No Show: Recent Episodes

Jeff Borman and Matt Brown

No Show is about all things related to the hospitality business: hotels, tourism, the travel industry, conferences and gatherings, and a lot more. Hosts Jeff Borman and Matt Brown are fascinated with the intersection of design, architecture, place, emotion, and memory. When we travel, we pass through those intersections, and have unique experiences supported by a massive service and business infrastructure just underneath the surface.

What makes a great hotel feel effortless? As hospitality strategist, architect, and owner's representative Vito F. Lotta explains, it's rarely the obvious design decisions. The best hotels succeed because thousands of invisible choices work together to create an emotional experience (while balancing operational realities).

Even seemingly mundane decisions ... shower doors, elevator placement, storage rooms, lighting, and soundproofing ... are a balancing act for both guest and owner. In this episode we talk:

The psychology of hotel arrivals and first impressions
The hidden operational side of hotel design
The changing role of the lobby bar
Can the guest room bathroom be saved?
Authentic materials vs. practical alternatives
Why hotel room phones still exist
How creative teams overcome stale thinking
Finding the "spark" in hospitality projects

In just two weeks, the GBTA | Global Business Travel Association 2026 Convention kicks off in Chicago, bringing together thousands of leaders shaping the future of business travel.

Ahead of the event, Jeff Borman and Matt Brown sat down with Katharine Farrell, Vice President, Americas at GBTA, to talk about what's happening in the industry.

While AI is dominating the headlines, travel managers are navigating geopolitical uncertainty, evolving traveler expectations, tighter budgets, duty of care, and a rapidly changing technology landscape.

In this episode:

🛎️ The big themes at GBTA 2026.

🛎️ Why travel managers are more strategic than ever.

🛎️ How AI is actually being used inside corporate travel programs today.

🛎️ The unique challenges facing small and mid-market organizations.

🛎️ Whether the traditional RFP still has a place in an AI-first world.

Daniel Kuperschmid has spent his career helping people discover exceptional places, first through three decades with Hyatt Hotels and now as President and CEO of the San Diego Tourism Authority.

Daniel joins No Show to explore what it really takes to steward one of America's most visited destinations, balancing tourism, local communities, government, infrastructure, and long-term city building. We get into:

Why and how San Diego is evolving its reputation.
Where the majority of visitors are coming from.
A tourism ecosystem that has to account for dollars coming in but also for the quality of life of the people who live and work in San Diego.
The future of the San Diego Convention Center, environmental and social concerns, and the role of Measure C.
Classy hidden neighborhoods, restaurants, and cultural gems every visitor should experience.
The power of Comic-Con!

Joff Romoff, Google Cloud's Global Head - Travel & Hospitality, unpacks the real and imagined cultural gaps between Silicon Valley and the hotel industry. We talk how tech companies are asset-light and data-forward, while hoteliers are asset-heavy and still inclined to think of the room, not the customer, as the product.

And, how AI is (very) quickly transforming how travelers get inspired via longer, richer prompts, demand for activity outranking accommodation, and a strong desire to trust the new infrastructure of search.

But AI's real value is reducing friction, not obliterating human experience. The industry is now in an all-out technology arms race, with OTAs, brands, suppliers, and pretty much everybody else you can think of on the front lines.

Here's one of the clearest conversations you'll hear on why Africa is not a single hotel market, but 54 radically different ones.

W Hospitality's Trevor Ward breaks down the realities behind the continent's booming hotel pipeline, and why local capital, not foreign money, is driving most development. Infrastructure, aviation, politics, and risk perception shape hospitality growth in an environment where optimism and operational reality coexist (and collide).

Trevor is an expert on hotel development, investment appraisals, and operator selection who understands the systems behind the systems behind the systems. Hospitality in those 54 markets is transforming in an unexpected, and impossibly fast, way.

Experiential tourism around sports and music has gone stratospheric. BTS just announced they're back together and going on a world tour, and flights and hotels across 34 cities sold out almost immediately.

Kickstarted by Taylor and Beyoncé, music tourism could go to $9 billion globally by 2030—a 50% jump from 2023. Sports could crack a trillion dollars within a few years, especially with FIFA World Cup games this summer and the 2028 Olympics. Why now, is this a matter of right time, right tech enabling all this?

And speaking of tech, GEO and AI visibility are on travel's mind in a dramatically different way compared to even 3 months ago. AI search no longer shows ten links, it recommends a handful of brands. If your travel brand isn’t one of them, it effectively doesn’t exist.

In this era of brand survival, a new customer’s first interaction with your brand is likely to be through an AI summary. If that summary is impersonal, you will be impossible to find against competitors with more emotionally resonant content. But what's hype and what's the real thing? We have guesses.

About 71% of active U.S. travelers say they are more likely to travel internationally than they were two years ago. The U.S. has lost half its market share, 10% of global inbound travel to 5%, since 1995. What is happening exactly? We'll give you a couple of guesses...

Also, how does war and regional instability affect travel routes of the major carriers? And when gas prices for airlines go up because of all these wars, who ends up paying? Again, you'll get a few guesses...

But it's not all doom + gloom, we open with how "grocery store tourism" is apparently a thing now? And $22 smoothies aside, that's a good thing.

For 70 years, duty free sat at the intersection of monopoly on concessions, opaque pricing, cross-border tax rules, very captive audiences, and political insulation. Non-aeronautical revenue — retail, food, alcohol, duty free — accounts for roughly 40–60% of total airport revenue at major hubs.

Duty-free shopping existed for a pretty straightforward economic reason: it helps countries capture spending from international travelers. When a traveler leaves a country, the products they buy in the airport are technically exports. Because those goods are leaving the country and won’t be consumed locally, governments allow retailers to remove local taxes like VAT or GST.

But does it still work? And why? Surely you're not saving that much in a system that's only gotten more rigged through the decades. Or ARE you.......

The Nine Freedoms of the Air are one of the most fascinating (and quietly political) frameworks in global aviation. They define what airlines are allowed to do when flying between countries, and they shape everything from ticket prices to whether Dallas gets a nonstop to Dubai.

But look, see, in aviation, freedom's just another word for restrictions with diplomatic paperwork. The Nine Freedoms are the rulebook for who gets to compete, and who gets locked out in a sky full of negotiated corridors.

Matt Cornelius is Executive Vice President of Airports Council International - North America (ACI-NA), and return guest to No Show. The "Airport Whisperer" tells us what are they, what they mean, and why they exist. Plus the return of our favorite word. That's right...it's cabotage!

As President and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism, Claudia Vecchio always has an eye on the delicate balance between tourism growth and community stewardship. No small task in one of the most famous wine-producing regions in the world, a place that set the template for experiential travel.

We talk tourism, California, ecology, how Sonoma excels in the beauty of backroads discovery, the region's long history of artisanal culture, "Wine Country for All of Us," and what travelers want when they head up the 101. Also: Yakov Smirnoff, jazz piano, great beer, and 21 Jump Street.

If the word "creator" were a person, that person would be Tony Lorenz. He is known universally for his work in the global meetings and events sector and his impossibly deep understanding of the event management industry. He lays out the importance of Destination Management Companies (DMCs), entities that focus on on-the-ground logistics and specialized local experiences for travel and major events.

We talk through how they work, what would happen in a world without them, and their future. Also, how events have evolved since 2020, why they are sneakily underrated, and how to measure attendee ROI in a meaningful way.

From the Jersey Shore to the Sunset Strip, the Garden of the Gods to Boston Common, the Eden Roc to the El Capitan, Curator Hotel and Resort Collection has been on an absolute tear, bringing some of the most unique and independent properties in the country together in a groundbreaking collective.

Jennifer Barnwell talks with us about Curator's ROI-first model and value proposition, the "brand or boutique dilemma" for hotel owners, keeping the indie vibe intact, and the human touch versus automation. Plus: robot massages, Parisian adventures, and the special sauce that goes into evaluating properties to join Curator.

We're here, it's happening, 2026 is officially a thing. As we restart our brains for the new year, we ponder:

Is Hushpitality a thing?
The good news about global growth
Fatigue as a good thing in travel
The shift away from marquee names and places
The shift toward shoulder seasons and cost concerns
How travel will be shaped less by whims and more by economic realism
Eastern Europe's rise as a travel alternative
How refinancing pressure is going to reshape hotel ownership structure
The literary and movie travel trend

When you walk into the Mayflower Hotel, it feels like a film set, the ideal visual representation of what a hotel should be. It is one of the most important venues in the shaping of America, hotel or otherwise. The conversations, the deals, the A-list encounters, the scandals that shook politics. It was a place that knew how to keep a secret. Until it didn't.

It survived depressions, wars, setbacks, inaugurations, ownership changes, and J. Edgar Hoover. This year marks its centennial, and we talk with one of its former employees to see inside "Washington's Second Best Address."

Nobody knows the ebbs and flows, ins and outs, weather patterns and trail ratings of Canadian tourism like Travel Alberta's CEO David Goldstein.

In a candid and free-flowing conversation, we talk about how and why tourism traffic and spend is (way) up in Alberta, as well as the province's approach to Indigenous tourism partnerships, balancing big-ticket destinations like Banff with worthwhile places off the beaten path, deciding which global markets to focus marketing on, Alberta's evolving image in traveler's minds, and how Canada's tourism initiatives are a best-in-class model. Plus the best ski slopes in Alberta, and the lifelong travails of being an Ottawa Senators fan.

Tariffs, shutdowns, "integrity" fees, H2-B visa caps, FAA staffing and hardware issues, airport restrictions ... it all begs the question: Does the U.S. government hate its own travel industry?

International travel is predicted to drop by 6.3% from 72.4 million in 2024 to 67.9 million in 2025, according to U.S. Travel Association. This year we are poised to be the only country in the WORLD where inbound tourism decreased. Travel and tourism accounts for approximately 2.5-3% of the U.S. GDP, supports 15 million American jobs, and via taxes accounts for almost 7% of all government income. So, we should take global competition for travel dollars a bit more seriously, no?

AI was, predictably, everywhere, all at once, in every session at this year's conference, but there was a distinctly humanist air to it all as well. Trust, connection, authenticity, reality, face-to-face communication were thematic touchstones throughout. We still want recommendations from real live honest-to-goodness human beings, and AI can help facilitate that. (Right?)

No Show is at the 2025 Phocuswright Conference this week talking to a variety of exhibitors, innovators, and speakers and taking their temperature on the present and future of travel technology. We found out that:

Levee founder Al Lagunas is done with the 3 pm check-in
Ron Glickman from Innovation Launch People’s Choice Award Winner Acai Travel is ready for boundaries to be pushed
Taylor Palmer from SiriusXM Connect is putting safety at your fingertips
Etraveli Group's Peny Rizou has a prophecy about the future of fraud prevention
The inimitable Mickey Beyer-Clausen from Timeshifter is thinking about the rhythms of life
Tourism Tasmania CMO Lindene Cleary loves changing perceptions
And Mirko Lalli from Data Appeal believes in the dual power of democratization and simplification

Mitra Sorrells, Senior Vice President, Content for Phocuswright, joins us on the eve of the conference to talk about the big themes, keeping hype in check, new trends around data and customer journeys, getting good answers from panelists, the shift of power between traditional travel brands and tech startups, and the risks of playing a drinking game based on how many times AI will be uttered on stage (please pace yourself accordingly).

A short episode this week on the quite unique, very sad U.S. government approach to tourism and park spaces. How much money are the parks losing, how much are the towns around the parks losing? And what's going on with international visitors, Brand USA, and U.S. passports. We are fired up!

What specific AI-related things are good hotel commercial leaders actually doing today? Great question! It's already everywhere, so we got deep and practical for this episode. We talk about:

How Al agents are starting to handle everything from customer service queries to qualifying sales leads, reshaping the whole workforce
How AI is elevating guest experience through customer data, CRM, and audience management
Where AI is getting all its hotel data
The coming drop in search engine volume
Tools you can use to optimize your website and format your content for AI readability

AI's true impact on travel remains deeply speculative, with companies scrambling to stake claims while few concrete applications deliver true transformation. But everyday uses like dynamic pricing, translation tools, chatbots, and trip planning assistants like ChatGPT show AI is already here.

We talk about the staggering potential of agentic AI to automatically rebook flights, arrange rides, or sign up for the best rewards programs. AI will directly challenge Online Travel Agents, whose dominance rests on aggregating inventory and managing transactions at scale. Yet AI’s iterative, user-driven planning capabilities expose the weaknesses of OTAs in handling complex, personalized itineraries.

How will the online travel booking sites survive? What will happen to marketing and SEO over the next 2 years? What's a neural travel marketplace? Should we ignore Public Enemy's sage advice and believe the AI hype?

How has Tiffany Cooper been so successful for so long? By bringing mind, soul, and spirit to the hotel industry. She's Head of Development, Americas for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, which for 5 decades has been owner and operator of some of the world's most luxurious hotels, resorts and residences.

We talk about MO's ambitious global expansion plans, how the brand sets itself apart in the ultra-luxury category, the increasing importance of branded residences, wellness and spas as amenities and revenue drivers, and the iconic "I'm a Fan" campaign.

As founder and creative director of the boutique interior design firm AIDT Designs, Tonya is changing the way we think about boutique hotel, resort, and lifestyle design. Whether design property in the Keys or reimagining a resort brand from the ground up, her work is layered, luxe, and never, ever forgettable.

We talk about her early career working under Las Vegas visionaries Steve Wynn & Roger Thomas, what most designers get wrong about hotel rooms, collaborating on Margaritaville, sourcing one-of-a-kind local finds, and elevating design on a tight budget.

For more on Tonya and AIDT visit https://www.aidtdesignsinc.com/

Lyon Porter is one of the most talked-about hoteliers of our time. Alongside co-founder and partner Jersey Banks, he transformed a five-room Brooklyn townhouse into the first Urban Cowboy.

The industry, and the media, pay close attention to the brand, which now spokes into hotel properties in the Catskills, Nashville, and the newest location, a Gilded Age Denver mansion, which opened within the last year.

We talk about the origins of Urban Cowboy, catching cities and regions at the right time, the unique method of sourcing items for each property, how big hospitality chases (and fails to catch) boutique authenticity, and what's next for the brand.

There are dream jobs, and then there are jobs like Ben Hill's. Ben's Baseball Traveler newsletter is part culinary adventure, part architecture column on stadiums new and old, part biography series on characters of the game, part observer of the wild and wacky situations that occur nightly in cities coast to coast, part troubadour of the joys and heartbreaks inherent in Minor League Baseball.

But where does he go, what does he see, what stories does he tell, where does he stay, how did he get into this business, and what are his favorite minor league team names? Oh, and why are travel and minor league baseball such a beautiful match?

To see more adventures from America follow Ben on Instagram.

From New Delhi to the Yucatan Jungle, from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean, Rocco Bova has crisscrossed the world, defining what luxury hotels are and can be. The My Humble House founder talks about building a profit-sharing hospitality company, creating change in a change-averse industry, working within nature, finding the right investors, and offbeat destinations in Italy and Mexico.

https://www.instagram.com/rocco.bova/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-humble-house/

Jeff and Matt speak with Heather Heverling, President and Managing Director of Audley Travel, about the stratospheric rise of bespoke travel, the purchasing power of solo female travelers, the growing desire for unique in-country experiences, the need for local connections, the trip that totally subverted her expectations, and what makes Audley Travel different in the travel market.

https://www.audleytravel.com/

https://www.instagram.com/audleytravel/

Glenn Haussman's podcast No Vacancy is essential listening for anyone in the business, featuring notable names in the industry, coverage of major events, and reportage on ideas and economics. He joins us to talk luxury, labor costs, practicing the art of optimism in 2025, sustainability, and, of course, Phish.

https://novacancynews.com/

https://www.instagram.com/travelingglenn/

Questions like:

What's the secret number hotel people really care about?

Is the hotel market oversaturated in the U.S.?

Are there any markets that really are oversaturated though?

What's an underserved luxury market?

Who are the hotel winners in 2025? Who's making lemonade?

And is the hotel concierge truly dead?

Fear, money, and restrictions are a combustible mixture in any business sector, but in travel it can be a death knell for some businesses. The tariff situation is changing daily, and while the emphasis has been on physical goods, there is a growing shadow on tourism. Aran Ryan, Director of Industry Studies at Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, talks about how trade wars negatively affect US travel, how tourism is already taking a hit, and what we can do to ride this out.

Regenerative tourism focuses on leaving places better than you found them, supporting local economies, preserving culture, and protecting the environment. How does that translate to street-level tourism? Does the term "regenerative" suffer from the same thing that plagues "sustainability"—where rhetoric is strong and the action remains weak? Travelers regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions, but their buying behavior tells a very different story.

Then again, there are huge upsides in rethinking everything about the way we travel, especially now. We look at what's working, what's not, and what's ahead.

Flying through a perfect storm of staff shortages, archaic technology, DOGE crosshairs, and mounting safety concerns, America's air traffic control system stands at a critical crossroads. So, how can we fix all this? Master of the Air Greg Aretakis returns to guide us to the runway, providing a 101 course on how air traffic control works.

Overtourism is one of those sprawling topics that everybody in the travel business has opinions on. Solutions are a bit more complicated, but let's dig in with tourism taxes, diversionary tactics, bans on cruise ships, the rise of "de-marketing," tax credits for better business practices, caps on hotel construction, and other tools that make our lives and our travel plans a bit less frantic.

On a stunningly regular basis, Pulitzer Prize winner Carley Thornell delivers insightful stories about sustainability, design, adventure, health, and travel. We talk space tourism, secret hotels, how people think about luxury, what Trump 2.0 means for tourism, the tax on families when they travel, and lots, lots more.

https://muckrack.com/carley-d-thornell/articles

When people say that someone needs no introduction, we think they're talking about View From The Wing's Gary Leff. He is one of the world's foremost experts in miles, points, and frequent business travel.

Gary talks with us about the math behind airline loyalty programs, how he comes across the strangest stories in travel, the differences between airlines and hotels when they start co-branding with partners, how airlines define their "best customers" and way, way more.

https://viewfromthewing.com/

The hardest working man in hotel research talks with us about the state of hotel brand acquisitions, optimism among investors about urban markets and luxury assets, and how hotels can learn from Taylor Swift (can't we all?).

Plus: What's the most overrated statistic in hotel research? What's one piece of unvarnished advice he'd give to a new investment group? Why are partnerships on the rise in Vegas and Orlando?

https://www.us.jll.com/en/people/zachariah-demuth
https://www.hotelmanagement.net/transactions/review-2024-year-us-hospitality-deals

Rejoice America, Jeff and Matt answer critical questions from fake listeners. If we could change one thing about the travel industry, what would it be? What are some of the best travel and travel business articles we've read this year? What's the next hot destination? What's the biggest trend coming for the industry in 2025? Whatever happened to Yakov Smirnoff?

Articles we mention:
The Branson Pilgrim

Airbnb's idea to hold gladiator battles in Rome's Colosseum isn't going down well with some local lawmakers

CBRE analysis of loyalty programs

Colorado’s I-70 Has America’s Most Notorious Ski Traffic. Is There a Solution?

LARC Quarterly Webinar

CBRE's Rachel Rothman and Christine Bang understand hotel brand performance and equity analysis like very few others in this business. We talk about the overall health grade they'd give to hotel loyalty programs, what we mean when we talk about luxury, hospitality partnerships aiming to reach new audiences, how loyalty programs can grow, and way, way more.

https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/hotel-brand-performance-2024
https://www.cbre.com/insights/articles/hotel-loyalty-programs-betting-on-the-law-of-large-numbers
https://www.cbre.com/insights/viewpoints/maturation-of-the-hotel-industry-drives-convergence-with-other-sectors-to-facilitate-growth

If Greg Aretakis had a coaching tree, it would literally include every CEO and high-ranking executive in the airline industry. We talk with the Midwest Express Airlines president about the much-needed role of mid-sized airlines, how antitrust investigations get started, the future of private air travel and small airfields, whether completely electric planes will ever fly, and so so so much more!

Steve Rushmore can tell you everything, and I mean everything about your hotel. His "Rushmore Approach" for allocating a hotel’s total value is the stuff of lore, but how do you even begin to evaluate a hotel's worth? What are all the factors that go into it? What makes for a particularly difficult appraisal? Is the "income approach" really the best way to appraise a hotel? And is it true Steve can appraise a hotel in 60 seconds?

https://steverushmore.com/

When we fly, most of us have no idea what kind of plane we're on, we just get in and go. Travel and airline journalist Edward Russell tells us what kinds of planes dominate the U.S. market, why they dominate the market, how long planes stay in circulation, and the process for buying, selling, and regulating big ol' jet airliners. Plus: America's best small airport, one thing he'd change about the check-in process, and the biggest change facing the airline industry.

https://byerussell.substack.com/

Like a prophet emerging from the haze of the Arizona desert, our guest Holly Zoba leads hospitality brands to the promised land. She has decades of experience in hotel sales and marketing, and has founded, co-founded, or been essential to companies that are dedicated to educating generations of hotel professionals.

Her classes are THE gold standard of hospitality sales training, and we talk about how digital marketing is changing to meet new audiences, getting on board the AI train, new trends in customer loyalty, and the importance of carpool etiquette on snow days.

https://hotelbschool.com/
https://www.scoutsimply.com/
https://www.influencer-sales.com/
https://hsmaiacademy.org/team/holly-zoba-chdm/

Are "sensory inclusive" cities possible? Why do we take the basic UX of airports, hotels, and public spaces for granted? What's the report card on hotel and travel company marketing to LGBTQ+ audiences? What's the problem with carbon offsets? And why aren't more airports like PDX? Matt and Jeff solve mysteries and speak truths with JD Shadel, a London-based strategist, editor, and freelance journalist working at the intersection of tech and lifestyle, and you can read their recent work at:

https://www.cntraveler.com/contributor/jd-shadel
https://www.jdshadel.com/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/people/jd-shadel/

Travel inspires us to imagine and the American Field Service is a special catalyst. President Tara Boyce-Hoffman shares with No Show the spark that AFS unleashes through the unlimited power of young minds to dream. To become global citizens. To question the ethics of borders and practice diplomatic dialog.

https://www.afsusa.org/
https://www.instagram.com/afs_usa

This time of year is known as RFP season, the glorious time when corporate America sends their travel planners to conferences like GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) to negotiate prices and with hotels for next year. A time of wonder and mystery!

If it were a company, the federal government would be the largest travel buyer of hotel stays in America, possibly in the world. And not by a little bit, it dwarfs the next highest which is believed to be Deloitte, BY TEN TIMES!

How does all of this work, who benefits, where's it going, and what does the General Services Agency have to do with it? Spoiler: a whole lot.

Isaac Collazo is VP of Analytics at STR, Smith Travel Research, THE global leader in hospitality data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. What does that mean, it means when it comes to hotel numbers, nobody understands them like Isaac, but what he really understands, Moneyball style, is the story behind the data.

We get into STR reports, what metaphor Isaac would you use to describe the first half of this year, the future of extended stay, how a new president would affect the industry, the different between office vacancy stats and hotel vacancy stats, and a GREAT mystery question.

https://str.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tell-me-more-a-hospitality-data-podcast/

The airline industry. Brian Sumers lives it, he breathes, he speaks truth about it unlike anybody else. He is the founder and editor of The Airline Observer, a newsletter covering the global airline business. He's also co-host of The Air Show in which he discusses the business of the sky.

Brian talks with Jeff and Matt about shenanigans at Southwest Airlines, whether inbound flight traffic from China is ever coming back, saving Boeing, Jetblue's pivot, and the future of loyalty programs.

Every day David Eisen translates the avalanche of data and news about the hotel industry into something everyone, not just people in the business, but everyone, can understand. He joins Jeff and Matt to talk about the rise of partnerships among hotel management companies, the ever-multiplying number of hotel brands, and the impact of flashy stunts on loyalty programs.

https://hotelsmag.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-eisen/

CoralTree Hospitality's Arlene Ramirez and HotStats' Tanya Venegas help us untangle and understand the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), an essential tool that guides financial management and reporting across hotels. How it started, why hotels use it, and how it's staying up-to-date.

https://usali.hftp.org/
https://www.hftp.org/
https://www.hotstats.com/
https://www.coraltreehospitality.com/

The CEO and co-founder of Kalibri Labs on the (many) existential threats to the hospitality industry, Uber and Facebook as players in the travel business, the challenges and opportunities around loyalty programs, and the hotel revenue buzzword that needs to go away.

00:50 Existential Threats to the Hotel Industry
04:40 When Will Amazon Return To Travel?
10:40 Will Uber Be A Player Too?
17:00 Direct Bookings and Loyalty Programs Impact
25:30 Mystery Question

https://www.kalibrilabs.com/

Have you ever pondered the fate of your hotel soap after check-out? Shawn Seipler did, big time, and it launched him on an extraordinary mission to improve global hygiene. The Clean the World founder joins us to talk about how its Global Hospitality Program works with over 8,000 participants to upcycle soap and tackle some of the deadliest problems on the planet.

https://cleantheworld.org
https://www.instagram.com/clean_the_world/

Atomic Ranch editor Jickie Torres joins us to talk Palm Springs, modernism, and the 75th anniversary of the the Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, now the largest mid-century modern home event on the East Coast. Touring architecture has been around as long as the Coliseum, but we're in a new era of architecture as tourism, with an economic impact we're just starting to understand.

https://www.hollinhillsmodern.com
https://modernismweek.com
https://www.atomic-ranch.com
https://www.eichlerhometour.org

What exactly is Sustainable Aviation Fuel? What needs to happen for us to start using it? And what's the government's role in propelling a new era of sky travel? Our guest Meg Whitty is Vice President of Corporate Relations and Marketing at LanzaJet, a company whose aim is to decarbonize the aviation industry. She joins us in this episode to talk about jet fuel's brave new future, which is WAY closer than you think.

lanzajet.com
LanzaJet on LinkedIn

How big of a factor is sustainability when U.S. travelers choose where to go? Who do they think should be responsible for addressing cultural and economic sustainability challenges? How much does a crowded versus uncrowded destination matter when tourists make decisions on where to go? We will definitely, absolutely find out with Madeline List, a Senior Research Analyst with Phocuswright and the author of the report Beyond Climate Change: Cultural and Economic Sustainability in Travel.https://www.phocuswright.com/Travel-Research/Consumer-Trends/Beyond-Climate-Change-Cultural-and-Economic-Sustainability-in-Travel

Ever wonder how the experience at a hotel might transform your next hospital visit? Stowe Shoemaker is a legend in hospitality academia, and we discuss his new book Hospitable Healthcare: Just What the Patient Ordered!, co-written with Peter Yesawich. Hospitals are taking a closer look at how hotels approach care, service, and satisfaction, and a change in your hospital stay might come sooner than you think.

https://hospitablehealthcare.com/
https://www.unlv.edu/news/expert/stowe-shoemaker

The industry veteran and co-founder of Travel Again Advisory dives in to biggest question facing the travel industry. And can we please come up with an alternative to the term "revenge travel?" And what's going on with American Airlines, and the state of loyalty programs in general?

https://www.travelagainadvisory.com

Today Hilton is comprised of 17 brands, with more than 5,900 properties in 114 countries around the world. Marriott International controls over 7,000 properties in 131 countries, including the Ritz-Carlton and St. Regis luxury brands. But...were they really competing with each other over the last century, or competing with the world?

In this episode we're going extremely meta in a review of another podcast you should absolutely listen to. Also, we investigate the intriguingly named "bed wars" of the late 90s.

Lise is Chief Program Officer of the National Park Foundation, leading program and partnerships teams responsible for delivering more than $89 million in grants and other support to national parks. We talk about the NPS' overall economic impact on communities and regions, keeping a healthy symbiosis between public and private interests, combatting overtourism, and hidden gems in the park system.

National Park Foundation
Leave No Trace
Recreate Responsibly
NPF Instagram

The award-winning associate professor from Penn State's School of Hospitality Management talks about the possible (?) demise of those dreaded resort fees, how local economies depend on NCAA football weekends, and gives us the state of the union for the hotel industry heading into 2024.

https://hhd.psu.edu/contact/breffni-noone
https://www.investopedia.com/college-football-provides-an-economic-boost-7964994

The chance to speak with someone who has visited 191 countries was just too good, which is why academic, entrepreneur, advisor to world leaders, and world traveler David Goldberg joins us. What are tips for traveling in a fraught world? What's the hairiest travel situation he's been in? What's an underrated country you should visit? Did he know from an early age he'd become an international man of mystery?

Amtrav CEO Jeff Klee sheds light on New Distribution Capability (NDC), a transformative schema that's changing the way we travel. NDC is reshaping the landscape of airfares, third-party technology, and personalization in unexpected ways. We also talk about Southwest's unique (and longstanding) stance on third-party sales, and how NDC elevates the importance of price assurance tools in hotel distribution.

https://www.amtrav.com/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/amtrav/

Are major hotel brands taking over the world? Does office attendance directly correlate to hotel occupancy? What's the worst day for occupancy at hotels? And how do you handle travel to places that have recently experienced a disaster?

https://www.highatlasfoundation.org/

Summer may be winding down, but the road to adventure lives forever in our hearts. Or does it? People still take road trips, but where they go and why has changed drastically over the last 30 years, and the coming wave of EVs is going to alter our idea of a road trip even more.

So, do gas prices matter at all? Do sky-high airfares impact our willingness to sit in a car for 20 hours? Did roadside hotels see a post-pandemic dip or boost in summer occupancy? What's the worst state to drive to? And are people still driving cross-country, Griswold-style?

How exactly to airline loyalty programs work, and is there any way to game the system? Credits cards play a huge factor, but do any of them give you the edge? We use American Airlines as our case study example of how plane perks and credit cards are so intertwined.

The more you know:
https://cwsi.net/aa.htm
https://viewfromthewing.com/trumps-team-discloses-they-violate-airline-rules-use-throwaway-ticketing-site-skiplagged-for-airfare/
RocketMiles.comhttps://lpcalculator.com/#/landing

Hotel data people: prepare for enlightenment as we sit down with Jan Freitag, CoStar's National Director of Hospitality Analytics. How does 2024 look? Why is occupancy still still trailing 4% below pre-pandemic levels? What data sources does he use? What's his new podcast about? Is he actually a wizard who can predict the future? YES.

News you can use:
https://www.costar.com/
https://str.com/
https://www.trade.gov/data-visualization/apisi-92-monitor
https://www.hatchshowprint.com/
https://www.lanemotormuseum.org/

Aaron is the Executive Director of must-see destination The Neon Museum Las Vegas, a space dedicated to collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting iconic Las Vegas signs. We talk about pushing the boundaries of a traditional museum experience, preserving history in a town that embraces demolition, and the mysterious red button in Siegfried and Roy's mansion.

https://www.neonmuseum.org/
https://www.duckduckshed.com/
https://www.instagram.com/theneonmuseumlasvegas/

Wait, the Intercontinental is related to Pan Am? Holiday Inn really came from a movie? Motel 6 was (briefly) $6 a night? Doubletree was just because the land surveyed had two trees on it? Jeff and Matt explore the naming origins of hotels big and small.

The more you know:
https://www.panam.org/about/606-across-the-pacific-film
https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/holiday-inn-70th-anniversary/index.html

Does Taylor Swift really affect hotel prices? Which airport has the longest security wait times? Are international travelers favoring the east coast more than the west coast? Should you buy trip insurance? Is there really a hotel designed specifically for pilots and flight crews? Are plane tickets radically more expensive this year? Let's find out.

Dave is an award-winning professor, author, and hospitality legend, and he's the recipient of the 2023 Revenue Optimization Educator of the Year award from The Hospitality Sales & Marketing Association International (HSMAI). We talk about what NOT to do in a downturn, whether promotions actually work, the reality around loyalty programs, and advice he gives soon-to-be graduates.

Dan is Director of Operations for the Andaz West Hollywood, perhaps the most storied rock and roll hotel in history. We talk about the debaucherous past of what was formerly known as the "Riot Hyatt" on the Sunset Strip, the growing focus on wellness in hospitality, what to do when celebrities walk through the lobby, and mysterious campsites of the Old West.

https://www.hyatt.com/andaz/laxss-andaz-west-hollywood
https://www.newidea.com.au/andaz-west-hollywood-hotel-review
https://www.miravalresorts.com

This week's No Show is with the one and only Susan Barry, Hive Marketing Queen Bee and host of the superb hospitality pod Top Floor. Together we live, we laugh, we grow ... and we learn. About what? How there's oversupply and "underdemolishment" in certain markets, secret cash stashes in hotel rooms, marauding parrots. The usual.

https://www.topfloorpodcast.com
https://www.hive-marketing.com

Endless Events founder Will Curran tells us about the next "Jarvis" leap forward for virtual assistants, how that's going to help travelers, and how events are going to have to evolve over the next 5 years if they want to stay relevant. Also, will humans still sit at the concierge desk? And what's the most underrated city to hold an event?

Endless Events

EventProfs Community

Event Tech Podcast
Flighty app

Endless Events founder Will Curran has been thinking a lot about how technology will change how and why we get together. The robots are coming, for sure, and they will reshape the process of event planning, the way we network with people, the vacation choices we make, the process of booking trips, and ... well ... pretty much everything else.

Endless Events

EventProfs Community

EventIcons

Event Brew
Event Tech Podcast
AISIS - The Lost Tapes

Canna-tourism generated $17B+ last year, and a wave of state legalization means that number will only get higher. Brooke is the owner of Green Bonnet Pharms in Oklahoma, a complete vertically integrated cannabis business from seed to smoke, and she takes us through the challenges and opportunities in a travel sector primed for growth (and green).

https://www.greenbonnetco.com/
https://www.instagram.com/greenbonnetpharms/
https://www.budandbreakfast.com/
https://www.instagram.com/campcana/

Once the ultimate hotel perk, the minibar was the symbol of a boozier, jet settier time - the ultimate ridiculous convenience for a ridiculous price. Today, minibars have become empty refrigerators. What happened? And are they truly dead? Could they be resurrected in an era of food delivery and streamlined costs?

Ned is a hotel industry veteran and principal of Grill Ventures International, and he talks with us about the past, present, and future of breakfast buffets. Also, what's wrong with coffee stations? And is the "grab and go" the future of hotel food?

Ned also makes special mention of the Express Start project's initiator and "owner," Jenifer Zeigler; extraordinary leadership (and hard work) was demonstrated continuously by Julie Baldwin, Gary Swanson, Ed Sellers (Royal Cup), Lisa Lang, Core Concepts, America's Kitchen and more.

Sue Morgan made it "hot," adding omelets, breakfast meats, pancakes and more. Jennifer Gribble and David Neves developed the incredible upgrades that launched in 2018. And throughout it all, Patti Javer made sure (and still does) that everything worked as it should.

https://www.costar.com/article/1426810412/hotel-buffets-have-returned-and-evolved

Why do you only get one luggage rack in your hotel room? Why can't pools stay open longer? What's the best compact suitcase for overhead compartments? What outdoor brands should partner up with hotels? Burning questions, spicy answers! Plus one of our predictions about hotel partnerships actually came true.

Ok, no more messing around. Travel expert Samir Bhatnagar tells us about getting compensated for delayed European flights, skipping ATM fees around the world, the best airline pajamas, the future of airport lounges, taxi tips when abroad, and the most useful travel apps.

Stuff we mentioned:
https://www.aerolopa.com
https://www.rome2rio.com
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/travel-rewards/eu-261/
https://thepointsguy.com/credit-cards/american-express-platinum/

We got going on hacks and could not stop. TSA lines, travel pants, airport lounges, bandanas, detergent pods ... there are so many ways to make your trip easier, cheaper, and much more pleasant.

Stuff we mentioned:
https://sudshare.com
https://www.hydroflask.com/32-oz-wide-mouth
https://www.mollyjogger.com/products/ccc-legacy-bandana
https://seatosummit.com/collections/dry-bags
https://www.chase.com/personal/credit-cards/education/rewards-benefits/a-guide-to-chase-sapphire-reserve-benefits

Boutique and lifestyle hotels are everywhere now. Why? And how do you define "boutique," exactly? And are we headed towards a world where every hotel is a lifestyle brand? What are lifestyle hotel brands you should check out? We'll answer these questions!

Links:
https://www.graduatehotels.com/
https://www.piaule.com/
https://www.21cmuseumhotels.com/
https://www.sbe.com/hotels/mondrian/park-avenue

What's our favorite travel statistic of the year? Our favorite travel tool? The most gratifying travel news? The most interesting corporate acquisition? The dumbest buzzword? Season 2 kicks off with a snappy roundup of the year that was.

Hopper's Nima Vaez and Tucker Holland drop in to tell us what's happening with "the world's fastest-growing mobile-first travel marketplace." Splashy new partnerships, machine learning, and fintech solutions are part of it, but what's the secret sauce?

Vegas literally defines itself as an experience, but is it selling something people want? As implosion comes for the casino icons of the 80s and 90s, our collective sense of what makes a satisfying user experience is changing. Is Vegas capturing the right “UX” of the moment, or just going through the motions? Is the architectural and experiential design of the town still, what’s the word … fun?

Part 2 of our interview with Matt Cornelius, EVP at Airports Council International - North America gets into the real nitty-gritty: how exactly do airports make money? How do dominant carriers affect the cities they're based in? And, most important, what's the best way to board an airplane?

What do movies and TV shows get universally wrong about hotels? What do they (occasionally) get right? What movie hotel would we want to visit? Wait, Stanley Kubrick never filmed a movie outside of the UK?

Links:
The design team that worked on interiors at the Park Hyatt Tokyo: https://superpotato.jp/en/
The inspiration for The Shining's Overlook Hotel: https://www.stanleyhotel.com
The Andaz West Hollywood: https://lucire.com/2021/1013vo0.shtml

Executive Vice President at Airports Council International-North America Matt Cornelius tells us where the buck stops at airports, and explains how they really run. Also, what's the best-run airport in America?

We just inherited a boatload of cash with one deeply eccentric stipulation: we have to build a hotel with it. But where? And why? And in which places does Jeff tell Matt we definitely CANNOT build one? And wait, somebody's building a hotel in Antarctica?

Jeff talks with Eric about Greenview's role as the world’s leading provider of sustainability programs and data management for the hospitality and tourism sector. What's the current narrative around sustainability in tourism, and where can you make a difference as a hotel owner and a responsible traveler?

They're big and they buy things. Why aren't the tech giants taking over online travel? Or maybe ... they already have!?We also talk about the illusion of choice when it comes to booking online. Major players like Expedia gobbled up other travel sites, so when you're shopping around, often you're just browsing different floors of the same department store.

Plus, it's only a matter of time before Airbnb starts listing hotel rooms. What's stopped them so far?

Online Travel Agencies - a euphemistic way to describe the robots that (maybe) help us find deals on hotels, plane tickets, and a growing number of other travel-related services. How did the Expedias of the world get so dominant? What do hotels actually think of them? How does everybody (except you) make money off them?

Lodging Analytics Research & Consulting issues a quarterly U.S. Lodging Industry Outlook that's essential reading in the hotel business, and Ryan stops by to talk about LARC's Q1 report, coming trends in 2022, markets to watch, the pandemic's impact on commercial real estate, Airbnb regulation, and the Tuscan sun.

See what else LARC is up to at https://www.larcanalytics.com

What's it like to work in the orbit of the most famous theme park in the world? We're in the midst of Disney World's 50th Anniversary, and it got us thinking about all the usual stuff: utopia-building, timeshare economics, land use in central Florida, job reports, tourism dollars, Westworld, civic ecosystems, the Orlando airport. Just your typical winter vacation daydreams.

This week our crystal ball is crystal clear. The unholy union of Frontier and Spirit Airlines got us thinking: what if a wisecracking genie appeared and gave us three wishes to change the airline industry? Fees, genuine competition (that's where the archaic yet lyric-friendly "cabotage" comes in), passenger comfort ... it would be a whole new world!

Which passports give you the most juice, and why? We get into passport rankings, how politics and economics affect those rankings, underrated and "golden" passports, and the ups and downs of traveling to China.

Shortened schedules, pruned expectations, and fewer exhibitors didn't stop one of the world's biggest trade shows from bringing in the new year. But in a world of stricter health precautions, new travel restrictions, and changing tastes, can CES change too? Does it even need to?

What was the most overused word in hotel marketing in 2021? What will be a hot destination in 2022? What was the biggest ah-ha moment in tourism economics this year? What are good ways to keep up with the industry? What's a sneaky trend nobody's talking about (but should)? What's the best state fair? What luggage should I buy? And more!

Links mentioned in the episode:
The Points Guy https://thepointsguy.com
View From The Wing https://viewfromthewing.com
BTN Daily https://www.businesstravelnews.com
Hotel News Now https://www.costar.com/news/section/hospitality
Hospitalitynet https://www.hospitalitynet.org
World Economic Forum https://www.weforum.org
Hotstats https://www.hotstats.com
LARC https://www.larcanalytics.com
PhocusWire https://www.phocuswire.com

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Small Business Saturday...welcome to the Advent Calendar of Capitalism! Everybody has ambitions to "own" a shopping day. Why not travel? And between Omicron and lingering pandemic wariness/weariness, what's going to happen to hotels 3 weeks from now? Also, Question of the Week: What’s the worst night during the holidays for a hotel manager?

It happens every time, that feeling of resignation and frustration when you're checking in/checking out and there's this laundry list of fees below the price you had stuck in your head when you booked the hotel. What are resort and destination fees, are they really "deceptive," and are hotels and travelers stuck with them forever?

Expedia and ARC just released their annual 2022 travel hacks and it got us thinking about why hotel and flight deals happen when they happen, how work and leisure schedules are changing, and Anthony Bourdain's maxim on why restaurants push seafood on Mondays.

Every day there’s a flurry of articles about how the hotel and travel industry are trying to rebound and readjust to covid-era life.

When there’s talk about speeding up that rebound the topic invariably touches on vax passports and why they’re so hard for a decentralized system like the U.S. to do. One body that shows up consistently in these conversations is IATA, the International Air Transport Association.

Ok, so, what is the IATA, what is its mandate, can it help the state of international business travel, and how do you pronounce the acronym exactly?