think it’s because it is one of a kind. It’s unique and they relate to that, you know, and they wanna embrace that and help tell your story. So very cool to see. You mentioned it before, Nicholas. You’ve worked, you’ve had the privilege of working at several independent and lifestyle properties. You know, we try to always, both me and you kind of have a similar so background in the sense of we fell into hospitality, but we’re trying to build some more bridges for young professionals to say, Hey, you don’t have to fall into this career. You can make this a lifelong career from the get go. What advice would you give to a young hospitality professional listening to this podcast, and what would be your pitch to them? I’m gonna put you on the spot to say, why don’t you gain a little independent hotel experience at some point in your career? Nicholas Gold: You know, when, when I say I fell into this, you know, I fell into it when I was 17, so I realized I absolutely loved it from a very early age. You know, the advice I always give people, and we work with the local universities here as well, so much so that we actually have a practice facility on our golf course for just designated for them. But my advice for them is always try and be doing the next job without being asked. Always assume that you are going to get it. Always assume that you’re going to be doing more. And the odds are you probably will if you wait for it to happen, especially in the independent space, it probably won’t. The other piece of it is work for somewhere that matters. Work for work for a company or a site or an independent hotel that is making a difference either in the world or in the community. Life will be so much more rewarding for everybody if you do. Ryan Embree: It aligns perfectly with what we’re hearing about this, younger generation, gen Z workforce that’s coming in, who is prioritizing that in their career. They want, they want something that’s intrinsically rewarding to them. I think the independent hotel space can offer that. And it’s exactly what you said, Nicholas. You get, you can be everything on an independent hotel, right? Especially a smaller one where you could be the head engineer for a couple minutes at trying to fix a property. You could be a head housekeeper really embracing that as a way to get a plethora of experience in a short amount of time. But I love that advice you gave. I wanna do some rapid fire here to get to know you in the Black Desert Resort a little bit better. This one might be difficult ’cause you’ve got a lot of great views, but what’s your favorite view on, on the property there, Nicholas? Nicholas Gold: We have a roof deck on Oasis, which is one of our food and beverage outlets in the middle of the golf course. That’s, obviously very, it’s a roof, so it’s elevated and the, the sunset over the lava fields into Snow Canyon from the roof of Oasis is unparalleled. It’s extraordinary. Ryan Embree: And I’m curious ’cause I’m sure you see, I mean, obviously very seasonal over there, right? As far as, you know, the snow capped and then you know, the picture behind you where, where people are playing golf and gonna be enjoying that waterpark. Well, what, when you do that view, what, what’s in, what’s in your head? Are you in the winter, the winter or the summertime? Nicholas Gold: What in my head? You know, if you’ve seen my career at all, this is actually the furthest north I’ve lived in some 30 years. So winters are definitely not my friend. Ryan Embree: Gotcha, gotcha. What about favorite fact, fun fact about your property, Nicholas? Nicholas Gold: You know, it’s funny. We have a thing about threes here when we are doing some planning, when we’re doing, some development work on, it gets a little complicated because we’re actually owned by three different municipalities and owned by, we sit on three different municipalities, St. George Ivans and Santa Clara, which makes doing things a little more interesting. But we also sit on the conversions of three geologic regions, the Mojave, the Great Basin, and the Colorado Plateau. Ryan Embree: Wow that, yeah, I’m sure, I’m not sure if you looked into that, I mean, but that you’re probably the only resort to be able to make that type of claim that’s very impressive. Favorite signature dish? You talked about some of the F&B experiences over there. Nicholas Gold: So probably our aged rib from UT47 and UT47 is they’re based out of Logan, Utah. So it’s local meats, it’s grass fed and then finished on corn. But the beef is absolutely extraordinary. Ryan Embree: Love to hear it. Favorite guest experience or amenity at the property? Nicholas Gold: Again, this is a very silly one, but when you come here to check in they offer you a welcome spritzer, essentially, which is a local prickly pear lemonade, refreshing drink on arrival. And they actually make the ice cube out of the prickly pair lemon syrup, and it’s just you know, after a long journey to get here. It’s just a really cool, refreshing sparkling drink. Ryan Embree: Hey that’s a great first impression. When you walk into the resort, first thing you’re handed is a drink. I’ll take that for sure. It’s so funny though, it’s exactly what you’re mentioning is every single aspect I think of one of these questions has some sort of local tie to it, and I think that speaks to that, that bigger that bigger theme that we found kind of in this episode here. Last one. Favorite piece of art at your property? Nicholas Gold: So the property is designed to really take advantage of the views and what’s outside. So it’s really tough to compete with the big picture windows encompassing the landscape. It’s, you can’t get away from it. Ryan Embree: Well, I mean, listen, you gotta use, you gotta use what you got, right? A lot of properties don’t have that view outside. So they gotta kind of put, I’m sure there’s probably some a lot of portraits inside of these other hotels that might have this region in their background. You get to see it right outside your window. A nice little privilege you have over there at the Black Desert Resort. I wanna shift gears. Independent Hotel show. That’s what this series is all about. Nicholas, happening September 17th and 18th in Miami Beach at the Miami Beach Convention Center. Don’t forget listeners, Embree25, that’s E-M-B-R-E-E 25. Get yourself a complimentary code. Hope to see you there with me and Nicholas. Nicholas, you recently joined the advisory board. Congratulations. What kind of inspired you to get involved with this event and how do you see it supporting independent hoteliers? Nicholas Gold: Thanks. I was incredibly honored to be asked to join the board. It’s one of the few shows, one of the few events that actually really champions the independent hotel industry. And I wanted to be part of that conversation, how we move the industry forward, how we elevate the guest experience. And then as you were talking about earlier, how we inspiring the next generations of hoteliers to really dream big. Ryan Embree: I absolutely love that and I think your resort is a great example of this. The wide spectrum of voices and property that are gonna be at this event. You know, something from the massive black desert resort all the way down to the smaller, independent hotel hotels that we might see right there on south Beach in Miami Beach. So we encourage you, all of our Suite Spot listeners, hope you’ll be there. Hope you will join us as we wrap up today, Nicholas would love to get, we always like to end kind of looking forward, looking into the future. what’s your vision for the future of the Black Desert Resort in your mind? Nicholas Gold: The vision is to become the most sought after luxury destination in the west. You know, as I said, we’re building the pickleball complex, which is a world championship complex. I’m building a $55 million water park that’s only gonna be open to guests and members. We’re looking at three more golf courses bringing in to the fold, as well as another clubhouse. It’s going to be an absolutely extraordinary adventure where golf wellness and that base camp for adventure, for all the national parks that surround us come together. Ryan Embree: Got a feeling we’re gonna be able to, we’re gonna be seeing Black Desert Resort, in hospitality news and in the, social media profiles, and of travelers all over the world. Nicholas, I want to thank you for taking the time. We covered a lot of ground on the episode. Appreciate you taking your time. Any final thoughts before we wrap up? Nicholas Gold: Yeah as we’ve said, hospitality is about connection. It’s about, it’s the connection to the place, the people and purpose. And that’s what we’re building here and that’s what I’m hoping that next generation of hoteliers understands. It’s about purpose and the legacy. Ryan Embree: Love to hear it. Great message for those young hospitality professionals. Thank you Nicholas, for taking the time to join us and share your beautiful property with us and some insights. Nicholas Gold: I really appreciate it today, Ryan. Thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: All right, thank you. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot Spotlight Series takes viewers to sunny Key West in the newest episode, featuring the lavish and beachside resort, Casa Marina Key West by Hilton!  Special guest and Hotel Manager at Casa Marina, Evelyn Summer, joins the podcast to share the property’s rich history, insight on the $90 million hotel renovation, and how a strong digital presence on social media and guest review platforms plays a pivotal role in connecting with travelers worldwide. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are here with our Suite Spot Spotlight series, and what I would argue is going to be the southern most episode we ever do on this Spotlight series. We’ll explain in a moment, I’m gonna bring in my guest, Evelyn Summer, Hotel Manager of Casa Marina, Key West Curio Collection by Hilton. Evelyn, thank you so much for being with me on the podcast. Evelyn Summer: Thanks for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you for inviting me here to this incredible property. We’re gonna talk all about it, but before, as tradition on the Suite Spot, we’d love to hear from hospitality professionals, their journey, their background. This is like every hotel professional’s dream to be at a property like this. How’d you get here? Evelyn Summer: Ryan, you said that it’s your Southern most broadcast, but it’s also the best broadcast. You’re gonna have to. That’s true. I mean, come on, look at where we’re at. How did I get here? Well, fun fact. I am from Key West. Okay. Yeah. So my family originates from down here. My grandfather’s from Key Largo, my mother’s from down here. And I’ve been here my whole life. Not to say that I haven’t moved and, you know, went to college, worked in a couple of different areas, but I’ve been in Key West for about 90% of my life. Yeah. And started working here at these two properties probably in 2008. However, fun fact is that all of our high school proms and homecomings and family worked here. There’s a lot of it. It was further back than 2008. Sure. When I actually officially became employed. So I can easily say that I grew up here. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We hear that all the time from hoteliers is like them actually living in the hotel sometimes. And you have like your entire history here and now here you are making more memories for guests all around the world. Very, very cool to see. And this property is iconic. It’s got a history dating back to the 1920s. We’re gonna talk about the recent renovation and transformation that it just had, but talk to us, to our listeners about the origin story of this property and its history. Evelyn Summer: Sure. Yeah. So Casa Marina was built, opened in 1920 New Year’s Eve, 1920 to be exact. It was built by Henry Flagler. He was an industrialist that built the railroad that connects essentially New York all the way down to the southernmost point. And interesting fact is that Henry and his partners were the first to create the, and I’m not a railroad specialist, but the railroads that could connect to other railroad lines way, way, way back. Whenever someone would built a railroad, that was it. That track was just their track and you couldn’t interconnect it with someone else’s track Yeah. And use theirs. And he was able to create that. And then his dream was to build a way to get people all the way down to Key West. So he built us one, the old bridges that you see when you’re traveling down to get people on a train all the way down to Key West. And then of course, once he figured that out, they needed a place to stay. So Casa Marina was it. And that’s about 105 years ago. Ryan Embree: I mean, I think that’s absolutely incredible. I mean, the fact that we’re talking about the origin of connecting railroads and aligning with the history of this, of this space, but there’s been certainly a bridge from its past to where it is right now. With these transformations and recent renovations. Talk to us a little bit about the work that’s been done, some of the feedback you’re hearing from guests. Evelyn Summer: Yeah, of course. So we recently finished, a $90 million renovation of the entire resort. Incredible. And that included everything from our food and beverage outlets which we’re sitting in now to our guest rooms. Every facility in the hotel was addressed, and it’s just absolutely fantastic. They did a wonderful job of making sure to not get away from sort of the old charm that is caina. It is one of the oldest buildings on the island, but to add in some newer touches that really make it elevated and make the guest experience really wonderful. So we have brand new restaurant, which we’re sitting in now, ADA, which is just absolutely fantastic. It’s here right on the ocean front as you can hear it in the background from sitting on the beach to have dinner, to sitting at the bar, to just having a regular lunch and lunch if you were out on your pool chair or beach chair. It’s just really, really fantastic. And then of course, our guest rooms like just, I mean, I might be biased, but they’re the best on the island. They’re the best on the island. We have some brand new ocean front suites where you can be in your suite and then five seconds walk out directly from your room to the beach. And the ocean is, you know, 35 feet away. You really can’t, there’s, you can’t compare it to probably anything else in the United States. It’s absolutely wonderful. Ryan Embree: It was incredible. Again, I had the, the privilege of of going on a tour and to also see a note to its history, local flair. There were some artists that were curated some art for this recent renovation as well. Evelyn Summer: So our architecture and design team, they partnered together and did such a really nice job with touches. As you’ve mentioned, there are about three or four local artists that ended up having their pieces either in every single guest room or sprinkled throughout the hotel. And then we also of course, allow the guest an opportunity to be able to purchase or promote those artists here in our gift shop or around the hotel. And like Key West Pottery, is one of the gentlemen. He does some really great art pieces that’s not just pottery, but also he paints and things like that, and everyone sort of knows about them. And so it was really cool to be able to get his stuff, a couple of his paintings. And they’re really funky. Like, whether it’s a rooster that’s kind of like weird cartoonish looking, or something to that nature that are in every single guest room. And it just sort of really add into the flare of Key West, but fits the architecture and charm that still keeps it, you know, as such an old historic and cozy, if you will, building. Ryan Embree: And I think that’s the brilliant piece about it. I mean, you think about a property that’s been around for over a hundred years, you have families that have generations that have been coming to this property and being able to say he wanna modernize this building, but also not lose its charm and local art and flair. It’s so amazing and Key West, just an incredible historic location. For those listeners, viewers that haven’t been to Key West before, kind of paint a picture of where this property is located in comparison Key West. Evelyn Summer: Of course. So Key West, well, we can start out by talking about like, what’s the vibe of Key West? I feel like a couple of people, you know, if you asked a few different people, they would give you a totally different answer. And it depends on maybe when was the last time you visited or what you were coming here for. First of all, we’re in the Caribbean. We’re at the southern most point of the United States, but we’re in the middle of the ocean and the stones throw away from a couple of Caribbean islands. And so that’s perfect. Right? If you’re looking for a place to go, maybe you don’t necessarily have a passport or wanna travel too far out of the country, you’re gonna get that Caribbean feel here, but you’re still in the United States. But Key West has, over the years, and I can confidently speak to this being that I’ve been here a long time, we won’t say how old I am, but it’s probably older than you think. It is such a well-rounded, whether you’re coming here to party on Duval Street, whether you’re coming here to just relax on the beach, whether you’re coming here for art and food, whether you’re bringing your family. And that doesn’t matter if they’re young kids or teenagers, there’s so many things to do. It’s such a welcoming place. Like Key West City motto is one human family. Like, you know, it doesn’t matter what walk of life you come from, whether you’re a southerner who just likes to come down and check out food, or you’re from New York City or, you know, it just doesn’t matter. It’s something for everyone down here. And everyone always has a really good time and sort of goes back thinking, I can’t wait to go back. Yeah. The area of the island that the Key West, the Key West the hotel is in Key West, which is just a couple blocks off of Duval Street, which is nice because you might think like, I wanna be down in the mix. Like I don’t wanna have to walk too far. Right. But we are on the Atlantic side of the island. It’s about a 10 minute walk to get to say the southernmost point or the West east end of Duval Street and makes for a perfect getaway. So you can still be close enough to walk quick, Uber, rent a bike, you can do whatever you know, we still have all the fun get around Key West ways that everyone’s used to, but you’re away from the hustle and bustle. You’re not in the middle of like, let’s say you don’t enjoy the 3:00 AM crowd. Right. You’d come here and you would have no idea Duval Street’s just right around the corner. Right. But you’re still close enough. We have the largest backyard. I like to say in Key West, some of it is behind us. There are very few, if any, hotels that actually have a real beach in Key West. And I think that that might deter some people that maybe have never been here and are looking into traveling to Key West, but not realizing that we actually do have a beach and it’s the largest one outside of, you know, a city beach or something like that you might travel to. And double benefit about staying here is that you have access to our sister property as well. The reach resort. And the Reach has the only natural beach in Key West. Which means it’s naturally made sort of maybe more used to what you might visit in, say, along the coast of Florida where it, although we don’t have a lot of crashing waves down here in Florida in Key West, we have a natural sand over at the Reach, which is wonderful as well. So you can get the best of both worlds. Ryan Embree: Well, I think you’ve done a wonderful job of painting a picture, again, whether you’re here with your family, whether you’re here for group travel, whether you come down here to you know, get crazy on Duval. You really can kind of have it all just at the, you know, couple steps away from your hotel room and this beautiful property. I wanna talk about some of the amenities. You already mentioned the largest private beach on Key West. What are some of the other amenities if a guest did want to kind of stay on site? Evelyn Summer: Well, we have some really great options. You could come here and check in, although I don’t recommend it. You could never leave. Like you could just stay at the hotel. I mean, and the reason I say I don’t recommend it’s ’cause you gotta go see Key West. I mean, you can’t come and say and see a few different things around the island. It’s such a unique place. But we have a spa here on site, which provides a lot of different services. I highly recommend setting up a massage on our beach side, cabanas in the morning. It’s just like unreal. They’re about 25 feet from the shoreline and you know, you just hear the waves crashing. It’s before, you know, it’s not so hot and not a lot of people are awake yet and you’re just laying there getting a massage and the birds are chirping. No sound machine needed. There’s, you can just hear the natural. It’s absolutely wonderful. And they do have indoor options as well for people that would be more comfortable inside the spa. We also have a water sports vendor here on property, barefoot Billies. He provides everything that you could possibly wanna do, whether it’s on the water, on the shoreline. He has bike rentals, scooter rentals. You can rent golf carts to get around the hotel. You can take snorkeling tours or sunset tours directly here from our dock. Ryan Embree: We saw a couple snorkelers out here. A couple jet skis fly by in the background too. Evelyn Summer: Yeah, and Billy is the originator of the world famous island jet ski tour, which takes you, it’s 90 minutes and takes you all the way around the islands. It’s a guided tour. Highly recommend doing that because it’s really the most fun way to see the entire island, if you will. They take you all the way around. It’s really, really cool. So that’s a huge plus, right? Because you definitely wanna try and get out on the water, be a part of the ecosystem while you’re down here. Let’s see. We have, we already talked about Dorada a little bit, a wonderful restaurant which offers you lunch and dinner. Of course, Flagler’s breakfast is fantastic in the mornings and our pool and beaches. So you could stay here for several days and never hang out in the same spot. Every, like, you could choose a different spot to be your hangout spot, whether it’s at one of the pools in one of our cabanas, at one of the end of the beach and a daybed. And then the next day you could go down and you know, get a couple of chairs in the umbrella by the ocean. You really, there’s a lot of space to hang out and not feel sort of like it’s repetitive after so many days and that you’re doing the same thing. Ryan Embree: And to speak to, you know, the variety again of traveler that can accommodate here. You’ve got two pools here, right? Family pool doll only pool. Yep. So again, you know, it’s exactly what you were saying. And then when you’re done here, you can just go head down to the sister property and not too far and enjoy. Evelyn Summer: Yeah. And the food over there is fantastic as well. The Reach is really a hit and it’s nice. It’s really nice. And the same goes for both proper. We are sister properties, so, you know, a lot of us that work here, cover both hotels, which really makes for like an added amenity. For either guest that you can go over and you can charge back to your room over there. If you were to spend the day at the pool and have drinks and lunch, you can charge back to your room. Billy has a small setup over there as well, which also has some different sort of beach toys, if you will, that you can use. So it’s really nice. It’s really nice that we have the partnership. Ryan Embree: You mentioned some f and b options. Personal favorite, Evelyn, or what would you say? Where are we going? Evelyn Summer: This is hard because it’s, our menus are relatively new Right. But recently from renovation and opening everything up. Oh my gosh. Okay. So let’s see. Well, the key lime pie is a must have to, and everyone says that if you go anywhere in Key West and interviewed anyone, they would tell you to have their key lime pie. But I’m telling you, there’s something about ours that’s just like, it has been voted best on the island. It has won that award. So I can confidently say that. Let’s see, Chef has a nightly fish special and so I can’t tell you what it is ’cause it’s different every night. But he gets local fresh seafood from local commercial fishermen every single day delivered to the hotel and does just absolutely mind blowing things with this fish. So whether it’s swordfish grouper or mahi, sometimes you can’t even believe some of the ingredients that he used to make these dishes. Because you just wouldn’t think to put it in that dish. But it’s so unique and so delicious and different every night, which is another added benefit. And then I’m a big pancake girl. Ryan Embree: Okay. Evelyn Summer: And I think the pancakes of Flaglers, I had them this morning, are really, really, really good. Ryan Embree: Well if you ever want to feel really inspired to travel, go to your social media profiles. Instagram, Facebook, over 90,000 travelers already following it. No shortage of views, no shortage of great content to be sharing. I’m sure your guests are sharing every single day. It’s probably hard to keep up with. Talk to us about social media strategy and how that kind of played into the role of the, the hotel. Evelyn Summer: We of course we found it extremely important to sort of deep dive into the social media world, particularly after our renovation. We had so much to show off. Yeah, absolutely. Great point. And our marketing team right now is just fantastic. You spent some time with Abby, of course, had plenty of conversations with Liz, I’m sure. And they really have just honed in on kind of like, and what is grabbing people’s attention and how to highlight sort of what the mood is like or what, what are the kids saying the vibe is nowadays for people. So we really just try and capture that and highlight sort of maybe things that people maybe aren’t even thinking about or don’t even know that we have to offer. But staying relative to whoever we’re after, right. So you talk about a lot of corporate and group stuff going on. We have a ton of weddings over 150 weddings a year take place. Between our two properties. It’s a lot. Yeah. And the team does a really kill our job. And then just different demographics of people that stay here. Ryan Embree: That’s what I was gonna speak to. I mean, I think in just the short time that we’ve had this conversation, I mean there has been so much that you’ve been talking about between this property, the renovations, everything. So Sure. Again, the no shortage of content. Definitely encourage our followers, subscribers, make sure you follow on Instagram, Facebook to, to keep up there. You talked about the weddings and group travel. And I personally, I need some more of my friends to get married. Let’s do a Key West. Let’s get the company down here. I need to get back here. Talk through that process of group travel, you know, weddings how that’s done and how it’s really kind of a white glove service for you. Evelyn Summer: Of course. So our sales and catering team, I mean really what just absolute killer team. I mean you can imagine it’s, it’s seems easy when you look at it, particularly on social media, but to put off some of the events that they do and really coordinate a number of attendees, whether we’re talking a wedding or a corporate meeting quite literally in the middle of the ocean on an island. It’s not an easy feat and they really do a fantastic job and give a lot of confidence to these group contacts. And we just have stellar reviews. I mean something in the 90 percentile of feedback that we get just from our corporate groups alone. But the process is fairly simple. I mean, no one ever argues about coming down to do a site visit, right. Ryan Embree: They’re always raising their hands. Right. I’ll I go check it out. Evelyn Summer: They’re arguing over who’s gonna come. We do a lot of incentive group, you know, a lot of people that wanna come down here and celebrate their teams because it’s, you know, there’s such a versatile place to bring them and different things that they can do. Key West has a golf course. I think a lot of people don’t realize that, which also helps with sort of course, you know, it, it seems it’s either people wanna be in the sun in at the ocean doing something active or on a golf course and that really helps. But as far as the process goes, I mean, our sales and marketing team and events team is either out on the road or in contact with different individuals and getting the site visits scheduled. People come here, they see what’s going on. And we have a crew, I mean a crew of people that help from start to finish. It doesn’t matter whether we’re talking about the smallest detail or the largest. I mean, the team really works well together in making sure that we put on a really great show for them. Ryan Embree: And a number of different spaces at the property as well where you can be flexible, whether you’re a smaller group, massive group can accommodate. Evelyn Summer: Well let’s face it, we’re in the middle. We are in the middle of the ocean, as I’ve said a couple of times. So there’s weather and that can be a nerve wracking factor for people if they’ve planned something totally outside. So we do provide backup space for every single event that we have. So I think that creates a sense of relief for maybe some folks who really aren’t, really don’t know what might happen. There are so many different options of space, but not only the space, but the feel that they can provide, like whatever that event might be. That it really allows us, we might not have hundreds of thousands of squares foot of meeting space, like, you know, so we maybe a larger hotel in a larger city, but outdoor space is not counted as as meeting space, but we use it as meeting space. And so it allows us to be able to offer so many different options. I mean, if someone wanted to come and take over a whole side of the, be like everything behind us, including the lawn, they could, they could. And that provides just so many different options and fun. Evelyn Summer: Right. Even down to a very intimate, you know, setting to where you feel like you might be the only ones on property. So, and that’s what you look for is, is that flexibility when you’re planning to accommodate, you know, no matter what your vibe is as you’re speaking to Evelyn Summer: We’re so, what is it? Gen Z or Gen z, Ryan, my kids would be so proud of me. Ryan Embree: And you and your team have done a great job, Evelyn obviously nationally recognized by Forbes, Travel and Leisure. You have a number of Hilton Circle of excellent winners. What does this mean to you as hotel manager, to kinda see these recognitions? Evelyn Summer: Ryan, I say it all the time. I don’t do anything here. I don’t do anything. I really don’t. I, these people that work here have so much passion. They love their jobs. They put each other and the guest first. And I don’t mean to say this in a, it doesn’t surprise me. Yeah. Like the number of things that we have. And I don’t mean that in a cocky way, but more in a, like, it is so special to be in one a place like this, but to work with people who function like a family, a good functioning family and genuinely love being here and doing their jobs. And I think that everything else that happens as a result of that is just icing on the cake and somewhat like easy. Does that make sense? I mean, absolute their job isn’t easy, but listen, we have, I think the highest number of Circle of Excellence winners out of most of the Hilton hotels. It’s incredible. And they’re recognized. They get to go on these fantastic trips as a result, which is really always so exciting for them. Because they work really hard all year round. And then they get to go do something fun with their colleagues. But then Hilton. And then of course, you know, the awards and recognition that you mentioned earlier, whether it be Forbes or the list goes on of places that we’ve been either nominated or won. It’s very humbling. Ryan Embree: It’s a great testament to, you know, especially with you, you talked about the financial, $90 million renovation put into the testament to see that guest feedback come in and see that that love kind of shine through online and you know, through word of mouth too. Because again, this is a historic property probably holds a special place in a lot of people’s hearts. Both locals like yourself and people traveler, you know, travelers all over the world where this might be their first time. So speaking of it, it is the summer season. The kids are outta school, people are ready to travel. Sure you’re ready to host them. So you’ve got this Passport to Paradise package. Talk to us a little bit about that and what guests have to look forward this summer at Casa Marina. Evelyn Summer: Well, you don’t need a passport to come to Key West. All you have to do is go online and book Casa Marina resort.com. Passport to Paradise is a summer portion that we have going on. Summertime’s a really great time to come down here. I think a lot of people maybe have more options of where they could travel, especially within the United States ’cause most of the country is warm and they could travel a lot of different places. But if you are looking for somewhat of a Caribbean field, but maybe not wanting to have to use a passport or go too far on an airplane or maybe you’re in Florida and it’s just a quick drive, we do have that promotion going on. It’s 20% off. And then you also get a $50 daily resort credit added to your room. So could use that for some drinks by the pool or any of the amenities that we have here on the island that we’ve talked about. There you go. And then key lime pie. Yeah, key lime pie. You could have, I don’t even know how many key lime pies with that credit, but you could. And then you can’t beat 20% off. I mean, really, it’s really kind of the best time to travel down here from a rate perspective. Ryan Embree: And you don’t just have to travel by car either. If you’re in Florida, we flew down here, you know, pretty quick. A lot more flights coming into the airport that seems to be growing. I’m sure you’re gonna be welcoming a lot more guests as the summer. And then, you know, even we get those snowboards a little bit later in the year. So, you know, as we wrap up today’s episode obviously Hotel Manager for Casa Marina, you know, what do you hope and feel when travelers leave? They check out, they’re headed back to wherever they are. What do you hope they say and feel about their experience here? Evelyn Summer: I hope that they feel like they experience something truly special because Key West is truly special. And I hope they go talk about it. If you wanna know what they say, I hope that they say that that was one of the best vacations, if not the best vacation they’ve ever had. I hope that some of our team members left some lasting impressions with them that they’ll carry with them. We have so many special, special people that work here that truly care. And I think that shows, and there’s really no place like us. There’s a reason why some of us don’t leave. I hope that they are able to take a little bit of piece, a little piece of that with them and book a return trip because this place just keeps getting better. Ryan Embree: Well it’s such a historic place and you know, again, hopefully those stories shared, you know, becomes a part of the magic that is down here in Key West. And, and, you know, congratulations to you and your team on, on the recent renovations. Thank you for welcoming the Suite Spot too. Casa Marina, you have a wonderful property here, incredible staff as we talked about. Uh, any final thoughts as we wrap up today? Evelyn Summer: No, I appreciate you guys coming down. We’re so happy to have you. Um, and uh, looking forward to seeing the show broadcasted. And, uh, again, you said this is the Southern most broadcast, but it’s definitely gonna be the best one you’ve had. ’cause this is the Suite Spot, Ryan. Yeah, this is it right here. Ryan Embree: I love it. All right. Well, Evelyn, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Thank you for listening and we will talk to you next time To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embee, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

The next episode in the Suite Spot: Road Trip series takes the podcast to Central Florida to visit the incredible Homewood Suites by Hilton nearest to Universal Studios!  In this exciting episode, the brand leader of Homewood Suites, Rick Colling, and the General Manager of the property, Carlos Sotillo, sit down on the podcast to discuss the Homewood brand, the evolution of the extended stay hotel segment, and the future of hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, a part of our Suite Spot 2025 Summer Road trip series. We are right here in our backyard in Orlando at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Orlando nearest to Universal Studios like I said, right in our backyard down the road, out of our TMG headquarters out here with Rick and Carlos who have been both here at this amazing property. We’re gonna talk all about it. Now, Rick, we have met up with you earlier this year, and we have, yeah. One thing we haven’t done is done a proper, you know, hospitality journey. We love a good story in hospitality, right? All of our humble beginnings where we might’ve started at the front desk. Bellman for myself. Give us a little bit of background in our audience, background into your hospitality. Rick Colling: Got it, Ryan, with pleasure. And it’s a fun journey, Ryan, mate. So, we’re like you. I started at the front desk, at the Kalamazoo Residence Inn, right after graduating from college. And I walked into the hotel and I said I’ve graduated from college. I think I should be the GM of a hospitality hotel. And the GM said to me, do you know anything about the business? I said, nothing. So he became my mentor in the business. So I started at the front desk and worked my way up through the ranks at Marriott. Spent 10 years with Marriott and I’ve been with Hilton now for 27 years, and been a GM and property director of sales on property, but I worked all the disciplines and it’s just been an incredible journey to finally end up leading a brand like Homewood Suites over the course of the last five years, which has been, you know, certainly a career highlight for me. So, a fun journey to get me here today. Ryan Embree: But yet a familiar one; one that we hear all the time, a lot of college students, you know, maybe just taking here a summer job, end up falling in love with the industry. But another piece of your story that we’re hearing so often is mentors. Yeah. And I wanna highlight that is because there’s so many hospitality professionals out there mentoring the next generation of hospitality professionals. So important in our industry right now. And Carlos you have a background here in this area, this campus? Of hotels. Give us your hospitality journey. Carlos Sotillo: Well, actually, funny story, when my parents first came to America, they actually started working at a Homewood Suites. Oh, okay. I was, came out, yeah. My mom was a housekeeper. My dad was a houseman. And I was 11. So during summer break, they would take me with them to work sometimes. And so I grew up in a Homewood Suites during my summer break. Rick Colling: Which is where you needed to be, right. Carlos: Right. In full circle. But officially, my career started, I was a breakfast attendant at a small hotel down on I-Drive. And then the opportunity came out to be a night auditor. So, you know, I went for it. And now, low and behold, here I am. I went through four different Hilton brands. I’ve gone through Hampton Hilton, Garden Inn, Home2, and now here back at the Homewood. So it’s been a fun, fun journey. Rick Colling: No, we’re glad to have you mate. One of the best in the business right here. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s incredible. We always say sometimes, hospitality runs in the blood, runs in your DNA sometimes, and you grew up here, you had family members that worked at this specific brand. It’s an incredible story again. So, Carlos, let’s talk about your incredible property. What makes it special? Obviously a huge renovation. Talk to us a little bit about that. Carlos: Yeah, so one of the things that makes this hotel special, I think is the staff. So we have staff that’s been here for, I mean, many, many years. You guys have met some of them. Yep. They’ve been here almost since the hotel opened originally. The other thing is we have such a diverse staff too. I have people from in housekeeping that are from Haiti and Jamaica. And then at the front desk I have people from Colombia, my food and beverage supervisors from Morocco. My GM is British, one of our Ds is a Puerto Rican. And I’m Venezuelan, you know. So being in an international tourist hotspot like Orlando, I think that really helps get to know when guests arrive, we kind of know what they’re feeling. And it kind of helps us create that sense of welcoming, you know, as far as renovation, I mean, it was definitely, there were some growing pains for sure, but I mean, like any renovation. Yeah. But the end result was worth it. You know, it was seven hard months of renovation, but the end result, I mean, we have a beautiful property now. We get nothing but good comments on the modern touches of the rooms and the lodge area. So, I mean, it’s really something to be proud of. Ryan Embree: It’s a beautiful property. Had the opportunity to open space. All of the modern touches, like you talked about, a lot of the things, to be honest with you, the upgrades that I saw when giving the property tour, I recognize based on our conversations, Rick at Hunter. Rick Colling: That’s correct. Yeah, exactly. Ryan Embree: So talk about how this renovation really speaks to that vision that you had for the brand. Rick Colling: Well, and this Ryan is a perfect example. A 22-year-old property opened in 2003, runs incredible numbers. So you can imagine the volume of guests that come through an asset like this. So at 22 years young, this product needed a full complete renovation. We launched a new prototype in 2021, and to be able to bridge a 22-year-old Homewood Suites with a prototype, the new 10.0 prototype has been amazing. So it starts with the suites. When you look at the suites, whether it be the color palette, the productivity tables, the accentuation of lighting, natural light, all of those things have been accentuated here at the property. And then if you go through the public space, the public space is absolutely beautiful. What used to be dark cabinets are now bright and light and lively. Natural light flows through the whole property, from the entrance to the breakfast area, to the kitchens, the outdoor kitchens, to the swimming pool. So it’s just a beautiful example of how you take a 22-year-old asset and literally bridge the gap between the new prototype. This is a perfect example, and thanks to the team of Buffalo Lodging and Carlos for giving us such a fantastic product. It’s beautiful. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s incredible because the obviously, the average night stay is gonna be a little bit longer at a Homewood Suites. And, you know, just based on the trends of people working from home, working remotely, you need those open spaces. You do. Now you need those spaces where people want to have the flexibility to say, Hey, I’m gonna go work for a couple hours in the lobby. Absolutely. After, you know, making my own breakfast taco, which we’re gonna talk about. Rick Colling: Well, I hope so. Yeah, right. I eat too many of them. Ryan Embree: And then come back to, you know, a very spacious room where, you know, again, you can enjoy your time whether you’re here professionally or here, leisure, obviously, we’re gonna talk about the location here in a minute. But ton of feedback coming from here, and especially in a unique location like this in Orlando, where you probably see visitors from not just nationally, internationally, but to be able to see the review and feedback. I’m sure that goes a lot into what you and your team are talking about of how you can improve and enhance the guest experience. But it also speaks to what you and your team here are doing, Carlos. So let’s talk about this location. We’re locals, we’re right up the road in Maitland. But for those maybe listening or watching this podcast that aren’t familiar, you’ve got an incredible location. You were talking to me about something you might be able to see on the fifth floor there. Carlos: Yeah for sure. I mean, there’s, honestly, if you’re coming to Orlando, I can’t think of a better place to stay. Sure. Right. And I’m not being, you know, bipartisan, I mean, partial on that. But you know, we’re we’re five minutes away from Universal Studios. Islands of Adventure, Volcano Bay, I mean, literally on the fifth floor, you can see Harry Potter’s Castle right off the window. And we’re five minutes away from the new park from Epic Universe. So, we have tons of restaurants on the iDrive corridor. We’re right off of I-4. So if you’re planning on going to the Beaches or towards Disney World, we’re right there. I mean, I honestly, this place is very, very, very good location. Ryan Embree: It’s amazing. You know, we were walking up and I could smell the sunscreen on everyone getting ready for a long day at Universal or some of the other theme parks now. And this is an official Universal partner property. Explain what that means and the benefit value that adds to the guest experience. Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, yeah, for sure. So with being a universal partner hotel, we have an onsite concierge every morning. He is able to sell tickets, print tickets, give you advice and recommendations, what to do in the park. We also offer complimentary transportation to and from Universal Studios. And now they added Epic Universe as well to the bus route. So definitely a lot of perks with being a partner hotel. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s fantastic. You know, really seamless. I think that’s what we’re trying to. Hospitality’s really embracing that personalization, seamless ease of transition. I mean, listen, it’s getting into a hub like Orlando is gonna be tough enough. You want to get to the property and just wanna feel like everything’s right there at your fingertips. Rick Colling: Well, I think, you know, I think what Carlos team have done a really good job. When you align yourself with, for example, at Disney Park, the expectations of the guests are high because usually it’s a leisure guest. They’re paying for the vacation themselves. So the expectations are high. And what Carlos has done, I think, in partnership with being a preferred property, is that the expectation starts at the property. It doesn’t start at the park when you arrive here, you expect the same level of perfection that you would get from going to a Disney Park. It’s amazing to me how you’ve managed to execute that as a partner. Yeah. But in a hotel that has such tremendous volume, because Carlos is a humble guy, but when you think in terms of the stay score, satisfaction ratings of this hotel, it’s one of the top of the brand. So it’s amazing what they’ve managed to replicate here in respects to not only physical product, but also service. I mean, it’s just, it’s amazing. It’s a truly a fantastic story. Ryan Embree: It’s a great point. because Orlando is unique in the sense of, you know, you might have, you might save years for one trip to come to Disney, to come to Universal Studios. You’re right, the stakes are much, much higher when you get here. It’s up. And to have that, you know, I’ve seen the feedback too, Carlos, like to have the property mentioned as a part of that experience as a whole. It’s a very, very special thing. And that’s the essence of hospitality there. Rick Colling: It’s fantastic. It’s just compliments the garlic. Ryan Embree: Rick, let’s talk about, you know, this market, and I think really, a lot of markets that the Homewood Suites brands are in, it’s ultra competitive, right? I mean, you can throw a baseball and probably hit about five hotels from here, but yet guests continually choose this specific brand, in Orlando, this specific property. What do you, what’s the draw here? Why do people continue to choose it? Rick Colling: Yeah, it’s a great question, Ryan. So, I would say the reason it’s so appealing as a product to the consumer, you mentioned it earlier, space. You bring a family into Orlando, whether you are on business or on on leisure space is a precious commodity. So when you are walking into a suite, like Homewood Suites, for example, you’ve got a separate kitchen with everything that you need to prepare a meal if you wanna prepare a meal. But to reheat a meal, if you wanna reheat a meal or just to put a pizza in the, and a six pack of Coke in the refrigerator, you’ve got a phenomenal living room, which gives you separation from not only the kitchen, but an area that you can kind of relax at the end of a busy day. And then you’ve got a separate bedroom. So I think space is, is a primary benefit to the product. But then I’d also say the amenities that we’ve got, if you think in terms of the food and beverage ecosystem, which we’ll get a little bit into, I suppose, is you’ve got everything you need. So whether it’s you wanna cook in your room, you’ve got a phenomenal breakfast that we provide you in the morning. We’ve got a welcome home Wednesday reception where we get to meet, greet our guests who are staying for a long period of time. We’ve got an outdoor kitchen, we’ve got a partnership with GrubHub. So anything that you need as it relates to a food and beverage ecosystem is taken care of. So it’s kind of your home away from home. And we use that, you know, all the time. But it kind of is like, it’s everything you need to continue the rituals of life, whether you are in Orlando for leisure, whether you’re in Orlando for business. Because ordinarily people stay just a little bit longer with a Homewood Suites, it’s five or six or seven nights. This product provides you with the space and atmosphere and energy you need to stay and relax and enjoy for 5, 6, 7 nights. It’s a beautiful product. Ryan Embree: It is. It’s incredible. And I want to go, I wanna dive into that food and beverage experience. Because you’re right with something that has an your longer than average stay. You don’t want to be eating the same thing. You want that variety, you want those options, those choices specifically, right? You got a build your own taco bar, We were stopped multiple times in our tour. Carlos from people raving, we even got stopped by a guest that had a Mickey Mouse waffle. A waffle there that they had made there. So talk to us a little. Yeah. Talk to us a little bit about Carlos, the maybe food and beverage experience here and how that variety and guess feedback from that. Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, absolutely. So I mean, having that variety when it comes to, you know, breakfast, all the toppings that we provide, and all the breakfast options. I think you mentioned it, you know, people are staying here 5, 6, 7 nights, they don’t want to eat the same things over and over and over again. Sure. Us having that gives them that variety and you know, our food and beverage team works hard to make sure to change things up. Every time, every Wednesday during the welcome home reception, we have, you know, different, whether it’s the cheese and soups and veggies, and we have pour my beer and wine and, you know, it gives people the opportunity to really enjoy not only the food, but also that space out there, you know, and spend time with the family maybe before going to the parks, you know, kind of huddle, huddling up before the parks, getting a game plan for the day, or just coming back after the parks on Wednesdays and chilling out for a little bit. Ryan Embree: Hey, listen, we know, I’m a family of four. If we can have a nice breakfast here, the Homewood Suites before going out to, you know, you need that energy in the morning. We also know how much that costs sometimes. And to have that here provided is a part of the experience that goes a long way. Even that Wednesday, you know, you can guarantee I got a two and a 4-year-old, four hitting those parks. I’m gonna need a cold one after. Rick Colling: Absolutely right. Absolutely. And something Carlos has done a phenomenal job of also is you can provide a great physically renovated product. So the environment in which you’re having breakfast is beautiful. You can provide a great breakfast product. So whether it be the make your own taco bar, whether it be the overnight oats, whether it be the chia pudding, if you’re on a healthy restricted diet sort of thing, there’s something that appeals to everybody. But I think what Carlos has really tapped into here is the ability not only to serve a breakfast, but host a breakfast. And there’s a difference in hosting a breakfast than serving a breakfast. And I think he does the same on Wednesday night because the scores would indicate he does, is he hosts the event. So it’s not, please come on down and enjoy. It’s please, come on down, engage with us, tell us your stories. Let us learn a little bit about you so that while you’re here for five or six or seven nights, you become part of the family. And these guys are humble, but they do a really good job of it. I mean, you do an awesome job, brother. Carlos Sotillo: Thank you. Ryan Embree: What’s that old GM trick we heard, right? You ever want to know what guests are really saying about your property? Come to the lobby during breakfast? Rick Colling: Absolutely. Ryan Embree: Listen to those conversations. I mean we ran into a couple guests checking out after months here. They’ve been here since January. Incredible. Rick Colling: Absolutely right. Miserable that they had to leave. Which I would be too, right? I mean, who’s gonna serve me breakfast? Who’s gonna clean my room? I mean, I don’t wanna leave. Why would you wanna leave a Homewood Suites? Ryan Embree: Well, and you know, that’s just one of the many examples. Like I was mentioning, you know, the reviews, the guest feedback speaks for itself. You’re right near the top of this highly competitive Orlando market. Carlos, congratulations. You know, was this, how do you leverage an online reputation like this? And what does it mean to you to get this much guest feedback? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, having over 2000 reviews on TripAdvisor is, I mean, we’re definitely giving people something to talk about, you know, and it’s good that it’s positive reviews, you know, that really speaks about the efforts. And you know, it’s good. It helps for me to show it to our staff and see that their efforts are coming through and, you know, where it’s not all in vain, right? So you know, and obviously that drives bookings. You know, people go on TripAdvisor, they see, oh, this hotel has nothing but good reviews. Why wouldn’t I choose that hotel? You know, on top of everything else that Hilton or the Homewood Suites Brands offers. I mean, like you said, it might be just a building without us. So I think the service culture is strong and it’s what drives those reviews and those bookings. So we’re really, really, really proud of all that. Rick Colling: The sense of entry, Ryan, you know, I’ve always said that as a brand leader, when I walk into a hotel, when those doors open, you can tell instantaneously whether it’s an engaged team or not. And the experience of walking in here this morning, it’s an engaged team, mate. I mean, they’re just alive and ready to go. And this is on the tail end of a breakfast where they’ve probably served, I don’t know what, 800 people probably. To have the energy and charisma to continue the hospitality and the hosting nature of breakfast is you know, it’s just a compliment to the leadership team here. And again, to Ron Kendall and his team at Buffalo. They’re a great group. Ryan Embree: It’s absolutely incredible. And, you know, sending all these people out, like I said, to the parks, you know, with a little happy, a full stomach. Yeah. A lot of energy. Big piece of getting them through their day, which is really cool. Yeah. Rick, you know, how do you, we talked about feedback on Carlos’ side, obviously that’s so important from the guest perspective. Obviously have weigh that with some of the vision and brand vision, but you also have to balance the owner feedback that you’re hearing. Sure. How do you balance those two things and make sure that when you make a change, when you make a new prototype, you do a renovation to a property, it matches and is mutually benefit? Rick Colling: Ryan it’s a great question. You know, we do the creation of the prototype, and I think we hinted at it during our conversation at Hunter was done in partnership with five owners. So we invited five owners to the party to say, Hey, listen, we’ve got a beautiful brand that’s 30 years old. If we were to create a new prototype, how would we do that? And these owners were in partnership lockstep, shoulder to shoulder with us as we created the new prototype. What they were avid about was the brand’s been successful for 30 years, let us not depart from the pillars that made it successful. Now we can modernize the pillars, which we have, but the pillars have stayed the same. So think in terms of a full suite, a complimentary breakfast, the outdoor kitchen, the phenomenal activity in the yard, things along those lines. So we stayed true to the brand. And then any changes that we make, for example, you mentioned breakfast. That was a big change for us. We elevated the breakfast with the taco experience. Everything was vetted through owners. So we have a very lively owner advisory council. That we’ll do calls with every quarter. And what we bring to our owner advisory council is not solutions. We bring opportunities and they become part of the solution of opportunities that we bring to the table. So they keep us within our guardrails of, okay, is it going to be phenomenal for the operator of the business? Is it gonna be phenomenal for the consumer, but also from a profitability standpoint, from an ownership perspective, is it going to net what it needs to net? And if you can complete those three buckets, I think you’re in the right journey. So our owners are very vocal. I encourage it as a brand leader. They’ve kind of, you know, while I’ve been, I guess, the spokesperson of the brand, there’s a lot of people behind me that have helped me get the brand to where it is today, our owners being one of them. Ryan Embree: And that’s so key, Rick. And I think, you know, something we preach on this podcast all the time about embracing feedback. You know the one thing it should be very scary to hotel, you know, operators, owners is silence, right? You don’t hear anything. Even those negative experiences are opportunities, like you said, to improve, enhance and this prototype, this renovation, Carlos just speaks exactly to that of listening to not only the guests, the owners, and making sure it’s a win-win for everyone.Carlos, we’re here in the busy season. Obviously summer kids are out of school. Talk to us about what you’re preparing for. We’ve obviously got a big new announcement in the Orlando area about a new theme park. What are you looking forward to this summer? What do guests have to look forward to this summer? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, I mean, summers in Orlando are hot. You’re waiting in line, you’re doing all over. So there’s a lot, you know, there’s a lot that goes in the operations of the hotel. You know we try to stay proactive, make sure that everything is guest ready. Buffalo Lodging has done a great job at prepping us as managers to ensure that the hotel is guest ready, you know, by 8:00 AM by or by 6:00 AM when, when guests start coming down for breakfast. So you know, I make sure that the team is trained. I make sure that everything is workingm properly for our guests. The last thing they want is to come here and, you know, not get some of the amenities they were promised. And yeah, I mean, the Orlando area is booming that this new theme park is just gonna drive so much business over our way. And yeah, we’re just proactive, patient positive. You know, I think I mentioned that during the branch, one of our brand calls is the important of being positive out there, you know, as leaders, because as you guys know, in the hotel world, you know, things don’t always go according to plan, you know, so you have to be prepared for worst case scenarios and you know, show the staff that, Hey, it’s okay. We’re, we’re gonna get through this and this business as usual, and, you know, let’s move on. Ryan Embree: And the good news is we saw a little bit of a bounce back from the international traveler like that we were talking about hearing about that we were just at NYU last week covering that, hearing some good news about, it’s gonna be a very busy summer season. Booking window has kind of shortened, but it seems like everything is still looking as a positive outlook, which is something we built on in March. I’m wondering Rick, and you know, as we zoom out a little and kind of wrap this up, you know, being that we have, I think the theme last week was don’t believe those big headlines. So, you know, there’s a lot of uncertainty out there, but, you know, why is Homewood Suite still a really smart investment in today’s climate? Rick Colling: It’s a great question and something I pond around all the time, right? And I think for us, it was interesting that and I hate to bring it up, but the period of COVID for us was very interesting because the brand did extremely well, and it did extremely well because it’s a niche brand that is dedicated to extended stay business. And it’s served us really well during COVID, if you can think in terms of traveling nurses, medical professionals, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. They looked at Homewood Suites as a safe haven to stay during one of the worst hospitality periods in our industry. What that taught a lot of people is that it’s an evergreen great performer, and it is, it’s an evergreen great performer. So when you think in terms of the investment of Homewood Suites, if you want to diversify a portfolio, so let’s say you’ve got a beautiful IHG, you’ve got a beautiful Hampton, you might have a great Embassy Suites. If you want to diversify a portfolio with a product that will perform regardless of economic environments, Homewood Suites Home2 suites are two brands that would do that for you. So I just think it resonates with an owner. It’s a great, it’s saved them during COVID. So many of them have told me, if we didn’t have a Homewood in our portfolio, where would we be? I’m not quite sure, Rick. So today I think the brand just resonates, and I think as an extended stay segment, I mean, it’s kind of the darling of the industry. I fell in love with it 27 years ago. I knew it was the darling of the industry. And I just think there’s a lot of folks getting on board with the beauty of an extended stay product, and Homewood being the upscale representation for Hilton, and does extremely well, very proud of the brand and proud of folks like Carlos who are in the field doing it every day because they’re literally making our vision come true. So it’s a beautiful place to be. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. And it’s part of the brand story. You know, obviously, like you said, we don’t like talking about those times, but it happened, and it’s one of those things that we’ll show you, and I’m sure you’ll learn, we’ve learned so much from that time period right. And, you know, obviously have some lessons that we’ve enhanced the guest experience through we’ve learned some things, how we can, how guests can adopt technology. Absolutely. And how receptive they are to some of these fast changing things where hospitality really not known for making very fast changes at points. But we had to be flexible and versatile. But it’s a great story to see that Homewood was performing so well during that time and is such a staple and can be a staple and an investment, hospitality investment portfolio. Rick Colling: Without question, Ryan. Without question. Ryan Embree: Great. Well, we covered a lot. As we wrap up here we always like to kinda look into our hospitality crystal ball, look into the future. Carlos, we’ll start with you. Any final thoughts about kind of your vision for the property? And what’s ahead? Carlos Sotillo: Yeah, no, I mean I think, you know, we just have to keep turning on. I want us to keep succeeding the way we have. I think we have a beautiful property here. I know we have a beautiful property and our staff does a great job. You know, I’m just looking forward to more success and more money our way. Rick Colling: Well, you’ll get it. You’ll get it. Ryan Embree: For sure. And Rick, what about you? Rick Colling: You know, I’m a rose colored glasses glass half full kind of guy. I always have my entire career, that’s why I look at the world. So I don’t worry to your on earlier on about the headlines. I think if we are dedicated to this beautiful industry that we’re in, this is the hospitality industry. And when I get out in the field, I get out of my office in Memphis and I get out in the field. It’s where I get my inspiration. And we have some beautiful people who are leading phenomenal products, not only in the home with brand, but across the category and across the enterprise for Hilton. We should applaud them. It’s a great career to be in. It’s tremendously rewarding and very proud of where Homewood is, proud of the enterprise, proud of the category, and it’s a great business. Ryan Embree: And it is. Travel is in hospitality, one of, if not the best, one of the best industries to be a part of. And, you know, and I would, I’d challenge our hotel, your listeners. You know, something we heard that resonated with me last week when we were covering that is if there is that uncertainty, if you’re a little nervous getting back down to the fundamentals, you know, something that you’ve been doing over here with your team Carlos, observing the guests, and I guarantee it, if you do that at a high volume, at a high rate, you’re gonna see it and you’re gonna, and you weather these potential storms if they ever come to fruition. So Carlos, thank you for hosting the Suite Spot here. Like I said in our backyard, Rick, it’s always a pleasure to catch up with you. Rick Colling: Well, I challenged you at Hunter. I said, I’ll see you down in Orlando. So thank you for making this come true for me. This is, it’s an honor to be on your podcast. So, well thank you. Cheers to you for making it happen. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. Thank you Carlos. And thank you to our listeners. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the most recent Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series episode to hear from the founder of Salt Hotels, David Bowd, as he discusses the origins of Salt Hotels, founding the Salt School, hospitality industry trends, and the next generation of hotel professionals.  Be sure to follow and subscribe to the Suite Spot so you never miss an episode, and be sure to check out our Travel Media Group YouTube channel as well. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, for another edition of our independent Hotel show series. I can feel the anticipation, the excitement building up. We’re just a few months away from September where we’re gonna have independent hoteliers from all over the country coming down to Miami Beach of the Convention Center. And one of those hoteliers and guests is my special guest today who I’ll invite into the podcast for the very first time. David Bow, founder and CEO of Salt Hotels. David, thank you so much for being on the podcast. David Bowd: Thank you for having me. Great to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’re excited. We’re gonna talk Independent hotel. We’re gonna talk about your beautiful portfolio that you have over there at Salt Hotels and everything about that. But before we do that, we always like to get a little bit of background for our hospitality guests. Talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey, David, and what led you to ultimately founding Salt hotels? David Bowd: Yeah. My story began crazily 40 years ago now, back in the UK. I started when I left school, and I left school very early at 15 years old. And I became a bellman in a local hotel and absolutely loved it. I realized this was the career for me up to sort of, during my school years, I’d played, my mom had a cafe/restaurant, and I really, really thought I wanted to be a chef, and so I started to go towards that department. But I was too young to go into the kitchen, so I started as a bellman, and then I finally got into the kitchen, and funnily enough, I got into the kitchen and didn’t enjoy it as much as I did front of house. So, which is often the case, I think, for a lot of people, they have this dream, and then it’s not as, it’s not, the reality’s not the same. So I sort of spent the time in the kitchen. I did a couple of years in the kitchen, and then I went back to front of house and I worked through all departments and then moved to London where I was working in the more traditional hotels, the more, you know, Hiltons, Marriotts, holiday Inns. And actually at the turn of the century, Ian Trager had just opened his first hotel in the outside of the U.S, in London. And I was out invited to go and to meet with his team. And I met with the team and loved it. And, you know, his first hotel St. Martin’s Lane was an absolute masterpiece, as was his second, which was Sanderson. And I was fortunate enough to get the job, and I was hotel manager of one for a period of time. And then I took over as regional general manager of both properties. And I ran those through 2000 through to 2007, which were the phenomenal, phenomenally good years in London. And so we were making a lot of money at that time. And Ian invited me to move over to the US and to take over an operations role focusing on a lot of openings for what had then become Morgan’s hotel group. And I did that, moved over to New York, loved New York, and loved the lights in America, and spent some time with Morgans. And then Ian had actually left to go and start addition and public on his own. And so I ended up leaving Morgans and going to Ian and to work on those projects with him before moving on to Andre Bola, sort of the other, what I would consider the other genius celebrity hotelier, you know, who is one of the founders of our sector of the industry, I think. And I was fortunate enough to work on some great projects running standard brand overseeing iconic properties like Chateau Marand, Sunset Beach, the Mercer in New York, and opening the Chilton Firehouse, which was my last major project before leaving Andre and then coming over to set up Salt Hotels. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible story, and I’ll tell you first as a former bellman myself, look, we got a couple bellman here just on a podcast talking about the hospitality industry, but sometimes it’s those entry level jobs that give you the introduction that you need into a career, whether it’s a couple decades old or, you know, four decades old, of your hospitality career there. Another common theme that we’ve heard from a couple of my guests recently is parents working in the industry and also being that first introduction into hospitality. And I think that’s a really unique way to be introduced into hospitality is your parents working, having that passion there and ultimately finding mentors along the way, which you mentioned several of those, and I’m sure some a lot of those brands, a lot of those you’ve been at properties that you’ve opened, you’ve been at properties that have the historic legacy. I’m Sure. That has really shaped you as a hospitality professional. And here you are founding, you know, salt hotels, I’m sure that played a huge impact and role. You know, we’ve had the opportunity, David, to speak to several individuals that kind of have founded their hotel management companies. And in those conversations, I really find that common thread of whether it be a specific moment, a place, a conversation that sparked this idea. Did you always have that in mind that you wanted to kind of do your own thing? Or was it kind of a moment in time where you were like, you know what? I think there is something, a path, a different path for me. David Bowd: It’s very funny. My grandfather always said, whenever I would see him, he would always say, you know, you should do this for yourself. And he, and luckily he lived to see just as we bought our first hotel. And so I was always very, very happy about that. But when I left Andre and bought our first hotel, the plan at that time was really just to do one hotel. And when we opened Salthouse in Provincetown, I think it was the reaction from our guests, the reaction from the travel press, a reaction from colleagues that I’d worked with over the years that then really gave that force that we can do that and we should do more. And so honestly, I was thinking of after working for so many years, particularly in New York and London, I was thinking of sort of quietening down a little bit and having more of a life and that didn’t materialize at all. Ryan Embree: Well, it’s interesting, and hospitality is, there’s so much opportunity out there. It really is an industry of opportunity where you have the chance to, because the skills are so transferrable to be able to say, hey, you know, I’m a GM here, but this GM opening just happened across the street or across the country, and being able to kind of plug and play. So our industry hospitality, one of the reasons I love it so much is because of those opportunities. So whether it’s a position or what you found yourself in, which is buying properties, managing properties, and saying, you know, we wanna continue to do this because of the sentiment that guests are telling us because of the reaction that we’re seeing. We know and understand we’re doing something right. I’m curious because it does, we’ve talked about this, and this is not a knock on independent hotels, but it is a very special individual and management company to take on an independent, a portfolio of independent hotels. I think that it’s sometimes a challenge, but it’s also one of the most rewarding spaces to be in as independent and lifestyle hotels. Obviously you have a ton of experience in that you’ve shared, but when you created founded Salt Hotels, you really could have gone any direction, right? You could have gone branded, you could have gone. What kept you in that lane of independent hotels? David Bowd: I think, yeah, having spent some really, the word excitement is, you know, is in hotels every day is different. And I think that that really applies to all types of hotels, whether they’re branded or whether they’re independent, but independent hotels, lifestyle hotels, just have a sense of excitement that really I don’t think I’ve seen in other types of hotels. And coupled with then for us and everywhere I’ve worked has been a sense of community. And you can, you know, branded hotels often, and I’m not knocking them because I really do believe there’s a great place for them. And, but you know, they have to work off brand standards and they have to, you know, they’re almost always cookie cut, whereas independent hotels can really flex to the location and the neighborhoods that they’re in, and that makes them, you know, our collection for sure. And so many of our competitors than my colleagues, all of their hotels are very, very different. And you are absolutely right that it makes it, I think it makes it much tougher, but it does make it more exciting. It does make it, to me, it makes it more fun. That challenge is one that we all rise to, I think. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think also it makes for unique experiences, authentic experiences, which at this day and age is going to be something that is prioritized by travelers. We have seen it over the last decade of personalization and just the rise of obviously digital marketing and social media. People want unique experiences, and there is a different type of community and loyalty, obviously, that comes with brands, but a fierce loyalty that comes with independent hotels because you feel like this is a one of a kind property and a one of a kind experience. I’m not gonna get this anywhere else. And we’re gonna talk about some of those, maybe one of a kind experiences and properties here in a second with your portfolio. But I wanna to take our Suite Spot listeners, if they haven’t visited yet, check out Salt hotels.com. It’s a beautiful, very innovative site, but one of the first things that you see that pops up when you visit is the phrase with us, it’s personal. And with founding a management company, there’s so much intentionality from the name branding slogans and phrases and your culture. Why pick that for that to be the first thing? What does that mean to you? And the intentionality behind? With us, it’s personal. David Bowd: When we founded Salt, we set out to really ensure that how we live at home, how what’s really important to us was conveyed into our hotels. And we hired, had a new head of marketing, and we said we want the first three months to just look at our company and tell us what you really think of our company. And through the three months, she came back and she said, you know with Salt hotels, it’s truly personal. And that’s how it’s, and that was really the, that’s why that, with us, it’s personal is on the website, but what it means is, you know, when we design a hotel, we think of how do people shower, how do people sleep? What do people do when they get into bed? What are people looking at when they get into bed? You know, and it, so it comes to where are the plug sockets when you go into the shower, turning on the shower is, you don’t wanna get your hand wet with a freezing cold or a boiling hot shower stream, put the, you know, put, and that happens in so many hotels. Put the plumbing on the other side, don’t go, yeah. I’ve stayed in so many hotels where I can’t understand the light switches and, you know, make it simple. Think about things from a guest point of view. You don’t, in your own home, you understand how things work. So make it that way from a guest point of view, when you have people coming into your house and they arrive, you’ve got guests coming for the weekend and they arrive at noon, you don’t say to them, oh, check in time is at three o’clock. And for me, that is the singular most annoying thing about arriving in a hotel, any hotel across the world, when that front desk agent looks at their watch and says, oh, check-in time is at three o’clock, it is the worst welcome you could ever have in a hotel. And we all know that there are probably rooms ready. We all know that there could be rooms ready. And so, for that example, we got rid of check-in times we said, there is no, there are no check-in times in our hotel. And so what we do is we have, like, you have a restaurant expediter on the line, we have a housekeeping expeditor, and we work really hard with our teams to find out as many arrival times for as many guests as we possibly can. And then we work backwards and say, okay, these are all the guests arriving today. These are all their arrival times, these are all their room types. Let’s juggle these and try and get everybody into their rooms as soon as we possibly can. Now, we don’t succeed it all the time, but we manage it probably 90% of the time. And what a nice way to start your vacation or your business trip where you can just go and throw your luggage, or you can go and have a shower. You can change into your leisure clothes or your business clothes. It just makes the start of things so much nicer. And really that’s what we wanted Salt Hotels to be an extension of home, an extension of guests in our own home. And, you know, from an ownership point of view, for the partners that we work with, we wanted, we didn’t want layers and layers and layers where an owner of a hotel dealing with us as the management company would have to deal with lots of different people. We wanted them to have direct access to us and to be able to have a collaborative approach to things and a transparent approach to the way we do business. And that’s, you know, I think it’s, it’s, we’re still going to 10 years later, and I think it’s been, it’s been part of our success. Ryan Embree: It’s brilliant, David. And I’ll say right off the top, I wish I was working at some of your hotels when I was at the front desk. I probably get a lot less of those mean looks. And, but sometimes that’s all it is, is that they just want a place to put their bags and have a shower. And you’re absolutely right. Great parallels. I mean, at the end of the day, we are hosting our guests every single evening and to be able to say, hey, come to our home. Come to our, come to your accommodations at whatever time, and we’ll try our best to accommodate you. Sometimes even the effort in doing that goes a long way with our guests. And you just put that with everything that you were talking about, I think is a brilliant way to run a business. And goes a long way in hospitality right now where, you know, we’re trying to get more automated in every aspect of our business and more efficient. But sometimes that personalization, it’s still a trend that we’re hearing every single day. And what people still talk about when you look at guest reviews and feedback, what are they talking, they’re talking about those moments of personalization, the moments that people were able to get them into a room earlier than they anticipated, didn’t think that they’d be able to get into their room at that time. Those are the truly special moments in hospitality. Another one of those is f and b, right? Which plays a major role, obviously in your portfolio. David, talk to our independent hoteliers out there about how a unique curated food and beverage experience can really be a differentiator for your independent hotel, maybe going against those, that local competition. David Bowd: It really is. I look at food and beverage as an enhancement to the neighborhood and to the hotel, and I, so when we start a project, we really spend a huge amount of time thinking about what that concept, what that food and beverage offering is going to be. And for example, you know, we always try and have sort of a cafe coffee shop type of operation within our hotels, but in certain locations, there’s one down the street or there’s one next door. And if that’s the case and it’s good, then we are not going to do one because we don’t wanna be in competition with our neighbors. We want to be, you know, we want to enhance the neighborhood. We want our hotel’s arrival to make everybody more successful because, you know, hopefully then the whole neighborhood will, you know, as a colleague of mine used to say, you know, rising tide to raise all ships. And so that’s how we look at all of our offerings. When we were doing the Abna in Litchfield, Connecticut recently, you know, we looked at all of the restaurants, we’re on a street with 20 different restaurants, we looked at all the different types of cuisines that they had. We hired our chefs and we said, right, okay, let’s look at everything that everybody else has, and let’s do a completely different menu. Let’s do, you know, if we’re doing a burger, which we do a burger, let’s do the best burger that’s in town, and let’s make it so it doesn’t feel like a hotel restaurant. I think so often restaurants in hotels are put in because they have to be put in, whereas it, there’s no need to do that. There’s some incredible food and beverage consultants that have worked in our industry and in the independent sector for many, many years. And I’ve worked with many of them, and I’m fortunate that I’ve, that I’m able to, to be able to do that internally. But I think that there’s a lot, my recommendation is always hire a consultant and bring in people from the outside that can really help you create something that doesn’t exist in your neighborhood. And that’s going to enhance not only the hotel, but then the local neighborhood. And then only the other side of it is buying local is so important. And it’s, again, using the Abner as, as an example, is we are surrounded by literally hundreds of farms. And so we had, and it was probably the best two weeks I’ve had in my job for a few years of going around all of these farms and looking at them, understanding what their specialties are, and then how can we incorporate those into our menus. And then there’s a great story to tell your guests and they love it too. Ryan Embree: Yeah. That’s what I was going to really preach to our listeners and independent hotel and hotels in general. I mean, if you have a story like that, that you are sourcing locally, that might be something that a decade, two decades ago, really, you’d keep it back of house. You wouldn’t share that. You’d say, Hey, listen, this is just a sourcing track for us. Like, but now guests wanna be a part of that, right? They want to hear that you are involved in a local community. They want to know that this is locally sourced. Sustainability is a huge hospitality trend that’s going on and locally sourced, food and beverage is a big part of that, and your guests care about it, but you need to make sure if you’re doing it. It has to be told out there. It has to be a story, whether that’s on social media, whether that’s your staff, whether it’s on your physical menus that you’re sharing it, that story needs to be told so your guests can feel a part of it. And that all really stems back to that community, and that community feeling that you were talking about at the top of the episode. David, you know, one of the things that I’m really excited about, this topic, because this is one of the most innovative things I’ve seen in hospitality recently, is the Salt School. First of all, tell our audience what is the Salt School? Talk to us a little bit about its origin and ultimately its mission. David Bowd: So Salt School was founded in 2016, and it started because we were opening a hotel in an area that had not had a new hotel opening for 50 years. And somebody in the opening process, somebody said to me, probably a year or so out, somebody said, you’re going to really struggle hiring staff in this neighborhood, and you’re not going to get good staff. And for anybody that knows me, if you tell me I’m not going to do something, then that is, that truly means that I’m going to do it. So later that same day we were talking about in a different meeting, we were talking about what makes a community and how our hotel can really fit into the community. And we talked about how school makes a community. And that night I was sitting probably having a cocktail and thinking about the two conversations we’d had that day. And they sort of formed in my head of, well, let’s do, let’s do a hospitality school. And I didn’t finish, as I said before, I didn’t finish high school. I spent probably the first half of my career being very quiet about that. You know, I had become quite successful, but I didn’t have any formal exams. Most of my colleagues, certainly when I was a general manager in London, and all of my colleagues were older than I was, and I think they’d all been through university, and I hadn’t. And I felt quite intimidated by that. But I realized, particularly when I moved to America and, and I think America is a fantastic country for allowing people to have their dreams and to realize their dreams. I realized that, you know, anybody I had been able to, without a formal education, been able to run some of the best hotels in the world. So it’s all really about attitude. And if we can train, if we can train the fundamentals of the skills required in hotels, if we can give people that introduction into hospitality, then people might get the bug. They might like it, they might enjoy it. We welcome people into our industry. We all know how difficult it is to get talent into our industry. Then, you know, even if we get five people that come to us through the school, it’s, in my opinion, it had been successful. So we launched our first school, it was in Asbury Park, New Jersey. We had no idea what it was going to to be. We ended up having 400 applications, and we found the biggest space that we could possibly fit, which was to take 160 people. And we had, again, I didn’t want it to be, you know, one of the things that I was very adamant about with school is that I didn’t want it to be based on experience or qualifications. I wanted you to answer one question that, which was, why do you want to do this? And just to hear people’s reasoning, just to hear why people wanted to do this and if they really wanted to do it. And we had, so we started the school, it was over 10 weeks, Saturdays all day Saturday for 10 week for a 10 week period. And each week, each Saturday, we covered a different aspect, hospitality. So it was one day, it was front desk and housekeeping. The next week it was accounting and sales. And on each week was different. I invited and invited was, I badged all of my friends in the industry and said, look, I can’t afford to pay you to come and teach at this school, but I’ll pay your travel expenses and I think you’ll get a lot from this experience. And everybody said yes. Everybody came and did it. And everybody was phenomenal and got so much from it. And we hired probably 80% of the school, almost all of them are still employed, zero turnover. And so many of them have had 2, 3, 4 promotions since we did that school. And it just opened the doors to hospitality. And I realized that there’s a lot of people that don’t know really what our bus, what our industry is about, and they don’t think they can do it. Whereas we know from the inside that one of our company, internal company slogans, and it sits on above my desk, is higher the attitude and train the skill because I can’t train anybody to smile, but I can train anybody to check somebody in. I can train anybody to make a bed. And that’s what the school was really about, is showing you the fundamentals. And if you have the right attitude, then we can, you can go as far as you like. And some of them really have, and some of them are senior managers within our organization now, which, and are very involved in the future salt schools. And so we do all of our new openings have Salt Schools. If we have a season seasonal properties, then we do salt schools for those over COVID we did online, which was really challenging, but we were still able to do that. And yeah, we’re planning our next Salt School, which will, which will be, Spring of next year. Ryan Embree: Alright, fantastic. Well, it’s so cool, and I mean, brilliant, but you know, David, sure. It’s incredibly rewarding to see some of those students still within the organization to see them thrive and then also to look to you as this ambassador, right, of this is what you can achieve, you know, if through a career and hospitality, I mean, so many hospitality leaders I have on this podcast started at that entry level job. There’s very rarely you hear about a GM that said, yeah, I started as a GM in hospitality. A lot of them start at entry level jobs, different departments, and make their way. It’s a beautiful kind of river of a career to where people get to in hospitality. So for you to provide this channel, this entry point and get exposure, because a lot of the time, I think that’s where hospitality just doesn’t, there are some, this is a 365 day job. You’re constantly stressed. You’re con like, there’s all these myths I think out there about hospitality and the career in hospitality. And then you hear stories about people getting into it via summer job, via their family, and all of a sudden it’s a 30, 40 year career down the line, and it’s one of the most rewarding places and careers to have. So. Very cool. You know, I want you to share some advice maybe to some young hospitality professionals out there. Obviously there is ton of opportunity, there’s a little bit of a shortage right now in our industry, but for young hospitality professionals, what would be your pitch to them about the value of working and gaining experience at an independent hotel, maybe versus a different track? David Bowd: I think it’s the future. I think that, you know, the evidence of that right now is that all of the major hotel brands are out there looking for independent boutique lifestyle hotels to join their collections. And I think that this is definitely the way forward. I mean, it used to be used to represent when I started 3% of the industry, and it now represents still only 10%. But that’s a significant growth. And I think it’s going to, you know, that’s going to double, double and triple in in the years to come. I think it’s the most fun sector in our industry. I think, you know, you’re gonna meet the best friends of your life. I look at my friend group and most of them are either hoteliers, suppliers, clients, the group of people that you meet are the best group of people that you’re ever going to meet in your entire life. And, you know, no two days really are ever the same. And I think it’s a little bit, like you were saying earlier on as well is right, you have to, it, it’s a little bit, it’s a little bit more risky. You have to work a little bit harder. But because of that, I think you generally work with a more creative group of people. You are, you know, , you are working with more entrepreneurs and see, and that opens your mind and allows you to do things in a different way. And you can always choose to go down a more branded route if you want to later on. But having that experience within this sector, I think really opens you up to much more from a career point of view, Ryan Embree: Makes you, I would also say it makes you a lot more flexible sometimes, you know, when we talk about employees within a brand track, they’ve got this way of thinking about doing things. And like you said, with the independent hotel, you have to be on your feet. You know, sometimes there’s not a SOP for how to do something like there is on the brand side, right? So it’s, it’s exactly what you said, creativity, flexibility, which are all great skills that will lead you in your career, in hospitality no matter where you are. So let’s turn to some rapid fire. We’re gonna get to know you in the Salt Hotel’s portfolio a little bit better. David. So favorite view at one of your properties. David Bowd: Favorite view would be the rooftop of Hotel Graystone in Miami, which has the ocean on one side and Collin’s Avenue running right in front of it. So you’ve got the bustling side of Collins Avenue, and then you have the serenity of the beach. Ryan Embree: Favorite fun fact about one of your properties, David Bowd: I think it has to be the Abner because it was the old courthouse 200, 200 years, 150 years. And so there’s so many stories within that, but you know, everything about that building is built as a courtroom. So you walk in there and it’s like you’re staying in an old courthouse. So that one really is just such a wonderful historic building. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I love to hear those about repurpose historic buildings sometimes. And, you know, sometimes it needs to be pointed out by the staff or employees on there, you read about it or something to see because it’s, you know, we had another one that talked about how it was built between two buildings and they kind of made the archway there, and you were walking through an alleyway as you were walking through a property. So an old courtroom that’s the first time I’ve heard, that unique kind of repurposing favorite signature dish at one of your properties, David. David Bowd: God, that’s a really tough one. Ryan Embree: It’s usually one of the tougher ones. David Bowd: I’m very much split between, we have an incredible smash burger in Connecticut, but we have probably, I’m a huge salmon fan, and we have a phenomenal Russia called Seban in Miami, and our chef, PTI created this dish with a king salmon, and it is just the best salmon I’ve ever tasted in my life. And the trouble is everywhere else I go and order salmon. And I did it recently. It’s just pretty average after you’ve had that. Ryan Embree: It ruined salmon in a good way. Exactly. In a good way. Right. So what about favorite guest experience or most unique guest experience at one of your properties? David Bowd: I think probably Salthouse in Provincetown as our first property is we truly, you know, we’ve known our guests for a very, very long time in that property. And we have guests that come back year in, year out from the day that we opened. And we had unfortunately, we literally just opened the doors and we had one guest who went out for dinner and she injured, she fell down the steps of a local restaurant and broke her leg on day one of her stay. And the team just got together and said, okay, our mission is to make her have the best vacation that she could have, even if she was able to walk for the time. And they took her everywhere. They had the best time with her. And she comes back for two weeks, every year and still raves about that time 15 years ago, or 12, 13 years ago, where she had the worst experience followed by just this really special memory. And I think that goes to say again of how you can turn these experiences from the worst into the best round with just a team. They didn’t spend a huge amount of money. They just spent time and care. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, who would’ve known that? That was a obviously unforgettable experience, but in kind of a different way than you would think when you get injured, you know, on vacation. So a great example there of personalization and care. Last one, favorite piece of art at one of your properties? David Bowd: We partnered with, in Nantucket, we partnered with a local photographer and she did scenes of Nantucket, Michael Gallard. And he did these incredible scenes of all over Nantucket, both summer and winter. So you have these sort of gray foggy scenes as well as beautiful bright summer scenes. And then he came and hung them, and that was a big learn for us as well, rather than have our design team hang them, he hung them and and he hung them in the places with the light and the fight that he wanted. And it just changed everything about this art, if you just got the light exactly how he intended it to be. And they’re spectacular. And every time I go into the brand and I look at them, I mean, always, always in awe of them. And you sort of lose yourself in these pieces of art every time you look at them. Ryan Embree: Well, that’s so cool because, you know, we hear all the time, right, the adage of we partnered with these local artists, and that’s a way to incorporate into the community, but to take it a step further and have them actually hang the art themselves and really give that perspective, I think this is a really unique way of incorporating that community into your property. I wanna shift gears to, you know, what this series is all about, David, the Independent Hotel Show, as a reminder to our listeners, September 17th and 18th, down at the Miami Beach Convention Center Sweet Spot, listeners can use promo code EMRE 25. That’s my last name, E-M-B-R-E-E 25 for a complimentary registration. David, you recently joined the advisory board. Congratulations. What really inspired you to get involved with this event and how do you see it supporting independent hoteliers and what would be your pitch to them to come join us down in Miami Beach? David Bowd: It’s I have, I was honored to be asked and to join the advisory board. I think it’s a phenomenal show. I was fortunate enough a few years ago to be part of the London show. And what said at that time, this was a good few years ago, we should definitely have one of these in America. And I was really delighted when it came, and even more so when it came to Miami. It’s the right place for it for sure. I think when you meet great people. There’s great EXI exhibitors there, but I think for me, the biggest pitch would be some of the sessions that are happening that as independent hoteliers, we just, you know, you just, you don’t get the chance to hear a lot of professionals talking and or peers talking about certain things in the industry. And when I look at the itinerary for the show, and you’ve got sections on, you know, maximizing bookings and local search engine optimizations and things like that, which we can all learn from, right? You’ve got experts talking on that thing, and these areas change so rapidly every year there’s something new. So as an independent hotelier, those are the sorts of things that I sit in on and write copious notes so I can bring them back to the team and then drive everybody insane and say, have we looked at this and have we done this? And you know, I noticed this year there’s also a move on the AI side of things. And I think that in our industry, that is something that’s going to become more and more prevalent. And as again, we don’t get a lot of exposure to that. So we are getting, you know, we’ve got some great people going to be talking about how we keep things personal, but we bring AI into the business. And so I look at it as a social opportunity and a learning opportunity. And I think where else also to go in September, the Miami. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that, well with some of the creative people that you were talking about in the independent hotel space. And, you know, for better or worse, again, independent hotel and hoteliers have these unique challenges that all independent hotels sometimes struggle with. So to be able to have, you know, like you said, thought leaders there, to hear from your peers about how they’re combating maybe some of these challenges that they have best tips and practices that you can then incorporate into your independent hotel, or even some of the vendors. There is a great way to hopefully give you a competitive advantage and for your property. So David, I hope, uh, our sweet spot listeners will join myself as well as you down in Miami, down in September. As we wrap up today, appreciate the time you took with us, David, talk to us about, we always like to look towards the future at the end of these. What exciting developments, pipeline do you have and what’s your vision for the future of Salt Hotels? David Bowd: Yeah, we’ve got a very exciting future. I’m very pleased to say we’ve had sort of a few years of working on some incredible projects, more behind the scenes. And now we’re getting ready to launch those. Next year we’ll be launching an incredible project in Minneapolis, which we’ve been working on for a few years. And so I’m very, very excited to launch that with a large hotel, 125 bedrooms and local food and beverage. It’s part new build and part historic renovation. So it’s gonna be a really interesting project and a fan, fantastic designer outta Shanghai which is that first, this is their first US project. So I think that’s gonna be bringing something really interesting to the neighborhood. We’ve got another project in Florida, a little north Florida, which is sort of where everything’s happening right now, which is great. So that’s under construction, at the moment, and then another Northeast property. So we are just starting on that which will open, I think, in mid 27. So, it’s very exciting, you know, and I think that for us, we’re, we’re still looking at a couple of other opportunities, but along the same lines as what we’ve got, you know, for us it’s, they’ve got to, you know, fit into where we are at the moment and really what I guess are looking for in places that I guess go and stay. Because I think that’s really important. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. Well, exciting developments, we’ll be sure to keep an eye on them. Obviously our hospitality professionals can keep an eye on those salt schools, which will probably be opening in conjunction with those projects. But congratulations to you on your team. We’re looking forward to see you in Miami in September. David, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot with me today. David Bowd: Thank you very much for having me. Great to chat. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. And we’ll talk to you next time on The Sweet Spot To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Barry Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Vice President of Brand & Marketing at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Loay Nour, joins the Suite Spot podcast to discuss the launch of Fairmont’s global campaign – “Make Special Happen”.  Tune in now to learn more about the brand and the campaign only on the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We have a very special episode for you today. Gonna tell you in a minute why that is so telling. But first, I’m gonna go ahead and introduce a first time guest with me today, Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, vice President of Brand and Marketing, Loay Nour. Thank you so much for joining me here on The Suite Spot. Loay Nour: Thank you for having me, Ryan. Looking forward to our conversation. Ryan Embree: It’s gonna be a great conversation. We’re gonna talk a lot about some exciting things on Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, things you and your team have been working on over there. But before we do that, since you are a first time guest, I always love to just hear everyone’s hospitality background, unique journeys to where they got there and for you at Fairmont Hotel and Resorts. Loay Nour: Absolutely. So my name is Loay Nour, and I’ve been in the hospitality industry for more than 18 years actually now. My background goes specifically in luxury hospitality brand. It’s a passion that started for me, although I haven’t done hospitality school. But I ended up in the hospitality by passion, not by education. My background is actually goes very much into guest experience, brand and marketing, loyalty marketing, partnerships marketing. So I’ve got around like a 360 degree on marketing. And today, myself and my team we’re in charge of the Fairmont brand globally, proudly managing a portfolio of 95 hotels worldwide, and a very strong pipeline of around 28 hotels coming up in the next few years. And today, really looking forward to tell you about the chapter of that. We have just recently launched with a new campaign of Fairmont Presents Make Special happen. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s a massive global campaign. We’re gonna jump all into it. But before, let’s give our sweet spot audience maybe a little bit of a history lesson. We’ve had some iconic brands on this Sweet Spot podcast. This might be the most iconic. It’s got a rich legacy of timeless hospitality as it’s described. Share with our sweet spot audience, a little bit about the origin story behind this incredible storied luxury brand. Loay Nour: It’s actually one of the brands that has a great legacy and history since 1907 with the first property that opened in San Francisco. Fairmont took its name actually from the vision of the foundries, the two first sisters which was the first half of the name. And then the mont was actually because the San Francisco was built on a mountain, and that was the first property that was open for us. Since then, we actually, our hotels has been social epicenters in the different destinations where they operate. And we were able to actually host a lot of key defining history moments like the black and white ball, like the bed in peace with the John Legend and Yoko and Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. So we’ve always been a place where if we always like to say if it happens in a city or it happens in a destination, it happens at a Fairmont. And until today, we actually continue to host those great moments. We became a truly international brand back in 2002 when our first property outside the America opened in Dubai. And since then, our portfolio has accelerated. Today, we’re a proud member of a core group that manages more than 42 brands globally. And we are one of the very well known and very well beloved, luxury brands globally. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible growth and we’re gonna talk about that a little bit later in the episode. But I do want to fast forward to today. First of all, interesting and fun fact about the name of Fairmont. I mean, if you ever want some great hospitality trivia, I think that little story right there is a great one to try to stump maybe your hotel friends. But let’s fast forward today in talking about this incredible launch make special happen, global campaign launch worldwide, like you said, you’re catering to travelers all over the world. What inspired this campaign and the Fairmont Hotel’s new global branding? Loay Nour: We have actually started a very extensive brand positioning exercise couple of months ago where with, when you have a great brand with a great legacy like Fairmont, you want to make sure that you evolve it carefully. So you want to maintain all the legacy of the brand, but also you want to make sure that you are relevant. So we did a lot of focus groups with many of our partners, guests, and even colleagues internally, to really deep dive a little bit about the brand, who we are, what we stand for, and what makes us unique and differentiate us in a very crowded competitive landscape. And this is when we came with our positioning of Make Special Happen, which basically our belief and understanding that luxury today is not a one size fits all. It’s actually driven from the belief that every interaction with every guest represent an opportunity to surprise. And that’s because what’s special to you, Ryan, might be not necessarily special to me. We need to really understand the individual needs of our guests, and that’s where this has became part of our DNA. And we started by integrating that which is what our, all our partners and colleagues have told us. We started integrating that into our service culture, into our DNA into our heritage. And then we started slowly to actually evolve that. We partnered with an agency based in New York called Kingdom Partners who actually were a great partner to work with, and they saw through what we’re trying to do as a brand and what ambition we had and how do we bring that to life through a campaign. So they gave it a little bit of that. Okay, you’ve always been social epicenters, you’ve always been committed to really celebrating moments in people’s lives since 1907. So they give it that sort of like really cinematic view where you look at it today, when you see like the poster behind me, for example, you see that Fairmont Present make special happen. It’s like a movie type of like really style. You see a lot of the guests who represent a lot of, some of our guest personas actually that comes into our hotels, whether it’s the Langman or the Celebration is, or the couple or the family, how they all come together with our colleagues to make special happen. And then it ended up with also featuring one of our colleagues, Tom Wolf, who’s a great representation and a great brand ambassador, America’s first concert. He still works in Fairmont, San Francisco. And he’s made a great appearance for us in the campaign because he is a great storyteller and a great representation of what Fairmont is all about. So it really started with the foundational work that given to us by our partners, colleagues and guests. It started to be part of our positioning infused into our service culture and who we are, and then turned into a campaign of what our promise to the world. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible. And if you haven’t seen, I encourage all of my listeners and audience to go check out that video that includes some of those characters we’re gonna talk about in a minute. Just so beautifully artfully done. There are congratulations on the campaign, but I think your story there, Loay, it’s so interesting to hear that background because you think about a historic timeless legacy of Fairmont Hotel and resorts and think maybe this campaign isn’t needed because of that history, but it actually has that you have to evolve it and, and for you to have the careful consideration of not evolving it to a place where it’s unrecognizable to those travelers that you’ve been catering to for so long, but rather marrying the past with the future of this, of this incredible brand. It’s so smart. And I think a lot of hotels, a lot of travelers don’t understand the time and effort that it takes because even those small changes to such a brand where people have had those moments at at Fairmont Hotels, they’ve been married there, they’ve celebrated anniversaries, birthdays, if you change something too much there, you’re gonna hear about it, right? Those are impacting memories and experiences. So it’s so cool to hear that background. ’cause I think a lot of, a lot of that is missed sometimes with these campaigns. So thank you for sharing and you know, it is a globally recognized brand. So when you and your team went about launching this, right when you first started talking about it, how did you make sure you’re not just trying to target one type of traveler, right? You’re trying to get this in the eyes and ears of every luxury traveler across the world. How do you go about doing that and making sure that it’s making that impact? Loay Nour: Great question. I think we really started by understanding and acknowledging as a team that this is beyond an advertising campaign. We have the brand video, as you mentioned for the campaign. And we have some of the still imagery that actually we used in across our own channels, but also some of our paid media channels. We focus on our key markets like the North America, Canada, Asia, middle East, and Europe, to make sure that we really target the key travel and lifestyle publications and online platform. We’re very much also present across the key social media channels that we have globally. But we really recognize that this is needs to go beyond an advertising campaign. And that’s why we launched the series of or a collection of special happen which are experiential, sort of like really platform. If you go to our website and to our campaign page Fairmont.com/Specialhappen, you’ll see that we introduce series of that collection, that special happens after dark special happens around the table. Special happens in the wild because we wanted the people to really be able to book those different experiences. We wanted them to be able to experience what we’re talking about. And we also wanted to live up to our promise special is not necessarily gonna happen only within our hotels. It could be happening anywhere as long as it’s really create our special experience for you. And as long as we are able to turn your moments with us into special memories that will last with you for a lifetime, then we did the job, right? So it was crucial for us that we reach with you, with who we are and what we’re trying to do and our brand promise, but also invite you to be able to come and experience what we mean by we make special happen. So you actually can use that as a Yeah. Now I actually, I get it. Now I understand what what you mean and what you do. And to your point in, in many of our key markets, we really are very much, we have high brand penetration and brand awareness and brand love as well. So it was really, we had to live up to the fact that the people has been, the initial feedback that we’ve been getting is saying, yes, this is exactly what Fairmont is all about. Yes, we are actually we that resonate with me. And I remember I had, and it’s interesting, when you look at our different channels, you start to see how now it’s actually the conversations start to happen in, in the other side because now the guests are telling us about their special moments that they are actually had with us, and they tell us what made, what makes our hotels special, which is a great asset for us. Ryan Embree: It’s so brilliant because you and your team are tapping into a feeling, right? It’s not, it goes beyond the four rooms, the four walls and a bed, which is the old adage for a hotel room. It’s a feeling, it’s sentiment that towards you, that you feel towards an experience. And those are the type of memories that can last a lifetime. And it’s really cool. I think the smartest part about this campaign, and one of the ones I I found the most fascinating and was trying to figure out which character I was, were some of these special characters within the campaign. And I wanted to take a moment to kind of talk through some of them if you had the time because I think it’s so smart. It does a really simple yet effective job of sharing that when you come to, when a property, a resort, you’re not coming for the same reason. You could come as one character, you could come as multiple, and those create those experiences. So I figured what we could do is maybe talk through some of them and you can share the stories behind them. Let’s start with the celebration. Loay Nour: Yeah, so she is really representing the central character. We call her Melody because she’s the ultimate connector. She is the one who’s really decided that she’s gonna really showcase the colorful world that we have at Fairmont Hotels. And she’s the one who’s writing the invitation to everyone. And then she’s the one who’s collaborating with our porter who’s on a mission to make special happen. So he is gonna go around to actually Parker, we call him again, he’s gonna go around and he’s gonna deliver them to the guests. You see that the guests are coming from different parts of their experiences, like the links man. He’s the golfer who likes to really show the excellence, whether he’s on the golf course or anywhere else. He’s just came back from a sort of like really a golf round into the hotel, received the invitation, immediately recognized, what is this about? and gets excited by shaking the invitation. And then he’s ready to go there. And then you see the wellness enthusiast that he’s really charming. He’s like, you can tell that he’s endlessly fun the way he really socialized during the event and the way that he’s really going around. And as he goes on that he is not just as someone who’s spending his time in the gym or worrying about himself, but he likes to have fun. My favorite is actually the family, the muse and hair makers that the way that she gets excited about receiving the invitation and that fact that the celebration actually starts in the room before they even get the family dances together as they get the invitation because they know what’s happening and all the way going into the legends in the Ledger, the couple that he actually, they love to really enjoy every time. But what we love about it is that how everyone comes together. And for me, my favorite part is always seeing that rush moment when, our colleagues start to run around preparing. And I love the fact that Tom fold up the liver and eliminate the sign. But he comes with that sort of approach, like, you know what it is the time again, I’ve done this for many years, I’ve been doing this. The team, once they see the sign is eliminated. They know what is this about? He lit it up and then everyone is running around to make special happen. And the best thing is when you see her, you see the celebration, it’s raising her glass to Parker at the end who was leading the team saying yes, again, we made special happen. These are type of moments that actually happens within our hotels every day. I can tell you, even when we were filming, a lot of these moments were happening behind the scenes where our colleagues were running around to actually make special happen, which is the filming itself. Ryan Embree: It so cool and beautifully story told on that video, again, encourage you to check it out and try to figure out which character you are because we’ve all been that character once or twice. And you know, some of those are just capitalizing on travel trends that we’re seeing, you know, the wellness enthusiast is, it’s so powerful right now in the travel industry. So again, so smart to have all these characters. One of my favorite parts of the global campaign, and to tie it altogether with America’s first concierge, Tom Wolf, I think is also a fitting note to your past, right? And your rich, rich history over there at Fairmont. The timing of the campaign couldn’t be more perfect. I’m sure this was strategically planned to do it right before the busy summer travel season. Loay, what do luxury travelers have to look forward to this summer when visiting a Fairmont hotel and resort property? Loay Nour: I think wherever they’re gonna go around the world, they’re gonna find an experience that is actually really designed around what they want. We have a really great footprint worldwide and we have a diversified portfolio, these personas that we talked about. And the different type of guests comes from the fact that our Fairmont hotels worldwide, the 95 hotels that we have, there are 36 resorts. There are 19 golf resorts that we have. We have more. We have around 18 hotels with the portfolio that are more than a hundred years old within the portfolio. So it’s actually, whether you are looking for a wellbeing experience, you’re looking for a golf retreat, or you’re looking for a dining experience, or you’re traveling as a couple or a family time, you will be able to find those experiences within our hotels. But moreover, this time or this summer, what’s unique with the launch is actually those, special happen experiences that we talked about earlier that we’ll be able to bring them to you and you will be able to experience them, not only within our hotels, but also beyond our hotels in the destination. Because a lot of them is actually combining an experience in the hotel and in the destination together. So it’s actually, basically you expect that special is there for you, but it’s gonna need to be defined by you because it’s actually what you’re looking for and what you really want to do this summer. Ryan Embree: You know, I think one of the things too Loay, and correct me if I’m wrong, this type of also global campaign gets the staff and the team really fired up on the other side to make those special moments for the guests as well. So, you know, it has mutual benefits to not only to your guests and luxury travelers that are traveling all around the world to your locations, but also your staff and your team to say, Hey, let’s make this happen together. Let’s make this special happen together this summer. So very, very exciting. As we wrap up on the heels of this global launch campaign, you mentioned some of the exciting developments for Fairmont Hotel and Resorts. What do you see for the future and vision of this brand Loay? Loay Nour: I think that we’re gonna continue to grow. We’re gonna continue to go to new exciting destinations this year. It started already busy for us in terms of really the openings since the beginning of the year. We have opened our second property in India in Mumbai. We have opened in LA NDA and Spain Great Gulf Resorts. We have opened in Prague, our first property, great city center location and flagship of the city and the brand. We also just about to open in Tokyo in July. So we continue to enter great destination for us as a brand. We are also gonna continue our commitment to really improving our guest experience and the delivering on our brand promise as we grow. But you also gonna be able to see a lot of the new programs that’s gonna come, whether on dining or wellness or through some of the key experiences that we have with the likes of our Fairmont Gold or the hotel within a hotel concept. So there is a great momentum on the brand. There is a great growth for the brand. This campaign is really gonna continue to position who we are. The personas that we talked about are, we call them just the first chapter as we go on. You might see more and more of those personas. And I would say keep an eye, make sure that you follow us on all our social channels because you’re gonna get to know more about where the brand is going and what we’re doing. Ryan Embree: Well, we’re so excited to see and watch and sounds like plenty of new opportunities with some new developments in the pipeline to continue to make special happen for years and years to come. So, Loay, I wanna thank you for joining me here on the Sweet Spot. Congratulations again to you and your team. Very excited to continue to watch this campaign and see how this brand, this iconic brand, evolves into the future. Loay Nour: Ryan, thank you very much for giving me and us as a brand the opportunity to talk to the Suite Spot listeners, we’re really happy that we got the opportunity to share our story on the brand and tell you a little bit about it. We invite you to find out more about it, go to fairmont.com/make special happen. You’ll see the video Ryan and I have been chatting about. You’ll see the experiences we’ve been talking about and keep stay tuned to learn more about Fairmont. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well thank you so much Loay. Thank you for listening to The Suite Spot and we’ll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Check out the latest TMG Hospitality Trailblazers episode featuring the Founder of Aligned Hospitality, Bryan Tubaugh!  Bryan joins the podcast to discuss founding Aligned Hospitality, the meaning behind the brand, technology in hospitality, improving the guest experience, and much more.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, with another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. This episode we head west to bring in my next guest from Aligned Hospitality, Brian Tubaugh, founder, and CEO. Thank you so much, Brian, for being on the Suite Spot. Bryan Tubaugh: Hey, Brian, I appreciate it and glad to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, exciting. We’re gonna talk all about Aligned Hospitality. Talk about the journey where you guys are, you guys have seen some explosive growth, which we’re gonna talk about, but first, since it’s your first time, love to get people’s background stories journey. What ultimately led you to Aligned Hospitality, but founding Aligned Hospitality as well. Yeah, absolutely. I’m one of the I guess, rare breeds. I grew up in the industry. Both my parents, were both general managers. Both of them started in the hospitality industry, line level, housekeepers, bellman, and then, you know, the typical hospitality love story fell in love, one became a front office manager. The other became a GM. Then they started traveling and they had me. So, yeah, so both my parents were in the industry. I, to be honest with you, it’s all I’ve known. It’s, you know, all I choose to know. Anytime I try to take away or get away from the industry, it brought me back. So yeah, so I was born into it. And then my business partner, Helinda, my mother, she raised me, my parents divorced. She raised me in Tucson, Arizona, where, you know, our headquarters is still at Tucson and Phoenix. And so, yeah, so we just I grew up in the industry. I started off in operations with Hilton. Went that route, started in housekeeping at 14. We won’t tell people that though. So I was a houseman summer job. It was an exterior corridor hotel. So I got to feel that $120 heat. And, yeah, I mean, quickly worked my way up to the front desk. And you know, I may have had some back push on that help as my mom was the general manager at the property. And then the fun part of the whole story, the twist was when I was 18, I had an HR director at the DoubleTree that I was working at. It was a full service, DoubleTree. And the HR director called me into his office. I’ll never forget him, love him to death, Eduardo. And he said, Hey, Brian, do you like this industry? I said, well, yeah. I mean, is there anything else in the world? And he said, well, if you like it and you love it, you need to leave Hilton. And I was like, whoa, did I do something wrong? I mean, I, I love Hilton. I’m at a double tree. This is what I’ve known. I eat a cookie a day. Like, you know, what, why? And, you know, and he kind of looked at me and he said, listen, because of who your parents are, you’re never gonna be able to progress in your career. And you’re never gonna be able to take that next step because everybody will know you as Rick and Helenda’s son. And if you truly want to make your own staple in this industry, then you need to, you need to, you need to move on. And, I tell that story too, and I’ll tell you where that leads, but I tell that story because I do think that’s a gap nowadays in our industry, is that that mentorship, that line level to that middle management to management, right? We go rockstar front desk. You’re now a general manager. Figure it out. So anyway, so he shipped me out. I found Starwood at that point. The four Points by Sheraton. I became an SRSA, I don’t know if you remember that position. Sales Reporting Systems analyst. Oh boy, you talk about starwoods, hotels and reports at that time. So I got to learn the reporting side, the sales side. And then I had a director of sales and marketing at that point. Say, the day you turn 21, I wanna take a chance on you in sales. So, true to her word, Sandy Osberg, when I turned 21 and I was having a great time in life, I came back, needed a job. And I’ll tell you, it was the quickest interview I’ve ever had. And she put me in as a sales manager at a little Four Points in Tucson. And then my career kind of grew from there. I ended up being at Big Box Resorts Weston, Carolyn, Scottsdale Princess, Lowe’s, Ventana Canyon, Westin La Paloma. My last stint on property was the Hilton El Conquistador in Tucson as the director of sales and marketing. So I ended up going that sales route. So anyway, that led me to, my mother was still on the other side, on the operation side with Hilton, longtime Hilton. She ended up partnering with another group out of Tucson, formed a very small management company, and they managed maybe, I think, peak six hotels. And she brought me on ’cause she wanted to grow the management company. And I was in sales. So, absolutely. So I, I ended up coming on with the company, and this was back in 2018, and I started getting a lot of leads Ryan, like, I started connecting, I started learning the real estate side, the asset side. And the group that I was with, that we were with, they didn’t wanna grow. So they were more, they brought me on to help on the operation side. I didn’t like the operation side. I love it. I know it, it’s not what my passion is. I like to get out shake hands. So anyway, 2021 COVID you’re sitting at home, your mind starts racing. And I said, you know what? Let’s try this. So that’s how we got to Aligned, and that’s where we broke off and we started our own. And like you said, the growth has just been incredible. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, your story has a couple, you know, narratives that we’ve heard on this podcast before. Well, first it’s, you know, that old age of hospitality being in your DNA running through your blood. I think that’s very true in your case there, Brian. But you’re right about the mentors. And that is also a common thread that we hear in a lot of these stories. And, you know, it’s so funny to hear every single one of these trailblazers that we interview. They know someone by name and they, it’s that point in their career that, where that trajectory kind of takes off. And it kind of turns from maybe that summer job, like you were talking about, we’ve heard that a lot into a career. And I think you’re absolutely right now, you know, these past couple years we’ve had this workforce problem in hospitality. And, you know, to hear stories like that, to have mentors and to be a mentor to younger hospitality professionals, it’s creating the next generation of hoteliers for us and it’s so important. And hopefully, you know, I’m here to be interviewing some of those people that the mentors right now are out there having those conversations. And maybe it is something like what happened with you, Brian, where it’s like they’re encouraging you to almost leave and get out and, you know, get outta the nest a little bit and, and spread your wings because you know, these are transferable skills. You know, you can go from one side of the country to another side of the country. Hospitality is hospitality. It’s a fantastic industry. That’s why we love it so much. So, you know, we’ve had the pleasure of speaking to a couple individuals who have founded hotel management companies. And there always seemed to be kind of either a time, a place, a conversation that really sparked the idea of, you know, maybe I can do this on my own. I’m wondering if that that ever happened with you, Brian, or was this, was this from the start? The goal and the vision? Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah. You know, it’s funny you ask that, Ryan, because again, I as in big box resorts for most of my career, and let’s be honest, those are fun. Those are fun careers. I mean, you get to explore a lot of things. I was on the sales side, so site visits, I mean, I had our whole staff singing to clients, riding in helicopters, you know, just doing extravagant things. And I’m kind of an adventure seeker by nature. So to be honest with you, I always had that drive that, you know, now I know I had an entrepreneur spirit, right? Like, I always wanted, you know, it was always, how far can I push it, right? And I think naturally salespeople are like that, let’s be honest. And, so I don’t think it was ever, you know, I’m gonna go out and start my own or our own management company. But as I progressed in my career and I started to learn more and more, there were things, there were touches that I felt I wanted to put on that I would do differently, right? You know, I’m big on what we were just talking about, mentorship, development full transparency. You know, we’re, we’re big on my biggest line to all of my management, and even people striving for management is, you know, it’s all about your bench strength. Who are you, who are you creating in your legacy, right? That’s what makes this fun. I could talk about Bill Petr, I could talk about Sandy Osberg. I could talk about, Gee Alexander, all these names of people that I got to mentor under be mentored by. That has changed my life, right? And now I tell my team and our executive team, we’ve done a great job of really putting in mentorship programs. So I always wanted to touch people. Did I think it was gonna come in this, this setting? To be honest, no. I never envisioned it this way. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And it’s funny you mentioned the bench and the team, and I think it reminds me of a quote that I saw recently of, you know, somebody can’t attributed who it’s attributed to, but talking about essentially, if I am the smartest person in the room, then I failed at building a team, a great team, right? And I think a lot of people rely heavily on the individuals around you. And each journey kind of shapes what you’re talking about there, Brian. I mean, the fact that you worked at Hilton for a number of years and then you moved over to Starwood you went to maybe some of these big box resorts like you were talking about, I’m sure each of those have kind of put a kind of stamp of the way that you manage, the way that you run your Aligned hospitality, and kind of gives you that unique flavor. And that’s what’s great about our industry again. Cause you can jump, you can go from different segments, you can go different markets and all of that kind of creates who you are not only as an individual, but surrounds you with, with a great team and management company, which we’re gonna talk about here. Ryan Embree: And know, the conversations I’ve had, Brian, with these individuals, it’s also, you know, building something from the ground up, founding something, everything is intentional, right? From the logo, brand colors, even the name. So I’m curious, it always, what was the message behind the Aligned hotel management? And why’d you land on that name? Bryan Tubaugh: You know, it’s kind of funny. I’ll be really honest, and I have to give credit where credit’s due. I was actually on a golf course with my beginning capital business partner. And him and I are going back and forth and talking about how we’re gonna start this and where we need to put capital. And, you know, I’m a sales guy, so we gotta do all this in branding, branding, branding. Like we got a brand. And, I kid you not, I’ll never forget it. Hole six. Stone Canyon. I hit one of the worst shots I’ve ever hit in my life. And, I said something about of being out of alignment, and my wife was with us as well. And she goes, there it is. And I said, there, what it, she goes, aligned, Aligned hospitality, Brian aligned. And I just kinda looked at her. So I wish there was something even more amazing about this. But then it became, you know what, you’re absolutely right. You know, we’re aligned in our faith, we’re aligned with our customers, we’re aligned with our staff, we’re aligned with our team. We are aligned in order to make this whole, you know, machine work, I guess you can say. And so that, honestly, that’s where it came. It was just like, boom, you’re absolutely right. And the only way we can succeed as partners with any of our clients, with any of our staff members, we have to be aligned. We have to be all in one. And it just and then it took it, you know, everything just went from there. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of what you said, I think anything with a strong North star, a strong compass, you know, that you can get people, your employees, owners, and partners behind is really gonna help you see that success. Right? And you’ve seen a lot of it, I mean, two from two to 20 plus hotels since 2021. Can you share with our Sweet Spot hotel, your audience, you know, maybe a few examples of that growing portfolio and some property transformation and success stories you’ve seen along the way? Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah. I mean, so 2021 we left our previous company, Helenda and we started our own, I’ll never forget it, October 27th. And kind of funny story found out I had COVID when I was down in Cabo. I’m getting asked to leave the resort in Cabo. My mom calls me crying, never cries. We were being handled a handed a lawsuit on the day we started. So I’m getting to somewhere with this, right? So this is, I call that the birthday of Aligned, right? Because that’s when it was real. That’s where here we go. We have no, they’re, the boats are burned. And so anyway, so this happens, right? Well, fast forward about four hours from all this, like just the world’s falling apart kind of thing. Received a phone call from two of our clients. One was a large DoubleTree and one was Tuxin, which is kind of our flagship boutique hotel. And both of them agreed to come on right away, right? And the reason I bring those up, that DoubleTree was losing close to about $12,000 a month when we took it over 12 grand a month. And so at that point, Hilton had kind of told them they need to get a management company, the ownership group. And fast forward to today, which, you know, even when we were at the old company, we managed them for a few years. They’re doing pretty well making money. The gentleman has now started his own management company and still will not take that property from us because we’re his north star, right? He’s aligned with it. So there’s a success story that really, I mean, again, when you have those kind of stories, it’s easy to sell. We have taken over a few boutiques, you know, we went outta state, we’ve now repositioned rebranded, we went from a design to an IHG voco, so we rebranded that. So that’s been a great success story as well. So yeah, I mean, there’s a number of these small success stories. For me, the biggest ones are every time we bring on a new hotel, I haven’t really had to go outside of Aligned to find that new leadership. So we’ve really promoted from within. So that’s always been a vision and a mission of ours. And to see that we’ve stayed true to that is really near and dear to my heart. So you know, I tell my executive team, a lot of people, they train and they work, and with general managers or middle management, and they don’t wanna lose them. I’m like, no, I wanna be the company that they come and they learn and then they go off and they blow up like that. I want to be that company. And I think we’ve been really true to that. So when you say success stories, those are the stories I really hang my head on, Ryan. Ryan Embree: It’s cool to see also when an employee that maybe you gave that opportunity to leave, or they took that next opportunity and then they come back, you know, and in a year or several years down the line and they’re just a different employee. They’re a better employee because of that opportunity. And, you know, again, it is. Hospitality is huge, but as we’ve talked about on this podcast before, it’s also a very small, yeah, very small network of people who, you know, so all of those young hospitality professionals listening, never burn a bridge. You know, because you never know where you’re gonna end up. You never know where your path’s gonna lead. So that would certainly be my advice. I do wanna talk, you mentioned a boutique, you mentioned some brands. I wanna talk some hospitality trends. You got a great portfolio, and branded and independent boutique hotels. You know, obviously there’s a lot of uncertainty and uneasiness right now. You know, macro factors, we won’t get into all of them, but I wanna give our audience maybe Brian, one reason for each why you’re kind of bullish for independence and branded hotels to potentially weather maybe some of this storm’s. Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah I mean, I think for the branded ones, you know, particularly the strong branded, right? IHG, Hilton Hyatt, you know, those type of brands, their advantage is always gonna be that distribution network, right? And the loyalty programs, their reservation system, you’ve just got so many in there, right? Their loyalty programs, the traveler knows the brand, they trust the brand. So in, in certain times, they still know that there’s gonna be a level of consistency. So I really think that’s the brand’s major advantage and always will be. And that, you know, why you pay the fees that you pay for those things, right? Now on the other side of that, and especially in the boutiques that we’re in, we’re very fortunate. They’re in great leisure markets. They’re, you know, they’re tied into their market. You, you can pivot much more quickly in a boutique. I’m not tied down by rules or parodies or the channels I can distribute from. So I do think both have advantages, the boutique side, you know, while the brands are getting there, right? They’re understanding what’s happening with these lifestyle and these boutique hotels. I mean, I personally am a big believer that the wave of travel is going to that boutique, authentic, memorable, stay luxury is now gonna be service. So the brands are trying to catch up to that now, but I don’t have red tape. I can go on Airbnb, I can go on VRBO, I can sell it however I wanna sell it with a boutique hotel. And I think that’s the advantage that they have. Ryan Embree: For your point about the branded hotels, you know, they’re really leaning into soft brands, experiential travel, just based off, you know, recent acquisitions and things of that nature. I think you’re right. They’re, they’re starting to see the tea leaves. They’re starting to read guest sentiment, going back to local flavor, local roots. But you’re right, the ability to pivot, be flexible, get creative with your independent, tell your story, which we’re gonna talk about here in a minute with through digital marketing, you know, the better you can tell that story with an independent hotel, sky’s the limit, you know, as far as rates, you know, the type of segment that you want. But you’re right, the branded hotels do have that huge distribution network that let passionate loyalty, you’ve got travelers moving up and down segments. So you really can rely on that business. You know, even times of like we said with uncertainty. Now aligned hospitality, strong footprint in the Southwest. You got properties, Arizona, California, all the way up to Oregon. Brian, what markets right now are you bullish on? And what are you and your team anticipating for this summer season? Bryan Tubaugh: You know summer in Arizona is obviously a little slower than most places. Nobody wants to hang out in the heat. But, you know, I think obviously summers we’re feeling really good. The Oregon market we’re in Astoria in particular, California, you know, right? Just near Santa Barbara looking really strong. The leisure travel is there, it’s drive market. So it’s great. We’re still catching that. So we’re feeling really good. Arizona as a whole, I think it’s been a bit of a dip. Like you said, there’s some uncertain times, but what I’ve seen is, you know, like our Tucson markets, right? The, the hotels where, and even, I’ll even say even like a tombstone, a really small market but that’s inspired by the local community, the culture, those properties are really still staying strong, even while we’re seeing a dip, a little bit of a dip in, in the market itself. You know, we just transformed an old motel into the Kennedy Hotel down in Tucson in an airport market, but we brought this boutique lifestyle type of brand there. And I’m gonna tell you what, you know, we’ve been open three months and we’re already running in our 90% RevPAR index, which again, that’s pretty strong for only being open three months. But we embrace Tucson, right? You know, you got that Southwest culture, the food and beverage, really in embedded ourselves into the community, like we do with all of our hotels, even even branded ones, we do the same thing. So I still feel the leisure is pretty strong where we’re at. Corporate obviously is I would say slowed down quite a bit. But again, that’s kinda the markets that we are currently in. So we’re still getting a lot of that leisure market. The leisure kind of blended happens as well. But yes, I still think we’re finding that the experiential traveler is really what we’re seeing a lot of at this point. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. People want experiences for sure. You know, locals are, I think, looking at their area hotels a little bit differently too, you know travel costs are also rising. So maybe something where they were going out of state last summer, maybe they’re saying, Hey, let’s, let’s check out some of our local staycation, see if we can hang out by the pool and, and beat the heat at one of the resorts, you know, in that area. So again, it’s just, it’s different segments. You gotta make sure that you’re obviously marketing to the right people. You have to be asking your guests, you know, why they’re visiting, where they’re coming from, capitalize on some of those trends. You’ve got some exciting developments over there on the horizon including a newly launched strategic direction. Share with our audience a little bit about those details. Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah, and I think, you know, we can credit our growth to being very diverse in our portfolio. You know, we had economy, upper mid scale, boutique lifestyle, independent. And, you know, while that helped us to get to where we were, we couldn’t be an expert in one field, right? So we’ve began to shift our focus to more of that boutique and lifestyle branded hotel. And that’s really the target audience that we’re going after. That’s the target audience we’re starting to attract. Naturally my, so my whole team combined is 150 plus years of Hilton.So I won’t tell you who’s making up most of those years, but you know, so we’ve kind of just shifted our focus more on rebranding, repositioning, and really going after that lifestyle type of property. You know, selfishly coming from the resort world without having a resort, I believe these lifestyle and boutique hotels allow me to program or allow us to program and really give those experiences that resorts typically give on a smaller scale. And so we’ve just really been reshifting our focus that direction. We are also focusing a little bit more on getting onto the ownership side. So I’ve got some big news probably being announced here in the next few months. We’re gonna knock on wood so we don’t jinx it. So yeah, I think there’s a lot of big things coming in 25, 26 for us and while the scaling, you know, again, I didn’t have gray hair at one point. It was exciting. It’s been great. We’re just starting to hone in a little bit more on that area of expertise and we owe that to our clients. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And going right after that trend that we talked about you know, that lifestyle, personalization, experiential travel, where you can do programming. And you can, you know, coming from those big resorts, be able to offer that, but at a very much more personalized experience. And, and those are the type of experiences hopefully that, that stay with you make it an annual tradition, family tradition, coming to the same resorts, we’re spreading word of mouth, all that good stuff. So I wanna shift gears to technology about hospitality within hospitality, typically we’re known for our industry taking a little bit of time adopting new technology. That’s kind of sped up, I would imagine, over these last couple years. What’s your philosophy, Brian you know, implementing new technology into your portfolio, and where do you kind of see technology evolving, the hotel guest experience in the next five years or so? Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah, I mean, I think we’re, and I, you know, I hate to quote anybody else, but this, this truly is a golden age. I mean, this is, we are that finding a new tool, it seems like every week, right? Which you all do at TMG with the reviews, and I mean, that wasn’t around just what maybe 10, 12 years ago as predominant as it is now. So here’s the deal. Technology’s here, it’s going to be here, it’s going to keep leveling up. Eventually, you’re gonna be checking in through a kiosk, or you may not check in at all. It’s gonna be all done on these little machines. And that’s gonna be the norm. I would say a lot of places it’s starting to become the norm, and we expect it to be that way. Correct? I feel me personally, I feel luxury in what you’re truly going to pay for in the future is going to be the face-to-face interactions, is going to be that you know, the fire pit lit by a human being, telling stories by the lake, that’s going to be the new luxury. I truly believe that. Now, as far as some of the technology, I think it’s great. I shouldn’t be checking people in on a DOS program in 2025. We should be moving to point and click not to call out anything. So, you know, and for us at the management level, you know, there’s no way we could manage in multiple states unless we had the proper BI systems in place that we can watch and control costs from this, from this level and really support our management teams and boots on the ground. So for me, I think ai, and that’s another one, right? I mean, we don’t even know who we’re talking to anymore. Is it a true person or is it a bot? You know? And it’s getting smarter and it’s getting smarter. And by the way, if you’re gonna go and attract talent, you better adapt to what these guys are used to using. So I can speak from personal experience, I think we’re a little bit behind, but we’re trying to quickly catch up to utilizing ai. I mean, Ryan, I’ll tell you this right now. I was just talking to our COO and we just did a full SWOT analysis on a market that we’re looking at, and we spent, you know, a week in market doing what we typically do, knock on doors, talk to everybody, which I still think there’s a place for that. I went into an AI program, I typed in exactly what I was looking for, what took me a week to do, took me 45 minutes to write up. I went back and forth with the data, not a hundred percent perfect to what I found, but close enough that you could really make an impact. So again, I’m a big believer. I don’t, I think it will unfortunately replace some positions, but I also think it’s gonna enhance the output of people. And if it’s used as a tool properly, I think it can elevate a lot of careers very quickly. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I absolutely agree. Brian and I will go, go back to a point where that, that you made which I a hundred percent agree with is that face-to-face interaction will become the luxury. And it’s all, everything is very cyclical. And you think about right now what is, what is really taking off right now is the no technology hotels, right? The experience of locking your phone, you know, if you’ve watched White Lotus you know, the, the previous season, everybody locking their phones, giving yourself a technology break, but at the same time, we’re at the precipice of the most technologically advanced place that we’ve ever been in. So, but I think you had give a great example of using the data that AI can provide to make yourself more efficient. Because I think sometimes we get caught in the minutia of being like, okay, how can I get a robot to take my towels to my guests, right? And and we start to think a little bit too big. And instead of those little efficiencies of how will this help me with recruiting, how will this help my staff become more efficient in what they can do? And those quick little wins are gonna pile up over time. And before you know it, you’re saying, well, I’ve implemented about 15 to 16 new initiatives with either AI or new technology that I didn’t know, that I didn’t even know it. But we tend to focus sometimes on the big picture stuff, the next generation of, of hardware and technology. I would just say take those baby steps first, and before you know it, in six months, you’re gonna look back and say, I’m doing things a lot differently than I was doing six months. Bryan Tubaugh: Well, and to that point, right? I think you always have to be prepared for the big picture, but to your point, when you start getting paralyzed by data, which I also think some of the technology has done as well, right? Is you get so much data now, you just look at everything and, and sometimes you just need to take five steps back and go, whoa, I’m in a people business. Let’s get back to the people and, and then let’s start from there and build up. But you know, what I was gonna say is we’re even starting to implement it in some of our smaller hotels. Use the AI to know your guest a little bit better. Hey, this person’s coming in from, you know, New Jersey. Well, not a lot of people in Phoenix, Arizona know much about New Jersey. Hey, you know that one of your guests is coming in. You’re a 24 room hotel. You probably have time to research a little bit about the guest that’s coming in, make ’em feel at home, talk to them about something in their town. You can learn a lot and think about the impact that has when you’re checking into a hotel and somebody can name something, or, Hey, you know, we saw you have a really neat balloon festival in New Mexico. Did you go this year? Oh my God. You know, you know, and it, so instead of being so afraid of it, let’s embrace it and use it and help create our culture with it. So that’s what we’ve really been challenging our management teams with. And you know, again, at the end of the day, it’s the big new scary thing. So people are gonna use it how they want, but I do see it as more being a tool versus being afraid of it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. No, love that. Those tools and tips, personalization, obviously huge word we’ve heard in our industry over the years. But any way that you can and can do that, improve that the yes. Experience those wow moments that you end up talking about, you end up sharing with, with family and friends after the trip. So we mentioned this before on the podcast, but our origin story, the Sweet Spot podcast, we started digital marketing podcasts, sharing tips and, and tricks on, you know, things like social media, reputation management, what do these kind of roles play, especially going into lifestyle, right? Where it’s a lot about storytelling, a lot of programming out there. Where does those strategies play at the corporate level at Aligned Hospitality, and maybe more on the individual level, and how has it contributed to your growth and success? Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah, I will tell you, I think while our growth and success has been great, I think we could have even maybe enhanced it a bit more. We’ve been very fortunate because it’s been a lot of word of mouth, it’s been a lot, you know, we, we got into the right, I guess, circles and again, there has to be success, right? I think something that we are now embracing and we’re still not there yet where I would like to be and is a big focus for us moving forward. Digital marketing’s everything. I and, I look at myself, right? I don’t check in. I don’t care what brand, I don’t care what hotel it is. I’m going to Instagram, I’m going to Google, and I’m gonna check the reviews, and I’m gonna check your story and see if it’s cool. And again, I know my kids, my 13-year-old, he hardly knows what Google is. It’s off of social media platforms. So I have to be honest and look in the mirror and say that’s an area that that’s our next step in enhancement. And we’re starting to make that, those steps. Is really, it’s everything now, I think that’s the biggest key of success, or future success, is how much you’re putting into that digital marketing. To your point, the reputation management, you don’t reply right to those reviews. People are gonna see right through that. You use AI too much to reply to those reviews, and you lose that personable touch. People are gonna see right through that. And this new wave of traveler, we want our personal experience to outweigh. Cause now there’s a hotel on every street, and there’s a brand for every type of traveler. I want the personal touch, I want the experience. Travelers want that. So I think if you’re missing that piece, you’re missing you, you’re missing. And us as a company, that’s the area where, you know, we’re sitting there with two strikes and we better hit, you know, hit a home run soon. So, and we are, we’re working towards that. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, to your point, Brian, these travelers, consumers, guests, they are going to start speaking fluent ai, very, very soon. They’re gonna be able to see, just like how we’re able to kind of see images right now and spot what, what ai generated images. Now, it could get a little bit tougher, right? Yeah. We’ve seen some really good AI images, but at the same time, you know, it’s kind of that same learning curve when review responses first started with templates, you know, and, and you could start to spot a template and say, well, I know they just kind of that not really feeling personal. And you know, that is a huge competitive advantages for hotels, social media, obviously, like you were talking about. That younger generation, especially, they’re pulling up the Instagram, they’re pulling up TikTok, they’re pulling up Chat GPT, right? We’re gonna stop talking about SEO here and start talking about more a IO and how, what results are your hotels, or what results are coming up from Chat GPT or other AI engines about your market, about your hotel, and what it’s, you know, giving you an overview of what your competitive advantages are, some of that data you were talking about. Bryan Tubaugh: You’re absolutely correct. Ryan Embree: So as we wrap up, Brian always like to kind of look into the future, our crystal ball, so to speak, as CEO. What’s your vision and future for aligned hospitality? Bryan Tubaugh: Yeah, I, you know, again, we want to continue our growth, be more thoughtful, be more strategic in our growth. We really wanna be innovative in the boutique and lifestyle space. And really we wanna create this lasting value, not only for the guests, but also for our stakeholders, our partners, our clients, right? What we’re finding more coming into the market, our clients that wanna be proud of what they build, which is why these soft brands are becoming such a boom. You know, I personally, when I start developing hotels, I want my touch on it. Hilton, thank you for the flag, but I don’t want your HI want Brian’s touch on my property. So we’re really, we’re partnering, we’re being more strategic on who we partner with. We’re ensuring that we’re aligned with our partners moving forward. And then as far as internally, we wanna continue being the company that builds, right? We want to make our future leaders. I want, you know, we’re in an internship program with Arizona State University here in Phoenix. And I wanna continue being part of that culture that’s developing the future. I had great leaders that helped shape my life, and I wanna give back. I have an executive team that wants to give back. So really that, that’s our future man, is to keep growing strategically, making a footprint in the industry, not just for us, but for the entire industry. And hopefully continue to see us pushing out future leaders that you’re, you know, you’re interviewing here five to 10 years from now talking about this. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s a great story, Brian. We appreciate it. And thank you for sharing it with our Sweet Spot audience today. And you’re absolutely right. I mean, the personalization now we talked about it on the guest perspective, but also on the owner perspective and side, right? You know, how many times we’ve come on this podcast, we’ve talked in our spotlight series, talking about a specific hotel or property and them giving us some incredible insight into the history of that building, the transformation of that building the designs from local inspired by local artists all the way to its f and b experiences. Each property like that has a story that should be shared and celebrated. And if you’re doing that with the right management company and ownership, it’s a beautiful thing. And you know, we wish you all the success in the future with. Aligned hospitality. Brian, thank you so much for joining me here on the sweet spot. Bryan Tubaugh: Ryan, I appreciate the time, man. Ryan Embree: Thank you so much. Alright, we’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot. Thanks for joining. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Sweet Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Check out the latest episode in the Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series, to hear from the COO of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, Gabriel Perez!  Gabriel breaks down the intricacies of F&B in hospitality, how the Indigo brand is evolving, and what attendees can look forward to at the 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embry, and we are part of our Independent Hotel show series. This is the second edition of this new series that we’re kicking off in collaborating with the Independent Hotel Show. This is your first time we’re bringing on advisory board members, team members of the Independent Hotel Show, getting us geared up for that show here at Miami Beach this September. We cannot wait. Uh, and I also cannot wait to bring in my guest, so I’ll bring him in. Gabriel Perez, COO of lodging at The Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Gabriel, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Gabriel Perez: Well, thank you. Happy to be here. Ryan Embree: We’re excited. We’re gonna talk some independent hotels. We’re gonna talk mm-hmm <affirmative>. About the Independent Hotel Show. That’s why you’re on here. But before, uh, love getting a little bit of background on your story, uh, your hospitality journey that led you to Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Gabriel Perez: It’s, uh, the journey of a very lucky guy. I started this without knowing that it is what I wanted to do long time ago, late eighties at the Intercontinental Hotel in Caracas. And it has been a progressive set of situations and a great joy of many privileges, which had allowed me to, uh, grow within the career in few different segments and disciplines of, of the hospitality. Again, privilege to be today where I am in supporting and leading a great team of individuals, uh, with real hospitality, where the emphasis is experiences in addition to profitability and results. Ryan Embree: This is why I always love starting the episode talking about this, uh, because you just get such perspective, um, where people start their journey. You have a common thread with a lot of our guests that we have on the Suite Spot of maybe falling into the industry not knowing that this is something that you wanted to pursue as a career, but once you get into it, it kind of sticks onto you, right? It kind of gets stuck in your DNAA little bit as so to speak. Right? It does, Gabriel Perez: It does very much is it’s a contagious daily excitement that is always different. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And that variability, you know, it’s funny you say it like that, it’s always different, but hospitality is the, the skills are so transferrable, um, from whether it’s different parts of the world, different brands, you know, hosting people and, and providing them with good service can be done at a high level, uh, again, through a lot of different medians. But that energy, that passion that you bring, Gabriel, that you were talking about, it is, it’s, it’s contagious. And that’s why we see so many people, um, with these stories where, you know, you’re talking to a bellman that, that started in a hotel. Uh, and, and now I get the privilege of, of interviewing hospitality professionals like yourself. So, uh, the, the stories range far and wide, but I, I love hearing them and I think they need to be told. I think, you know, in a, in a time right now where we’ve struggled over the last couple years with, with hospitality workforce, to hear these stories out there of where, what a career and hospitality can look like, because sometimes in industries you think, Hey, I need to be promoted by this time, or I need to be at this stage of my career. Hospitality is very different. Gabriel Perez: It is very different. It is, um, it is always work in progress. As I said earlier. Every day is different. Every challenge is different. What was done yesterday or last quarter, not necessarily lies today when it comes to crafting those experiences, the demographic is always changing and evolving. So I think it’s, it, you know, it only not only keeps your, your toes, but it develops a sense of progression that only a few other dynamic industries allow you to do. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Fast changing, um, a lot of elements, a lot of outside elements also impact our industry, which we’re gonna talk about in a minute. Yeah. Um, but before we get into that, I’d like to just do, you know, we learned a little bit about you, a quick introduction into Indigo Road Hospitality Group for maybe our, our Suite Spot hotel audience, or, um, listeners tell us the story of the Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Sure. Gabriel Perez: It’ll be my pleasure. It’s, uh, Steve Palmer is the founder and chief visionary officer of the company. He founded the Indigo Road Hospitality Group in 2009, primarily as a culinary restaurant focused hospitality group. And then sometime in 2020, after seeing the food and various operations of our company in different hotels not managed by us, he came to the realization that we could be doing that better than them. What we do in the Food and Burg experience environment is so much greater than the transactional aspect of what we’re seeing in those hotels. So it founded the lodging group within the Indigo Hospitality Group. Now we have, uh, soon to be six hotels. I would say twice that amount within the next two years, or year and a half, and over 40 restaurant concepts in the, I would say the East Coast, Southeast, and even in the DC area. Expanding, growing, but growing, um, with purpose. Uh, not looking at the next shining object, but looking at two partnerships that develop other partnerships with, with people who share the same values that we have. Ryan Embree: That’s incredible growth. That what you’re talking about, Gabriel, it’s super exciting, I’m sure on your end to be a, a part of that team, busy in a, in, in a good way. But that’s a unique story. I, I think, you know, now you see management companies kind of spinning into the, the f and b side, but to see that your origin story really started in F and B mm-hmm <affirmative>. And then transition over to lodging, I’m sure there’s a lot of unique characteristics and traits that this group brings, uh, being that that was its origin. Gabriel Perez: Yeah, undoubtedly, I will have to say that, um, we see it with a sense of urgency and purpose. We always try to materialize and create something special from an f and b perspective in absolute cohesion with the hotel experience. We’re very different and occupying a great space in the hospitality environment, especially in the boutique hotels environment, simply because, um, when we do hotels, we don’t do a hotel as a restaurant. We do a hotel that happens to be either next to a restaurant of its own sole purpose, history, and identity and branding, of course, where it could benefit and will benefit from hotel guests, but does not need the hotel guests to be successful. So we, we create literally two self-dependent concepts and not just a hotel where you can get a frozen bagel and a banana. Ryan Embree: I love that. I love that. And, you know, when you create them not being so codependent on one another, it also creates a, um, a, a, a loyalty, uh, to each of the entities. And hopefully you see that overflow, and that’s just an added benefit. I, I would imagine, of having two standalone businesses that, that are, are executing at high levels. You then become, you then can see kind of the overflow of that. So that, that’s really unique and, and very cool. I wanna transition to kind of the state of independent hotels right now. Yeah. Uh, we’re seeing a lot of brands really dive into experimental lodging accommodations, like the glamping, obviously we’ve seen leaning heavily into soft brands this past decade. What do you think, Gabriel, this tells you about overall sentiment, guest sentiment and traveler sentiment towards independent lodging, and where do you feel like independents still have an edge? Gabriel Perez: Well, my opinion is that it is what people would like to experience. Anybody, everybody can go at any given time to branded slash in hotel route of Highway 95 or Highway 10 or five. It would be pretty transactional. And you might remember the trip that let you stay there, but you won’t remember anything about that hotel when you stayed in boutique hotels. Mostly independent hotels, even soft branded hotels. You have that opportunity to remember that experience from the moment you enter the orchestra and listen to the music as the bellman opens the doors or smells, the, and the, the aroma of the hotel lobby, which has a high livelihood of matching the soap and all the fragrances in the room that is cohesive, that is intentional. Now, what we do in our space is that not only we do all of that, but we bring the lifestyle part to it, which in essence is the food and beverages, the programming, the cooperation, uh, the internal cooperation that the food and beverages brings to create and seal the deal when it comes to the experience. Ryan Embree: I absolutely love that parallel a bit about being, like making your hotel and your lodging a part of the journey and overall experience. And you’re, you’re absolutely right. If you can have an impact there, that’s, that’s storytelling, right? Mm-hmm. Because now all of a sudden that stay is something that when you’re telling a neighbor, a family friend about your trip, you’re now including that hotel experience as a part of that. And that’s really, you know, the, the best type of reputation, which we’re gonna talk about later too, is, is word of mouth. And you pair that with an, with the FMB, which is obviously, you know, a mass part of the Indigo Road Hospitality group portfolio. Talk to us a little bit about how F&B experience can really be a differentiator for boutique and independent hotels. Gabriel Perez: Well, F&B is the it why it is because everybody who craves boutique hotel experiences is looking for a sensorial part of it, and food and beverages and taste is a great part of that. It’s a great component of that answer of that niche. So, um, we believe that a, a full integration of the lodging and the experience, you know, the 300 threads on that sheet in addition to hospitality that is best, is the way to go. And it’s what everybody is naturally craving, as you can see, is the old indicators show that boutique, upper scale and luxury are the only trending upwards in rate nationwide. For, for months, I would set up a few years kind of recession proof, but, um, f and B is what gives color, is what gives the lifestyle to the lifestyle world, because it’s what you can put together. So we’re very intentional when we do these things. We, we look at the project, we look at the community, we see not only what the community needs, but what it might not know that it needs. Hmm. Um, and that is extremely important. We are proven to be very successful on that. And not only we’re prone to be successful, we enjoy doing it Ryan Embree: And bringing in the local community. So important. There has been such a di a, a seismic shift, I feel like over the last few years with what you would call a hotel restaurant where I, I think there was like a, a, when you thought about a a, a restaurant in a hotel, do you think it was just catering to those guests that are staying at the property? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Now, uh, communities are embracing these restaurants and sometimes are top rated in, in their local communities. They’ve become local community gathering spots for celebrations, you know, things where the local community has actually embraced to where they’re actually recommending people to go to the hotel restaurant, which I think was missing over the last couple years. And now these property owners, hotel brands, they’re realizing that this is a, a, a place where there’s added benefit and value for a guest right now. Gabriel Perez: Yeah. And in addition to that, one needs to be very careful and crafty in the way we approach those. FFMB is the spaces why, um, you wanna have a place that is welcoming, that is not just thought or saw as the place where I’m gonna have a particular event that becomes only a place for events. You wanna have a place that is approachable enough for you to go there twice a week, either to have a magnificent entree and a good drink or a special event. And there’s a balance experience takes you there, but there’s a, a particular craft to make sure that you don’t overdo things. Uh, and that’s the beauty and the flexibility and the creativity that the boutique hotel space brings to not only large in both Gutenberg just as well. Ryan Embree: Oh, absolutely. I, I wanna, uh, take a, maybe zoom out a little bit in a wider lens right now, in our industry as a whole, a lot of uncertainty right now, right? We’ve got economic shift, geopolitical factors. Yes, there’s rising travel costs and business costs that the hoteliers are seeing on their side. What are you bullish on right now, Gabriel? Give us, give our hotel listeners who maybe have that little bit of angst with, you know, approaching clouds, a little bit of hope, and what maybe you can speak specifically to independent and boutique hotels. Why should they have hope right now in this time of uncertainty? Well, Gabriel Perez: We all still have hope because whatever is happening right now is transitory. Second, we, it has been proven 2008, 2009, all throughout this crisis. COVID, the one that gets all those guests back sooner, faster, and better is the boutique hotel space and the upper luxury space. So I am not really concerned. Those of us who are purposeful about creating experiences and not eliminating touch points with the guests will always have a place in the future. AI can help you on the backend of the business on efficiencies when it comes to the things that the guest doesn’t see. But nothing replaces the touch of the human, where human touch works. And for that, I’m extremely hopeful. And matter of fact, I would say kind of tranquil when it comes to what the future brings. If you do things right, right, things will happen. Ryan Embree: Love that. I absolutely love that. And you’re right, Gabriel. I mean, in a time where travelers might be holding their wallets a little tighter than they have before, I think what we naturally instinctually do is we start to do more research to make ourselves feel better about our purchasing decisions, right? <laugh>. And I think that should be a really great sign for independent boutique hotels that do a really good job of, of telling their story, which we’re gonna talk about here in a minute. Because if you have this rich history legacy, um, of a, of a, of a story that you’re telling the guest and guests have a passion and a loyalty for, and that is shown online, the more research you do that should sh outshine and, and shine brighter than maybe hotels in your market. So I do think, you know, independent boutique hotels are in this really cool space that they have these really unique stories where travelers might be looking at their, at their hotel or property that weren’t looking there before. So it’s a really, really, um, unique space to be in right now. And I think it’s, I, I’m, I’m 100% with you. I think there is a lot of hope, and I think you should look at this time as opportune instead of, of maybe dwelling on all those uncertainties right now. Yeah. Gabriel Perez: And to your point, the type of operations that, that we or have allows for pivoting faster and easier than the big corporations where you have a board of directors needing to approve a mover too. If you’re a real, genuine, unique boutique hotel, all you need to do is think about the idea and execute it. And that’s one of the beauties and peculiarities of our space. Ryan Embree: Love, love that. Yeah. And, uh, another way is what we talked about is that connection with your local community. Mm-hmm. Right? I think independent hotels and their ability to connect with the local area and community, um, makes them unique and can really be an advantage over maybe those other big corporate hotels. Um, the properties in your portfolio, Gabriel, they, they span all over the country. Can you share any local, uh, examples of incorporating the local area into your portfolio story, whether it’s through design or, or different elements of the hotel or guest experience? Gabriel Perez: Well, I would like to default to, um, Ben’s friends. Ben’s friends is, uh, also, uh, founded by Steve Palmer, the founder of, uh, the Indigo Road. This is, uh, a group created to help those within the hospitality business. The communities where we work at, have buildings, at, have restaurants, have hotels at those who are struggling with substance abuse. Uh, a place where where you can find refuge, you can find people who’s struggling and see stories of success. It is nationwide. We’ve been very privileged to, to have that opportunity to be able to help this hospitality community that sometimes doesn’t look for help, because we’re too busy working with our own struggles that, that we forget that we need to take care of ourselves. Since we’re so passionate about taking care of others, they’re in all of the markets in which we have a footprint. And as a matter of fact, I think there’s quite a few chapters in, in Europe as well. So, uh, taking care of those who take care of others, uh, of our guests is something very important for us. Ryan Embree: That’s incredible. I love that. And that’s for, for maybe any of our listeners that wanna find out, uh, a little bit more about this, it’s called Ben’s friends, correct? Correct. Awesome. I I, I love that program. And again, storing, just like we talked at the top of the episode about sharing hospitality success stories, I’m sure those stories go a long way, um, in that community and helping people and kind of seeing a path there to impro, uh, to, to success and improvement. So very, very cool. And speaking of storytelling, you know, we talked about it, it storytelling, reputation, so critical for independent hotels. You know, we debuted this podcast seven years ago, originally as a digital marketing podcast before we started hosting, uh, hospitality professionals like You, Gabriel, and, and running series for, for, uh, you know, hospitality events like the Independent Hotel Show. But, you know, we would talk about tips like social media strategy, uh, online reputation reviews, review, response. You know, these are core pillars of digital marketing, um, and helping boutique, not just boutique, but all hotels kind of tell their story online. Talk to us a little bit about the, the Indigo Road Hospitality Group and, and how they use digital marketing to tell their stories. Gabriel Perez: Well, it is extremely important. We do have not only a marketing team, we have a social media marketing team as well. Uh, it is a team that not only have, uh, a presence here in Charlestown, but every single hotel has some marketing designated individual solely for social media. It is something that we started, uh, few months ago, I would say, less than a year ago. That’s something that we call the social champs. And these are the individuals who also have a day job, but they, they, they do, they find, they craft all these visual elements that, uh, you see in any of our restaurants and hotels on Instagram, social media, Facebook in general. It is something that, uh, is proven to create a great anticipation in all the markets that we’re stepping in, because the process for us is start years in advance. We don’t start promoting a particular concept or a hotel half an hour before we open. Right? We do this in months and months in advance, creating not only showing the public what the image, the history is, but also creating some sense of anticipation of, of the goodies that will be within their area pretty soon. Ryan Embree: Well, that’s part of the story too, Gabriel, and, and mm-hmm <affirmative>. That listen, talk to anyone who’s ever opened a hotel or has developed a hotel, that is a story, maybe not one that, uh, that they necessarily like to tell at sometimes, but more often than not, it’s what you said. It’s a, it’s a great place to build anticipation. It’s a, it’s a great place to inform guests, to build an audience, to build excitement and awe mm-hmm <affirmative>. Of this, of this new development coming in. And, and can, can create some strong community ties as well, which, uh, has been, you know, about, about what this episode’s about. But you’re absolutely right with, with, with social media. It, it’s so critical in every aspect. A decade ago, it might’ve been tough to see or encourage your, your travelers or, or guests to post or even find posts about your specific property or your restaurant, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. Yeah. Now it is every day, you know, every day if you keep your ears to the ground, if you keep your eyes open and, and listen, not all social, social, uh, media posts are created the same too. You know, we have, we’ve done some research for some hotels where we’ve said, Hey, did you know this influencer here that has a following of 20,000 stayed at your hotel and, and they had took this beautiful picture at, uh, at sunset at, on one of your balconies? Like, this would’ve been the perfect opportunity to jump into that conversation. So it’s so critical to keep your ear to the ground there, because every single day, especially with those great storytellers like independent and hotel, uh, independent and boutique hotels are, there can be some really cool things happening in that arena. Gabriel Perez: That’s another part of our pieces, I would say, very seriously. Uh, we wanna be on the edge of what, what social media is, who’s looking what, and what is being looked at. Um, again, we we’re very purposeful on, on that sense too, because although at times it’s difficult to measure the return, you can see the growth in followers. And I am not expert, but we do have experts here who are savvy enough to tell you and advise us at different meetings for different properties. You know, no more than four hashtags, or you have to use these, or it has to be posted at a particular, uh, time of the day. That’s a, a whole new craft that, you know, is emerging. And we should be very adaptive to it, flexible to some extent, but always willing to, to benefit from it. It’s an art. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s an art and a science, uh, just mm-hmm. Just like you were, you were talking about, and I think, you know, you, you brought up AI a minute ago. I think as this becomes more prevalent in our industry, it is gonna be the authentic experiences that I think that I know independent and boutique hotels, uh, are set up very, very nicely for that is going to, to have the biggest ripple effects out there online, because you might see some of that content that is, whether it’s hybrid or ai, ai, first it’s gonna be those authentic experiences that really rise, you know, just like, uh, uh, rise above the tide, so to speak. Yep. And, and could make a really, really big impact on your story online. So Gabriel, I wanna do some rapid fire questions, get to know you. Sure, sure. And the indigo, uh, hospitality, uh, indigo Road hospitality portfolio a little bit better. So, um, we talked about views, one of your favorite views at, at your properties. What would you say? Gabriel Perez: I would have to say blue rich mountains on top of the Snowbird Mountain Lodge. Ryan Embree: Very picturesque. I haven’t seen pictures, but the way that you paint that, I can imagine it in my head right there. So, uh, from Gabriel Perez: The reception library desk, you can just look outside and it’s endless. Ryan Embree: Beautiful, great social media pick, uh, for sure. Favorite fun fact about one of your properties, Gabriel Gabriel Perez: Sky and Lodge, Western North Carolina in some nights, and this is not something we sponsor, you could see black bears roaming the hotel and, and the areas. Ryan Embree: Alright. All right. Little nature, uh, yeah, nature view from the, uh, from the hotel. Love that favorite signature dish. This might be it be tough with the portfolio that you have over there at one of your hotel. Gabriel Perez: It’s tough. But I would like to say that every single Italian concept has magnificent desserts. All of our desserts are on May, but I love Amisu. The way we do mizzu in our Italian concepts is just out of this world. Ryan Embree: I, I’ve asked this question, uh, multiple times with the, with the, uh, favorite dish. Everyone seems to go straight to dessert for some reason. I think, you know, that might be the most popular. Favorite guest experience as one of your properties. Gabriel Perez: I would like to say River House. They’re pretty good with, uh, the hospitality delivery everywhere at River House. All of our hotels will have to say they’re pretty good at it. But River House had me waiting in the room, my favorite snack, which was Nutella. I don’t drink, I don’t smoke, but buddy, you can get me with a Nutella jar anytime, Ryan Embree: Alright. I love that personalization to, its, to its best favorite piece of art at one of your properties. River Gabriel Perez: House. River House has a piece of art, which was handcrafted by the daughter of Jessica and James Whitley, who are the owners of the hotel. I look at it is above one of the restaurant booths. And I look, oh, that’s so crazy. That’s beautiful. And one of them told me that was her daughter. We were playing with it and we crafted that. We put her on a frame and here her, it’s, and I’ll tell you, it matches and hits a note with all the surrounding art of that place. Magnificent. Ryan Embree: That’s really, really cool. So you talk about connecting with, with a local community, you know, to have a piece of art and thereby one of the owners is certainly one of the place. And, and art and design really, you know, there’s so many stories that we’ve heard of incorporating art and, and local art and flair and design to, to a development that really, that can be the, your connection to the local area. Yeah. So, you know, let’s, let’s talk about what this series is all about. The Independent Hotel Show coming up September 17th and 18th in Miami Beach, Gabriel, both, uh, I will, I will be there. The Suite Spot team will be there. Uh, and hopefully our Suite Spot listeners will be there. You can use promo code EMRE 25 E-M-B-R-E-E 25 for a complimentary registration. Gabriel, you recently joined the advisory board. Congratulations on that. That, thank you. Um, what it’s attract. Yeah. What attracted you to this event and, and how do you seeing it benefiting independent hotels, maybe of someone that hasn’t attended the show before? Gabriel Perez: It’s a great place to create connections. Networking, it’s chase thoughts and idea about rent, how different particular hotels navigate, uh, the different needs. Not only the guest needs on what we execute, but the emerging situations, economically, political, you name it. And why Miami, Miami is like the mecca of boutique hotels. It’s the perfect spot for so many different concepts of boutique hotels to be sharing, to be in under one roof. Exchanging thoughts and ideas, I think is, uh, is, is a great place to be when you have so much talent discussing not only the emerging trends as I said earlier, but the, the what is inside of us, what is spiritually, uh, driving our, our, our creative souls. And, uh, and for that, I’m thankful to be on the board and being a, a contributing part of, of this show for, for years to come. Ryan Embree: I, I, I second your sentiment there, Gabriel. There’s an energy and a passion that, you know, we, we have the privilege of attending multiple shows throughout the year, but you can feel it at this show and, and it it for someone that might be an independent hotel owner, boutique hotel owner, you know, this is everything to them. And yeah. And to exchange ideas, um, to hear, you know, the same challenges that, that you’re experiencing at one property. Yes, you could be, your neighbor could be experiencing and to be able to say, Hey, listen, how, how are we going to, how are we gonna potentially weather these storms coming up? Where is our competitive advantages at? There’s so much thought, thought leadership at this, such a blend of, like I said, trends like you were mentioning Gabriel, but also just, just great ideas and, and that energy is something that I haven’t seen replicated at, at a lot of hospitality events that, that we have. Gabriel Perez: Yeah. It’s creativity under one roof. Yes. With a lot of best practices. Ryan Embree: 100%. Great, great way to explain it. So again, hopefully our Suite Spot listeners will meet, uh, Gabriel and myself down in Miami Beach in September. We’ll be looking for you. We always like to end these episodes, kind of gazing into the, the crystal ball looking into the future. Love to get, you know, the, the Indigo Road Hospitality Group. You, you shared with me a couple exciting projects and developments in the pipeline. Let’s talk about those and maybe your vision for the future of lodging at, uh, indigo Road Hospitality. Our Gabriel Perez: Vision is to continue to grow with partners who have the values that we have with partners who see the long term and not instantaneous materialization of fantasies. We like to do great things are meaningful either in the realm of the hospitality space or to a particular community. Things that we’re proud of. So our growth will be in direct connection to continue to work with or finding different partners who want to create special things, things that are memorable, things that create experiences and things that people will crave and say, we have to come back. We don’t want to grow in a manner that just picks up anything that is along the road. Not every seed planted is a fruitful one. So we’re looking for, partnerships are meaningful. People who identify and understand that hospitality is here to stay. And in order to, to evolve and continue to grow, we have to create things that matter that are impactful and not just something that is trendy. So that’s where our growth is going. Partnering with a great people, with good spirit, good soul, good <inaudible>. We are, are opening, uh, our first hotel in Florida within the next couple of years. There are other opportunities here in the southeast and emerging a little bit west. So, um, we’re very excited. We’re very excited because, uh, these are things that are not, we’re not hunting for the thing. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. These are coming to us and we are able at this point to choose who to work with. And then we see what the project is like. And that’s a pretty special position to be at. Ryan Embree: It’s a great place to be in. And it seems like, from everything I’ve heard today, Gabriel, you’re gonna have your hands full, uh, over the next upcoming months and years, and we’ll check in with you in, uh, September in Miami Beach. But wish you well any, we, we covered a lot today. Any final thoughts before we wrap up, Gabriel? Gabriel Perez: Well, the spirit hospitality, um, don’t let all the news, don’t let what you see on, on the media disappoint you or deter you from continuing to think that this is the business that will always be everlasting. Simply because people are craving for good experiences and for leisure time. And here we are to provide that at a great level every time. That is, Ryan Embree: Love it. Wise words from, uh, Gabriel Perez or Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Thank you so much for joining me here on the Suite Spot and, uh, you know, speaking these, these hopeful, that hopeful message to our audience today. Gabriel Perez: Ryan, thank you. It is a privilege to be here with you and I’m looking forward to seeing you in Sunny Miami Beach sometime in September. Ryan Embree: We will be there. Thank you so much. And thank you for listening to The Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot travels to Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, to visit the historic Mission Resort + Club as the next stop in the Road Trip series. This property is renowned for its prestigious golf courses, natural environment, and rich Florida history dating back to the early 1900s.  Tune in to hear from General Manager Cindy Staley and Director of Agronomy Danny Parks as these two join the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you’re watching us on YouTube, you can tell we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio, but instead, right in our backyard at the Mission Resort + Club. It’s such a privilege to be here. I just got off a tour. It was fantastic. We’re gonna talk all about it today. And now we’re joined here by Cindy Staley, General Manager of the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Cindy Staley: Well, thank you for being here. We appreciate you coming out to the resort. Ryan Embree: It’s an incredible property you have here. Before we talk a little bit more about it, get in depth about its amenities, the guest experience here, talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and how you ended up here at the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy Staley: How far back do you want me to go? Just kidding. I actually always wanted to be in the hospitality industry, even in, believe it or not, high school. I wanted to be a chef. Went to college for it. Really just saw what the hotel arena and resort arena could bring to me. You’re never bored. Yeah. There’s always something new or something different to do. So I worked my way up. I’ve been in the central Florida area since 2005 working more in the Orlando market. This opportunity came up roughly three years ago. And that’s when the prior owner purchased or sold the property and sold it to MMI Hospitality Group. With that, I was hired before they came to the hotel, and they actually took it over in December of 2022. So we’ve been through this transition of the prior owner to the new owner, both families and have been through the transition of what MMI has accomplished in the last two and a half, almost three years. Ryan Embree: It’s incredible, and we’re gonna talk about that today. But getting back to that point, a historic property like this with such a rich history, that’s not something that just can hand over to something. It requires a lot of care, and I think that’s a real testament to MMI hospitality that they’re entrusted in this, this really, you know, jewel that has been around for, for so long. It’s really, really cool to see. Talk to us a little bit about, we, we heard about the golf side. Obviously that in itself is, makes it a destination, but you know, as general manager, you’re obviously managing over the guests that you host here. Talk to us a little bit about the property, the guest experience, and some of the incredible amenities outside of golf. Cindy Staley: Absolutely. MMI had had owned it for I think, 60 plus years, the King and Prince Resort, which is on St. Simon’s Island in, in Georgia. So they’re good at managing historical properties. Mission Resort, it has been here since 1964 when the prior owner purchased it. And they really recreated the property from the golf course that was built in 1917, which is El Campeon. And then throughout the years, created the resort building by building, creating 176 guestrooms. We also have suites and villas included in that. They built three restaurants very good reputation restaurants from La Hacienda, the Breakfast Restaurant, La Margarita is our lunch and dinner restaurant. And then the Golf Clubhouse, which is just going through a name change called the Grove House. And it was formally Knickers Golf Clubhouse. Ryan Embree: And talk to us a little bit about, because I thought it was fascinating how that name change. You involve the members here at Mission Resort. Talk to us a little bit about that process. Cindy Staley: Well, we feel that membership involvement is very important. And we actually came up with a number of names and then put it out to the members to vote on the name changed. And the Grove House is what they selected as it, which really represents the area with the citrus groves in the surrounding communities. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool because I think, you know, I hear a lot of stories from this area and members talking about, you know, bringing their children, maybe even grandchildren. And to be a part of that chapter that you have now to say, maybe I was a part, a small part of voting for this and seeing that name change is really, really cool. Outside of the food and beverage experiences, there’s been some other renovations to the property, including the spa. Let’s talk about that. Cindy Staley: Yeah. We have a 6,200 square foot spa. We actually had a local design firm come in and help us with the design and recreation of the spa. The companies called Humble Abode, and then the principal designer is Tiffany Whitley. She came in and really captured the natural surroundings, the Florida natural look, incorporating a lot of serene decor and which really complements our services and treatments that we have on our menu. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think it matches, you know, the environment that, that you have here, which is, again, it’s a, it’s a secluded retreat. I’m sure you’re getting a lot of interest from, from locals. Obviously events you have here, hosting weddings, that spa golf combination really great for I’m sure a lot of newlyweds or people participating in those types of events. Let’s talk about the, we’ve talked about outside of the room, but obviously some, some renovations have happened inside and, and a new re-imagination of those rooms. Let’s talk about that. Cindy Staley: We just completed our guest room renovation, in the first quarter, renovating or re-imagining 176 guest rooms. Wth that we had three design and architectural firms that were involved, with the design and really, again, incorporated the feel of the area. They also used some black and white historical photos that they introduced and really put into the project in the guest rooms and the corridors. So it’s kind of unique walking through and you’re seeing some of again, the history in the photos. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool because you know, again, we talk about online reputation all the time, or a digital marketing podcast that’s at heart. But a place like this, you can just feel its reputation. It kind of precedes itself. As I mentioned before, you might have generations that have visited this place, people getting married here, people, sharing experiences here for the first time. Talk to us a little bit about the reputation of the Mission Resort and Club and how, you know, your team really speaks to that, that history, but also is reinventing itself right now. Cindy Staley: Absolutely. Being here for 60 years, you do have a lot of that repeat people that enjoy coming here. Whether it’s in our grand brunches, which we host every major holiday, you always hear the local people that have been here and coming here for 20 years, 10 years. They just make a, you know, their, their yearly event with those celebrations to the golf buddy groups that repeat. We have a number of groups that started small and have gotten larger, but they repeat year after year or every other year, to weddings as you mentioned. Last week we had a bride and groom that were married here five years ago. They come here every year to celebrate their anniversary. And their memories are just really important to them, and they always wanna go to that spot that they were married at or that was important to them. Ryan Embree: And that’s the type in hospitality. You’ve been there, you know, reviews a five star review here on TripAdvisor, Expedia. Like, that’s the type of reputation that is so solid, transformational, you know, that they’ll, that they’ll never forget. And as a really key piece to their story and journey. It’s so cool to hear that and be at a property with such rich history. Let’s talk about kind of the future of, of this property and, and what you see as general manager. Cindy Staley: Sure. Going back a little bit to the social media, it’s so important because of the beauty of the resort. We showcase a lot of the visuals with the reels and the photos because when you see it, it just is a beautiful, beautiful experience, beautiful resort in the area. So that’s really important to us. We have a lot of future plans coming up. We’re in the planning process of doing some more renovations or light touches in specific areas. So hopefully we have a couple coming to the end of this year and into next year, just again, to continue the history and the beauty of the area, what happened in 1917 with the first golf course to what it is today. Ryan Embree: And Cindy, let’s talk about also the, you have quite a bit of conference space here as well. You host a number of corporate events. It looks like o over here to my right. We just had one the other day. Obviously, mother’s Day was right around on the corner, probably one of those family traditions you were speaking to. But talk to us a little bit about corporate events and the process, how your team is involved and how it kind of makes it a seamless process here. Sure. Cindy Staley: We have over 30,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor event space. We can house anything from corporate retreats, meetings, weddings, really any special occasion. So we’re very and it’s spread out. So for example, if you, we have three wedding venues. We can host three weddings on property in any given day. And the brides never really run into each other ’cause they’re very separate. And again, all three are beautiful areas from a golf view to a resort view to little Lake Harris over the lake view. So, some great space. As far as corporate meetings go, we have two nice ballrooms to host events with breakout space. And our group and catering convention service team does such a nice job in selling the for the meeting and then actually just running through and producing everything throughout the meeting. And our team members here really know the service aspect from if you’re checking in to, if you’re the chef of the event, There’s so much versatility to the space. I. Ryan Embree: saw several places on property where you could have it. And then all tied in with some of these incredible amenities and multiple restaurants, the perfect place. But also, what about the leisure traveler? What about the maybe local that has heard Mission Resort + Club, but they haven’t visited yet? What would you say to them? Cindy Staley: Come out and see us. We’re a great place. A lot of people think that we may be private, but we are open to the public. All of our venues, our restaurants are open to the public. And again, you can come here and spend, three days a week and there’s so much to do on property. And then again, there’s so much natural, his historical and nature things to do in the area that it’s not the theme parks, but it’s the beauty of the lake. We have a lot of springs around that people enjoy going to we’re very close to Mount Dora, so we just really are in a great location for that Florida natural experience. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Again, even though this is considered the road trip series, it does feel like I’m transported somewhere else. And as Floridians, we live in Florida, we hear the touristy spots, we’ve got the beach. But this is just such a different atmosphere. It’s such a unique atmosphere. Really invite, you know, our Suite Spot listeners and audience to check it out because it, you know, social media, like you said, Cindy, amazing. And you’ve got some great spots for it. But it certainly does not do it justice. Us being up there on the, on that ridge overseeing the entirety of the lake, the resort got a beautiful property here. Cindy Staley: Thank you. And we’re only 35 minutes from Orlando, so you can actually have the best of both worlds. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. So we love to hear. Well, thank you so much, Cindy. You’ve been an absolute pleasure being on the, on the Suite Spot podcast. Cindy Staley: Well thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: I’m here joined by Danny Parks. Danny, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Danny Parks: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We just got back from an incredible tour of this property. We’re gonna talk all about it today, but before we do that, give us a little bit of history on you, Danny, your experience here with the resort. Danny Parks: Well, I’ve been here for 11 years. Started out on the golf, started out as the golf course superintendent on the Los Colineas course back in 2016. Took over the entire property. That’s the resort, landscape. And both golf courses grew up in this area, graduated Leesburg High, go Yellow Jackets, been here since then. Ryan Embree: And any place that you’ve been 11 years, typically that would mean that you’ve been here for the, almost the entirety of its existence, but not with Mission Resort + Club, right? No, this has a rich, rich history. Talk to our audience a little bit about, maybe those aren’t familiar, the history of this historic Danny Parks: Round. Well, the El Campeon Golf course was originally built in 1917. I don’t remember those times. And that was a long time ago. So obviously over the last hundred, plus years, the golf course has transformed what it is now. But the character of the course, the elevation changes from tee to green. 85 foot drops, 85 foot rises, you know, that’s something you typically don’t see here in Florida. And El Campeon is a special course. Ryan Embree: And the hotel itself, the resort itself was inspired by really interesting story that you shared with me. Share that with our audience. Danny Parks: So, the back in 1964, Nick Butcher purchased the resort and the golf course. The resort at the time wasn’t what the resort is now. But prior to that, in his young age, in1920s, he took a trip from Texas to Mexico City. And as he took that trip through Mexico, he would go to these towns and people would write about ’em. They would put these news newspaper articles about these two gringos going, going through Mexico all the way down to Mexico City. And when they got to Mexico City, there was a parade for ’em. There was a party, you know, and they didn’t know anything about it. Kind of not like now with so social media where every, every move is tracked. So that was kind of his inspiration for the Spanish art architecture kind of fell in love with it. It, Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s such a love story to that Mexican culture. And it’s really cool to see a lot of the restaurants that you have here he golf course you know, even some of the conference rooms that you are touring me at have that Spanish inspiration to them, which is really cool. But the other side of this is the natural Florida. You, you said this is very natural, this place. We talked about some of the wildlife that you see here. It feels like a retreat, a serene escape. It’s very hard to believe that the hustle and bustle Orlando, that maybe a lot of people are known for it’s known for, is just less than an hour away. Talk to us a little bit about kind of that natural beauty that you were talking about. Danny Parks: Well, as soon as you come in through the front, the front gate, you can see it. You know, there’s, there’s your big wide spreading moss draped oaks. Your live oaks. You know, you have your beautiful slash pines that are 40, 50 feet in the air. Your landscape around the resort is all mature, so you’re secluded. It’s very quiet. You don’t hear traffic, you don’t hear planes. You know, you might every once in a while hear someone’s little single prop plane, but very rare. Rarely do you have, have that. It’s just beautiful. It’s quiet. Ryan Embree: It’s great. I mean, again, in the hustle and bustle of Florida, you were saying there’s so much elevation change here, and this is natural elevation change that you were sharing with me on the golf course. You can see over the horizon, you can see the tree tops, again, something that is really not expected in Florida to see, but there’s also some wildlife here as well that you’re sharing. Danny Parks: We have eagles. ee have had a bear, one bear, you know he kind of left really fast. Gaotrs you know, every pond in Florida’s got a gator. We have bobcats, sandhill cranes, you know, ducks obviously right behind us, you know, a pond. And we have ducks there. During the wintertime, we have had a sighting of a panther. I haven’t seen it, but, there is one picture that we’ve seen. So the wildlife is amazing here, especially at Sun sunset. And you out here driving around and you see a lot of it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. The natural beauty here, is incredible that I was able to kind of see on that tour that you shared with me. You host a lot of events here, whether, you know, we’re talking about weddings, there’s some great spots there, corporate business that comes. Talk to us a little bit about what an event might look like here at the Mission Resort + Club. Danny Parks: Well, I’ll focus on golf because that’s, that’s kind of where I’m, I’m golf. Absolutely. So we’ve, we host many junior events many collegiate events. Just recently we hosted the division three, regional, so the Southeast Regional, where there was over a hundred players from different schools in the south southeast trying to qualify for the National Championship. That’s not uncommon, you know, a typical saying in, in our department, department is not our first RO rodeo. Bcause we do host so many events and it is a great, a great spot for an event, a typical event, you know, you start out there on the pad where we get you set up in a cart whether your event has whole sponsors or whatever. We get you out. There you go. Have your fun, come back in, you enjoy a nice, a nice meal. And then go home. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And for the golf enthusiast, talk to us a little bit about the difference between the two courses. Danny Parks: So El Campeon is is old school links. So you’ll have holes that run side by side. So you hit a bad shot, there’s a good chance you could be in another fair fairway with an opening to the green that you want to go to. But it also has those el elevation changes where if you’re going uphill, you might have to take a couple clubs because it’s a little bit long, longer hole Los Colinas of the 18 greens, only 12 of ’em are visible from the tee. Everything else is blocked out by a dog leg, or a tree. So if you’re not familiar, the golf course can become very hard. Ryan Embree: Favorite hole? Danny Parks: Number two, Los Colinas. Ryan Embree: Oh yeah. Awesome. Ryan Embree: Danny, well thank you so much for the tour. Thank you so much for spending the time with us. And you know, again, encourage any golf enthusiast to definitely come visit you down here and see a tour of this place. It is truly remarkable. Danny Parks: Thank you for your time Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot was live at the 2025 NYU IHIF conference last week, covering the event to bring hoteliers exclusive content and insight on the most prevalent topics and trends in the hospitality industry currently.  Tune in now to get the pulse on how investors, owners, hoteliers, and guests are feeling about the industry and where they see it heading in 2025 and beyond as Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, shares the 2025 NYU IHIF key takeaways. Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are back here at our Travel Media Group headquarters in Maitland, Florida. Fresh off an incredible 2025 NYU IHIF. Uh, the conference theme was engagement drives returns. There was a ton of engagement. It was everything as advertised. And more. 2200 delegates, 400 plus investors, 20% of those being new investors. Almost every single brand, uh, major hospitality brand represented there, uh, with C-Suite leadership. It was an incredible couple days up in New York City. It was our first time covering the event. We got some incredible, amazing footage, exclusive interviews and insights, uh, and we’re gonna share it all with you today. So, uh, thank you for joining me here on the Suite Spot for our five key takeaways. Uh, like I said, it was just an incredible couple days up in New York and really gave some perspective on how hotels are performing almost at the midway point of 2025, and what we have to look forward to. And that’s really kind of my first takeaway, uh, is, you know, is is it really as bad as advertised out there? You know, one of the key sessions and, um, interviews that we spoke to was STR President, Amanda Het, uh, who, who really, uh, her message to the, the crowd out there in New York was, um, really don’t read into the headlines as much as, uh, it’s being said. Uh, you know, o obviously there are some, some, uh, outside major factors that are having some impact on our industry and, uh, will continue to impact the industry. But really year over year, there isn’t too much of a difference there. Um, international travel did dip, uh, but there is a, a lot of, uh, positive sentiment that that seems to be returning. And hopefully in the future, those bookings will, will return here. ’cause that’s obviously a major, major part of our, uh, domestic, uh, hospitality inventory and demand. Um, obviously there’s also a lot of dependence on what market you’re in, right? Amanda shared some incredible insights in our interviews of which markets are performing really, really well. She was talking about, um, San Francisco being one of those, uh, markets that little bit slower to recover last year. We’ve seen some headlines there, uh, but it seems to be, uh, really popping this year in 2025 up in the northeast. Some major bumps in New Orleans, obviously with the Super Bowl, uh, will continue to have to watch it, those big events as people can con continue to prioritize travel. But there is this bifurcation of demand between segments right now, and I think that speaks to maybe those headlines that of, of what’s happening, um, tariffs, inflation, things of that nature, really impacting, uh, the economy and lower, um, lower middle class. Uh, maybe they are, uh, keeping their tight, their wallets a little bit tighter this year as far as travel goes, but the luxury, the ultra luxury segments are really, uh, enjoying those thousand dollar rates as we, we talked about, um, earlier in the year. Um, they’re continuing to see growth. They’re continuing to see, uh, incredible demand for their product, um, which is, which is fantastic. Now, hopefully, again, we can get a little bit, uh, more clarity and what our economic situation looks like so that people continue to prioritize travel. Um, but really, again, it, it’s, it’s not, it might not be as bad as it’s made out to be right now. Supply continues to be a challenge, right? Construction costs, um, are at an all time high. Buyers and sellers seem to be kind of stuck in this, uh, uh, in this weird mix, um, where they both think, um, that they should be getting, um, better returns on, on both, uh, sides, on both sides. And, and that’s continuing to make things harder for, uh, deals to get done. That’s why these events are so important. Um, so much networking, um, so much deal making going on in that lobby, uh, that we saw at, at, uh, the Marriott Marquee and New York City. Um, the next takeaway is talking about gen ai. And obviously that is, you can’t go to a hospitality, you can’t go to really any conference anymore without talking about AI and the impact that it’s having. But this more than any other conference, hospitality conference that I’ve been to, um, the narrative is starting to change. The, the ushering of a new era is here, we’re at this kind of fork in the road where, um, you know, they were talking about which of these AI technologies is going to take hold. And, and what got me thinking is, um, about Uber, about Airbnb, these disruptors, but over, but really became overnight sensations where, you know, maybe just a couple of your high tech friends maybe were, were playing with these things like Uber and Airbnb. And the next thing you know, you’re talking to, um, your, uh, uh, uh, uh, your grandparents, and they had booked an Uber for themselves or an Airbnb for themselves. They understood the technology and they were wielding that power, right? And that’s when a tipping point happens, um, with these disruptors is when, uh, it really, everyone across the board starts to use it. And, and that’s what we’re going to continue to see with Gen ai, whether Gchat Chat, GPT Perplexity, or one of these other vendors, you know, once that, that starts to take hold. Um, you know, I, one of the common phrases that was thrown around at this conference was, it will be the biggest disruption since the internet. Um, which to try to put that in, uh, context is very, very difficult because we haven’t had a disruption like that, um, in decades. So it’ll be very interesting to see, uh, you know, it, it, it’s just as feeling different because people are at different phases of, of rollouts with ai. Um, obviously the low hanging fruit out there was, we talked about on this podcast is to look for efficiencies, operational efficiencies, um, places that you can empower your employees. I think sometimes we like to jump a couple steps ahead of where we think we should be with this technology, but before we know it, six months a year, 18 months down the line, all of a sudden you could look down an AI could be in almost every single one of our processes, our hospitality processes, which for the most part, as we’ve talked about, the hospitality is really slow to, uh, really adopt these, these tech changes. So hopefully with ai it’s a different story. Um, but it, it does bring up a, a really, um, interesting question and that I think, you know, as hoteliers we’re going to have to face, and we’ve talked, we’ve discussed on this podcast before of, you know, where is the line of, of technology and service? And, you know, we’ve visited, we did a site visit for, uh, our Suite Spot road trip series recently. And, and as we were touring the property, had multiple people stop us and have conversations with us about how well their stay was going. Um, the GM of the property was with me, was following up, uh, with a, a situation that had happened with someone’s car not starting, following up, making sure that, that that guest was okay, they had everything that they needed. Um, these are the type of touch points in hospitality that make or break an experience. And when implementing technology, now all of a sudden that experience goes from very hands-on, high touch, uh, to, could be cold behind a phone, um, you know, messaging, not a real person, an AI agent. And how, as consumers, as guests, as travelers, how, uh, much of an appetite do we have for that? Uh, right? I think back to when, um, we’re on the phone with some of these bots, uh, whether it be for, for a large company, customer service, um, you know, electric bills, your phone bill, and all you wanna do is just talk to a person, right? Um, zero, zero operator, operator, real person, real person, clicking buttons, saying phrases to try to trigger that real human touch and interaction. And then at the same time, if you do go ahead and go through everything with a bot, uh, finding a real person and have to explain everything over again, again, there’s gonna be a level of appetite where we’re as consumers, as travelers think, Hey, this is really cool technology, and I understand this is a learning process. Um, but where will that line be drawn and where it has a negative impact? And I think that’s something, um, that we’re gonna have to battle here in the next couple years as we implement more and more technology. And, and we’re in this, and we’re in this space where, think about the, the recent phenomenon, white lotus, right? They visit this ultra luxury resort in Thailand. And, and what was one of the perks? One of the things, uh, one of the aspects of this guest experience, this hotel experience, uh, that they offered to their guests was no technology, right? Zero cell phones. So we’re at this fork in the road where, where is ultra luxury going to lean into? Is it going to lean into the high tech, um, ai, everything is personalized personalization, um, or is it going to go the opposite way where we are trying to further you distance you from, um, AI so that you can make connections, right? Whether it be with the staff, whether it be with the people that you’re traveling with, whether it be with fellow travelers. So it’s an interesting fork in the road, but it was certainly, um, it, it, gen AI is making some noise out there. And, uh, it, yeah, I do not see it slowing down and, and really am, am frankly interested in the conferences that we have leading up to see how this conversation evolves, uh, with brands, management companies and individual hotels as well as travelers. Um, you know, I think another, uh, another key takeaway is that travel is here to stay. You know, I I think a lot of hoteliers can take a lot of solace, uh, listening to this, knowing that travel is still a top discretionary spending priority across multiple countries. Um, booking.com shared some really great insight into this, uh, is that when surveying, um, people in what they want to use that extra or discretionary income on, um, near the top is always travel. And, you know, there are things that we look at over these last couple of years and that, that will continue to see the effects of, um, that will, that have shaped because of what happened in 2020. And I think this is one of them. I think a lot of people had travel ripped away from them, and they had extra income, and they started spending on products and things and ma materialistic items, and it didn’t give them the same fulfillment as traveling. And I think this younger generation is also really looking forward to experiences. They’re seeing experiences on social media every single day. You know, before social media, before the internet, you know, the place that you would hear about people’s trips, uh, were at dinner parties, the weekends when you’d visit family, when you’d, uh, when you’d talk to your friends. Um, and were able to do that now. Anyone can be sitting behind their desk on a Tuesday morning at 9:00 AM scroll through their social media feed and see these amazing, incredible places that people are visiting every single day, inspiring them to travel. This is the power of social media that we’ve preached so much, but I think it’s impacted that travel is here to stay. And you know, right now we are at a time of great uncertainty for our industry, but I think hoteliers can hoteliers, um, owners, brands, investors can all sleep at night knowing that this will be the last thing that people pull back on, um, when it comes to discretionary income, because people love to travel. And my final, uh, takeaway is really to keep it simple. You know, again, I, I know I started at the top of this about not trusting the headlines, but there are headlines to be said out there. There is a lot of uncertainty. One of the, uh, quotes that really stuck with me was Mitch Patel from Vision Hospitality, who said, our industry is so transparent through reviews, um, social media, you have to focus on the fundamentals in service right now. And I think that goes back to the control what you can control. And it’s really going to be hoteliers that in this time of uncertainty, put their heads down and focus solely on the guests. The booking window has shortened travelers are making quicker decisions because of that uncertainty about the future, right? What’s, what’s my job gonna look like in six, nine months, 18 months down the line? Um, maybe I’ll get one more trip in before something happens, right? Uh, the booking window has shortened. We’ve seen that in the STR data. Think about how reviews in social media, a topic that we talk about all the time, are factoring into those booking, those shortened booking windows. The information that’s out there for travelers is growing, uh, more and more user generated feedback. More and more places to review, uh, your hotel, word of mouth. It is really going to be the hotels that keep it simple, focus on the fundamentals of service and servicing the guests that are gonna weather this storm, whether there is one or not. And I think that’s, that’s, uh, prudent advice. Again, whether we see, um, that economic downturn, um, or whether we weather this storm and come out of it on the other side. Uh, if you keep the guests at the center, uh, your, your business is gonna continue to thrive right now. Um, and, and we’ll see what, what role AI starts to play in the booking journey, right? Um, you know, this, this is, we talked about it on this podcast. Uh, it’s not only going to shape the operational side of our business, but also how guests are consuming, um, data, how guests are looking at your property, and really could start shifting the way that brands, um, hotels and management companies, uh, start, start prioritizing content, um, instead of going for SEO/AIO. Um, and, and that’s, that’s gonna be one of my key takeaways, uh, as we move forward into the last half of 2025. Um, how many of those travelers right now are not opening up that Google, uh, and, and searching hotels in Orlando anymore? They’re opening up that chat GPT app and, and searching, where’s the best pla place to stay in Orlando, and what’s the information that’s coming up for your property? All interesting questions, all interesting topics at an incredible event that we had the pleasure of covering. I hope you’ll follow us on LinkedIn. You’ll check out our YouTube video. We have, um, some amazing insights from some hospitality professionals, uh, that we had the, the pleasure of interviewing up at NYU IHIF, uh, Ryan Embry signing off with the Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time. Thanks for listening To join our Loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Be sure to catch the debut episode of the all-new Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series.  Suite Spot first-timer, and special guest, Kat Woods of NYC Women of Hospitality, joins the podcast to discuss critical topics including: The Importance of Women in Hospitality 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami Social Media and Its Impact on the Hotel Guest Experience And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, introducing a brand new series. We are here at the Independent Hotel Show series. Now this is a series where we’re talking to independent hoteliers, advisory board members, and really getting geared up for Miami in September, all leading up to that incredible show that the Suite Spot is gonna be a part of. And so will my guests that I’ll bring on with me right now, Kat Woods of Bridgeton and New York City Women of Hospitality. Kat, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Kat Woods: Thanks, Ryan. Excited to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’ve got a lot to cover, including that independent hotel show, uh, which we’re gonna talk all about. But as it is tradition here on the Suite Spot, this is your first time. Would love to learn a little bit about your hospitality journey. What led you to Bridgeton in the New York City Women of Hospitality? Kat Woods: Sure. Thank you. So many years ago, um, I started my career with W Hotels. I actually started with W Barcelona in college and fell head over heels in love with the brand. I worked for about five years in rooms operations between the w New York Union Square and the w New York downtown here in New York City, and got a really great foundation for operating hotels in a nice corporate structure. But in the mid 2010s, the boutique lifestyle hotel scene in New York was really starting to grow, and 11 Howard was one of the hottest hotels opening at the time. I was able to join that team shortly after opening, and that was my first introduction into truly independent boutique hotels. I fell in love with it. There was so much creativity in the operation, so much creativity in the branding. Um, and that really started my career in independent and lifestyle hotels. After that, um, I was able to continue with, uh, l Howard up until the pandemic and throughout the pandemic I helped with a couple projects here and there, but ultimately landing with Bridgeton as the, uh, assistant general manager of their Walker Hotel, Tribeca Property, which is an incredible lifestyle property located in Tribeca. Um, and I’ve been with the Bridgeton team now in a variety of roles for about four years. Ryan Embree: That’s awesome. And creative freedom is, you’re right, such a draw for independent hotels and why some people like yourself Kat. Sounds like once you get a taste of that and the ability to really express and tell your story, which we’re certainly gonna cover, and one of the, the foundational reasons why a lot of people are not just working, but also guests choose independent hotels is because of that, that story and creative nature. So it’s, it’s so cool to see. And again, this, this series is all about independent hotels and that that massive show that’s gonna be happening in September. Now you’re also the executive director of the New York City Women of Hospitality. For those who aren’t familiar, talk to our audience a little bit about this organization and its mission. Kat Woods: Sure. So the New York City Women of Hospitality was founded in 2018 by Jolie Feld and Tiffany Perra. And the goal upon the initiation of the group was to create a supportive, safe space for women in the industry. It’s no surprise that women are facing some battles that maybe their male counterparts don’t. Um, and the idea was to create a community where we can bounce some ideas off of each other or help individuals through tough professional times or tough personal times for that matter. In 2023, I became the executive director of the New York City Women of Hospitality. And while we still maintain that mission, we added a layer of educational focus, and this allowed us to partner with some local law firms to host educational series. It added an additional dimension to the women of hospitality. And so now you’ll see as an attendee of our event, anytime you come, you are guaranteed to learn something as well as meet some pretty incredible individuals. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’m sure. And you know, I’ve seen on social media the growth, of that organization, um, just following it has been incredible, which I think is a testament to that community and, uh, the interest in, uh, women in hospitality banding together. And Kat, recently I saw on social media that the Women of Hospitality, uh, hosted an event at the Walker Hotel Greenwich Village to celebrate Women’s History Month, which just wrapped up. It looked like an incredible panel that you were able to curate. Can you share with our Suite Spot audience a little bit about the event, the, the turnout, and maybe some of the key takeaways? Kat Woods: Absolutely. It was a home run of an event. We were so excited to host it in partnership with Boutique Hotelier, and we hosted the first US-based Women in Hotels brunch. Now each year, boutique Hotelier hosts this in London, and they’ve sold out for the past whatever number of years it’s been. And as they told us about this event, I was so excited and said, of course, we need to do a New York City one. Luckily, my position with New York City Women of Hospitality afforded me the opportunity to meet the boutique hotelier team. And my position with Bridgeton allowed for us to utilize Society Cafe at Walker Hotel Greenwich Village in order to have the most beautiful backdrop for this event. We had 50 female leaders in attendance in the audience, and we had a truly, truly powerhouse panel, uh, Vera Manukian, Amber Asher, Natalie Le Claire Dee Patel were our panel talking about some of the issues and some of the problems they’ve overcome in their leadership positions as women in the hospitality industry. Um, and we also, you know, talked a lot about what they see for the future of the industry and how we can con continue to contribute and raise one another. Up after the panel, we had what we called a confidence cocktail led by Karen La who is a fantastic speaker. Um, and she curates these workshops, and this one in particular was so practical. The, the advice and the exercises were truly practical, going back to the educational component of all of our events, of course, and it talked about a lot of these tendencies that we have as women maybe to play with our hair or to end questions, or sorry, end statements with a question mark almost when it’s a statement and it’s not a question. And, and while these things are maybe seem logical and you and I are talking about them, it was so nice to have it in a workshop that allowed every individual to just come out with a few tips and tricks that they can bring to the boardroom, to their morning standup meeting, to a conversation with theirs, their superiors, about their next steps. Um, yeah, the event was just, it was truly remarkable. We were so proud to host it. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to hear. And, um, I’m sure it was very powerful to hear from, from some hospitality peers there. Uh, have no doubt that women of hospitality just does an incredible job inspiring young women to join and grow in hospitality. And we were just doing last summer, the, uh, our hospitality campus crawl series where we were visiting different, uh, schools and campuses and kind of talking to the deans of those schools to try to influence and, and get more of this generation thinking about hospitality as more than just a job. I’d love to hear, I’m sure you’re hearing a lot of those stories on your, uh, your side, Kat, with this organization. How do you think we can get this younger generation excited about a career in hospitality? Kat Woods: That’s a great question, and I, I think about it often. I, I go to my alma mater, the University of New Hampshire, if not every semester, at least digitally every semester, to speak with as many students as I can. And more often than not, I get asked questions like, what’s the coolest place you traveled? Or, what’s your, you know, most incredible and exciting story, right? And no offense to other industries, but we certainly have the, the obvious edge when it comes to the travel, travel perks. And so I always tell them, you know, I, my first, one of my first hotels was working in Barcelona. That’s an incredible city to go visit to, especially if you’re used to, you know, the New England lifestyle. It’s certainly an eyeopener. Um, I’ve worked in Barcelona, I’ve worked in Bermuda. I have had the privilege of working in living in New York City for over a decade now. And, and the travel bug, I see it more and more now with some of the students that I speak with. They’re excited about that. And if we can use that as a little bit of a hook to let them understand that this isn’t just a summer job, this is a lifestyle you can live and a career you can build. I, I think those are the ways we’re gonna convince them to, to join the forces. Ryan Embree: Well, hospitality Kat, uh, as you know, is a, is a universal language, right? It can be shown in, you know, one part of the country or in your case, in, in a different country, right? So it is the oldest profession that they say is, is hospitality and hotels. So being able to kind of share stories to younger, there have been countless guests that I’ve hosted on the Suite Spot that have shared their story of, you know, I was in college and I started at the front desk at this local hotel, and now here I am, 30 years part of this brand or part of this management company. And I’ve just found this passion in hospitality. And we can get more young people not to necessarily fall into a hospitality career, but see a path forward. And I’m sure the work that you and and your organization are doing are creating those stories and pathways, uh, which will really help us, uh, moving forward. I wanna shift to the current state of the industry for, for independent hotels, right? There’s a lot of uncertainty right now. You have economic shifts, geopolitical factors. How do you feel independent hotels are positioned and maybe do you see it as an advantage or, or disadvantage compared to other hotel segments? Kat Woods: Yeah, it’s a complicated time and you know, there’s no, I don’t really see any industry that’s fully shielded from some of the things that are going on, but if we’re speaking specifically of the hotel industry, independent hotels have an opportunity to really start eating up more than their fair share of the markets. They have that creative and, um, quick ability to pivot and change direction or change service model or change whatever it is they need to in order to continue to lead the market. Where sometimes with the branded properties, you don’t have as much of that for a good reason, right? Brands have brand standards for a reason, of course, but the independent hotels and the boutique lifestyle of hotels have that flexibility. And I think we’ve all seen in times of uncertainty, flexibility is really the tool that will get you through, continue to help a business grow. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think there that, Kat, you’re absolutely right, and I think there’s a real opportunity right now as travel is, as we saw, right? We’ll continue no matter what the circumstances are. We saw that in 2020 and, and in these maybe economic uncertainty, travelers might start getting creative or look outside the norms of where they’re staying. And I think this presents a really great opportunity for independent hotels that are doing a great job of telling their story, which I’m gonna ask you about in a second. But if you can, you might now have eyes, uh, the eyes and ears of travelers that you might not have in the past, and that’s that market share that you were talking about, and it’s really untapped. And that can kind of create this loyalty that goes beyond sometimes what a brand can provide. So it’ll be very interesting in these upcoming months and years, and I’m sure it is going to be a big topic for independent hoteliers at the Independent Hotel show in Miami. They’re gonna be talking about how can we figure out to get more people to through our lobby doors and see us as maybe that family tradition where we travel to every single year, right? But it all has to fall back on storytelling and the Suite Spot. Our podcast started originally as a digital marketing podcast and kind of has evolved since. So we’re really big believers in using places like social media and online review sites to really amplify a brand. So how do Bridgeton and the women of hospitality use storytelling to grow its presence online? Kat Woods: I’ll speak a bit more to Bridgeton first. Sure. So Bridgeton specializes in boutique lifestyle, experience driven properties. And because of that, we offer what we consider to be truly unique experiences at a lot of our properties. And what does that mean? Of course, that means anything from a nature walk to a journaling session on the ocean, right? And these types of experiences we’re seeing travelers are creating more and more, they are authentic. We stand by what we deliver in these experiences, and because of that, we have the advantage of being able to benefit from user generated content. And oftentimes you’ll have a, let’s use a journaling session as an example, I guess who’s part of this journaling session, but they’ll document it on their own social media, and we share those posts. We show truly what people are experiencing at our property is time and time again on socials so important to us, and it allows for some more authentic content. We of course, have certain things we wanna make sure that we’re highlighting, but I think all in all, especially in the independent boutique market, the true guest experience is what needs to be highlighted. And if I, I know as a traveler, if I’m seeing that from another guest perspective, I’m going to believe it more than if I saw it from a professional photo shoot perspective for New York City Women of Hospitality, our online story is a little different, but it, it’s still an online story, right? We still need to have a brand and we still need to send a message, and we are finding that there is no substitute for social media. It is the best and easiest and most effective form of communication of talking. I mean, we spoke earlier a little bit about how much we’ve been growing over the course of the past three years. We wouldn’t be able to do that without, without the LinkedIns and the Instagrams of the world. So much so that I would argue we wouldn’t even have had the event that we had back in March if it wasn’t for it. And so, you know, it’s, it’s truly incredible how much social media and digital storytelling is impacting everything that we’re doing. But for small organizations like New York City, one of hospitality, it’s kind of our lifeline. Ryan Embree: Sure. Yeah. I mean, and you to, to speak to your first point, Kat, you used the word that is going to continue to be a premium, which is authenticity. Um, in a world where we’re gonna see more AI be incorporated in, in our everyday lives, which there are certainly a lot of benefits to that, but I think it is going to cause a hunger for authentic travel experiences. One of a kind experiences that I think independent hotels have the edge right now over brands. They’re able to offer things that are truly one of a kind and truly authentic experiences that then in turn will hopefully be shared and amplified and that storytelling at its finest. And hopefully, you know, some traditions and stories are told at your, your hotel from your guests, and, you know, we’ve, we’ve heard some of these independent hotels have incredible stories that I love talking to the hoteliers at the Independent Hotel show, and they tell me some of the stories about their guests or, um, some of the traditions that they have on site, and that, that happens naturally. You can’t force that tradition. And I think there’s something magical about that. And the second point that you made about social media, it is a community builder, right? And you’re witnessing, you, you said, you mentioned the brunch that is the power of social media in real time and, and real space and, and creating meaningful connections that even that maybe just a follow or a like, uh, now all of a sudden it’s turned into drinks at the independent hotel show, right? Coffee in the morning and leads to something bigger and better. So it certainly could be the first step of a true relationship is, is just that initial reach out. I I, I have so many connections that it kind of all started with that and now it’s, it’s blossom and evolved into something completely different. So very true words there. So Kat, I thought we have a little bit of fun get to know you and the Bridge Tim portfolio a little bit better. I’ve got some rapid fire questions here. Are you ready? Kat Woods: I am. Ryan Embree: All right. Awesome. So, uh, what is your favorite view at one of your properties in the portfolio? Kat Woods: Ooh, that one’s easy. Um, it’s sitting on the patio at Maram Montauk overlooking the ocean, enjoying some food from Rador. Definitely the best view. Ryan Embree: You know, I ask that question a lot. This the patio outside, you know, sometimes those sunset, uh, yeah, <laugh> images typically make the favorite view. Alright, Kat, what about favorite fun fact about one of your properties? Kat Woods: Oh, great question. Uh, so Walker Hotel Tribeca is a New York City landmark building and has been home to many things throughout the years, but my favorite is that it used to actually be a button in Ribbon Factory. And because of that fun history, we’ve secretly or conspicuously put a few small details within the hotel, uh, to honor that. So if you come, stay with us, see if you can spot them. Ryan Embree: I love that. I love those little Easter eggs and you know, especially with an independent hotel, sometimes historic hotels, they have such stories behind them. Sometimes those are, are marked as landmarks, so you can only do so much, right? I’m sure, as you know, that, to, to impact the original building, but sometimes those make for the greatest stories and, and little Easter eggs, so that’s really cool. And favorite signature dish at one of your properties? Kat Woods: Oof. Well, honestly, I would eat anything that Chef Nick McCann over at Society Cafe makes. He’s incredibly talented, but if I have to choose one, he recently has started making an off menu burger that really is only kind of word of mouth. So if you find yourself in the Greenwich Village area here in New York, definitely stop by Society Cafe, early dinner slots, because those secret burgers, they go fast. Ryan Embree: Secret menu item, uh, tip from Kat, uh, that awesome cat. Last one. Favorite guest experience at one of your properties? Kat Woods: Oh, that is a great question. So Bridgeton prides itself on offering a lot of these really, really unique experiential hospitality experiences for our guests. And a great example is at Dawn Ranch out in Kernville, California, we offer Birdwatching for Beginners. Maybe it’s not something that I thought I wanted to do, but when you take a Birdwatching for beginners class with an expert and somebody that really knows what they’re talking about, it’s really is such a fun, unique, um, opportunity for our guests. Ryan Embree: It’s fascinating. And, you know, again, that’s, uh, an amenity, uh, on the list of amenities or, or experiences like you were talking about Kat. I don’t know if I’ve, I’ve ever heard that one <laugh>, that one’s so unique, but I think those are the things that make the memorable experiences, right? I mean, you could have some incredible accommodations, but maybe some of your guests are talking about their memorable experience at the, their birdwatching or their guide. So that’s super, super cool, uh, to hear. And again, that’s the flexibility of having an independent hotel that, that you’re able to do those things. And that’s a great segue into our next question about the Independent Hotel Show taking place September 17th and 18th and Miami Beach, by the way, Suite Spot listeners can use promo code EMRE 25, that’s my last name, E-M-B-R-E-E 25 for discounted, uh, registration. Kat, you’re on the advisory board of the show. You’ve attended, you’ve been an attendee of the show. For those Suite Spot listeners that have not attended, talk to us a little bit about this event. Paint a picture of what it’s like to be at the Independent Hotel Show. Kat Woods: Yeah, I think a great example is, you know, last year I attended because of Emily Goldfish of her Tellier and was able to meet, meet up with her and met a variety of just awesome, awesome contacts that most of which quite honestly I’m still in touch with regularly, uh, these days a whole year later. But the Boutique Hotelier team was a team that I met last year at the, at the boutique, or I’m sorry, at the Independent Hotel Show. And we met just having a couple beverages enjoying the show. One idea of hosting a small event together kind of snowballed and that was what really stemmed from attending the Independent Hotel show, this great event we had back in March. Um, so I know that for me it’s a can’t miss event and I can’t wait to see what happens this year. <laugh>. Ryan Embree: Yeah, so that is just the power of a ton of hospitality people being together in one space. And that is what’s happening this September in Miami Beach at the Independent Hotel Show. I hope you join both myself and Kat and like, like we said, who knows what opportunity will be, will be met there. So really excited about that event. Really excited to see and and network with all the people. This is our third time, I believe this is the third time that it’s been put on in Miami Beach. And, uh, the third time we’ll be attending. So we’re so excited to be a part of that. Kat, as we wrap up, we always like to try to gaze into our hospitality crystal ball. What’s your vision for the future of the N-Y-C-W-O-H? Kat Woods: Well, we are so excited to announce that we’re growing, um, recently on Instagram. If you do follow us, you will see that we announced a Florida chapter. So the Orlando Women of Hospitality Soft launched recently. Um, our original co-founder, Tiffany Perra, has relocated down to the, to the Orlando area, um, and is starting our second branch of Women of Hospitality. And so we’re growing, that’s what we have on the horizon. We look forward to continuing to offer education based, um, and networking focused opportunities for all of our members and those that may not be members yet. So that’s what’s exciting and to come from the Women of Hospitality. Ryan Embree: So incredible to hear Kat right in the Suite Spot’s backyard. Uh, Orlando, we will be sure to keep a close eye. Make sure you follow Women of Hospitality on social media as well as Kat and Bridgeton. We want to give a huge thank you to our guest, Kat Woods for, for joining me today. Thank you so much, Kat, for joining the Suite Spot. Kat Woods: Thanks, Ryan. It’s been a pleasure and hope to see everyone at the Hotel Show in September. Ryan Embree: Yes, and thank you all for joining us on the Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time. And as Kat mentioned, hope to see you down in Miami Beach in September. Thanks for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

The Suite Spot travels to the heart of Orlando, Florida, to visit the luxurious and one-of-a-kind property, Conrad Orlando!  This hotel and resort is unlike any other with its sensational amenities, lavish suites, breath taking beaches, and centralized lagoon right in the middle of the resort. General Manager at the property, Sean McCarron, joins the podcast to discuss the stellar guest experience offered to travelers, the Conrad brand, social media, and why this hotel is a must visit the next time you are in Orlando.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree and I hope you are watching us today on our YouTube channel because as you can tell, we are not in the Suite Spot podcast studio. We are instead at the beautiful Conrad Orlando here with me, Sean McCarron, general manager of the Conrad Orlando.Thank you so much for being with me today. Sean McCarron: It’s a pleasure to be here and thank you for coming and seeing us today. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Thank you for hosting us at this incredible property. We’re gonna talk all about it today. This is our Suite Spot Spotlight series showcasing some of the most unique hotels. This one certainly fits the bill. But before we get talking about the property, what I love talking about, this is your first time on the podcast, hospitality people come from all different places. Sometimes they’re born into the industry, sometimes they’re jumping from brands. Tell us about a little bit about your journey behind the scenes. Sean McCarron: Well, I’ve been in the business for over 30 years, believe it or not and all in luxury. So I went to hotel school out in Switzerland, and once I graduated from hotel school, I came out and went back to the States and started with the Ritz Carlton. So I was with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in various different areas and opening hotels for about six years. And then went to Four Seasons and spent about 16 years with the Four Seasons hotel company, opening other hotels and again, you know, variety of different locations. And then started with Hilton Luxury at the Waldorf Astoria here in Orlando about nine years ago, and been on this project for the last three here at the Conrad Orlando. Ryan Embree: Incredible. And that taste of luxury from different brands, I’m sure that certainly gave you a unique perspective as your journey led you here at the Conrad Orlando. Sean McCarron: Oh, it certainly did. You get different viewpoints from every location that you, that one works in from urban environment to a resort environment to, you know, Las Vegas I spent some time in as well. Opening hotels, all of it kind of lends to a broader experience in order to open this beautiful property. Ryan Embree: Let’s talk about the Conrad brand, right. It’s unique, known for its design and how it’s built. For those that may not be familiar with the Conrad brand, what’s the flavor? What makes it unique? Why do travelers love this brand? Sean McCarron: Their main pillars for the Conrad as a brand itself, one of them is bold design, as you had, as indicated. Experiences are also a big part of what we do from a Conrad brand perspective. This hotel is no different than any of our others. I think it’s quite unique in the fact that a lot of the design element is based upon water. So lots of blues and refractive lighting, very contemporary feel throughout the resort. Lots of natural light, floor to ceiling windows from a design element. From an experiences element, I mean, you walked around this resort, there’s a stunning lagoon right down the middle of it with beaches surrounding it and a lot of activations and a lot of activities from a resort perspective here in Orlando that make it very, very unique. Ryan Embree: It’s a breathtaking view that I personally got to experience, and it’s a blue on that lagoon that I will not forget. And I’m sure it’s being shared everywhere on social media, but a resort, a campus like this doesn’t just spring up overnight. Right. I’ve been in Orlando native for almost a decade now, and I’ve heard about this project, it feels like since that time. Talk to us a little bit about the history of this project and maybe some of the things that have made it so special. Sean McCarron: Well, the history, we started for us about three years, three and a half years ago, back onto the project itself. It was still under construction. And a lot of the team that we started to put together was how do we take advantage of the unique features of this resort and look at the things like the, eight acre lagoon that we have and activate that lagoon and activate the beaches that are around and all of the beautiful areas that we have built activations for, from a group perspective with different things indoor and outdoor. We have 20,000 square feet of exterior space for groups to gather in. We have 40,000 square feet of interior space for our groups to have meetings and social events throughout. There’s a beautiful spa. There’s a gorgeous pool. Conrad has its own beach that has access right into this beautiful lagoon. So I think a lot of that was just how do we put it all together and really make it something and highlight some of the, again, unique features that we have in the resort itself. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We’ve had the privilege of visiting a couple of these kind of newer built properties and the intentionality behind the architecture, behind the lands, even down to the landscaping, some of the artwork that’s included on these properties. It’s stunning and, you know, the effort, it takes a lot of effort to obviously, as you know, Sean, from, from start to finish, but also to make sure that that translates to the, to the guest. And a lot, a big term that we’ve heard over the past couple years and really the past decade in hospitality is personalization. Sean McCarron: Of course. Ryan Embree: And your, your team here, go above and beyond. I wanna make sure I use the phrase on this, “How to wow, the un-wowable.” Where did that phrase come from, Sean? And talk to us a little bit about what that means. Sean McCarron: It’s something that we experience all throughout luxury. If you think about, you know, a luxury hotel usually has the top three to 5% of the traveling market. They’re very well traveled, they’ve been everywhere. They’ve seen everything. And it’s a matter of really trying to understand those guests as they’re coming into the hotel and as they’re coming, as this is a resort environment, they’re typically coming here on a vacation type of a basis, unless they’re here for business and a group. But if they’re coming on a leisure perspective, it’s important for us to really try to understand each and every guest what they’re coming for, why are they here, what are they trying to accomplish when they’re here. What are some of the highlights that they’re trying to gather, whether it’s on the resort or whether they want to go into the parks and see different kinds of things. And we actually reach out to our guests prior to them arriving and try to get some information as to what they are looking to accomplish, what they wanna do. We do bespoke itineraries for them so we can help them get into each of the parks and have an itinerary through the park. We have a, a Disney and universal experts that can help guide our guests if they’re looking to go to the park, but a lot of our guests, we have found want to just stay here. I mean, with all that we can offer for the beach in Orlando, which is what this resort has really brought in that unique flare of having the activations and being able to go out on a paddleboard and being able to play pickleball or take a kayak or two championship golf courses, or spend an afternoon at the spa. There’s so many things to do here, and it’s just understanding what those guests are looking for. And then from there, build not only an itinerary for them, but anticipate what else they may need to kinda have that connection with their family or with their loved one, and really create an environment where they don’t have to think about anything. It’s all there for them before they have to ask the question. Ryan Embree: It’s really refreshing to hear in a, in a time where, you know, technology, we’re making it more seamless for the guests to really go right past the front desk, unlock their room, and then not speak to anyone at the property. So proactively reaching out to the guests and trying to figure out where, where they’re coming from, why they’re coming to visit you is, is so unique, I think right now. And, and really goes back to that core of what hospitality is, and I’m sure that you’ve learned over the years in your time is at the luxury space because you can anticipate the needs, like you were saying, you know, being able to take it that extra step and maybe making that memorable moment for them. Now I’ve had the pleasure. It sounds like you, you’ve had some experience in Orlando as well. I’ve had the pleasure of over a decade. But for those who aren’t familiar with this area, I mean, this is, this is prime location in central Florida, right here. You got the parks, you mentioned it. Paint a picture for, maybe guests that are hearing this for the first time of where this is, this property situated. Sean McCarron: Well, this property is essentially very, very close to, to Disney. It’s about a, between a five and 10 minute drive, depending on which one of the parks that you want to go to. We have a luxury motor coach that takes our guests or from this resort to each of the parks. It’s a dedicated shuttle and a motor coach that gets them there, also picks them up and brings them back to the resort for those that want to go there, those that want to go and experience any of the other parks. Universal, for example, is about a 10 minute, 15 minute drive to get to it. So it’s very well situated within the landscape and within the park location in locale. But a lot of our guests, we have found that actually are staying onto the resort more frequently than they are actually traveling off to off to the, the, the parks. Initially when we had put this hotel together, we were trying to figure out, okay, how do we take care of the day that they’re taking off from, from the parks and really make this a special environment for them that they can enjoy? What we’ve found after we’ve opened is that there’s so much to do here on this resort, and it’s so unique bringing the beaches and the lagoon and all of the water sports that you can do on top of it is that guests are actually spending more time on the resort, and their day off is from the resort going to the parks, which is an interesting, you know, dynamic that, that we didn’t really anticipate originally. Ryan Embree: Now Sean, you cannot say luxury hospitality anymore without your food and beverage experiences. Right. And sometimes that’s some of the most memorable parts of a hotel experience. Talk to us a little bit about the Conrad Orlando and the F&B experiences here. Sean McCarron: Here at Conrad Orlando at Evermore, we are fortunate to have several different outlets, for our guests. The first being Little Spoon and Little Spoon is a grab and go restaurant that we have for the guests that are on the go, whether they’re going out to the pool or they’re getting onto the Luxury Motor Coach to get out to Disney. And it has different kinds of coffees and pastries from our award-winning chef and different kinds of breakfast sandwiches and things to take on the go. But it’s open all throughout the day so the guests can come back for more lunch type meals, sandwiches and salads. And then of course, that afternoon coffee that everyone kind of dies for. And then at the end of it is also a gelato. We have beautiful gelatos that are again, produced by our pastry chef and making sure that we have something for everybody just in a grab and go basis. The second of our restaurants is Papaya Club, and it’s a polynesian fair, so very light bites. Shrimp Toast is one of my all time favorites there, but it’s also has tiki cocktails, and they were developed by a very famed, tiki bar specialist named Paul McGee in partnership to really make this a, a, an incredible cocktail experience and an incredible food experience right over this beautiful beach and overlooking our lagoon. One of our other areas is called Appar, and that’s a cocktail bar and cocktail lounge, and we did a lot of spritz bar and Negroni type cocktails, that was established by a gentleman named John Carlo Mancino. And he is famed for a lot of spritz bars and Aperol spritzes and different kinds of cocktails. So he helped develop that program, our signature restaurant, which is called Ceiba, and Ceiba is on the roof of the Conrad, and it overlooks Epcot and it overlooks Magic Kingdom and this beautiful lagoon that we have. And that is very authentic Mexican food as well. And it has over 150 different agave based spirits. So you can have an cocktail program of all different kinds of tequilas coupled with very authentic Mexican cuisine. My personal favorite are the tacos. They do all kinds of different and amazing street taco, very small bite tacos. So you can try a lot of different, different ones. Ryan Embree: And again, where a guest are spending a lot of their time, those options, I’m sure go a long way. You love to see the international flavor, you know, not just one particular brand of flavor. And, and taking, its own take, but you certainly have the ambiance covered. With that, again, some of the views that you have on this very scenic property, but it goes beyond just the F&B experience, some of the state of art amenities the dedication and prioritization of wellness is also really infused in this guest experience. Talk to us a little bit about that. Sean McCarron: Yeah. Well, wellness is so important. And sleep experience is so important. And as you’re creating your journey of vacation and relaxing and reconnection and rejuvenation, wellness is a big part of that. And our spa really focuses on exactly that. A lot of our treatments are designed around that wellness and how do you take care of your body and your mind and your soul. We have an incredible water garden that is associated and right next to our spa that has a very tranquil environment, lots of flora and fauna around and has water treatments. We have a hot and cold plunge pool. Yeah. We have a hydrotherapy tub, and a lot of based on these natural springs that are in and within central Florida. So a lot of that is giving that feeling of Florida and that relaxation throughout. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Back to that theme of water that you talked to that makes this property so unique and the destination experience here. Let’s talk about, you know, I had the, like I said, privilege of talking to a couple properties and general managers who always say, you never managed to win awards. They typically just come with the service that you provide. What has been some of the feedback that you’ve been hearing from guests and recognitions that you’ve seen and what this means to your team? Sean McCarron: I mean, quite a few accolades that, you know, we weren’t expecting necessarily. We try to give the guest experience to every single guest that are coming in here, but we won, Best Hotel in US News for 2025. SBA won best new restaurant in Orlando Magazine. OpenTable, also gave quite a few awards to not only Sophia’s, but to SBA as well. And then our spa, actually in Spa Magazine was number 15 of the top a hundred spas throughout the us, so, wow. Yeah. A lot of things and a lot of hard work that the teamput into to getting this resort open and really making the areas that our guests can go into the best of the best. And we’ve been recognized for that, and we are very proud of that. Ryan Embree: A testament to the hard work, especially to see almost every facet of the guest experience being recognized in some capacity. It’s gotta get those new pickleball courts on some sort of lift that you guys just opened up. Right? Yeah. You know, this is a digital marketing podcast. This is how we started, you know, seven years ago doing this, and it’s kind of transformed. But, you know, we talk about, especially with a project like this, you wanna get the local community? No, well, not just the local community. You wanna get everybody involved here. Fantastic job of growing a social presence online, thousands of followers. I’m sure you’re getting picks every single day that you’re liking, commenting, and sharing on. Talk to us about launching this hotel and, and the foundation that was built from a digital presence and how that kind of catapulted you and, and really accelerated growth here. Yeah. Sean McCarron: Well, social media is, is really the most important part of, of getting the message out and, and learning about the hotel. We actually won an award from Forbes for our Instagram and really highlighting all of the Instagram posts that we did and how we were able to talk through and capture all of the imagery of, of this resort. And the challenge that we find is that no matter how much imagery we have out there, and no matter, no matter how much social media posts that we have, until you actually physically see this resort, it, it, it doesn’t do it any justice. I mean, this is an absolutely stunning resort for anybody that walks in the front door. And as, as our guests walk in through the lobby, the first thing they see is, you know, from the third floor overlooking that beautiful lagoon. It’s so wowing to the guests. They just, it starts the whole mood of, of their visit. Whether they’re coming from a group perspective or whether they’re coming from a leisure perspective, it’s a huge Wow. But going back to social media and how important it is, you know, I have teenage kids and when we go on vacation, they’re already well ahead of me. They’re doing all of the research and social media. ’cause, you know, spring break comes up, all right, where do we want to go, kids? Yeah. And it used to be, you know, when my kids were younger, I just made the decision, now they’re making the decision, dad, I want to go either here or here or here and here’s why. And here are the things that are great about the resort, and here are great things that are great about the actual, you know, environment and around us and the act activities that they can get into. So they really start to drive that, but they’re driving it from a social media lens. Ryan Embree: It’s a great use case, Sean. And, and, you know, I think I challenge people that are listening to this, you know, where we used to start our research might have been just Google and TripAdvisor and some of these online review sites, but you’re absolutely right, this younger generation when you mention, Hey, we might be going to this city, or we’re going to stay at this hotel. Yeah. The place they’re doing their research is places like Instagram. So to see that you have such a strong presence, there is something we preach on this podcast all the time, because it could be the make or break. You know, when you have this beautiful lagoon and everyone’s posting you, you’ve got a great opportunity to capture guests there. So, we’re gonna hit you with some quick, rapid fire questions here. Okay. This one, probably the most difficult, but favorite view on property, Sean. Sean McCarron: Oh my goodness. I would say my favorite view is overlooking the, the lagoon that crystal blue water, and looking right down and looking at the beaches. And in the background, our view on the backside of that lagoon is Epcot. So by day we get to see this beautiful lagoon by night fireworks. And the Epcot ball lit up is, is a pretty spectacular viewpoint. Ryan Embree: That’s incredible. Fun fact about the property? Sean McCarron: Yeah, I’m gonna go back to the lagoon. I have to tell you, it, it, you know, you’ve seen it, it, there’s nothing really like it in any of the resorts, not only in central Florida, but I would say all throughout Florida for that matter. But, you know, one of the fun facts is it is 17 million gallons of fresh water. And if you think about 17 million gallons, and, and try to understand what that is, it’s about a thousand residential swimming pools that our guests can go out and swim in, get on a paddleboard, get in a kayak. There’s just so many things to do out on that water, and it’s amazing. It Ryan Embree: Really is. We walked in, saw a bunch of paddle boarders out there, absolutely incredible to see. And you know, there a lot of sustainability efforts, as well were pointed out with this being a new build, so important. We will also talk about trends. Right now, hospitality trends, these new builds are really trying to get those sustainability efforts in there. Favorite amenity at the property? Sean McCarron: I would say that the spa. It’s so unique in itself and the treatments that are provided are so wellness based and, you know, encapsulating the, the body and the mind and the spirit and the actual physical relaxation that you can get out of that. Between that and, you know, our two relaxation rooms that we have within the spa itself, where you can go into a hot sauna or you can get into a steam room or then go out into the water garden and experience all of that. It’s probably the most tranquil, relaxing spot, I would say is part of this resort. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And sleep, travel wellness, again, a big, big hot topic right now in hospitality. People will, you know, certainly pay a premium to, to make sure that they’re getting a relaxing and, and well kept stay there. Sean, you’ve had multiple stops. You talked about at the top of the episode of, of these luxury hotels and resorts that you’ve been at, you’ve been open now for some time you’ve seen guests come in and out of the lobby. You know, what is your hope as the gm when somebody leaves the Conrad Orlando, what they’re saying about their stay here? Sean McCarron: I think for us, the most important piece, and what I would want our guests to walk away from and, and, and have as their memory point is that they had an opportunity to reconnect with themselves, which is part of wellness. Reconnect with their families and their loved ones rejuvenate themselves by relaxing and enjoying the resort itself and finding a place to just say, ah, yeah. And have us do the work for them. I think those are the two main areas of anybody, and even for myself included, when I go on vacation after, you know, a hectic work life, you, you want to get out and, and just relax and reconnect with yourself and reconnect with your family. Ryan Embree: The perfect sound when I saw, when I walked into your this property ,right when you see that lagoon overlooking, it’s a beautiful property. Thank you for hosting us, Sean. Any final thoughts as we wrap up today? Sean McCarron: No, please come see us. We would love to have you all come and take a look and experience the resort as well. Conrad Orlando is here. Ryan Embree: Follow them on social media. Obviously we talked about it. But hope you get the privilege to visit this beautiful property and see all that, Sean, and, and the team will certainly take that, take that special care of you. So thank you so much, Sean, for joining me on the Suite Spot. Sean McCarron: I appreciate it. Thank you. Ryan Embree: Thank you. And we will talk to you next time on The SuiteSpot. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.  

The Travel Media Group digital solution has hit the monumental milestone of responding to over 2 million online guest reviews for our hotel partners. To commemorate such a major achievement, Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, and Director of Product – Respond & Resolve™, Jackie Avery, join the Suite Spot to discuss this accolade, what it means to the organization, and the future of review response. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for a very celebratory episode. Today we’re gonna have two guests with me, our first Jackie Avery, director of Product – Respond and Resolve. Jackie, congratulations, as the title says of TMG hits over 2 million online guest reviews. Thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery : Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. It feels so good to be here. Just really excited to celebrate this. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think it was August 2022, where we were actually in our older building, before we moved into our podcast studio. Hopefully you were watching us on YouTube and celebrating 1 million guest reviews responded to, um, which just seemed like unfathomable to even think about that amount. So now here we are at 2 million in 2025 before the summer, which we’re gonna talk about that, that flux of reviews that come in during the busiest time of the year for hoteliers and for travel. But talk to me a little bit about what this accomplish means, to you and, and your team and network of professional writers. Jackie Avery : Yeah. I mean, honestly, this is just one of the many milestones for the team this year. So I guess, like full of transparency, what it means is continued momentum. I think, you know, we’re feeling pumped up. We’re doing what we love, and it feels so good to, you know, help our clients and really just connect, you know, in a really authentic way with travelers all over the world. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And when we talk about a number, again, like 2 million, that is reviews, online reviews from across all different platforms. Recently added Medallia surveys as well for some of the brands. But obviously it’s not just you and a couple people doing this. You’ve got a huge network of US-based writers that do this. Talk to us a little bit about the training that goes into this, Jackie, because I don’t think I’ve heard one GM, or front desk manager, whoever is responding to those reviews saying that I got into hospitality because I wanted to respond to reviews. Right. They’re more focused on the people and guests as they should be on site. What type of training and nuances goes into responding to specifically an online hotel guest review? Jackie Avery : Alright, well, I’ll tell you a little bit, but you’re not gonna get all my secrets. Well, the team, when they join us, they come already with extensive education. I feel like that’s talked about a lot, but in reality, that’s actually just like the baseline. That’s where we start. And then from there, right, they need to know about hospitality, they need to know about different hotel brands. But there’s also extensive training in, specific person to person communication to be able to connect with someone, in a genuine way. Of course. Like with the main focus being in the written form. Because, you know, the team of writers. But yeah, so I’d say, you know, being highly educated and having those degrees and level of experience with different forms of writing is really where it starts. And then we build off that. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And we’ve been hospitality specific Travel Media Group that is for 40-plus years. Again, there’s a lot of nuances that if you’re that US hoteliers kind of take for granted things like, taking it a deposit at the beginning of a stay and maybe that deposit not hitting back or get or getting back to that guest within the next couple days. If you don’t know that, that’s not communicated to not only the staff, but our writers here and they don’t understand that could make for a very different response. So we’re all kind of travelers at heart, but there’s also this nuance of understanding the operational side of hospitality that you have to understand in order to give that service. Because if you don’t know policies, rules, even the finer and smaller details of each individual property, which is communicated to your team through a variety of communications, which we’re gonna speak to in a minute. But I wanna get to the evolution of online review response. Right. Maybe some of our hoteliers listening to this podcast that have been in the industry for 30 years, this was a much smaller piece of their everyday and priority list. Now there’s more sites than ever. There’s more reviews than ever. People can even now leave reviews with zero context. Right. Just a star rating which is obviously a challenge in itself to kind of, uh, figure out the details of that. So talk to us a little bit about that evolution since we started nearly a decade responding to reviews. Jackie Avery : Yeah, absolutely. I think when we speak about the evolution of respond and resolve, and you know what that means, I don’t think we can have this conversation without talking about AI. We just, it, nobody can go a day without that coming up, without that being pitched to them without it being a conversation they stumble across. And it’s the same for writers with that, I’d say kind of how we’ve felt and seen that impact the respondent resolve program here. I’ll kind of start first with our clients, which I’d say I feel like actually that has been a benefit to our clients. Like that conversation coming up and being everywhere because they were already guest centric. They chose to work with us and have these authentic, you know, personalized review responses going out. And so they feel like validated, right? All these fears about AI and how that really is kind of a really scary way to kind of connect with your guests. They’re like, oh, I’m so glad we’ve been doing this the right way and we’ve been doing this and putting so much time into it from the start. So I think I’m happy for them that they can feel secure and they don’t need to be, worrying about it ’cause they know that they’re doing it at the highest possible level. And then I’d say as far as the team, how that has impacted us, and, you know, really kind of what we’re very aware of is now travelers. Every piece of communication is a test. Right. You are looking at that message back to you. You had a hotel stay, and you’re trying to see, did this property truly care about what I had to say, good or bad? Or did they pass off this response to a bot? Ryan Embree: Yeah. And that’s a scary thought for some hoteliers. Especially with some of the really serious reviews that we’ve seen having to do with things like slip and falls. We’ve seen it all. Payment disputes, there’s all sorts of things that happen every single day. The variable of what can happen on property for a guest experience is the spectrum is so wide. So being able to have the peace of mind that this is going to be given to a professional writer that has experience of over 2 million reviews, right? That is something that a lot of our hoteliers, do not take for granted. They really appreciate. But, you know, for those hoteliers, I think the biggest, one of the biggest questions we get, Jackie, and maybe you can do a great job of, kind of communicating this, is how do you know my hotel’s voice? How do you know my, how do you get to know my policies, the intricate details of, you know, these rooms on this side of my property are going to have an issue with noise because it’s closer to the hotel and this is how we want this addressed. How do you communicate with that? No matter whether it’s a big branded property or a small, independent property? Jackie Avery : Yeah, absolutely. So the team, right? We start with this, we talked about training of just a couple minutes ago where we start with this high baseline of what they already know. And they come in with all this level of expertise, but write the details. It’s all in the details. So our process was built around the fact that we knew we’d need this. Yeah. Right. Everything we do was built for hoteliers. We know there’s high turnover. We know that people get promoted and maybe they go to on to manage quite a few hotels versus just working at one. And then that voice need changes. So when everything was being designed, it was designed with that quick change need in mind. So, there’s a quick, give us some feedback, change this response, you know, add that detail in here, update your notes, give a rating. And that is all monitored in the moment and then immediately changed so that the very next review that’s left can show and reflect those changes. Like you said, we’re not building this out for just anybody. Everything was built for these hoteliers. Ryan Embree: It’s continuous education. And that’s what we kind of challenge sometimes with something like AI that’s new to this. How do you explain to AI that, you know, the elevators near your breakfast area are gonna be shut down temporarily for inspection for a couple days. So you might get some reviews here. This is how we want that responded to efficiency wise. It is still, at this point, much easier to connect with one of our writers to explain that and say, this is how we want this addressed. We can even provide you with maybe some samples of what we’ve done in the past to say, this is a great way to approach this. So, that comes with the experience of 2 million reviews and being hospitality specific. You’re gonna have a lot, a wealth of knowledge, which we’re gonna dig into in a second and ask you for some tips. Jackie Avery : Absolutely. I’d say it’s important to note you’re not customer number one. We’ve seen it before. Right? 2 million times. So you’ve got that expert backing. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Now, you kind of pressed on the importance of communication between you and the hotel, whether that be through our system rating system notes that you’re given, or even just a quick call to our client success representative who could connect you, with the respond and resolve team. 2 million reviews, obviously, I’m sure, I’m sure you’ve seen a lot of that feedback come through, but any particular pieces of feedback or incidents or just situations that have really stuck out to you during this 2 million review journey? Jackie Avery : I love hearing from our hoteliers, uh, the good, the bad. Right? I love that somebody wants to make sure, you know, a response is perfect. That’s everything I, you know, as a writer could dream of. Yeah. But, I guess one that kind of sticks out for me, I specifically think it’s a, it’s a high-end hotel in the Midwest. They had a serious incident happen. So obviously those are really memorable moments. You hope you don’t have ’em, but you have to be prepared for them. And the feedback we got, right? They were in this situation, there’s imagine there’s police on site, there’s upset guests in your face. There’s guests leaving reviews, and then there’s the gracious guests who are still leaving feedback where they’re almost, sharing their sympathy with you for what’s going on. And, you know, that hotelier connecting with my team and me after everything was over, the review were online, the responses were posted. We had connected with their legal team. We had provided them our recommendations. We had helped report the ones that we could and the assistance that we could provide, and their message back to us of just, Hey, in that moment, I was so grateful that I could focus on what I needed to focus on here. And I didn’t even need to worry about this. It wasn’t that I would do it later. It was that I know I’m being supported and this was done well, and I’m okay. And this aspect is being more than handled. You, you guys had recommendations for me and for me just to be able to connect and help someone like that. It sticks with you. Ryan Embree: It’s a scary time for hotelier. I mean, I worked at the front desk for many years. You know, I’ve been there when an entire floor floods because somebody, you know, hangs their dry cleaning up on the fire sprinkler. I mean, those are emergency times where you are needed at every second of the day to make sure that this crisis is averted or at least the damage is mitigated. So to be able to have the peace of mind of saying, I know I have Jackie and her team of professional writers who have been through these situations before, handle everything mitigating the damage online. Again, that is something that is our hotel partners value. And, and we hear about it a lot. But I, I also wanna go to the other side, you know what I mean? because a lot of times I think there’s a tendency to, ’cause I think those negative, you know, really crisis emergencies seem to stick out in our, in our head for obviously good reason. But even on the other side of those people that are just as emphatic with their positive response or even when something goes viral, that’s positive, right. To be able to take advantage of that to the fullest is also something there’s a, sometimes we hear from hoteliers, well, I just respond to the negative stuff. And for someone to be take the time out of their day to leave feedback for your hotel, recognizing your staff, your service, that is such a time to amplify that with a response and to show your appreciation with a response. And it’s felt on the other side as other travelers are reading these reviews and certainly reading these responses. So, so 2 million reviews under, under your belt, you and your teams about, again, congratulations on the milestone, but I am gonna pick your brain a little bit. What would you give top three tips for, for hoteliers? Jackie Avery : So top three, I’d say sweat the small stuff. Take your time and make it about the guest. You can’t brush off the little details and the review thinking, oh, well, that over, they still gave five stars. They are giving you their opinion. They’re being vulnerable in that moment and sharing these details with you. You have to acknowledge them. You have to think about them, connect with your team on site about them. Don’t rush through review response. This guest happy or upset has taken the time to share their thoughts with you, connect with them the same way that you would if they stopped by the front desk to chat with you. You wouldn’t just brush them off and walk by them. So don’t do it virtually and then make it about the guests. This isn’t your opportunity. You have a whole team. You know, making your health hotel look great online. But I also encourage you, the magic happens when you take a moment to make it about the guest who left that review for you. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, all the common theme in all three of those tips, just keeping the guest front of mind. Right. And keeping the guest first. It’s something that we stress to our writers when they’re first brought on is that this level of when they, when a hotel partner comes to us and really entrust us to respond their reviews, it is a big responsibility right? To entrust, Travel Media Group to do that. We take that extremely seriously and always keep the guests first. So, congratulations again on the milestone. What any final thoughts, what’s next for Respond Resolve as we move forward? Jackie Avery : So much. I think we need a second podcast to go through it. But, um, yeah, I feel like a busy summer, 3 million reviews. You know, we’ve got a lot going on. I think, you know, we are gonna continue to just do our very best and be the very best and just connect with travelers in a really real way and keep doing everything we can to help our hotel partners. Ryan Embree: So awesome. And love to hear feedback from our hotel partners about how that authenticity shines through you and your team’s responses. So, again, congratulations Jackie, on this milestone. Jackie Avery : Thank you so much. It was great being here. Ryan Embree: Thank you. And next we’ll be joined by our CTO, Jason Lee, who’s gonna be talking to us a little bit about what this milestone means for him and his team. Here we are with Jason, Chief Technology Officer, Travel Media Group, celebrating again, 2 million reviews responded to. Congratulations. August, 2022, I was telling you was when we, had responded and had you on for 1 million reviews responded to talk to us. You’ve been there since the inception, the birth of this solution. Maybe just give our listeners a little bit of background into the idea behind it. I know we’ve, we heard all the time, hoteliers, you know, along with the reputation solutions we provide. Do you guys respond to review? Right. What that came from idea to solution to where it is today? Yeah, I think when we, when we started it was exactly like you said, we were in the reputation space doing stuff for hotels. Jason Lee: Really the building reputation of a solution that we still have today. And that builder brought on all kinds of other things. Like, I get more reviews now I need to respond to them. And so it was like, oh, yeah, well, maybe we should be able to get that done. Right. And as we got into it, like obviously the logistics of it, initially we were very innocent thinking like, yes, yeah, we probably could do this. And we got into it and got, we had the review data already flowing. So, you know, getting the response piece shouldn’t be that hard. We write a response and we, you know, we get it into the site. And what we found right away is that there’s obviously lots of complication that goes in into that. Not just the review data, but is there a process? What is that? How do you scale something like that? So we started with like 20 reviews maximum. TripAdvisor only, you know, because we had, at that time, we were able to claim a TripAdvisor page, or we were able to get a credential into a TripAdvisor page really easily so that we could respond to the reviews directly. And then we had a direct kind of direct connect. So we made it very easy. But, you know, as you might expect, the second you start that, they’re like, well, what about Expedia? What about booking or what about Google? So then, you know, obviously it continued on from there. Then it was, what about guest verified reviews on my brand site? What about Medallia? Right. And so, you know, all of this stuff has sort of evolved over time. But I think maybe from the very beginning to now, I think the biggest learning or the biggest divide right from there to now would be how much we’ve learned about personalization, localization of messaging, and how important that is to the guest and how important these messages are. I think we assumed probably like a lot of people that this was sort of a get it done and then it’s done. Just as long as there’s like legible text in a text box, we’re good. But what we found was better and better messaging, clearer and clearer messaging from the hotel to the guests. So, us being the sort of scribe in between getting that message to the guest, we started seeing, Hey, there’s, there’s real positive benefits here. There’s actual, there’s actual real benefits to the guest receiving this. There’s benefits to the guest that’s reading this. And so the importance of it and the urgency of that importance has only amplified over time, to where we’re at today, where it is extremely important that the messaging is correct. And we leverage a relationship with our property during onboard, and we leverage that relationship through every single review response that we process to try to get that response more and more prescriptive, more and more clear. So, I mean that’s sharp evolution. But, you know, as I say it seems like, well, well, of course, but scaling something like that, you get into the thousands of properties. Right? Absolutely. And the, so the varying message, the varying localization, the, the varying ways that you wanna display your hospitality, you know, it, it’s daunting. And, but that’s what we’ve learned and that’s really how we built a platform to handle it. Ryan Embree: It’s interesting ’cause I think alongside the evolution of the solution also came an evolution of our hotel partner. Yeah. And, and where we were getting those original review responses of, of those hoteliers that did just want, Hey, listen, my brand is requiring me to respond to these reviews. Just take it and I want this out aside outta mind. Yeah. And now we get hoteliers that are looking at every single review rating. Those reviews, you’ve, you’ve implemented that as a, as a evolution of the Yeah. The product. Where do you think that that kind of, I, I don’t know. Where do you, where do you think that that fork in the road happened and what this hotelier that just check the box to now is, is really seeing the benefits of what authentic review response can do? Jason Lee: You know, I think, um, it’s funny, you know, because you, you mentioned 2022, you know, <laugh> Yeah. August of 2022. You know, I think from that point to now are we have gotten, uh, you know, a more and more upscale property, so properties that, that have, that are, that are more and more upscale, some iconic properties. But I think in that, we found sort of through them, right, through that partnership, we see the, the level of care. We see how important it is to them to get the wording right, to get the phrasing right. And, and from that we’re like, man, you know, there’s obviously benefit in this, you know, there’s this, yeah. There’s this bigger benefit. So, so that’s where we really started seeing a lot of our, like you talked about the rating system and, and the notes system. We had kind of a, a, you know, a approval process before that. But this is where things got really intense in terms of like trying to sort of, you know, get the different layers of voice. You know, including, you know, ways of discussing policy, ways of, of, of discussing issues that might be caused by renovation or potential future outcome of, of, of this renovation for dissatisfied customer. So that kind of language and, and that kind of, um, you know, flow scaling that really came out of those partnerships. Yeah. You know, because the more complex, the partnership, but that same partnership, that partnership of that super upscale casino that gets a thousand reviews a month that benefits a Hampton Inn Yes. Speaker 2: That gets 25 reviews a month be, and, and because we, we built the complexity in to allow them to engage in that complexity or not. Right. They can take our baseline and our baseline continues to raise, you know, so that, so what our baseline responses are, what they were, you know, when we started almost 10 years ago Yeah. Are very different from today and, and are continuing to evolve as we start to understand sort of the emotions behind, uh, uh, the review as we start to see like the difference between a incidental room defect mm-hmm <affirmative>. And, and the property trying to make that right. Yeah. Um, and, and so really dissecting that information and, and, you know, hopefully get creating positive like bunches of positive outcomes, um, from both positive reviews and negative reviews. Ryan Embree: And I believe in hospitality, we are always looking for an edge. And because it is the difference between a couple occupancy occupancy percentage points, and, and that could make or break your budget, you know, for the, for the year. And, and we are that, that extra couple dollars in rate we are always striving for, we’re always looking for that extra slice of the pie. And I think a lot of these brands, management companies probably looked at portfolios, started to dissect and looked and say, okay, what’s the difference between what this hotel is doing and this hotel is doing? Right. And one of the spaces maybe that they uncovered was seeing that they’re doing a really great job of actually communicating to their guests. Yeah. And I think when you look at that, that common question that we hear all the time, what’s the ROI of responding to reviews? I think innately this, this, that evolution has happened where people are starting to see the light a little bit as far as if I can communicate effectively to my guest through online review response, I’m going to see those impacts and effects. And you’ve, you’ve actually talked about some of those that come in just more, more than one way. Jason Lee: Yeah. You know, and I think that’s, that, that that strategy, you know, where you look at can, you know, can I retain a guest? You know, and, and we typically think of guest retention as being something that is negative. I take a negative and turn it into a positive. Yeah. But I see guest retention all the way through, you know, I think a positive review, a po a a guest who has a great experience with you and expresses that online, it’s such a responsibility at that point to show gratitude and to, to build on that with that guest Yeah. That relationship with that guest, because it’s only gonna amplify, you know, their advocacy to their friends and social media and all the other things that they do. Jason Lee: But in addition to that, it’s about also that, that acquisition side, right? So you have this retention strategy, but that retention strategy, if you do that right, the acquisition strategy falls right into place because you’ve created an authentic message between you and that guest. And, and that’s really what that whole thing is about. You know, and, and one thing that’s really interesting to me is that <laugh>, through this time, we, you know, we’ve had kind of an interesting, you know, relationship with OTAs where we were sort of in the periphery, you know, polling reviews mm-hmm <affirmative>. To, to now where we have full connected APIs. And I think about that, those relationships and think about the motivation of an OTA, their motivation is to sell hotel rooms. So like, they don’t make money unless they sell a hotel room, but they see the importance of reviews, and they see the more importantly, they see the import, they see directly the importance of responses. And I think that’s why Expedia using guest experience score and, and other things to, to reward properties that are engaging in this practice. Well, yeah. Right. Because they know that they’ll be selling the most hotel rooms and, and, and that at, at the highest rate. Ryan Embree: Yeah. No, absolutely. I mean, these OTAs have gone from asking for reviews to be character and, and word limits. Yes. To now you can literally do a, a no comment, uh, review, which, uh, which is an interesting topic as well. Yeah. Um, you know, but talking about responding to reviews over 2 million, what would you say we asked Jackie, you know, as an authority? Would top three biggest tips, uh, maybe just share a tip or two that you would say for, uh, hotels, let’s do, let’s start with hotels that just aren’t responding to reviews right now, and then maybe we’ll, we’ll work our way up a little bit. Jason Lee: Yeah. I think if you’re not responding to your review at all. Yeah. Right. And, and you wanna start somewhere, you know, I, I wouldn’t say just do the negative, I would say <laugh>, I would say, and that is some, that is some people’s strategy. Yeah. That’s some people’s strategy. I, I would say do all the negative, but do a, do a solid percentage of the positive. If you, if you don’t have the, if you don’t have the resources to do it all. But I would try to do it all. Yes. You know, it, it’s, it really, it really doesn’t take that much time in terms of if you have that focused ability, right? Mm-hmm <affirmative>. I mean, I think the hardest thing for hotels, uh, to do, and the biggest obstacle is the varying nature. And is, and by the way, that’s also been a constant issue of our scaling that, that we, we’ve definitely got our arms around now, but in the early days going from, you know, uh, winter to summer was a shock to the system. Yeah. You know, you go, you, you know, you’re talking about in some cases 40 to 50% increase in review flow in the summer months and then back down. So how do you, how do you staff for that? Right. How do you, how do you do that? But back to your original question, <laugh>. Yeah. Uh, the, you know, I would try to get, I would try to do as much as you can on that, but, but maybe find it, find a, a champion at your property that, that believes in this, who wants to do this, um, that communicates well with guests and, and can do this properly. Ryan Embree: AI could be a first good step as well. Sure. And, and to actually, again, if you’re not doing it to doing it, yeah. We’ve obviously talked on this podcast Yeah. About how there are still definitely a gap there. But what about those maybe on the other side of the spectrum that are really, you know, they’re, they’re keeping up with their reviews, they want to take their responses to the next level. You know, what, what are you sharing with your, your team or best practices on saying, how do I differentiate myself that, that, that edge that we were talking about, how can you differentiate your responses from maybe, um, the hotel you down the road that might be using something like ai? Jason Lee: Yeah. I think, you know, one thing for sure is figure out how far you’re willing to go mm-hmm <affirmative>. Right? At your property. One, one thing we have with our, with our hotels is that we wanna know, you know, and, and some, sometimes we have partners that say, Hey, I don’t even want you to apologize. Right. Don’t even say you’re sorry, but, but we have other ones that say, Hey, if this happens, have them contact me directly. You know, I want to talk to this guest, I wanna make this right with this guest. Yeah. So I think that that push towards an authentic reply that drives resolution, especially in the negative side. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So especially where resolution is possible, try to find that and try to express that in that review. And if you can talk to the guest before you write the review or write the response, that would be phenomenal. Right. You know, but, but, but looking for a way to express authentic resolution, um, shows, uh, any future guest, um, that that’s what you’re about, and that, you know, issues happen and, and that, but that if they stay with you, you’ll handle it appropriately. Ryan Embree: and we’ve talked about this before. I think when we look at reviews, sometimes when we look at especially bad reviews, we think about how we think about ourselves and the guest of that. We think about ourselves in the shoes of that guest, right. That’s writing the review. Um, so in, in that same vein, we look at that response as a way that they’re communicating to us. Yes. How far were they willing to go as you you talked about, to try to find a resolution? And am I satisfied with that? And, and that’s, that’s the key to hospitality, right? Yeah. That’s, that’s been true. You know, for, for for the longest time. Uh, so 2 million reviews we talked to, uh, Jackie, uh, she gave us, you know, obviously an answer on what’s next. Uh, what, what do you think is next on the innovation and, you know, as, as the CTO and kind of product leader here in, in our tech, uh, stack at Travel Media Group, what do you think’s next on the innovation side for something like review response? Jason Lee: I mean, I think we, we’ve made a lot of strides, uh, in our AI product on smart response. Um, and I think there is a hybrid, even further hybrid version of that that, that, um, we’d like to explore, but on, on the main side, it’s doubling down on authenticity. Hmm. And it’s doubling down on reviews or responses that don’t sound like the, like you’ve heard this response before. Yeah. Right. And, and I think we all have this very simple kind of, um, format for responses where we have this intro and we have a center and we have this outro. And all of these things sort of together create this sort of ongoing response template that sort, that becomes instantly white noise in a, in a review feed. And, um, some of the things that we’re working on are new ways of expressing, um, ourselves in response publicly, new ways of apologizing, new ways of taking, taking ownership. Jason Lee: Yeah. You know, um, simple things, you know, they’re very interesting. And, and again, this, this comes only could come from a relationship with a hotelier where they trust what we do, where we stop saying we, and we start saying I meaning like, Hey, we’re sorry. It’s, I’m sorry. Love that. And, and, and it, and, and then it turns into, this would not be acceptable if I was traveling with my family mm-hmm <affirmative>. And it’s not acceptable for you. I’d like to make it right. Make sure you give me a call at the property. This, this, this is a, a tone change that you never really see. And, and we’re able to do it with a few properties who trust us to do it. Yeah. But this is something that’s very different. So we’re starting to push further into this, and I do feel like the more AI that is out there, the more AI responses that are happening, the the cry for authenticity is gonna get louder and louder, and it’s gonna, and it it’ll turn into that if you’re doing it through this one way, right. This very predictable, formulaic way that it’s not gonna resonate anymore with a guest. Yeah. That they’re just gonna feel like this was kind of done on the fly, you know, slapped into a GPT prompt and, and spit it out a response. Ryan Embree: I said it conversation with Jackie, like, uh, we will be fluent in AI language and very, very soon. Yes. And it will be that authenticity, those little nuances that you talk about of our language that will, that people will be, it will be very night and day and be able to, uh, you’ll, you’ll be able to tell. So, and, and those 2 million review responses, by the way, not done. Those were, those were professionally written from, from our, uh, our network. So just to make that clear. But, you know, congratulations on, on this accomplishment. Um, again, hopefully we got summer coming, so 3 million might be around the corner here, Jason. Jackie Avery : The real, the real accolade goes to Jackie, who was in here before and her incredible writing team in our, in our, in our writing network. That’s just unbelievable. We’ve Yeah. We’ve been so fortunate to have just incredible, uh, an incredible writing team that really believes in what we’re doing, believes in hospitality and loves extending it. Ryan Embree: Take a tremendous amount of pride in our team here. Yeah. And what they’re, and their abilities and what they’re able to do for our hotel partners. So thank you Jason, for joining me on the, the podcast. Yeah. And, uh, thank you for listening. We’ll talk to you next time on The Suite Spot To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

On this special episode of the Suite Spot, Managing Director at Green Key Global, Anick Levesque, shares insight on several new programs and initiatives that hoteliers can leverage to bolster their sustainability efforts across their portfolios to make a significant impact on the environment.  This episode emphasizes eco-friendly implementation to clarify how seamless the integration of these processes at the property level can be.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. Thank you for joining us today, recording here on Earth Day. Obviously not the day of release, but a very fitting day to be recording for this episode. In particular, I am very excited to welcome on our guest, Managing Director at Green Key Global, Anick Levesque. Anick, thank you so much for being with me, celebrating this 2025 Earth Day. Anick Levesque: Thank you very much for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Very excited to talk about Green Key Global. We’ve gotten an exciting announcement that I’ve, that I’ve seen all over the hospitality circuit. You and your team have been doing a great job of putting that out. But before we get into that exciting announcement, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. Love to hear from our guests kind of about their hospitality journeys and what kind of led you to your role there as managing director at Green Key Global. Anick Levesque: Absolutely. Well, it’s been an interesting journey as I embarked upon the next phase of my career, just about over a year ago now. I really wanted to leverage the experience that I had in helping businesses grow, which is essentially what I had done for the previous 30 years of my career. And apply that to purpose driven work. And so when the opportunity came to lead Green Key Global, an organization with an ambitious and socially driven mission, a strong legacy and deep roots in the hospitality sector, I just knew that it was the right fit for me. Green Key is a social enterprise that’s focused on sustainability. It contributes to the ongoing well-being of our planet and our communities. While at the same time, companies who commit to sustainability and to certification, they benefit through tangible results. They benefit from increased bookings, lower operating costs, and higher property valuation. So that duality of being able to help businesses grow while also contributing to the wellbeing of our society, that’s something that was very appealing to me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’m sure. And we’re gonna get into detail about this, but it really is just a win-win for all parties with sustainability and really the way the future. It’s very cool to, I’m sure be in a position. We talk about it all the time where, obviously there’s equity and compensation out there. But you know, more and more people are now looking for that sort of fulfillment in their career. So to be able to be a part of a industry and program and organization that does such great work that obviously has such an impact on our world, I’m sure that means a lot. And it’s very cool to and an honor to have you on and talk to us a little bit about Green Key Global. What I love about Green Key Global is there’s so many just win-win scenarios in everything from the guest wins, with the sustainable practices, they feel a part of something. The hotel wins both with that intrinsic value, but also sometimes financially too, right? And savings and even just the expectations that it’s setting now. Green Key Global’s been around for decades, definitely heard of it being in hospitality, but didn’t really know to the degree at some of the amazing statistics you and your team shared with me For our hotelier Suite Spot audience, share with us a little bit about the history of Green Key Global and its mission. Anick Levesque: Absolutely. So Green Key Global has been around for 30 years now. In fact, it was created on the heels of the Earth Day summit in Rio de Janeiro. And since then, it’s evolved into one of North America’s most recognized sustainability certification bodies that is dedicated specifically to the hotel industry. Our mission at Green Key Global is to advance sustainability efforts within the industry. And we achieve that primarily through certification, but also through training, education and collaboration within the industry. Our core offering, the eco rating program, assesses and certifies hotel properties operational processes and practices. And through that validation, properties can communicate their efforts with confidence to the market, and they get recognized for their on the ground efforts. That’s critically important because getting that stamp of approval helps reassure consumers that the actions that are being claimed are in fact, actually happening in the world where greenwashing concerns are increasingly being tabled. That becomes very important. Now, what makes us unique at Green Key is that we are jointly owned and operated by the American Hotel and Lodging Association and the Hotel Association of Canada. So really we were created by hoteliers for hoteliers. And so our assessment and all of the tools and support and templates that we provide were specifically designed for the industry. Our goal ultimately is to make sustainability and to make certification accessible and affordable to all hoteliers. That is our goal, and we’ve stayed true to that. Today we have over 1700 properties across both the US and Canada that are Green Key certified, and we have partnered with virtually all of the leading brands in the market who have committed to sustainability certification for their networks. Ryan Embree: Yeah. You know, to speak to your point on the corporate side, and I heard this a couple years ago, well, is it’s not too far for these companies and businesses to have obviously a budget, monetary budget, but also a carbon budget and looking for ways for their employees to do travel, but in sustainable ways so the momentum is absolutely there. You think about some of these larger brands and businesses actually creating an entire position for sustainability and chief sustainability officers. It’s not a fad. It’s been moving in the right direction. Obviously organizations like Green Key Global doing so much for hoteliers and assisting them because I think what you said on the ground level, what you were talking about, Anick, is a lot of these business owners want to say that they’re implementing this sustainable practices because it reaps a lot of rewards. Both, you know, obviously the compensation side of intrinsic compensation of feeling like you’re doing good, but also guests appreciate that. And we’re going get a little bit into it, but you’ve created something here that’s kind of an exciting launch that we were talking about at the top of the episode. Talk to us about this program that really could be a great entryway to certification. Anick Levesque: Yes, that’s correct. So we’ve recently launched a new addition to our product portfolio, which we’ve called Green Key Ready. And Green Key Ready is a solution that’s available through our site that is really designed for properties who are just starting out or in the early stages of their sustainability journey or who aren’t quite ready for full certification, but they wanna take that first meaningful step. Green Key Ready is essentially a 12 month entry level solution, or a stepping stone, if you will, to the full certification program members complete an assessment that’s made up of 16 questions that are really fundamental to sustainability and that are included in the broader eco rating certification program. And at that point, they receive a digital logo that allows them to convey their commitment to becoming certified. Once a member signs up for Green Key Ready, they also receive access to tools, templates, and checklists that can help them further their sustainability action plan and get ready for full certification. They also have access to our team who can help guide them along the way. And so Green Key Ready is a solution to help hotels get started on their path to full certification. It is an affordable path to certification and at the point at which a member makes their decision to transition into full certification, the great news is the fee that’s associated with Green Key Ready gets applied to the fee for the full certification program. So it is really risk free. Our goal is to really make sustainability and certification affordable and accessible to everyone in the market. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s so fantastic. I’m sure there are a ton of hoteliers out there that are, are wanting to do this, wanting to take that first step, but might be intimidated to not know where to start. So this Green Key Ready program is exactly what you said Anick, it’s a great entry point to feel that, to get those benefits that we were just talking about both intrinsically and being able to market that to your guests about talking about how you have prioritized sustainability in your business, which there are a lot of businesses and hoteliers that might be doing some of these things without even knowing it the way they’re building any of the sustainable practices from food sourcing. Some of these things might be going on at the property and might not even know it ’cause it has, I love your quote that you said in the press release, “sustainability is no longer an option, it’s an expectation.” And I really wanna talk about how large scale adoption of sustainable practices in hospitality has really impacted the guest experience. Anick Levesque: Absolutely. Customers are increasingly prioritizing sustainability when they’re making decisions about where to stay. So in many cases, sustainability is becoming table stakes for businesses in all industries. In fact, the reality is in the hospitality industry, leisure and business travelers alike expect the businesses that they interact with to be socially responsible and to be aligned with their values. So a couple of statistics here just to drive the point hold. According to booking.com’s 2024 sustainable travel report, 80% of global travelers say they wanna stay at sustainable properties. And it’s the same for the business or group travel segment. According to the state of climate action in business report, 63% select suppliers based on their sustainability criteria, while three out of four are adding sustainability causes to their supplier contracts. So it is no question that consumers, whether they’re leisure travelers or business travelers are increasingly demanding that from the businesses or the brands that they interact with. Now, bringing this back to the guest experience, it’s really important to note that sustainability is not about eroding the guest experience. In fact, it’s about enriching that guest experience by making them part of something that is bigger by making sure that the experience that you are offering them is enriching. And there are many ways in which hoteliers do that today. Consider, for example, exposing them to the surrounding ecosystem or enhancing the dining experience by using locally sourced ingredients. It’s really about allowing them to participate in the sustainability actions and making them feel good about their decisions. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. We had a guest on here, it was so unique, they were actually not only providing the guest with a invoice of their stay as far as the monetary invoice, but also a carbon invoice and it kind of was something that guests really loved. I mean, there’s a reason why those water fountains, when you fill up your water bottle there and it shows a tick in water bottles saved, you get that intrinsic good feeling about that, right? Get your guests involved. But it also has to do with a lot of communication. And we talk about this all the time, whether it’s on your social media, whether it’s on your front desk, explaining whether it’s actual signage on at the property of some of these, all these in incredible things that might, you already might be implementing and sharing why that’s making an impact and why that’s a sustainable practice. I think we’re all familiar with the towel and keeping the towel up versus keeping the towel down on the floor. I mean, that goes a long way. And having your guests feel like they’re part of something bigger, exactly what you were saying, Anick, can really get some positive momentum and really enhance the guest experience, but it has to be properly communicated and the expectations have to be kind of be set from the beginning. This is a great start for those hoteliers, like I said, that might be eager those business owners that might be eager to get involved. What advice would you give to those who still are on the sidelines, they’re unsure of where to start when it comes to implementing these, these sustainability practices into their hospitality operations? Anick Levesque: It’s a very relevant question. We recognize certainly that sustainability can feel very overwhelming and intimidating for people who may not necessarily be ingrained in it on a day-to-day basis. And our recommendation is just to start somewhere. There are so many options for hoteliers to start engaging and contributing in some way, shape or form. At Green Key Global, we have a departmental checklist that are available to our members and those checklists, provide a whole range of action items that can be taken from very simple, easy, low cost, low touch actions to much larger investments that can have a much more significant impact. So there’s a wide range of options available to them and certainly I would encourage anybody who’s looking to get started in sustainability to go onto our website and reference those checklists. If a hotelier is not quite ready to start down the path of sustainability certification or is not quite sure where to ask, we would also recommend start with your staff. Staff generally are they’re consumers and they are socially conscious consumers in many cases, and so they often have a wealth of ideas and would get excited at the notion of being able to contribute ideas as to how you can start along the pathway to sustainability. And it’s amazing to see the response that hoteliers get when they engage with their staff because as a result of that, the staff are, have a vested interest in making sure that those actions are well implemented and consistent over time. So involve your staff, involve your guests. We’ve seen a lot of hotels also poll the guests, what else would you like us to do? Are we doing enough to meet your sustainability goals, for instance? And we see that overwhelmingly guests are responding to that. They welcome the fact that they’re being asked for their input and they like to be a part of that. And ultimately that comes back to benefit the hotel. It drives emotional engagement and long-term loyalty. And so those would be my tips. Ryan Embree: Those are some fantastic tips. And I think a common misnomer with the sustainability practices, it’s gonna cost you tens of thousands of dollars and it’s going to be this large capital investment to do some of these, implement some of these practices into your everyday business. But that’s not the case. It could be very, very small steps, baby steps, and that could snowball into something big. See how your guests are responding, right? We talk about reviews and social media on this podcast all the time. Start sharing with your staff some of these sustainability practices like, Anick was talking about. See how it’s getting the reaction online. You’re literally getting feedback from your guests at every touch point, including online reviews. This could be a great place if they’re reacting well, if you’re seeing that this is having an a positive impact on their stay, which most likely it is, then maybe that is something where you start planning capital planning for for further down the line. So some great resources on the website, very user friendly, very intuitive, and those checklists are a great place to start. Green Key Global also has a global vendor program where obviously vendors can get involved as well. Talk to us a little about that program and the mutual benefits for both the vendors and the hotel buyers. Anick Levesque: Absolutely. So the Green Key Vendor Program really brings together vetted solution providers across energy, water, waste, food, and many more. And the program is really designed to develop and gather vendors in each segment of our assessment. The equal rating certification assessment and these five sections of revolve around corporate housekeeping, food and beverage engineering and conference. And the main objective of this program is to create value for our members by providing them with options to collaborate with sustainable solutions providers so that they can enhance and accelerate their progress along their sustainability journey. Of course, for solution providers joining the Green Key Global Vendor program is a valuable opportunity to increase their visibility with a very engaged audience of decision makers who are invested and have conveyed a commitment to sustainability. Ryan Embree: Well, we know, Anick that managing a hotel, so many intricacies, managers, owners wearing so many different hats now, the process of running a hotel is getting more complicated, but it’s programs like this, these matchmaking programs that really match you with an expert that could help you on your sustainability path and implementing that, right, outsourcing that, and then vendors giving valuable knowledge to hoteliers who are genuinely interested in implementing some of these practice. So again, you know, so many win-win situations kind of throughout this entire process. Earth Day, as we mentioned at the top of the episode today, obviously, celebrating that, really exciting. I get to record this with you on this day. I’m sure in your role, Anick, you get to hear kind of a lot of cool new sustainability innovations, right? Because this is the future, this is where a lot of people are focusing time, effort, and capital and trying to make our operations more sustainable. Can you share any examples that you’ve seen where you’re like, wow, that is a game changer for sustainability and, and really cool innovation? Anick Levesque: So many phenomenal examples. And I’ll say that Earth Day is just a perfect reminder of how far we’ve come and how much potential there still is for the industry. We at Green Gey actually recently deployed a contest in honor of Earth Day and we receive dozens of incredible video submissions from our members that really underscore their passion and their commitment to sustainability. In fact, our team has chosen two winners and those winners will be published or announced later this week. So make sure to check our social media sites for more details on that. I will speak very briefly to the two winners because I think that response directly to your question, so in line with this year’s Earth Day theme of our planet, our power quality and in suites in Vernon, BC has recently installed solar panels on the roof and they’ve already offset, this was done, a very short while ago and they’ve already offset three tons of carbon emissions. So that was certainly a phenomenal success story. The Fairmont Chateau Montebello has done a number of initiatives. They’re very active in sustainability, they’re focused now very much on promoting biodiversity and promoting the local wildlife. As an example, they’ve partnered with an organization to help protect the beehives and the Monarch Butterfly population in the area. And it’s just tremendous what they’ve done. And of course they serve the honey as part of their dining experience and everything is interconnected. It’s just a wonderful initiative. And so we’ve recognized both of those properties as part of our Earth Day campaign. In addition to that, we’re also seeing a lot of interest in AI powered energy tracking. We’re seeing smart room technologies being implemented where, you know, if there’s no movements, the light get turned off, the lights get turned off, or the curtains get shut down, for example, we’re seeing a lot of onsite food waste dehydrator that help reduce the cost of transporting organic waste. So there’s a lot of innovation happening within the space right now. It’s a really, really exciting time. And as I’ve said earlier, there are so many opportunities for hotels to engage with vendors, to engage with other stakeholders in the industry to see how they can improve their action plan and benefit accordingly. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool to see, Anick, and I think those two examples that you gave is a really a testament to the wide spectrum of every hotel can have an impact, right? I think you brought up a Quality Inn and a Fairmont, obviously two very different hotel segments there, but still having major impacts on their business. So this really, these programs, if you’re a hotel owner out there, it doesn’t matter what brand you are, it doesn’t matter what size you are, there are things that you can do in your business to implement these sustainability practices. So thank you so much for sharing those examples. What are some of the best resources our Suite Spot audience can check out when it comes to Green Key Global and learning more about what it takes to get their hotel or group of hotels certified? Anick Levesque: Absolutely, and I’d just like to go back to your previous comment ’cause I think it’s a very pertinent one. Ryan, you are absolutely right. Sustainability is not just for some hotels, it’s really for any hotel, regardless of how big you are, regardless of what brand you’re associated with, regardless of how old your building is, how big your building is, where it’s located, there is really something that is relevant for everybody. And I underscore that because as we are traveling around North America, we are hearing that consistently from some hotels. I’m not sure that I’m ready to engage in sustainability certification ’cause I’m not sure that, uh, we’re doing enough or I’m not sure where to start. And the point is start somewhere and you will continue to build from that. And starting with a program like the Green Key Ready Program or even Equal Rating Certification program, what that does is it gives you a measure of where you are at and where the opportunities lie for you. When members go through our Equal Rating certification program, they receive a performance scorecard. And that performance scorecard basically says, here’s what you’re doing really well from a sustainability standpoint, and here are the opportunities for you to further yourself on the sustainability journey. And so that can really be used as a helpful tool in the action, in the action planning for properties. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean it just like anything, you have to take the first step in a journey, right? So, you know, I encourage all hotel owners, you know, even, even staff of hotels, right? To even talk to the general manager to see if this gives something, do some research on your own and, and see if there are things that already implemented at your property that could get you kind of started down this process. So rewarding, so many benefits as we’ve covered on this. Anick, I really appreciate, you joining me today. Any final thoughts, as we wrap up? Anick Levesque: Yes, absolutely. You were asking me about resources and I would say the best place to start it is by visiting our website at Greenkeyglobal.com. On our website, you will find details on all of our certification programs, including the Equal Rating Program, the Green Key Ready Solution, our Green Key Meetings program, our vendor program. You’ll also have access to a wealth of case studies that will give you some ideas on the impact that sustainability measures have had on our members businesses. We have FAQs, we have downloadable checklists, we have, you know, a wealth of resources at the disposal of hotels to help them pull together an action plan and really progress along that journey that I’ve been referring to. As I said, at Greenkey Global, we very much consider ourselves to be a social enterprise with the mission of helping hoteliers. That’s why we are own body industry because we wanna make sustainability and certification accessible to all. We have a team that’s available at any time. Should anyone have any questions, when you go onto our website, there’s an opportunity to schedule a one-on-one with one of our member services representative. I would encourage everybody who has any questions to do that and we’re happy to help explain the value a little bit more in the process of certification. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I’m sure those case studies are great. We’re always looking at hoteliers for ROI and sure you have some incredible stories. You shared a couple with us today on the episode. Anick, thank you so much. Happy Earth Day. Thank you so much for joining me on this podcast and thank you for all the work you and your team do and hope to see more hotels participate and take advantage of this Green Key Ready program. Thank you so much, Anick. Anick Levesque: Thank you very much. Ryan Embree: Thank you and for listening, and we will talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In the latest Suite Spot: Spotlight series episode, we travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to showcase the one-of-a-kind, AAA Four Diamond Hilton hotel – The Signia by Hilton Atlanta! Director of Sales at the property, Julia Austin, sits down with the Suite Spot to give travelers a keen look at why this newly built hotel not only broke new ground, but is also breaking records and setting the bar for guest experiences, being hospitality forward, and incorporating excellence in every square foot of the property.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, and we are here on our Suite Spot Spotlight series at the beautiful Signia by Hilton Atlanta. I’m so excited to be here. We just got a tour of this incredible property. I’m here with the Director of Sales, Julia Austin. Thank you so much for having us here and hosting us at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Julia Austin : Absolutely. Thank you so much for being here. Ryan Embree: So before we get into this amazing property, and there’s so much to cover, by the way, it is a history lesson just walking in, I love the term that was used during the tour of this is a love letter to the city. We’re gonna talk all about this amazing property, but in hospitality, we know it’s a big small world, right? We typically work for sometimes different brands. Sometimes we work for the same brand. I love hearing hospitality leaders and their journeys through their experience, and what led them to a new property like this. Julia Austin : Yeah, absolutely. So it is, it is such a small world and hospitality and, you know, I kind of came into the world by a dear friend of mine from college. I graduated and was trying to figure out what exactly to do next, and she introduced me to the world of hotels and I fell in love. And 15 years later, here I am miles away from home. I’m born and raised in Arizona, living in Atlanta, Georgia, and getting to be a part of this amazing signature hotel within the Hilton brand. It’s been a wild journey, but I can now, looking back, can’t imagine the last 15 years doing anything else other than working in such an amazing industry that the hospitality industry really is. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So many pieces of your stories echoed with industry leaders. I talked to first, sometimes a lot of hospitality industry people don’t know what they’re gonna do right outta college, fall into it, but fall in love to it and also heard that wild journey, to get you here at this incredible Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Let’s talk about this for those, audience members that might not be familiar with Signia, because this is the first new build Signia, and for this brand. Talk to us a little bit about the characteristics, that make up what a Signia by Hilton is. Julia Austin : Yeah. You know, so when Hilton was really looking on how to expand the company and what we were going to do next, we really kind of reached out to the people, you know, what are you looking for when you travel? What are you looking for when you’re planning meetings and events, when you’re hosting galas or social events? And the resounding, you know, feedback that we as a company received was, we want something that is elevated, yet still approachable. So, you know, we wanna have these beautiful views, floor to ceiling, glass windows, you know, state-of-the-art meeting space and high level guest rooms. But we still wanna be able to feel like when we come to this hotel, even with just under a thousand rooms that we’re family and that, you know, we belong here and, and we are really embracing ourselves not only in the brand and the hotel, but the community and the city that we’re in at the time as well. So, and that’s really kind of how Signia became to be. Ryan Embree: I mean, it again, it was a love letter to the city is how it is described, is so intentional here from the names of the, the rooms, to sometimes even down to the details of your food and beverage experiences, which we’re gonna talk about in a second. But I wanna rewind, a year ago, you had a star-studded event here, right? Chris Nata, Danny Hughes, all here for the ribbon cutting and opening ceremony. This is still a flagship property for Hilton. It’s exciting property being that first new build for Signia brand. I even heard rumors there was John Legend here for the opening. That is accurate. Talk to us about that experience of opening a new brand like this and all that excitement. Julia Austin : Yeah, so I was not fortunate enough to get to see John Legend. However, I joined the team a little bit after the pre-opening, but it is still something that people talk about to this day. I have met so many customers who tell me how they were here for that event. Got to be a part of the pre-opening of this amazing property. When speaking to other, hospitality leaders or people within Hilton, they talk about that event and really, you know, going into the, it’s a love letter to the city. I think the opening of this hotel was a little bit of a love letter to Hilton as well and to the hospitality industry. You know, this city alone has not had a new build hotel in over 40 years. And Hilton had really not opened a new brand to this extreme extravagance in, I wanna say, over 10 years. And, you know, it really, I think just it allowed us to put our mark here in the city and showcase what we’re really capable of doing and what we can do. And there was, I think high levels of emotion of just after all the hard work that went into getting this place open excitement for what’s to come. And again, it really just kind of allowed us to put our mark on what we are bringing to Atlanta and what we are bringing to the Signia brand. So, while I did not get to participate, I’ve heard enough amazing stories about it and seen enough photos to know it was an amazing event and we have just continued to exceed and grow from that event and beyond. Ryan Embree: Well, a project like this certainly doesn’t get done overnight. It’s years and years of planning. You’ve kind of talked about the background of looking at what travelers and guests, where that hole was and what they were looking for, and being able to speak to it. And you really hit all the marks there. But even with a new build like this, I’m sure there was that level of anxiousness and being like, what type of feedback are we gonna get from guests? Maybe where are they, you know, are they gonna like the food and beverage experiences? Do they like the art? Are they gonna interact with the art? And we’re gonna talk about the art, which is such a huge piece of this property and how it’s interactive throughout and how technology’s implemented through that. But, what is some of the feedback that you’ve gotten from guests? Were there any surprises that you’ve heard or seen? Julia Austin : I don’t think any big surprises, I think maybe more surprises on their end as to not fully knowing what to expect, until they’ve gotten here. And, you know, I think this hotel is so unique because we are 976 rooms. We’re connected to our convention center. So in your traditional sense, we are a convention hotel. But then we still have the largest ballroom in the state of Georgia, 40,000 square feet and, you know, fine dining restaurant, multiple outlets for restaurants while you’re here. So we have that resort feel as well. So I think that was really the biggest surprise that a lot of people experienced was, wow, you’re kind of getting the best of both worlds. I can have my big convention of, you know, 11,000 to15,000 people here in the city of Atlanta that this hotel can help support. But then I can also come for like a smaller gathering for our board meeting of 20 to 30 people and sit in one of our state-of-the-art boardrooms overlooking Mercedes-Benz Stadium and still have that nice more intimate experience as well. Ryan Embree: Those are the types of surprises we like in hospitality are the good surprises. And yeah, I’m sure those meeting planners, we’re gonna talk about that event space and how flexible that is. Again, this was built with extreme intentionality of being able to be adaptable and flexible in that space. I had the pleasure of living in Atlanta for a couple years. I know the area pretty well. If I could pick a hotel and a location to put a resort like Signia by Hilton at, it would be right here. For those who aren’t familiar with this area, paint a picture of all there is to do just within a throw of where we’re sitting right now. Julia Austin : So not being from Atlanta myself and having been here for about nine months, that actually the location of this and how I really determined where to live you know, played a big part into how much the city has to offer. So obviously right here at the hotel, as I mentioned before, we have Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where the Atlanta Falcons and Atlanta United play. We also have State Farm Stadium where we have concerts and the Atlanta Hawks playing as well as I mentioned, our convention center, which is connected to us, and then right outside our doors, beyond all of the event venues, we have restaurants, we have the Marta within walking distance. There’s new development being, developed right now coming up in the next couple years with new restaurants and more hotels to really add to the inventory downtown. But then really once you get out of the downtown market, you go 5 to 15 minutes outside of here and there’s all these amazing little pockets of neighborhoods in Atlanta. And that’s what I fell in love with because I live not too far from here where I feel like I can step away from work when I’m not here, but still really get to enjoy like the heart of Atlanta. And there’s Midtown and old fourthward and lots of re-gentrified and re-reimagined neighborhoods. The Belt Line, oh my gosh, everybody talked to me about the Belt Line. But now living here and on beautiful Saturdays when the weather’s nice, getting out there on my bike or just walking my dog, you can pop into coffee shops and restaurants and there’s musicians playing music on the, on the side of the Belt Line. And it’s just, it really, you can immerse yourself into the city. And in the short time I’ve been here, I feel like I’ve seen so much and there’s still so much to see. Ryan Embree: So along with some of these amenities, Julia, you have a plate full of F&B experiences, no pun intended there. What are some of your favorites and what are guests really reacting to on social media? Julia Austin : I think there’s a really a few different things that really set us apart from a food and beverage standpoint. Capolinea is our fine dining restaurant. It is open in the evenings for dinner only. It has fresh homemade pasta, pizza. We have a martini cart trolley that comes to your table and hand makes your martini right there for you. You get to kind of be a part of the craft cocktail experience with them. One of my favorite dishes at that restaurant is our duck ravioli. It’s really just so unique to anything else that I’ve seen at any other Italian restaurants. It’s a small plate, but it’s perfect because you don’t wanna skip on any of the other side dishes that you can get as well. And if you’re looking for something heavier, I always tell people, try the bolognese, the homemade pasta, how long that bolognese is prepped by our chef is just amazing. But beyond that, if you’re looking for something a little more simple, The Nest is our lunch and dinner restaurant. It kind of has a play on Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the TVs around the entire restaurant that shows whatever sports is happening at the time. Great Wings, kind of elevated bar food, again, cocktails and a great place to just kind of enjoy. We have a beautiful outdoor space patio, so on a nice day you can sit outside and enjoy your lunch, which again is great to experience when you’re in a larger convention hotel. You have so many outdoor spaces that you can get that fresh air and enjoy that Atlanta weather that we have here. But you know, an elevated experience that we have here as well when it comes to culinary is our Club Signia. Which club Signia is actually just kind of a play on the traditional executive lounge that most travelers are aware of. And, you know, this is something that is an additional add-on to your stay. But the benefit of it is it actually includes all of your meals while you are here with us. It is available for, you know, 6:00 AM to 11:00 PM for you, and you can pop in and grab a coffee, grab a water. We have a chef in there curating breakfast and dinner. We have lunch available for you and you can really have your own kind of custom experience right there in the lounge without even making it up to the fourth floor to the rest of our restaurants. Ryan Embree: It’s such an intimate feeling in that Club Signia, and it’s such a really cool way to have an add-on to your, your guest experience here. If you’re looking for just a little bit more, like I said, private or intimate setting but so many F&B experiences here, like you said, from Grab-N-Go all the way up to the fine dining. Very cool to experience that, that Nest, was awesome to see because it’s literally a path straight to Mercedes-Benz and straight to the arena. So it’s the ultimate tailgate spot to get you started for some really cool events. We forgot even to mention Taylor Swift here. Julia Austin : Oh, I know. Ryan Embree: We got the World Cup coming here in 2026. Which is really exciting. I’m sure that’ll be a hot commodity to be here. Julia Austin : We have a lot of exciting concerts just this year alone. We have Post Malone coming up here soon and Beyonce as well, which I know is very exciting ’cause she’s not seeing a lot of cities, but she’s making her way to Atlanta. Ryan Embree: So awesome to hear. So I’m sure Julia, one of, if not the first phone calls that you received were from this project when it was first announced was from event planners, wedding planners, companies trying to get to Atlanta and utilize your space. And again, we talked about the intentionality of the design of this property really makes it where you can be a small company all the way up to a large company hosting an entire conference here. What have you seen the dynamic space and how groups have used this and kinda walk us through maybe what that process looks like. Julia Austin : Yeah, it’s funny because we opened just this last year, but what people don’t realize is that we had a sales team here booking events into this hotel starting three, four years ago. Oh, wow. So it’s been a long process and a long journey and we had a lot of planners and a lot of associations and organizations that were trusting us while they were just watching a building come up and trusting what we were saying was gonna be in here, was gonna be in here. But, some of the things that I’ve really loved about this hotel coming in and seeing it now that it’s, you know, in its actuality is just the seamless transition that our groups can have. So if you have an event here in the hotel exclusively, again, we have the largest ballroom in the state of Georgia at 40,000 square feet, it divides into 12 individual rooms. So you can open it up into one large room and have really extravagant general session set ups. But then you can also break it into smaller rooms if you wanna have breakouts and meals and kind of utilize the space and the functionality. Our third floor space has multiple breakouts, most of which actually have floor to ceiling windows giving you that natural light and view of our outside. And then as I mentioned before, we have state-of-the-art board rooms, and then we also have our dream ballroom, which you got to see earlier, which is right here on the first floor and opens up to our outdoor space of Magnolia Green. So you can have a couple different groups in here that are on different levels of space and really feel like they’ve taken over the hotel themselves exclusively, not even realizing there’s another group on another floor, which is fantastic. But beyond that, being that we are a part of the citywide business that comes here to the Atlanta and being connected to the convention center, some of the feedback that I’ve received is just how seamless the transition is going from our hotel and our meeting space into the Georgia World Congress center’s meeting space. So you are up in our ballroom, you’re walking from one ballroom, you’re cutting across the hall to the next, and you don’t even realize it until you look down and you see that the carpet changed a little bit, that you’re actually now in a completely different building. And it was a two minute walk. I have been lucky enough to be here for a meeting and got to kind of experience that transition myself. And I’ve also received that feedback that, you know, there’s just the transitions and the way you can flow throughout this hotel, are really quite seamless and gives people that experience of buying out a hotel for a thousand people or being that smaller group that just takes over a small boardroom. Ryan Embree: Well, seamless and connected are two terms that I’m sure event planners love to hear, especially about their events if they’re getting that feedback. And I’m sure that feedback was crucial as you’re talking with those event planners and groups when you’re building this and hearing what are we looking for? And I think, again, this design and the adaptability of your meeting space and convention space really opens up opportunities that maybe, you know, they’re not pigeonholed into. You have to have this type of meaning there are certainly a lot of areas that you can capitalize on here at the Signia. Julia Austin : Yeah, absolutely. You know, we’ve really, especially with the local market, there’s a lot of amazing organizations right here in our backyard. And they have come to us whether for their large annual, maybe sales kickoff meeting to a smaller social event that they’re looking to have or a celebratory event to celebrate their team members that they wanna host here at the hotel with us. And going back to our culinary and our food and beverage, we’ve really taken the time to make sure that we’ve curated amazing banquet food for those group attendees as well that maybe don’t have the chance to experience our restaurants, but still get to experience the amazing culinary that we have here. Ryan Embree: Yeah. It’s so great. Because I think where we are right now in 2025, you might have a lot more teams that are working from home that are looking for that quarterly or annual space to meet up. So something like this can be reimagined. They can use this space as a really checkpoint for their team and incorporate all the programming that you have here and offer in your expertise also to help them kind of guide them, hold their hand through this process, which sometimes can be daunting, with a larger group. But you’ve got the experience that I wanna transition to, the art. A huge part of this property, was very impressed how you curated all this art. You even have a whole space dedicated it to it on your website. If you haven’t, make sure you check that out but one of the cool pieces that I love is, when you have art inside of a hotel, most hotels or properties do, if you’re not told the story behind that art, you really miss a crucial part. You could have some great local artists that you’ve featured, but if your guests aren’t really resonating with that or know or have the knowledge about that, it might not hit the mark. Whereas this property, every single piece of art I notice has a QR code by it. Teaches you about the art, the artist, a lot of those being local artists. It’s a huge part of this experience. Kind of give us the background of why that was chosen like that and maybe some of your personal favorite pieces. Julia Austin : Yeah, I mean, I think you kind of nailed it right there is that, we put beautiful artwork into hotels or buildings, when you’re visiting restaurants and you don’t always know where that came from or what’s the story behind it. And that’s really where the mindset came from with having these QR codes. You can walk anywhere throughout our hotel and if you’re admiring a piece of art, you’re like, oh, that’s so unique. You know, where on earth did this come from? You can right then and there scan it and get the history and get the background of the piece of art, which, I think really just kind of again, plays into the experiences that you can have while you’re here with us. So, you can eat at a great restaurant and go to the spa and then get an art lesson as well while you’re here with us. So who doesn’t love that? Ryan Embree: It’s a whole history lesson here. Julia Austin : Exactly. Ryan Embree: It was very cool to see on the tour actually, one of the guests utilizing that QR code. So it’s so cool to see more and more guests adapting that technology because again, that can make a guest experience. You know, you don’t put the onus on your employees to say, Hey, really explain this piece of art. It’s really that story’s told throughout the guest experience and journey here, which is really, really cool. So Julia, just over a year, the property’s been open, but already the recognition and industry’s award starting to pour in, saw that you were recently given that prestigious AAA four diamond designation, which is awesome, recognized by Wine designator and Eater, which is unusual for a hotel and resort because again, these are restaurants that even locals can come and experience here, which is great. We’ve talked about the food and beverage experiences, but what do these recognitions as director of sales mean for you? I’m sure it makes your job easier, right? Julia Austin : Yeah, you know, I think some of the culinary awards that we’ve received, is really a testament to how a hotel restaurant can still stand out, and be a go-to restaurant that the local community wants to come to. So to me that’s a huge testament, for the AAA award. I mean, to have received that within our first year, I have been a part of hotels where it’s taken years to be able to get to that award. So that is a huge testament because that is really, you know, you have your AAA travelers that are specifically looking for hotels that are within the AAA recognition. Our meeting planners are looking for that when they’re selecting hotels and cities and it really does just go to show the the passion that has gone behind this project and the building and the opening of this hotel, and what our team members are putting into this every single day with the service that they’re providing and the experience that they’re wanting every guest to walk away from. So, it is something that we are very proud of to have received so quickly and it is something that we will continue to strive to elevate and just exceed all expectations for every guest that comes through the door. Ryan Embree: Well, congratulations to you and your team on that award. You’ve got the service, we got the art, we talked about the culinary experience, just the design here and all the event planning. Certainly seems like it has it all here by the Signia, by Hilton Atlanta. Thank you so much for taking the time. Any final thoughts before we wrap up? Julia Austin : You know, the only thing I would say is, being new to Atlanta myself, I’ve met a lot of planners and a lot of people that have come here and looked at the city and I’ve heard a lot, oh, I haven’t been to Atlanta in 15 years, 20 years. I would urge you whether you are just traveling through or coming to look for a meeting or coming to a sporting event, come check out the city, come check out Signia by Hilton Atlanta. I really do think it’ll exceed all of your expectations and really just give you a new taste of what the city has to offer. Ryan Embree: Well, thoroughly impressed. To all of our Suite Spot audience. Make sure you come to the Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Visit them on social media. Follow them on social media. Visit the website. You have an incredible property here. Julia, thank you for sitting down and hosting the Suite Spot here. Julia Austin : Thank you. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Thank you so much. And we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

In this episode, Alexi Khajavi, President of Hospitality, Travel & Wellness at Questex, joins the Suite Spot to give listeners a preview of the upcoming NYU IHIF 2025 event taking place in New York City on June 1-June 3, 2025.  This industry event is one of the most elite hospitality investment forums in the world, so tune in to find out why you should attend and get your finger on the pulse of hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you so much for joining me. We’ve got an incredible, amazing episode with a very familiar face. If you’re watching us and subscribed to our Travel Media Group YouTube channel or hearing us on any of the streaming platforms. That’s Alexi Kajavi, Questex President, hospitality Travel and Wellness. Alexi, thank you so much for being back on the Suite Spot. Alexi Khajavi : Ryan, good to be here. Nice to see you. Ryan Embree: We almost have to credit you now as a co-host. You’ve been with us so many times. We’ve got even though it’s a familiar face, a new topic, which we’re gonna go get into. You’ve been on the Suite Spot before. We’ve had a couple conversations talking about your hospitality journey, some of the mentors along the way. I figured we’d start out today talking about your role. I see you, follow you on LinkedIn, your jet setting, all over the place, thought leadership everywhere. It’s gotta be pretty cool in that position. Give us a day in the life of your position and what you do. Alexi Khajavi : So Questex is a medium sized information services company. We’re B2B media at our core. We inform and we connect buyers and sellers, professionals across six industries. So the three that you mentioned, hospitality, travel, and wellness, are the markets that I have the privilege of running. And then I’ve got a counterpart that runs our life sciences, healthcare and technology. And we do that by publishing, daily editorial, writing about the industries, the trends, the topics we research. We have over 6 million first party data records. So these are individuals, names, titles, emails, contact information, but also really more importantly, their demographics and their behavioral, information. So what content they read, what are they engaging with, what are the premium pieces of content or research that they’re downloading. And we use all of that to inform us as to what are the trends and topics that are impacting that industry, or different segments or categories of businesses within a vertical. And then we use that in turn to develop our programs at our events, to develop our content strategy, whether that be in digital or print. And we then work with the brands, the sellers in those industries to connect with those buyers. So, you know, prime example in hospitality would be investors are, you know, looking for, you know, enhanced guest experiences. So what are the technologies and the solutions in, in hotels that can do that? We’ll position those brands specifically to buyers with buyers intent in the marketplace, looking for things like that. So that’s what we do, and it’s a really incredible industry to be in, and very exciting. And at our core, it’s a noble pursuit of informing and connecting professionals in these industries. Ryan Embree: Well, I’m sure, Alexi, you have a very unique perspective, getting to see really a 360 view of travel, hospitality, and wellness between all the data, the conversations that you’re having with you know, some of these buyers and sellers. And that’s really, is a great segue into what we’re gonna talk about today. ’cause we’re gonna turn our attention to the NYU IHIF event. Questex got involved with this event recently. You just preached the importance of using feedback and data. I’m curious, and we’ve talked about on the hospitality show, how crucial that was and creating programming. What are some of the feedback that you’re hearing about this particular event in NYU IHIF and how have you incorporated that into this year’s event? Alexi Khajavi : Yeah, so we acquired the NYU event two years ago. It was started and owned by New York University, and specifically the School of Professional Studies and of Hospitality, the John Tisch School. We were privileged to be able to acquire it. We still partner with NYU and we still every year support scholarships for students to attend the school, which then become, the future leaders of hospitality. So, we’re very privileged and very proud to be able to one, to acquire the asset, 40-year-old asset, iconic brand within hospitality investment, you know, one of the oldest, and most well known both here in the US domestically as well as internationally, but also really delighted that we can still support the students. So everybody that it, that supports NYU in turn, you know, is really supporting those future leaders of the industry, which is critical to the vertical and to the sector overall. What’s interesting about that, to answer your question specifically, Ryan, is, we have an advisory board in each of our events, and these are made up of the key supporters and key deal makers and you know, needle movers in the respective industries. So those are made up of top brands from Acord to Marriott, Hilton, Proskauer, CBRE, Colliers and the like, but also investors from the likes of Blackstone, Brookfield, KKR, KSL, so forth and so on. So these are individuals that give their own time to really help us shape the program and understand what are those trends and topics. This year specifically, it’s really interesting. I mean, the market’s in an interesting spot. I mean, the last three years of operating performance have been incredible. I mean, absolutely lofty RevPars, ADRs, and occupancies. And in the last sort of 12 to 18 months, it’s actually been firing on all cylinders, both on the leisure side, which was the first market to come back since Covid or even during Covid. Business, corporate and MICE has really been popular part in more, in some markets more than others. But, you know, this idea that corporate, you know, 50% of corporate travel will never come back according to Bill Gates. Well, he got that one wrong. It’s come back and it’s, it’s come back in, in just massively, robust in more in markets that were obviously popular pre covid that are outperforming, pre covid levels for the last, two years and so forth. So the market has been performing well on an operating level, but with the increase of interest rates, and because of that operating performance, sellers have been less inclined to sell. And if they are inclined to sell, the valuations on those properties have been higher than what buyers are willing to acquire those assets at the real challenge, in addition to the valuation have been the interest rates. So, debt is still it’s more expensive. It’s two to three times more expensive than it was pre covid. Now you could argue 0% interest rates are not a sustainable nor long-term model. So a bit of that was bound to change. But the interest rates have really put a dent on the marketplace of transactions. And it’s also increased the LTVs. So, you used to be able to get 60/40 you know, now you’re having to put in equity of, 70% depending on the quality of the sponsor. So it’s just become more difficult to get deals done. And that buy sell gap is certainly still wide. So the transaction market’s been quite muted, albeit there’s, according to data and research, around $300 billion of dry powder sitting on the sidelines, specifically geared towards real estate. And much of that is attracted to hospitality. Hospitality used to be less than 10% of an overall investment mandate, but now, because you can reprice a room on a nightly basis, it’s a hedge against inflation. And it’s also seen as being a long-term sort of securitized asset for sovereign wealth and family offices and so forth. So it’s a very attractive asset class. So two things that we’ve seen in that sort of contextual environment. One is that new exciting concepts like glamping and not necessarily service departs, but like this version of hostels and luxury apartments, branded Rezy, new concepts around popups or that are, you know, for concerts or these Coachellas and things like that. So there’s a lot of new hotel concepts that are out there that are, that are very interesting. You’re seeing alternative accommodations actually even be picked up by some of the major brands, which is exciting. So there’s a focus not just on a building with beds and maybe a restaurant, but it’s more of your outdoor, more of your experiential more of your combining the experience with a bed or a sleepy experience. So a lot of different ideas around that, frankly, sleep in and of itself is having a resurgence. So it’s not just the old mattress competition of 20 years ago, but it’s about, how do you best provide an environment for good sleep and REM. So there’s a lot of interesting M&A concepts around alternative combinations. And then the other bit is debt. I mean, just as a refinance. So rather than necessarily focusing on just purely transactions, there’s a lot of conversation about refinance and debt and how you use both private capital and, sorry, private, debt and retail debt, your retail banks and so forth to recapitalize with over a trillion dollars of CMBS loans coming to maturity in the near term. So we’re focusing a lot on debt. We’re focusing a lot on alternative co accommodations, and we’re focusing a lot on, on what’s called asset management, which is how do you run your hotels more profitably, which is becoming increasingly more complex. Now, there’s always major deals that are announced, and this is a relationship based industry. A hotel is not traded on an Amazon like platform. So at the end of the day, building those relationships, nurturing those relationships and making sure you get face to face at NYU will always be a cornerstone to the experience and to the value that it delivers. Ryan Embree: Well, that was gonna be one of my points, Alexi, is, it’s an event like this, you were talking about the buyer seller gap, right now. It’s events like this that really shrink that, and this is how deals get across the finish line is face-to-face. Of course when it’s buyer and seller’s market, you do not necessarily need these types of events, but the relationship building that you’re talking about is the cornerstone when things get really tight between both sides. And albeit with operational costs going up, construction costs going up in some, in some markets in some ways. So, a lot of fascinating things. Love the ingenious ways, like you said, that brands and developers are really capitalizing on some of these, these trends. And personalization is nothing. I mean, we’ve been hearing that in our industry now for like five to seven years, right? How can we get more experiential personalization? These are all the hot keywords. So to be able to go down this route, I think this, sometimes this ingenuity is born from times like this and where these people are really trying to get creative. I’ve looked at the NYU IHIF agenda/schedule. It is a powerhouse. Congrats to you and your team for building this. And I’ve always loved the intentionality of your programming. You kind of gave us a behind the scenes look of what it all takes, all the data, all the feedback and advisory board comments and feedback that you’re hearing. Give our audience a little bit of sneak peek of how you build out a conference agenda like this and, and maybe some of the things that you’re most excited about seeing. Alexi Khajavi : Well, again, the advisory board’s really critical to it. But we publish every day and we monitor what people read from our newsletters and on our websites, and then we also compare that to the wider web that’s anonymized, but we know first party data that investors are reading these types of stories. Lenders are reading those types of stories and brokers. And so we really, we have a huge amount of data in our data lake. And then our data teams provide the markets, in this case, the hospitality market, which is an incredible amount of insights, well, let me say, they provide us with an incredible amount of data, which then be based on our market knowledge in market. We’re able to turn into insights. So we really use that to put some things out. We will into the editorial. So we’ll try for example, we will try a story on Asian capital coming into the us There was a story on will sovereign wealth return in large form to the US into the European markets. Some of that was based off of what we had seen perform well. We put out editorial on that and measured its performance indexed against average page views and engagement and time on site. And it significantly outperformed. So that became a session, right? So it’s part art by the individuals. We have about 70 some odd people dedicated purely to hospitality at Questex. And they range from sales, marketing, content, conference producers, creative, and leadership. These are individuals that work in the industry, breathe the industry, and have deep relationships in the industry. So they’ve got this market knowledge. But when we combine that with the data that we get from our central service team, our audience team, our content teams, and our our insights team, it then becomes that special alchemy. And we get things, I’d say more right than wrong, hopefully. And, and thankfully not to say that we don’t get things wrong. And I think that that’s actually part of the kind of Questex DNA as well, is we’re very entrepreneurial and we love what we do, and we love the markets we serve. And we also respect the fact that five people speaking on stage in a panel moderated by another person is not how everybody learns. And it’s frankly not how everybody wants to learn these days. So we try and be really creative with the types of formats that we deliver and that we put up there on stage. Some of them are small boardrooms, just a small round table, you know, where we create kind of a more of a participatory back and forth type relationship or conversation. You know, we get it right. We sometimes get it wrong. To your question about what am I most excited about this year, we’re bringing a session that we’ve had in there’s two sessions I’m really excited about. So for everybody that’s at NYU in June, don’t miss this. So one is, we’ve had this session called Capital Talks in Europe at our IHIF, AMEA show, which is in Berlin 26 years. It is the event in Europe. It’s happening on March 31st, 1st of April and 2nd of April. And it is, it is purely of investors. So we will bring up all of the most active investors in, in hospitality. We’ll also combine that with the LPs, meaning the funds of funds, why are they attracted to investors or to hotel investment and funds that are geared towards hospitality. That’s moderated this year by Colliers, by Mark Owens. And it’s gonna be a great session because it is truly just a group of capital on stage that you don’t often hear, sort of, you see the CEOs all together, but this is all of the biggest players in capital and capital allocation and hospitality. So that if you wanna kind of just in a 30, 40 minute window, literally put your finger on the pulse of what’s happening in the capital markets of hospitality, that’s the one. Capital Talks – NYU, do not miss it. And for those of you guys that are coming to Berlin, it’s also in Berlin, you’ll get a European perspective on it. So that’s a really love that session. We’ve got some incredible speakers on it. Second one that I would argue at NYU is the CEO panel. Alexi Khajavi : It’s really the only CEO panel that we still do. We’ve broken up the CEO panel in our other events in Asia and in Europe, and most of them are kinda one-on-ones. But NYC it’s moderated by Sarah Eisen, who is the broadcast journalist for CNBC. And she’s the one that’s reporting on the public markets and the equities and stocks and so forth. And they all have a very special relationship with Sarah because they often, during NYU will go down to Wall Street and have an interview about the share price. And so you have all of the top CEOs on stage at the same time. And it’s kind of like getting all of the all stars from the different teams on one stage and kind of talk about the game of hotels. They’re all on their own respective teams, and yet there’s this sort of collegial, but yet competitive spirit amongst themselves. And you see some trading of jokes and barbs a little bit. You see who’s agreeing with whom you see the European perspective in Sebastian Bason of Accor. You see the pure franchise perspective of Geoff Balloti of Wyndham. You see the very thoughtful, sort of almost analytical process of Chris. And you see obviously the scale of Tony at Marriott, that’s almost a fascinating thing. And if you’re, I guess if you’re a hospitality geek like I am, it’s just kind of, it’s kind of cool to see the goats all up there talking about the industry. So I like that one very much. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool. And, you know, to your first point, it was fascinating to hear the science behind that intentional programming. Again, trying things out. I wish hospitality, you know, in general, we’re constantly getting feedback. We’re constantly getting data from our customers, from our guests and your fresh perspective. I try to preach this as much as I can about embracing that feedback, no matter if it’s positive or negative, because it can lead you to a place that you didn’t, trying things out new, right? Trying even as simple as trying an exchanging a breakfast item for this or that, and then kind of putting your ear to the ground and saying, alright, what did that change make? Or something maybe a little bit more like a capital renovation or something like that’s really gonna have an impact on your property or portfolio. So again, very refreshing perspective to hear you embrace that feedback. And I really hope some of our hotel audience, even though it’s hard to hear sometimes, especially when it’s our personal business or we’re hosting someone, you know, kind of hears that feedback and implements it into the guest experience, hotel experience, those sessions sound absolutely amazing. That panel, that CEO panel, it is interesting because the biggest, when I attend the shows, you really can tell those overarching trends by what everyone on stage is typically agreeing or even talking about or rolling out from their brands. So to get one session where you could have a common, it’s been AI and technology in our industry for the last couple years, recovery a couple years before that, and see kind of the different paths or maybe strategies that these brands are taking without giving any secrets away. It’s always kind of like a little chess game. And we’ll be super interesting to see. ’cause typically you get them a little bit more separated in those other events. You don’t have a full panel of CEOs. So really looking forward to that. NYU IHIF event will be held June 1st to June 3rd at the Marriott, Marques, New York City, New York. I mean, in the heart of everything, what makes this the perfect location for this event? Alexi Khajavi : Yeah, there’s no question it is the perfect location for the event, and it is the proper location to have a hotel investment forum. If you were to think, frankly, globally, where would you put a hotel investment forum? I think there’s no other place. I mean, it would have to be top three and it would be my number one. New York City is the financial capital of the world. It’s the gateway to the American market, which is the largest hotel market in the world, and it’s one of the most iconic travel, recreation, and tourist destinations in the world as well. So from those three components, box is checked. I mean, there’s no better place to have an event. You’ve got Wall Street just downtown 20 minutes a ride. And if you’re willing to take the subway more like 15 or 10, although the congestion law that’s come into effect has really improved the above ground movement in the city here. But that being said, New York has performed extremely well. And when you think about five years ago, today, March of 2020, the city was absolutely shut down. It was just, I mean, it was hard to even think about. I mean, Times Square was empty, not a car, not a not a person in sight. And five years later, I mean, you’ve got occupancies and, and ADRs and RevPars that are just world leading, their eye watering. And so, for us to be able to have NYU IHIF in that market and for individuals like, David Solomon or Jamie Diamond, or John Gray from Blackstone, Robert De Niro from Nobu, and of course, all the Martin Scorsese greatest movement, to just be able to come down the street and literally just kind of show up, George Stephanopoulos, I mean, I could go on and on and on, but it’s also, everybody wants to come in to the city at that point, both from Europe as well as the us Latin America, Asia, and the Middle East, because it is the capital of the financial markets largest gateway city to the largest hotel market in the world. And it’s a great town to spend time in. So we we’re very blessed to have it in the city. Marriott Marquee right in Times Square, centrally located, gives us the space and the opportunity to host 2,500 of the best and the brightest in the industry. And look, I mean, it’s really in this industry, deals get done by those that are in the room. And if you’re not in the room, then you’re not at the table and you’re not the one that are making deals. And I know that sounds maybe crass or somewhat brutish, but the reality is, is that most of the people come every year. We’re fortunate by that, but we get about 40% that come new every year. And since we’ve owned it, we’ve got a lot more European, Asian and Middle Eastern participation than it did in years past, because we have that database. So it’s a very diverse audience. There’s a lot of capital that are chasing deals and New York has been active, right? There have been some deals of significant size, and of course, small to medium size, depending on what you call that. But deals are happening in the city, but also it’s a market and a platform for the rest of the country as well. So it’ll be a diverse area gathering this year and New York City, we’ve got some fun planned, we’ve got an offsite reception, we’ve got some incredible speakers. And it’s also just very fun because you don’t have to walk very far to bump into someone that is either buying a hotel, selling a hotel, or pitching a platform concept, or looking to partner on a platform concept, all tranches of architecture, design, technology, brokerage, professional services, debt and equity that are there in full force. So if you’re in hospitality and you’re not in the Marriott Marquee on the 1st and 2nd of June, I’d really ask, \are you in hospitality? Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, you gotta be in the room, like you said, and Alexi’s point about that powder keg. The appetite is there, and you just have to be in the room like you said. So, you know, and I want to kind of speak to that because obviously we’ve talked about it before. There is a component there of deals getting done or across the finish line with face-to-face. I think we wouldn’t argue with that. How do you balance that in an event like this and making sure that there’s networking time so deals can get done, but also providing value, educational value, and some of these amazing round tables that you set up, like the CEO panel and capital panel that you were talking about. Alexi Khajavi : Well, the reality is that we know that the senior decision makers that are there in full force, I mean, they’re not, they’re seeing one session, maybe two or three at the max. Some are not seeing any, they may participate as a speaker or a panelist on one. But then they’re in meetings, right? They’re getting deals done, and they’re in the meeting rooms, they’re in the suites upstairs and they’re in all the sort of various networking sessions that we do. So we incorporate a lot of networking, and we provide a lot of F&B in a lot of areas to network. This year we are taking on the entire Broadway lounge, which is the lounge that sits over Time Square, a lot of seating. We’re turning that into another, an enhanced meeting area. So giving people a lot of space to sit down, do deals, talk, build relationships, nurture existing ones and so forth. So we absolutely don’t expect, and nor frankly see, the seniority of that audience attending all the sessions, but we know that there’s one or two or three that are critical to their business. And what we try to do is we try to really challenge the orthodoxies in the industry. To your point, you said that there is a lot of agreement. Well, we try and actually find different points of view. We try and find some perspective contrarian perspectives on each of the panel, and we always include equity on nearly every panel. There’s a few that we don’t and specifically built that way, but we really want to get to the core of who owns the asset and what’s their perspective on said topic. We then do a young professional at an under 30 in the industry, and we give them a highly discounted rate because those are actually the individuals that get most of the value out of the education. So we’re big believers in fostering, nurturing, and supporting the next generation of hospitality professionals. We certainly do that, every dollar you spend at NYU IHIF goes to supporting the scholarship fund. So that’s kind of one thing. But then there’s all the businesses, sponsors and others in the industry that maybe wanna send a couple of their junior colleagues to the event, one to take notes and provide sort of a post-event brief or synopsis to their teams. That’s a great thing. We’ve seen a lot of that happen, or for certainly their own education. So we give them a highly discounted rate to be able to bring their junior colleagues, give them the opportunity to hobnob and, and be cheek to jow with some of the best and the brightest, but also go to those sessions that are gonna help them educate themselves. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s so great. And I was going to say, to your first point, I was gonna say, it’s always a good sign when someone running a conference says, we’re expanding for more networking and deal making. That typically means something is going right and going well and that appetite is there. But it’s so important what you said about younger professionals, we’ve had a staffing shortage over the last few years. So to be able to get more exposure so that people because we’ve talked about it on this podcast, about the mentors, the people that guided us in our hospitality journey. If we can create more of those to be mentors for young professionals coming out of the College of Hospitality for NYU, for example, you know, at the Suite Spot, we did a Hospitality Campus Crawl series last year, going to some of those universities. So the more we can nurture that, the more we can create paths, share stories, just the more positive effect it’s gonna have on our industry as a whole. One of the most fascinating things that, that I’ve learned since doing this is, again, everything, and you’ve shared the intentionality of some of this stuff, but everything has a reason, even to the smallest detail, including a theme. And this year’s NYU theme is engagement drives returnw. Talk about how the team settled on this theme, what it means, and how it’s incorporated through the programming. Alexi Khajavi : So we are big believers in a sort of mantra, if you will, of people don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it. So we try to always establish a purpose of what we’re doing and why we’re doing it, and then let the what follow and the what could be, what time does it start, where is it located, how much does it cost? How long do you suggest I stay there? Could you suggest I meet? Those are all very, very practical and very important value propositions or questions. But what matters most is, and we take this very seriously, is the price of attending NYU vis-a-vis the price of attending one of our spa events or one of our wellness events, is probably 10x. I mean, the cost of attending NYU as a delegate, it’s about $2,300 for a two day conference, two and a half day conference. When you think about the goodwill of it and that somebody that goes to scholarship, okay, great. I mean, that’s very, I think that’s a good footnote. When you think about the size of a deal that you could miss out on, or the size of a new job opportunity or the size of a new client, $2,300 is negligible. I mean, frankly, the cost of opportunity is 100x that. So, okay, footnote, that’s all practical information that we can continue to communicate. But what really matters and what really moves people, is if I’m there, why does it matter to me? And why does it matter to somebody else? And that’s because at the core of this industry, nothing gets done unless you’ve had human to human contact in everything. Guest to front desk manager, down to investor to investor, nothing gets done in hospitality. And believe me, I love technology as much as anybody, and I’m a big believer in AI and AI’s impact on us and the future. But I actually think AI is good for our industry, not because of all the stuff it will do and optimization and la blah, blah, blah, but because I think it’s gonna make human contact the premium. So if AI can start to do everything, it can be my executive assistant, there are gonna be options to say, do you want the AI option, or do you want the human customer service? And if you want the human customer service, you better be the centurion, diamond level, whatever, or you’re gonna pay for it. Well, in some sense, you’re centurion because you have paid for it, you’ve flown more, you stayed more and so forth. So what we’re our purpose this year and how we came up with that theme is that it truly is about the engagement. It’s not about, yes, we’ve got incredible speakers. Yes, there are huge amounts of deal makers and opportunities flowing up and down the Marriott Marquee over those two days. Yes, we’re gonna have a lot of fun. I mean, hospitality’s fun, the people are fun. New York’s fun, all that’s great. Yes, it’s $2,300 bucks. And yes, it starts on Sunday night with a reception. Okay, check, check, check, check. But it’s more about are you gonna be there and are you gonna lean into the industry that you’ve chosen as your career? And if you are, then that engagement will drive returns. It’ll drive returns for you, it’ll drive returns for your employer or your business, and it’ll drive returns for the industry. And we are big, big believers that 80% of the battle is just showing up. And if you don’t show up, then you’re not there and you’re not at the table, and you may not get the returns. So it’s a little bit of that sort of purpose of like, we all have to show up, we all have to be there, and if you are there, good things happen. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Yeah. I love that. And I love that perspective on AI too. Because I think, we talk a lot in our business about authenticity and how it rises. And you’re right, when there are connections that might have taken effort to make a connection with someone else, like an email, and now that’s being automated, when it is human to human, face-to-face, person to person, that’s when things can move in leaps and bounds and not maybe just baby steps, which we’re gonna probably end up seeing here is just a way to kind of get you, you know, hooked here with maybe a AI text message or an email here, or an AI response here, but it’s about those authentic feelings and sentiment that are gonna all of a sudden rise to the top be so much more valuable, especially in an industry like hospitality. Alexi Khajavi : Absolutely. And look at this conversation that we’re having. You and I have met three times, I think three or four times now. And so this conversation just feels very natural, right? ’cause we already know each other. But also the scheduling of this call and of this podcast was a lot easier because our teams know your teams and they can just get it done. So it was very practical and so forth, but it would’ve been harder if we had never met before. And so it’s a supplement, but it’s a virtuous circle. And so when you get the opportunity to engage and to meet the best and the brightest, take it, don’t miss out on that opportunity. So I think it’s, I don’t think it’s a replacement, but I think it’s certainly a compliment or a substitute. It’s not a substitute, but it’s a compliment. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about capital equity on this call, but what you’re talking about is trust equity, sometimes that trust equity can be the difference in a time right now where there is a gap that closes that gap, that trust equity. So in speaking of engagement, right? Questex and it’s many entities I think I saw on social media, you’ve got a huge following. A post the other day, said almost 21,000 in total on LinkedIn. I personally learned about this event a couple years ago when I saw my LinkedIn pretty much become an NYU IHIF event banner, right? Like, I just was scrolling and it was all the top industry leaders minds in hospitality, and they were all at one place. And I said, I need to get here. Talk to us about how social media plays a role in growing an event like NYU IHIF especially, maybe early on when Questex took it over. Alexi Khajavi : I mean, events are essentially the live example of social media. It’s social media in the live format, that’s all. That’s what it’s, and social media is as I think the movie’s called, or the book is a viral network, In a good sense. Not being stuck on an airplane with a bunch of people with pneumonia. So that’s pretty bad too. It is all about who else is there. And that’s the premise of what we do, and that is the promise of what we deliver on year after year after year. And there’s a real beauty in, in an event like NYU IHIF, when they reach this iconic status that the best and the brightest and the most active investors and the most scaled operators are saying to us, Hey, where’s my speaking opportunity? Let’s work together to find the best. We are working more to accommodate the demand of presence and demand for speaking opportunities and thought leadership and meeting rooms and suites than we are trying to fill it. And it’s more just about accommodating it all in, in a way. And the Marriott, Marque’s a big asset. So, we’re in a privileged position for that. And New York’s great, everybody wants to be there. June’s not too hot, it’s not cold. So it’s kind of a perfect time of year as well. So, we’re really lucky in that we don’t have to fight for it. Although we work very hard at making sure that the audience is the right audience. And so there’s two things that we do. One is we turn our advocates and our customers into the heroes. I mean we’re just the platform. That’s, that’s all we are. We inform and we connect, and that’s the platform. The heroes are our sponsors and our attendees and our speakers. And they are really excited to affiliate their personal brands with the brand of NYU IHIF, which is an iconic brand in and of itself. So really, they kind of do a lot of the marketing for us. We support that. We amplify it. We certainly have a lot of followers on LinkedIn and other social media channels. And then of course, our newsletters. We send a daily newsletter to 38,000 subscribers. And these subscribers are the most qualified investors and operators and brokers in the industry. Not like, they’re not, Joe that’s looking for a hotel deal on Priceline, nothing against Joe looking for a deal. But, so that sort of power of the community is really special because people get really excited to speak, to attend, but it are also then shows other people that haven’t registered or maybe are on the fence or didn’t know about. It’s your story that go, wait a second. The entire best and the brightest of this industry that I’m in is attending NYU in three weeks or 11 weeks to be exact. I’ve gotta be there. And so that’s a really powerful thing. That’s just like social media. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, again, it’s exactly what you said, Alexi, your marketing goes further when you’re just the facilitator and they’re kind of telling that story. The echoes very similarly to what we preach with social media for individual hotels. I mean, would much rather have a hundred posts from a hundred guests. Obviously those being positive telling your story than have a hundred posts that you would put out there, right? Because everyone, everyone doesn’t want to feel like they’re being sold. But when you can have your guest, your attendee, your speakers telling your story in an authentic way, back to authenticity, right? Circling back to that word that’s gonna really cut through and make an impact there. Alexi Khajavi : And it’s not just you and I that are in the information industry, but it’s hotels themselves. I mean, I ask my kids, where do you want to go? Or we’ll say, what hotel do you want to stay in such and such place? They don’t go to Google, they don’t go to Priceline or Expedia or Booking. They go to TikTok. I wish they weren’t on TikTok at all to be honest, but we limit it. We try to be good parents, but they’re going to TikTok and they are finding hotels. And it’s shocking how many hotels don’t have a TikTok or even an Instagram strategy because this generation, and look, my daughters are still teenagers, but they’re gonna be booking hotels pretty soon on their own, and they’ve traveled the world staying at some really nice hotels. So I know when they have their own income, their own jobs, they wanna spend a high proportion of it on travel and hotels. If they’re not seeing it on TikTok or Instagram, I can guarantee you they’re sure as hell not gonna go to Priceline. Ryan Embree: Well, that’s it. There’s your ROI of social media 101 from Alexi, right there. You’re, you’re absolutely right. You hit the nail on the head. And it’s something we, again, preach as a digital marketing podcast all the time. So, well, as we wrap up here, I’m super excited to announce that for the first time the Suite Spot will be attending NYU IHIF for the first time. We cannot be more excited, Alexi, we’re gonna be there in the room, like you talked about. We hope a lot of our Suite Spot followers and audience are there to join us for first time attendees like myself or maybe even some of our audience that could be considering attending the event. Paint a picture of what it’s like, what we can expect. Alexi Khajavi : First of all, we’re really excited to have you guys, I mean, I think you know, you guys have covered so many poignant topics and you’ve covered it from different perspectives and you always have really good guests except for this episode, of course. So, we’re really excited to have you there. And I know that you’ll be broadcasting and producing content right there from NYU, which is gonna be awesome. So, really delighted to have you. Look, the opening reception starts on Sunday night. And the reality is that we do that because we kick off early Monday morning. So I would come in Sunday and I would come to the reception at the Marriott Marquees, it’s a great opportunity to network meet first timers. We get about 800 to a thousand people there, so it’s really nice dinner. We do it on the 9th floor terrace, so you get views of Times Square, the really iconic Marriott Marquee with the elevator banks in the middle. The View has just reopened after five years of being closed, which is the rotating restaurant up on the 48th floor, if I’m not mistaken. So you can go up there, have a drink either before or after, and it’s just a great opportunity to kick off NYU on Sunday night. Monday morning, I would recommend get in that room in the general sessions. And really, that sets the stage. We got an economist that’s speaking. We’ve got data that’s being presented, and we’ve got some of our top sessions in the morning, which will be about two, two and a half hours in the morning session. I would then go out, mingle, we’ve got coffee bars on each of the floors. For those of you who haven’t attended, it is a very vertical building. It’s New York. So you end up sort of getting different experiences on each of those floors between fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth. And I would really sort of start that morning off with the data and the information. What we find is that those morning sessions become almost kind of like an anchor to open up conversations with people that you meet for the next couple of days because it gives you kind of a good synopsis as to what’s happening right now in the industry with the big macroeconomic issues. And there’s a lot of ’em, geopolitics, but also specifically data in the industry. So that’s a really good session. We’ve got an offsite Monday night, which is really exciting. We’re about to announce that. We’ve got an incredible iconic speaker that is one of the most active, and I would say iconoclastic investors in the industry. I won’t say who, I would go in for that, so I can’t, I’m just teasing that out. But honestly, you could sit on any one of those floors and you could throw a quarter out and it will hit whomever it hits is active, senior and deeply embedded in doing something in this industry. And so you really can’t go wrong in getting value outta being there and being in the room. So that would be my suggestion, be there. Ryan Embree: Well, yeah, we’re excited to be part of it. Thank you, Alexi. I love that first day. You can feel that energy in the room, right when that’s about to kick off. I’m sure you’ve experienced that many of times. So, you know, we’re 11 weeks out, I think you said at this point, but, it’ll be here before we know it. We’re excited. Definitely have to catch up with you at NYU and to all of our Suite Spot audience members. Check it out, learn more about it and we hope you will join us at the Marriott Marquees June 1st through June 3rd. Alexi, thank you so much for spending some time with us today and, and talking through this. Alexi Khajavi : Thanks, buddy. Good to see you, Ryan. Ryan Embree: All right, thank you so much. We’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the latest Suite Spot episode featuring TMG’s very own Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, as he gives listeners the latest update on our newest innovation, SMART Response powered by TMG AI. Hear about the development, successes, and challenges of building a guest review response solution with the ingenuity of artificial intelligence. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. As you can see, if you’re watching us on our YouTube channel, we are here in our Suite Spot podcast studio in Maitland, Florida, here with CTO, Jason Lee at Travel Media Group. Jason, thank you so much for being back on the Suite Spot. Jason Lee: Yeah, thanks for having me. In the seated position. Ryan Embree: Yes. I feel like we should be celebrating maybe like a 10th or 15th milestone of you coming on the Suite Spot or something like that. It’s been a lot, but we’re here to talk about a really important topic, something that’s been bubbling up in conferences, conversations that we’re having something that you’re not a stranger to. You’ve been doing some research on this and, and have some updates for us. But AI, I mean, it seems to be the, obviously the, the hot topic, like I said, at these conferences or just in the industry, outside of the industry in general, and then pairing it with guest review response, something that Travel Media group obviously known for. We’re coming up on the 2 million guest review mark. Which Is a fantastic milestone, really exciting milestone, but I figured we could start the episode by just kind of talking about how Travel Media Group got into guest review response. A lot of the stuff and solutions that we’ve talked about on this podcast have been through hotel your feedback. Talk to us a little bit about this journey in review response, and then we’ll get to maybe where the state of the industry is now, and AI and guest review response. Jason Lee: Well, you know, working with hotels the way we have for a lot of years, almost 10 years ago, we were getting a lot of requests to do review response. And so, we’re like, yeah, I think we can do it. And then as we got into it, we realized like, wow, this is complicated because every hotel’s different. The vibe of the hotel is different, but also the amenities and policies, the quantities, the types of sites that are, have more text or less text ratings and like, I think even getting deeper into, you know, how a hotel wants to use language. And so like, it’s even beyond voice, you know? So it’s like it’s literally grammar and also types of words. And so I think, so we started in this very simple place, very innocent, like, we can do this. This is gonna be awesome. And I think the first offering we had was 20 reviews. It was an SLA of 20 reviews a month. It was TripAdvisor only and <laugh>. So we, like, we, we jumped to that and quickly, almost like instantly it was like, well, we need, we definitely need Google, and well, we definitely need Expedia. We definitely need booking. You know, so we had to adapt. And it went, the adoption was not just in the sites that we’ve brought on, it was also in the complexity of the response. It was also in then systematically creating a flow. So the review comes in, we have a writer that writes a response. That response goes to the property. So like, that stuff wasn’t initially there. It goes to the property, the property can edit it, and then, and then it goes live back on the site. So that whole process was also sort of formulated during those first, that first year, and then has become very perfected over time where, where we’ve taken that and we have all sorts of mechanisms to make sure we capture hotel voice, make sure we’re doing the right things, critical review pieces that we’re doing. So all of these things to really sort of make it as authentic as possible. So the guest, when the guest gets that response, it’s like, this is from this hotel. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I mean, a lot of people will ask with the review response, how can you talk so much about a subject? I think we’ve done over 10 webinars just talking about the nuances that go into a review response, because it is a feeling, right? Which is something we’re gonna talk about today. Because when people talk about AI, they talk typically about efficiencies and talking about streamlining processes. But really when it comes to guest review response, the end outcome, and you’ve talked about this before, is you want that guest to feel heard, and you want them to feel resolved If they have an issue, you want to show and show gratitude if they’re giving you a positive review. Any hotelier that’s listening to this that has responded to a review, knows the effort that it takes to respond to a review. You talked about in a video on your LinkedIn about the response sandwich and how, talk to us a little bit about that. I don’t wanna give that away too much. Jason Lee: The, so the, the, the response sandwiches that was this sort of traditional way that we have of creating a response, and it has to do with the intro of a response, the kind of middle of the sandwich being all of the issues of the review, and then the, the bottom layer of bread being the sort of outro, you know, how do we, how do we sign off of this? And, you know, I think kind of going to what you’re saying, you know, inside of that, we get into a much more complex version of that when we start to see guest emotion. So we start to like really understand where the guest is coming from. And I think if you look at like, why I do guest, why I would respond to reviews at all, why I would even engage in the activity, I engage in the activity, I feel like, number one, as a guest retention strategy, whether that’s positive or negative review, I feel like it’s a very strong guest retention strategy to, to give a great response back to, to the guest because the guest doesn’t experience it publicly. The guest is experiencing it through an email that they get back from the site that they wrote the review from. So they, they’re experiencing that like directly from you. So I think you start there, it resonates with, with, with potential guests as well. So if you think of the review responses, like these two major pillars of being guest retention, guest acquisition, right? In that order, you’re gonna have a successful review response strategy. Ryan Embree: So talk to us a little bit about when you first started kind of thinking about AI and where that might fit in with review response. Maybe, maybe just that story I think is a, is a really good use case for, ’cause I’m sure there’s a lot of hotels listening to this right now, being like exploring chat GPT and going, well, maybe this can help me respond to reviews or do some of these daily tasks that, that I, I’m told to do. So talk to us a little bit about your journey. Well, Jason Lee: What’s interesting is that we started, we started, we had a project in, in the works for a long time. This was early days this, so this, we, this is maybe going back four years. And so we had something called predictive response that was inside of, inside of our development strategy. And the deeper we got into predictive response, and this was using, machine learning and also using like traditional AI to create responses, but also sort of to like help our writers, create like initial responses. And what we found immediately, right, so like as we started that is that we would have to create a model, a individual AI model for each hotel because of the complexity of a locations, amenities, policies, you know, voice. So that stuff immediately was like, we, hey, we’re gonna have to do this. Then we, we then kind of pushed to the next level, which, which as generative AI started really coming out, we’re like, whoa, you know, this is, this is pretty crazy. You know, this is really interesting output for minimal input. And then as we started kind of pushing in like the early days of, of ChatGPT, and I think the first version that we did might’ve been, might’ve been two Oh, turbo or something. Anyway, it was like a very early version of it. And, and we were getting, you know, 60% like accuracy <laugh>, you know, at the, from that one, but it still wasn’t even close, and it still didn’t satisfy these other pieces and the main pieces to that being that sort of differentiation between locations and voice. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So talk to us a little bit. I, I think those, those learning lessons from the beginning are important because I think it’s, it’s really stuff that hoteliers should be looking out for. And we’re gonna kind of do a questions you should ask and, you know, maybe reading some of these responses. But, you know, what were some of those early lessons that you saw maybe where AI wasn’t hitting the mark? Jason Lee: I think in generative ai, the, the thing to really think about is that pretty much all output is based on input. So, so that, that is this really important flow. So input being this sort of like formulated, review. And a lot of people write reviews that way. So if you look at reviews, let’s say, you know, a big chunk of them are going to have a very similar kind of cadence to them. And so that’s why we have things like the review sandwich when we started off is that you could see a lot of similarity between how, how people wrote they had the good and bad of their stay or the all bad of their stay or the all good of their stay. But the input is really important in this case because especially in sites like Google, actually, I shouldn’t say that. All sites have a wide open input. So a guest can literally write anything about anything. You know, they could, they could write a whole, like, we’ve gotten TripAdvisor reviews about a per, like, it’s like a life story almost, you know, leading up to their stay. And so, generative AI, even today, even the most complex version of it today has real trouble with that. It has trouble knowing what to say to it. And so it, it starts to empathize with the guest and talk about their life back to them, right? <laugh>, so, so you can’t have that then. And then you have other things that are like short sentences, or sarcasm where it also sort of has a little bit of trouble. And so, so if you think about it in terms of messaging, it becomes really important. I if you take this casual approach to, to review response, which we don’t, by the way, <laugh>, but if you take this casual approach to it, you’re just like, yeah, you know, as long as it’s done, it’s done right. It’s that binary thing of it’s done, it not done. We don’t look at it like that. We look at it like, Hey, this is communication with this guest. This is, we think of it as we’re standing in front of them talking to them. So that has to be authentic. And the second that it’s not authentic, I think the, the reason to do it at all gets really fit. Ryan Embree: And what you’re, what we, what we talked about it’s easier. It’s gonna be easier to spot. And, you know, we were talking about off camera, how those first AI, social media images that you would see on your feed, there was a different sentiment there of like, oh wow, this is cool. How did they do this kind of thinking about, and now you can spot it from a mile away, at least I can, as far as the AI images go, that have been generated from a specific platform. When does that shift of sentiment start to turn about saying like, that this, this is cool and innovative to being like, well, they just threw this into a, a chat GBT, or they threw it into another AI image generator and then threw it on their feed. Maybe the, the care and effort weren’t, weren’t there. And in a industry where care and service are a priority, that is never the, that is never essentially the sentiment that you wanna show to your customer. You know, and, and talking about kind of in that same vein with, with AI and efficiency, what would be some questions you ask, because we’re gonna talk about it in a second. TMG has actually created a smart response and, and that input output is so important because there’s gonna be a lot of people right now that see this as a gap that responses aren’t being done. And come to your hotel or come to your portfolio hotels and say, well, hey, we can, we can do this for you. It’s a low price, it’ll be done, don’t worry about it. What would you, if you’re a hotel, you’re on the other side, what are some questions you’re asking to make sure that this is the right fit for you? Jason Lee: Well, you know, I think number one, okay, first of all, I think there’s a lot of, there’s a lot of like shapes and sizes makes and models of AI response, right? I think there’s a version of AI response where it’s a do it yourself, you know, where you go in, you see the response, you can edit it, and then you have to publish it, right? And then there’s another version that I think is the full pass through. So it’s the response all the way through to the published. So, I think in both cases, obviously you wanna make sure that all of your hotel details, and I’m talking all, all of your amenities, all of your policies, and anything that’s happening currently, renovations, things that are closed, that that, that those things can be added into the mo the response model. Ryan Embree: Quick point on this is, or example rather. So have a property, they have a parrot in their lobby, right Name Simba, right? Okay. If that detail is not in there, that this is a parrot in the lobby, a AI response could royally mess up, what, this is it, it could start addressing it as a person, it could start addressing it. It could see the, the name Simba and think of something else. Jason Lee: It’s the Lion King. Right? Ryan Embree: Exactly. So these are the details that Jason’s talking about. And I think those are the little nuances that we know that would, would be silly of being like, well, why would I, why would I say that this is a parrot, which, you know, people know that this is a parrot, it’s, it doesn’t translate. Jason Lee: And, and so I think that those things are critical. And then the next part of that would be, is there a human being looking at at least your critical reviews, right? I would say at the bare minimum, your, your negative reviews, your one and two star, maybe a, maybe 1, 2, 3, but for sure that there’s somebody seeing it before they publish live. And, and the only reason why I say that is because there is just way too much variance in terms of the input. So the, you’re just, it’s, and especially in negative reviews, and probably even more the, the, the one that is the most variant is TripAdvisor. Ryan Embree: And so many things can happen at a property that we’ve seen. I mean that we’ve, we’re talking about slip and false, we’re talking about discrimination claims from employees. I mean, these are things that would have a massive input. And, and I don’t want to scare any hoteliers and, and think about just the negative, let’s think about the positive, right? Someone had a really meaningful, whether it’s an anniversary, whether that they were visiting a loved one in a hospital and had a really great experience because an employee went out of their way to make their day, and then they’re greeted with a AI response that doesn’t understand the nuance of that sentiment and feeling there. I mean, that is a missed opportunity that can do just as much damage as a negative re review could do. So again, when you have non hospitality people or you know, even, you know, entrepreneurs or vendors that understand the AI space, but they don’t understand the hospitality, that’s where you can get into some, some really tricky waters here. All that to say, I mean, again, at Travel Media Group, you, we’ve embraced, we, we’ve got the guest experience snapshot that we’ve had an episode about here, but also TMG Smart Response. Talk to us a little bit about that and kind of that story behind that development. Jason Lee: Yeah, so, so we developed TMG Smart response, you know, really thinking about maybe the more budget conscious hotel you’re looking at, looking at this other kind of tier of response. So our premium review response solution really hitting all of the marks. And with a live person writing it and a live person curating it and editing it, making sure before it goes live, that all of those pieces are right. So you have this sort of two human touch review response process, which is like one of the best in the industry. And, and so then when we got to generative, AI or the AI pieces, we started looking at ways of incorporating all maybe that same kind of flow, but, but using generative AI as the writer, which we had not done previously, despite what people think, because a lot of meetings we have, they’re just like, well, this is done through AI, right? And we’re like, no, it’s a human. So when we started that when we started this process, we were really, what we were looking at is all the things that I just talked about is like, like how much can we put in from an instruction standpoint? Like what is the inst, how does the instruction set, mimic the hotel voice, mimic the hotel policy, mimic the hotel, hotel amenities and their surroundings, and then also have that other like little variant, which would be when I’m renovating or when things are happening, that that, that the ge that a guest 100% is going to address. If it’s something major, like if your elevators are shut down for two weeks, right? And everybody has to take the stairs, or even for a weekend, you’re gonna hear about it. So, so not being able to respond, not not being able to respond accurately to that is a, is a crazy miss. And so what’s what’s interesting about this is that we think of it like the same, it’s the same kind of thing. So these same notes that we, that we have in our system for live writers, it’s that same concept is going in an instruction set to the generative ai. And the reason why that’s so important is because it, it creates accurate, you know, thoughtful responses, but there’s also a bunch of other things that we’ve done, to our version of, of AI response that also makes it very special. Because one of the things that anybody who’s listening to this, who’s ever used chatt, PT knows is that ChatGPT or copilot or any of the generative AI is that it’s verbose. It’s verbose. And, and, and depending on the input, it’s very accurate to the input. So if, if I, let’s say I, let’s say I mention four things that were dirty in my room, right? <laugh>, it will, you know, in a, in a, in an untrained generative AI response, it will mention all four of those things. It’ll, it’ll mimic those back and have a, you know… Ryan Embree: Which is not great for, by the way, for search. Jason Lee: No, it’s not. And it’s weird. It’s weird to the guest because it’s like, why are you listing all these things out? Why wouldn’t you just say we we’re sorry, we’re sorry that things were not clean in your room. We’re sorry that you had these cleanliness issues. We’re working hard to, you know, blah, blah, blah. So I think that’s, that’s another big piece to what we, what we looked at is, ’cause we, like you said, on the outset, we have, we’ve had 2 million reviews, right? We, we have, we have tons and tons of data and, and the responses that we have have created are from professional writers. So it’s not like the input that we’ve created inside of this mo in inside of this model is from the internet, right? Where you’re, where you’re, where you’re subject to everything, you’re subject to a short response, you’re subject to a template response. So, so that’s where I think, you know, what we have developed is as close as you can get. And then at the end of that process, there’s still a live person. So, so the hotel can still edit that response, they can still interact with it, but there’s still a live person before that goes live to make sure that it goes through, that there’s no anomaly in it. Ryan Embree: And that’s a piece of mind that is, again, you know, we talked about some of those worst case scenarios, those PR disasters that might happen. Some, some even having to do with, again, slip and fall. You do not want that in the hands of, without a real human touch on that. So it’s kind of more of a hybrid solution than anything. Alright. So for those hoteliers that might be kind of considering this and going the AI route, kind of what would you caution them as far as using either a hybrid model like TMG Smart response or even another AI review response vendor? Jason Lee: Yeah, I have a, I probably have a unique view into this because of the number of reviews that we’ve responded to, ’cause we’re so close to, and we have so many different types of hotels that need response. And so what I, what I think is fascinating to me, still to this day, you know, all the way we’re in 2025, and this is definitely a year for AI stuff, but I still feel like, what is your motivation? What is your goal? What is your why? So going back to review response, why do I do it? Am I doing it because it’s a brand mandate? Am I doing it because, you know, there’s QA scores or there’s guest experience scores on Expedia. What is my motivation to do this thing, this, this activity? And if your motivation to do this activity is for those things that I talked about earlier, guest retention as a guest retention strategy, as a guest acquisition strategy, meaning that at the end of that funnel, when they’re looking, they’re gonna read my responses and see what my brand and my version of hospitality is. I think it’s critical at that, at those point. I think that’s critical information inside there. That’s my opinion. So that’s where a, that’s where, where the premium version of it, the live, live version is, is where it’s at. Now if you’re in a, in in that situation, you’re like, man, I have a ton of reviews, you know, I can’t really afford to do all of this, you know, this way, but I need to get these done and I need to get them done in the best possible way. I think that then smart response or an AI response becomes, becomes viable. It’s a great actual alternative. But again, like we were talking about, not all of these are, they’re not all the same. This is the, there’s, there’s a big difference between what we’re doing and what somebody who’s like, Hey, there’s a need here. I pasted a review into this, into this chat box and, and it spit back a passable response. Let’s just go <laugh>. Ryan Embree: I think, you know, my, my suggestion would be a huge red flag is if you’re talking to a AI review response vendor and there is no, the only thing they’re giving you is a price. There’s no questions about your property, what you’re trying to accomplish, anything like that. Quantity of reviews is another great question. If there is no questions asked, that should be a huge red flag for you. I think, again, with the respondent resolve, we could be in a space, Jason, where we’re talking in a year, maybe a couple years, where almost every review is going to have a response because of this new technology, which is great. And this right now where we’re seeing a lot of hotels that have 50% or in the low thirties or something or something like that. Some, some hotels management companies are doing a great job. They’re in the nineties, but they’re all templates, right? Ryan Embree: So what type of portfolio or or or review response strategy are you looking for? Because again, I think a great way to say is those hotel management companies that have 90, 95% response rate, but they’re all templates, is that better than one out of every two reviews having a true, authentic response to it? Right? And that’s, that’s I guess the question because what’s gonna happen is that the tide is gonna rise, and if everyone’s doing it, then what’s gonna be, what’s gonna be the differentiator for you? And if it is, if it’s live people, hospitality professionals responding to your reviews and getting that authenticity and trust through review response, that is a channel and a portal to do that and to get through to guests. So really exciting stuff. Thank you for, for joining us on the suite and spot and talking about this. Again, this is a, a very hot topic right now and, and it’s changing almost every single day. I think that’s the other thing is to try to stay up to date as much as you can, because these models, like you were talking about, they change so frequently, but you know, as, as I was reminded by someone is we’re gonna get to a space again where service is gonna be, AI is gonna put service, real service to a premium again. And I’m excited to be in that space and, and kind of see what that, that looks like. So any final thoughts before we wrap up, Jason? No, Jason Lee: Just, I think, again, I, I really wanna stress that part. I know I’ve been like hammering that pretty hard, but I think you gotta really assess your motivation for doing this and find the right motivation, because I think it really, it, I shouldn’t say, I think we’ve seen that it actually matters to the guest. It matters in a retention strategy. And I, and I do feel like the better the response, you know, the better the output, but it also has, there’s a lot of complexity inside of, you know, something feeling authentic there. And, and I <laugh> it’s crazy because we’re seeing these companies come out of the woodwork with just straight an AI response, just, you know, no touch and there’s Ryan Embree: A, there’s an inherent risk to that. Yeah, just like as if you were to put a, if you were to put a microphone attach to chat GPT and, and had every single guest come through the lobby and talked, talked to them without any input from, from you or your staff, you know, and we’ve both been behind the front desk before and know what an angry can spot an angry guest about 20 yards away from us, the way that they’re walking. If you’re willing to take that risk of, of getting that feedback without any input from you or, or we’re hospitality professionals that have years of experience of dealing with this versus what we were talking about, some of the pitfalls of, of right now where generative AI is. Jason Lee: Yeah. And it’s amazing. I mean, the technology’s amazing and it’s evolving, like you were saying. I I do, I feel like it’s going in really incredible places. Like I said, that the, that first time we were looking at these models four years ago to today, it’s an incredible advancement. And I think AI automation all of these things and I, I think we’re gonna see a lot of it in reservations. I think we’re gonna see a lot of it in on the, on the supply side. Ryan Embree: And that’s a great point if you’re gonna become more efficient, because I think that’s where the FOMO is for hotels is, is we’re not efficient and, and AI can create us being more efficient. Do you want to do it in a space that has such a direct connection to service and customer service for, for your guests? Jason Lee: Absolutely. Ryan Embree: Well thank you so much Jason for joining me on the Suite Spot. We’ll definitely keep a close eye and ear, maybe have an update for, you know, when some of these technologies because of how fast changing it is. Thank you for listening to The Suite Spot and we’ll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, breaks down the key takeaways from the 2025 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, from March 17-19. This prestigious annual industry event provided valuable insights, numerous panels, and notable speakers from all across the hotel industry. Learn what critical factors are shaping hospitality in 2025 and beyond by tuning in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, fresh off our trip of covering the 36 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. So excited to be, first of all, covering the event. It was an incredible couple days up in Atlanta, Georgia. Some exciting announcements, which we’re gonna talk about that on this podcast. Some industry trends, insights, interviews. We brought it all to you. We came jam packed back with content, and really excited to share some of the key takeaways and issues that were raised. You know, we’ve talked about this before on the podcast. Love attending these events where we get all types of brands, owners, developers, hotel owners, individual GMs at these events, because all the ideas, topics, really important topics in our industry really float to the top. And, you know, you get a really fresh perspective about how everything, how everyone’s feeling about our industry and this year maybe a little bit darker clouds than we hear in your years past, but also just how amazing our industry is. And, and, you know, I’m gonna start with my first takeaway. The theme, we talked about it on the episode with Sarah Moss, was Elevate your game. Love some of the programming that was involved. Molly Bloom, the poker princess who ran high stake poker games. The theme was incredible. Jesse Cole of the Savannah Bananas, everybody was wearing jerseys. He’d certainly brought the energy. If you’ve, if you’ve ever seen one of those games, there’s a wait list now for a, a long amount of time to try to get tickets to those. But I think the, you know, there were, there were some receptions all around that, you know, gaming style and theme. But really, you know, my takeaway was that we’re at a place where hotels really have to elevate their game too, and we’re seeing it which is the really, really cool part. Hotels are getting creative with their f and b experiences, right? Utilizing different things sourcing because the cost has risen, the operational costs, the margins are becoming very thin for hoteliers right now. Whether it’s the price of, of goods, whether it’s the prices of wages right now hoteliers are elevating their game to get creative. They’re getting creative to get deals done right? And it’s events like Hunter and these investment conferences where you’re in the room, so to speak, shaking hands, that really can be the difference between a deal getting over the finish line and not certainly a lot of talk about AI technology. You know, looking back on last year’s takeaways and reading and, and listening to kind of some of my thoughts, I felt like we’re in a much more comfortable place than we were a year ago. I still think our industry is still trying to figure out the best way to use ai, but I think what’s happened is now our grand illusions of the transformation that AI can bring to our business, the expectations of those have maybe been just reeled in a little bit. And we’re starting to take those baby steps in AI technology, and we’re looking for things like operational efficiency to empower our employees, and even AI used by guests and travelers are becoming more frequent and prevalent. And really what that speaks to is the importance of a IO, right? And the what type of content about your hotel is out there. That’s why UGC user generated content is so critical. It’s so important because travelers are using this information on other sources. Maybe that was crazy to think 10 years ago that travelers wouldn’t be necessarily using Google first. Now, it might be social media now, it might be chat, GBT or other AI technologies to essentially create an entire itinerary for you without taking one look at any of your digital marketing. It’s a scary place to be in if you don’t know what’s out there and what is being said. And I think hotels are hotel owners, brands are starting to embrace that. They’re starting to look for ways that they can leverage that, right? We’re always looking for a leg up on competition, but it’s that operational efficiency that we’re, we’re seeing with ai, little use cases here and there that I think those baby steps, everyone feels a lot more comfortable. There was a little bit of, and I’ve talked about this before on this podcast of that fomo of saying, I’m not utilizing AI to the fullest potential right now in my business. And where that might be the case. I think a lot more people are comfortable with the little places that they’ve implemented ai, they’re getting used to using AI in their business. It, it’s just becoming a little bit more natural to them. So, one of the things that I was very excited about not hearing as much as that I’ve looked back on my notes was staffing, right? So we’ve talked about this in this podcast at nausea, really, we’ve had a whole series dedicated it in our hospitality campus crawl series, but staffing really wasn’t as prevalent as a topic as it was in years past. Now, whether that’s because the priority list is a little bit different this year, I’ve got issues with trying to sell assets or capital, and I’m not so much worried about my filling my front desk agent role. Who knows, right? there might be bigger problems than staffing right now, but it was refreshing to kind of go to one of these conferences and not talk about the workforce as much, which hopefully means that we’re getting in a place a plateau of stability when it comes to hospitality, staffing. Something that, again, we’ve been talking so much about on this podcast. But, you know, second takeaway, again, looking back on my notes, the cautious optimism that was last year to say, well just wait until 2025 this year. A little bit more cautious, a little bit less optimism. And I think that the, the phrase now becomes just wait until 25 to wait and see through 2025. I feel like we’ve been talking about this the past couple years waiting for that recession that has never come. I call it a recession again, dot, dot again, but, you know, there’s other markets. It, it was very reminded to us that, that even tough times right now in order to make a deal, there are still markets that have great opportunity. We talked with Jeff Crabiel from Castle Rock Asset Management, who’s got a lot of assets, including the Bobby and Nashville. You know, there’s some exciting things happening in that market. He, he’s bullish on, on the Nashville market right now. You’ve got the World Cup that Titans are building a brand new stadium. There were a lot of things in that market that he liked that maybe a year ago, Nashville, the Nashville market had a little bit of softening because it was running so hot during Covid. So it really just depends. There’s ebb and flows, and I think we need to be mindful of that, is that every market is different in hospitality, there’s different polls. There’s different levers and polls and so many aspects that impact occupancy a DR including variables like natural disasters and how those play a role. You know, we talked to a couple brand leaders that were at extended day ho extended stay hotels, and they were, they were talking about, you know, obviously never want a natural disaster to happen, but that has impact, has a major impact on occupancy. Are some of those California fires, hurricanes, and where we are in the state of Florida, those extended stay hotels are getting occupancy from, from these types of events. So there’s a lot of variables wi within these markets as well. There was a lot of talk about how international travel will be affected by these geopolitical forces and outside factors that are happening right now. Does that have an, an impact? We’ve seen such a return revenge travel of the international travel, excited to come and spend their money in the us. Does that change in 2025? What happens if if corporate travel and leisure pull back in fear of a recession, right? Those are all different aspects. So again, I wouldn’t say stormy clouds ahead, I would just say a little less optimism and a little more cautious, when we talk about that co cautious optimism. But, you know, hunter also did a great job of talking and, and breaking it out by segments right now, just like different markets, different segments are performing very differently. The luxury, you know, the rise of the $1,000 rate. How many times have we, you know, kind of seen that news article and talking about how there are, there is a market where people are paying $1,000 a night or more to stay at a hotel, probably something that was unfathomable maybe 25 years ago. But there’s a bigger segment of travelers that are doing now. Now, what that means is, obviously with the rise in these rates or the rise of guest expectations, you know, the margins might be become a little different on the p and l, but the margins for the guest experience become very, very small. When you’re paying that much for a rate, the expectations, the guest expectations, which have already soared to an all time high, when you’re, when you’re staying at a place like that, even the smallest, the smallest little road bump in your stay can make a huge, huge deal. Those luxury, ultra luxury hotels certainly need to be mindful of that and do everything that they can to meet those expectations and set those expectations properly. We’ve talked about that on this podcast, right? There’s also some three stay things that we can do on our social media review. Response is a big place to kind of set the expectation, educate our guests before they arrive on, on site, so they’re not having any of those unwanted surprises, as we like to say in our industry. We always like the nice surprises, right? The surprise and delight out there. However, on the, the other end of the spectrum is economy and, and the economy segment, which has been hurt. It’s hurting right now. It’s, there are a lot of travelers where inflation has certainly take its toll and is impacting those economy, that economy segment a little bit more than it has with the luxury and ultra luxury. So what does that look like in 25? Will your economy traveler, you know, see any relief, and again, be encouraged to continue to travel right now because that segment is hurting. So it’s not just about markets, it’s also about segments. It’s also about, you know, supply and demand right now with, we talked about the rising construction costs that there are, it might not be the best time to build, right? I, I, I kinda labeled this takeaway as to build or not to build, you know, that’s really the question. We, we obviously have a, a, a supply problem in our industry. We’re underdeveloped, but right now, does it make sense to build new, that that’s where a lot of panelists and to topics, or a lot of panelists and sessions were talking about where that rise in construction cost, what it takes to develop now. But brands are hearing this and they’ve really been prepping for this for a long time. We spoke to a couple global brand leader heads, one at IHG. We actually had the opportunity at the sweet spot, so make sure you subscribe and follow us on YouTube and on social media. So you can see all these interviews that I’m talking to you about in this episode to head down to the IHG Design Center in Atlanta to see what they were working on. And we spoke to a representative from Hotel Indigo and walk us through some of the things that they’re doing to combat that. They have a preferred designer program, which really helps the speed to opening to make sure that that opening date is on time, which obviously with construction, you have a lot of variables there. And, and every day that that hotel is not open is costing you, they’re doing things to certainly help these owners become more efficient. And not only the building process, but also the prototypes. You know, we talked to the global brand leader at Homewood Suites who introduced a new prototype that they’ve been working on, which was able to get them a few more suites. And what that means, a couple more nights per day over the course of a year or years. That means all the difference for an owner. So trying to look for efficiencies, we’ve seen that by brands, but seeing that was really cool. And, and for those that are building, they’re, you’re seeing a lot more personalization in the building. They want the owner’s insights. They want the owner’s touch to it. Passion projects. Will you, it’s really, really cool to see, you know, with Hotel Indigo, they call it a story. And each property starts with a story where they break down what the neighborhood looks like, and they incorporate these little, you know, Easter eggs into the design of the property, which I absolutely love to see. Being that I lived in Atlanta for a couple years, they kind of had they had a room that was split down the middle with two different neighborhoods in Atlanta, and you could see the flavor and taste and the designs of each one. It was really, really cool to see. I am sold on Hotel Indigo. I definitely want to visit one now and saying that, and, you know, my final takeaway at the 36 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference was just the energy of this event. Specifically. It was just bursting at the seams. So much so that really excited to announce one of the most exciting, really evolutions of this show, getting kind of a history of it in a long time, which was the fact that they are gonna be moving venues to the Signia by Hilton Atlanta in 2026. Very excited. It was a major announcement. Funny enough, the Sweet Spot was actually on site at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta as the announcement was going on. It was really cool to see. We’ve got a spotlight on our, our Sweet Spot Spotlight series. We’ll be releasing that episode in a couple weeks. Beautiful property, incredible, space. So versatile. Talk about a story. I mean, from everything from the rooms to the, to the conference rooms, the restaurants, everything has a story in that building. It’s a new build. It’s the, the first ever new Build Signia brand. It was so cool to see. Want to give a shout out to the team over there for welcoming us and hosting us, and, and we did know that announcement was coming, but so happy to hear that. And, you know, got a little bit of a sneak peek of what 2026 Hunter is going to look like. And it is exciting. It’s, it is a network, first style. The old trade show floor is, is, you know, is evolving. And, and this is just the perfect property to do that. I’m so excited to bring that to you. And, just honored to be at the, the Hunter Show. The Hunter team did a fan, fantastic job, a fabulous job of putting on this event. Saw so many individuals that we work with here at Travel Media Group, hotel partners that we work with as, as well as people that I’ve met personally along the line doing these interviews. So thank you, hunter and, and your team, the, the Hunter team for, for inviting us and hosting us. We cannot wait for 2026 at the Beautiful Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Thank you all for listening, and we’ll talk to you next time on The Sweet Spot to join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Tune in to the inaugural installment of the Suite Spot: Road Trip series!  In this episode the Suite Spot takes a drive to SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront to meet with Area General Manager, Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Marketing & Sales, Samantha Pritchard.  Alex and Samantha give viewers an inside look at the property’s signature restaurant, The Sand Bar, and why this hotel needs to be the next destination on all traveler lists.   Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you’re listening to us or watching us on our YouTube channel, you’ll see that we are not in our content creation studio in Maitland. We have hit the road for a new series, the Suite Spot Road Trip, and we are here at the Spring Hill Suites, Jacksonville Beach, Ocean Front. And I’m here with two wonderful guests joining me today, general Area General Manager Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Samantha Pritchard. Alex. Samantha. Thank you so much for hosting us on the Suite Spot at your beautiful ocean front property. Alex Reitter: We’re happy to have you. Thanks for coming out. Ryan Embree: Very excited to be here. As it is, Suite Spot tradition. One of the coolest thing about hospitality, we were talking about off camera is just our, the history, the DNA that gets built over the years. Maybe different brands, different management companies that you’ve been a part of. Everyone has a unique story, but it all leads us back to people serving people, right. That that’s why we love hospitality. So love to hear maybe your backgrounds in hospitality and what let you here to a brand new property, which we’re gonna talk about here shortly. Alex, we’ll go ahead and start with you. Alex Reitter: Okay. Well, thanks Ryan. Thanks for coming out. Of course. Again. So, yeah, I think I have an interesting start in Hospitality fell into actually start out on small cruise ships. Intercoastal, I’m not even sure if you knew that Samantha. Samantha Pritchard: No. New Skills. Alex Reitter: So it was definitely a interesting start. You know, uh, intercoastal cruising, seven night trips up and down the, uh, east coast after college. You know, we did trips in Maine, Chesapeake Bay, all the way down to Florida. It was, you know, amazing experience. But when you’re working six to eight weeks on a boat, nonstop, you kind of look for other options. And hotel kind of was a natural fit for me. From there, I’ve had a chance to actually work a courtyard down the street from this Spring Hill. And then actually a little time in the Florida Keys, uh, most recently in a Marriott in Durham, North Carolina. The weather got a little cold. It snowed a couple times on us, and we said, let’s get back to Florida. So excited to be here. And excited to work with Samantha. I’ve only been here a couple months and ready to get the ball rolling. Ryan Embree: Well, I think you’re our first guest that has got their hospitality start. I’ve, I’ve heard behind the front desk I’ve heard bellman. I don’t know if I’ve ever heard on a cruise, so that’s very, very cool. But it’s a story that resonates probably with a lot of our hotel audience, and listeners sometimes just kind of jumping from place to place. But again, people serving people, hospitality. Samantha, you’ve had kind of a different journey here. Talk to us a little bit about that. Samantha Pritchard: Yeah, so I started my hospitality journey in the Convention Visitor Bureau with Visit Jacksonville. It was, it was some of the best years just learning the business, being around people that have been doing it a long time. So then I left the CVB and went out as a director of sales. So my first job on property was a director of sales, just from some of the hotel connections made during that time there. So jumped in at a Courtyard brand, had the privilege of opening a beautiful new residence in downtown Jacksonville, which is a cool market. And then come out here to the beach also at the courtyard that Alex mentioned down the street. Started out here in that, in that hotel, and then now here at the Spring Hill as well in Fairfield. So it’s a good, good reach. Ryan Embree: It’s such a unique perspective. I’m sure you got being on the other side too, and probably serves you right now in your role, uh, as director of sales and marketing. And we’re gonna talk about this, this new property just over a year old, but it feels brand new in here. You know, one of the, one of the things I first noticed when you come up from the elevator, um, if you’ve ever been to like one of those all inclusive resorts and you get walk into a lobby, you see the ocean behind you, whoever the architects were for, for this project did a fantastic job of doing that. But talk to us a little bit about being kind of a newer property, how you establish yourselves in this market, but also kind of look towards the future and what you can do. Because you’re trying to obviously get, get a, a story and a name out there. Samantha, we’ll start with you. Samantha Pritchard: Yeah. So I think with this property, as you mentioned, it really sells itself. I’m really privileged in that way. You come off that lobby and you go, whoa. Yeah, this is a Spring Hill. I say that all the time. Yeah. I think kind of the strategies to grow the business when you’re new is visibility builds, you know, credibility and then executing it well with the team, which Alex and the team do a beautiful job of when I book it, when they come on site, they get what they expect. So that’s what the consumer’s looking for, what the guests are looking for. Getting in front of key decision makers in town. You know, a lot of our clients aren’t necessarily out at the beach. They’re more inland or in a drive market to us. So that’s kind of a unique way, um, to have to target them. I can’t just kind of roam about looking for clients that way. I need to go on the internet prospect that way and invite them out to experience the hotel. Absolutely. Once they experience it’s usually pretty easy. Ryan Embree: And I’m sure we’re gonna talk about in a little bit, I’m sure social media certainly helps you too, because like I said, it’s very picturesque coming into that lobby. Alex, talking about being GM, you’ve been, you know, a couple different places. What is it like kind of managing a, a newer property like this and making sure it hits those expectations that Samantha was talking about? Alex Reitter: So, I mean, I gotta say upkeep is always a challenge on, especially on this beach front, but I think it’s really just dealing with the staff and setting expectations and goals. Customer service is obviously high on our list, again, they’re walking in, they already have the, you know, it’s a, it’s a hundred, you know, this is great. Like they’re already coming back. We just have to supply what they want, get what they need, be available to assist them. I think that’s kind of, you know, makes it easy. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and for those that are watching us on YouTube right now, if you can see, we are just a baseball throwaway right now from the pier and the beach. Paint a picture for maybe those travelers that haven’t been to this area of what they can expect, you know, outside of just having the beach right here, here, because on this side or on the other side rather, uh, there’s tons of stuff to do, right, Samantha? Samantha Pritchard: So there’s plenty of things to do. What I like to tell people is you can either walk, bike, or hop in the car. You have choices. Within our area, we’ve got 10 to 12 dining options along with the beautiful sandbar that we’re sitting in right now. Our ocean front restaurant that is one of the top rated restaurants in the area. You can just hop out the front door and have everything at your fingertips similar to the all-inclusive resort that you mentioned. So it’s a nice kinda unexpected thing. We’ve got a Starbucks on site too, so you don’t have to go far for your morning, you know, wake up that people are used to. So you can really create a weekend or a stay that you can remember by starting your day with a beach walk, going out to grab a bite to eat at a local restaurant, and then also have a stay here. So, where else can you do that in a big metropolitan city? Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And Alex, you said originally from this area, you’ve returned back here. When they kind of introduced this project to you, you saw where the location was, what stood out to you? Alex Reitter: Obviously the location is perfect. I mean, why not? You know, ocean front hotel, beautiful oceanfront hotel. So it was a win right away. I have some family in the area, so that also was important for us. So we’re like, let’s, let’s get back to Jacksonville. It was sad when we left. I never wanted to leave, really, but I think I had to for newer opportunities and to challenge myself. And so I wanted to come back for another new challenge and see what we can do with this property. I think pushing the level, pushing the service culture is gonna be exciting for this property. Super family friendly location. Spring Hill’s a unique brand includes free breakfast, so ocean front property, you got the free breakfast in the morning, you can go to the beach for the day, go do something to eat for lunch or, you know, and then come back and have dinner here, get the kids to bed. It’s really a great, you can’t beat it for a family. I think of younger kids. If you have a small dog, bring it with you. ’cause we have, you know, a lot of pets as well. So, um, it’s all in one package, I think. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, bustling, everything bustling at breakfast this morning when we came down here and you hosting us, you know, we’re gonna talk about the spacious rooms and everything that Spring Hill Suites brand has to offer. And again, why that makes kind of perfect blend of, you know, that that hot term in hospitality – bleisure right now that I think people love and hate at the same time. But in 2025, especially a newer property like this, it really comes down to embracing and getting the community involved in something like this. And I’m sure being that this is one of the newer projects, hotel projects in, in a while in this area, it was really easy to get, you know, the community really hyped about this. And you’ve gotten that local support, like you were saying, Samantha, with this restaurant here. Talk to us about how you have kind of approached from a sales and marketing position of making those community ties in a really short period of time. Samantha Pritchard: Um, and one thing we, I wanted to mention about the prior thing is this hotel is very approachable, as Alex mentioned, it’s family friendly. You can also come here for a corporate meeting and it’s very approachable. No one feels stuffy. You don’t have to wear a jacket in our restaurant. You don’t have to, you know, put on, you know, closed toed shoes clearly to come to come into the restaurant. You know, it’s very approachable and I think that’s where the traveler is trending. Right now is wanting to be able to, like you said, bleisure, do both, and feel really comfortable doing so. To answer your question about how we get the community involved is we want to have events and activations on property. Where they look to us is, what is the Spring Hill have going on for Valentine’s Day? We just wrapped up two seatings for a beautiful dinner here on the ocean. We activate kid activities, you know, we’re looking, doing maybe pool events in the summertime. Just really creating different activities where the locals can engage. Jacksonville Beach really thrives on local involvement in local pools. So when the hotel was built, some of the locals went, wait a minute. That’s different than, than the norm. But I think we’ve proven ourselves to be a viable and thriving business that, that serves our locals as well as our guests out of the area. Ryan Embree: And I think that’s important. Right. I mean, we saw a big shift, Alex, when, you know, obviously the pandemic happened a couple years ago, and I think people started to look a little bit closer to home and saying, what have I not explored in my area? So having a new property like this, what are you seeing right now? Are you kind of hearing feedback from a lot of out of towners? Are you seeing a lot of locals at the property? Alex Reitter: So, a little still new, but I mean, we are in a perfect location because Jackson International Airport’s a great size, but the drive market is, you know, Atlanta, not far, Georgia, you know, it’s all to the beach. It’s a great location. Good highways to get here. I 1095. Uh, so the drive market’s easy. The beach is great. And again, all the offerings of Jacksonville from the Jaguars, which disappointing year, but after I go into that come back. But yeah, I mean, you know, great golf area, great golf community. There’s, you know, other, you know, top golfs in town, you know, some other cool events in the area that you can go to different arenas. Samantha Pritchard: Yeah, festivals are a big thing in Jacksonville Beach where we really do well. Going into peak season on Saturday, just this weekend we have the Seawalk Music Festival. Locals all flood out. I think our Starbucks might get hit that first thing maybe the next morning as well. People come into town for those things. Supergirl Surf Pro is an awesome national surf competition we have in November. What a gift. Like, it’s November a quieter time here at the beach, and we have this massive national surf competition out back at the pier. So it really can vary. It looks different every single day. What we have come across my desk come across, you know, the hotel. But it’s neat to see kind of how the locals embrace that as well as our guests. Ryan Embree: Well let’s talk about some of those events that might be held at the property because one of the benefits you were talking to me again about is the versatility of this, right? I think it goes back to that theme of this isn’t your average SpringHill Suites been open, you know, newer property, but I’m sure you’ve hosted, you know, a ton of events and meetings and groups. Can you share any examples of really that versatility and how maybe groups have come in here and used the space differently? Alex Reitter: We just emptied out this space this past weekend. So every table and chair was pulled out and we had to bring in more because we had too big of a group kind of book. And we thought it was gonna be a little bit smaller. And then it just kept growing and growing and team came together. Ryan Embree: Good problem to have sometimes, right? Alex Reitter: You know, it was a great opportunity for the team, but hope we won’t do too many of those. But we’re, you know, I remember if it works for the property, it works for the group and they wanna do it, we’ll pull everything out and give them the space. And they had a great event. Team had fun putting it on, you know, pulling out all these tables and chairs isn’t fun, but they had a positive attitude and we took, got the job done and it was, I think it was fun. Samantha Pritchard: Seeing the team, I think since I’ve joined, joined the hotel now six months ago, fully, it’s really neat to see the team be able to push the boundary of what a Spring Hill does. And like I mentioned to you when we first talked about coming on the podcast is, Hey, we’ve got a great pool patio. Could we fit 30? Well, what if we do this? Or what if we, and just collaborating with them and getting their buy-in on it. It’s been really beautiful to see, like Alex said, we’re taking every single table and chair out on a Saturday morning at 10:00 AM Is that what they wanna be doing after two events the night prior? Maybe not. But it’s so encouraging to me as a sales leader to be able to say, we can do this because I have the teams backing. One creative thing that we’ve gotten into lately is we take our corner suite meeting spaces up at the front corners of the building facing inland, we pull the furniture out again, you see a theme, we pull the furniture out of the rooms and we can set it up in a U-shape for up to 15 to 18 people. And it’s amazing how many corporate folks, you know, you think they want a stuffy boardroom with a big boardroom table, and I’ve sold properties like that in the past, but when they walk in and they see that beach view, or they see kinda the unique setup, but they can come in here for lunch, all of a sudden it’s not a hurdle. And people think like, well, I’ll never buy that. It’s a guest room. There’s a bed in there. How do we, how do we sell that? And mostly clients are just happy to be at this property and, and they pay rental and our team can service it with coffee breaks and lunch breaks as you would at a regular conference room. Um, so that’s been neat to kind of push the envelope and, and it’s been a profitable change for us. Ryan Embree: I mean that’s, uh, another shift, you know, kind of talking about again, traveler preferences and, and experience business travel. You know, maybe they’re not seeing each other as much in the office, but a trip out to, you know, Jacksonville Beach for a corporate meeting doesn’t sound too bad, It’s true. And, and being able to do, you know, a, a multitude of things. Meet in the, uh, meet in, uh, a, you know, makeshift meeting room and then come over here to the sand bar and, and have a drink afterwards. So really, I think being in that flexible space, that versatility of having a property like this really sets you up for success. Because any event planner can come in here and really get creative with your team and say, this is the type of vibe we want. Listen, we love your location. Right? We’ve already talked about that. How can we make this work? And, you know, I think it’s those hotels that are, have a listening ear and are open to those ideas. And, and typically that happens with newer properties, right? You know, sometimes there’s just restrictions with an older property it was like, we literally can’t do this. We can’t, you know, host this many people in this space. Um, but having a property like this really, really helps you do that. Uh, we talked a lot about what there is to do outside of the property, obviously, again, with the beach right here. But certainly when you’re talking about the 2025 traveler experience, you talk about what’s on property, right? Because it’s more than just what happens outside. It’s no longer four rooms in a bed. You know? Talk to us a little bit about this restaurant that we’re, we’re in here and maybe some of the other amenities, Alex, that you have on property. Alex Reitter: Yeah. So, I mean, awesome restaurant. You obviously can’t beat the view, love the surfer club. You just gotta get that out. Ryan Embree: Sure. And you can watch it. I was having dinner here yesterday and you, you can just watch people surf. I mean, it’s like almost people turn on their TVs to watch it. You got that. Live action right there for you. Alex Reitter: Yeah. And even all the live action at the beach is always fun in Jacksonville, no matter what. So it’s not even just a surfer. It gonna be an interesting time out here. So, but yeah, I mean, great. Many of great full service restaurant, full service bar, everything’s, you know, can’t say enough how good the staff does on the service in the guests and the presentation we present on the food. Ryan Embree: I can personally attest to that having, uh, been at the restaurant last night and having a mahi sandwich and, uh, enjoying a nice cocktail as well. So, and you can’t beat that ambiance that you, that you’ve set up here. So on the way through Breakfast, Fitness Center, Samantha, some of the other amenities. Samantha Pritchard: Sure. So, we’ll start with the fitness center ’cause I’ve got an exciting update for you on the fitness center. So the fitness center, as you can see is large. We’ve got six or eight treadmills in there. There’s plenty of space to move around with that plenty of space. We also noted maybe we have an opportunity here to build a meeting space. Always looking for, always looking for an area for main space. Sure. Um, so with a being as large as you might have seen, or you can see on our website, we are looking at maybe sectioning off about half of that space. We’ve got an approval for Myriad to do so to create a meeting space for up to 20 to 25. So we’re finding that that’s a need in the market. We have the data to prove it, really like to look at the data in the market and say, this would be something that would be really beneficial for us. So we’re hoping this will start maybe later in this year, early next year. We’re, um, in kind of design plan right now to make that happen. So that’s exciting. The, the fitness center will still be a great resource, but just wanted to note that. Um, we’ve got our onsite Starbucks open each day, you know, all the way through. It serves our locals as well as our guest. Sandbar is mentioned. Um, having a restaurant at the beach that’s open at lunch is a unique thing for Jacksonville Beach. Most people have to leave their hotels where we even get guests from other hotels that come and enjoy lunch here and go, whoa, this is, and I, I joke, I call it chicken, all chicken. There’s no chicken all chicken here at the Sandbar. They make everything from scratch. They do a really beautiful job with the sauces each day and coming up with nice Caribbean, you know, style menu or beach style menus. So really something unique here. Ryan Embree: Well, we’ve, yeah, we’ve talked about it, Samantha, about how F&B is really impacting the traveler’s experience and how that is, you know, a good or a bad experience can make a break or stay, but it really sounds like you know, breakfast, lunch, dinner and then work it off at the fitness center. Samantha Pritchard: Or out back at the beach. Your choice. Ryan Embree: So, um, you know, really, really a lot to do here across the country. Maybe hotel’s falling out a little bit, uh, you know, from that winter season gearing up for spring break, maybe looking at those 60, 90 occupancy reports and, and getting really excited about or scared. Alex Reitter: A little bit of both. Ryan Embree: Exactly, with those travelers coming in. You mentioned it before about how travelers are starting to look at the Spring Hill saying, know, what are they doing, you know, this season or holiday as you gear up for spring break. Um, Samantha, we’ll start with you kind of how, how, how are you and the team getting ready? Any events going on, uh, that you’re particularly excited about? Samantha Pritchard: So our high season kicks off a little bit before spring break. We have the privilege of being just a couple miles from the players’ championship golf tournament out in Edra. So we are projecting, you know, sold out numbers over that time. We have some corporate folks that have bought out the restaurant for two days and for the morning. I mean, we’ve really kind of kick off into a, a high gear right out the gate in March. Um, and then spring break will open up, as we mentioned, some of we’re more of a family destination. You’re gonna see probably, you know, families with two or three kids enjoying the pool, enjoying the restaurant, maybe rather than the typical spring breaker you might imagine. Right. We really try to protect that environment for our guests there too. Um, going into April, you know, wedding season weddings with between Sandbar as a space between the hotel as a destination, and then also three or four beautiful wedding venues within walking distance to us. Um, weddings really start to kick off into April and May. And then summertime we’re, we’re in it. 4th of July is a citywide event out here. I mean, there’s bikes miles across, you know, the first street that where we sit on the bar is slamming and, and then we blink and we’re in the fall. So, that’s our plan. Ryan Embree: That’s how it usually works. Alex, as, as gm, um, area gm, you also have a Fairfield, as well in this area. Talk to me about how you approach the busy season with your team. What are you guys doing to get ramped up? Alex Reitter: Get ramped up? Yeah, so I mean, obviously just kind of starting to build that team, make sure everything’s in place, you know, housekeeping’s obviously always a challenge, but we’re ready. Actually right now, we’re actually in a really good spot. I think our team, everyone feels comfortable. Our front desk team is ready to go as well. Just, you know, moving those pieces together, just make sure everyone’s excited. Taking the time to, you know, let’s detail out right now. We’re getting ready. You know, late checkouts are always an issue with the oceanfront property, so we’re already diving into that to be practicing how we’re gonna manage it. Make sure, you know, if people are late, you know, who’s gonna cover it, getting the room clean, how are we gonna manage those people, the guests waiting. And so kind of figure out those little details right now while we have the chance where it’s not go, go, go yet, because it’s gonna be there in a second. Oh yeah. And it be like, why didn’t we do this two months ago? Ryan Embree: We talk about it as a little bit, you know of a nice little stress test for, for a hotel before that really busy season happens. And I think it does Samantha, for your job. It really shows what people love about the property. So, you know, that stuff starts to really amplify up. So you can start saying, oh, people are loving the fact that we’re within walking distance of this wedding destination. Let’s really start to market this. Or on the GM side, you know, maybe those minor issues that you’re seeing at 75, 80% occupancy, that that could dialed up to like a problem when there’s, when it’s a full house. Right? So trying to kind of suss out and figure out issues and things that people love about the property. So when you have all that, that traffic come through, you’re making the most out of that season. I wanna talk about, you know, this the, at this course, the Suite Spot when we started it digital marketing podcast. And, you know, especially with being a newer property, that’s probably you, you know, Samantha, one of the most powerful ways that you can really get going. And, and then again, I mentioned it before that picturesque view when you walk in through the lobby, I’m sure that does some great things for your job to try to get the, the amplify Hey, we’re here, we’re the SpringHill Suites. Uh, we’re new and we’re here to welcome you locals and, and travelers. But talk to us about the importance of building a social foundation. I follow you guys on social media, have a great, you know, uh, strategy there. Talk to us about that social strategy and the, the crucialness of building a social community. Samantha Pritchard: Sure. Um, we’re really blessed with a great e-commerce team that supports us on properties. You can imagine doing this and selling the property. We really need good folks behind the scenes to help with that. We have both a food and beverage team that e-commerce team that handles that and a property team. So we’re lucky with kind of those layers there. But the big importance is consistency, as I’m sure you hear all the time, and then being able to stay relevant. So we’ll be sharing, we make sure that multiple days don’t go by without posting. We’re collaborating with the right people when we have events out back at the pier, are we cross sharing each other’s posts? That’s an easy low hanging that any hotel can do, whether you’re off the interstate or on the ocean or in Alaska. Great tech. You can cross share great tech, you know, posts and other content that others are using. It doesn’t have to be such a heavy lift of like what does social look like for us? Like, we can lean on other key partners. Visit Jacksonville, is a great partner too. They have a media kit that they can give to us as hoteliers to help with some of that content creation while we’re not reinventing it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. And, you know, I think, uh, that’s a great tip of, of sharing. Uh, I always say maybe not every hotel has a beach, but every hotel has a sunset. Right. You know, and, and typically has a, has a a, a place where you can watch it, take a picture of it, share it, but having, um, involvement from, you know, not just one person on your team, but your entire, entire staff, that’ll help. And then hopefully you get some user generated content with travelers sharing all that good stuff. You gotta be social listening. We talk about that all the time on our, on our podcast as well. If you’ve got some great, you never know who’s on your property, right? You could have an influencer or micro influencer, um, sharing a picturesque view of, of the, the beach there. You wanna make sure you got your ear to the ground in interacting with that. Alex, on, on your end, you know, the other piece of digital marketing, obviously reviews, right? Super important. I’m sure you’re, you’re in there and listening to that feedback. Talk to us about kind of your strategy with, with getting reviews, especially with a newer property, right? Like it’s great right off the bat ’cause you get a lot, Hey, this is a brand new property, but still trying to generate reviews. Here we are a couple, you know, a year and a half into this property trying to generate reviews to keep things fresh, relevant, consistent like Samantha was talking about. Alex Reitter: Yeah. So, um, one thing I’ve always done is so many times we hear a guest tell the front desk or tell myself even like, oh, this was a great stay. I love my stay. And that’s the end of it. Like, it’s gonna end there, right? The guest, the guest told me he doesn’t need to go online and post it. And I’m like, oh, thank you so much. We appreciate it. Can you please go online and, you know, take that if you don’t mind, take the moment. We’d love to hear you share it online. If you get the Marriott review, we’d love to have you fill that out. So I think that’s where it starts with, you know, informing the guest. Because a lot of guests, oh, I told the general manager, I don’t need to tell anybody else. But now if he had a problem, he will tell everybody and tell me and Samantha probably you. So, yeah. So that’s one side of it. And then I think the other side of it is we have to be responsive as a team. And, uh, what I, my approach has been I can’t do it all myself. I need, I need help. So I like to get my whole team involved, the whole front desk team. So Janez is responding, Hunter’s responding at different sites. So each one has their own site that they kind of manage. And then I think for the guest, it’s kind of cool, oh, hunter, I read your response to whatever guest, you know, and now that there’s almost a relationship checking in, like, you know, hunter. Yeah. You know Janez and you’re not even at the hotel yet. So I think that’s kind of another cool verse if I respond to them all, or even I think some GMs possibly have admins respond to them all, but it’s their name, which I don’t think’s real we don’t wanna see. Everyone doesn’t wanna see my name or that’s my opinion. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think it keeps that content also in the eyes of your team members too, where as you might be saying something of, Hey listen, you know, we’ve had a couple people talk about, you know, the check-in process and they’re not very happy. Versus now you’ve got multiple team members involved. Seeing that and maybe making a change there to kind of help with that. But also, you know, we tend to think or reviews, like you were saying on the negative side, but also that, that good feedback right. Of praising the team, that also is a big confidence builder in your team members where they get excited to work and you know, service the next guest in line. Ryan Embree: Yeah, take ownership. Yeah. I love it. Such team building is a really, really great with that. So I’d like to end the episode, uh, you know, talking about your positions and kind of what’s best case scenario when, when the traveler leaves checks out of the Spring Hill Suites Jacksonville Beach, right? So, Samantha, as we’re marketing people, right? We love kind of talking about that. What what do you want to get out there about the SpringHill Suites to maybe travelers that have maybe considering coming to Jacksonville Beach? Samantha Pritchard: Sure. Give Jackson a little chance. I say that a lot. It’s, people hear things or I’m not sure about her. I drive through it a lot. Headed to the big Orlando stop in Jacksonville or Jacksonville Beach specifically and, and see what the area has to offer. There’s really something for everyone as we touched on. There’s the water, there’s water sports, like kayaking and getting involved in that ecosystem. Great dining choices. And then of course you have a beautiful hotel you can, can choose to stay at. So I would say give Jacksonville a chance and, and I think you’ll be really pleasantly surprised. Ryan Embree: Tons of events, both locally and on site as well. Again, opportunity for our hotel audience and Suite Spot listeners to follow, on social media so they can keep track of all those events going on in the local area. Alex, GM again, you, we just talked about it. Guest feedback. So important. What is your best case scenario when somebody checks out here at the SpringHill Suites? Alex Reitter: I think we want them to come back. I mean, I hope that’s what they’re feeling is I don’t know why they want it. And if they, you know, if they’re not happy with their stay, we wanna know why and, you know, we wanna fix it. That’s kind of my, my thought process. We’re honest people and I think we take care of our guests and we want them to think we’re the number, we’re the number one hotel in this area. Like, there’s no doubt about it. Like, so the location’s awesome. Samantha Pritchard: The staff is friendly. Alex Reitter: We’re excited to be here. Ryan Embree: It’s been, it’s been a great stay and experience that we’ve personally had from the Suite Spot. So thank you for hosting us. As we wrap up, any final thoughts on today’s episode? Thank you. So thank you so much again for hosting. Samantha Pritchard: Yeah, it’s a pleasure to have you guys out here. I love, you know, just being able to reach out to you and say, Hey Ryan, we really have something special here in Jacksonville Beach. I know it’s a Spring Hill. I know it’s in Jacksonville. How do we get you out here, you know, to experience that? And I think it’s a culture chain, you know, going on with Alex joining the team here, you know, a couple months ago, we have an opportunity to really shift to a yes culture. You see the views, you see the restaurant, the food’s amazing, we talked about all those things, but it matters about how our staff and make you feel when you leave. What do we wanna have happen? We want you to tell someone how amazing the Spring Hill in Jacksonville Beach was and tell someone about it. A review is great, but when you tell someone that the culture was different, I think we have a really something special here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Word of mouth. Still the most powerful thing today. And again, you know, we can’t say it enough. Thank you for hosting us here. We had an incredible experience here at the Spring Hill Suites, Jacksonville Beach, Ocean Front, and encourage everyone to come see for yourself. Again, have that picturesque shared on social media and tag the property. Because I’m sure, Samantha and Alex would love some more of those social media pictures. Alex Reitter: We would, we’d appreciate it Ryan Embree: Thank you so much, for joining me today and thank you for listening to The Suite Spot. We’ll talk to you next time To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your st  

Tune in to this quarterly episode to hear from Chirag Shah of the American Hotel & Lodging Association to get the state of the hospitality industry. As EVP, Federal and Political Affairs & Counsel, Chirag, gives immense insight into challenges, patterns, and trends impacting the hotel industry and how the AHLA is helping hoteliers overcome the economic environment. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. As you can see, we are here with another industry check-in with AHLA. And we have a first time guest with us Chirag Shah, Executive Vice President, Federal and Political Affairs & Council at the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Chirag, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot today. Chirag Shah: Absolutely. Thanks Ryan. Appreciate you having me. Ryan Embree: Well, welcome to the Suite Spot. This is your first time. Before we get rolling, talk about some of the topics that AHLA and issues that AHLA is obviously advocating so ferociously for hotels all around the country. Maybe give us a little bit of background, your journey to AHLA and give our Suite Spot audience, just a brief glimpse of the role that you do there. Chirag Shah: I appreciate it. So I’ve been in the lodging industry, lobbying on behalf of hotels and hoteliers for about a decade and some change, 12-13 years. And previously my background is actually as a campaign and elections attorney. It’s what my training is, and not perhaps a skill that folks are, a ton of folks are always looking for especially when you get relatives that want help getting outta a speeding ticket or something. But I spent time on Capitol Hill, worked on a number of political campaigns, and 2012, 2013 after finishing up my last campaign, got a call from a group. They were looking to open a DC office. And when I was on Capitol Hill, I used to meet with them quite frequently, and it was a group called AAHOA And, uh, they were looking to, to open their DC office. And it was great because I, uh, literally spoke the language that many hoteliers speak and, and figuratively spoke the language, of Washington DC. And so, uh, it, it was a, it was a great fit. And I came in and opened their DC shop and worked there for, for eight years. And, uh, then came over to AHLA and has been fantastic to represent a lot of the same people physically, actually the same people, but also the industry. It’s such a wonderful industry where hotels, everybody loves going to hotels. Most public officials don’t fully understand what the hotel industry is all about, but they love talking about their travel experiences. And so now at AHLA, I get to oversee the federal affairs shop, the political shop where we meet with members of Congress, have got one of the greatest jobs where we tell the story of the lodging industry to members of Congress, their staff, the presidential administration, every single day. And so getting time to understand what the challenges are that hotel leaders are facing, where the industry is going, what the economic footprint is, that’s what we do. And so it’s been a lot of fun. Ryan Embree: You know it’s funny, Chirag, we have so many industry leaders on this podcast, and we talk to them about their kind of beginnings and they talk about maybe jumping from brand to brand and still having that tight-knit family. Because it all comes back to hospitality. It seems like a very similar path with you and the associations, right, starting with the AAHOA and then transitioning to AHLA. But at the very end of the day, it’s all about hospitality and the hotels that you’re advocating for from those small, independent hotels all the way up to the major brands. And here we are at the Q1, beginning of, 2025. Great time to reflect on, years past and recognize some of those key and many accomplishments that AHLA really prioritizes. You put out a kind of a 2024 year in review. What are some of those big wins that kind of stand out to you Chirag from this past year? Chirag Shah: You mentioned it, it really is a small world. Like I grew up, uh, in the industry, uh, learned a lot from Mitch Patel in, in Chattanooga with Vision Hospitality. And now he’s the chair of AHLA and so really coming full circle. But I learned a lot about the impact of these particular issues with him and with other hoteliers. But over the last couple of years, last year in particular was an interesting year, challenging year, uh, federally because, uh, not only did you have a very thin margin with the majorities in Congress, but you also had a divided government with the Presidential administration, Democrats running the Senate, Republicans and majority of the House, and of course, the Biden administration, but it was also an election year. And so the, the vitriol of the acrimony sort of came to a fever pitch. And so trying to get things done was particularly difficult. But, uh, really proud of what we’ve been able to do on behalf of hoteliers. Even in an environment like that, looking where perhaps the most significant impact came in the labor and workforce space, uh, where because of some of the challenges, and you and your, your listeners may recall perhaps not so fondly, but recall the, the phrase joint employer or joint employer liability. This is a, a legal doctrine where the pendulum continues to swing back and forth from administration to administration. But ultimately, it is a illegal principle that tries to identify who is actually the employer for liability purposes, as well as for collective bargaining purposes and dating back to the Obama administration. And then the first Trump administration, Biden, this, the standard kept swinging back and forth, and ultimately they came up with this idea that would try to make it more difficult to identify who was the true employer for hotels and other franchise businesses among other type of businesses. And over the years, we’ve had a number of members in the lodging industry testify before Congress on this issue. And when they broadened the definition to create more of an uncertainty in who was actually the employer, we sued the National Labor Relations Board to overturn that rule. And last year we were ultimately successful, worked with a number of other business organizations in DC, suing the National Labor Relations Board. And not only did they reverse the rule, they went back to the traditional standards. So now we know that a joint employer or any employer is someone who has direct and immediate control over the employment conditions, which really helps hoteliers to identify their lane and know what the legal standard is. Similarly, we worked with business coalition partners also in the labor workforce space. There was an attempt to create a new overtime threshold for the white collar exemption for the administrative exemption. The intent was to increase that exemption from 35,500 to almost a 60-65% increase, in a very short amount of time, which would’ve taken place and gone into effect on January 1st of this year. AHLA has long been supportive and the industry long supports appropriate compensation, particularly for those that are working overtime. But this was just too much, too fast. And that was one of the, the biggest challenges that we had. It also didn’t take into consideration some of the, uh, regional implications for our industry. There is a dramatic difference in the labor market between Manhattan, Kansas, for instance, and Manhattan, New York. And that was something that we shared with the Department of Labor, as well as these automatic escalators that the rule would have put into place every three years, irrespective of market forces. And so again with a group of coalition here in DC, a team member of ours, Kat Fonda, ran that coalition. We successfully sued the Department of Labor, and they reverted back to the previous rules. So those were, were two areas because of the tight majorities in Congress, we ended up having to work through the legal system to, to make sure that our interests were heard, but other things as well. The federal per diem rate, working with the Biden administration to increase the federal per diem rate, not only on lodging, but also on on meals and incidentals. It’s about a hundred million dollars benefit to the industry in the workforce space. We continue to see a huge challenge. Hoteliers are telling us every single day, there’s just a gap they need to have. We have over 200,000 fewer employees than we did in 2019, a hundred thousand open jobs right now. And to be able to supplement those jobs with seasonal workers, we were able to increase the cap on H-2B Visas as double that number. Uh, and then finally, there’s a large discussion on, so-called junk fees or resort fees. And hotels were kind of caught up in this larger discussion, but we’ve been long prioritizing, leveling the playing field and all in pricing fee display. And we were able to get the Federal Trade Commission to understand our position and ultimately pass a rule that was consistent with that for the entire lodging ecosystem to have the same policy of all in pricing upfront. So a lot of key wins, even at the top. Ryan Embree: Massive wins there Chirag. And to be honest with you, you and your team have been doing a great effort because each one of those topics and subjects that you talked about were certainly talked about and risen key people talking about them in the public’s limelight. We just saw that report, 65 percent of hotels still reporting staffing shortages right now. So anything that we can do to alleviate that, getting creative, the industry has done so much over the past couple years to try to get creative on the individual owner side. But anything that AHLA is advocating for to help with that certainly will help our industry as a whole as we turn to 2025. You know, I’d love to get some background insight because here you are, you know, our industry is so great, but there’s no shortage in sometimes issues that we come across with it. How do you and your team kind of go about which issues you should tackle, prioritizing your time to make sure that some of those, uh, those bigger issues are, are brought to the forefront? Chirag Shah: So we have a wonderful industry and folks do not have a shyness to share with us their opinions on what is affecting them, affecting their bottom line. So, a lot of great ways that we’re able to reach and meet withour members. And AHLA represents the entire swath of the industry, every segment from hotel owners and franchisees to management companies to brands to partner state associations, vendors and partners, and everybody in between big, medium and small portfolios. And so wanting to make sure that we represent everybody within that larger picture is a key priority for us. And we meet, certainly starting with our executive committee and our board of directors that represents each one of those segments. And then we have what is functionally our government affairs committee, which we refer to as our advocacy cabinet. We meet once a month, and for about the latter six months of the year, five months of the year, we look down the road to see, well, if this were to happen, and in last year’s case, it was, if the election were to go this way, or if the election were to go that way, what do we anticipate will be the key issues the industry should focus on? And so we, we do a lot of focus grouping and vetting of our primary issues, but also looking at what is gonna be the economic impact that those issues will have on the bottom line for hotels across the country. What does that mean for our workforce? What does it mean for our guests and our associates? So with that, we, we looked at this year and said, well, uh, what are the political realities as well? And once president Trump was reelected, once the Republicans gained a trifecta in the house of the Senate, we knew which way our priorities were gonna go. Some of it was baked just by the calendar as well. At the end of, or in 2017, Congress passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and in order to make the budget numbers work, many of those provisions were set to expire at the end of 2025. And so if those provisions do not, if they’re not extended or if Congress doesn’t renew them, then hoteliers could see anywhere between a 30 to 45, 50% tax hike just by doing nothing. And that is a huge concern that we have. And so working with congressional leaders, on a process, which I won’t bore you with, dealing with budget reconciliation, but making sure that our voices are heard to extend those key provisions, whether it’s areas in the real estate space, like hind exchange, making sure that no one’s trying to take that away or try to use that to pay for something else. Making sure that we allow for bonus depreciation or a hundred percent bonus depreciation to encourage capital investments at our hotel properties, as well as the small business deduction, section 199 A of the tax code, which, provides for a 20% deduction for small businesses. These are all economic drivers. They’re job creators, they’re engines of the economy. And so we’re constantly meeting with members of Congress to ensure that they understand what this means for hoteliers. So working with our various groups, that’s how that’s informed. There are a few other issues as well, but tax four and a half trillion dollars worth of tax priorities coming out at the gates, key priority for us. Ryan Embree: And I think it’s so important to hear that background, to know kind of what if scenarios and all the data that is making and causing these informed decisions that you and your team are advocating for. And also to show the fallout sometimes of whether something is material or something fails. So, how can Suite Spot listeners, or maybe this is a hotel listener, you mentioned it before, and I think it’s so important also to see that it’s just not hotel owners. It’s every aspect of hospitality that AHLA kind of listens to as well as a advocates for, how can any Suite Spot listener get involved to support advocacy and the work that AHLA is doing? Chirag Shah: Absolutely. There’s, there’s a couple of different ways. One is going to hotelsact.org and signing up to receive our information, going to ahla.com and, checking out all the, the news that we’re putting out as well as receiving our newsletter, hotel lobby. We put this out once a week and we’re informing our members of those key priorities that affect our industry. And so staying up to date in those ways is important. But also then taking action from time to time we will ask folks to take action to send a letter to your public official. A lot of times those letters have the, the basis already drafted, so you can take a look and say, I understand this, and you can make changes. But ultimately those letters go directly to your public officials that represent you. And hoteliers have such an outsized voice. Not only are you voters, but you’re also those folks that employ others. And so your, your voice has a great deal of influence. And so that is one way. One of the other things that we do, and by all means would, would love to get in touch with anyone interested in this, is why we do these, what we call Heart of the House tours. And the best way for a public official to understand our business, because most of them don’t fully appreciate the hotel industry, because while they may know the local restaurateur because because they frequent those restaurants, they’re not generally staying at hotels in their own communities. They’re traveling elsewhere, and they’re going to those hotels. And so to build a relationship with those folks that represent you, whether it’s at the State House in the city council or in Congress, that’s something that we can help to facilitate as well. And so walking them through your hotel, walking ’em through your business model to say, this is what our business is all about. It’s actually the owner that owns the real estate. It’s the operating company or the management company that employees the employees. And this is the footprint, it’s the brand company that sets the standards. And that’s why you have the consistent experience from one place to the other. And once folks actually walk through a hotel property and understand it personally, now that informs their decision making when they have issues in front of them whether it’s in Congress or at City Hall. Ryan Embree: No, that’s a great point. And I think you’re right, it gives a different perspective. ’cause at the end of the day, Chirag, we’re all travelers at heart. We’ve all been to a hotel, but to understand the uniqueness of the hospitality industry, if you haven’t been a part of it before, it’s very different. It’s very different from from other industries. So getting, I think that’s a brilliant idea that you and your team help and facilitate hoteliers to do, to get a better understanding everything that goes in play. And we saw that firsthand at the hospitality show. Both you and I had the pleasure of attending in San Antonio back at the end of 2024. Big trending topic relationship between ownership and management and where that stands today. Lemme get kind of your thoughts as we wrap up here, just with like current state of the industry, what you think it with that ownership management relationship. Chirag Shah: Yeah, you know, the, the area that I think, and I refer a lot of folks, if folks are interested in delving deep into some of the numbers as well, is AHLA puts out our state of the industry report every year. And we just did that in January. And it identifies key trends. And I think the best one that I like to look at is that there’s been a shift towards normalization, as well as a new climate of stability. I think that’s gonna be helpful. We look at some of the data and we’re still not fully recovered, to mention some of the workforce information. We’re still not fully recovered, from the pandemic, but we are also reaching and meeting new challenges as well. And so the trajectory will consistently be a challenge between owners and the challenges they face as well as management companies and the challenges they face, just to reach back to where we were. And so optimistic with some of the key data points, looking here at guest spending, we’re gonna hit another record high, which is always positive. We’re looking at about $777 billion in 2025. Occupancy will hold at just north of 63%, which is just shy of the record at 66% in 2019. And ADR will take up slightly to 162, which is just above the record set last year at 159. And so those trends, keeping a degree of stability, I think bodes really well for the ownership and management relationship. A degree of stability is particularly helpful there. And that will hopefully, continue on throughout this year as we will hopefully see some stimulus in the economy as well based on the tax policy that we discussed. So, stability and normalization, I think are, are two key words there. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. I think you hear those numbers, our hotel audience gets really excited, but it’s also about managing and operating efficiently and effectively to make sure bottom line works, for you as well. So a lot of factors there. Chirag, certainly impacting hoteliers and hotel owners today. As we wrap up, what I love about AHLA, you mentioned it before, it’s got a really close ear to the ground as far as hotelier sentiment out there. You have the hospitality show, regional events that you’re out there, you’re shaking hands, you’re talking to hoteliers every day. What do you think the general outlook you would say for our industry is over the next, let’s say six months? Chirag Shah: No, I think that’s, that’s great. I think folks are generally positive about where things are because of some of these patterns that we discussed, the normalization and a degree of stability looking forward to this year. There wasn’t initially, at the beginning of the year, thoughts that there’d be significant shocks to the industry and perhaps some optimism as well with the idea that there may be a shot in the arm with certain tax policies coming out of DC. I will say that, at the same time, there is this idea of stability and while revenue continues to increase, costs are increasing at twice the pace of revenues. And so those are definitely challenges. We’re watching very closely what some of the activity is out of Washington, DC, what the executive orders are from this administration, and where they may have impact on our industry. A lot of it, while there’s all these sensational headlines that are coming out, we’re watching to make sure that the reality actually meets the headline as well. So if there are no significant shocks, I think there the optimism will continue, but it sort of is a wait and see approach, especially as a new administration settles in and certain global forces are taking to account as well. Ryan Embree: Cautious optimism indeed ,Chirag, we appreciate all of the work that you and your team over there are at AHLA are doing for all of our hotel and hotel owners across the country. Chirag Shah: No, appreciate that. And I’ll throw one last thing out at you. Is that our CEO Rosanna Mayada is doing a fantastic job. She’ll be testifying for the house Educational Workforce Committee on Wednesday. And so we’ll continue to drive this discussion about the importance of our industry with the highest levels of government. So, hopefully your members will be able to tune in on that as well. But very grateful for the time today and looking forward to hearing from you again down the road. Ryan Embree: Well, we appreciate the time. Thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. And thank you to our audience. We’ll talk to you next time. To join our loyalty program. Be sure to subscribe and give us a five-star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.