Hotel Moment

Keeping an authentic voice when AI can't read the room 01.07.2026 25λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, CMO of Revinate, sits down with Dina Niekamp, SVP of Brand and Marketing at Aparium Hotel Group, a lifestyle hospitality company known for building hotels that feel deeply rooted in the neighborhoods around them. Dina explains why emotional connection, not just amenities, has become the new standard for luxury travel, and why she believes AI will never replace the most important skill in hospitality: reading the room. Dina shares the story behind Aparium's "As Told By" campaign, which puts local collaborators and small business owners at the center of each property's marketing, and breaks down the philosophy of "translocal" spaces, where a business traveler and a neighborhood local can feel equally at home at the bar. She also introduces Aparium's "fifth meatball" mindset, a simple internal philosophy that empowers every team member to create small, unscripted moments of delight. With eight hotels currently operating across cities like Seattle, Fargo, Kansas City, Detroit, and Alexandria, Virginia, and several more in the pipeline, Aparium offers a clear blueprint for building hospitality brands that feel genuinely local rather than mass-produced.

How hotels turn data overload into profit growth 24.06.2026 19λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Jeff Michael, Area Director of Revenue Management at Sage Hospitality Group, who brings more than 25 years of hospitality experience spanning operations and commercial leadership. Jeff explains why the explosion of hotel data has created a new kind of paralysis, why "commercial alignment" so often fails when departments chase different incentives, and how AI is finally turning guest lifetime value into a metric hotels can actually use. His core message: stop drowning your team in reports, tie every department back to one profitability goal, and let AI take on the analyst work so revenue managers can think like strategists again.

The AI booking shift: What hoteliers need to do now 17.06.2026 27λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens, CMO at Revinate sits down with Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, to unpack the most consequential shift in hotel distribution in years: the rise of AI-powered booking discovery. With insights from leaders at Starwood Hotels, Highgate, and Twilio woven in, Karen and Dylan trace the arc from Google's Universal Commerce Protocol announcement to the not-so-distant future of agent-to-agent vacation planning. Their message is direct: properties that invest in clean data, direct booking infrastructure, and first-party data strategy now will be positioned to compete before everyone else starts scrambling.

Recast: How Swiss Deluxe Hotels redefines luxury hospitality with tech | with Wilhelm Luxem 10.06.2026 22λ

In this recast episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Wilhelm Luxem, head of quality commission at Swiss Deluxe Hotels and former GM of the iconic Baur Au Lac hotel. With 50 years in luxury hospitality, Wilhelm shares his philosophy on technology adoption in five-star hotels, emphasizing that tech should always complement service DNA while staying in the background. From his experience with a seven-generation family-owned hotel to his insights on evolving guest expectations, Wilhelm offers valuable perspectives on maintaining luxury standards while embracing innovation.

How to win direct bookings with AI search | with Jarrett Tomback 03.06.2026 21λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer of Revinate, sits down with Jarrett Tomback, Vice President of Digital Strategy and CRM at Starwood Hotels, for a conversation that moves from rethinking loyalty to the most urgent distribution question in hospitality: how do hotels win direct bookings in a world where AI search models give guests three to five recommendations instead of pages of links? Across 1 Hotels, Baccarat Hotels and Resorts, and Treehouse Hotels, Jarrett has built guest engagement strategies grounded in purpose, clean data, and a human-first AI approach that keeps the brand at the center of every interaction.

Why luxury hotels should focus on revenue, not cost-cutting | with Robert-Jan Woltering 27.05.2026 29λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, sits down with Robert-Jan Woltering, Managing Director of De L'Europe Amsterdam, to make a case the luxury hotel industry needs to hear more often: cutting costs is easy, but it is the wrong strategy. With more than 30 years across five continents and a 130-year-old Amsterdam landmark celebrating three Michelin keys under his leadership, Robert-Jan shares why top-line revenue maximization, authentic guest experience, and entrepreneurial ownership thinking are the only levers that actually build a luxury hotel's long-term position.

Will guests trust AI with their travel plans? | with Aaron Miller 20.05.2026 23λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens welcomes back Aaron Miller, Senior Vice President of Digital Marketing and CRM at Highgate, for a grounded conversation on AI's real role in hospitality. Drawing on more than 20 years across brands like The Venetian Resort Las Vegas, Trump Hotels, and Turning Stone Enterprises, Aaron explains why the direct booking renaissance depends on hotel-owned content, why guests still want a curated website over a chat window, and how Highgate is pivoting its FIFA World Cup demand strategy from inbound international travel to local markets, staycations, and packaged offers.

How to prepare for hospitality's AI future: Inside NAVIGATE 2026 13.05.2026 21λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer of Revinate, and Bailey Yeats, Marketing Manager at Revinate, recap NAVIGATE 2026, the annual Revinate customer conference held this year at the Wigwam in Phoenix. Featuring clips from CEO Bryson Koehler, Suncadia's Colton Bean, Pyramid Global's Abby Waski, Cote Hospitality's Angelo Fernandes, and Noble House's Jennifer Barnhart, the episode moves from the opening question that set the tone: 75% of the room had used ChatGPT to book travel in the last six months, through the AI strategies, product roadmap reveals, and customer perspectives that defined a conference where hoteliers arrived anxious about artificial intelligence and left with a plan.

2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report: The voice channel playbook | a Revinate webinar 06.05.2026 33λ

In this webinar episode of Hotel Moment, Bailey Yeats, Marketing Manager at Revinate, sits down with Amanda Wasco Brown, Director of Revenue at Old Edwards Hospitality Group, for the final session of the 2026 Benchmark Report Leadership Series, focused entirely on the voice channel. Amanda has spent eight of her 14 years at Old Edwards embedded in reservations, managing a team of seven agents who handle rooms, dining, spa, and golf across four hotels and three golf courses. Together, she and Bailey translate the benchmark data into a practical voice channel playbook: inbound call volume for staffing, conversion rates as a coaching diagnostic, non-booked lead spikes as a revenue intelligence tool, and outbound calls generating $1,164 in incremental revenue per room annually.

Capture and convert FIFA World Cup demand and win more direct revenue | with Adam Mogelonsky 29.04.2026 37λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, CMO of Revinate, welcomes back Adam Mogelonsky, Partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting Ltd, to discuss preparing for FIFA World Cup 2026, which will bring 72% ADR premiums to 16 host cities. Adam shares how pandemic-era refundable policies created lead time volatility making labor forecasting difficult despite increased service expectations at premium rates. He explains the science of balancing non-refundable versus refundable rates through data harmonization that associates guest sentiment with rate plans. The conversation covers packaging strategies that balance operational delivery against OTA channel friction while leveraging fenced offers for direct bookings. Adam reveals how the voice channel is the most data-rich but least harmonized, with call recording and speech-to-text building FAQ content for AI search while capturing non-booker leads for callbacks. He introduces the story-driven guest concept, which transcends luxury definitions to encompass boutique properties delivering bespoke experiences that attract lookalike audiences.

2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report leadership series: Unlocking revenue from the guest data you already have | a Revinate webinar 22.04.2026 47λ

In this webinar episode of Hotel Moment, Bailey Yeats, Marketing Manager at Revinate, sits down with Gitti Hernández, Digital Marketing Manager at Casa de Campo, one of the Caribbean's most iconic luxury resorts to unpack what the 2026 Revinate Hospitality Benchmark Report reveals about database health, and what Casa de Campo's decade of data work looks like in practice. From a pre-arrival itinerary program that lifted guest satisfaction scores by 40%, to merged guest profiles that made a targeted Ultra VIP anniversary segment possible, Gitti demonstrates that the real value of a clean database is not storage, it is what you can finally do once the data is reliable.

Why hotel branding is the most underused revenue strategy in hospitality | with Tomas Bäcklund 15.04.2026 33λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, sits down with Tomas Bäcklund, Chief Marketing Officer at Elite Hotels of Sweden, for a wide-ranging conversation on the most overlooked revenue strategy in hospitality: brand. Tomas arrived in the hotel industry from a creative agency background and has spent five years making the case that as costs rise and margins compress, the hotels that can charge more — without guests feeling overcharged — are the ones that have invested in brand strength. Under his leadership, Elite Hotels has grown its direct website booking share by nearly ten percent. His framework is simple and backed by data: strengthen brand, fix your website, and think beyond the five percent of guests who are ready to book today.

2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report leadership series: Email strategies that drive revenue | a Revinate webinar 08.04.2026 46λ

In this webinar episode of Hotel Moment, Bailey Yeats, Marketing Manager at Revinate, sits down with Christine Malfair, Fractional CMO for Independent Hotels at Malfair Marketing, to translate the 2026 Revinate Hospitality Benchmark Report's email findings into actionable strategy. With 2.8 billion emails analyzed globally in 2025, the data is unambiguous: cart abandonment campaigns hit 63% open rates and 6.8% conversion, targeted segments under 5,000 recipients convert at ten times the rate of mass blasts, and confirmation emails are generating $93 per booking in upsell revenue. Christine's fifteen years working with independent hotels, including a decade as a hotel GM, give every benchmark number a practical context that marketing teams can act on immediately.

From concept to culture: How passion shapes hotel design & guest loyalty | with Diego Calvo 01.04.2026 24λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, sits down with Diego Calvo, CEO and Co-Founder of Concept Hotel Group, to explore what it really takes to build a hotel brand with genuine cultural soul. Diego has spent 25 years in hospitality and founded a group of nine distinctive brands on the island of Ibiza, where he grew up — achieving 35 to 43% direct bookings not through marketing spend but through brand identity so compelling that guests search properties by name. From a conceptual briefing process that begins with music playlists and lobby photography before a single architect is involved, to a loyalty programme that values room nights over revenue, Diego shares the philosophy and the detail-obsessed discipline behind one of Europe's most distinctive independent hotel groups.

Is hotel marketing broken? Why siloed data won't drive more revenue | with Evan Crawford 25.03.2026 21λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer of Revinate, welcomes back Evan Crawford, Vice President of Marketing at Pyramid Global Hospitality, for a wide-ranging conversation on guest data strategy, AI adoption, and the marketing habits that actually move revenue. Evan makes the case that mass outreach without segmentation is a shrinking asset. From connecting OpenTable reviews to hotel CRM profiles, to his grounded take that Revinate emails still outperform ChatGPT as a last-click revenue source, Evan brings the operational credibility of someone managing data at scale across a major hospitality portfolio.

From AI agents to front desk: How to personalize the guest experience with both | with Chris Koehler 18.03.2026 22λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer of Revinate, sits down with Chris Koehler, Chief Marketing Officer at Twilio, for a candid conversation on what personalization in hospitality actually requires — and what is still getting in the way. With over 25 years across marketing, customer success, and product leadership, Chris arrives not just as a technology executive but as a frequent luxury traveler with high expectations and very specific preferences. From Twilio's State of Customer Engagement data showing only 45% of consumers agree brands deliver good engagement, to a hotel still asking a ten-time guest if he has ever stayed before, Chris reveals why the personalization gap is a data activation problem — and how AI is about to change every part of the equation.

The 2026 Revinate Hospitality Benchmark report is live — with channel-level insights 11.03.2026 15λ

The 2026 Revinate Hospitality Benchmark Report is live, and this episode brings the headline numbers to life. Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, and Bailey Yeats, Marketing Manager at Revinate, walk through channel-level findings drawn from 2.8 billion emails, 4.3 million phone calls, 22 million text messages, and 28 million guest reviews analyzed globally in 2025. From cold lead emails converting at 6.5% to outbound voice generating $1,164 per room annually, the data makes one thing clear: the hotels winning in 2026 are the ones communicating with intent and building the database health to back it up.

Garbage in, garbage out: Why hotel data will make or break AI | with Charlie Osmond 04.03.2026 26λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, sits down with Charlie Osmond, Co-Founder and Chief Growth Officer of TripTease, to explore what data quality really means in an AI-driven hospitality landscape. With over twelve years building technology at the intersection of behavioral psychology and the direct booking channel, Charlie argues that clean, unified data is not just an advantage, it is the difference between outstanding decisions and consistently wrong ones. From guest persona strategy to vendor API lock-in, Charlie reveals why the hotels that invest in data infrastructure today will be the ones positioned to thrive as AI reshapes the booking journey.

Revenue on the line: Why the voice channel matters more than ever | with Agnelo Fernandes 25.02.2026 25λ

In this episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, CMO of Revinate, welcomes back Agnelo Fernandes, CEO of Cote Hospitality, to discuss Revinate's 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report findings for the voice channel. With only 16-34% of inbound calls being actual reservations, Agnelo shares how Cote treats voice as premium inventory requiring protection through CDP connection and call triaging into revenue versus service categories. He describes two-layer staffing separating highly trained revenue closers from service support staff, unified guest data's paramount importance transforming calls from negotiations into booking experiences, only 56% of profiles containing phone numbers representing missed opportunity, and AI's structural fix role by filtering service calls to give sales protected capacity with CDP data preventing information fishing while handling FAQs for booking confirmations and housekeeping requests. Read Revinate’s 2026 Benchmark Report here: Revinate.com/hospitality-benchmark-report/

Recast: How technology is transforming hotel data security | with Matthijs Welle 18.02.2026 29λ

In this recast episode of Hotel Moment, we’re revisiting Bryson Koehler, CEO of Revinate, conversation with Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews, to discuss the rapidly evolving landscape of hotel data security. Matthijs shares insights on how cybercriminals are becoming increasingly sophisticated in their tactics, and why education is the hotel industry's strongest defense against data breaches. From phishing attempts to AdWord exploitation, they explore practical strategies for protecting guest data and the importance of building a security-focused culture within hotel operations. This conversation offers valuable guidance for hoteliers looking to strengthen their security practices while maximizing the benefits of their technology stack.