Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

Episoder

• 
  210 – Social Success Series: Anneleise McEvoy 22.07.2026 32min

  Tune in to the latest Social Success Series Podcast episode featuring special guest and Social Media Manager at Remington Hospitality, Anneleise McEvoy!  Anneleise joins the podcast to talk all things social media for Remington Hospitality as well as hotels in general and how they can not only improve but maximize their social presence online to drive bookings to their properties.  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 Podcast. I am your host, Cassady Quintana. Super excited for today’s episode today. I have Anneleise McEvoy, social media manager at Remington Hospitality. Anneleise, thank you so much for joining me. Anneleise McEvoy: Absolutely. So first of all, thank you so much for having me. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. I’m super excited you’re here. Obviously, we’ve talked a little bit before this episode, so I’ve gotten to know you some and especially from your LinkedIn presence, but for our listeners who may not be familiar with you or Remington Hospitality, could you give us a little bit of background about how you got to where you are today? Anneleise McEvoy: Absolutely. So I’ve always loved social media marketing. I’ve been passionate about it ever since college, and it was a career path that I always wanted. I started out in college being super involved with clubs and internships where I did social media. So in 2020 when I graduated, I moved to Dallas to pursue, pursue a career in social media marketing at a food and beverage, a food and beverage marketing agency that’s top year in Dallas. I started out as a social media specialist, went all the way up to a senior account executive. So I worked there for three years, and then at my three-point mark, I was like, “How can I mix one of my hobbies, which is traveling, into my career?” And so I was scrolling through LinkedIn, one day and came across a job posting at Remington Hospitality, reached out to my now boss, Alexis, and she told me about this aw- awesome opportunity that she was building a in – house social media agency for their portfolio of hotels. And so the rest is history. I am a social media manager at Remington, like you said. And one week is different than every… Every day is different, is what I’m trying to say. I might be in Key West learning about a hundred-year hotel or making content on a private beach, or I might be closer to Dallas where I’m based now in Fort Worth, marketing a trendy girl dinner experience on their rooftop. So that’s what I love about social media. Every property has its story and I get to help tell that story through social media. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. And I’m glad you mentioned the different locations, because that kind of leads me into my next question. You know, at Remington, you guys have properties that span across very different markets, like you said. Something in Key West not going to resonate with someone that’s looking at a hotel in Texas. So when you guys are kind of building those strategies, how do you make sure that it feels unique to each property but still staying, you know, efficient as a corporate social team? Anneleise McEvoy: For sure, for sure. So one thing I always say, you can’t market a property that you’ve never experienced. And I’m sure that that’s true in every industry. I knew, I know that it was true in the food and beverage industry too. So before I build a social media strategy, I want to walk the property. I want to eat at the restaurant. I want to meet the team and experience it like a guest. So that’s where you discover the little things that make the hotel memorable, the experience. So that’s the first thing. I wanna visit the hotel like a guest. And then I pair that with the brand standards. So for example, if you’re a Marriott, a Moxie should feel completely different than an autograph collection. Every hotel should have a personality, but in that personality, we’re working in the brand standard. So at the end of the day, hotels don’t sell rooms. It’s all about the experience. We’re selling experiences. So social media’s job, every content creator’s co – that come into the property, our job is to create a place where someone wants to book before they even book. So that aesthetic feed is where they picture themselves experiencing. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I absolutely love that. And it’s, it’s interesting because when we think probably when you first started in social media or even when we were in college, social media was a completely different thing than it is now. We’ve seen all these updates and especially in this new age of AI, things are changing. So do you and what you’ve noticed with your job, like, how has social media changed, you know, even from two to three years ago and how has that changed your day-to-day role with what you’re doing at Remington? Anneleise McEvoy: Honestly, everything. Like six years ago, social media landscape changes literally every single day. I feel like I open Instagram and there’s a new update. Like last week, you can scroll through an Instagram carousel, I’m sure you’ve probably seen, and you don’t have to pick one caption. You can caption each photo now. So just things like that. There’s just always another update that content creator social media managers have to publicize out to the property teams as well. But I actually think that’s one of the most exciting parts of social media because it’s ever-changing and we can… There’s always something new to learn. And then on top of every algorithm that’s changing, I think the biggest thing that’s changed in the social media industry is influencer marketing. Because when I started six years ago, I would give an influencer a pizza and beer and they would post five inseed posts about it. And they would post it all on their stories and tag us and even do weekly posts. And I just gave them a pizza and beer. And now creators understand the val- value that they provide and are asking for paid collaborations, which I don’t think is a bad thing because we’re getting more of that quality content. But the challenge there is finding a partnership that works for both parties because for everyone watching, you probably know that hospitality budgets aren’t as big as people think. So even the marketing budget. So I think it’s about negotiating with influencers and giving them what they need as well as what we need. And then the last part of that question I think that’s changed is, of course, AI. I think I have a pretty strong opinion on it on the marketing landscape. I think there’s a right way to use AI. And a lazy way to use AI. So of course, when you’re scrolling your LinkedIn or any social media platform, you see captions with those M marks and you assume that they’re a AI-generated caption, but I think marketers should use it to enhance their ideas. Right. In my career, I found that all marketers have creativity. So it’s just an enhancement. Make a good idea great and AI is not here to replace creativity, I would say. Cassady Quintana: I definitely think it’s, can be used as a vehicle, like you said, to enhance the skills you already have. And even just to, like, bounce ideas. I know I use AI a lot of times, like, “Hey, I have this post idea. You know, what do you think about it? ” Or, you know, asking AI to just clean up my copy a little bit or, you know, helping me along the way. And we’ll talk a little bit more about AI further down. But since you mentioned influencers, I did wanna ask you about that because you do work closely with influencers. So from your point of view, like you said, not, not every influencer is a match and not every influencer is gonna deliver what you want them to deliver. And a lot of the times when hospitality professionals think about influencers, they just want someone with a lot of followers, right? They just want the big numbers, but there has to be alignment. So for you, and when you guys are working with influencers, kind of what separates a good partnership from someone, you know, that maybe not f – maybe doesn’t fit that well? And how do you guys go about finding those influencers? Anneleise McEvoy: For sure. I think what you just said, people think about the follower count and just look about at follower count. It’s all about the vetting process upfront. So you’re looking at engagement rate. I’d rather work with someone with a higher engagement rate, a smaller audience, and people that are connecting with their followers, and you can see that that’s genuine than someone that has over a million followers and doesn’t have a connected audience. And I find that their content is more authentic anyways. One of my favorite success stories, actually happened the other week. He did have a lot of followers, but it’s not even about his content. It was the creator. We always, after creator partnership, we always ask what we could have done better or how their story went. And it was a creator telling us he brought his whole family, extended family, and he already booked a trip for Thanksgiving with his family again, because they loved the experience so much. So that’s when influencer marketing, influencer relationships become more than just the content. It creates future guests because they’re gonna keep coming back. And if they’re passionate about the property, you know that you have an ongoing partnerships. I think that’s super important to create those ongoing partnerships as well. Cassady Quintana: I love that you said that because when you were talking about that, it makes me think of the parallel of just hospitality in general and how hotels treat their guests because, you know, you guys hired this influencer to come create content and share his story about his stay there. Yeah. And in turn, he wants to come back. That’s the same exact thing in the same way that hotels should treat their guests too, because they’re kind of like micro-influencers in a way. Like they’re telling their friends and family if their stay was good, they’re gonna post about on social media if their stay was good. So I love that there’s that parallel there. And a lot of times, influencers can be expensive. I think we all know that, especially in this age. Yes. Like they’re making enough money to live off of it, but there are those micro-influencers that do still have dedicated audiences. So I think it’s important not to, you know, just look them over because they may not have the biggest numbers that you’ve ever seen. But kind of along those lines, I wanna talk about, you know, content that hotels can post because I talk a lot about on my webinars and other podcasts about content that’s evergreen or things that can work across the board. So is there any kind of content that you guys do at Remington that you see that works well no matter where the property is located? Like just some type of evergreen content that you see that works really well? Anneleise McEvoy: For sure. And I think, again, this works for across the board for every industry because I found this in the food and beverage industry as well. But two things that always perform best, pets and people. So if you’re a pet-friendly hotel and you’re not posting that dog, you’re missing an opportunity and it helps that I am, I have a golden retriever. So every day, that’s one of my favorite parts of my job. I do community management as well as content creation. And so every day I get to go on the hotel social media and scour the comments, send the DMs everything and I love to repost pet content as it comes in. But also my favorite type of content is, highlighting people behind the performance. So, whether it’s a chef, a bartender, a housekeeper. Remington, actually, our motto is driven by people powered by performance. And social media is one of the best ways to bring that to life. I actually have a story about that at one of our Key West properties. It’s been around for maybe 20, 25 years, but we have a bartender that works there that she has worked there the whole entire time. Every time I post a photo of her, I’m not kidding you, I get 250 organic comments commenting about her, their experience with her. A story about her, how she makes the best drinks, how they’re booking the hotel because of her. And when I go to lifestyle photo shoots and see her, she explains that the guests are her friends. Yeah. She’s traveled the world with some of the guests. So it’s always about highlighting the people behind the performance and behind the scenes as well. And people like seeing that connection. They don’t like just seeing the evergreen. So I think posting people is a way to do that. Cassady Quintana: And in a way, I feel like that is evergreen. You know, she, you just said she’s worked there the entire time, like – Yes. And people love her. So, you know, keep posting. I love that because I have that same kind of relationship with some hotels that I regularly go to with my family, like bartenders or – Yes. You know, general managers, things like that. And that makes, like you said earlier, like, we’re booking an ex – an experience and not just somewhere to sleep, right? So having that comfortability with people that work at the property just makes it better. And social media, we work in, like, the, the most feel-good industry. Our social media to reflect that, you know, it’s, like, it’s the most exciting industry to me because it is changing every day. There’s something new to talk about. People are always wanting to travel. Cassady Quintana: People love to travel. Like, it should be fun content to kind of match that. But kind of on, you know, the other side of social media marketing and some things that can scare hoteliers is, like, that paid social strategy. So for you guys at Remington, do you have a paid ad strategy? And if you do, what is your, you know, attack to figuring out, okay, we’re gona put some money behind this post, or we’re gonna keep this one organic. Is there a strategy there, and what does that look like for you guys? Anneleise McEvoy: There’s a strategy. I think that’s one of the things that has changed in the social media marketing world since six years ago as well. I think s – all social is pay to play. Yeah. So you need an organic strategy and you need to layer in a paid strategy. So paid social for me always starts with one question. If a hotel asks, “Hey, I would love to market a seasonal activation or I’d love to market, let’s say, Easter Brunch, Father’s Day brunch, 4th of July, what’s the business goal? What… Who do you want to see? Start with that one question. What’s the business goal?” And we just invest in where paid can reach the right visibility and right audience, and support the business results that we created in that strategy. So always start with that one question. Cassady Quintana: I love that. I think that’s a great way to go at it because it helps hoteliers that may be doing their own social media for their hotel. Like, okay, I do, I know what my goal is for this post. So if you already have that in mind, that’s a great way to kind of look at your strategy and understand which ones should be organic and which ones should be having that ad spend behind it. Definitely. We kind of mentioned this earlier that, you know, authentic, feel good, sh – posting your people. You know, we’re seeing a lot of… Instagram has honestly flipped a little bit. When it first came out, it was very, like, post your best photo with the best filter. Yes. You want that perfect shot. But now it’s like, that we don’t want that anymore. We don’t want polished photos on Instagram. We want authentic. We want real. So I know I’m sure you guys have a lot of user-generated content. I’m sure you have great photos of the property. So how do you balance that of, you know, we do wanna show what the property looks like, but we also wanna show the authentic everyday scene of the hotel. So what’s that balance like of UGC, of user-generated content, photos and videos you guys have taken? How do you kind of balance that together? Anneleise McEvoy: Like you said, I don’t think it’s an either/or conversation. I think you need to have both. Professional lifestyle photography and videography is our evergreen content. Right. I think the cool thing about Remington when I came on, hotels did understand that they needed lifestyle photography and videography. So we’ve gotten to do a lot of lifestyle shoots and create social media campaigns that are evergreen. And throughout the year, kind of with our lifestyle photo shoots, we also ask the property, “Hey, do you have any events that are gonna be coming up since we’re in July for 4th of July?” And ask them from there if they want some professional photography. But basically, that lifestyle evergreen content is the foundation of what we post. So I have, I would say 80% of our content calendars are that professional use po – more polished look that you were talking about. But I think that you’re right. I don’t think that we’ve moved away from the aesthetic feed to people want to visualize themselves in the feed. How am I gonna experience that rooftop bar? How am I gonna swim at the pool and get drinks brought to me type of thing? So that’s where we layer creator partnerships. And usually with our creator partnerships, we request one reel to be part of their deliverables where we can do a collaboration post where we share that engagement. It goes on both pages. And then UGC, user-generated content is an interesting conversation because obviously you don’t wanna post every single post that you’re tagged in. Right. So our process, we vet, at the beginning of the month what we would like to post. And then you have to be careful about permissions. So we always ask if we can po- post before posting it, but layering that in as the last one to make the page more authentic. And I think, I mean, to conclude, the best hotel pages balance both. Cassady Quintana: Absolutely. I totally agree. And you guys, you know, you’re managing multiple properties social media so obviously you can’t be at the property every day capturing that content in real time. And a lot of hoteliers and people that work at hotels, like, we’re, we’re hands off with social media because Remington is doing that for us. So is there, you know, how do you kind of get that buy-in from them, you know, if there is something going on at their property, like, “Hey, can you please get some photos, like, so we can in turn post this on social media?” ‘Cause I know, you know, it, it can be hard to get them to, to want to do that, right? It’s like the last thing on their mind because they’ve already given that to you guys. So is there a way to create that buy-in without, like, making it seem like we’re just asking them for more and more and more? Anneleise McEvoy: Scary. I mean, as you’re scrolling your own social media, I know that, I would be daunted by creating a reel of the activation I just told the marketing team. Right. So I don’t expect any hoteler or a director of sales and marketing to become a content creator. I start all of my social media calls like that. I expect one thing for them to be passionate about the thing that they want to market. Yeah. Passionate about the idea that they had to bring to me. And let’s give an example of maybe we have a rooftop market, farmer’s market experience. So when you’re talking about passion with that idea, I can make it come to life. Not everyone has to be a content creator, but you can create a social media champion on property. So designate one social media champion and I hop on a call with them. They’re usually very excited to capture the content. And then we make it easy with ideas and tell them how to get the best lighting, give them guidance on the best, the best clips and tell them that you don’t need to mute the clips. We’ll put on the music later. Right. It’s just about guidance and encouragement. But basically having one social media champion and having that passion is all you need. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I love that. And I think most hotels can find at least one employee that would be happy to do it, right? A happy to take those photos. And I’m sure they love their own social media, so why not, you know, do it for the hotel too? I would be that person for sure. I would love to, I would love to just go around properties and, you know, shoot content for them. Anneleise McEvoy: People even even raise their hand and say, “Hey, I wanna do this. ” And those are the best kind of people because you know that they’re, they’re really passionate about it. Cassady Quintana: And I’m sure it makes your life easier because you don’t even have to worry about finding that person, right? They’ve already made themselves know. So I’m sure that’s really helpful. And it’s cool to hear your guys’ process because, you know, when you work with a management group or you’re working with, you know, an agency like Travel Media Group to do your social media, it’s almost like sometimes it can be hard, I think, for hoteliers to fully be hands-off or, you know, there’s that kind of balance you have to have of, like, I’m passionate about it. I want people to see our hotel’s personality, but I’m also trusting someone else to make that come to life. So I think having that relationship with them and making sure that they understand, like, you want to bring their vision to life, right? So this is kind of an off-script question, but do you have trouble, like, do they have trouble coming up with ideas? Like, how does that balance work if you guys presenting ideas versus them saying, “This is what we wanna talk about this month?” Anneleise McEvoy: Like you said, I think two types of hotels. Some hotels come with me with 25 ideas, “Hey, can we post about National Lollipop Day?” Yeah. And I kinda have to reign them in and say, “Hey, let’s look at the brand standards and go back to our social media strategy. And I’d love to post about these five things that you brought up because, it’s in the area.” For example, the example that comes to mind is a DC hotel last year had, was close to the zoo, and they had pandas that were just born, and they wanted to post about it. And I was like, “That was kinda random, but we can make it a thing.” Right. They wanted to make it a whole activation. So they do come up with ideas. It’s all about balance in that relationship and being able to say, “No, that really doesn’t fit the brand voice,” versus, “Hey, yeah, let’s, let’s make that an idea.” So I have hotels that bring me ideas. We talk to the hotels at least once a month to present our ideas, whether that’s a local idea, what I just said about a panda being – Right. Born and it’s a, it’s a big piece of news. Or it’s more like National Wine and Cheese Day, “Hey, you should hop on this and we should get some local cheeses to come out and enhance your already done hot happy hour.” Yeah. So kind of both, both ways. We present ideas, sometimes they present ideas, but I like both. Cassady Quintana: That’s best of both worlds right there, have a little bit combo, because that allows you to still have your creative side too. So, okay, kind of shifting back, I know we touched on AI a little bit, but is there any AI tools, or workflows that you guys have utilized, you know, into your social media process? And how do you think AI is gona kind of fit into social media as we continue to move forward? Anneleise McEvoy: I actually think AI has made creativity in the marketing world more important, not less. Audiences know, like I said earlier, when something doesn’t feel authentic. And AI is not taking everyone’s jobs, as everyone’s saying. Hospitality is about people and the best stories still come from real guests, real employees, and real experiences. So they’re leaving those reviews. They’re leaving the comments. And I think we’re the liaison between the comments in the hotel. So for example, like I said about community management, we do community management every day, and I look at comments and reviews. I have one specific hotel that has been open, the same one as the bartender one, has been around for about 25 years, and people are repeat guests. Right. And they, they comment all the time, “Hey, I have 25 days till my vacation. I’m celebrating my wedding anniversary.” And so we could do an AI response back to that, but I like to send via email that comment to the hotel team and work with them on a special amenity that we can give someone because some of the comments I see, they’ve gotten married there, et cetera. So creating those real experiences that AI hasn’t. But yes, we do use AI. I think it’s just as enhancements. I don’t think that in the social media world, you should put your whole content calendar in there and use all of the captions, the cookie cutter captions that it comes out with. And then I think really interesting, the newest thing about AI that I’ve seen is AI influencers. And so I’ve seen a couple, of those and I think it just all goes back to being authentic. And some of those employees that you’re seeing in the AI influencers are not real places that these repeat guests are used to. So I think it’s a good thing and you can use it for lazy ways, like I keep saying. But just enhancements to already ideas. We put in different activations that we’ve though of and it’s came out with even better ideas. So yes, we do use AI. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. I mean, I think you kind of have to these days. It’s, it’s everywhere. And so if you’re not utilizing it, you know, you, you might as well be utilizing it in some way to help, help enhance your strategy or just to bounce ideas off. But I’m, I’m glad you mentioned that about, you know, employees that don’t actually exist. And I haven’t seen that influencer thing. I’m gonna have to check that out after this, but it’s, that’s kind of scary, actually, like, when you think about it. It is. ‘Cause that stuff looks so real. And if… Imagine you saw that. Imagine that you saw an em – an employee at the hotel and then you get there and then you never see them. And it’s like, it can be hard to make sure, like, okay, do I believe this or not? Anneleise McEvoy: Like you said, I mean, different… AI is just improving every day as you know. Right. And different generations look at that differently. And if an older generation looks at that AI influencer and they’re like, “Whoa, we wanna go there and we wanna experience this view and the view isn’t – Right. Like it is, then it’s not real.” So – Yeah. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. Yeah. It can definitely have a negative effect too. And we might even see, you know, negative comments, negative reviews about, you know, I saw this image on their social media and this is not what it looks like because maybe they used AI. And it’s like – Yes. A very fine line there. And we see it too with responding to reviews, and like you mentioned, responding to comments too, how it’s pretty easy to tell if something was just AI generated, but if you can take those comments and respond back to them like a real person and then like you said later on, they come to visit and you remembered that and you did something special for them, I think that’s awesome. And we can’t lose that humanity aspect of hospitality. And I don’t think we will. Like I think at the – Me. The base of hospitality is people and that’s what makes a hotel stay special is the people behind it. ‘Cause at the end of the day – Yeah. It’s just a building. It may be the most beautiful resort ever, but if the staff is not nice and they don’t have a good experience with them, like, overall, it’s not a great time. So look – I agree. I appreciate your insight on those. So before we wrap up, I like to do these, like, rapid fire questions. Okay. So I’m gonna give you questions and, like, first thing that comes to your mind, all right? Okay. Perfect. So what is one hotel social media trend you think is overused or overrated? Anneleise McEvoy: Lots of trends. I mean, I think we live in an era of pop culture. And not every brand needs to participate in every single trend. So we live in an era of all these trendy TV shows, award shows, the Super Bowl, all of these things. And sometimes saying no to a trend is having a strong brand voice. Yeah. And it’s not all cookie. So I would just say don’t hop on all of the memes just because they’re trendy. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. It’s like, I don’t know if you saw during the World Cup, the Levi Stadium had to cover, you know, their logo with the white cloth and all these brands are doing all of a sudden. And it’s like, it’s, that’s not what the, you know, that’s not why it blew up. Or the same thing with the – No. The couple that just climbed the Empire State Building with the flag, and now people are putting their stuff on the flag. Everywhere. It’s everywhere. It’s like, okay, guys. And I get it. I get why people are doing it because they want, they want that viral moment. But anyways, I digress. So, okay. <laugh> Favorite hotel brand or property to follow on social media that’s not Remington? Anneleise McEvoy: I have three. So I would say, I mean, I’m in social media, but I’m also on social media doom scoo – scrolling a lot. So my local one would be Dallas Hotel Swexen. I think it’s a boutique hotel and they have a really cool aesthetic feed that w – like I was talking about lots of professional shots. So taking inspo from there. Why I started in s – hotels, I love LOEs. The story of the Plaza. So I love looking at the Plaza Hotel in New York and they have a great dog-friendly program. They get robes and room service for dogs. It’s just, it’s great to watch. And then the Lafayette in San Diego, I think it was recently transformed from a motel actually. I think it’s an independent, but they have a lot of great programming for food and beverage and pools and everything. And so I like looking at what events they have going on. Cassady Quintana: All right. There you heard it first, listeners. If you need social content inspiration, definitely go check those out. I’ll be checking those out after this too. Okay. what’s your favorite Remington campaign or post that you’ve done or that you’ve been a part of? Anneleise McEvoy: It’s actually happening right now. So Laconcia Key West is turning 100 this year. Nice. And I love it because, we layered so many different marketing strategies into the campaign. So we had a lifestyle photo and video shoot. And the video shoot was focused on reels where it compares vintage to now time. Actually, every week in July we are releasing, a different video. So that’s been fun. And then we had a couple weeks ago, we teased a social media giveaway. So they were established in 1926. So we teased this giveaway and we were giving away five lucky people, $19.26 a night rates. And so if they commented at the certain time that we posted, first five got this and of course we had blackout dates app, et cetera. But since we tease it, we got about 200 comments in the first minute. And so we had to be on the first five commenters and that was really fun. And they’re all staying in 2026. So it’s been a really fun 100-year campaign. That’s awesome. Cassady Quintana: Yeah. I wish I would’ve known about that. I would’ve tried to enter. <laugh> Yes. Yeah, that’s awesome. I, I love that kind of stuff too, because that, I don’t know, that just adds another layer of personality beyond this day because it, it shows that you really care about that relationship with guests and wanting to do that kind of stuff. Also, 100 years is, is impressive on its own. Okay. What, what’s one piece of advice you’d give to a hotel that’s trying to grow its social presence? Maybe they’re just starting out. Anneleise McEvoy: I would say create those experiences. I would say if you have a ho- hotel happy hour and it’s just in a hotel bar and maybe you’ll Your branding is European. You make a European happy hour with a viral Aperol Spritz that people are going to take pictures of. Maybe it comes out in a cart. Maybe you train people to say a special word when they get this Apparel Spritz. It’s all about experiences on social now because that’s what you get, that’s when you get your user generated content. So it just makes sense. So create those experiences. Cassady Quintana: Love it. All right. Well, before we wrap up, I like to ask everybody, you know, kind of looking ahead to 2026, I can’t believe we’re already more than halfway through the year. It’s crazy. But what are some social marketing trends you’re seeing right now that hoteliers and other social media managers should pay attention to? Anneleise McEvoy: I think it’s actually going back to what hospitality means. I know we’ve talked a lot about people and experiences and everyone is talking about all of these trends, but it’s actually just saying, “Hey, we’re in the hospitality industry. Travelers are looking for not just a place to stay anymore. They’re not just putting their head on the pillow. They’re looking for a place where they can experience everything. They can walk to everything. They have all, they have a navigator at the front desk telling them what the closest d- destination spots. They’re curating that itinerary for them so they have to do no work. Our job as marketers, social media managers, content creators is to translate those experiences into content that makes someone think, “Hey, I wanna go there.” And then you can layer in all of the trends that people are talking about. But it’s really those, “Hey, I wanna go there,” moments that get you those bookings. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, for sure. Well, you’ve had great advice all this entire episode. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to do this. For our listeners, is there anywhere they can find you, connect with you, or Remington? Anneleise McEvoy: Yes, we have social media. Remington Hospitality is our handle on TikTok and Instagram and LinkedIn, so go follow them. And for me, Anneleise McEvoy on LinkedIn is great. Cassady Quintana: All right. Perfect. Well, Anneleise, thank you so much for joining me today. I had a blast talking to you and thank you everybody for listening to this episode and we will see you next time on the Social Success Series. Anneleise McEvoy: Thank you. Cassady Quintana: 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 am your host, Cassady Quintana, and we hope you enjoyed this episode.
• 
  209 – Independent Hotel Show Series: Dave Jacoby & Kaleigh Wiese 15.07.2026 35min

  Tune in the latest Suite Spot episode as special guests, Dave Jacoby, Founder/Owner of Hotel Lucine and Kaleigh Wiese, Founder and CEO of Ode Places, take a moment to discuss the independent and boutique hotel landscape and the 2026 Independent Hotel Show Miami in this episode for the Suite Spot Independent Hotel Show Series. 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 podcast. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here with another episode of our Independent Hotel Show series. This is season two. We’ve done quite a number of these independent hotel show series episodes, but this is the first one where we’ve got multiple guests. So I’m excited to bring them both in today. First with me, Dave Jacoby, founder and owner of Hotel Lucine, and Kaleigh Weise, founder and CEO of Ode Places. Dave, Kaleigh, thank you so much for being with me today. Dave Jacoby: So excited. Thanks for having us. Kaleigh Weise: What a way to kick off the independent hotel show. Dave and I got to share the stage last year. Dave Jacoby: We did. Kaleigh Weise: And I feel like we could have talked for a million more hours. And we’re friends, but also we’ve worked together, so I feel like I’m excited to be on together. Ryan Embree: Alright, well this is awesome. I’m excited. We’ll, we won’t be able to speak for a million hours, but we’ll definitely have some time today. And I’m excited, but as tradition here in the Suite Spot, one of the wonderful things about our industry and hospitality is people come from all different walks of life to get into our industry. Sometimes you fall into it with a summer job, sometimes you start as a bellman. Like myself, we love to hear these stories. We live and breathe these stories in hospitality and share them with others. So let’s start by just a proper introduction and maybe your hospitality journeys that led you to your respective positions. Kaleigh, let’s start with you. Kaleigh Weise: Yeah. Well, there’s a lot to unpack here. So if you see me at the show, come find me. I have been self-employed by whole entire career, and I have always been obsessed with the form and function of business. Like, how do you have a brand that really resonates despite, you know, I see your brand is like a lighthouse, right? Like, how are you attracting the right people? But also at the end of the day, like that business has to be incredibly healthy. And then you layer on a hotel, which is a 24/7 breathing company. And so how do you make sure that you have the longevity with systems and processes and you have a brand that continues to resonate as the years develop. And so I got my start serving in essentially helping brand and position and help with coaching for hospitality and service-based businesses. And then that naturally led into places where people slept, right? So I actually was working with event venues for a long time and when we got into the lodging conversation, I was like, now this is fascinating, a one time event versus like, keeping this up 24/7, what does that look like? And so we, I started out places essentially in 2018 after being in Northern California in the Santa Cruz Redwoods, we got to support a property out there. And I was like, the resonance that I got to feel to plant seeds of purpose into the land there of those 80 acres and understanding the choices we made would affect short-term and long-term generations really put me on a trajectory where that’s where I’ve committed my work so far. Ryan Embree: Really cool origin story there. And a lot of parallels from the event industry to hospitality and lodging. So, Dave, what about you? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, thanks. So I’m born and raised in Philadelphia, but somehow I ended up in Galveston, Texas, so I did not have that on my bingo card growing up. But here I am, out of college, worked in some finance and kind of hotel development related positions. First in New York City, then went to graduate school, then moved to Las Vegas and actually was in the casino space. But throughout that whole kind of portion of my journey was developing projects that were other people’s ideas and kind of on behalf of others, even though, you know, in Vegas, for example, I led development and opening up a resort there, moved to Galveston, where my wife is from. And my family’s now based in 2016. And just felt like I fell in love with Galveston, but felt like Galveston needed a slightly different hospitality experience here. Something with a little more soul that matched the soul that this whole town has. But the hospitality offerings that I didn’t feel like harnessed that soul really well, yet found an old kind of out of favor motel on the beach and figured out a way to acquire it and came up with a brand and a design and a team that we put together. And it’s been a labor of love and, you know, blood, sweat and tears sometimes, but a lot of smiles and happiness too. And we’re going on three years open, so, okay, that’s kind of how I got here. Ryan Embree: That’s like the America, the hotel American dream, what you’re doing right now. And listen, I went to school for hospitality and I think just this conversation already between the event management, hospitality, the gaming that you’ve included. I mean, this is like hospitality management 101 through the experiences, but certainly a familiar one where you’re bouncing around. But it sounds like you found your home there in Galveston. I was really excited about this conversation because it’s very rare I get to talk to two guests that have kind of built their brands from the ground up, right? And I think this is a challenge and a task that especially independent hoteliers have to kind of face and building their story and building a brand that resonates with travelers, especially today. So how important is branding and storytelling to connect with guests? Because I think that is what independent hotels strive to do is create this connection that might be missing right now and, you know, really hopefully leads to loyalty in the future. And what maybe advice would you share from your own personal kind of branding journeys? Dave, we’ll start with you and then go to Kaleigh. Dave Jacoby: The brand is so central to what we’re doing. We sort of started with that brand identity, and I use the term identity not as like a business jargon term, but it really is an identity. We personified our brand and there are still decisions that we’ll make where we have this fictitious Aunt Lucine that we will use as a muse for decisions we make around property. And it’s sort of a guiding light for us. But, I think the concept of kind of personifying your brand really helps make it make sense, at least for me. So, I look at how do we connect with our guests? I really look at how we connect with our local community and use that as the window in to our guests with the kind of overriding assumption that if our whole town and local surrounding population considers us part of the fabric of that neighborhood, that the outsiders will, that authenticity will come through. Outsiders will see that that’s where they’ll want to stay. So then, back to the personification of it, just like in your personal life, if you are friends with a group of people, you need to add something to that group and you need to then take something back from that group. So I sort of look at Galveston as the environment here is like a play. And instead of us coming in and saying, well, what is everyone else doing, we’ll do that too. So that we fit in saying, well, how do we add a new main character to the cast here? And I sort of look at it that way. And so what are we adding that’s different, but how does it fit into and, and be complimentary with everything around it? And that’s, that’s kind of how we, we looked at how we fit in and what we offer to our guests both, as, you know, overnight hotel guests and local community that might eat, drink, hang out with us. Ryan Embree: Kaleigh? Kaleigh Weise: Well, I wanna also compliment Dave and Keith have done such a phenomenal job at Hotel Lucine that they have a brand bible, if you will. And I think that it is a testament to how the vision casting of Aunt Lucine infiltrates, the purchases that they make for design, the plants, the employees, the uniforms, how they want them to talk and walk, and all of that alignment I think resonates really well with attracting the right talent, but also attracting the right guests. And so I think having intentionality, I always say, your brand is what other people say it is. So we have to remember that we have control over how we position our brands and what we want. So I think intentionality is first, which I think Hotel Stein does. On the flip side of that, I think we have to be realistic about who is traveling and who is coming to the hotel or who is also the consumer. Obviously on the B2B side, I usually like to pick three to five different personas, and I think that that helps shape making decisions. We have a property we’re working with right now that is on 12 acres. There’s 43 cabins. It’s primarily outside, right? It’s like, okay, who is the ideal person who’s looking for a property like this? And I think the clearer that you can get with that, it helps you understand where your revenue programming is gonna come for, like, come from. It helps you understand like where you should put costs. Like do they care about the amenities? Do they care about the soap? Do they want a robe in the room? And I think sometimes we make decisions that are too close to maybe how we would like to travel or what we think is best, and we forget what our guests might be looking for, which then leads to greater revenue opportunities and better residents that leads to people wanting to come back because they feel like they belong there, right? Like that was created for them. So that’s kind of the flip side of I think knowing who you are, but knowing who your guest is is equally as important. Ryan Embree: Yeah, a hundred percent. And there’s, I mean, guests are leaving us clues constantly on who they are based on online feedback, social media posts, reviews, there’s so many things. Even just a day-to-day conversations, you would be surprised, a tip that everyone gets, you know, you wanna know, you wanna learn about what guests think about you, just hang out in your lobby for a couple minutes during breakfast and just hear the conversations about what people are saying about their stay. But Dave, I loved your point there about talking about being embedded in the local community because you think about people that really prioritize a unique experience in the independent hotel space, which they’re independent hotels are so positioned to do, if you don’t become a part of your community, they’re looking for that unique kind of experience that only an independent hotel can provide them. If you’re really embracing your local community and sharing those same kind of aspects of it’s gonna hopefully resonate with that traveler. And then hopefully they amplify that story a little bit in some of the ways that I was talking about. But one of the things we’re gonna talk about the independent hotel show in a second in September, very excited about that. But one of the things that I love about that show is sometimes as independent hotels, you might feel a little bit like you’re on an island because you don’t have that big brand behind you, right? So getting a bunch of independent hoteliers together, you hear about some of the challenges that are going on right now. And unfortunately right now there’s a lot of noise in our industry. Economic shift, geopolitical factors, rising operational costs and margins are very thin, can be challenging for independent hoteliers. Where do you guys see opportunity right now? Because independent hotels are always looking for that little bit of edge. Where do you see opportunity right now in the state of this industry and maybe where do you see some shared challenges that we have to kind of battle as an industry for independent hotelilers? Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then maybe Dave you could zoom in maybe a little bit more on your property and market. Kaleigh Weise: I think the biggest thing that I’m seeing is, I talk about all these revenue drivers as like little dials. We get to tweak and twist, right? And I think that through some of the impacts that we’re having that are things that are outside of our control, right? There’s only so much we can do with some of these things. There are a few things that you actually can kind of take control over. And I think that investing more in the community and finding opportunities to drive revenue with the people who are in your local area who maybe aren’t traveling for the summer or fall or Christmas or whatever that might be through that event programming, it is not uncommon for us to go into a independent hotel and they haven’t really ever thought about events, especially if they’re under, let’s say 60 keys. Even 20 to 40 or 80 is a great number because you have an opportunity to having a full buyout, or you can have 40th birthday parties or a wedding or something like that. And that can be a huge revenue driver. And so I think as we look at shifts that are happening with, you know, the average event or wedding right now is booking a hundred or event is booking 120 days out. I think the average wedding is booking somewhere between nine and and 14 months out. You can start forecasting revenue a little bit more in control and then focusing on your rooms and your distribution in shorter term pickup opportunities. And so I think understanding where are all of your revenue drivers? What do you have control over? What do you not have control over? And where are, maybe there are opportunities that will be very low lift to you to be able to fill dates and have revenue coming in ways that haven’t been the pickup that you anticipated. Ryan Embree: yeah, and food and beverage, huge opportunity and doesn’t, you’re absolutely right, Kaleigh. It doesn’t necessarily need to be travelers from outside of your market all the time. The hotel restaurant, I feel like has got a bad rap for the last decade or so, but it is turning around, right? And it’s a place where people want to be. It’s a social setting where when people come, you might be hosting people and for the holidays or what have you, and you might find yourself at a hotel restaurant even if they’re not staying there. So it’s certainly a shift in what’s happening right now, but especially for independent hotels. Dave, what about you? What have you kind of seen in your market and maybe any creative solutions for some of these challenges right now? Dave Jacoby: I mean, I’ll sort of piggyback off of what Kaleigh said a little bit there, but it’s events and Kaleigh has sort of focused on booking events from, you know, outside groups. I’ll sort of look at it more as your internal event programming I think is also really important. And, and that’s, and it’s our kind of best way that we use to connect with our local community. And what that event programming is can be so many different things. It sort of depends who you are, who is in your community, and how do you fit into your community, what do you offer? So kind of when I talked about earlier, need to offer something back to your community that you’re in, for us that means a lot of live music. We’re very plugged into the local live music scene and we have a great curated music program every weekend night, all year long. And then in the summer we have a series called Sunset and Sounds, which is sort of larger bands that are touring. Some are touring the U.S. Some are based in Austin or elsewhere in Texas, and they come down to hotel scene and we put on free shows for hotel guests, the community, whoever wants to go. We do wellness events and that might be cold plunges or sound baths. We’ll partner with local organizations that wanna do fundraisers or other events. And it’s just a way to activate the space. It’s a way for people that are not from your town to have a experience where they feel like they’re integrated into what’s happening in that community. It’s a little more interesting for them as a visitor. And if you’re staying at a large chain hotel down the street or in another market, they just can’t deliver that. They don’t have the people, enough people with decision making power that are in the community that are focused on that. It’s just not the way they’re built. So that’s really the advantage I think independents do have over the larger chain hotels. We might not have the distribution systems and some of the other marketing spend, but we do have the ability to deliver on a day-to-day basis and experience that’s just different than what those larger hotels can. Kaleigh Weise: And I would like to comment that, you know, we’re seeing data around three hour drives being really hot, right? So I think sometimes you think you’re marketing to the next nearest city or, you know, looking for that destination destination visitor. I think really thinking about who are those markets that are within a three hour drive that are easy pickup for you once they know that you exist and you’ve again pointed your lighthouse of your marketing and branding in their direction, I think that’s a wonderful way to pick up opportunities for guests and community and events and things like that. Ryan Embree: Hey, I am the father of a 5 and a 3-year-old. And let me tell you, I’m a huge proponent of the three hour trip because that’s about as far as I can get before all of us go a little crazy. So you, you can bet I’m definitely looking for those opportunities to get out there and have that type of experience that Dave, you know, it’s around this time of year when we’re I’m talking to independent hotels that I get so inspired because the freedom of having an independent hotel and the activations and programming that you can put on, I think sometimes independent hotels, because they see some of these big branded hotels not doing some of this programming. They think should I be doing it? And it’s maybe because they have so much red tape in their branding, they have to get approval from, legal or their brand to actually run these things that they’re just not doing it. So it’s such an opportunity, and again, I get so inspired to kind of see that because the way the ingenuity that these independent hoteliers have is just, it’s second to none in our industry. It’s really creating a very cool experience, which is now being showcased and highlighted easier than ever via social media and reviews. So as we talk about industry trends, I wanna see, Kaleigh, you were talking about the three hour trip, right? Wellness is a big one, f &b, what are some of these maybe traveler trends that you’re starting to see bubble up and emerge right now? And how can independent hotels capitalize on these trends and over maybe branded competitors? Dave, you want to start maybe any trends that you’re noticing in your market in Galveston? Dave Jacoby: I’d say one might be the, and to use a buzzword here, the bleisure trends or the business leisure trends. So we will find, sometimes we’ll get small groups, maybe it’s a board or a small creative agency or something like that, that will come and have an offsite with us. And it’s partially meant to be used as a brainstorming session or some obvious business function to their meeting. But it’s also a time to hang out. Some of these groups might bring spouses with them or there might be a business component and then they’ll stay for the weekend and then it’s a little more freeform or social at that point. Or I’ll sort of see this bleisure happen from the other direction where someone will say, Hey, I want to come for a weekend and be at the beach, but why not come on Wednesday night and I’ll stay and I’ll just, I work from home anyway. That’s become so much more acceptable for all or part of the week for so many people. What does it matter if I work from home, from home home or from a hotel or a hotel lobby where I’ve got coffee? And it can be tended to. So we sort of see leisure trips happen in both those directions where the, the work kind of lends a little more leisure and the leisure lends a little more work. Kaleigh Weise: We also have a great living room for people to work and hang out and stay and enjoy beachside. Dave Jacoby: We do, we do. I sit in there often and you’re, and you’re right that it is when I overhear what people are saying about the hotel, I do my work, but I also eave drop and pop in on people and help out with things. Ryan Embree: It’s funny ’cause you know, modern day design for hotels now are accommodating for that. They know that the flexible workspace and they’re building lobby common areas a little bit larger or maybe even not so siloed so that people can mingle, interact, but also have some spaces to work from. So certainly a trend there. Kaylee, what are you seeing maybe from, as you zoom out? Kaleigh Weise: I mean I think experiences and add-ons are something that I continue to be surprised by. So if I’m the North American Ambassador for Muse, so I of course love Muse, but also cloud beds and stay in touch and all of, like, they all offer these add-on options where a guest during checkout or pre-arrival, they can add that early check-in. I’m blown away by the amount of people who opt into that $35 pre-check in or wanna add a bottle of wine to the room. Like those little details, it’s so helpful when they’re coming to have that reminder that we can make this a more customized stay for you. And so I think the sweet spot is no more than seven upsell opportunities. But I think that that even bleeds into, I know when we were helping with Hotel Lucine I’d ideate on some of these things, it’s like they ended up doing pop-up dinners on the balconies of their rooms and adding, I forget, a couple hundred dollars right? Or picnic baskets that people could take offsite. And I think people are hungry for having that almost like travel agent like experience where if the property can customize an itinerary for them or enhancements for their stay, I think they’re very excited and eager to be able to take advantage of that. So I think that’s a trend that’s happening and desirable, but something that I see a lot of independent hoteliers are stuck in the day to day and maybe not adding the attention that they could that will see the revenue that really is low hanging fruit out there. Dave Jacoby: Kaleigh’s so good at that. I mean she helped us with that as she mentioned, but she’s got this ability to kind of come in and just see what’s going on every day and she’s not seeing anything you don’t see immediately. But then she also sees these other opportunities of ways to personalize the guest experience in a way that you’re happy to do and isn’t a heavy lift for you and the guest is happy to pay for. And it’s just such a win-win. It’s almost like you get the surprise and delight moment right outta the gates and the guest pays for it too. It’s a great, it’s a great combo. Kaleigh Weise: Just a matter of training the staff and getting in on the website. Ryan Embree: That’s right. Very important. Get the buy-in from the staff. But you mentioned that word personalized. I mean that’s what we’ve been striving for in this industry for a long time. Personalization and with the rise of technology and AI like I put here, it’s not a podcast in 2026 if we don’t use those words. I don’t think I anybody would listen if we don’t talk about that or that buzzword. But I do wanna talk about it because I think especially with independent hotels, they might be more excited than most because it could figure out a way they could use AI and technology to maybe shrink the difference or find that edge against a branded competitor and maybe not feel so, you know, just David versus Goliath in that sense. So Kaleigh, have you kind of seen any competitive or creative uses of technology and AI in the industry, especially with independent hotels? And then maybe Dave you could share a little bit of your thoughts as well. Kaleigh Weise: I definitely see us being in a bit of a purgatory and as I’m talking about this, I’m thinking fast forward a year from now and I think agentic agents are at our fingertips for having access to supportive administrative help. And I see what Muse is working on behind the scenes and it’s like we’re gonna be living in a very different operational world. In I think all the best ways. And when I think about the future of an org chart at a small independent property where you have to get stuck in the day-to-day right now planning and preparing for guests and double checking things like being able to be synced in when Uber’s about to when Uber’s about to drop off your guest. And being able to be prepared with that timing. I think we’re gonna see our front desk admin become hosts for the first time and really have the time and empowerment to be able to greet them with the level of detail and customization. I also think the automations, I think we’re gonna snap that into being just such a helpful tool to ask the right questions or personalize the spaces. So I think currently it’s very challenging, let’s say for an independent hotel to offer a pillow menu, if you will, for the right pillows that that guest is gonna want. But I think in the future we’re gonna be able to have the opportunity for putting a time and attention into creating experiences that guest deserves that’s customized based on various preferences or interactions. And so I think it’s a really exciting time for actually hospitality to take back the spotlight. And that’s why people join this industry, right? Is they love hosting people and giving people experiences. And I think sometimes the admin takes away from that, you know? And I think that it’s gonna allow us to be more competitive when it comes to distribution. All of us didn’t go to school to be revenue managers, right? And I think that is a, that is a calculated game that to be able to have tools that can help support us and making sure that we’re optimizing the proper ADR and and pickup cost to be able to book our occupancy moving forward. I think it’s a really exciting time. I think we’re just in the purgatory of it right now. It’s like at our fingertips, but we’re not quite there. But I think about a year from now, things are gonna feel like it’s restabilizing in a really exciting way. Ryan Embree: So Dave, from an owner’s per perspective, you’ve, you just talked about how carefully you’ve kind of curated and built this incredible experience at Hotel Lucine. What is your thoughts on when you think about implementing technology or, or some sort of new AI initiative into the guest experience and how you make sure that doesn’t impact your brand too much? Dave Jacoby: I like the term Kaleigh used about purgatory. I don’t think we’re quite there yet. If you look at the amount of, certainly in the independent space, useful applications of AI in the day-to-day life versus the amount of words in print publications about AI, it’s a massive imbalance there. To me, the right ways that AI can be implemented are ways that are invisible to the guests. So the example Kaleigh was using is one that we’re, I’m rolling out actually now in kind of bits and pieces is how do you use AI to improve your day-to-day workflow? And for me, if it’s, I can unleash it on my Google drive and have it pull a bunch of information and synthesize it and put report together for that I can then give to our team. We’ve got better data and that would’ve taken me three hours, but I let it run in the background for 10 minutes and it’s done. You know, things like that to get better insights on your business, that can be done. Now, to the extent we can use AI to free up front desk agents, I’m working through a specific protocol on that now, just to get all the, what’s your pet policy, what time is check? And we just get so many emails that are repetitive in nature to answer. And the front desk agent isn’t always on top of it. Sometimes they’re doing other things, and I’d rather they be eyeball to eyeball with a guest acting as a host or hostess to the people that come in and providing person to person hospitality and not in the computer. We can free that up. You can do that now. So it’s a matter of just setting the systems up and taking the time to do it. And you can set it up with as much automation or oversight as you want to do, but it’s a matter of taking the time to actually do it so that you can free up those personal interactions. Because that’s where we as independent hotels, I think are, that’s what we people come to us for, is for that personalized touch and feeling like they’re having a human interaction and they’re not at a big corporate commoditized hotel. So we wanna give them that as much as we can. Kaleigh Weise: And I mean, I think human-centric is so important. I think we can, we can still remain to have a human-centric business with these tools. I hear all the time people feel like they’re so behind with using AI. And I guess even for those listeners today, I think you can relinquish the shame because the speed in which AI is gonna continue to grow is gonna continue to grow. And I think the application of that, depending on what market you’re in, what tools you’re using, I think if you can focus on one implementation thing that’s gonna actually help you serve your guests better, you’re not behind. It’s really just pacing that is right for your team, for your guests, and what’s gonna be right for you. But also don’t be afraid of it. Like, I think that there’s a lot of exciting things and tools that are only gonna be able to support us as an industry. Ryan Embree: My big bold prediction is that I think the GM of the next couple years is actually gonna look a lot more like maybe the GM of 20, 30 years ago before all of that kind of work that what we traditionally thought a GM had to do with reports and all of these things that actually some of those desk jockeying kind of tasks, AI can, agentic AI could potentially take care of for you. And then you get back to kind of doing what both of you described as, you know, that face-to-face human interaction. So what I’m hoping is that, you know, a lot of this technology actually kind of causes more of our service driven people and hospitality professionals to kind of rise to the top and create some really cool, memorable experiences and maybe just get that service back to where it was. Because it just feels like there’s some aspects of it in some hotels where it just, we completely missed the mark. So that’s my, maybe that’s me being a litte too, but that’s, that’s my 2 cents and what I hope happens. Dave Jacoby: No, no, I think that makes a lot of sense. And I thought of one other great application for independent hoteliers for AI. We don’t have an in-house IT guy. We don’t have an in-house like maintenance tech. We’re just not big enough to carry those positions. But you can go to your, claude, chatGPT, whatever it is, and say, why did my TV turn on three times in the middle of the night by itself in room 212 last night? True story, this happened and the guest was upset. And then I explained what my systems are and how they work and what they can, you give it a little bit of input information, it’ll help you diagnose. I haven’t yet tried the recommendation ’cause I’m on here talking to you guys. But there are all kinds of solutions you can ask for help for and they might not be right, but before you’re spending money to call out an HVAC technician, find somebody who can handle whatever this one specific system you have is and can service that you can troubleshoot a lot of these things and 60, 70% of these things you can fix on your own because it’ll walk you through it. It’s really a helpful way to save money. And that also helps guests experience, right? Because now if that TV’s not turning on three times middle of the night for that guest tomorrow night, she’ll be happy. Ryan Embree: Love it. Yeah. There we go. Just claude gonna be employee of the, of the week over there at Hotel Lucine every week If we get that figured out. But I do wanna shift our attention to the reason we, you know, started this series, the Independent Hotel Show this year happening September 16th and 17th in Miami Beach. We could not be more excited. And for our Suite Spot listeners, don’t forget to use promo code Ryan26 for a complimentary registration. Dave, you’re on the advisory board and Kaleigh, you’re a brand ambassador like myself. We were on a call talking about the show just the other day. I wanna get your thoughts on what inspired you to get involved with this event and maybe some of your personal favorite aspects of the show. So Kaleigh, let’s start with you and then Dave, you can answer. Kaleigh Weise: I have been an active conference goer my whole career, right? Like a little bit of hustling, a little bit of gorilla marketing. And when I look back at the growth and success in my career, it really comes down to the thin threads and the people that I meet. And I think to have an opportunity to pull up a seat at the table for independent hoteliers who do feel very isolated most of the time, right? They don’t have any other friends who have independent hotels to call. They feel like they’re stuck in the day to day. This will be the fourth year. And I’ve been able to be a part all four years. And I think it’s really exciting to even meet back up every year and hear about the growth that each person is experiencing, but also what’s working in their market and not, and just because you’re in Boston or you’re in Galveston or you’re in Monterey, California, you’re gonna find that you have more the same than different when it comes to the day-to-day challenges of operating a business or being able to get in front of the right guests that you know that you deserve, that are paying the price point that you want. And so to have an opportunity to hear what’s relevant in terms of content, but also talk with other people is just invaluable. And so I continue to be really excited about the niche of, you know, the subsegment. The industry is so large in lodging and we really haven’t had a place until the Independent Hotel Show that gathers this segment of people who are doing it. Owner operated and small with a passion. Ryan Embree: Agreed. Agreed. Yeah. Passion is is a word we hear a lot at that show. Because you can just see, I mean these are, you guys are both founders like I mentioned before. I mean the passion behind your brand, the storytelling makes such a huge difference. And to have that much energy and a place Miami Beach of all places, right? One of the independent hotel capital of the world, to see and hear all of that is a truly a memorable experience. Dave what about yourself? Dave Jacoby: Yeah, so unlike Kaleigh, I do not go to a lot of conferences. It’s not generally my thing, but I’ve been into this show and really loved it. I loved how we mentioned earlier how a lot of independent hoteliers haven’t really had a lot of places to congregate and kind of coalesce their thoughts together. I found the panels awesome, even the ones that I was like, well that’s doesn’t really touch what I do in my day to day, but I’m here so I’ll listen. All of them. I found really interesting. More than that, it was just the people that were there, these other independent hotel helped hoteliers who had done gone on their own journeys to get wherever they got. And they had all figured it out. Ghere was not a lot of resources in front of them telling them how to do what they needed to do. They just, they needed to pay their mortgage, they just did the next right thing and got there. So hearing the stories of how people solved whatever the issues were that were in front of them and sharing my own stories and finding the commonalities of maybe the setting was different or the problem was different, but really the approach was very the same. Or getting inspiration from people who have figured out things I hadn’t figured out yet and learning from them. So I really like just the being able to learn so much kind of one-on-one from people and in and in some of the sessions. Kaleigh Weise: I also think they do a great job of pulling together vendors and resources. It is not uncommon for an independent hotelier to go to Costco for some of their… Or order on, you know, Walmart.com or Amazon. And I feel like there really are great resources out there that are made for independent hoteliers and to bring them into the room to have a conversation around cost savings or ability to be able to elevate the amenities that they have on site. I’m really excited ’cause I think of the show floor this year is gonna be bigger and better than ever from what we were hearing in preparation. And so I think it’s a wonderful opportunity that people should allow time to walk the floor in addition to hearing the sessions because those vendors can really change their bottom line quite significantly with implementation. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And it’s so cool to see the eclecticness of the independent hoteliers there from, Dave, you’re a great example coming from Galveston, Texas. You could be coast to coast anywhere from like a little five room air bnb rather to a giant independent hotel in a major market. So just everything in between, all different shapes and sizes when it comes to independent hotels, independent hotels. That’s why we love them so much. That’s why we like hearing the stories and why it’s such a unique space and hospitality. And to be able to spend those couple days putting the spotlight on sometimes, this really, really unique segment, it’s such a privilege. We’ve had the opportunity to cover the show for four years as well. So we’re very excited and hope our Suite Spot listeners will join us in Miami Beach this September. So as we wrap up, I do like to just kind of give the opportunity for any final thoughts as we wrap up today. I want to thank both of you for taking the time to join me today. Kaleigh, any final thoughts before we wrap up? Kaleigh Weise: Yeah, I feel like the, the topic I wanna touch on is a lot of hoteliers in the making are interested in the show and I feel like there’s a little bit of intimidation showing up, not really having background or knowledge or even knowing what they’re getting themselves into. And so I guess from an affirmation perspective, this is a wonderful show if this is an industry that you’re curious about or you wanna learn more about or you wanna have the conversations around. And so we look forward to hopefully welcoming you in September. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, I will echo that. And kind of say there are a lot of people at this show that are interested in the space and maybe are there to learn and they’ll find that people are there like myself or other people who have kind of gone through the process and developed their hotel. I would just say to all of them here, what I’ll say to you at the show is, I didn’t know what I was doing either when I started and a lot of us don’t. And there’s no playbook. There’s not gonna be a playbook. You’re not gonna find one that’s gonna tell you what to do at all steps. You just surround yourself with smart people. You need to know what you can and cannot do and where your limits are and kind of take the plunge and figure it out as you go. And your decision making in the moment is really gonna be what’s gonna drive the process. And if you’re always waiting to have the full roadmap, you’re never gonna have that roadmap. Ryan Embree: Maybe that’ll be our next endeavor as the independent hoteliers playbook and we can publish that as a couple authors. Dave Jacoby: Yeah, a long book. Ryan Embree: Yes. Take a lot I’m sure. Kaleigh Weise: Variation A, B, C, D. Ryan Embree: Exactly. Ryan Embree: Well, Kaleigh, Dave, thank you so much. I really appreciate you taking the time, sharing your stories today. We cannot wait for September at the Independent Hotel Show. And thank you all for listening to the Suite Spot. 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.
• 
  208 – Independent Hotel Show Series: Minor Hotels 08.07.2026 35min

  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.
• 
  207 – Social Success Series: Scott Eddy 17.06.2026 26min

  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.
• 
  206 – NYU IHIF 2026: Key Takeaways 12.06.2026 35min

  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.
• 
  205 – Respond & Resolve™ 10 Year Anniversary 03.06.2026 46min

  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.
• 
  204 – Suite Spot Road Trip: Comfort Inn & Suites Orlando Sanford Airport 27.05.2026 21min

  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.
• 
  203 – Suite Spot Road Trip: Hyatt Place Delray Beach 20.05.2026 16min

  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.  
• 
  202 – 2026 NYU IHIF Preview 07.05.2026 41min

  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.
• 
  201 – TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl: Georgia State University – Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality Administration 29.04.2026 33min

  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.
• 
  200 – Suite Spot 200 23.04.2026 22min

  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.
• 
  199 – Social Success Series: Arlo Hotels 08.04.2026 21min

  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.
• 
  198 – 2026 Hunter Conference: Key Takeaways 03.04.2026 39min

  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.
• 
  197 – TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl: UNLV 25.03.2026 23min

  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.
• 
  196 – 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt.2) 05.03.2026 34min

  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.
• 
  195 – 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt. 1) 26.02.2026 32min

  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.
• 
  194 – Suite Spot: Social Success Series with Aislynn Roberts 18.02.2026 24min

  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.
• 
  193 – 2026 Hunter Conference Preview 11.02.2026 32min

  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.
• 
  192 – Top 5 Sentiment Tags of 2025 22.01.2026 28min

  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.
• 
  191 – 2025 TMG Year in Review with President Dana Singer 30.12.2025 15min

  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.