Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

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

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

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

The 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.  The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities have partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 2, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We hope you enjoyed episode one of our special edition Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. This is episode two where we're gonna sit down with Karen Mendez and David Rosenberg, who's gonna talk to us about the exciting updates from the postcard, cabins and outdoor collection brand from Marriott. We talked to Bill Stachler about revenue optimization. And lastly, we sit down with Albert Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Hotel Equities. We hope you enjoy these interviews, out in Las Vegas. Ryan Embree: Hello Everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I'm here with Karen Mendez, VP of Operations, and David Rosenberg, President of the Focus Services Division and Outdoor Collection. Karen, David, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Karen & David: Thank you for having us. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, let's talk about this conference. First of all, nearly a thousand people are gonna be here on site. This is very, very exciting. Um, talk to us a little bit about what you're kind of expecting for these next couple days, and then we can get into your role a little bit. Karen, we'll start with you. Karen Mendez: Oh, great. Thank you. Um, this is really exciting for me. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, this is, I've been in the hotel industry 26, 27 years. I've been to a ton of conferences, and what I'm most excited about this one is bringing the postcard general managers. They have never had an opportunity to get together like this and really talk about their business. So I'm just excited for them to build off the energy and to meet everybody within hotel equities face to face, and really just know that what they do matter. Ryan Embree: David, what are you excited about for the next couple days here at that leadership conference? David Rosenberg: I appreciate that. So our theme this year is Transforming Together and 2025 was an incredible year with the additional postcard, cabins, springboard, hospitality, our continued organic growth, not only in the US Canada, but as now we have presences in the Caribbean and Latin America. And to come together the one time a year where we get to bring an entire leadership team. It's just inspiring to connect, learn from each other and share this time together. Ryan Embree: So cool. And so it's just a testament to the comprehensive nature of hotel equities portfolio. I think, you know, one of those spaces, obviously postcard cabins and the, the, um, outdoor collection that we're gonna talk about. Karen, you want to talk to us a little bit about your role and, um, what it, you know, how it kind of correlates with the outdoor collection? Karen Mendez: Sure, my pleasure. Um, we started working with postcard cabins last year, um, in January with a specific goal of bringing that brand and launching it into the Marriott ethos. So the past year, my job has been molding the two cultures, all the systems, the general managers onboarding, and getting this team ready for Marriott and getting Marriot ready for outdoors. Um,

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. , 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.

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 ph...

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,

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,

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.

As 2025 closes out, the Suite Spot wraps up with the latest inductee into the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. CEO of Hotel Equities, Ben Rafter, joins the podcast to discuss all things hospitality and technology and how these two components come together to make the perfect guest experience for travelers. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree here with a very exciting, informative episode continuing our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. This is our series where we are talking to those industry leaders and brands, management companies that are paving the way forward. I've got an absolutely amazing guest, I'm excited to speak with him today. Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities. Ben, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Ben Rafter: Thanks, Ryan. Looking forward to it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're gonna have fun conversation, talk all about hotel equities, but on the Suite Spot we do a little tradition where instead of just doing your normal bio, I actually like handing it over to our guests to kind of talk through their hospitality journey. because sometimes you get a little bit more insights. Us hospitality people, we got mentors. We come from different brands, sometimes fall into hospitality, quite frankly. You know, talk to us, our Suite Spot hotel audience, a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to your role as a CEO over at Hotel Equities. Ben Rafter: Sure, I fit into the fall into it category, without a doubt. I was a, uh, tech guy for better part of 15 years, mostly startups. Sold two of 'em and after selling, the second one was locked out of the industry for a year and got a phone call from a hotel guy. And he said, what are you doing? You want to come to Mount Everest with me? And just because nothing better to do for the next month. We packed up and headed over to Nepal and on about the third day he said to me, so what do you think of the hospitality industry and hotels? And it was dumb enough to open my mouth and give him my opinion that you needed to sort of fuse together larger than life hoteliers, which was his background and kind of quant tech data, guys like me. And over the next 20 days, we hashed out starting a hotel company literally on the side of a mountain, in this case. And after that ended, it was 2008, the market crashed. We had a new president. I flew to Hawaii and we started with four hotels in Hawaii. And it's been nonstop ever since. So definitely not a traditional way to get into the industry. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. You give new meaning to kind of climbing the corporate ladder, so to speak, when, when talking about that. But I think that's what honestly makes hospitality so fascinating. Because yours, honestly, a lot of the majority of the guests we talked to Ben, hospitality was not their final destination, so to speak, what you were talking to. But I think it brings new perspective and obviously insights into an industry that, quite frankly, we're gonna talk about it in a minute, but needs some more technology integration into hospitality right now. And to fast forward to today, obviously a strategic merger in May, 2025 with Springboard Hospitality. It's been extremely busy second half of the year for you and your team, including a couple exciting announcements we're gonna talk about in a second, Ben. But, you know, can you share some of the biggest kind of takeaways and lessons you've learned for the business, over this past six months? Maybe give us a state of the Hotel Equities as you would say. Ben Rafter: Yeah, absolutely. I mean one thing, coming from sort of independent and generally either gateway market or leisure focused. You learn how diverse some of these markets are and how much different it is running a courtyard or a Rest Inn or a Hamp...

Senior Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer at Newport Hospitality Group, Whitney Altizer, joins the Suite Spot in the latest episode of TMG Hospitality Trailblazers to give audiences a close look at what makes the Newport portfolio and brand unique in the hospitality industry and why social media is critical to a hotel's success in the digital age. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. I got a fantastic guest. We actually had an opportunity to meet with someone from the, the Newport Hospitality Group just a couple weeks ago at the Hospitality Show, but we got a brand new guest here with us today, senior Vice President, Chief Commercial Officer, Whitney Altizer. Whitney, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot today with me. Whitney Altizer: Hey, Ryan, thanks so much for having me. Appreciate it. Ryan Embree: We're gonna have a fun conversation today. A lot of exciting stuff and news about Newport Hospitality, but as tradition here on the Suite Spot, hospitality, as we know, is one of those things where people can come from all different places, brands, management companies, and unique journeys that led you to where you are. So let's hear about yours, Whitney. Talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to Chief Commercial Officer at Newport Hospitality Group. Whitney Altizer: Yeah. Well, I always joke that Newport raised me. You know, I went to Virginia Tech for business and hospitality, and then I moved to Atlanta and worked with Darden restaurants for a stint. You know, and I love the experience, but I just decided I needed a new perspective on food and beverage and the industry in general. So I ended up back in Blacksburg at a full service Holiday Inn that Newport actually owned and managed at the time. So 22 years ago, I walked into that Holiday Inn as a director of catering and sales, worked there on property, and then, moved up to the corporate director of sales, a corporate revenue manager. Then I was the director of Revenue and Digital. Then came along the Vice President of Comms Stratt, which catapulted me to where I am today which is the Chief Commercial Officer. Ryan Embree: Your story is a genuine reflection of our industry, of how many facets there are to hospitality, from everything from food and beverage to sales, to all the positions that you, that you held in, in between. You know, it's one of the reasons a lot of people love hospitality is because you can really do anything within it, right? It's almost its own ecosystem within our industry, and it's really cool to see, and I'm sure that was, you had some incredible experience, which lends you to where you are right now and knowing different people's positions. That's what we hear is sometimes the most successful hospitality people are the ones that got exposure to those different aspects of hospitality and kind of use that in their experience today. Some of those, hospitality professionals maybe even had to, you know, during that, that 2020 era had to get into some of those departments that they hadn't done in a minute, and certainly shared some experience there. But, we won't talk about that time, but doing some research for this episode, I wanna talk about Newport Hospitality and their story. Right? I always find it so fascinating when we talk about to these management companies and brands about how they first got into hospitality and fun little facts. That the origin story really dates back all the way to the 1850s. It goes back way, way far. Could you give a little background on the early days, maybe not take us that far, but a little bit early days of Newport Hospitality and how it's led to the amazing growth that you gu...

Celebrations are underway at TMG headquarters, and we gather round to recognize the milestone of reaching 1 million social media ad spend across all of our hotel partners! This achievement would not have been possible without the continued support and trust of our partners, and their unwavering commitment to creating compelling stories and digital content for travelers, as well as fostering genuine connections with hotel guests. In this special celebratory Suite Spot episode, Travel Media Group's Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, and Product Manager - Social Media, Brian Ross, both join the podcast to discuss the incredible accomplishment and what it means for TMG and our wonderful hotel partners. nbsp; Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back, we've been on the road, we've been visiting and hosting people on the Suite Spot virtually, but we are back here at the Suite Spot Podcast studio with a very familiar guest, Jason Lee, Chief Technology Officer, who we're gonna have on in a second. Then we're gonna be visiting with Brian Ross, our product manager, social media, to celebrate this incredible milestone. Jason, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Thanks. Yeah, glad to finally be back. Yeah, we're excited to have you, celebrating a milestone today. A million dollars in ad spend for our hotel partners. Again, you know, with Travel Media Group, we work exclusively with hotels. Let's first, you know, off the bat, huge accomplishment milestone. What does this mean to hear you kind of hearing this being there since the very beginning of this solution all those years back? Jason Lee: Yeah. It's exciting. Obviously it is when you think about it in the increments that we boost posts at, it's a lot of posts. Yeah. It's a lot of posts for a lot of hotels. A lot of weeks of content. So just extremely proud of what it has produced for our hotels. But also for our amazing social media team that creates such engaging content and makes boost able and ad worthy content. Ryan Embree: Well, and that's the important part because, you know, obviously a million dollars is a big number. But you don't need necessarily a million dollars to run an effective ad campaign, and that's what you were kind of talking about. With the small increments. Talk to us a little bit about that, because I do feel like sometimes hoteliers, rightly so, are intimidated with something like social media ad spend. They don't really know where, you know, 'cause you can boost a post for as low as $5 all the way up to, thousands of dollars. And they're still going to spend your money in one way or another. So kind of talk through that process because effectiveness is really the key to the game there. Jason Lee: No, absolutely. And I think it gets into how you create content. What is the cadence of that content? How often do I do it? But then it also gets into what am I trying to do? So you can create content and not boost it or put ads any kinda ad spend behind it at all. And you're going to have that content on your page. You're gonna reach out, your community is gonna see it if if they have that, you know, alerts or whatever set up for you. But what boosting does is it allows you to reach this audience that is not inside of your sphere. So it allows them to be able to see these posts, but even more importantly, it allows them to engage with these posts. So if they engage with them, now you kind of have them in the algorithm. Now, now you've got 'em a little bit. Right. There's future state with these, uh, guests. But, but we're talking about $5 increments. So for this very small amount of money, you're talking about 10 to 30 x on reach and engagement. And, and that is incredible. Uh, and especially because it's sort of like builds on its...

Host of the Suite Spot podcast and Vice President of Marketing at Travel Media Group, Ryan Embree, breaks down the key takeaways from the 2025 Hospitality Show that took place in Denver, Colorado, last month.  Ryan shares not only his opinion on some of the most prevalent topics from the renowned industry event, but he also shares what panelists, attendees, hoteliers, and others had to say about the conference and the state of hospitality.  Tune in now to listen to the full episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot Podcast, and we are fresh off of our 2025 Hospitality Show coverage in Denver, Colorado. We are back here in our Travel Media Group headquarters, a little bit closer to C-level in our Suite Spot podcast studio. Absolutely incredible event. Wanna first think Questex and AHLA as well as the city of Denver for hosting from end to end. So amazing from the programming to the networking to the industry professionals that we had the privilege of interviewing. You can find all of those exclusive interviews on our TMG YouTube page, make sure to follow along. But in today's episode, we are gonna go with our top takeaways from the Hospitality Show in Denver. And it really started right off the bat. I mean, this was an end to end, just jam packed insights, trends, everything a hotelier could want. You know, this was billed as one of the most comprehensive shows in hospitality. And from all of the education sessions that we saw, the panelists, the conversations that we had, the networking that went on again, hats off to the teams over at AHLA and Questex, where I'll start my key takeaways is really one of the first quotes that really resonated with me as an attendee on the first day. And this was I forget who I can attribute this quote to, but was talking about how we ended the 2024 Hospitality Show in San Antonio. And everything that has happened between then and the start of the 2025 Hospitality show, an election, you know, a tumultuous start to the year, with tariffs, international travel, almost seeing double-digit drops in some places between some countries. And then now we have a government shutdown here. So, so many things that the hospitality industry had to deal with. And, you know, I have the privilege of attending multiple events throughout the year, and never have I ever been on such a rollercoaster ride. It started at the beginning of the year in March where we met a lot of hoteliers that were kind of bracing for impact. They were coming down this hill. Projections didn't look great. A lot of sentiment out there was not was not awesome. Deals were not getting done. It just feel very like a crawl. And then all of a sudden summer came and as we were kind of bracing ourselves for this just dip or this terrible kind of cliff that we were about to, to fall off, we kind of opened our eyes as an industry and said, it's really not as bad as it's being made out to be. And a lot of hoteliers, as we saw and we interviewed, talked to, had some really good summers, had some really good numbers, occupancy, looking across different markets, some of the markets that weren't doing as well rebounded. And they were starting to see a little bit of glimmer of hope. And now here we are at the end of the year and it feels like those storm clouds are brewing again. And we're bracing ourselves for a new year in 2026. And maybe it's because we're just looking at the numbers. It's budget season. We're starting to try to forecast like we love to do and have to do frankly in hospitality, but it just feels like that worry is coming over us again. But to that, I feel like it's in these times where there's a lot of creativity and ingenuity that starts to really spur and, and it's these events that could be a catalyst for real change in our industry.

Tune in to the most recent AHLA Check-In episode with President & CEO of the AHLA Foundation, Kevin Carey! As a familiar face on the Suite Spot, Kevin stops in to give us the latest and greatest developments and advocacy work taking place at the American Hotel & Lodging Association.  Be sure to watch now to know what current events are impacting the hospitality industry. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree for another AHLA industry check-in this time with a familiar guest, Kevin Carey. Familiar guest, but a little bit different position. We're gonna talk about that in a second. But he is the Chief Operating Officer at AHLA and President and CEO of the AHLA Foundation. Kevin, welcome back to the Suite Spot, Kevin Carey: Ryan, terrific to be with you again. It's Ryan Embree: Great to have you. Like I said, you know, you've been on a couple times we've talked about that, but this time in a new role with AHLA, congratulations, by the way, on that. Can you share with our audience a little bit about the new role, maybe a day to day and what you get the pleasure of doing every single day, as President and CEO of the AHLA foundation? Kevin Carey: Well, I'd be happy to. It's definitely keeping me busy, but it's a good busy, and very much a rewarding, busy as well. And in my new capacity, where I get to lead the foundation, I get to work alongside a dedicated group of colleagues, Jen, Eliza, Kara, and Lindsay, to also a committed group of industry leaders, who were on our board of trustees, and the organization that we help to advance is one that's focused just on that front on advancing the people of the industry, our workforce, so day in, day out, having that teamwork and collaboration, but also working with our industry leaders to put the people forward on the industry front, and to work to support not only our current employees, but also to identify the future workforce is a vital role and very engaging. Ryan Embree: So critical. Right now, you're right, we've had conversations about it. We're gonna touch a little bit on this episode, but, you know, I'd see AHLA foundation all the time, the work, the stories that you guys are putting out there, you travel the country just got back from the lodging conference a couple days ago. But, you know, for those hoteliers who, you know, see the brand, they see some of the stories, you know, can you share maybe some of the origin story of the AHLA foundation and really at the foundation, so to speak of its mission over there? Kevin Carey: I'd be happy to. The foundation has been around for 72 years. It was founded in 1953, as a scholarship fund. And over that tenure year and arc and of its existence has done terrific work. What I've also shared recently as we've been working through a process with our board of trustees as looking at our future direction is that in many respects, this is a young 72-year-old organization. And by that I mean a number of the most prominent and highly visible initiatives that the foundation is involved in right now, whether it's our forward initiative or No Room for Trafficking. These are programs and initiatives that have really been created, launched and grown over about the last three to five years timeframe. So, while we've got a proud, uh, tradition and history, we also have a number of, of very important new initiatives. And the work we're doing to advance the industry's workforce and to ensure the people are front and center is really vital in the current environment. As we think about the industry's future growth prospects. Ryan Embree: Well, it's an incredible legacy. And to be able to, that's what you want out of advocacy and foundational work is you wanna be able to say, we're introducing new initiative strategies,

Tune in to this special episode of the Suite Spot to hear from two very special guests of the International Luxury Hotel Association. First off, President of the ILHA, Barak Hirschowitz, and Co-Founder of the association, Jonathan Edelheit, join the podcast to preview the upcoming INSPIRE USA conference taking place on December 10-11, in Las Vegas, Nevada.  These two luxury hospitality experts discuss several important topics in this episode, including the humble origin of the ILHA, how the luxury hotel market is leading the industry in innovation, what attendees can look forward to from INSPIRE USA 2025, and much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot, episode 185, and from the title we are previewing another hospitality event. One of my favorite things to do look at, and this one, it's a first timer for me, not certainly for our guests. I'm gonna bring them and we're gonna talk all about it. The Inspire USA event hosted by ILHA, the International Luxury Hotel Association. My two guests with me today, Barak Hirschowitz, President of the ILHA, and Jonathan Edelheit, co-founder of the ILHA, Barak, Jon, thank you so much for taking the time and checking into the Suite Spot with me. Barak Hirschowitz: Well, thank you. It's wonderful to be here and great to meet you. Ryan Embree: And we're excited about it, excited about the event, but before we get into that, I wanna just start with a little bit of hospitality background. We always love to kind of start there. Hospitality's such a funky industry. People come from different brands, they come from different backgrounds. Sometimes they fall into it, sometimes they fall into the industry with a summer job, sometimes they're born into the industry. So I figured let's go ahead and give our Suite Spot audience a little bit of background into your hospitality journey and what led you to the ILHA Barak. We'll start with you and then go to Jon. Barak Hirschowitz: Yeah, thanks. So I started in the industry in the late, late eighties, early nineties. I went to Johnson Wales. I started as a, I started in culinary, as many people do in the hotel industry. And those were interesting times because back then there were really only a couple of places you get a degree in culinary arts. So it led me to, you know, travel abroad, which was great. I started, just before I went overseas, I did an internship at the Grand Floridian, which believe it or not, was still a fairly new hotel back then. And then started working abroad internationally, moved eventually to more the hotel side of the business. I worked in South Africa for some very well-known hotel brands. Sun International. Sun International is Saul K's original brand that he had when he was still based in South Africa. So that, you know, today we know him for Atlantis and we know him for one, um, one and only hotels. But, um, back then he had Sun International, so I worked with him. I worked for a company called Halian Hotels, which had, uh, luxury hotels in, in South Africa, and actually a few up Africa as well. And, um, I had an opportunity, I guess my sort of real push, first push into luxury was in the late nineties. I got to help open a hotel called Bushman's Klu in South Africa, which is a luxury safari lodge. The year, within a year of opening, we, um, we became a member of Relay and Chateau, which was a pretty prestigious, uh, pretty prestigious organization. And after I left a couple of years later, the hotel went on to win Best Hotel in the world, um, travel and Leisure. So, you know, that was a, it was really a, a great opportunity to see the best of the best in the world. I still to this day think it's probably the most luxurious property I've ever stayed in, and still the best service, uh, that I've ever seen in any hotel.

Check out the latest Suite Spot episode featuring SVP and CMO at Best Western Hotels, Joelle Park! Joelle joins the Suite Spot to discuss the incredible BWH portfolio, their Life's a Trip campaign, marketing to different traveler segments, and much more.  Be sure to catch the full episode now! Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for another special edition of The Suite Spot. I am so excited to bring in our guest today. We're gonna be talking about everything, the Best Western Hotels and Resorts brand, but also marketing that is, Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Joelle Park. Thank you so much, Joelle, for being on the Suite Spot with me today. Joelle Park: Thank you for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: We're gonna have a great conversation about marketing, about your wonderful brand. Some of the recognitions that the brand has seen recently. And we're gonna talk about some industries trends as well. But as per tradition here at the Suite Spot and really hospitality, we love to hear everyone's kind of journey story that led you in. You know, sometimes we have people just fall into the industry, but at the end of the day, a lot of people fall in love with our industry 'cause hospitality is one of the, if not best industries to work in. Talk to us a little bit about your story, Joelle, and what led you to SVP and CMO at Best Western Hotel and Resorts. Joelle Park: Thanks, Ryan. Well, I'm really excited to be here and it sounds like many others. I have fallen into hospitality and fallen in love. I've spent over two decades in marketing overall working across brand strategy, customer experience, communications, and on every project, every account, it's about driving results through innovative marketing. Early in my career, I started agency site and I partnered up some incredible brands in retail, entertainment, technology, and my last client was hospitality. And that's where I fell in love with the industry. And now I've spent really more than 16 years in hospitality telling compelling stories. I have a love of travel personally, but I also just believe in the power of travel to make the world a better place. So I've been fortunate to take on some leadership roles spanning across loyalty. Now product development and something I'm especially passionate about is culture and customer experience, because the most powerful form of advertising really is the customer experience here at BWH Hotels. I have the privilege of leading our marketing, communications, loyalty and partnerships teams, and that's encompassing of Best Western rewards and Worlds Hotels rewards. So excited to share more about what we're up to. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it's exciting to hear and it's interesting because hospitality, you talk to a lot of hoteliers in the hospitality world, and they say, although it's a massive industry, right, it's a very small world. You run into people that you know all the time. Sometimes you're working with one brand, then you go to another brand. But I always find it fascinating to find stories like yours, Joelle, where you start outside of hospitality maybe, and then find your way into it. Because I do think that really does show the passion and love that people have towards our industry because once that bug, you know, and it happens to travel too, it grabs a hold of you. It's hard to let go. And here you are. And a lot of the hospitality professionals that I have spoken to they've had that exposure to other industries. And there's just something about hospitality that is so special. And I think you nailed it on the head about talking about the power that travel has. And one of the things within travel is storytelling. And I've heard you in other interviews talk about your passion and storytell...

The Suite Spot takes a trip to central Florida to visit the incredible AC Hotel Orlando Downtown, part of the Kolter Hospitality portfolio. The Regional Director of Food & Beverage at Kolter, Robert Mason, joins the Suite Spot to discuss: Seasonal Menus F&B in the Guest Experience How Kolter Hospitality is Shaping F&B The Importance of a Social Presence for a Hotel Property Be sure to tune in to catch the whole episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, continuing our series of the Suite Spot Road Trip into the summer a little bit coming into the fall. I'm here with right down the road from our Travel Media Group headquarters, I-4. I know you probably hear that and think might be a long way away. I-4 can be congested sometimes, but not too bad of a drive here. We're gonna talk about that today. I'm here with Robert Mason, Regional Director of Food and Beverage at Kolter Hospitality. Robert, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Hey, thanks for having me. And we're gonna talk a little bit about your property today. We're gonna talk a lot about the portfolio and your job here as the Food and Beverage Director, but I do want to get to, as it is, tradition here on the Suite Spot, get to know a little bit about your background and what led you to Kolter Hospitality. Robert Mason: Wow. So I've been 42 years in food and beverage. It's all I've ever done. It's all I know. I started in the culinary side. I worked all the way up to executive chef. I actually studied under a master chef in San Francisco Bay Area and, had a really fun journey through culinary for about two decades. And about 15 years ago, I made the transition to the dark side, as I say, got into the front of house operations. and it's been a great journey. Work brought me to Orlando. In San Fransico, I was kind of a small fish in a big pond, but here I'm kind of, was kind of a big fish in a small pond, so to speak. Yeah, but Orlando has certainly grown and developed over the last 20 years that I've been here. And just having fun. And this opportunity actually came up right in the middle of COVID. I came from a much larger property down in South Orlando. And the reason I took this job was couple full first, you know, I like the company culture. I liked the fact that the Skybar had so much to offer. I saw the potential right away. And it's a smaller, easier to manage kind of thing 'cause everything's in one place as opposed to a big sprawling resort with 15 outlets and that kind of thing. But I have stayed with the company because I really do enjoy all the people I get to work with Sarah, I know, you know, Sarah and John from our corporate office and Scott, our president, they just do a wonderful job. And they're really people first. We're a really people first company. So I believe in the vision here and that's why I stay. It's awesome to hear. And your story resonates coast to coast, but I think it's a true example of hospitality professionalism. 'cause it's transferable skills, right? Yeah. You know, you can work at a hotel, whether you're in food and beverage on one side of the country, and then move all the way to the other, side of the country, like your story. And here you are in Orlando, before we get to talk about your property and this beautiful skybar that we're in right now,right behind us, I four can throw a rock to the Kia Center, Citrus Bowl right over there. Orlando City Stadium. For those that aren't familiar, Robert, that might be listening to this podcast, paint a picture of why this is just the perfect intersection and location. You've got yourself a great location here. Robert Mason: We really do. We really do. So, you know, I always tell people we're kind of three different operations within one.

The busy summer travel season is just about wrapped up, which means the Suite Spot is due for another quarterly check-in with the American Hotel & Lodging Association to get the latest news and developments taking place in the hospitality industry.  AHLA President and CEO Rosanna Maietta joins the Suite Spot to discuss current hotel trends, industry challenges, the importance of mentors and mentees in hospitality, and more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. So happy that you are listening to us here and ready to bring you another incredible episode with our quarterly check-in with AHLA in a preview of the 2025 Hospitality Show. It's my immense privilege to welcome in our special guest for today's episode, President and CEO, Rosanna Mietta. Rosanna, thank you so much for being with me on the back on the Suite Spot. Rosanna Maietta: Good to see you again, Ryan. Thanks for having us. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited to talk about the Hospitality Show. We're excited to talk about AHLA. What we've been up to last time we were together was at NYU IHIF. Since then, the AHLA and the hospitality industry in general has been super busy, that super travel season, that hoteliers love to see travel all over the across the country. Catch us up on some of the top issues AHLA is focusing on right now and maybe some of the key wins that have happened year to date. Rosanna Maietta: Sure. It's been an incredibly busy summer. There's nothing like a quiet summer anymore. We've had a lot going on both in Washington and around the country. Obviously, the most important thing the administration has been focused on over the last six months of this year was passing the one big beautiful bill, which while it had many, many provisions tucked away in it, the ones that our industry was really focused on were those that impacted our small business community, our franchise community, and our employees. So we were focused on passing provisions like the 100% bonus depreciation and making that permanent, preserving the like kind exchange, deferring capital gains tax on real estate at point of sale. All those changes will help the industry reinvest and grow. But we also helped to promote the no tax on tips, which will support 800,000 employees in the industry who benefit from tips. And so we're working on what that guidance actually looks like once that detail is developed and how, and educating our employers on how they can roll that out to their employees, but also provisions around overtime and child tax credit and family medical leave. So all of those things, were really important to our industry. And so we were really pleased to help get that over the finish line. Outside of Washington, there has been a lot going on, whether it is advancing legislation in markets like Boston or Philadelphia on human trafficking training and prevention, which our industry has been leading on to working in Los Angeles, where we have seen over the last two years very intense work around pushing back against onerous regulations that would essentially increase wages for the industry by 40% overnight. Simply a situation we cannot, we cannot handle because demand is so low in Los Angeles, it's second to only San Francisco. And San Francisco in terms of occupancy, has been starting to see an uptick, whereas Los Angeles has not, it has not come back to pre-COVID levels. So we've been working really aggressively there with the business community to push back on that ordinance that has gone into law, but we are still working with city council to try to make some amendments that would make sure that the travel and hospitality sector is strong, especially in the lead up to some of these bigger events that we're anticipating next year,

The 2025 Hospitality Show is fast approaching! While it is only a couple of months away, it will take place in Denver, Colorado, on October 26-28. Alexi Khajavi, President of Questex—Hospitality, Travel, & Wellness, joins the Suite spot to discuss the upcoming event and what attendees can look forward to this year.  Alexi shares insight on:  New Interactive Zones & Networking at THS 2025 Questex's Quest Zero Sustainability Initiative The Changing Landscape of Hospitality Digital Marketing and the Importance of Social Media for Travel And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. So happy to be with you today, previewing the 2025 Hospitality Show. Yes, it is that time of year, this year. We are headed out to Denver in October. We're gonna talk all about it, with a very frequent guest, a Suite Spot veteran at this point, Alexi Khajavi, Questex President, Hospitality and Real Estate. Alexi, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot once again with us. Alexi Khajavi: Ryan, great to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We're gonna talk about the Hospitality Show, but it is crazy to think that this, we had you back on the podcast in 2023 when this was first announced, and here we are today. You know, this is three years strong. This is the third year going into it. You know, I wanted to start with you. We've talked about your journey. We've talked about your role, some of the mentors along the way. I'd love to just hear from you, Alexi, if we could go back to that podcast in 2023. What do you think the biggest change in hospitality that you've seen over these last few years? Alexi Khajavi: I'd say it's half and half. I mean, on one hand, I think we were, we were absolutely correct and spot on in that hotel profitability and the complexity in hotel operations would only increase and would be in terms of achieving profitability would become harder, and more challenging. And I think we were right in that assessment and we continue to see a lot of challenges in the space. And now we're starting to turn into negative territory in terms of operating performance with RevPAR ADRs and occupancy, which is normal, right? I mean, this is a cyclical, industry and it's an industry that is dependent on the macro economy. So, we've had an incredible run, but I think looking back in 2023, we absolutely got that right. It was only gonna become increasingly more complicated and challenging, and that therefore profits would also be challenging in turn. What I don't think we anticipated was how massively AI would start to impact not only our industry, but our world. And it is increasingly becoming, I think it's, it's gonna have a much more deeper impact on, in a shorter time than what we anticipated back in 2023. And not all of that, by the way, is negative. There's a lot of positive opportunities that come out from AI, but I think we're all trying to figure it out right now in the hospitality industry. Could be both a beneficiary, but will certainly and undoubtedly be impacted by it. But those are two things that I think we got right, and one, I think we, we didn't anticipate the enormity of the impact of AI. Ryan Embree: Yeah, or the acceleration. I mean, in a industry whose technology adoption is typically slower than most, we're, we're up there right now, I mean, or at least hoteliers. And the market feels like hospitality is trying to embrace this maybe differently than other technological fads, right. And I think it's really, really cool to see, you ever want to explain the complexity of hospitality to someone who doesn't know hospitality? Go to the Hospitality Show and see all the vendors that are on that showcase list, and you're gonna see everything over there. And I think that's why hoteliers, I know I certainly I do,

The next stop on the Suite Spot: Road Trip takes us to Cape Canaveral, Florida, to visit the newly opened Hyatt Place with special guest and Dual Property Sales Manager - Jennifer Odom!  Jennifer sits down with host Ryan Embree to discuss how a special property, such as the Hyatt Place Cape Canaveral, leverages its space coast location, social media, and community engagement to grow business and provide an exceptional guest experience. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot, in another edition of our Suite Spot Road Trip. We are just right down the road. If you could see the view that I'm looking at right now, the cruise ships coming in the ocean right here behind us. We are here on the Space Coast. We wanna welcome in Jennifer Odom, Dual Sales Manager at the Hyatt Place, Cape Canaveral. Thank you so much for hosting us at your brand new beautiful property, Jennifer. Jennifer Odom: Yes, thank you. No, it's a pleasure to have you here. We appreciate the opportunity and are just thrilled to share with everyone just what a fabulous property we do have here on the Space Coast in Cape Canaveral. Ryan Embree: It's incredible. We're gonna talk all about it, but before that, We were, we wanted to learn a little bit about you. Share with our Suite Spot audience your hospitality background and the journey that led you to opening this brand new Hyatt Place. Jennifer Odom: Absolutely love to. So I've actually been here in this area alone for 25 years. I was the typical story of the grandparents were the snowbirds that moved from Indiana and we followed. I came down one year and was like, why am I gonna go back to Indiana when I have all this with the beach and you know, the launches of the shuttles and so forth. And so that's what drew me here. I ended up moving and as a young teenager, I had actually worked in a gift shop that was kind of connected between a hotel and a restaurant. And the front desk people would always come over and we would chat while they're getting snacks and stuff, and they're like, oh my gosh, John Glynn was just on our lobby, the famous astronaut, Buzz Aldrin's here. And I'm like, how old do I have to be to come over and work at the desk? And so as soon as I turned 18, that's where you would find me. So I started off my career at the front desk, was at that limited service property and then found out I had a real passion for it and ended up at a full service property right in Cocoa Beach, just six miles from us here. A different, a brand that I was with for about 20 years. So just got to experience everything from, you know, working, starting off front desk to a catering admin, to a group coordinator, to catering sales manager. I mean, I've worn all the hats, all of it. All the way up to a DOS. So, and then super excited, I'd taken a little break and what was phenomenal is I'd seen the article about the hotel here and at the time there was so many different properties that were being built around the area and just because of all the different markets and the growth. And what I actually found was that article and I was like, oh, I forgot, like that's right, like this property. Like I've gotta go check it out. And so I came over and I did a tour right when they had the soft opening in February. And as soon as I went up to our rooftop bar, I was like, oh, wow, I could sell this like this, this is my property. So then that is how I came to the Hyatt Place here in Cape Canaveral. Ryan Embree: It's so cool that, you know, I think hospitality is one of those industries where it's because we're all travelers, right? We all traveled as young children, maybe with our parents, and then we get to transition into, you know, maybe working the front desk in those entry level jobs. And then here you are and you've got a great career and yo...

Special guest David Audrain, CEO of Exposition Development Company, joins the Suite Spot to discuss the upcoming 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami and how Expo DevCo develops, facilitates, and hosts the convention. Attendees will also learn what they can look forward to from this year's event and much more in the episode. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We have reached the crescendo of our Independent Hotel Show series. It is fast approaching here and with me to preview the Independent Hotel show. Miami got a very special guest, David Arin, CEO, and partner of Expo Devco, which owns and produces the Independent Hotel Show Miami. David, thank you so much for joining me. I'm excited to talk about this event that is just around the corner here. David Audrain: Thank you, Ryan. I'm very happy to be here with you and always happy to talk about our show. Ryan Embree: Yes, it's an incredible show. We're gonna talk about the history, but before we get into talking about the show, what you have geared up for Miami Beach in September. I wanna first talk about maybe your career journey and what led you to Expo Devco and your involvement with the Independent Hotel show, Miami. David Audrain: Well, I'll, I'll try not to bore everybody with too much detail, but, I grew up in Europe, to a English Father, American mother, born in the us, grew up in Europe, little island of Jersey, the original one, not the new one. Right off the French Coast. Actually, my father and his father's business before was a Green Grocers, wholesale and retail green grocery business. So, I actually was walking in the back doors of kitchens of independent hotels from a very early age and always had some good contacts and good friends in the hotel business growing up and going forward. Ended up leaving Europe and moving to the US Back in 1989, I'd sold a technology business and moved to the US and ended up working for an association, happened to be the Texas Restaurant Association. And my very first trade show was a substantial show in Texas for the restaurant and hospitality industry. And that's what got me hooked on the trade show business. So I've now been in the trade show business for 33 years, and worked for several major, some of the largest trade show organizers in the world. I've produced some of the largest trade shows in the world, everything from the largest automotive aftermarket show to the largest floor covering show to the largest apparel fashion, manufacturing industry shows. And ended up running the North American business for a major European company called Messer Frankfurt. Ran that for seven odd years. And then in January of 2012, my partner, who happens to also be my wife, Stephanie Everett and I left that business and started Exposition Development company, Expo Devco. We've partnered over the years with several companies out of Europe and produce different shows. And the one that's obviously relevant to here is the independent hotel show. The company that originally launched the Independent Hotel show in London is a company called Montgomery Group. They're a 130 year old family exhibition business. And they had started the Independent Hotel show in London, more than a dozen years ago. And I happened to visit it and talk with my friends that owned the Montgomery and really liked what they were doing with it, the specific niche for independent hotel, independent luxury boutique hotel operators. And that's how, that's how we, we first got started. Ryan Embree: It's an incredible story. You've seen it all, but hospitality being the one that brought you into, being your first show, I think is super special to hear. And that's, I think the beauty of hospitality, David, is that, you know, we all get to experience it. Maybe some of those other,

The next episode in the Suite Spot: Road Trip series takes travelers to the newly renovated Marriott Pompano Beach Resort in Sunny Fort Lauderdale, Florida! The resort's General Manager, Leslie Weil, sits down on the podcast to share with audiences the transformative renovation, unique dining options, and enhanced guest experience. Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree as you can tell, we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio. Instead, we are on site at the beautiful Pompano Beach Marriott Resort. I'm here with GM, Leslie Weil. Leslie, thank you so much for hosting us here at your beautiful reimagined property. We're gonna get to it today. Leslie Weil: Thank you for having me. Excited to have you. Ryan Embree: And this is kind of a combination, of a couple different series and we're gonna share why that is special. Your alma mater, which we're gonna talk about in a moment. But we've got so much exciting stuff happening right here on property. But before we get into that, we always love to hear kind of the background of hospitality professionals. Sometimes you're jumping from place to place, sometimes you're local, born into the industry. Tell us a little bit about your story. Leslie Weil: So, I was not born into the industry, but I knew very young that this is what I wanted to do. At 15 years old I said I wanna study hospitality and I've stuck to it for over 30 years now. I absolutely love what I do and I'm from Peru. I was born and raised there. And then after high school, I studied for one year in Peru and I moved to Miami to study hospitality in FIU. FIU is a wonder for a school. It gave me a really great beginning in the industry and I have not looked back ever since. I've worked everywhere from hostels to luxury hotels at all over Latin America and the United States. So really I was lucky enough to start in housekeeping and in the kitchen and then I just got to grow to be in a GM and I love it. Ryan Embree: I love hearing that story. It's something that we're actually hearing more of now. Are people going to school for hospitality? Before it was, I fell into the industry, fell in love with it, and now we're seeing that intentionality into hospitality. I think it's because of stories that you hear sometimes from mentors about seeing and obviously just the love of travel. Right? I think that that's, that's comes with it. Leslie Weil: I really think the love of travel and the love of meeting people. Always merging into what can I do with those traits? And then all of a sudden it's like, oh, hospitality. And I think as a career, hospitality is a career that offers a little bit of every career into one. Yes. And hospitality is a world of sub worlds. So really it is true that still, I feel like there's a lot of people that fall into it. Like, you need a summer job and often sudden you love it and decide that that's what you're gonna do with your life. Yeah. But I think being able to study it and understanding all the components from a hospitality standpoint really gives you an advantage as you start your career. Ryan Embree: And a lot of transferable skills as well. Where you know, you can be at a property in the Midwest and then move to a beautiful property here right on the beach right behind us. And that's what we're gonna talk about next. Leslie, is this complete, we've visited at the perfect time, right? You would say the complete reimagining of your rooms, your suites, amenities, your pool restaurant. Talk to us a little bit about this project and kind of the journey that got you here. Leslie Weil: So I have not been here for as long as the renovation has been but my team has. And it was definitely, a very long but very well thought of project. It was fully reimagined.

Tune in to the next episode of the Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show series to catch special guest Nicholas Gold, who takes center stage on the podcast! As Managing Director of Black Desert Resort, Nicholas shares the early beginnings of his hospitality journey, the one-of-a-kind appeal of independent hotels, and how the newly opened Black Desert Resort is accentuating the guest experience in hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, or Ryan Embree here for another edition of our Independent Hotel Show series, episode #3, and we are getting closer and closer to September down where we are gonna have the largest collection of independent hoteliers and network. We are so excited to hopefully see you down in Miami Beach, September 17th and 18th. We're gonna talk about that a little bit more, but I'm gonna bring in my guest right now, managing director Black Desert Resort and Red Mountain Resort, Nicholas Gold. Nicholas, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Nicholas Gold: Ryan. My absolute pleasure. Cheers. Ryan Embree: Well, we're gonna have a fun time on this episode talking about your beautiful resort in Utah. I'm so excited. But before we get into that, before we start talking about the Independent Hotel show, which we're both here for, let's talk about your hospitality journey and the story that led you to a Black Desert Resort. Nicholas Gold: Yeah, sure. You know, it's, I started when I was too young to know any better in the hospitality business. I at a fairly young age, I was working in a restaurant in London. I was the guy, you know, I'm relatively old, so we did a lot of tableside cooking back then, and I was the gang who worked the Gary Don, and that really spoke to me because it led me to, it fed my love of storytelling, which I've just been able to expand upon as I've grown in the industry, and that that juxtaposition between service and storytelling really is what the Independent Luxury Hotel is all about. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it absolutely is. Nicholas completely agree with you. Every amazing independent hotel has a story. You know, sometimes, sometimes it's challenging in the, in independent hotel space. Give our listeners a little bit, you, you say you love storytelling. Give our, our listeners a little bit of story about the property that you have the privilege of, of managing over there at the massive Black Desert Resort. Nicholas Gold: Yeah. So we are in about 600 acres just by snow Canyon State Park, and we do a really good job of blending luxury hospitality with golf, wellness, dining, a huge residential living component. We're building right now, we're about to break ground on a 24-court world championship pickleball complex, which is certainly the wave of the future. And we just finished working on the designs for a four and a half acre waterpark, which is not gonna be open to the public, only open to our members and hotel guests. Ryan Embree: Absolutely incredible. And I think, it's funny, we're talking about storytelling here in, in independent hotels because you, you're able to write your own story sometimes and be able to adjust and adapt to trends that you see out there. I see you mentioned wellness, a huge trend in hospitality right now, being able to do some unique things in that space. Pickleball, even on the amenity side, being able to do that and who doesn't love, I've got a couple young ones, who doesn't love a nice little waterpark to relax at as well. Nicholas Gold: I would also be remiss in missing the fact that I think we're one of the only courses in the country to host both an LPGA tour and a PGA tour. Ryan Embree: Incredible. Nicholas Gold: It is pretty good. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Listen, when those young ones are at the waterpark,

The Suite Spot Spotlight Series takes viewers to sunny Key West in the newest episode, featuring the lavish and beachside resort, Casa Marina Key West by Hilton!  Special guest and Hotel Manager at Casa Marina, Evelyn Summer, joins the podcast to share the property's rich history, insight on the $90 million hotel renovation, and how a strong digital presence on social media and guest review platforms plays a pivotal role in connecting with travelers worldwide. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are here with our Suite Spot Spotlight series, and what I would argue is going to be the southern most episode we ever do on this Spotlight series. We'll explain in a moment, I'm gonna bring in my guest, Evelyn Summer, Hotel Manager of Casa Marina, Key West Curio Collection by Hilton. Evelyn, thank you so much for being with me on the podcast. Evelyn Summer: Thanks for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Well, thank you for inviting me here to this incredible property. We're gonna talk all about it, but before, as tradition on the Suite Spot, we'd love to hear from hospitality professionals, their journey, their background. This is like every hotel professional's dream to be at a property like this. How'd you get here? Evelyn Summer: Ryan, you said that it's your Southern most broadcast, but it's also the best broadcast. You're gonna have to. That's true. I mean, come on, look at where we're at. How did I get here? Well, fun fact. I am from Key West. Okay. Yeah. So my family originates from down here. My grandfather's from Key Largo, my mother's from down here. And I've been here my whole life. Not to say that I haven't moved and, you know, went to college, worked in a couple of different areas, but I've been in Key West for about 90% of my life. Yeah. And started working here at these two properties probably in 2008. However, fun fact is that all of our high school proms and homecomings and family worked here. There's a lot of it. It was further back than 2008. Sure. When I actually officially became employed. So I can easily say that I grew up here. Ryan Embree: Yeah. We hear that all the time from hoteliers is like them actually living in the hotel sometimes. And you have like your entire history here and now here you are making more memories for guests all around the world. Very, very cool to see. And this property is iconic. It's got a history dating back to the 1920s. We're gonna talk about the recent renovation and transformation that it just had, but talk to us, to our listeners about the origin story of this property and its history. Evelyn Summer: Sure. Yeah. So Casa Marina was built, opened in 1920 New Year's Eve, 1920 to be exact. It was built by Henry Flagler. He was an industrialist that built the railroad that connects essentially New York all the way down to the southernmost point. And interesting fact is that Henry and his partners were the first to create the, and I'm not a railroad specialist, but the railroads that could connect to other railroad lines way, way, way back. Whenever someone would built a railroad, that was it. That track was just their track and you couldn't interconnect it with someone else's track Yeah. And use theirs. And he was able to create that. And then his dream was to build a way to get people all the way down to Key West. So he built us one, the old bridges that you see when you're traveling down to get people on a train all the way down to Key West. And then of course, once he figured that out, they needed a place to stay. So Casa Marina was it. And that's about 105 years ago. Ryan Embree: I mean, I think that's absolutely incredible. I mean, the fact that we're talking about the origin of connecting railroads and aligning with the history of this, of this space,

The next episode in the Suite Spot: Road Trip series takes the podcast to Central Florida to visit the incredible Homewood Suites by Hilton nearest to Universal Studios!  In this exciting episode, the brand leader of Homewood Suites, Rick Colling, and the General Manager of the property, Carlos Sotillo, sit down on the podcast to discuss the Homewood brand, the evolution of the extended stay hotel segment, and the future of hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, a part of our Suite Spot 2025 Summer Road trip series. We are right here in our backyard in Orlando at the Homewood Suites by Hilton Orlando nearest to Universal Studios like I said, right in our backyard down the road, out of our TMG headquarters out here with Rick and Carlos who have been both here at this amazing property. We're gonna talk all about it. Now, Rick, we have met up with you earlier this year, and we have, yeah. One thing we haven't done is done a proper, you know, hospitality journey. We love a good story in hospitality, right? All of our humble beginnings where we might've started at the front desk. Bellman for myself. Give us a little bit of background in our audience, background into your hospitality. Rick Colling: Got it, Ryan, with pleasure. And it's a fun journey, Ryan, mate. So, we're like you. I started at the front desk, at the Kalamazoo Residence Inn, right after graduating from college. And I walked into the hotel and I said I've graduated from college. I think I should be the GM of a hospitality hotel. And the GM said to me, do you know anything about the business? I said, nothing. So he became my mentor in the business. So I started at the front desk and worked my way up through the ranks at Marriott. Spent 10 years with Marriott and I've been with Hilton now for 27 years, and been a GM and property director of sales on property, but I worked all the disciplines and it's just been an incredible journey to finally end up leading a brand like Homewood Suites over the course of the last five years, which has been, you know, certainly a career highlight for me. So, a fun journey to get me here today. Ryan Embree: But yet a familiar one; one that we hear all the time, a lot of college students, you know, maybe just taking here a summer job, end up falling in love with the industry. But another piece of your story that we're hearing so often is mentors. Yeah. And I wanna highlight that is because there's so many hospitality professionals out there mentoring the next generation of hospitality professionals. So important in our industry right now. And Carlos you have a background here in this area, this campus? Of hotels. Give us your hospitality journey. Carlos Sotillo: Well, actually, funny story, when my parents first came to America, they actually started working at a Homewood Suites. Oh, okay. I was, came out, yeah. My mom was a housekeeper. My dad was a houseman. And I was 11. So during summer break, they would take me with them to work sometimes. And so I grew up in a Homewood Suites during my summer break. Rick Colling: Which is where you needed to be, right. Carlos: Right. In full circle. But officially, my career started, I was a breakfast attendant at a small hotel down on I-Drive. And then the opportunity came out to be a night auditor. So, you know, I went for it. And now, low and behold, here I am. I went through four different Hilton brands. I've gone through Hampton Hilton, Garden Inn, Home2, and now here back at the Homewood. So it's been a fun, fun journey. Rick Colling: No, we're glad to have you mate. One of the best in the business right here. Ryan Embree: Well, it's incredible. We always say sometimes, hospitality runs in the blood, runs in your DNA sometimes,

Tune in to the most recent Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series episode to hear from the founder of Salt Hotels, David Bowd, as he discusses the origins of Salt Hotels, founding the Salt School, hospitality industry trends, and the next generation of hotel professionals.  Be sure to follow and subscribe to the Suite Spot so you never miss an episode, and be sure to check out our Travel Media Group YouTube channel as well.   Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, for another edition of our independent Hotel show series. I can feel the anticipation, the excitement building up. We're just a few months away from September where we're gonna have independent hoteliers from all over the country coming down to Miami Beach of the Convention Center. And one of those hoteliers and guests is my special guest today who I'll invite into the podcast for the very first time. David Bow, founder and CEO of Salt Hotels. David, thank you so much for being on the podcast. David Bowd: Thank you for having me. Great to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited. We're gonna talk Independent hotel. We're gonna talk about your beautiful portfolio that you have over there at Salt Hotels and everything about that. But before we do that, we always like to get a little bit of background for our hospitality guests. Talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey, David, and what led you to ultimately founding Salt hotels? David Bowd: Yeah. My story began crazily 40 years ago now, back in the UK. I started when I left school, and I left school very early at 15 years old. And I became a bellman in a local hotel and absolutely loved it. I realized this was the career for me up to sort of, during my school years, I'd played, my mom had a cafe/restaurant, and I really, really thought I wanted to be a chef, and so I started to go towards that department. But I was too young to go into the kitchen, so I started as a bellman, and then I finally got into the kitchen, and funnily enough, I got into the kitchen and didn't enjoy it as much as I did front of house. So, which is often the case, I think, for a lot of people, they have this dream, and then it's not as, it's not, the reality's not the same. So I sort of spent the time in the kitchen. I did a couple of years in the kitchen, and then I went back to front of house and I worked through all departments and then moved to London where I was working in the more traditional hotels, the more, you know, Hiltons, Marriotts, holiday Inns. And actually at the turn of the century, Ian Trager had just opened his first hotel in the outside of the U.S, in London. And I was out invited to go and to meet with his team. And I met with the team and loved it. And, you know, his first hotel St. Martin's Lane was an absolute masterpiece, as was his second, which was Sanderson. And I was fortunate enough to get the job, and I was hotel manager of one for a period of time. And then I took over as regional general manager of both properties. And I ran those through 2000 through to 2007, which were the phenomenal, phenomenally good years in London. And so we were making a lot of money at that time. And Ian invited me to move over to the US and to take over an operations role focusing on a lot of openings for what had then become Morgan's hotel group. And I did that, moved over to New York, loved New York, and loved the lights in America, and spent some time with Morgans. And then Ian had actually left to go and start addition and public on his own. And so I ended up leaving Morgans and going to Ian and to work on those projects with him before moving on to Andre Bola, sort of the other, what I would consider the other genius celebrity hotelier, you know, who is one of the founders of our sector of the ind...

Vice President of Brand & Marketing at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Loay Nour, joins the Suite Spot podcast to discuss the launch of Fairmont's global campaign - “Make Special Happen”.  Tune in now to learn more about the brand and the campaign only on the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We have a very special episode for you today. Gonna tell you in a minute why that is so telling. But first, I'm gonna go ahead and introduce a first time guest with me today, Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, vice President of Brand and Marketing, Loay Nour. Thank you so much for joining me here on The Suite Spot. Loay Nour: Thank you for having me, Ryan. Looking forward to our conversation. Ryan Embree: It's gonna be a great conversation. We're gonna talk a lot about some exciting things on Fairmont Hotel and Resorts, things you and your team have been working on over there. But before we do that, since you are a first time guest, I always love to just hear everyone's hospitality background, unique journeys to where they got there and for you at Fairmont Hotel and Resorts. Loay Nour: Absolutely. So my name is Loay Nour, and I've been in the hospitality industry for more than 18 years actually now. My background goes specifically in luxury hospitality brand. It's a passion that started for me, although I haven't done hospitality school. But I ended up in the hospitality by passion, not by education. My background is actually goes very much into guest experience, brand and marketing, loyalty marketing, partnerships marketing. So I've got around like a 360 degree on marketing. And today, myself and my team we're in charge of the Fairmont brand globally, proudly managing a portfolio of 95 hotels worldwide, and a very strong pipeline of around 28 hotels coming up in the next few years. And today, really looking forward to tell you about the chapter of that. We have just recently launched with a new campaign of Fairmont Presents Make Special happen. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it's a massive global campaign. We're gonna jump all into it. But before, let's give our sweet spot audience maybe a little bit of a history lesson. We've had some iconic brands on this Sweet Spot podcast. This might be the most iconic. It's got a rich legacy of timeless hospitality as it's described. Share with our sweet spot audience, a little bit about the origin story behind this incredible storied luxury brand. Loay Nour: It's actually one of the brands that has a great legacy and history since 1907 with the first property that opened in San Francisco. Fairmont took its name actually from the vision of the foundries, the two first sisters which was the first half of the name. And then the mont was actually because the San Francisco was built on a mountain, and that was the first property that was open for us. Since then, we actually, our hotels has been social epicenters in the different destinations where they operate. And we were able to actually host a lot of key defining history moments like the black and white ball, like the bed in peace with the John Legend and Yoko and Fairmont Queen Elizabeth in Montreal. So we've always been a place where if we always like to say if it happens in a city or it happens in a destination, it happens at a Fairmont. And until today, we actually continue to host those great moments. We became a truly international brand back in 2002 when our first property outside the America opened in Dubai. And since then, our portfolio has accelerated. Today, we're a proud member of a core group that manages more than 42 brands globally. And we are one of the very well known and very well beloved, luxury brands globally. Ryan Embree: It's incredible growth and we're gonna talk about that a little bit later in the ep...

Check out the latest TMG Hospitality Trailblazers episode featuring the Founder of Aligned Hospitality, Bryan Tubaugh!  Bryan joins the podcast to discuss founding Aligned Hospitality, the meaning behind the brand, technology in hospitality, improving the guest experience, and much more.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, with another edition of our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. This episode we head west to bring in my next guest from Aligned Hospitality, Brian Tubaugh, founder, and CEO. Thank you so much, Brian, for being on the Suite Spot. Bryan Tubaugh: Hey, Brian, I appreciate it and glad to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, exciting. We're gonna talk all about Aligned Hospitality. Talk about the journey where you guys are, you guys have seen some explosive growth, which we're gonna talk about, but first, since it's your first time, love to get people's background stories journey. What ultimately led you to Aligned Hospitality, but founding Aligned Hospitality as well. Yeah, absolutely. I'm one of the I guess, rare breeds. I grew up in the industry. Both my parents, were both general managers. Both of them started in the hospitality industry, line level, housekeepers, bellman, and then, you know, the typical hospitality love story fell in love, one became a front office manager. The other became a GM. Then they started traveling and they had me. So, yeah, so both my parents were in the industry. I, to be honest with you, it's all I've known. It's, you know, all I choose to know. Anytime I try to take away or get away from the industry, it brought me back. So yeah, so I was born into it. And then my business partner, Helinda, my mother, she raised me, my parents divorced. She raised me in Tucson, Arizona, where, you know, our headquarters is still at Tucson and Phoenix. And so, yeah, so we just I grew up in the industry. I started off in operations with Hilton. Went that route, started in housekeeping at 14. We won't tell people that though. So I was a houseman summer job. It was an exterior corridor hotel. So I got to feel that $120 heat. And, yeah, I mean, quickly worked my way up to the front desk. And you know, I may have had some back push on that help as my mom was the general manager at the property. And then the fun part of the whole story, the twist was when I was 18, I had an HR director at the DoubleTree that I was working at. It was a full service, DoubleTree. And the HR director called me into his office. I'll never forget him, love him to death, Eduardo. And he said, Hey, Brian, do you like this industry? I said, well, yeah. I mean, is there anything else in the world? And he said, well, if you like it and you love it, you need to leave Hilton. And I was like, whoa, did I do something wrong? I mean, I, I love Hilton. I'm at a double tree. This is what I've known. I eat a cookie a day. Like, you know, what, why? And, you know, and he kind of looked at me and he said, listen, because of who your parents are, you're never gonna be able to progress in your career. And you're never gonna be able to take that next step because everybody will know you as Rick and Helenda's son. And if you truly want to make your own staple in this industry, then you need to, you need to, you need to move on. And, I tell that story too, and I'll tell you where that leads, but I tell that story because I do think that's a gap nowadays in our industry, is that that mentorship, that line level to that middle management to management, right? We go rockstar front desk. You're now a general manager. Figure it out. So anyway, so he shipped me out. I found Starwood at that point. The four Points by Sheraton. I became an SRSA, I don't know if you remember that position. Sales Reporting Systems analyst.

Check out the latest episode in the Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series, to hear from the COO of The Indigo Road Hospitality Group, Gabriel Perez!  Gabriel breaks down the intricacies of F&B in hospitality, how the Indigo brand is evolving, and what attendees can look forward to at the 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embry, and we are part of our Independent Hotel show series. This is the second edition of this new series that we're kicking off in collaborating with the Independent Hotel Show. This is your first time we're bringing on advisory board members, team members of the Independent Hotel Show, getting us geared up for that show here at Miami Beach this September. We cannot wait. Uh, and I also cannot wait to bring in my guest, so I'll bring him in. Gabriel Perez, COO of lodging at The Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Gabriel, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot. Gabriel Perez: Well, thank you. Happy to be here. Ryan Embree: We're excited. We're gonna talk some independent hotels. We're gonna talk mm-hmm . About the Independent Hotel Show. That's why you're on here. But before, uh, love getting a little bit of background on your story, uh, your hospitality journey that led you to Indigo Road Hospitality Group. Gabriel Perez: It's, uh, the journey of a very lucky guy. I started this without knowing that it is what I wanted to do long time ago, late eighties at the Intercontinental Hotel in Caracas. And it has been a progressive set of situations and a great joy of many privileges, which had allowed me to, uh, grow within the career in few different segments and disciplines of, of the hospitality. Again, privilege to be today where I am in supporting and leading a great team of individuals, uh, with real hospitality, where the emphasis is experiences in addition to profitability and results. Ryan Embree: This is why I always love starting the episode talking about this, uh, because you just get such perspective, um, where people start their journey. You have a common thread with a lot of our guests that we have on the Suite Spot of maybe falling into the industry not knowing that this is something that you wanted to pursue as a career, but once you get into it, it kind of sticks onto you, right? It kind of gets stuck in your DNAA little bit as so to speak. Right? It does, Gabriel Perez: It does very much is it's a contagious daily excitement that is always different. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. And that variability, you know, it's funny you say it like that, it's always different, but hospitality is the, the skills are so transferrable, um, from whether it's different parts of the world, different brands, you know, hosting people and, and providing them with good service can be done at a high level, uh, again, through a lot of different medians. But that energy, that passion that you bring, Gabriel, that you were talking about, it is, it's, it's contagious. And that's why we see so many people, um, with these stories where, you know, you're talking to a bellman that, that started in a hotel. Uh, and, and now I get the privilege of, of interviewing hospitality professionals like yourself. So, uh, the, the stories range far and wide, but I, I love hearing them and I think they need to be told. I think, you know, in a, in a time right now where we've struggled over the last couple years with, with hospitality workforce, to hear these stories out there of where, what a career and hospitality can look like, because sometimes in industries you think, Hey, I need to be promoted by this time, or I need to be at this stage of my career. Hospitality is very different. Gabriel Perez: It is very different. It is, um,

The Suite Spot travels to Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, to visit the historic Mission Resort + Club as the next stop in the Road Trip series. This property is renowned for its prestigious golf courses, natural environment, and rich Florida history dating back to the early 1900s.  Tune in to hear from General Manager Cindy Staley and Director of Agronomy Danny Parks as these two join the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you're watching us on YouTube, you can tell we are not in our Suite Spot podcast studio, but instead, right in our backyard at the Mission Resort + Club. It's such a privilege to be here. I just got off a tour. It was fantastic. We're gonna talk all about it today. And now we're joined here by Cindy Staley, General Manager of the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Cindy Staley: Well, thank you for being here. We appreciate you coming out to the resort. Ryan Embree: It's an incredible property you have here. Before we talk a little bit more about it, get in depth about its amenities, the guest experience here, talk to us a little bit about your hospitality journey and how you ended up here at the Mission Resort + Club. Cindy Staley: How far back do you want me to go? Just kidding. I actually always wanted to be in the hospitality industry, even in, believe it or not, high school. I wanted to be a chef. Went to college for it. Really just saw what the hotel arena and resort arena could bring to me. You're never bored. Yeah. There's always something new or something different to do. So I worked my way up. I've been in the central Florida area since 2005 working more in the Orlando market. This opportunity came up roughly three years ago. And that's when the prior owner purchased or sold the property and sold it to MMI Hospitality Group. With that, I was hired before they came to the hotel, and they actually took it over in December of 2022. So we've been through this transition of the prior owner to the new owner, both families and have been through the transition of what MMI has accomplished in the last two and a half, almost three years. Ryan Embree: It's incredible, and we're gonna talk about that today. But getting back to that point, a historic property like this with such a rich history, that's not something that just can hand over to something. It requires a lot of care, and I think that's a real testament to MMI hospitality that they're entrusted in this, this really, you know, jewel that has been around for, for so long. It's really, really cool to see. Talk to us a little bit about, we, we heard about the golf side. Obviously that in itself is, makes it a destination, but you know, as general manager, you're obviously managing over the guests that you host here. Talk to us a little bit about the property, the guest experience, and some of the incredible amenities outside of golf. Cindy Staley: Absolutely. MMI had had owned it for I think, 60 plus years, the King and Prince Resort, which is on St. Simon's Island in, in Georgia. So they're good at managing historical properties. Mission Resort, it has been here since 1964 when the prior owner purchased it. And they really recreated the property from the golf course that was built in 1917, which is El Campeon. And then throughout the years, created the resort building by building, creating 176 guestrooms. We also have suites and villas included in that. They built three restaurants very good reputation restaurants from La Hacienda, the Breakfast Restaurant, La Margarita is our lunch and dinner restaurant. And then the Golf Clubhouse, which is just going through a name change called the Grove House. And it was formally Knickers Golf Clubhouse. Ryan Embree:

The Suite Spot was live at the 2025 NYU IHIF conference last week, covering the event to bring hoteliers exclusive content and insight on the most prevalent topics and trends in the hospitality industry currently.  Tune in now to get the pulse on how investors, owners, hoteliers, and guests are feeling about the industry and where they see it heading in 2025 and beyond as Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, shares the 2025 NYU IHIF key takeaways. Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are back here at our Travel Media Group headquarters in Maitland, Florida. Fresh off an incredible 2025 NYU IHIF. Uh, the conference theme was engagement drives returns. There was a ton of engagement. It was everything as advertised. And more. 2200 delegates, 400 plus investors, 20% of those being new investors. Almost every single brand, uh, major hospitality brand represented there, uh, with C-Suite leadership. It was an incredible couple days up in New York City. It was our first time covering the event. We got some incredible, amazing footage, exclusive interviews and insights, uh, and we're gonna share it all with you today. So, uh, thank you for joining me here on the Suite Spot for our five key takeaways. Uh, like I said, it was just an incredible couple days up in New York and really gave some perspective on how hotels are performing almost at the midway point of 2025, and what we have to look forward to. And that's really kind of my first takeaway, uh, is, you know, is is it really as bad as advertised out there? You know, one of the key sessions and, um, interviews that we spoke to was STR President, Amanda Het, uh, who, who really, uh, her message to the, the crowd out there in New York was, um, really don't read into the headlines as much as, uh, it's being said. Uh, you know, o obviously there are some, some, uh, outside major factors that are having some impact on our industry and, uh, will continue to impact the industry. But really year over year, there isn't too much of a difference there. Um, international travel did dip, uh, but there is a, a lot of, uh, positive sentiment that that seems to be returning. And hopefully in the future, those bookings will, will return here. 'cause that's obviously a major, major part of our, uh, domestic, uh, hospitality inventory and demand. Um, obviously there's also a lot of dependence on what market you're in, right? Amanda shared some incredible insights in our interviews of which markets are performing really, really well. She was talking about, um, San Francisco being one of those, uh, markets that little bit slower to recover last year. We've seen some headlines there, uh, but it seems to be, uh, really popping this year in 2025 up in the northeast. Some major bumps in New Orleans, obviously with the Super Bowl, uh, will continue to have to watch it, those big events as people can con continue to prioritize travel. But there is this bifurcation of demand between segments right now, and I think that speaks to maybe those headlines that of, of what's happening, um, tariffs, inflation, things of that nature, really impacting, uh, the economy and lower, um, lower middle class. Uh, maybe they are, uh, keeping their tight, their wallets a little bit tighter this year as far as travel goes, but the luxury, the ultra luxury segments are really, uh, enjoying those thousand dollar rates as we, we talked about, um, earlier in the year. Um, they're continuing to see growth. They're continuing to see, uh, incredible demand for their product, um, which is, which is fantastic. Now, hopefully, again, we can get a little bit, uh, more clarity and what our economic situation looks like so that people continue to prioritize travel. Um, but really, again, it, it's, it's not, it might not be as bad as it's made out to be right now.

Be sure to catch the debut episode of the all-new Suite Spot: Independent Hotel Show Series.  Suite Spot first-timer, and special guest, Kat Woods of NYC Women of Hospitality, joins the podcast to discuss critical topics including: The Importance of Women in Hospitality 2025 Independent Hotel Show Miami Social Media and Its Impact on the Hotel Guest Experience And much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, introducing a brand new series. We are here at the Independent Hotel Show series. Now this is a series where we're talking to independent hoteliers, advisory board members, and really getting geared up for Miami in September, all leading up to that incredible show that the Suite Spot is gonna be a part of. And so will my guests that I'll bring on with me right now, Kat Woods of Bridgeton and New York City Women of Hospitality. Kat, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Kat Woods: Thanks, Ryan. Excited to be here. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we've got a lot to cover, including that independent hotel show, uh, which we're gonna talk all about. But as it is tradition here on the Suite Spot, this is your first time. Would love to learn a little bit about your hospitality journey. What led you to Bridgeton in the New York City Women of Hospitality? Kat Woods: Sure. Thank you. So many years ago, um, I started my career with W Hotels. I actually started with W Barcelona in college and fell head over heels in love with the brand. I worked for about five years in rooms operations between the w New York Union Square and the w New York downtown here in New York City, and got a really great foundation for operating hotels in a nice corporate structure. But in the mid 2010s, the boutique lifestyle hotel scene in New York was really starting to grow, and 11 Howard was one of the hottest hotels opening at the time. I was able to join that team shortly after opening, and that was my first introduction into truly independent boutique hotels. I fell in love with it. There was so much creativity in the operation, so much creativity in the branding. Um, and that really started my career in independent and lifestyle hotels. After that, um, I was able to continue with, uh, l Howard up until the pandemic and throughout the pandemic I helped with a couple projects here and there, but ultimately landing with Bridgeton as the, uh, assistant general manager of their Walker Hotel, Tribeca Property, which is an incredible lifestyle property located in Tribeca. Um, and I've been with the Bridgeton team now in a variety of roles for about four years. Ryan Embree: That's awesome. And creative freedom is, you're right, such a draw for independent hotels and why some people like yourself Kat. Sounds like once you get a taste of that and the ability to really express and tell your story, which we're certainly gonna cover, and one of the, the foundational reasons why a lot of people are not just working, but also guests choose independent hotels is because of that, that story and creative nature. So it's, it's so cool to see. And again, this, this series is all about independent hotels and that that massive show that's gonna be happening in September. Now you're also the executive director of the New York City Women of Hospitality. For those who aren't familiar, talk to our audience a little bit about this organization and its mission. Kat Woods: Sure. So the New York City Women of Hospitality was founded in 2018 by Jolie Feld and Tiffany Perra. And the goal upon the initiation of the group was to create a supportive, safe space for women in the industry. It's no surprise that women are facing some battles that maybe their male counterparts don't. Um, and the idea was to create a community where we can bounce som...

The Suite Spot travels to the heart of Orlando, Florida, to visit the luxurious and one-of-a-kind property, Conrad Orlando!  This hotel and resort is unlike any other with its sensational amenities, lavish suites, breath taking beaches, and centralized lagoon right in the middle of the resort. General Manager at the property, Sean McCarron, joins the podcast to discuss the stellar guest experience offered to travelers, the Conrad brand, social media, and why this hotel is a must visit the next time you are in Orlando.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree and I hope you are watching us today on our YouTube channel because as you can tell, we are not in the Suite Spot podcast studio. We are instead at the beautiful Conrad Orlando here with me, Sean McCarron, general manager of the Conrad Orlando.Thank you so much for being with me today. Sean McCarron: It's a pleasure to be here and thank you for coming and seeing us today. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Thank you for hosting us at this incredible property. We're gonna talk all about it today. This is our Suite Spot Spotlight series showcasing some of the most unique hotels. This one certainly fits the bill. But before we get talking about the property, what I love talking about, this is your first time on the podcast, hospitality people come from all different places. Sometimes they're born into the industry, sometimes they're jumping from brands. Tell us about a little bit about your journey behind the scenes. Sean McCarron: Well, I've been in the business for over 30 years, believe it or not and all in luxury. So I went to hotel school out in Switzerland, and once I graduated from hotel school, I came out and went back to the States and started with the Ritz Carlton. So I was with the Ritz Carlton Hotel Company in various different areas and opening hotels for about six years. And then went to Four Seasons and spent about 16 years with the Four Seasons hotel company, opening other hotels and again, you know, variety of different locations. And then started with Hilton Luxury at the Waldorf Astoria here in Orlando about nine years ago, and been on this project for the last three here at the Conrad Orlando. Ryan Embree: Incredible. And that taste of luxury from different brands, I'm sure that certainly gave you a unique perspective as your journey led you here at the Conrad Orlando. Sean McCarron: Oh, it certainly did. You get different viewpoints from every location that you, that one works in from urban environment to a resort environment to, you know, Las Vegas I spent some time in as well. Opening hotels, all of it kind of lends to a broader experience in order to open this beautiful property. Ryan Embree: Let's talk about the Conrad brand, right. It's unique, known for its design and how it's built. For those that may not be familiar with the Conrad brand, what's the flavor? What makes it unique? Why do travelers love this brand? Sean McCarron: Their main pillars for the Conrad as a brand itself, one of them is bold design, as you had, as indicated. Experiences are also a big part of what we do from a Conrad brand perspective. This hotel is no different than any of our others. I think it's quite unique in the fact that a lot of the design element is based upon water. So lots of blues and refractive lighting, very contemporary feel throughout the resort. Lots of natural light, floor to ceiling windows from a design element. From an experiences element, I mean, you walked around this resort, there's a stunning lagoon right down the middle of it with beaches surrounding it and a lot of activations and a lot of activities from a resort perspective here in Orlando that make it very, very unique. Ryan Embree:

The Travel Media Group digital solution has hit the monumental milestone of responding to over 2 million online guest reviews for our hotel partners. To commemorate such a major achievement, Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, and Director of Product - Respond & Resolve™, Jackie Avery, join the Suite Spot to discuss this accolade, what it means to the organization, and the future of review response. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, here for a very celebratory episode. Today we're gonna have two guests with me, our first Jackie Avery, director of Product - Respond and Resolve. Jackie, congratulations, as the title says of TMG hits over 2 million online guest reviews. Thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery : Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. It feels so good to be here. Just really excited to celebrate this. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think it was August 2022, where we were actually in our older building, before we moved into our podcast studio. Hopefully you were watching us on YouTube and celebrating 1 million guest reviews responded to, um, which just seemed like unfathomable to even think about that amount. So now here we are at 2 million in 2025 before the summer, which we're gonna talk about that, that flux of reviews that come in during the busiest time of the year for hoteliers and for travel. But talk to me a little bit about what this accomplish means, to you and, and your team and network of professional writers. Jackie Avery : Yeah. I mean, honestly, this is just one of the many milestones for the team this year. So I guess, like full of transparency, what it means is continued momentum. I think, you know, we're feeling pumped up. We're doing what we love, and it feels so good to, you know, help our clients and really just connect, you know, in a really authentic way with travelers all over the world. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And when we talk about a number, again, like 2 million, that is reviews, online reviews from across all different platforms. Recently added Medallia surveys as well for some of the brands. But obviously it's not just you and a couple people doing this. You've got a huge network of US-based writers that do this. Talk to us a little bit about the training that goes into this, Jackie, because I don't think I've heard one GM, or front desk manager, whoever is responding to those reviews saying that I got into hospitality because I wanted to respond to reviews. Right. They're more focused on the people and guests as they should be on site. What type of training and nuances goes into responding to specifically an online hotel guest review? Jackie Avery : Alright, well, I'll tell you a little bit, but you're not gonna get all my secrets. Well, the team, when they join us, they come already with extensive education. I feel like that's talked about a lot, but in reality, that's actually just like the baseline. That's where we start. And then from there, right, they need to know about hospitality, they need to know about different hotel brands. But there's also extensive training in, specific person to person communication to be able to connect with someone, in a genuine way. Of course. Like with the main focus being in the written form. Because, you know, the team of writers. But yeah, so I'd say, you know, being highly educated and having those degrees and level of experience with different forms of writing is really where it starts. And then we build off that. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And we've been hospitality specific Travel Media Group that is for 40-plus years. Again, there's a lot of nuances that if you're that US hoteliers kind of take for granted things like, taking it a deposit at the beginning of a stay and maybe that deposit not hitting back or get o...

On this special episode of the Suite Spot, Managing Director at Green Key Global, Anick Levesque, shares insight on several new programs and initiatives that hoteliers can leverage to bolster their sustainability efforts across their portfolios to make a significant impact on the environment.  This episode emphasizes eco-friendly implementation to clarify how seamless the integration of these processes at the property level can be.  Tune in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree. Thank you for joining us today, recording here on Earth Day. Obviously not the day of release, but a very fitting day to be recording for this episode. In particular, I am very excited to welcome on our guest, Managing Director at Green Key Global, Anick Levesque. Anick, thank you so much for being with me, celebrating this 2025 Earth Day. Anick Levesque: Thank you very much for having me, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Very excited to talk about Green Key Global. We've gotten an exciting announcement that I've, that I've seen all over the hospitality circuit. You and your team have been doing a great job of putting that out. But before we get into that exciting announcement, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. Love to hear from our guests kind of about their hospitality journeys and what kind of led you to your role there as managing director at Green Key Global. Anick Levesque: Absolutely. Well, it's been an interesting journey as I embarked upon the next phase of my career, just about over a year ago now. I really wanted to leverage the experience that I had in helping businesses grow, which is essentially what I had done for the previous 30 years of my career. And apply that to purpose driven work. And so when the opportunity came to lead Green Key Global, an organization with an ambitious and socially driven mission, a strong legacy and deep roots in the hospitality sector, I just knew that it was the right fit for me. Green Key is a social enterprise that's focused on sustainability. It contributes to the ongoing well-being of our planet and our communities. While at the same time, companies who commit to sustainability and to certification, they benefit through tangible results. They benefit from increased bookings, lower operating costs, and higher property valuation. So that duality of being able to help businesses grow while also contributing to the wellbeing of our society, that's something that was very appealing to me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I'm sure. And we're gonna get into detail about this, but it really is just a win-win for all parties with sustainability and really the way the future. It's very cool to, I'm sure be in a position. We talk about it all the time where, obviously there's equity and compensation out there. But you know, more and more people are now looking for that sort of fulfillment in their career. So to be able to be a part of a industry and program and organization that does such great work that obviously has such an impact on our world, I'm sure that means a lot. And it's very cool to and an honor to have you on and talk to us a little bit about Green Key Global. What I love about Green Key Global is there's so many just win-win scenarios in everything from the guest wins, with the sustainable practices, they feel a part of something. The hotel wins both with that intrinsic value, but also sometimes financially too, right? And savings and even just the expectations that it's setting now. Green Key Global's been around for decades, definitely heard of it being in hospitality, but didn't really know to the degree at some of the amazing statistics you and your team shared with me For our hotelier Suite Spot audience, share with us a little bit about the history of Green Key Global and ...

In the latest Suite Spot: Spotlight series episode, we travel to Atlanta, Georgia, to showcase the one-of-a-kind, AAA Four Diamond Hilton hotel - The Signia by Hilton Atlanta! Director of Sales at the property, Julia Austin, sits down with the Suite Spot to give travelers a keen look at why this newly built hotel not only broke new ground, but is also breaking records and setting the bar for guest experiences, being hospitality forward, and incorporating excellence in every square foot of the property.  Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, and we are here on our Suite Spot Spotlight series at the beautiful Signia by Hilton Atlanta. I'm so excited to be here. We just got a tour of this incredible property. I'm here with the Director of Sales, Julia Austin. Thank you so much for having us here and hosting us at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Julia Austin : Absolutely. Thank you so much for being here. Ryan Embree: So before we get into this amazing property, and there's so much to cover, by the way, it is a history lesson just walking in, I love the term that was used during the tour of this is a love letter to the city. We're gonna talk all about this amazing property, but in hospitality, we know it's a big small world, right? We typically work for sometimes different brands. Sometimes we work for the same brand. I love hearing hospitality leaders and their journeys through their experience, and what led them to a new property like this. Julia Austin : Yeah, absolutely. So it is, it is such a small world and hospitality and, you know, I kind of came into the world by a dear friend of mine from college. I graduated and was trying to figure out what exactly to do next, and she introduced me to the world of hotels and I fell in love. And 15 years later, here I am miles away from home. I'm born and raised in Arizona, living in Atlanta, Georgia, and getting to be a part of this amazing signature hotel within the Hilton brand. It's been a wild journey, but I can now, looking back, can't imagine the last 15 years doing anything else other than working in such an amazing industry that the hospitality industry really is. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So many pieces of your stories echoed with industry leaders. I talked to first, sometimes a lot of hospitality industry people don't know what they're gonna do right outta college, fall into it, but fall in love to it and also heard that wild journey, to get you here at this incredible Signia by Hilton Atlanta. Let's talk about this for those, audience members that might not be familiar with Signia, because this is the first new build Signia, and for this brand. Talk to us a little bit about the characteristics, that make up what a Signia by Hilton is. Julia Austin : Yeah. You know, so when Hilton was really looking on how to expand the company and what we were going to do next, we really kind of reached out to the people, you know, what are you looking for when you travel? What are you looking for when you're planning meetings and events, when you're hosting galas or social events? And the resounding, you know, feedback that we as a company received was, we want something that is elevated, yet still approachable. So, you know, we wanna have these beautiful views, floor to ceiling, glass windows, you know, state-of-the-art meeting space and high level guest rooms. But we still wanna be able to feel like when we come to this hotel, even with just under a thousand rooms that we're family and that, you know, we belong here and, and we are really embracing ourselves not only in the brand and the hotel, but the community and the city that we're in at the time as well. So, and that's really kind of how Signia became to be. Ryan Embree: I mean, it again,

In this episode, Alexi Khajavi, President of Hospitality, Travel & Wellness at Questex, joins the Suite Spot to give listeners a preview of the upcoming NYU IHIF 2025 event taking place in New York City on June 1-June 3, 2025.  This industry event is one of the most elite hospitality investment forums in the world, so tune in to find out why you should attend and get your finger on the pulse of hospitality. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you so much for joining me. We've got an incredible, amazing episode with a very familiar face. If you're watching us and subscribed to our Travel Media Group YouTube channel or hearing us on any of the streaming platforms. That's Alexi Kajavi, Questex President, hospitality Travel and Wellness. Alexi, thank you so much for being back on the Suite Spot. Alexi Khajavi : Ryan, good to be here. Nice to see you. Ryan Embree: We almost have to credit you now as a co-host. You've been with us so many times. We've got even though it's a familiar face, a new topic, which we're gonna go get into. You've been on the Suite Spot before. We've had a couple conversations talking about your hospitality journey, some of the mentors along the way. I figured we'd start out today talking about your role. I see you, follow you on LinkedIn, your jet setting, all over the place, thought leadership everywhere. It's gotta be pretty cool in that position. Give us a day in the life of your position and what you do. Alexi Khajavi : So Questex is a medium sized information services company. We're B2B media at our core. We inform and we connect buyers and sellers, professionals across six industries. So the three that you mentioned, hospitality, travel, and wellness, are the markets that I have the privilege of running. And then I've got a counterpart that runs our life sciences, healthcare and technology. And we do that by publishing, daily editorial, writing about the industries, the trends, the topics we research. We have over 6 million first party data records. So these are individuals, names, titles, emails, contact information, but also really more importantly, their demographics and their behavioral, information. So what content they read, what are they engaging with, what are the premium pieces of content or research that they're downloading. And we use all of that to inform us as to what are the trends and topics that are impacting that industry, or different segments or categories of businesses within a vertical. And then we use that in turn to develop our programs at our events, to develop our content strategy, whether that be in digital or print. And we then work with the brands, the sellers in those industries to connect with those buyers. So, you know, prime example in hospitality would be investors are, you know, looking for, you know, enhanced guest experiences. So what are the technologies and the solutions in, in hotels that can do that? We'll position those brands specifically to buyers with buyers intent in the marketplace, looking for things like that. So that's what we do, and it's a really incredible industry to be in, and very exciting. And at our core, it's a noble pursuit of informing and connecting professionals in these industries. Ryan Embree: Well, I'm sure, Alexi, you have a very unique perspective, getting to see really a 360 view of travel, hospitality, and wellness between all the data, the conversations that you're having with you know, some of these buyers and sellers. And that's really, is a great segue into what we're gonna talk about today. 'cause we're gonna turn our attention to the NYU IHIF event. Questex got involved with this event recently. You just preached the importance of using feedback and data. I'm curious,

Tune in to the latest Suite Spot episode featuring TMG's very own Chief Technology Officer, Jason Lee, as he gives listeners the latest update on our newest innovation, SMART Response powered by TMG AI. Hear about the development, successes, and challenges of building a guest review response solution with the ingenuity of artificial intelligence. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. As you can see, if you're watching us on our YouTube channel, we are here in our Suite Spot podcast studio in Maitland, Florida, here with CTO, Jason Lee at Travel Media Group. Jason, thank you so much for being back on the Suite Spot. Jason Lee: Yeah, thanks for having me. In the seated position. Ryan Embree: Yes. I feel like we should be celebrating maybe like a 10th or 15th milestone of you coming on the Suite Spot or something like that. It's been a lot, but we're here to talk about a really important topic, something that's been bubbling up in conferences, conversations that we're having something that you're not a stranger to. You've been doing some research on this and, and have some updates for us. But AI, I mean, it seems to be the, obviously the, the hot topic, like I said, at these conferences or just in the industry, outside of the industry in general, and then pairing it with guest review response, something that Travel Media group obviously known for. We're coming up on the 2 million guest review mark. Which Is a fantastic milestone, really exciting milestone, but I figured we could start the episode by just kind of talking about how Travel Media Group got into guest review response. A lot of the stuff and solutions that we've talked about on this podcast have been through hotel your feedback. Talk to us a little bit about this journey in review response, and then we'll get to maybe where the state of the industry is now, and AI and guest review response. Jason Lee: Well, you know, working with hotels the way we have for a lot of years, almost 10 years ago, we were getting a lot of requests to do review response. And so, we're like, yeah, I think we can do it. And then as we got into it, we realized like, wow, this is complicated because every hotel's different. The vibe of the hotel is different, but also the amenities and policies, the quantities, the types of sites that are, have more text or less text ratings and like, I think even getting deeper into, you know, how a hotel wants to use language. And so like, it's even beyond voice, you know? So it's like it's literally grammar and also types of words. And so I think, so we started in this very simple place, very innocent, like, we can do this. This is gonna be awesome. And I think the first offering we had was 20 reviews. It was an SLA of 20 reviews a month. It was TripAdvisor only and . So we, like, we, we jumped to that and quickly, almost like instantly it was like, well, we need, we definitely need Google, and well, we definitely need Expedia. We definitely need booking. You know, so we had to adapt. And it went, the adoption was not just in the sites that we've brought on, it was also in the complexity of the response. It was also in then systematically creating a flow. So the review comes in, we have a writer that writes a response. That response goes to the property. So like, that stuff wasn't initially there. It goes to the property, the property can edit it, and then, and then it goes live back on the site. So that whole process was also sort of formulated during those first, that first year, and then has become very perfected over time where, where we've taken that and we have all sorts of mechanisms to make sure we capture hotel voice, make sure we're doing the right things, critical review pieces that we're doing. So all of these things to really sort of make it as authentic as possible...

Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, breaks down the key takeaways from the 2025 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, which took place in Atlanta, Georgia, from March 17-19. This prestigious annual industry event provided valuable insights, numerous panels, and notable speakers from all across the hotel industry. Learn what critical factors are shaping hospitality in 2025 and beyond by tuning in now. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree, fresh off our trip of covering the 36 Hunter Hotel Investment Conference. So excited to be, first of all, covering the event. It was an incredible couple days up in Atlanta, Georgia. Some exciting announcements, which we're gonna talk about that on this podcast. Some industry trends, insights, interviews. We brought it all to you. We came jam packed back with content, and really excited to share some of the key takeaways and issues that were raised. You know, we've talked about this before on the podcast. Love attending these events where we get all types of brands, owners, developers, hotel owners, individual GMs at these events, because all the ideas, topics, really important topics in our industry really float to the top. And, you know, you get a really fresh perspective about how everything, how everyone's feeling about our industry and this year maybe a little bit darker clouds than we hear in your years past, but also just how amazing our industry is. And, and, you know, I'm gonna start with my first takeaway. The theme, we talked about it on the episode with Sarah Moss, was Elevate your game. Love some of the programming that was involved. Molly Bloom, the poker princess who ran high stake poker games. The theme was incredible. Jesse Cole of the Savannah Bananas, everybody was wearing jerseys. He'd certainly brought the energy. If you've, if you've ever seen one of those games, there's a wait list now for a, a long amount of time to try to get tickets to those. But I think the, you know, there were, there were some receptions all around that, you know, gaming style and theme. But really, you know, my takeaway was that we're at a place where hotels really have to elevate their game too, and we're seeing it which is the really, really cool part. Hotels are getting creative with their f and b experiences, right? Utilizing different things sourcing because the cost has risen, the operational costs, the margins are becoming very thin for hoteliers right now. Whether it's the price of, of goods, whether it's the prices of wages right now hoteliers are elevating their game to get creative. They're getting creative to get deals done right? And it's events like Hunter and these investment conferences where you're in the room, so to speak, shaking hands, that really can be the difference between a deal getting over the finish line and not certainly a lot of talk about AI technology. You know, looking back on last year's takeaways and reading and, and listening to kind of some of my thoughts, I felt like we're in a much more comfortable place than we were a year ago. I still think our industry is still trying to figure out the best way to use ai, but I think what's happened is now our grand illusions of the transformation that AI can bring to our business, the expectations of those have maybe been just reeled in a little bit. And we're starting to take those baby steps in AI technology, and we're looking for things like operational efficiency to empower our employees, and even AI used by guests and travelers are becoming more frequent and prevalent. And really what that speaks to is the importance of a IO, right? And the what type of content about your hotel is out there. That's why UGC user generated content is so critical. It's so important because travelers are using this information on othe...

Tune in to the inaugural installment of the Suite Spot: Road Trip series!  In this episode the Suite Spot takes a drive to SpringHill Suites Jacksonville Beach Oceanfront to meet with Area General Manager, Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Marketing & Sales, Samantha Pritchard.  Alex and Samantha give viewers an inside look at the property's signature restaurant, The Sand Bar, and why this hotel needs to be the next destination on all traveler lists.   Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you're listening to us or watching us on our YouTube channel, you'll see that we are not in our content creation studio in Maitland. We have hit the road for a new series, the Suite Spot Road Trip, and we are here at the Spring Hill Suites, Jacksonville Beach, Ocean Front. And I'm here with two wonderful guests joining me today, general Area General Manager Alex Reitter, and Area Director of Sales and Marketing, Samantha Pritchard. Alex. Samantha. Thank you so much for hosting us on the Suite Spot at your beautiful ocean front property. Alex Reitter: We're happy to have you. Thanks for coming out. Ryan Embree: Very excited to be here. As it is, Suite Spot tradition. One of the coolest thing about hospitality, we were talking about off camera is just our, the history, the DNA that gets built over the years. Maybe different brands, different management companies that you've been a part of. Everyone has a unique story, but it all leads us back to people serving people, right. That that's why we love hospitality. So love to hear maybe your backgrounds in hospitality and what let you here to a brand new property, which we're gonna talk about here shortly. Alex, we'll go ahead and start with you. Alex Reitter: Okay. Well, thanks Ryan. Thanks for coming out. Of course. Again. So, yeah, I think I have an interesting start in Hospitality fell into actually start out on small cruise ships. Intercoastal, I'm not even sure if you knew that Samantha. Samantha Pritchard: No. New Skills. Alex Reitter: So it was definitely a interesting start. You know, uh, intercoastal cruising, seven night trips up and down the, uh, east coast after college. You know, we did trips in Maine, Chesapeake Bay, all the way down to Florida. It was, you know, amazing experience. But when you're working six to eight weeks on a boat, nonstop, you kind of look for other options. And hotel kind of was a natural fit for me. From there, I've had a chance to actually work a courtyard down the street from this Spring Hill. And then actually a little time in the Florida Keys, uh, most recently in a Marriott in Durham, North Carolina. The weather got a little cold. It snowed a couple times on us, and we said, let's get back to Florida. So excited to be here. And excited to work with Samantha. I've only been here a couple months and ready to get the ball rolling. Ryan Embree: Well, I think you're our first guest that has got their hospitality start. I've, I've heard behind the front desk I've heard bellman. I don't know if I've ever heard on a cruise, so that's very, very cool. But it's a story that resonates probably with a lot of our hotel audience, and listeners sometimes just kind of jumping from place to place. But again, people serving people, hospitality. Samantha, you've had kind of a different journey here. Talk to us a little bit about that. Samantha Pritchard: Yeah, so I started my hospitality journey in the Convention Visitor Bureau with Visit Jacksonville. It was, it was some of the best years just learning the business, being around people that have been doing it a long time. So then I left the CVB and went out as a director of sales. So my first job on property was a director of sales, just from some of the hotel connections made dur...

Tune in to this quarterly episode to hear from Chirag Shah of the American Hotel & Lodging Association to get the state of the hospitality industry. As EVP, Federal and Political Affairs & Counsel, Chirag, gives immense insight into challenges, patterns, and trends impacting the hotel industry and how the AHLA is helping hoteliers overcome the economic environment. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. As you can see, we are here with another industry check-in with AHLA. And we have a first time guest with us Chirag Shah, Executive Vice President, Federal and Political Affairs & Council at the American Hotel and Lodging Association. Chirag, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot today. Chirag Shah: Absolutely. Thanks Ryan. Appreciate you having me. Ryan Embree: Well, welcome to the Suite Spot. This is your first time. Before we get rolling, talk about some of the topics that AHLA and issues that AHLA is obviously advocating so ferociously for hotels all around the country. Maybe give us a little bit of background, your journey to AHLA and give our Suite Spot audience, just a brief glimpse of the role that you do there. Chirag Shah: I appreciate it. So I've been in the lodging industry, lobbying on behalf of hotels and hoteliers for about a decade and some change, 12-13 years. And previously my background is actually as a campaign and elections attorney. It's what my training is, and not perhaps a skill that folks are, a ton of folks are always looking for especially when you get relatives that want help getting outta a speeding ticket or something. But I spent time on Capitol Hill, worked on a number of political campaigns, and 2012, 2013 after finishing up my last campaign, got a call from a group. They were looking to open a DC office. And when I was on Capitol Hill, I used to meet with them quite frequently, and it was a group called AAHOA And, uh, they were looking to, to open their DC office. And it was great because I, uh, literally spoke the language that many hoteliers speak and, and figuratively spoke the language, of Washington DC. And so, uh, it, it was a, it was a great fit. And I came in and opened their DC shop and worked there for, for eight years. And, uh, then came over to AHLA and has been fantastic to represent a lot of the same people physically, actually the same people, but also the industry. It's such a wonderful industry where hotels, everybody loves going to hotels. Most public officials don't fully understand what the hotel industry is all about, but they love talking about their travel experiences. And so now at AHLA, I get to oversee the federal affairs shop, the political shop where we meet with members of Congress, have got one of the greatest jobs where we tell the story of the lodging industry to members of Congress, their staff, the presidential administration, every single day. And so getting time to understand what the challenges are that hotel leaders are facing, where the industry is going, what the economic footprint is, that's what we do. And so it's been a lot of fun. Ryan Embree: You know it's funny, Chirag, we have so many industry leaders on this podcast, and we talk to them about their kind of beginnings and they talk about maybe jumping from brand to brand and still having that tight-knit family. Because it all comes back to hospitality. It seems like a very similar path with you and the associations, right, starting with the AAHOA and then transitioning to AHLA. But at the very end of the day, it's all about hospitality and the hotels that you're advocating for from those small, independent hotels all the way up to the major brands. And here we are at the Q1, beginning of, 2025. Great time to reflect on,

A familiar face returns to the Suite Spot in this special episode. Richard Alberigo, CEO & President of Alberigo Hotel Management, joins the podcast to discuss what his hotel management group has been up to over the last couple of years, how the hospitality industry is rapidly evolving with AI technology, new guest preferences, and how to acquire top talent for your hotel staff. 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. So happy to be sharing an incredible episode with you today. Whether you're listening to us or watching us on our official Travel Media Group YouTube page you will see and hear a familiar voice. It's been a couple years, but really excited to welcome in our guest for today, Richard Alberigo, President and CEO of Alberigo Hotel Management. Richard, thank you so much for joining me back on the Suite Spot. Richard Alberigo : Yeah, thanks for having me on, Ryan. It's gonna be fun. Ryan Embree: It's been a couple years. We're gonna cover a lot. You know, last time we heard a little bit about your hospitality journey, so fascinating to hear in our industry. We've hosted tons of industry leaders here on this podcast. Everybody got kind of have different pieces of DNA, whether it's, you know, they've worked for different brands, hotel management companies. You ended up founding your own Alberigo Hotel management company. But I want to kick off this episode, Richard, about talking about, you know, one of the common threads that I always hear when talking about hospitality journeys, which is the mentors or influences that really rose to the top for you and your career and really has lasted the test of time in your career. Richard Alberigo : Absolutely, Ryan. So I have a couple of mentors. My first one, the first manager job I, I received it was at a college station, full service Hilton Hotel, 303 rooms. And I was just a front desk agent. And I'll be honest with you, at the time, being a CEO of a company was not even in the realm of possibilities. And I really didn't even seek it. I was doing it for quote unquote beer money. That's what I worked freshly outta college. And so I had my mentor, her name was Kim Chapin, and she was the rooms division manager there. And she would, you know, recognize my accomplishments. She kept saying, I think you could do something with this job if you really put it together and you really focus. And, you know, she was very supportive. And I remember my promotion, we went to a team meeting, a front desk meeting, and she lined everybody but me on one side of the, of the field. We were playing volleyball. And then the other side of the field was just me. And she goes, you were looking at your new front office manager. So that's how I got the promotion. Believe it or not, there was no indication at all. There was like, this might, this announcement might happen. I was in total shock. But, you know, it was really cool that she saw something in me. And so obviously at that point I couldn't disappoint her. And then, you know, the rest is history. My next mentor later on in my career, I was a general manager of a Homewood Suites in Houston, and this gentleman's name was Mark Boulevard. He was the district manager for Reson Hospitality. This guy was rough. I mean every time he drove up, I just felt like I was gonna quit or I was gonna be be fired. I mean, he didn't take no, he was no nonsense and nothing positive. I would go to our team meetings and the other managers would be there and they'd be like, I'm so sicking of hearing about how great you are. And I'm like, what are you talking about? This guy beats me up every time, they'd go, no, he needs to say, you need to be more like Richard. Do you need to be more like Richard? And I mean, if I was 1 cent over in housekeeping costs,

Sarah Moss, Chief of Staff at Hunter Hotel Advisors, joins the Suite Spot to discuss the upcoming 36th annual Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and give hoteliers a look at what they can look forward to from the event.  Tune in to this episode to learn more about the live sessions, panels, notable speakers, and on-site entertainment at the 2025 HHIC. 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. Thank you so much for joining us. Wherever you are, listening to us, or maybe watching us on our official TMG YouTube channel. Got a fantastic episode for you, kind of becoming a little bit of an annual tradition. Uh, really excited, uh, to talk about this topic, subject, and, uh, one of the most prestigious events in hospitality. Um, hopefully we're not, uh, well, hopefully we are introducing this to our hotel audience, but you should already know about this event because it, it blows up. LinkedIn really shuts down that social media 'cause you hear everyone is there in Atlanta. I will introduce our guest, Sarah Moss, chief of staff at the Hunter Hotel Advisors. Sarah, thank you so much for joining me back here on the Suite Spot once again. Sarah Moss: Ryan, I'm so excited to be back and talking about one of my favorite subjects, the Hunter Conference today. Ryan Embree: Yes, we're excited. It's that time of year we're ramping up, right? It's everybody. There's hotels thawing out right now, right now in the, in the winter as we get ready for that busy spring travel season. Uh, really a perfect time for, for the conference, uh, in March. But before we get into the conference, you know, last year we kind of heard a little bit about your background. Um, and your shared kind of the journey that led you to Hunter Hotel Advisors and the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference ultimately. But I wanna kick off this episode. You know, last year we did a hospitality campus cross series and we talked a lot about mentors, right? We know hospitality, still struggling with staffing a little bit, but we talked about mentors and influences in our hospitality careers and journey. Wondering if you have any, you know, major mentors that have, that have, you know, really influenced you in your career or just people in general that have, have made an impact. Well, Sarah Moss: Thank you for having me on again, Ryan. Sure. I love telling my story about hospitality, especially here at Hunter. And I think everyone's journey is so unique in hospitality and the seasons that they go through in their life. I think there are many mentors that they find throughout their seasons, whether they're in new jobs, you know, life changes, new cities, whatever it may be. And so, um, throughout my journey, I think I've had many mentors along the way and I'm so grateful for them. I think about my time at Sea Island with Melinda Lasky and teaching me, you know, what excellence was and how hospitality at the highest standards should be held to at a Forbes five star resort. And I think about my time back at Georgia State with, uh, Dr. Debbie Cannon and Esther E. And just their wisdom that they imparted on me and their, you know, they just believed in me when, you know, I was a student and just gave me so much courage to go out and try to pursue my dreams. Um, and the opportunities to do that. They introduced me to Hunter. And so I'm so grateful for them to provide me this job here and now. I think, you know, in, in my job now here at Hunter, I have these other influential people like Rachel Humphrey and Lisa Lombardo in my life, who, you know, whenever I have the question or the, you know, the thing I'm stuck on, I, you know, go to my circle and I can ask them what's, um, in their infinite wisdom, what, what they would do or what advice they would have.

In this episode of the Suite Spot, we welcome Micajah Sturdivant, CEO of MMI Hospitality, as the newest addition to the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. With a background in hospitality and hotel management spanning generations in his family, Micajah gives audiences a unique take on how hospitality has evolved over the decades and how MMI Hospitality has cemented itself as a pioneer in the industry. 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. Welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. Happy 2025. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are here back in the new year with a great new episode at continuing. I think we've been doing this for about two years now. This TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series, as a reminder of this is your first time, this is all about the hospitality trailblazers that have been blazing a path in hospitality. Our guests has been doing it for over five decades, we're gonna talk about in a second, but it's about those people and management companies and brands that are pushing our industry forward. As we get into a new year, I think this is the best way to kick it off. So without further ado, I'm gonna bring in our guest today, CEO of MMI Hospitality, Micajah Sturdivant. Micajah, thank you so much for being with me on the Suite Spot today. Micajah Sturdivant: No, it's a great honor. Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited. We're gonna, we're gonna talk a lot because we got a lot of history to cover with your hospitality group, MMI. But before we do that, this is your first time on the Suite Spot. First time guest, hopefully first of many visits, but as, as I always like to do as is tradition. Talk about a little bit about your background and hospitality and the journey that led you to MMI Hospitality. Micajah Sturdivant: No, I appreciate the invitation and opportunity to share about our organization that originally was founded in 1956 when Kemmons Wilson was conceptualizing Holiday Inn. My grandfather and his roommate from grad school were early adopters to the idea of what the Holiday Inn and Internet Interstate system expansion could really provide, not only for the travelers, but from their perspective and specifically my grandfather. The opportunity for a Mississippi workforce that was going through a major transformation in the late 1940s and 50s where primarily agriculture focused economy was modernizing. In many ways, technology was being brought in and it was negatively impacting opportunities for workforce to have a quality meaning of quality lifestyle. And so saw that the opportunity within hospitality could be a great employer and so was one of the first Holiday Inn franchisees. That company has since grown to work with all the major franchisors as owner and operator, as well as adding a contract food service management company and a restaurant brand as well. So it's a mixed bag across the spectrum hospitality. But in many ways, they're businesses that were born out of one another or very much build off of the knowledge and information that our corporate shared services team is able to provide across the entire enterprise. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, hospitality, I mean, even 50 years ago, it was definitely a profession. I mean, we talk about hotels being the oldest profession out there. So a lot of rich history, storied history there. I'm sure you've seen a lot of evolution. I mean, there's been tons of changes just within the last couple years with this being part of your family. Talk to us a little bit about how you were first introduced into hospitality and how you ended up where yo...

Suite Spot host, Ryan Embree, and Travel Media Group Director of Product - Respond and Resolve™, Jackie Avery, break down the top 5 guest sentiment tags of 2024 and give explain what insights these tags hold for hoteliers.  Tune in to the first episode of 2025 and learn how to leverage this data for your hotel portfolio to kick off the new year. 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. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you for listening or watching wherever you're joining us from, hopefully watching in our brand new Suite Spot podcast here in Maitland, Florida. Very excited to bring you another great episode, a very popular episode with a lot of hoteliers, wanting to know some of the top five sentiments of this last year. So it's one of my personal favorite episodes and a personal favorite guest, Jackie Avery, our Director of Product Respond and Resolve™, which is our review response solution, award-winning review response solution here at Travel Media Group. Jackie, thank you so much for joining me back on the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery: Yeah, thanks, Ryan. It's so great to be here. I look forward to this every year. I'm so passionate about this and just spending the time reflecting on the past 12 months and what really resonated with travelers. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. What do you think of the new studio? Jackie Avery: I love it. It looks so good. So comfortable here. You know, I am so happy to be back. Ryan Embree: Awesome. Well, we're happy to have you back. Let's get into it. Let's start talking some numbers. If you've heard this before, this isn't kind of an annual tradition that we do at the end of the year, but we look at all of the guest sentiment that travelers left. For those that might, again, this might be their first time listening to this style of episode, give us a quick definition of guest sentiment and reviews and maybe some numbers that go along with that. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. So, if it's your first time here, you just wanna refresh. Thanks for listening. You know, we love that you're taking this time to really, dig in and learn some, some of this stuff and kind of, you know, again, reflect on what travelers care about. So guest sentiment, these are things being mentioned in reviews, right? So, as Ryan mentioned, I'm overseeing the review response team here at Travel Media Group, and my team to kind of put it into perspective number wise, during our slower months, we're processing and looking at 25,000 reviews ish, during peak travel season. That number jumps up to mid to high thirties. So, as we're going through this and kind of sharing reflections and really, you know, deep diving, the information that we're going over today is coming from right around 41 million sentiment tags. Ryan Embree: WoW, that's absolutely incredible. You think about that 25,000 per month to about 30, you know, high thirties, but 41 million in sentiment tags. So not only are guests leaving the reviews at a record pace, but they're also talking about so much about the guest experience. And I think that's really important when we talk about this type of episode because there's so many elements to a guest day, things that can go right, things that can obviously go wrong that we hear about in these reviews and see in these reviews. And today we're gonna review the top five sentiments. Let's go ahead and start at number five. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. Before we jump in real quick, I wanna say, because you said there might be some people listening this year who weren't here last year.

Catch the 2024 TMG Year in Review episode with Travel Media Group President, Dana Singer as she joins the Suite Spot to discuss all the milestones and monumental achievements this past year and what hoteliers can expect from TMG in 2025.   Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. Thank you so much for joining us. Wherever you're listening or watching us from. If you are watching us on our official TMG YouTube channel, you will see that we are in a brand new space. We're in a brand new area. I'm so proud to launch and announce our very own Suite Spot podcast studio. This is a long time coming, my guest here in a second, we're gonna talk about it. We're really excited. You know, we put a lot of time and effort into this podcast studio to bring you the listener, our hotel audience, the best quality and video, and hopefully we can have more and more guests come in studio and do these podcasts with you today. But for now, we've got a very familiar guest, an annual tradition, one of my favorites, President at Travel Media Group, Dana Singer. Thank you so much, Dana, for being on the Suite Spot once again. Dana Singer: Absolutely. Good morning, Ryan. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited. We're here to, as the titles talks about, talk about 2024 TMG year in review. Again, one of my favorite annual traditions that we do here. We cover a lot of ground in 2024 as a company, as an organization, but more importantly for our hotel partners who've had a lot of success. Talk to us. We're gonna talk about 2025 and, and maybe some of the foundation that's been built for moving forward, but this is a great time of year to also reflect back on all those successes. Talk to us a little bit about 2024 and the journey for our hotel partners. Dana Singer: Absolutely. I mean, 2024 has truly been a special year for travel media group in so in so many ways. Most importantly, for the hospitality partners that we work with every day. You just mentioned the success that we were able to experience with all of them. And one of our most important milestones though, was really moving into our new headquarters. And it's not just about a bigger building, it's about creating a collaborative space that supports the growth of our teams. So we can continue to innovate and serve our partners at the highest levels of support and expertise. Internally, we've developed a number of exciting new solutions. We've enhanced our services and support, and we continue to find ways to better understand and meet our partner's needs. And to do that, we've intentionally dug deeper, into the challenges and opportunities our partners face, and we've created resources around them. We're so committed to giving hotels the tools they need to achieve their goals and succeed, especially as guest expectations evolve. Ryan Embree: Yeah, and that's key. We've talked a lot about on this podcast, you know, almost feels like technology in our industry is moving faster than ever. Something that maybe took a couple years to implement is now changing within the quarter that's due to technology, AI all sorts of different factors. Guest expectations certainly have changed over the past couple years. We've talked about it on this particular episode, over the years. Let's talk about those ever changing guest expectations and what Travel Media Group continues to do to innovate and kind of keep pace with those changes. Dana Singer: I mean, guest expectations are constantly shifting, so it's crucial for us to not only keep up, but stay ahead. And at TMG innovation has been at the heart of our adaptation. One of our significant advancements this year was the introduction of the Guest Experience Snapshot. And this tool has really been a game changer for our partners,

In this episode of the Suite Spot, the head of marketing at Springboard Hospitality, Jason Pirock sits down with podcast host, Ryan Embree, to discuss the incredible Springboard Hospitality brand, exciting hotel developments, social media strategies, and much more.  Tune in now to learn more about what makes the Springboard Hospitality brand one-of-a-kind. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check-in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embee. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, as always, Ryan Embree continuing our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers series. We've done quite a few of this, but if this is your first time hearing it to set up the series, this is all about those individuals, brands, management companies, all paving a way forward for our hospitality industry. Trailblazing a path, and we have a great guest with me. It's certainly an embodiment of a TMG hospitality Trailblazer, Jason Pirock, head of marketing at Springboard Hospitality. Jason, thank you so much for taking the time. Jason Pirock: Yeah, thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: Now, I asked this on every single Trailblazer episode. Always get a different answer. But since this is your first time being on the Suite Spot, we love to hear stories about how you made it into hospitality. Sometimes we just fall into it as a career. Sometimes we went to school for it. What was the hospitality journey that led you to Springboard Hospitality? Jason Pirock: Yeah, absolutely. So I probably have more of a non-traditional background when it comes to hospitality here. A lot of folks have sort of been in the industry for their entire career for a very long time. I actually started my career in retail coming out of college. I was recruited to work for Target Corporate in Minneapolis. And so I started off in merchandising there actually merchandise presentation, which was at the time their entry level marketing. They didn't really have an easy way to get into the actual marketing department, but that was the closest point. And then spent some time with Target and moved into marketing and then found my way through a, a few other companies throughout the years, Sears Corporate. I worked for a company called Brookfield Retail, formerly, uh, General Growth Properties. And then I had sort of a reflection point in my career where as much as I was having fun with retail and liked it that's all I knew. And that's all I had done. And I knew that I was super passionate about travel, I loved hotels, all aspects about it. The experience, the design just always gave me such a great feeling. And so I thought, I wanna try out hospitality, I wanna move into that space. And I was very fortunate to find an opportunity with Hyatt Hotels, their corporate office out of Chicago. And so spent some time there, then moved over to a company called a Perim Hotel Group and helped them build their marketing department and marketing team. And that actually is part of what led me to Springboard. Springboard was looking to sort of revolutionize their, their marketing department, really rebuild it, take it to the next level. And they found me as someone who had, had done that with Perim. And so here I am today. Ryan Embree: Yeah. And let's talk about that role that you have of head of marketing, this being a digital marketing podcast, I'm sure there's a lot of hotel marketers that are just getting started in their career. Talk to us a little bit about your role as head of marketing and really the story as marketers. We love telling stories, right? Of Springboard Hospitality. Jason Pirock: Yeah. Well, I'll start with with Springboard Hospitality. We own, operate, and develop hotels, restaurants, and bars all around the country. We've got about 50 hotels in 14 states, and we're predominantly in destinations, sort of urban environments as well. And we're truly across the whole U.S.

Tune in to the the latest Suite Spot episode to hear from Senior Product Manager at Booking.com, Laura Xhaferaj as she breaks down the guest review score update being rolled out by Booking.com and how this new innovation will impact travelers, hotels, and hotel management groups alike.  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. Very pleased to bring you another incredible episode here, a unique episode, exciting episode. As you can tell from the title. We've got an update with one of the major players in hospitality, Booking.com and with me today to kind of break down this all important update is Laura Xhaferaj, Senior Product Manager at Booking.com. Laura, thank you so much for being on the Suite Spot with me. Laura Xhaferaj: Thank you for having me. I'm excited to be here. Ryan Embree: We're excited to share this news. I mean, this is a huge update that Booking.com is about to roll out that has a huge impact on hoteliers and travelers alike. But before we get into sharing this news, I'd love to start, since this is your first time on the Suite Spot, share a little bit about your hospitality background and your role at Booking.com as Senior Product Manager with our Suite Spot audience. Laura Xhaferaj: I am the Senior Product Manager for user-generated content at Booking.com. And you may hear me refer to my team as UGC, I have been leading initiatives that improve how we showcase guest review across the platform. My journey in hospitality started years ago, even before I joined Booking.com, and I've always been passionate about enhancing travel experience, whether it's helping hotels connect with guests or finding new ways to elevate guest satisfaction through reviews. Working with UGC, I got to build features that bring authentic travel voice into the booking experience globally. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think this is one of those, I'm sure, an amazing role that you're in to be able to kind of look and see what travelers are saying about their experiences with the hotel partners that you're working with. Making sure that information is as accurate as possible so that guests and hotels alike can make the best booking decisions, make sure hotels are making the best operational decisions to improve the guest experience. So I'm sure it's a really cool role to be in. You get a lot of feedback probably from both hoteliers as well as guests. At Travel Media Group we do a lot of innovation and, and updates and rollouts, sort of like what you're going through and what we find is there's always typically a why behind making these changes. Right. So I think maybe the best way to understand and update like this is to maybe talk about the guest review score update and the why behind it. Laura Xhaferaj: Of course, we initiated this change based directly on partner feedback partners highlighted that on our previous system, which calculated overall score using a simple average of users from the past three years had some key limitations for those who had made significant improvements such as renovations, upgrades in services or new guest facilities. The all the reviews still had too much weight slowing down the reflection of their progress. In response to this feedback, we are introducing a weighted review score where recent reviews have bigger influence. This adjustment means that hotels actively enhancing guest experience will see those efforts reflected more quickly in their scores, rewarding their commitment improvement. And it's an update designed to encourage continuous progress and ensure travelers see the most relevant and recent experiences. Ryan Embree: Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean this is what we talk to hotel partners all the time about, when they come to us and say, how can I improve my reputation?

In this special episode, Suite Spot Host, Ryan Embree covers 5 key takeaways from the 2024 The Hospitality Show that took place in San Antonio, Texas.  The industry event was one-of-a-kind and featured incredible panelists, vendors, guest speakers, interviews, and much more from the hospitality industry. Tune in now to get the latest details from the event and why you should be excited for next year! 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. Thank you so much for joining me today. Today is episode 151. Just want a moment to recognize 151 episodes. Wanna thank our audience, uh, for being with us, uh, whether this is your first episode or 151, thank you so much for all the support and we are so excited to bring you another incredible episode. This, as you can see from the title The Hospitality Show, are five key takeaways. We just returned from San Antonio. In fact, again, just like last year's takeaway episode, I haven't even had the opportunity to do my laundry to get in my normal Travel Media Group attire. So, I was just so wanting to get these takeaways to you from the episode. First off, an absolutely incredible event. The Hospitality Show, this is the second annual one put on. The first one was last year. Inaugural show was last year in Las Vegas. This in San Antonio. Want to thank the city of San Antonio for hosting to our A HLA Questex. They put on an incredible show to all the sponsors. If you have not already looked into or are thinking about attending the hospitality show, it is a must attend event. So many interviews, so many insights, content. They had some incredible keynotes, guest speakers, so many cool activities. And of course, hospitality. You have to be able to throw a party and host people, right? And they absolutely nailed it in San Antonio, celebrating Dia de DEOs. Just did a fantastic job. So let's get into some of these takeaways that I got, and it's gonna start with one of the most prevalent topics and patterns, ai, in fact, in these top five takeaways, two of my key takeaways have to do with ai. The first is, from a hotelier's perspective, seems to be this just battle right now of where AI is best utilized with our industry. And there's this push and pull, whether it's for efficiency, reducing costs, which we know right now is really, really hurting a lot of hotels across the nation, whether it's rising construction costs, operational costs, staffing and wages continue to grow, uh, and get more costly. So is it for efficiency that it's best use? Or is it to drive revenue? Right? Top line revenue. And, and there was kind of this, this little just debate of, of what is AI best used for right now? And, uh, you know, there was a, a incredible panel on ai. There were several of them, but the one I had the pleasure, uh, there was one guest speaker who kind of talked through the stages of AI and where we are and actually broke it down into three stages. And we're on the precipice of, of the third right now. So go through the first one, which was predictive, right? That's your chat, GPT just kind of giving us maybe, hey, write me an email answering sort of questions for you. Uh, and then we kind of slowly moved into this co-pilot. You know, you see a lot of these big companies kind of roll out this co-pilot that was really supposed to do actions for you. And now the panelists has had kind of challenged that were into this third, which is assistive and, uh, autonomous and agent kind of stage of ai where this would be kind of the human touch mix with ai. And I think he's,

The Guest Experience Snapshot powered by TMG Oneview® AI is here! Tune in to hear from the Chief Technology Officer at Travel Media Group, Jason Lee, on the latest technological innovation being offered to hoteliers as a part of our digital solutions for hotels. This new offering uses generative AI in a unique way to help hoteliers interpret guest feedback and dial in on how they can improve the guest experience at their properties   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. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. If you are watching us here on YouTube, we have a few announcements to make. First, we've hit an incredible milestone. This is Suite Spot, 150 episodes. Thank you all. I just wanna take a moment before we get started on this great episode that we have today to thank everyone for taking the time to listen to us for all of your support. You know, 150 episodes is something absolutely insane saying it out loud. So again, thank you. And we have a very familiar guest who I feel like we've been on quite a number of these episodes. Jason, our Chief Technology Officer at Travel Media Group. Jason Lee, thank you again for joining me on the Suite Spot. Jason Lee: Thank you, Ryan. Really excited to talk to you about this today. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're super excited. And if you're watching us, like I said on YouTube, if you're not, first of all encourage you go to our YouTube channel, you're gonna find some exclusive content there that you'll only find on YouTube. But if you are watching us on YouTube, you'll see we might have a little bit different feel and vibe. We have moved into a brand new Suite Spot. We are so excited to showcase this new space. It was custom built. You are gonna see all types of new looks from this space. New, exciting content, so be sure to follow and subscribe The Suite Spot. We've got so much jam packed for you. But speaking of innovation and new, that is exactly what we're here to talk about. Jason, we have had a number of episodes talking about the incredible developments that you and your dev team here at Travel Media Group and some of the innovation that you've put out there. This might be one of the most innovative, the guest experience snapshot powered by TMG OneView ai. Before we get talking about it, what we've come to learn is with these innovations, there's always kind of a story or a why behind it. Walk us through that with this guest experience snapshot. Jason Lee: Well, for a long time, I mean, we obviously accumulate reputation data. So we're, we get data from all the sites, we get it from all the hotels. And so we have been, anybody who's seen any of our stuff knows, we have lots of numbers, lots of ways of kind of creating different types of metrics, and showing those metrics in various forms. And I think that's really sort of industry standard where we get a metric or a KPI, we sit on that, we manage to that. And in some ways you sort of lose like what that KPI is for. So you're sort of like almost the purpose for your improvement of a KPI is the KPI. Instead of for what the KPI was originally for. And I think with reputation, we sort of get into that where you have so much data that you sort of lose, you lose track of what is most important. And so what we wanted to do is even going deeper than sentiment analysis. So sentiment analysis really was this natural language processing that we have been doing for quite a while where we take sentence chunks and we look at word modifiers and things like that to create positive, neutral and negative statements inside of a review and ...

The Suite Spot visits the Hyde Midtown Miami in the next episode of the Spotlight series. General Manager of the hotel, Henry Martinez joins the podcast to give travelers an insightful look into the guest experience and what makes the property one-of-a-kind for travelers. 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, welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree. We are not here at our Travel Media Group studio. Instead, we are live on-site for another incredible and amazing edition of our TMG Suite Spot: Spotlight series. We've got such an exciting property to showcase today and an amazing guest to do it with. Henry Martinez, General Manager of the Hyde Midtown Miami. Henry, thank you so much for being on the podcast with me. Henry Martinez : Well, thank you for hosting me. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we're excited about it. Before we get into this incredible property that I just had the pleasure of touring all around and seeing, let's talk about your hospitality journey. This is one of the most unique things in our industry. Everyone coming from all aspects of maybe not starting in hospitality, but ending up there. Uh, what made you fall in love with hospitality? Where's your journey and, and led you here to the Hyde Midtown Miami? Henry Martinez : Excellent. Absolutely. Well, first I'd like to thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you and your audience a bit about our hotel. So how my journey started, I went to college unsure what to study and with very limited knowledge of the English language. So I took a career exploration test. Now I think it's called a career workshop, which is an aptitude test. And that test is designed to determine a person's ability or propensity to succeed in a given activity. Meaning there's really no right or wrong answer, and to no surprise hospitality came on top. So my career in hospitality truly expands over two decades, working at seven different properties and opening four hotels, beginning as a front desk agent. I quickly advanced through various roles within the rooms division, and eventually stepping into leadership positions such as director rooms and director of operations. In April of 2022, I was honored to take the role of general manager of Hyde Midtown Miami. Each step of the journey has prepared me to do what I love the most, which is interacting with people and trying to make a difference in their lives. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. It's a common story that we hear, is a lot of hospitality leaders didn't really think about hospitality as a career, and then once they get into it, they really find a passion for it and a love for it. So fantastic to hear. I came from very similar beginnings, front desk, work your way up. You know, that's what the stories that we love to hear about with this. So let's move on to this incredible property that we're at right now. Had the amazing privilege, like I said, to tour it with you this morning to show me the grounds. But before we get into talking about specific amenities or the room types, talk to me a little bit about the history of the project and how the Hyde Midtown Miami came to be. Henry Martinez : Absolutely. Hyde Midtown Miami is a true gem. It offers an intimate, welcoming atmosphere. Our location couldn't be better right in the heart of Byron City activity and only a 15 minute drive to the beach. Designed by the renowned architect, David Rockwell. The hotel reflects the essence of local art and culture, creating an ambience that resonates with both young professionals and leisure travelers.