Podcasts about Tripadvisor

Get your free travel insurance quote with Faye! https://milestomemories.com/go/faye-travel-insurance/ American Airlines is quietly blocking last-minute partner award space, Alaska is raising its partner and phone booking fees on July 1, and Shawn just had a really bad "five-star" stay at the Grand Hyatt Athens. On this episode of MTM Travel, Shawn and Mark break down the AA award change and who it actually hurts, the Alaska fee increases and how the Summit card can offset them, and a brutal play-by-play of a Hyatt stay gone wrong — slow undersized elevators, road-noise "motel" rooms, burned eggs, no elite recognition, and a manager who hid in the back — all against a flawless stay at the Hyatt Regency Barcelona. Plus why lounges are cracking down on taking food and drinks, the role of private-equity cost-cutting, and how Hyatt only displays its good TripAdvisor reviews. Let us know your own Hyatt experiences down below, and we'll be back Thursday with more travel news. Episode Guide: 0:00 Welcome to MTM Travel 0:19 – Welcome back: Barcelona vs. Colombia (and the "Barthelona" debate) 1:33 – American Airlines blocks last-minute partner award space 5:30 – Alaska raises partner & phone booking fees (July 1) 8:40 – The decline of Hyatt 9:17 – Grand Hyatt Athens: a "five-star" disaster 15:21 – Hyatt Regency Barcelona done right 18:46 – Hyatt's rapid expansion & all-inclusive slide 21:00 – Every problem is a chance to win (or lose) a customer 25:35 – Why can't you take food and drinks from the lounge anymore? 28:18 – Hyatt only shows its good TripAdvisor reviews 30:09 – Final thoughts & what's coming Thursday ✈️ Track your travel credit cards for free

" There are three defining characteristics of a Sauve Qui Peut game: an unusual underlying concept, commitment to the bit, and beautifully painted murals." They do things a little differently around here. That's been Steven Keller's personal design philosophy ever since he started making his first escape rooms at his company, Sauve Qui Peut, located in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu in Quebec, Canada. If you've ever played games at this company, you'd know the house style is that there is no house style. Every game feels distinct and different, almost like they were designed by different people. And yet Steven is the mad genius behind it all. Steven is one of the most instinct-driven designers I've encountered in this industry. He designed his first three rooms within five months of having the idea, before he'd even signed a lease. He deliberately avoided playing other escape rooms early on so he wouldn't get influenced. However, he eventually abandoned this philosophy when he realized that Egyptian-themed rooms were not, in fact, his invention. What hasn't changed is his core approach: start with one really cool thing, build around it, and figure out the story last. Like I said, they do things a little differently around here. However, Steve doesn't do it alone. Shawn Mercier is Steven's right hand man, and he joins us also to give us the nuts and bolts perspective. He started as a gamemaster, began quietly fixing and improving mechanisms, and pretty soon made himself indispensable. Shawn introduced more sophisticated and reliable tech to Sauve Qui Peut's rooms. He helps keep everything running smoothly, all before he turned 26! We know, because he celebrated his birthday with us on the day of our recording. Together, Steve and Shawn are responsible for some of the most inventive and, yes, slightly unhinged escape room design in Quebec. I really appreciated hearing Steven talk about his design process. There's a madcap creative improv quality to it, and it's part of what makes their games so quirky and memorable. If you enjoyed this conversation and want to check out the games at Sauve Qui Peut, consider joining us on one of our future Escape, Immerse, Explore tours to the Montreal area.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

Frank Skinner and guests Dee Allum, Pierre Novellie, Zoe Lyons and Hasan Al-Habib discuss the tactics of Genghis Khan, the ethics of mousetraps and the morals of forgetting to wear trousers. Also, Swedish sheep wagons.Everyone has an online life, and when the great British public put pen to keyboard to leave a review, they almost always write something hilarious. And our all-star panel have to work out just what they were reviewing – and maybe contribute a few reviews of their own. So if you're the person who went on Trip Advisor to review Ben Nevis as “Very steep and too high”, this show salutes you!Written by Frank Skinner, Catherine Brinkworth, Sarah Dempster, Jason Hazeley, Karl Minns, Katie Sayer & Peter TelloucheDevised by Jason Hazeley and Simon Evans with the producer David TylerA Pozzitive production for BBC Radio 4

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

“We really wanted to make a game that would encourage creators to make more weird stuff.” Low budgets, tight spaces, and a DIY mentality. As it turns out, indie filmmaking and creating escape rooms have a lot in common. James Hamer-Morton & Charlie Bond of Deadlocked Escape Rooms in Reading, UK, know this better than anyone. They joined us on REPOD to talk about creating their quirky, puzzle-driven games. James and Charlie actually met as actors on the set of a film, and they've been partners in life and business ever since. David even wrote a post about one of their projects, Echoes of Darkness: A Star Wars Fan Film . These origins really honed their “do-it-yourself” ethos. As Charlie puts it, “It originally stems from a lack of funds. But also it's enjoyable to do it yourself, and to learn a new skill in the process.” Where Deadlocked really shines though is in their creativity. Their games have quirky mechanics and stories. They've employed clever tricks to make the sets feel larger than they are. Relying on quick wits and creativity have allowed Deadlocked to stay nimble. During the pandemic, they created a wonderful virtual game called The Insiders that gave them global recognition in the escape room world. This led to them giving a talk at the very first RECON about Adapting Your Escape Room Business to New Mediums. James and Charlie have spent the better part of a decade building one of the UK's most distinctive escape room companies. Deadlocked is currently ranked the #1 escape room in the UK, and their newest game, The Reading Witch, recently topped the TERPECA rankings for England. One of my favorite stories from this episode is about the time they were playing an escape room and they stopped mid-game to help the owners fix a broken prop. They are two of the most charismatic, creative, and relentlessly hands-on people in the business, and I hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed recording it.       Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

For twenty-five years, Janet Wishart let all of Aberdeen believe she was a witch — until the day the authorities finally decided to find out what she was capable of admitting under questioning.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/AberdeenWitchFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Janet Wishart loved practicing her evil Satanic magic – and equally loved boasting about it; something you really shouldn't do if you happen to live in the days of the Great Scottish Witch Hunt. (Janet Wisharts's Witchy Ways) *** Have you ever seen the movie “Going In Style” about some retired elderly men deciding to do one last robbery just to see if they had the stuff? Whether you watched the 1979 original or the 2017 remake, the premise is hilarious and fun. But apparently several men in 2015 decided to do it for real – and almost walked away with $200-million in cash and jewels! (The Grandpa Gang Jewel Robbery) *** The encounter of Gerry Anderson is one of the most intriguing claims of alien abduction in the United Kingdom. Not least as he wouldn't fully recall the incident that occurred in the early 1950s when he was a 12-year-old boy until decades later under hypnotic regression. (The Alien Abduction of Gerry Anderson) *** In November, 1980 the MGM Grand in Las Vegas caught fire, claiming numerous lives. Decades later we learn what went wrong, how it can be avoided in the future, and we hear the haunting details of what happened during the fire – as well as the hauntings that are taking place even now so many years later. (A Grand Fire in Las Vegas)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:02:08.563 = Janet Wishart's Witchy Ways00:11:32.783 = The Grandpa Gang Jewel Robbery ***00:33:21.490 = Alien Abduction of Gerry Anderson ***00:41:49.281 = A Grand Fire in Las Vegas00:56:32.355 = Show Close *** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Janet Wisharts's Witchy Ways” from Strange Company: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4rakh24p“The Grandpa Gang Jewel Robbery” by Laura Allan for Unspeakable Times: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yuu3bxnc, and Jon Rogers for The Sun: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/27esvy74“The Alien Abduction of Gerry Anderson” by Marcus Lowth for UFO Insight: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2zznednd“A Grand Fire in Las Vegas” by Rachel Souerbry for Weird History: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/fwzhe9js, Vegas.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/z7krdayv, VegasForAll.com: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2hj566nw, and TripAdvisor: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/3vez7tvm, https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/u5k8f8cj(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: March 13, 2023

Hey there Product Rebels! If you're a product leader right now, chances are someone in your org has asked you some version of "what's our AI strategy?" in the last month. And chances are, the answer is still murky. We're hearing this from product leaders constantly — there's pressure to ship AI features, but not a lot of clarity on how to move from boardroom excitement to actual product impact.That's why we're resurfacing this conversation with Ravi Mehta. His Inspire, Validate, Structure, and Ship framework is one of the most practical takes we've heard on turning AI ambition into real outcomes. If anything, it's more relevant now than when we first aired it. Enjoy the re-listen. 

"We don't fear spoilers because a good room has more to offer than just the set that you saw in a photo. It must be something that you feel also." When most people think of an escape room, they think of puzzles, padlocks, with maybe a light narrative slapped on top. When Rémy Strobbe and the team at Live Cinema created Zone 51, however, they thought: okay, but what if instead of solving puzzles, you were inside a movie? Rémy is the co-founder and creative director of Live Cinema, based in Paris, France. He joins us on REPOD to talk about Zone 51, a jaw-dropping 120-minute experience set across 550 square meters, 25 rooms, 3 live performers , and a cinematic globe-spanning story. David calls it "one of  the most remarkable experiences that I have seen in the immersive world." Zone 51 begins the moment you walk through the door. Indeed, for those unaware, they might be convinced that they're here to watch an actual movie. As you can see, the set is absolutely gorgeous. Rémy talks candidly about the difficult journey to creating this game. Amongst their troubles, they had a construction partner go bankrupt mid-build and take €80,000 with them, and a pandemic that halted production for over a year. He also shares the secrets behind the tight pipelining schedule that makes this project financially feasible. I especially loved hearing Rémy talk about their philosophy on marketing and allowing players to record their games. Live Cinema leans into sharing striking visuals. As Rémy put it, a good experience has more to offer than just what you see in a photo. And those photos are spectacular. Zone 51 is currently bookable in French, with limited English sessions available by email. English availability is expected to expand by fall 2026 — which happens to align perfectly with the Escape Immerse Explore Paris Tour. Zone 51 (review coming soon) will be on the Tour, along with a few other games from the same creators at Lock Academy. If you enjoyed this episode, consider joining us on the Tour, if it hasn't already sold out!     Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

GB2RS News Sunday, the 24th of May 2026 The news headlines: Volunteer at the RSGB National Radio Centre Buy your RSGB 2026 Convention ticket at 2025 prices Tonight@8 is back in June The RSGB National Radio Centre at Bletchley Park welcomes thousands of people through its doors each month, and in 2025 it was recognised in TripAdvisor's Travellers' Choice Awards. Much of this success can be attributed to the amazing team of volunteers. They share a strong sense of pride, enthusiasm and have a wonderful team spirit, all with the purpose of promoting amateur radio. If this sounds like something you would like to be part of, the NRC is now looking for extra volunteers to join its team. If you enjoy meeting people and are able to work a minimum of one or two days per month, get in touch with the NRC Coordinator, Martyn Baker, G0GMB, via nrc.support@rsgb.org.uk. Find out more about volunteering at the NRC by watching a short video on the RSGB's YouTube channel at youtube.com/thersgb  and selecting the ‘Volunteering for the RSGB' playlist. The RSGB wants to make its Convention as accessible to as many people as possible. That's why it has frozen ticket prices, and you can buy this year's ticket at last year's price! This means you can make the most of the early-bird pricing and buy your weekend ticket for just £49. On top of this, the Society has confirmed that, as usual, under-21s can attend the Convention for free. This week, the RSGB also announced further speakers to its growing programme. You'll find engaging and informative presentations from Adrian Ciuperca, KO8SCA, on the 3Y0K DXpedition to Bouvet Island, as well as Christian Entsfellner, DL3MBG, on the DARC QSL Bureau and the cooperation with the RSGB. It has also confirmed that Ian Henry, G0LFT will be delivering a lecture on understanding FT8 through DNA-sequencing parallels, which was featured in the May 2026 edition of RadCom. Go to rsgb.org/convention to secure your tickets and guarantee your place at this not-to-be-missed event. The Convention will be held at Kents Hill Park Conference Centre in Milton Keynes between the 9th and 11th of October. Following a break in May, the RSGB's Tonight@8 series is back on Monday, the 8th of June, with a fascinating webinar by John Warburton, G4IRN, on building a remote station. If you live in an area where restrictions such as conservation areas may limit your activity, this is for you. Following his move to rural Shropshire in 2020 and encountering conservation area restrictions, he decided to develop a fully remote HF contest and DX station. In this presentation, John outlines the search for a suitable site and the key technical and operational lessons gained from several years of remote operation over Internet and 4G links. You can join the webinar live via the RSGB's YouTube channel at youtube.com/theRSGB or its special BATC channel at batc.org.uk/live/rsgb. Keep up to date with the latest programme by visiting rsgb.org/webinars The RSGB Board has announced further updates to the Board Liaison roles. Go to rsgb.org/ board to view the full list of responsibilities for each Board Director. RSGB Members will be able to use this as a guide to help them know who to contact if they have questions, concerns or ideas about any areas of the Society's activities. You can contact each Board Director via the email address shown by their name. The RSGB team had a very successful time at the Dayton Hamvention last week. They spoke to hundreds of attendees, signed up a lot of new members, and were delighted by the very positive response to the RSGB app. Many radio amateurs hadn't realised that as an RSGB member, they can read RadCom Basics, RadCom Plus and 25 years of back issues of RadCom all in one place and were keen to sign up to membership as a result. Two AGM trophies were also presented in person by RSGB President Bob Beebe, GU4YOX and RSGB Board Chair Stewart Bryant, G3YSX. Look out for a fuller report in the July issue of RadCom. International Museums Weekends 2026, also known as ‘Museums on the Air', will take place on the 20th, 21st, 27th and 28th of June. Venues from all over the world, including ships, castles and air museums, are expected to take part. For more information and registration details, visit radio-amateur-events.org/IMW  Please send details of all your news and events to radcom@rsgb.org.uk. The deadline for submissions is 10am on Thursdays before the Sunday broadcast each week.  And now for details of rallies and events The Durham and District Amateur Radio Society Radio Rally is taking place today, the 24th, at Bowburn Community Centre, Bowburn, County Durham, DH6 5AT. The doors are open from 10.10 am to 2.30 pm, with disabled visitors gaining access at 10 am. The entry fee is £3. There is a bring-and-buy sale, trade stands, special interest groups and an RSGB bookstall. Catering is available on site. For more information, contact Michael Wright, G7TWX, on 07826 924 192 or email dadars@gmx.com The Broadcast Engineering Museum has an open day on Sunday, the 7th of June, from 11 am. The museum is located at 41 Capper Avenue, Hemswell Cliff, near Gainsborough, Lincolnshire DN21 5XS. The museum is home to one of the largest collections of historic broadcasting equipment in the world. For more information, visit becg.org.uk/events Also on Sunday, the 7th of June, Spalding and District Amateur Radio Society's Annual Radio Rally will take place at Spalding Rugby and Football Club, Centenary Park, Drain Bank North, Spalding, Lincolnshire PE12 6AF. Free car parking is available on site and the entrance fee is £3 per person. Traders, catering and an RSGB stall will be available on site. For more details, visit sdars.org.uk/spaldingrally Now the Special Event news To commemorate the centenary of the passing of Antoni Gaudí, the famous Catalan architect and designer, special callsign EH100AG is active until the 7th of June. Look for activity on various bands and modes and via the QO-100 satellite. QSL via the bureau. QSOs will be uploaded to eQSL, Logbook of the World and Club Log. Special callsign LY100RADIO is active until the 12th of July to celebrate the 100th anniversary of regular radio broadcasting in Lithuania. QSL via LY2QT. For details of awards that are available for working the station, visit QRZ.com Now the DX news Paul, MM0ZBH, is active as 5Z4/MM0ZBH from Kenya until Monday, the 15th of June. He operates using CW, FT8 and SSB while volunteering at a local school. QSL via Logbook of the World and OQRS. Pascal, F8NQV, is active as CN2NQV from Sidi Rahal Chatai in Morocco until the 11th of July. Look for him on the 40, 20, 17, 15 and 10m bands using SSB. Now the contest news Today, the 24th, the RSGB 10GHz Trophy runs from 0800 to 1400UTC. Using all modes on 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. Also today, the 24th, the UK Microwave Group High Band Contest runs from 0800 to 1700UTC. Using all modes on 5.7 and 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Tuesday, the 26th of May, the RSGB SHF UK Activity Contest runs from 1830 to 2130UTC. Using all modes on 2.3 to 10GHz frequencies, the exchange is signal report, serial number and locator. On Thursday, the 28th of May, the RSGB 80m Club Championship runs from 1900 to 2030UTC. Using CW on the 80m band, the exchange is signal report and serial number. The CQ World Wide WPX CW Contest starts at 0000UTC on Saturday, the 30th and runs until 2359UTC on Sunday, the 31st of May. Using CW on the 160 to 10m bands, where contests are permitted, the exchange is signal report and serial number. Now the radio propagation report, compiled by G0KYA, G3YLA and G4BAO on Thursday the 21st of May Last weekend's geomagnetic disturbance didn't turn out to be quite as bad as predicted. A high-speed solar wind stream from a massive coronal hole and a coronal mass ejection caused the Kp index to rise to 6.33 on Friday, the 15th of May, but it subsided, and we were soon back to more normal figures in the range of 2 to 4. The last week has seen more usual Kp figures in the range of 2 to 3, which bodes well for HF propagation. Unfortunately, the solar flux index has been stuck in the low one hundreds, ranging from 109 on the 16th to 106 on the 20th. It rose to 114 on the 21st, which may continue into the coming week. Meanwhile, ESA's Solar Orbiter has been monitoring solar activity on the far side of the Sun, which continues to feature a number of large sunspot groups. A number of C-class Flares and one low-level M-flare have been detected on the far side. We will have to wait until next week for that activity to rotate to an Earth-facing position. Much of the activity on the higher HF bands is currently due to Sporadic-E, and Jim, G3YLA, reports several multi-hop paths showing up between Europe, the Caribbean and the USA on the 6m band. A quick check on the 10m band revealed only low-power beacons out of Spain and Andorra, unfortunately. NOAA predicts that the solar flux index may rise to 115 tomorrow, the 25th, and then increase to 135 by the end of the month. The start of the coming week should see settled geomagnetic conditions, but we are predicted to see a rise in the Kp index to 4 on Wednesday, the 27th. And now the VHF and up propagation news from G3YLA and G4BAO The recent lengthy period of indifferent weather has now changed over to a predominantly high-pressure type. This should last through to the end of the coming week when a possible return to unsettled weather edges up from the south.  Starting with the large-scale pressure pattern, it will be a period of improving tropo conditions for the VHF and UHF bands as the high builds over the country. The conditions should cover a large area across the North Sea and into the near continent. It is often the case that lift conditions may be improved by nighttime cooling and fade slightly during the day, unless over a sea path, which doesn't change much from day to night. The late May and early June period is a reasonable time for meteor activity, although this is mostly minor. Remember that there is still the tail end of the Eta Aquarids to work through this month. The solar conditions have offered up some reasonable coronal holes recently, although the light evenings don't allow visual confirmation, the Kp index going above 7 should make life more interesting for aurora. Needless to say, rain scatter will not feature in a predominantly high-pressure period of weather. Lastly, a thought about sporadic-E, which is coming into full bloom now and is typically at a peak around early to mid-June. There have been some successful openings on the 6m band with some multi-hop paths to the Far East and across to the States and Caribbean.  On the basis that jet streams may be useful indicators of where Sporadic-E is more likely, the coming week will see the main jet stream flow being pushed well north to a typical summer position from Iceland to Scandinavia. This might make paths to Scandinavia and the Baltic a good option, including northern multi-hop paths to the Far East. EME now and Moon declination is falling again, going negative tomorrow, the 25th. Combined with increasing path losses, conditions will worsen as the week progresses, but there is still plenty of time to make some QSOs, albeit with shorter Moon windows and lower peak elevation. 144MHz sky temperature is low but increasing to moderate by Friday, the 29th. And that's all from the propagation team this week.

What happens when an American content creator discovers a hidden winter workation village in Bovec after clicking on a random Instagram ad? Why would a Spanish digital nomad leave Madrid and Budapest behind for life in Ljubljana? And why did a Slovenian entrepreneur living in Barcelona decide to return home just as Slovenia launched its new digital nomad visa?In the first-ever video episode of Feel Slovenia The Podcast, host Dr. Noah Charney sits down with three digital nomads whose personal stories reveal a different side of Slovenia — one that goes far beyond postcard images of Lake Bled. Guests include American travel creator Ben Herskowitz, who spent the winter living in Bovec as part of a rural digital nomad community; Fernando Cantero, a Spanish remote worker who found in Slovenia the perfect balance between mountains, nature, safety, and quality of life; and Dino Kovačević, founder of WorkFromSlovenia.si, who offers insight into Slovenia's growing digital nomad ecosystem and the impact of the country's new digital nomad visa launched in November 2025. Together, they discuss everything from coworking spaces and bureaucracy to hidden alpine villages, local traditions, and the surprisingly strong sense of community foreigners can find in Slovenia.More than just a conversation about remote work, the episode explores why Slovenia is increasingly attracting people searching for something many destinations have lost: authenticity, connection to nature, slower living, and genuine human interaction. From Ljubljana and Maribor to Bovec, Triglav National Park, and lesser-known corners of the country, the episode paints a vivid portrait of Slovenia through the eyes of foreigners who unexpectedly found a place that feels like home. Feel Slovenia the Podcast is brought to you by the Slovenian Tourist Board and hosted by Dr Noah Charney.For more inspirational content, check out www.slovenia.info and our social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Tripadvisor.

"We take your favorite games from TV, but we put our own twist on it." Sound design is the most underused tool in escape room design. It's not just for ambiance; it's a feedback system. It tells players what they did, redirects them when they're wrong, and stops them from doing the same wrong thing over and over. Sound design plays a huge role at The Escape Game and Great Big Game Show. Troy Armstrong has two music composition degrees. If you've played Cosmic Crisis, The Depths, or The Rugrats version ofThe Playground, then you've heard some of his work. Troy got his start in the industry as a gamemaster at The Escape Game. One day, he cold-emailed the head of design to "talk about game design" and left with a sound design commission. Today he's Director of Product Design for Great Big Game Show, one of the newest immersive gaming options from The Escape Game. Great Big Game Show is not an escape room. Rather, it's a live immersive gaming experience where two teams compete over a series of mini games, all guided by an energetic, live host. It takes familiar games from TV, but adds origin spin on the concepts. Troy is passionate about gameshows and sound design. It was fascinating to hear him talk about how he crafts these elements to create the best possible experience for guests. I especially enjoyed hearing him talk about all the ways that sound design can help direct players and shape the flow of a game. If you're interested in hearing more about how sound design matters, join us at the Reality Escape Convention, where Troy will be speaking.   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

I've spent time in Hong Kong, I've watched this city transform firsthand, and I can tell you what Beijing has done there is the blueprint for everything that comes next. Today I'm sitting down with Simon Elegant, former China bureau chief for the Washington Post, to talk about what the West is still getting dangerously wrong about the CCP, and why the clock may finally be running out. Simon Elegant is the China bureau chief for The Washington Post, based in Taiwan. Previously, he held a variety of reporting and editing jobs in Asia, including Beijing bureau chief and Southeast Asia correspondent for Time magazine. Elegant was the founding partner and investor in Temple Restaurant Beijing, which won the 2019 readers' choice award from TripAdvisor as the world's best restaurant. Pick up a copy of his new book City on Fire: A Novel of Hong Kong here: https://amzn.to/4dsQZKH Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I've spent time in Hong Kong, I've watched this city transform firsthand, and I can tell you what Beijing has done there is the blueprint for everything that comes next. Today I'm sitting down with Simon Elegant, former China bureau chief for the Washington Post, to talk about what the West is still getting dangerously wrong about the CCP, and why the clock may finally be running out. Simon Elegant is the China bureau chief for The Washington Post, based in Taiwan. Previously, he held a variety of reporting and editing jobs in Asia, including Beijing bureau chief and Southeast Asia correspondent for Time magazine. Elegant was the founding partner and investor in Temple Restaurant Beijing, which won the 2019 readers' choice award from TripAdvisor as the world's best restaurant. Pick up a copy of his new book City on Fire: A Novel of Hong Kong here: https://amzn.to/4dsQZKH Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewrongmoves Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This week: William Moore is joined by The Spectator's political correspondent Noa Hoffman, Telegraph columnist and Planet Normal co-host Liam Halligan, and The Spectator's real life columnist Melissa Kite.They unpack Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman's cover piece on the mounting coup against Keir Starmer. As Wes Streeting makes his move, Ed Miliband waits in the wings and Andy Burnham's allies search for a route back to Westminster, is Labour now openly preparing for life after Starmer?Also this week: Britain's mounting economic crisis. Liam warns that the government is running out of road with the bond markets. Could a turn to the left push Britain towards a full-blown fiscal reckoning?Plus: the death of the traditional B&B. Melissa explains why fussy guests, vegan breakfasts, TripAdvisor and the tyranny of instant reviews have made hospitality more fraught than ever. Produced by Oscar Edmondson. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week: William Moore is joined by The Spectator's political correspondent Noa Hoffman, Telegraph columnist and Planet Normal co-host Liam Halligan, and The Spectator's real life columnist Melissa Kite.They unpack Tim Shipman and Noa Hoffman's cover piece on the mounting coup against Keir Starmer. As Wes Streeting makes his move, Ed Miliband waits in the wings and Andy Burnham's allies search for a route back to Westminster, is Labour now openly preparing for life after Starmer?Also this week: Britain's mounting economic crisis. Liam warns that the government is running out of road with the bond markets. Could a turn to the left push Britain towards a full-blown fiscal reckoning?Plus: the death of the traditional B&B. Melissa explains why fussy guests, vegan breakfasts, TripAdvisor and the tyranny of instant reviews have made hospitality more fraught than ever. Produced by Oscar Edmondson.Become a Spectator subscriber today to access this podcast without adverts. Go to spectator.co.uk/adfree to find out more.For more Spectator podcasts, go to spectator.co.uk/podcasts. Contact us: podcast@spectator.co.uk Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

INTRO (00:24): Kathleen opens the show drinking a Peace, Love & Hoppiness West Coast Pale Ale from Big Dog's Brewing Company in Las Vegas. She reviews her weekend in Vegas, playing golf and gambling at The Venetian with her friend Ron White and seeing No Doubt live at the Sphere with HollyBobby.    TOUR NEWS: See Kathleen live on her “Day Drinking Tour.”   TASTING MENU (1:28): Kathleen samples Hearst Ranch Beef Jerky, Hadley Fruit Orchards Hot Cheese Puffs, and Lay's Limited Edition Argentinian-Style Steak Chimichurri Chips.    QUEEN NEWS (12:12): Kathleen shares that Taylor Swift is helping Artists make millions in the Spotify stock sale, Post Malone cancels a few more shows, and Dolly Parton's Dollywood is dethroned from its top spot by Tripadvisor.    HOLLYWOOD HAPPENINGS (24:44): HollyBobby provides the latest news in Hollywood.   SPANISH PHRASE OF THE WEEK (1:37:14): The Spanish phrase to learn this week is “dónde está el baño” or “where is the bathroom” in English.    UPDATES (36:53): Kathleen shares updates on advanced bookings for World Cup hotels, and Delta Airlines is eliminating free snacks on flights under 350 miles.   SPORTS NEWS (52:26): Kathleen reports on the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews making a notable first, and foreign soccer fans appear to be ditching the 2026 World Cup.   HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT (45:52): Kathleen reads about the swamp-dwelling “fishing cats” with webbed feet recently spotted on a trail cam in Southeast Asia.    FRONT PAGE PUB NEWS (59:34): Kathleen shares articles on American's best City Park in 2026, Walmart Target & Costco are eliminating self-checkout lanes, a study proves that Big Data Centers are becoming an increasingly high drain on national energy, Stanley Tools ceases operations after 180 years, Ted Turner dies at age 87, Spanish nuns help save rare giant rabbit population, Utah fights hyperscale data center plans, and a federal investigation has been opened regarding missing scientists.    SAINT OF THE WEEK (1:34:22): Kathleen reads about Saint Kateri Tekakwitha, patron saint of the environment, ecology, and Canada.    FEEL GOOD STORY (1:35:44): Kathleen shares a story about the “7-Eleven Baby.”   

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "I wasn't an Imagineer because of the dollar. It's because I wanted to do something marvelous for people to enjoy." Captain Eo. Ghostbusters. Men in Black. Team America. Star Tours. The Muppet Movie. If you've ever fallen in love with puppeted characters that felt impossibly alive, there's a good chance Terri Hardin worked on them. A master puppeteer, creature builder, and performer, Terri has spent decades blurring the line between imagination and reality, helping bring some of the most iconic characters in film, television, and the Disney Parks to life. Thanks to the success and beloved characters of Jim Henson, puppets and fantastical characters were having a huge moment in the 80s and 90s. Studios depended on practical effects and humans to create and bring to life characters such as Stay Puft, the giant Marshmallow Man and Zuul, the Temple Dog in Ghostbusters, both of which Terri helped animate. Terri has such an impressive list of productions she's worked on that her bio below is a 22 page document full of references to beloved films and characters. We've also linked to some videos of her work below in the Resources section. Terri also worked as a sculptor and Imagineer at Walt Disney for many years. She is brimming with incredible stories about all the people she's worked with including Michael Jackson, Dan Aykroyd and Jim Henson, and Michael Eisner. Terri talks to us about how she prepared herself so that when any opportunity came, she was ready. I especially loved her story about how she created the Dragon's Lair attraction at Disneyland Paris. Terri is an absolutely remarkable character herself, and she had both me and David laughing through the entire interview. Beneath it all, Terry is a passionate artist who breathes life into all her creations. Whether you're a film buff, a Disney fan, a maker, or just someone who loves a good behind-the-scenes story, this conversation pulls back the curtain on puppetry as a craft. You'll never look at puppetry the same way again.   Full Show Notes     Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

In this week’s What the Hack!, Arthur Goldstuck speaks to Lester Kiewit about his upcoming engagements at the Africa Automation Indaba 2026 in Cape Town and the Franschhoek Literary Festival, where he will explore artificial intelligence through both technical and cultural lenses. He also reflects on a landmark automotive collaboration between Chery and Jaguar Land Rover announced at the Chery International Business Summit in Wuhu, highlighting the unusual blend of Chinese, American and Western technology in the revived Freelander platform. The segment also examines growing global interest in space-themed tourism, with TripAdvisor data placing South Africa’s Large Telescope among leading destinations, and concludes with the Asus ExpertBook Ultra as Gadget of the Week, a premium laptop aimed at demanding professional users. Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit is a podcast of the CapeTalk breakfast show. This programme is your authentic Cape Town wake-up call. Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit is informative, enlightening and accessible. The team’s ability to spot & share relevant and unusual stories make the programme inclusive and thought-provoking. Don’t miss the popular World View feature at 7:45am daily. Listen out for #LesterInYourLounge which is an outside broadcast – from the home of a listener in a different part of Cape Town - on the first Wednesday of every month. This show introduces you to interesting Capetonians as well as their favourite communities, habits, local personalities and neighbourhood news. Thank you for listening to a podcast from Good Morning Cape Town with Lester Kiewit. Listen live on Primedia+ weekdays between 06:00 and 09:00 (SA Time) to Good Morning CapeTalk with Lester Kiewit broadcast on CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show go to https://buff.ly/xGkqLbT or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/f9Eeb7i Subscribe to the CapeTalk Daily and Weekly Newsletters https://buff.ly/sbvVZD5 Follow us on social media CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalkSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Paul Stout — urbanist creator and landscape designer — is back in good traffic this week for a conversation about making urbanism foundational, why the most successful design work often goes unnoticed, and what it takes to translate complex spatial ideas into social media messages that resonate. After a content hiatus and returning with videos that've caught fire, Paul reflects on how the standardized suburban American experience creates a massively untapped audience waiting to discover their daily frustrations have names — and sometimes solutions.Timeline:00:00 Paul Stout returns to the show.02:47 Back making videos on Instagram after time away.03:35 Making urbanism accessible.04:21 The suburban teen Bloomberg CityLab article.05:12 Why the standardized US experience creates relatability.06:36 Building a precedent library for video content.08:23 Reading and being interested for years.09:14 Reverse engineering for people with no education on the topic.10:16 The Central Park "they just left it as is" misconception.11:33 Every square inch of Central Park is planned and maintained.12:43 You don't know what you don't know.13:39 Why landscape architecture is ripe for storytelling.16:54 The best work goes unnoticed when it feels natural.21:10 Showcasing expensive neighborhoods.25:31 Learning to see the world differently.28:27 Parks that receive less funding than Central Park.31:15 People still love their local park despite underfunding.34:12 The sleeper pick: Inwood Hill Park.37:00 Topography making you forget you're in a city.40:15 The commute question returns.43:03 Best commute ever: biking to University of Salzburg.46:33 Fully separated bike infrastructure next to a river with Alps backdrop.49:21 Why Salzburg might not be on your TripAdvisor list.52:24 No map shows architecturally interesting spaces within cities.55:12 Ryan Johnson's advice: go to the oldest part of town.56:01 The tightest streets and most walkable areas.58:04 Urban renewal contrast near historic districts.59:35 Wrapping up and following Paul's work.Links:Follow Paul, on Instagram.Follow Paul, on TikTok.Follow Paul, on YouTube.

Trivago sues Google over hotel search dominance, Weather.com moves into travel booking, and Tripadvisor explores AI deals while trimming its business. On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down Trivago's new antitrust lawsuit against Google, why Weather.com wants to influence your next trip before you even search for one, and how Tripadvisor is reshaping its business around AI partnerships and strategic selloffs. This episode is presented by Lodgify! Articles Referenced: Honorable Mention: @AskAConcierge on IGTrivago Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against GoogleWeather.com Wants to Turn Forecasts Into Travel BookingsTripadvisor Explores AI Deals and a Sale of TheFork Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.

#895 Ready for a reset that goes deeper than your average vacation? In this episode, host Brien Gearin sits down with serial entrepreneur David Schafran, founder of Somoloco — a one-of-a-kind salsa dance immersion company operating in Medellín, Colombia. David shares how he went from launching a venture-backed medtech startup to following his joy and building a high-margin, spiritually fulfilling business that helps people reconnect with themselves through movement, music, and community. From organic beginnings to winning TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Award, David walks us through how Somoloco operates like a yoga retreat with a Latin twist — blending private instruction, cultural immersion, and transformational experiences. Tune in to learn how he built the brand, structured pricing, scaled with a lean team, and designed an unforgettable product that's as much about emotional healing as it is about dancing! (Original Air Date - 9/4/25) What we discuss with David: + From medtech startup to dance retreats + Origins of Somoloco in Colombia + Dance as emotional and mental reset + Structure of the salsa immersion experience + Building a lean, high-margin business + Organic team-building through relationships + Pricing strategy and value-based offerings + Operating remotely with a local team + Winning TripAdvisor's Travelers' Choice Award + Creating transformative, embodied experiences Thank you, David! Check out Somoloco at ⁠Somoloco.com⁠. Follow David on ⁠Facebook⁠, ⁠Instagram⁠, and ⁠YouTube⁠. Watch the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠video podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ of this episode! To get access to our FREE Business Training course go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠MillionaireUniversity.com/training⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "I want to make things big and explosive." You've just been thrown in jail, locked up inside a massive prison complex in the Netherlands. Along with 125 other prisoners, you must scheme, bribe, blackmail, commit mayhem, and find your way out. This is Prison Escape, an immersive experience structured as a cinematic escape from prison. In 2025, Prison Escape ran 280 shows with an average player count of 125 participants. Approximately 22 of those shows were available in English. Prison Escape creator Rik Stapelbroek joins us on REPOD to talk about this remarkable experience. There are many paths through to the end, including sweet talking the guards, perhaps poisoning a few, or maybe you work together with other prisoners to start a riot. Rik walks us through some of the logistics of how they create different opportunities for each type of player to succeed. Rik has designed many types of interactions, from social manipulation style puzzles, to fact gathering missions so a player can contribute to a shared escape route map. He is also expanding their offerings online so more people can experience Prison Escape. This is an absolutely bonkers game, in the best way possible. If you're a fan of larps, or large scale open world play, this episode is a must-listen.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! "Try to find the delight in puzzles." Amanda and Errol have been fixtures in the escape room community for years, so of course we had to get the OG escape room podcasters on REPOD. This episode is basically a love letter to everything weird and wonderful about playing escape rooms, designing immersive games, and the incredible community we found along the way. From 2016-2022, Errol and Manda, along with their other co-hosts Ruby and Mike, podcasted about their escape room antics. They gave valuable commentary on the early years of escape rooms, and along with Room Escape Artist, really helped shape the community that grew around this new form of immersive gaming entertainment. Not only did Errol and Manda provide commentary on escape rooms, they also helped create some iconic games, including Heist on a Moving Train, the Cryptex Hunt puzzle hunt series, and Present Quest. They have each appeared twice as speakers for our own convention, the Reality Escape Convention. As a Certified Fraud Examiner, Manda gave a talk in fraud prevention for RECON 25. Errol's puzzle design talk from RECON 21 remains one of the most popular from any RECON. Errol and Manda are a joy to chat with. If you enjoyed this episode, the Bonus Aftershow we recorded with them was even more fun. Consider joining our Patreon for even more content! And a very special thanks to Bill Sunderland from Escape This Podcast for singing, "The Glow of Black Light" in this episode.  We now have a special offer just for REPOD listeners! Get 70% off your first month at the Bonus Show level  ($5/month). Valid now through the end of May. Use code MOREREPOD at checkout to claim this offer.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

Jusqu'ici, Claude jouait dans la cour des grands : Microsoft, Canva, Asana… Plus de deux cents intégrations professionnelles au compteur depuis juillet 2025, mais rien pour la vie de tous les jours. Ça, c'était avant.Cette semaine, Anthropic franchit un nouveau cap en ouvrant son répertoire de connecteurs, comprenez ces ponts logiciels qui relient Claude à des applications tierces, à une quinzaine de services grand public : Spotify, Uber, Uber Eats, Audible, AllTrails, TripAdvisor, Instacart, StubHub, Taskrabbit, Viator, Resy, Booking.com, TurboTax ou encore Credit Karma. Fini le jonglage entre applis : tout se gère désormais dans une seule et même conversation.Concrètement, ça donne quoi ? Vous planifiez une rando ce week-end. AllTrails vous suggère des sentiers adaptés à vos préférences, sans même que vous le demandiez. Vous ajustez : plus court, adapté aux chiens, plus sauvage. Tout ça sans changer d'écran. Si deux connecteurs peuvent répondre à un même besoin, Claude vous les présente côte à côte, classés par pertinence. Dans un seul fil, vous passez d'une recommandation de sentier à une réservation de restaurant sur Resy, commandez un Uber et remplissez votre panier Instacart. Claude comme interface unique entre vous et vos services. Anthropic tient aussi à rassurer sur un point sensible : pas de placement, pas de réponse sponsorisée. Avant tout achat ou toute réservation, Claude vous demande confirmation. Vos données ne servent pas à entraîner les modèles, et vous pouvez déconnecter chaque service en un clic.C'est louable, mais jusqu'à quand ? OpenAI développe déjà ses flux d'achats automatisés, Google s'appuie sur son empire publicitaire. Plus les partenaires seront nombreux, plus cet engagement sera difficile à tenir. Ce qui distingue Claude, c'est moins l'idée, ChatGPT intègre déjà Spotify et consorts, que son exécution : des suggestions contextuelles, sans que vous ayez à choisir vous-même le bon outil. Un dernier bémol, pour les auditeurs européens : la majorité des services listés restent centrés sur le marché américain. Visiblement, certaines fonctionnalités ont du mal à traverser l'Atlantique. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

-DeepSeek has released its latest AI models, the V4 Pro and Flash versions, a bit over a year after it went viral and became the top rated free app on Apple's App Store in the US. -Anthropic can now link up with your accounts on AllTrails, Audible, Booking.com, Instacart, Intuit Credit Karma, Intuit TurboTax, Resy, Spotify, StubHub, Taskrabbit, Thumbtack, TripAdvisor, Uber, Uber Eats and Viator. -A hairdryer was allegedly used to rig Polymarket bets on the weather at Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Chris Holman welcomes back Trevor Tkach, president/ CEO, Traverse City Tourism, Traverse City, MI. Welcome back, Trevor, remind the Michigan business community about Traverse City Tourism and your mission? How was 2025? Any big plans for 2026, such as, are the International Fireworks back this year? Sleeping Bear Dunes being ranked one of the world's top “one-of-a-kind beaches” by TripAdvisor is a big global recognition. What kind of impact can that kind of ranking have on tourism and local businesses in the Traverse City region? TripAdvisor says fewer than 1% of the 8 million listings on its platform receive this recognition. How important are visitor reviews and online travel platforms today in shaping travel decisions and driving tourism growth? With more international attention now on Sleeping Bear Dunes, what opportunities does this create for local hospitality, retail, and tourism-related businesses across northern Michigan? » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Subscribe to MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/ TripAdvisor Ranks Sleeping Bear as a Top Ten One-of-a-Kind Beach Traverse City, Mich. — Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore was named by TripAdvisor as one of the top beaches in the world. The online travel guidance platform unveiled a number of Travelers' Choice Awards that included its “One-of-a-Kind Beaches.” The Sleeping Bear beaches came in at number four in the world. With 80 million reviews and contributions, TripAdvisor is one of the largest travel resource in the world. "Exploring the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore truly is a magical experience,” said Trevor Tkach (tah-KACH), President of Traverse City Tourism. “The pure, fresh-water beaches are unlike any other shoreline in the world.” TripAdvisor uses the awards to celebrate the highest level of excellence in travel. On their website, TripAdvisor says the recognition is “…awarded to those who receive a high volume of above-and-beyond reviews and opinions from the Tripadvisor community over a 12-month period. Out of the 8 million listings, fewer than 1% achieve this milestone.” More information on Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is available at www.TraverseCity.com. ### About Traverse City Tourism Traverse City Tourism is an independent, not-for-profit destination organization that promotes the greater Traverse City area as a leisure and business destination with an excellent quality-of-life. Through the impact of travel, Traverse City Tourism helps strengthen the local economy and supports a thriving entrepreneurial community. Details of the region's lodging, attractions and area events are available at www.TraverseCity.com International Fireworks Championship Ticket Sales Start Next Week Traverse City, Mich. — Tickets for the fourth annual International Fireworks Championship in Traverse City will go on sale starting next week. Early ticket access will be available to previous years ticket buyers on Monday, March 16, followed by general ticket sales at 10 am on Tuesday, March 24. While show details have yet to be announced, the format will remain consistent with the last few years, featuring six teams from around the world who have previously won fireworks competitions. “Audiences get to see the work of some of the world's best pyrotechnicians here in Northern Michigan,” said Traverse City Tourism President Trevor Tkach (tah-KACH). “The artistry and quality of the competitors, who bring their own cultural flair and expertise to the skies, creates a spectacular show.” The two-day event will be held on Friday, September 11, and Saturday, September 12, at Turtle Creek Stadium. Each evening will feature three teams that will be given up to 15-minutes to dazzle the crowd

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! " A big mistake [is saying] 'look at our thing', instead of 'How do I empower and serve my customer?'" What is the future of storytelling? If you ask Charlie Melcher, the answer lies in "living stories," stories where the audience has a role and participates. Indeed, the subtitle of his new book, The Future of Storytelling is "How Immersive Experiences Are Transforming the World." In the early 90s, Charlie started Melcher Media, publishing books. Even then, he noted that books had a unique tactile physicality. He talks about working on the infamous Madonna photo book Sex, and how they made it into an early "immersive experience," wrapping the book in mylar to mimic the look of a condom. He also produced and designed S by J.J. Abrams, which told a story through elaborate annotations and other media enclosed within a copy of the novel The Ship of Theseus. The book has a very unusual mechanic for storytelling, including postcards and even a cipher wheel. He even did something different when it came to his own book, The Future of Storytelling. He created a unique multi-fold dust jacket so readers could choose the genre and look of the cover themselves. Charlie Melcher has been pushing the envelope when it comes to books and storytelling, so it's no surprise that when he attended his first immersive experience, he was hooked from the beginning. Today, he joins us on REPOD to talk about his vision for where immersive stories are going. Besides having his own podcast, also titled The Future of Storytelling, he has hosted many immersive summits under the same brand. Charlie has so many thoughtful insights about immersive storytelling. We touched on topics from the complexities of scaling intimate moments, to breaking down immersive experiences into the core components of physical, participatory, and emotional immersion. I found this to be an enlightening conversation. And if you enjoy this conversation, I highly recommend you listen to Charlie's own podcast, The Future of Storytelling, starting with the episode where David and I were guests.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

Answer our 2026 Audience Census! " There's lots of places in the world you can gamify." Emma Rochon and Melissa Eapen were young game masters working at a local escape room company over 12 years ago. They loved this "new" genre of entertainment, and asked the owners how they could get more involved in growing the business or designing new rooms. The owners replied with "There's no growth in [escape rooms]. Also though, if you try to make your own company, I'll sue you". These famous last words spurred Improbable Escapes co-founders Emma Rochon and Melissa Eapen to quit and start their own company. While looking for locations, they mapped out all the known escape rooms in Canada at the time, and settled on the charming city of Kingston. They chose it primarily for its qualities as an escape room wasteland, because it didn't have any notable existing escape rooms. Today, they've certainly built out enough games to put Kingston, Ontario, Canada on the map of any escape room enthusiast. They have built and designed over forty different games and experiences, including escape rooms, outdoor escape rooms, large event "podium games," and even a board game café. They also started a sister company called Visual Menace Creative that builds sets, props, and immersive activations for brands, film, television and music videos. Emma Rochon joins us on REPOD to share her escape room journey in the industry. I was simply mind-blown by these two young women who built an escape room empire out of nothing but sheer determination and passion. I love stories where someone is told "no" and they proceed to prove nay-sayers wrong in the most epic way possible. If you enjoyed this episode and you want to hear more from Emma, she will be speaking at this year's Reality Escape Convention about deconstructing escape rooms, and how to literally think outside the box when it comes to designing interactive puzzle games.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

What does building a business have in common with building a relationship? More than you'd think.Carla Biesinger is a business mentor and Instagram marketing expert who helps women create profitable online businesses — and she's coached over 10,000 clients worldwide to do it. Based in Lisbon, Portugal, Carla's journey started in Buenos Aires, where she co-built the city's #1 restaurant on TripAdvisor with her then-boyfriend — only to walk away with $12,000 after five years of work. That moment became her turning point: she would never be financially dependent again.Today, Carla teaches women how to grow on Instagram, build an email list, and sell without feeling pushy — so they can create real income on their own terms.Julie and David Bulitt talk with Carla about what it takes to rebuild after a relationship and a business fall apart at the same time, why financial independence matters in relationships, and how the same intentionality required to grow a business is the same intentionality every couple needs.What You'll Learn:How to grow on Instagram without a big followingInstagram Stories vs. feed posts — what actually drives salesBuilding an email list that convertsHow to sell authentically if you hate sellingWhy financial independence strengthens relationshipsThe confidence gap holding women back from entrepreneurshipConnect with Carla Biesinger:Instagram: @carlabiesingerFree Webinar: Available in Carla's Instagram bioLearn more about Julie and David at thebulitts.com

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.

Everyone has their own expectations when it comes to summer holidays. Regardless, you don't necessarily have to travel far to have a good time. At least, that's what 31% of British people think, according to research from TripAdvisor. That's the proportion of people who plan to holiday exclusively in the UK this year. But for others, going on holiday is all about turning dreams of exotic destinations into a reality. Let's discuss some of the top domestic and international destinations for 2023. What are the best destinations within the UK? Is going to Europe really that expensive? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: ⁠⁠Why are famous women being targeted by transvestigations?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠What is premium mediocre - the illusion of luxury?⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Is your employer tracking you while you work from home?⁠⁠ A podcast written and realised by Joseph Chance. First broadcast: 12/07/2023 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Dr. Noah Charney sits down with one of the most extraordinary athletes of our time – Tadej Pogačar. From a small town near Ljubljana to the summit of global cycling, Pogačar's journey is a story of talent, discipline and an enduring love for the ride.Widely regarded as one of the greatest cyclists in history, Pogačar reflects on the moments that shaped his career. He shares what it really takes to win: the gruelling six-hour training days, the precision of race-day nutrition, and the mental balance between suffering and joy.But this conversation goes beyond cycling. It offers a glimpse into the spirit of Slovenia itself – a country that continues to produce world-class athletes while remaining deeply connected to nature, community, and authenticity. Pogačar speaks about growing up in Komenda, his favourite training routes across Slovenia's diverse landscapes, and why the country has become a must-visit destination for cyclists.Read about 10 reasons for a cycling adventure in SloveniaListeners will also discover a more personal side of the champion: his life off the bike, the importance of family and downtime, his thoughts on life after racing, and the simple pleasures he returns to when he's home. From home-cooked meals to spontaneous moments of rest, it's a reminder that even the world's best find strength in slowing down.The episode also explores the Pogi Challenge, Pogačar's own cycling event that blends sport, community, and celebration – reflecting his desire to give back and share his passion with others.Thoughtful, relaxed, and quietly inspiring, this conversation reveals why Pogačar is more than a champion. He is a reflection of a nation that surprises the world not through noise, but through excellence, humility, and heart.Photo by: @FotoFizzaFeel Slovenia the Podcast is brought to you by the Slovenian Tourist Board and hosted by Dr Noah Charney.Sound Production: Urska CharneyFor more inspirational content, check out www.slovenia.info and our social media channels, including Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn and Tripadvisor.

"One of the highlights of the Finnish larp is heavy, hard emotions. Crying is very much associated with Nordic style and Finnish style larping." Have you ever wanted to trauma bond with a hundred strangers aboard a spaceship while fleeing an alien threat? Do you want to be emotionally devastated while making hard choices about love, sacrifice, and humanity? Then Finnish larp is for you! Laura Kröger is the lead producer and narrative director of Odysseus, a large-scale sci-fi larp run in Helsinki, Finland in 2019 and 2024, in both Finnish and English. Built for 104 players, it's set in an original science fiction universe inspired by classics such as Battlestar Galactica. Each participant has a pre-written role with past relationships, loyalties, secrets and fears, but the choices and emotional journeys are in the hands of the players. Beyond the script, the set of Odysseus is mind-blowingly realistic, considering it was built into an elementary school as a temporary installation during summer break. Laura talks to us about all the logistics of running such a massively complex larp, including how food and lodging is handled, costuming, and emotional support. I especially enjoyed hearing about how battles and "injuries" are handled. There is even a medical bay with some very graphic special effects "injuries" where "surgeons" are operating. (You can see more photos of Odysseus here). Odysseus is currently running an Indiegogo campaign because they are trying to build a permanent installation so they can run Odysseus continuously without having to constantly build it and tear it down. If you're interested in experiencing this yourself, consider supporting their campaign for a chance to attend.   Full Show Notes   Episode Sponsors We are immensely grateful to our sponsors this season: REA Patreon Backers, PG's Playhouse, Buzzshot, and the Reality Escape Convention. We truly appreciate your support of our mission to promote and improve the immersive gaming community.   Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Support Us On Patreon Today Love escape rooms as much as we do? At Room Escape Artist, we've been analyzing, reviewing, and exploring the world of immersive games since 2014. We help players find the best experiences, and push the industry forward with well-researched, rational, and reasonably humorous escape room and immersive gaming content and events. By becoming a Patreon supporter, you're not just backing a blog — you're fueling a mission to make the escape room and immersive gaming community stronger, more thoughtful, and more connected. Access exclusive Patreon content such as: The Bonus Aftershow The Spoilers Club Early access to escape room Tour tickets and REA articles. Your Patreon support goes toward our mission: paying our contributors, funding our infrastructure, and supporting deep research and industry advocacy.   PG's Playhouse If you love wordplay, puzzles, and trivia, this is the podcast for you! PG's Playhouse recreates a fun game night, all in a short, 30-minute format. Of course, what's game night without making new friends? We bring on different guests for the different episodes. Each episode features a puzzle packed with wordplay and trivia, a short chat with the guest, and a segment exploring an interesting topic. I hope you'll take a listen and play along with us at PG's Playhouse.   Reality Escape Convention Our convention, RECON, will be in Laval, Quebec Canada on August 16th & 17th, 2026. RECON offers a curated collection of talks and experiences exploring the business and art of escape room and immersive game creation. All are welcome at this event that is crafted around professionals and aspiring professionals.   Production Credits Hosted by David Spira & Peih-Gee Law Produced by Theresa Piazza Supported by Lisa Spira Edited by Steve Ewing Music by Ryan Elder Logo by Janine Pracht

Pour recevoir les mails privés, clique ici : https://www.formactions.outilsdumanager.com/inscription-emails-prives-adf72f1d***Découvre ce que nous avons créé pour t'aider à aller plus loin :Des formactions pratiques et concrètes pour manager efficacement, quel que soit ton rôle ou ton secteur.Une communauté unique en ligne, le CIEL, où dirigeants et cadres dirigeants, s'entraident pour réussir ensemble.L'offre exclusive du moment pour t'aider à passer à l'action dès aujourd'hui.Clique ici pour explorer le catalogue ODM : https://www.formactions.outilsdumanager.com/cataloguecompletLe client ne croit plus les marquesPendant longtemps, les entreprises contrôlaient leur image.Elles décidaient du message.Elles maîtrisaient leur communication.Mais ça, c'est terminé.

Welcome back to a special live edition of Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioral science meets workplace culture. This episode is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. In this panel discussion, hosts Leanne Elliott (Chartered Occupational Psychologist) and Al Elliott (Business Owner) are joined by two industry titans to discuss the "doom and gloom" currently permeating the global workforce. Joining the conversation are: Christian Turner: CEO of TK Talent Group, HR veteran with over 100,000 hires under his belt, and Harvard-educated organizational psychologist. Jeffrey Fermin: Employee engagement expert, founding member of Officevibe, and current lead at All Voices.

In this episode of The Ross Simmonds Show, Ross makes the case that AI visibility isn't a new game — it's the result of a decade of distribution compounding in plain sight. He breaks down why CREAM is dead, why D.R.E.A.M. wins, and exactly which channels, from Reddit to YouTube to review sites, are shaping what Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and Perplexity actually cite. Key Takeaways and Insights: The 10-Year Head Start Most Brands Missed AI visibility didn't start with ChatGPT. It started with consistent content distribution years before LLMs entered the conversation. The brands winning in AI-powered search today built authority everywhere, early. Momentum favors those who showed up first and often. CREAM Is Dead. DREAM Wins. "Content Rules Everything Around Me" is outdated. Distribution Rules Everything Around Me is the new mandate. Creation is easier than ever. Attention is not. Visibility in AI systems is engineered through amplification, not hope. Google Is Still the Dominant AI Platform The most-used AI discovery engine isn't ChatGPT or Perplexity. It's Google, and millions use it daily without realizing they're inside an AI-powered experience. AI Overviews shape answers before users ever see the 10 blue links. The goal is to influence the answer, not just the ranking. SEO Isn't Dead. It's a Distribution Channel. SEO remains critical for bottom-of-funnel and transactional queries. Double E-E-A-T, Experience, Expertise, Authority, Trust, matters more than ever. Most teams optimize pages. The best teams optimize ecosystems. Reddit's B2B Takeover Reddit now dominates high-CPC, long-tail, and commercial-intent SERPs and is generating millions of citations inside Google AI Overviews and LLM responses. The strategy: organic participation through authentic, useful answers in the right subreddits, and paid capture of high-intent users already validating buying decisions. YouTube as a Search Weapon Google prioritizes YouTube in AI results because it's inside their ecosystem, and AI Overviews are increasingly embedding video responses. If you'd write a blog post about it, you should consider filming it. Influencer collaborations can shift SERP narratives faster than most teams realize. Review Sites and Third-Party Validation G2, Capterra, TrustRadius, Yelp, and TripAdvisor are high-trust sources that LLMs actively pull from. Reviews and awards influence AI credibility signals directly. Fill out every field. Encourage every review. Do the unsexy work, because LLMs do. Offsite Mentions and Digital PR as AI Fuel Inside LLMs, brand mentions matter, not just backlinks. Guest posts, podcasts, newsletters, and press build the narrative association that shapes AI understanding. Repeated brand and category pairing across the web is how you train AI to associate you with your space. Marketing is distributed storytelling at scale. The Modern Distribution Stack SEO foundation. Reddit, organic and paid. YouTube strategy. Review site optimization. Offsite mentions and digital PR. Your website is one node in the system, not the whole system. Resources & Tools:

What does it take to lead through crisis, scale global teams, and pivot industries — successfully? In this episode, Dr. Wayne Pernell interviews Christine Maguire, EVP & Chief Business Officer at RVO Health, about building a bold, non-linear career across media, travel, and healthcare leadership. Christine shares how she: Transitioned from construction and finance into digital media Led transformation at Condé Nast Navigated massive layoffs at TripAdvisor during COVID Built culture through transparency and empathy Now oversees major health media brands serving millions You'll learn: Why “choose your hard” is a leadership mantra How empathy unlocks performance How to communicate vision across distributed teams Why stepping back can launch you forward How great leaders remove obstacles instead of forcing growth If you're an executive, founder, or emerging leader navigating uncertainty, this episode delivers practical insights on scaling teams, managing change, and leading with clarity.

Airports are pulling back on reporting TSA wait times as staffing shortages push security lines to extreme levels, while United doubles down on premium cabins with a massive aircraft order and Tripadvisor faces renewed pressure after striking a deal with activist investor Starboard Value. On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy breaks down why disappearing wait-time data is creating a new trust problem for travelers, how United is betting big on premium demand to drive future growth, and what Tripadvisor's latest investor deal could signal for its next strategic moves. This episode is presented by Lodgify! Articles Referenced: Honorable Mention: @AskAConcierge on IGDid ICE Help? Airports Stop Posting Wait Times as Lines Stretch for HoursUnited to Add 250 Planes to FleetTripadvisor and Starboard Value Make Peace — Activist Investor Could Get 4 Board Seats Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social X: https://twitter.com/skift Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.

Cruise stops in Ireland can feel like a whirlwind – but with the right plan, even a few hours can turn into an unforgettable experience. With more cruise ships arriving at Irish ports each year, travelers have more options than ever when it comes to shore excursions. But not all tours, or tour providers, are created equal. Seabourn Ovation docked in CobhPodstawko, CC BY-SA 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0, via Wikimedia Commons This article is based on podcast episode 332 featuring Bob McAuliffe, owner of About Ireland Taxi Tours.Use the player below to listen or scroll to continue reading the article and get resource links. Ireland Cruise Excursions: How to Choose the Right Experience Bob McAuliffe, owner of About Ireland Taxi Tours, has spent decades helping visitors make the most of their limited time ashore. His advice is simple: focus on quality, not quantity. Bob's pro-tips will help you choose the right excursion and make the most of your time in port. Check Reliability Before You Book Before reserving any independent excursion, take time to read reviews and verify the company's reputation. Look at platforms like Google and TripAdvisor to get a sense of consistency and service. A reliable company should also guarantee that you'll return to your ship on time – something not every provider offers. Avoid Over-Ambitious Itineraries Ireland may look small on a map, but travel times can be deceiving. Routes often include narrow roads, scenic stops, and unexpected delays. For example, trying to visit the Cliffs of Moher from Cork during a short port stop simply isn't realistic. A good tour provider will tell you that—and help you plan something more enjoyable instead. Choose the Right Vehicle for Comfort Vehicle size matters more than many travelers expect. Irish cars are generally smaller than those in North America, so squeezing too many people into a standard sedan can make for a long, uncomfortable day. If you're traveling with a group or need accessibility accommodations, confirm the vehicle type in advance. Don't Trust Google Maps Timing Google Maps often underestimates travel time in Ireland because it assumes local driving speeds without stops. But visitors tend to pause for photos, scenery, and spontaneous discoveries – which is part of the magic. Build in extra time so your day feels relaxed, not rushed. Charles Fort, viewed from the harbour Why Local Drivers Make All the Difference One of the biggest advantages of booking an independent tour is the opportunity to connect with a local driver. These aren't just drivers – they're storytellers, guides, and often lifelong residents of the area. They know the backroads, the history, and the personal connections that turn a sightseeing trip into something memorable. That might mean: Stopping at a family-run sweet shop to watch traditional candy being made Visiting a quiet village not on typical tour routes Getting a quick lesson in hurling in a nearby field Tracing family roots with help from local heritage centers It's these moments, unplanned and personal, that tend to stand out most. This sheep didn't mind having his photo taken as we traveled through West Cork. Making the Most of Limited Time in Port Cruise schedules are tight, especially at tender ports where getting ashore takes additional time. Planning your day carefully ensures you see more and stress less. Start Early at Popular Attractions If Blarney Castle is on your list, for example, timing is everything. Arriving early can mean the difference between a quick visit and hours in line to kiss the Blarney Stone. Even better, allow time to explore the gardens, which many consider the highlight of the visit. Know When You Don't Need a Tour In some ports, you may not need a driver at all. For example: Cobh offers easy access to attractions like Spike Island, the Titanic Experience, and Fota House Dublin city center is highly walkable, with museums and landmarks close together A trustworthy provider will tell you when you can explore on your own, and when a guided experience adds value. Focus on What You Enjoy Rather than trying to tick off a “top 10” list, think about what interests you most. Love gardens? Ireland has plenty.Interested in history? Castles, heritage sites, and ancient ruins are everywhere.Prefer local experiences? Markets, pubs, and small workshops offer authentic connections. Your day should reflect your interests, not a generic checklist. Guest Feature: Bob McAuliffe, About Ireland Taxi Tours Bob McAuliffe is the owner of About Ireland Taxi Tours, a company offering private, customizable day tours and cruise excursions from all 12 Irish ports. What began as a local taxi service in Cork has grown into a nationwide network of experienced, local drivers who provide personalized tours based on each traveler's interests and schedule. Bob and his team specialize in: Cruise ship shore excursions Private day tours Custom itineraries tailored to individual preferences Accessible travel options, including wheelchair-friendly vehicles What sets the company apart is its focus on honesty and traveler experience. If a plan doesn't make sense, they'll say so—and suggest a better option. Contact & Booking: Website: https://www.aboutirelandtaxitours.ie Cruise excursions site Info & inspo on Facebook & Instagram Blarney Castle Top Cork Recommendations for Cruise Visitors If your itinerary includes Cork, these are standout stops that combine iconic sights with local flavor. Blarney Castle and Gardens While many come for the Blarney Stone, the gardens are the true highlight. Plan an early visit to avoid long queues and leave time to explore the grounds. The English Market A food lover's paradise in the heart of Cork city. Grab lunch upstairs at the Farmgate Café or browse local specialties. University College Cork (UCC) A quieter but fascinating stop with beautiful grounds, historic buildings, and unique features like the Honan Chapel and stone corridor. Bonus Stop: Local Sweet Shop Experience A visit to a traditional sweet shop like Danny Linehan's offers a glimpse into Irish confectionery—and a chance to watch treats being made by hand. Ireland's cruise ports offer incredible variety, from bustling cities to quiet coastal towns. With a bit of planning – and the right local insight – you can turn a short stop into a meaningful experience that feels anything but rushed. The post Ireland Cruise Excursions: How to Make the Most of Your Day in Port appeared first on Ireland Family Vacations.

On Monday's Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast, Michael Goldin and Jamie Lane break down the latest headlines shaping online travel and platform strategy. The team starts with leadership changes at Tripadvisor, where longtime chairman Greg Maffei is stepping down as activist investor Starboard Value pushes for greater control and strategic changes at the company. They then unpack a new analysis arguing that travel's obsession with loyalty program size is largely misleading, as membership growth hasn't translated into lower customer acquisition costs for most companies outside of airlines. The episode wraps with a look at how AI is already reshaping travel discovery — even without handling transactions — as more travelers use tools like ChatGPT to plan trips before ever visiting OTA platforms. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ WhatsApp: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://facebook.com/skiftnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Threads: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Bluesky: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/skift⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@SkiftNews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and never miss an update from the travel industry.

Are you a new manager feeling technically competent but completely unequipped to lead a team?Do you worry that you lack the "executive presence" needed to thrive in high-pressure leadership roles?Are you curious about how AI can actually support your human growth rather than just automating your tasks?In this episode, I'm joined by Benjamin Husser, CEO of Ignitus, to discuss how AI is being used to democratise high-level coaching. We dive into the gap many new managers face when transitioning from technical experts to people leaders and explore how "real-time augmentation" can provide the support you need at the exact moment you need it.Ben shares the journey of building an AI coaching platform rooted in human expertise, explaining why AI should never replace traditional coaching, but how it can serve as a powerful "accelerator" for the 90% of managers who currently don't have access to professional development support.Ben Husser is Ignitus' CEO, and a former Chief of Staff to tech CEOs (ex-Tripadvisor, ex-Euronews). Over a decade advising senior leaders, he's run executive committees, led strategic initiatives across three continents, and helped raise £100M+ from investors. Now, drawing on the mentorship that shaped his career, he's on a mission to make great mentoring accessible to all.What You'll learn:The "Human-First" AI Approach: Why effective AI coaching must be trained on the frameworks of real-world experts (like hostage negotiators and executive coaches).Real-Time Augmentation: How AI can analyse your digital workflow to give you situational advice before a difficult conversation or a big board meeting.The Promotability Stat: Why managers with coaches are 5x more likely to be promoted and how AI bridges that gap.Critical Thinking in the Age of AI: Ben's "Golden Rule" for using AI without losing your own unique professional style or critical thinking skills.Invest in Yourself and Your Career:Community - Join our brand new Network for mid-career women redesigning what's next in their careers Coaching - Join the Career Navigator Coaching Programme: My high-touch, 1-to-1 experience to help you build a career aligned with your life. Book a Career Clarity Call to discussConnect with BenExplore Ignitus: Visit ignitus.app to learn more about AI-powered leadership growth.Get 1 month free trial of Ignitus! Send us Fan MailConnect with me!Website: careerchangemakers.comEmail: podcast@careerchangemakers.comLinkedIn:  Janine EsbrandInstagram: @careerchangemakerspodcastCareer Change Makers on Apple Podcasts

Épisode 1446 : On se parle d'un temps, il y a pas bien longtemps ou les utilisateurs publiaient spontanément et de manière décomplexée des moments de leur vie sur les réseaux sociaux et parfois même ils taguaient des marques sur ces contenus pour montrer leur appartenance.C'est quoi à la base de l'UGC ?UGC au sens marketing : contenu original, spécifique à une marque, créé par ses utilisateurs/clients et publié spontanément sur leurs propres canaux (, stories, vidéos, posts, avis…).Différence avec pub de marque : ce n'est pas produit par l'équipe marketing, d'où la perception plus authentique et « bouche à oreille 2.0 ».Pourquoi les UGC ont de la valeur : prouver que « des gens comme moi » utilisent le produit, ce qui travaille la preuve sociale, la confiance et contribue au bouche à oreille.Les UGC ont également une valeur communautaire . Je poste une photo de mes nouvelles snickers, toutes les personnes de mon entourage qui cultivent la même passion peuvent voir que cette chaussure me plaît.UGC organique vs UGC payantUGC organique (le « vrai » UGC historique)Contenu spontané de clients ou fans de ma marque : avis, notes, photos produit, haul TikTok, unboxing YouTube, etc., sans rémunération directe.Il vit sur les comptes des utilisateurs (leurs profils, leurs chaînes, leurs blogs) et parfois sur des plateformes d'avis (Google, TripAdvisor, Amazon…).Enjeux pour la marque :encourager la création d'ugc (hashtags, challenges, concours),repérer les UGC(social listening, monitoring),Faire de la curation (sélection, droits d'usage, réutilisation sur site, ads…).Objectif pour la marque : aller travailler la preuve sociale en montrant de vraies expériencesUGC payant (commandé par la marque)La marque paye quelqu'un pour produire un contenu « style UGC » : facecam, témoignage, tuto, unboxing… mais tourné sur commande.Objectifs pour la marque : aller chercher de la performance et de la mise en situation avec un contenu « qui fait vrai » Ça peut tout à fait nourir un besoin de démo produit, d'association du produit à un personaUGC creators vs influenceursEmergence des UGC creators comme nouveau métier Ce sont des créateurs qui produisent des vidéos style client pour le compte d'une marque, mais sans forcément les poster sur leurs propres réseaux.Leur valeur n°1 : savoir tourner/mont­er des formats qui ressemblent à du contenu natif TikTok/Reels, avec un ton hyper « people like me ». Ils vendent des livrables, pas (ou peu) leur audience.La marque récupère les fichiers et les pousse sur ses propres comptes ou en ads, parfois en dark post.Leur fond de commerce, c'est le contenu client Scalable, ils peuvent produire 1 ou 10 contenus dans la même journée il y a un vrai effet d'échelleInfluenceurs / créateurs de contenu classiquesOn paye pour l'accès à l'audience, la crédibilité et le reach du profil du créateur, qui poste le contenu sur ses propres canaux.En pratique, l'influenceur produit aussi de l'UGC dans le sens large (contenu de non-marque créé par une personne), mais dans un cadre très cadré, avec obligations d'affichage et de disclosure.UGC IAUGC IA : c'est le moment où le marketing essaye de faire du green washing avec le terme “UGC” parce qu'il fait bien, mais où on n'a plus vraiment d'“user” dans l'équation Si le contenu est généré par une IA et non par un utilisateur réel, on est plutôt sur de l'AIGC (AI Generated Content) habillé en UGC…Retrouvez toutes les notes de l'épisode sur www.lesuperdaily.com ! Le Super Daily est le podcast quotidien sur les réseaux sociaux. Il est fabriqué avec une pluie d'amour par les équipes de Supernatifs. Nous sommes une agence social media basée à Lyon : https://supernatifs.com. Ensemble, nous aidons les entreprises à créer des relations durables et rentables avec leurs audiences. Ensemble, nous inventons, produisons et diffusons des contenus qui engagent vos collaborateurs, vos prospects et vos consommateurs. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

Disney, Trivia Contests, Escape Rooms, Stephen Sondheim, Crosswords, and Puzzles Eagerly awaiting the next season of Reality Escape Pod? Great news! Season 11 is just around the corner. While you wait, enjoy a special compilation from Season 10. Our editor Steve Ewing, has chosen a memorable clip from every episode. It's the ideal way for new listeners to get acquainted with the podcast, and the perfect trip down memory lane for our devoted fans. This season featured a variety of talented creators, escape room owners, designers, game makers, and even a live audio escape room that first debuted at RECON Remote in 2025. One of our dream guests launched the season: Puzzlemaster Will Shortz. This episode was filled with fascinating stories about his time working at Games Magazine and his early years editing the puzzle section for the New York Times. Other veteran creatives this season included Jim “The Oz” Olivia, who helps run the World's Largest Trivia Contest, and Doris Hardoon whose years as an Imagineer at Disney yielded many insights for us into what it took to create “the happiest place on earth” at EPCOT and later at Shanghai Disney Resort. We uncovered the parlor game and puzzle obsessions of Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim with author Barry Joseph, who has published an in-depth look at a little-examined facet of Sondheim's genius.  Adam Bellow detailed the process of developing escape room-inspired educational kits for classrooms all over the world through the work of his company, Breakout EDU. Of course, we had many standout escape room owners share their trials, tribulations, and moments of triumph. Will & Kim Rutherford, owners of Escape Artist Greenville, Stephen & Stevie Kristof of 60 to Escape in the Chicago area, and Jonathan Driscoll & Sacha St. Dennis of Escaparium in Montreal, where RECON will be held in August of 2026.  Zach Sherwin will be at RECON Montreal, running his hilarious act The Crossword Show. He joined David & Peih-Gee to chat about its development, and what it's like to be a comedy rap star on YouTube! And we caught up with Rita Orlov & Lauren Bello of PostCurious to learn about their latest collaboration in the world of boxed puzzle games.  As always, we featured a couple episodes that were pure fun. Yannick Trapman-O'Brien & Lyra Levin played Mark Larson's audio escape room: BLOT. On our Holiday Special, REA team members Theresa Piazza and Andrew Reynolds tested their mettle against Peih-Gee's Playhouse word puzzles. Finally, we received the yearly industry report from RoomEscapeArtist.com Editor-In-Chief Lisa Spira. She walked us through her data analysis concerning escape rooms in 2025, including trends in booking times, revenue, and the growth of challenge arcades. Episode Sponsors Thank you to our sponsors: Buzzshot and Patreon supporters like you.    Buzzshot Buzzshot is Escape Room Software, Powering Business Growth, Player Marketing, and improving the Customer Experience. They offer an assortment of pre and post game features including robust waiver management, branded team photos, and streamlined review management for Yelp, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews, and Morty. Buzzshot now has integration with the other REPOD sponsors: Morty and COGS. Special Offer for REPOD Listeners: REPOD listeners get an extended 21-day free trial plus 20% off your first 3 months, with no set-up fees or hidden charges. Visit buzzshot.com/repod to learn more about this exclusive offer.   Become a Patron Today! Supporitng us on Patreon helps to fund our work, pay our team, and it grants you access to an incredible library of bonus content including:  The REPOD Bonus Show The Spoilers Club The Travelogue Series Thank you to all of our ongoing supporters

In today's episode, Dr. Robyn McKay sits down with one of America's top female chefs, Lisa Dahl, to explore how creativity can lead the path to finding our purpose and healing from loss and the experiences that hold us back.This episode explores:How Chef Lisa Dahl found her path to businessBringing a genuine sense of connection to the communityHow hospitality creates meaningful connectionsHow Chef Lisa Dahl found her way into the food industryLoss, grief, and beginning life againMaintaining a connection with a loved one who has passedMaking meaning in life after lossHow restaurants can offer connective healingFinding work that becomes a healthy outletWhy restaurants become emotional storyboardsIf we tap into the truth of who we are, honor the tapestry of our memories, and seek our creative spirit, we can build work that creates impact for ourselves and for others.Love what you're hearing? Leave a review on Apple Podcasts!Chef Lisa Dahl leads an empire of exquisite restaurants in beautiful Sedona, AZ that are ranked among the best dining destinations in the country for nearly 30 years. She has been among the upper echelon of women chefs/restaurateurs, leading a revolution in organic farm-to-fork foodways while showing the culinary industry that dreams do come true through grit, innovation, and top-shelf hospitality. Her fine dining flagship, Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, has garnered global recognition since its opening in 2015, and her acclaimed first restaurant venture, Dahl & Di Luca, was just ranked 7th in the country in TripAdvisor's “Travelers' Choice Awards” of “Best of the Best” Date Night restaurants.Connect with Chef Lisa:Website: https://www.cheflisadahl.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lisadahlsedona Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lisadahlsedona/ Robyn McKay, PhD, is an award-winning therapist and psychospiritual advisor who teaches and leads at the intersection of psychology × spirituality × energetics. With deep roots in clinical psychology and a lifetime of living at the crossroads of intuition and credentials, she is a rare bridge between science and soul, credentials and codes, strategy and spirit.Early in her career, Robyn served as a university psychologist before stepping into her broader calling as a guide for high performers, creatives, and seekers. She addresses a wide spectrum of human experience — healing trauma, anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and ADHD in women; accessing spiritual gifts; and navigating existential crossroads.Having sold $2.5M+ in retreats and private intensives, Robyn is now architecting an entirely new category of retreats: expert-led, trauma-informed, miracle-level. She helps credentialed, neurodivergent, and spiritually awake women leaders design transformational retreats that carry depth, meaning, and lasting impact.Connect with Dr. Robyn McKay:LinkedIn: Robyn McKay, PhDFacebook: Dr. Robyn McKayInstagram: @robynmckayphd Book a call with Dr. Robyn! https://drrobynmckay.com/call 

We're taking you on a weekend trip to New York City! In this episode we explore Manhattan's top attractions, give you a taste of some of the best things to eat in NYC, take you to one of the most beautiful bars in New York, recommend a few great places to stay in NYC for a splurge or a save, and tips for navigating the subway.You can take this exact trip by downloading and following our 2-day NYC Itinerary!NYC in Winter Episode Highlights:Using CITYPASS to see Top of the Rock, Empire State Building, The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the NYC City CruiseTime Square 9/11 Memorial Reflection Pools Drinks at the gorgeous Ten11 barWhere to eat in NYC: Emily's, Bubby's, L'industrie, Mamas Too, Los Tacos No 1, Nan Xiang Xiao Long Bao, The Best SichuanCheck out our curated list of NYC Activities & Tours for all activities we recommend and even some that we wanted to do but couldn't get to.Hotels in NYC we stayed in and recommend: IHG Barclays in midtown Manhattan - This is a Chase The Edit hotelCourtyard by Marriott Long Island CityIf those are booked up you can look into these other great hotels in NYC on TripAdvisor.NYC Winter Packing List: Base layers, heated jacket, beanie, rechargeable hand warmers, & travel size umbrella—---------------------------------------Shop: Trip Itineraries ⁠& ⁠Amazon Storefront ⁠Connect: ⁠YouTube⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠, and ⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠and contact us at travelsquadpodcast@gmail.com to submit a question of the week or inquire about guest interviews and advertising. Submit a question of the week or inquire about guest interviews and advertising.Contains affiliate links, thanks for supporting Travel Squad Podcast!

When your property management business isn't growing, hiring a salesperson might seem like the obvious solution, but what if that's actually where most owners go wrong… In this episode of the #DoorGrowShow, property management growth experts Jason and Sarah Hull break down why most BDM hires fail, the critical mistakes owners make with commission-only roles, and the exact systems required to make a salesperson successful. They dive into DoorGrow's Three Fits framework, the three non-negotiable ingredients for BDM success, and tease a game-changing new growth model designed to help property managers scale without burnout, bad leads, or broken systems.   You'll Learn (00:00) Introduction: The Three Fits for Hiring (01:16) The Challenges of Hiring a Business Development Manager (BDM)  (02:42) The Three Key Ingredients for BDM Success  (04:40)  Mistakes in BDM Compensation: The Commission-Only Pitfall  (05:40) The Three Roles of a BDM and the Problem with Buying Leads  (09:54) The "Door Machine" Teaser: The Easy Button for Growth  (14:39) Advanced Community, AI, and Final Thoughts  Quotables "A BDM has zero chance of success if you hire the wrong person."  "If they're not all three, they will fail. Or you'll fire them. Or they will leave you because they're not making enough money."  "If you do not have the right system to plug a BDM or a salesperson into, you can hire as many of them as you want, and they will still not work." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason & Sarah Hull (00:01) Five, four, three, two, one. All right, we are Jason and Sarah Hull, the owners of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we have brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses.   We want to transform the industry, eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. All right, you can probably hear our dogs losing their mind in the background. Maybe not. It was perfect time. Yeah, great time. You started the episode and then they decided. And then they started barking. Well, somebody's outside. That's why they're barking. Okay, they're protecting the house. All right, so what we wanted to talk today about is protecting you a little bit. And so.   One of things that's been going viral lately all over social media is this Molt book. So if you haven't heard of Molt book, it is a social network, supposedly. It's a social network created by AI bots. It's basically just only people that have access to it supposedly are AI agents and they go in there and they're talking about their humans. And this is this new AI tool that was originally called Claude, spelled like a claw, which is not the Claude.   by anthropic, ⁓ but it's different Claude bot. And then they got sued by Claude for name infringement or confusion. And they changed their name to something else and then to something else. And now it's called open clock. But basically there are these, it's like an AI tool that you can build or put on your computer and it runs locally and it proactively tries to do things for you.   There's a lot of security risks with this AI tool because it has access to all your stuff and it can figure things out and start to buy things for you and like do things for you. And so ⁓ it has access to all your stuff. And so you got to be careful with this. However, there's been a lot of false hype and fear mongering around multbooks. So we wanted to chat about this. And so if you've seen these scary posts about multbook, this AI social network, here's what's actually going on. So   what this social media network is. you been seeing posts? Have you heard about this? Only from you. I don't follow any of that stuff, you sent me a post that was talking about all of these AI things, I guess, and the chat room that they created, and they were talking to each other and interacting with each other and asking each other questions and kind of talking about their humans, human...   users, I guess, so to speak. And I went, yeah, I don't know if I'm believing all of that hype. So I had asked chat, Chippy Tea about it. And it essentially said, no, AIs do not work on their own. They are human prompted. They are user prompted. So if there is such a thing, it might exist.   but it's not something that the AIs are just going and creating their own little community and having discussions as humans would have their.   So let's about the hype. So their mold book is claiming and bragging that they have 1.2 million agents registered, but only 10,000 verified humans using the tool or something like this. And we know like at least a million of those agent accounts came from one guy. He ran a script, he posted about it on X on Twitter. And he said, FYI, this isn't what everybody's claiming it to be.   The MoteBook has a REST API. Anybody can literally post anything they want using that API. So if anybody knows how to use any AI tool now to create any sort of code or software, like using Cloud Code or even Cloud, you can create software in pretty much anything now that has access to this API that can go post there. And so it's not, are there agents posting there? Yes, there are some agents, but some of the articles on there are probably created by,   nerds that think it's funny to create posts that say my user is cap. People are capturing things with screenshots or my, my, my owner is like telling me to do unethical things. And so it's hard to know what, which of any of this stuff is true, but definitely the stats are not true. When this guy sent a million verified accounts he created to the founder of Moldbook who's a human and   said, are these accounts, like here's this security flaw you have, this really isn't legit, but I don't think they care. I think they like the hype, they're getting business from the hype. And so this points out a bigger problem. And the bigger problem is with the advent of AI and with all of the AI slop, as people are calling it, you have to now verify things. People are using AI to create content, to beat the algorithms and to manipulate humans. And so   A lot of posts that you see, a lot of news article posts on Instagram, they're fake. It's sensationalized, it's you AI slop BS, and it they make these sensational claims because sensationalism gets people to go, wow, I can't believe this. This is so noteworthy and newsworthy. I'm going to share it with other people and people aren't verifying this. So these things go viral and it's giving that account.   clout and attention and algorithm and they can use that to make money and they're just manipulating people. And so this is this bigger problem that now things being shared on social media that are going viral are just being engineered algorithmically based on sensationalism, not based on truth. And a lot of them are just complete lies or complete fabrications and algorithms are rewarding fear, they're rewarding outrage instead of truth.   And so a lot of things that you're out or noticing or things that are manipulating you, it's not even true. It's not even valid. And you're in this, get caught up in this echo chamber politically or algorithmically that really is just messing with you and playing with your emotionalism that you have hardwired into it because you're human. So I think it's really important to start to not.   that you have to really question and disbelieve almost everything you see and then verify it or validate it. And this shows up in a lot of ways. Like we were talking about ⁓ all the products that we see for sale on Instagram. That you see. You get targeted. I love the buy stuff. Yeah. I know. It works really well. I like buying gadgets and gizmos aplenty. You know, I'm like the little mermaid. All right. So.   So all of these things, though, if you go take whatever product or item you see on Instagram, you're like, man, that sounds really cool. It sounds like something I would love. I would need that algorithm already knows it knows you. knows everything you slow down on and look at. It knows everything you click on to check out. So it knows you what you'll you'll buy before you know you'll buy it. And it feeds the stuff up to you and it'll feed it over to you or retarget you over and over again until you actually buy the thing. Here's the thing.   a lot of these products that you see, if you go look up the same product up on like amazon.com, you'll find the same product with a different brand name, because they're using maybe the same source in China to like, and then they're white labeling it with their brand name, but you'll find the same product for 50%, sometimes 25 % of the costs that you're seeing. So they're just taking products that are doing well on Amazon. They go and   like find us the source of this product. And then they go do really good marketing and advertising to manipulate people, sell it on Instagram or meta ads, and they are selling it at this insane markup. People think they've got the exclusivity and they're the only way you can get this product. And they're selling it for three times the amount or at least double the amount of what you would pay normally.   And if you go and got it from the source, like through Alibaba.com or something like this, you probably pay a small fraction of that. And so people are overspending on this and they're manipulating you to spend more money. So just another example of how you need to go verify or find these things maybe elsewhere. And so you need to do your own research is the basic idea. And so.   ⁓ Some of the things that I have started to do is I use AI to research the things that I'm finding online to find out if they're true. So this could be health claims, product claims, product ideas. ⁓ If a product looks good, I will go send it to Grok, one of my favorite research AIs, because it's really good at doing really good research quickly. You can use perplexity to do research, but I'll say analyze this.   landing page, this product, is this hype or is this a legitimate product? Do research on this. And a lot of times we'll come back and say, this is overhyped. Their product claims are not valid. It's based on studies that indicate certain things, but it's not totally true. But every now and then it's like, this product sounds legit. And then I'm like, well, do I really need this product? And then sometimes it's like, no. Right. And so you can go now leverage AI and you need to use AI to battle with AI so that you can   not being manipulated or taken advantage of. So you need to do your own research. Analyze the truth of this. Go ask AI to analyze the truth and give it a link. ⁓ Grok can access Instagram and Facebook posts and things like this. It can access social media currently. ⁓ Claude, ChatGPT, some of these tools are not able to access certain links because they're blocked by those social media platforms. They don't want other AI tools looking at it.   So far, I've had success using Grok to analyze Instagram posts, Instagram videos. So if you see something on Instagram real or a post, you can go post it to Grok and it can analyze the truth of it, which is super helpful. Not only that, but Grok has access to the entire X or Twitter database to do research and to find people, what they're saying and stuff like this, which I've found to be very helpful. Now we all have an internal compass and I think this is the most important thing of all.   is you have to use your own brain and use that voice within. think one thing that makes us different than just AI is we have this intuition or this knowing or this higher faculty of just our mental capacity and we have this ability, or some would call it spiritual gift of intuition or of natural knowing or of, what would others call it? ⁓ The voice deep down within, sometimes deep.   how I know this thing deep down, but it or some would call it the gift of discernment. You know, it's kind of a biblical gift of the spirit it talks about. Some would call it the Holy Ghost or the Holy Spirit or whatever. But we have this quiet voice deep down that tells you that something doesn't feel right when everybody else is sharing it or. And so, you know, start to get in tune with that, start to listen to that and to get clarity on that, because not everything that's sensationalized is true.   and you need to trust that little voice within because you might go, this sounds like pretty incredible. Is this valid? Before you go share it and pass it on to other people, which is like spreading a virus, you know, it may not be a positive thing to spread this thing that's not accurate or true. So that's my two cents about this. so with this, the Malt book is an example of.   something that's going viral that everybody seems to just be believing and it's not totally valid. So. OK, let's connect this to property management. OK, so that it's relevant for anyone who's going, how are they? How are they going to link this? So one of the things that I had heard recently, there's well, one of them I heard a couple of months ago and one of them I just heard. There's two examples that I can cite. That connects it directly to business. One was.   I don't remember where they were located, so forgive me for that. Do your research. One of them, they wanted to see if they could use AI and all of the tools that are available, Google and SEO and the algorithm, to hype up something that isn't real. So what they did is they created a restaurant.   using they did have some photos. They took a couple of photos. The food wasn't even real. I remember this. Do remember this? They were taking photos of food and people eating the food and wow it looks so amazing. It wasn't even real food. Yeah. And they used all of these photos and then somehow used bots and AI to leave a bunch of great reviews.   for this amazing restaurant. And then the algorithm and Google started getting all of this data going, wow, people must love this restaurant. We should promote it. So showing up in searches and they had a wait list for a restaurant that did not ever, at any point in time, ever exist.   No real restaurant, no real location, no real food, no real people, no real business, and no real reviews. All of it was completely fake online. However, the algorithm did not know that it was fake. The algorithm thought, wow, this is a real business and people love it, so let's recommend it to other real people. So real people are getting recommendations from   the algorithm, hey, you might like this restaurant. And then real people are going, oh, I wanna go to this restaurant, this looks amazing, look at all the incredible reviews. And it's fake. And you can't even go there. That's example number one. Oh yeah, look at that. It's a bleach tablet. So let me share this. So you can look this up. You can just Google like fake restaurant or something like this. The article that came up was on vice.com but.   ⁓ I made my shed the top rated restaurant on TripAdvisor. So what he had, he works for Vice now, I guess, but before he started working for vice.com, he had a job where restaurant owners were paying him 10 pounds, 10 British pounds ⁓ to write a positive review of their restaurant on TripAdvisor, despite never having eaten there. So was like, this is like fake. And so he became obsessed with monitoring the ratings of these businesses and their fortunes would generally turn and   This was a catalyst. then he was like, TripAdvisor is this false reality, he thought. And so these meals never took place. The reviews were written by fake people like him. And so he was like, well, maybe I could just create a completely fake restaurant. He just decided to try it out. And so he took his shed, his shed in the backyard, and he built, made it the number one restaurant. And he called it the Shed at Dulwich.   and ⁓ created this cool name and this was back in 2017. And ⁓ he got a burner phone, he created a phone number, built a website, bought a domain, and then he created some images that looked like delicacies. And what he used to create the images was ⁓ runny honey, ground black pepper, and Gillette shaving cream, and bleach tablets, and just made these photos that look   kind of like food. See, Nevada actually looks pretty good. Right. And yeah, it's just got coffee beans. Like he just he made shaving cream, bleach tablet, cup of coffee beans on top with ⁓ with paint. Brown gloss paint. Yeah, that's supposed to be chocolate syrup. He just made fake images and.   It's so ridiculous. So then he went and then he started creating reviews and getting reviews and then having photos from people. ⁓ Like he just climbed the ranks and then he actually started opening it up for reservations and started getting reservations for this. And then a bunch of people came and actually, and then he used like other companies to make the food.   and brought it in and then fed it with the food and because their perception was this was a high end thing and a kind of a secret thing and it's hard to get into, people were like, this food's amazing. then they were giving him even better reviews about it and the food was just taken from other places that he had like kind of brought in. And so it got really, it was just super ridiculous. And so ⁓ he built this whole thing out.   So that's that story. What was the other story you wanted to other one is what I just heard. I'm still struggling to understand what the flaw is here. don't know why this is illegal. Maybe someone can help me. ⁓ I don't remember what platform they used, ⁓ but a guy somewhere in the US used a lot of AI agents to create music. Real music.   Yeah. But it was created by AI, not humans. And then what he did is he took the music and posted it to a platform. Now, I don't know if it was something like Spotify or Apple Music or whatever it is, but he used a platform, a similar platform. And instead of waiting for people,   to hear the music and like the music and for it to grow. He went, huh, how can I speed this up? So what he did then is he created a bunch of AI bots to go and listen to the music that his other AI bots had created. That's where it's illegal. Because people play for licensing. rankings and listen to the songs and the albums 24 hours a day on repeat.   multiple, multiple, multiple bots. So all of a sudden there's this fake music. Well, it's not even fake. It's real music. It's just created by AI. And then AI bots are listening to that music, which is pushing the rankings. Fake news or listenings, yes. Well, I mean, they're just bots. They're just not human listens. They're listens, right? But just AI's done. And these platforms pay you.   for each listen. Spotify, Apple Music, paid out him because he's getting so many listens. Of course. I believe he's getting sued for $10 million. He stole $10 million in fake listens, basically. Right. had AI create the music, had AI listen to the music to then make real money. Now, I don't know, but I think he's getting sued for things like money laundering, which I don't...   quite understand how that's money laundering because the platform is designed as such. So any platform, and this is my point in telling you these stories, any platform that is designed and built on attention, things like likes, comments, views, clicks, engagement, which is almost every social platform in existence.   can now be manipulated. yeah. Now what does that mean for you as a business owner? It means two things. One, despite your best efforts, anyone can now create fake things that will outrank you. So when it really comes down to it, does your Google ranking or your SEO ranking, does it actually make sense and is it real? Because you can take   a fake business or even a real business and now promote, get all these, you know, clicks, views, likes, attention. And then all of a sudden the algorithm goes, ⁓ people like this, I should serve it to more people. Now, if your competition starts doing this, what does that mean for you? Right. So again, don't be one of these people trying to manipulate.   others with AI. Like you need to be upfront about it. Nobody wants it because the one thing you have is your reputation and your brand. And if you destroy that, I mean, you could get in trouble legally. But if you do something unethical or you trick people into thinking that it's a human when it's AI or stuff like this, you destroy trust and trust is the foundation of business. And in the future, people are going to it's going to be really difficult to trust anything because   the majority of posts now on Facebook are probably written or drafted by chat GPT now. A lot of people are using different things. So you have to be careful. ⁓ And do we want to use these tools? Yes. Use the tools, create some leverage. It's smart. But you also need to make sure that you find that right balance of what's true, what's actually you, what's verifiable, ⁓ and not do things that are unethical. And so this is where   Property managers, you gotta be careful. You do not wanna use systems to create fake reviews on your profiles. You don't wanna get other property managers to give you reviews on your property management business and trade reviews. You gotta stop doing the shady shortcuts and focus on real connection, real people, real reviews, real results. Focus on real stuff. And this is why.   We've always focused on getting real video testimonials from our clients, ⁓ real results. And you can get in trouble. You can get in trouble with the ⁓ FCC with false claims. You can get in trouble like people can sue you over stuff. you be smart. Like you do real stuff. Don't look for the shady shortcuts. It's tempting. I know it is because you're like, man, it's hard. But if things are hard,   and you're trying to do shady shortcuts instead of doing the right things and doing the real things that work, there are things that work. So I guess that's our message to property managers is like, do things the smart, ethical way and don't be the shady person trying to manipulate others taking those shortcuts. So and, but use AI, you should be using tools to, you know, shorten time, collapse time, make things more effective, improve your writing.   learn, but make sure things are done your way in your voice, that you've done it, and work on improving yourself. So AI could either be making you better all the time, or it can be making you dumber and dumber. Kind of like that movie, Idiocracy, where... I'm sorry that I watched that movie. I really am.   Yeah, it's pretty dumb. watched that. But yeah, mean, the idea is if we just continually use AI to do all our thinking for us and decision making for us, which is the one brilliant piece that we have as humans ⁓ and that creative spark that's within us, we can use AI as a tool. But some people are just using it to do everything for them and they can't think anymore. They're unable to make decisions. You take away their access to a phone or to AI and they're like, whoa.   Right? So don't become dumber. Use AI to improve your thinking, to improve your ⁓ thought analysis around things, to help challenge you and challenge your thinking so that you grow. It can be a phenomenal growth tool. Like, what am I missing? Here's my current thinking about this. And it can give you some different ideas. ⁓ I didn't think of that. Then you can get curious. You can ask questions. You can do more research. And AI could be a tool to help you collapse time on becoming a better human, or it can...   replace you maybe, but then you're obsolete. And if we don't need you, then your job's going to be, you're going to be out of a job. You're going to be not usable or necessary in the future that's coming. So that's basically it. So, um, so if you are a property management business owner and you're struggling to figure out how to make things work and you're feeling tempted to do some shady AI stuff or whatever,   then maybe you just need a little bit of extra support or help. So reach out to us at door grow dot com. We would love to help you grow your business, help you figure things out ⁓ for a free training on how to get unlimited free leads. Text the word leads to five one two six four eight four six zero eight and we will send that to you. Also join our free Facebook community just for property management business owners at door grow club dot com. And if you want.   tips, tricks, ideas to learn about our offers or about DoorGrowth's programs, subscribe to our newsletter by going to doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe to us and leave us a review. We'd really appreciate it. Until next time. Remember the slowest path to growth is to do it alone. So let's grow together. everyone. All right, and we're out in five, four, three, two, one. Bye everybody.  

When we started out making a show about New Orleans business, people – even in the business community – said, “Well that’s great, but what are you going to do after 6 weeks?” That was 2011. We’ve recorded a new episode of Out to Lunch almost every week since then. And we still haven’t run out of guests. In fact, there are so many people doing interesting things in New Orleans business that we rarely have anyone on the show more than once. But, once in a while, we like to check in on some of our earliest guests and see what they’re up to. Back in 2012, in our first year on the air, we met a young man by the name of Kenneth Purcell. Kenneth had some ideas that bridged the gap between the real world – that most of us lived in in those days – and the virtual world, that was beginning to stagger to its feet. To put this in context, in 2006 Apple launched a music player called the i-pod. In 2007 they launched the iPhone. In 2010 they launched the iPad. Locally, before all that, in 1999, Kenneth launched a company called iSeatz. iSeatz wasn’t a device, it was a then-revolutionary new way of making a reservation at a restaurant: Online. I won’t go through every twist and turn in the story, but basically, Kenneth’s company, which is still called iSeatz, went on to pioneer the back-end of online travel and financial services. Among other accomplishments, iSeatz was the company that came up with the idea of using air-miles to buy things other than air tickets. Today, iSeatz creates and provides the online travel engine for companies like Expedia, Trip Advisor, Avis, Hertz, Wyndham Hotels, and American Express. In 2014, at the Idea Village Entrepreneur Week, we met a young woman called Catherine Todd. Catherine and her partner had founded a business called Where Y’Art that had just won Idea Village’s entrepreneur prize for an arts-based business pitch. It was a then-innovative online art gallery: A curated marketplace where selected local artists would be introduced to people who buy art. Today, the company is called Where Y’Art Works and is focused on providing local art to organizations that want to decorate. Where Y’Art Works collaborates with interior designers, facilities teams, set designers, and industry professionals to put original art by local artists in spaces in New Orleans, Baton Rouge, North Louisiana, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast. To date they’ve completed over 325 commercial projects - including putting art on the walls in the Sheraton Hotel, Fidelity Bank, and Ochsner and LCMC facilities. In the process, they’ve paid local artists, framers and installers over $6.5m. If we had to pin an exact date on the birth of New Orleans and give it an astrological sign, the city is probably Gemini. The twins. I say that because there seem to be two co-existing versions of the city. One is the city that never changes. You can leave for years and when come back, your favorite people and your favorite dishes at your favorite restaurants are still be here. The other New Orleans is the city that is constantly changing. New brass bands, new Mardi Gras parade groups, new types of king cakes, and new businesses that are growing, or getting bought and sold. Catherine and Kenneth have a foot in both camps. Their businesses are still growing, they’re changing and adapting, but they've been at it now for long enough to become local institutions. And even though they're still both young, they’re the entrepreneurial OG generation – the inspiration for a whole new generation of entrepreneurs. Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. You can find photos from this show by Jill Lafleur at itsneworleans.com. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hour 1: Bob's Movie Club Presents: Sinners. Oakland's own Ryan Coogler wrote and directed this vampire smash hit, starring Michael B. Jordan and Michael B. Jordan. Here's what we thought! Then, Sarah pleads for you to subscribe to us on YouTube. Dogs are the best. There's one town in Arizona that has all its signs in metric units - remember that push? Is Valentine's Day just a reason to spend money? Hour 2: Get a hot tub your kids can exploit! The Norwegian biathlete's girlfriend has spoken out. The US is moving up in the Olympic medal rankings! Sam Smith has arrived at the Castro Theatre. 1 in 5 people say they would move to the moon, but Bob doesn't believe them. There was a sting operation to catch a bee thief. If you don't have a Valentine already, it's probably too late. If you've EVER been in love, you're luckier than some. (52:40) Hour 3: James Van Der Beek has lost his battle with cancer. We will get to see his final performance in the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel, ‘Elle' on Amazon Prime. If you're horrified by Valentine's Day, here are some movies for you. Trip Advisor has released the best food destinations. Don't be a contrarian just to be different. Would you buy pie from a hardware store? A bar in Philly is upping its entry age because the fake IDs are too good. (1:37:22) Hour 4: A moment for Flea, jazz, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Zayn went on Call Her Daddy to talk about the Tooth Fairy. 42 pounds seems like a lot of grass to sneak around with. Buzz balls and Amazon deliveries don't mix. The gang is all giggles today playing When Did That Happen? (2:18:23)

James Van Der Beek has lost his battle with cancer. We will get to see his final performance in the upcoming Legally Blonde prequel, ‘Elle' on Amazon Prime. If you're horrified by Valentine's Day, here are some movies for you. Trip Advisor has released the best food destinations. Don't be a contrarian just to be different. Would you buy pie from a hardware store? A bar in Philly is upping its entry age because the fake IDs are too good.

Most coaches & consultants know they're undercharging. Very few ever fix it.In this episode of LinkedIn Riches, I sit down with Robert Hernandez, President & CEO of Influens, to unpack how he increased his workshop and consulting rates by 300% - without pushback, awkward conversations, or losing clients.Robert works with Fortune 500 companies like TripAdvisor, HSBC Bank, and Dover Corporation. Yet for years, his pricing didn't reflect his credentials, experience, or results. What changed wasn't just a number - it was how he saw his value, the market, and the story he told clients.If you're a consultant, coach, or service provider who knows you're leaving money on the table, this conversation will challenge how you think about pricing, positioning, and confidence.(Note: You can also watch a video version of this episode here.)WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER:00:29 – The moment Robert realized his consulting rates were way too low04:32 – The hidden mindset trap that keeps experts underpriced06:54 – Why market data (not confidence) gave Robert permission to charge more10:22 – How to justify higher fees without “selling harder”15:36 – Why customization and language matter more than credentials18:45 – How premium pricing actually attracts better clients22:36 – The belief you must adopt before submitting a high-ticket proposalIf you've ever said, “I can't charge that much” - this episode is for you!