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This Week in Hospitality

This Week in Hospitality

thisweekinhospitality 32 Episodes Oct 14, 2026

Every Friday morning, This Week in Hospitality brings you the most important stories, insights, and innovations shaping the global hospitality industry — distilled and discussed by people who actually build within it. Hosted by Ben Wolff, Scott Eddy, Edwin Kramer, and Zach Busekrus, this weekly conversation is crafted for the founders, operators, and dreamers creating the next generation of hospitality brands. Each episode breaks down the week’s most compelling hospitality stories and explores what they really mean for independent hotel owners, boutique brands, and experiential travel entrepreneurs. From brand strategy and design trends to tech disruption and capital markets, the podcast keeps you informed, inspired, and ready for what’s next.

Episodes

You Should Standardize a Lot — But Never The Soul of a Hotel: Dovetail + Co's Shawn Cioto on the Lean Boutique Hotel
You Should Standardize a Lot — But Never The Soul of a Hotel: Dovetail + Co's Shawn Cioto on the Lean Boutique Hotel Oct 14, 2026 1738 This Week’s Guest: Shawn Cioto - Vice President of Operations, Dovetail + Co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-cioto-914264b/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Shawn Cioto, VP of Operations at Dovetail + Co, explains why the owner of seven hotels is taking management in-house: large
Is Airbnb Bringing Luxe Back? AI's Hotel Jobs Debate, Wyndham's Bet on Sports Illustrated Hotels, and Hilton's 500-Hotel College-Town Goal
Is Airbnb Bringing Luxe Back? AI's Hotel Jobs Debate, Wyndham's Bet on Sports Illustrated Hotels, and Hilton's 500-Hotel College-Town Goal Oct 9, 2026 4086 On this week’s This Week in Hospitality, Zach Busekrus, Ben Wolff, and Edwin Kramer dig into hospitality’s search for consistency, growth, and better economics. Scott Eddy is away in Italy, so the trio gets straight to the news. Airbnb appears ready to bring back a Luxe tier as it adds hotels and services to its platform. The hosts debate whether a badge and inspections can restore trust and deliv
Empower Your People: Staypineapple's Dina Belon-Sayre on Personality-Driven Hotels and the AI Threat to Independents
Empower Your People: Staypineapple's Dina Belon-Sayre on Personality-Driven Hotels and the AI Threat to Independents Oct 6, 2026 2186 This Week’s Guest: Dina Belon-Sayre - President, Staypineapple Hotels LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinabelon/ Explore Staypineapple Hotels: https://www.staypineapple.com/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Dina Belon-Sayre, President of Staypineapple Hotels, opens with a story from a P
Hilton Says AI Is Coming for the OTAs, Kayak's Founders Launch Lola, and Choice Buys Harvest Hosts for $130M
Hilton Says AI Is Coming for the OTAs, Kayak's Founders Launch Lola, and Choice Buys Harvest Hosts for $130M Oct 2, 2026 3840 Scott is in Sicily, so Zach, Ben Wolff and Edwin Kramer take the docket. Edwin checks in from a new boutique hotel on Spain's Costa Blanca, and Ben is fresh from the glamping show. The first story: Hilton's CIO says AI assistants have put online travel agencies under real threat, yet he expects personal AI agents to become commissionable channels too. The crew asks what "direct" even means when an
The Third Way: Curator's Jennifer Barnwell on Cost Savings, Robots and the Next Chapter for Hotel Collections
The Third Way: Curator's Jennifer Barnwell on Cost Savings, Robots and the Next Chapter for Hotel Collections Oct 1, 2026 2148 https://roompricegenie.com/ Checkout code for 25% off: WISH26   This Week’s Guest: Jennifer Barnwell - President, Curator Hotel & Resort Collection LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-barnwell-a8689ba/ Explore Curator Hotel & Resort Collection: https://www.curatorhotelsandresorts.com/team/jennifer-barnwell/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in
Nourishment, Expression, Movement: Heidi Zimmer on Building Wild Rice Retreat on the Shores of Lake Superior
Nourishment, Expression, Movement: Heidi Zimmer on Building Wild Rice Retreat on the Shores of Lake Superior Sep 29, 2026 1949 https://roompricegenie.com/ Checkout code for 25% off: WISH26   This Week's Guest: Heidi Zimmer — Founder, Wild Rice Retreat Connect with Heidi: https://heidi-zimmer.com/ Explore Wild Rice Retreats: https://wildriceretreat.com/   Your Hosts: Zach Busekrus — Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera
Royal Caribbean Buys Half of Sandals, Uber's Hotel Play, and Big Hotel Brands Start Betting on Creators
Royal Caribbean Buys Half of Sandals, Uber's Hotel Play, and Big Hotel Brands Start Betting on Creators Sep 25, 2026 3895 The full squad is back. Royal Caribbean is taking a 50% stake in Sandals Resorts for roughly $3 billion, and the crew breaks down why a cruise line wants an all-inclusive hotel brand. Edwin runs the numbers on who is really serving whose guests, and Scott, who has known the Stewart family most of his life, explains why cruise companies can't build ships fast enough and are coming ashore instead. T
8 Independent Hoteliers, 2 Days, 1 Recap: What We Heard at IHS Miami
8 Independent Hoteliers, 2 Days, 1 Recap: What We Heard at IHS Miami Sep 18, 2026 1624 Fresh off Independent Hotel Show Miami, Zach and Ben break down two days of conversations with eight owners, operators, and investors from across independent hospitality. Before the full interviews roll out on This Week in Hospitality, this is the recap — the ideas that kept surfacing across every mic session, the moments that caught us off guard, and what these conversations say about where indep
From Ian Schrager to AKA — Blake Danner on the Loyalty Lie, Brand Differentiation, and Staying Small
From Ian Schrager to AKA — Blake Danner on the Loyalty Lie, Brand Differentiation, and Staying Small Sep 11, 2026 3850 Blake Danner has spent his career inside the rooms where lifestyle hospitality was invented. Eleven years alongside Ian Schrager opening the Clift, Sanderson, and Shore Club. Seven years as founding COO of the Sydell Group, where he helped create Nomad, The Line, and Freehand — 11 hotels in seven years. A stint running operations at Proper Hospitality. And now, as COO of AKA Hotels & Hotel Re
AI-Generated Hotels That Don't Exist, Airbnb Cuts Fees for Hosts Who Bring Their Own Demand, and Google Turns the Search Bar Into a Booking Engine
AI-Generated Hotels That Don't Exist, Airbnb Cuts Fees for Hosts Who Bring Their Own Demand, and Google Turns the Search Bar Into a Booking Engine Sep 4, 2026 4141 TikTok Go was supposed to turn creators into a hotel distribution channel. Instead, a Skift investigation found dozens of AI-generated fake videos attached to real properties — fabricated suites, nonexistent amenities, faceless accounts — with one Sedona luxury resort racking up 17 flagged videos. The kicker: the hotel doesn't even sell through TikTok Go's booking partners. Scott says forget the A
Buying Hotels Off Bad Yelp Reviews & The Boutique Hotel Brand Obituary
Buying Hotels Off Bad Yelp Reviews & The Boutique Hotel Brand Obituary Aug 28, 2026 4165 Hotel sales in the US are up 28% in the first half of 2026 — and a meaningful chunk of that activity is chasing bad Yelp reviews, not trophy assets. JMI Realty founder Drew Bridges joins the show to break down how his firm is using AI to source acquisition targets off terrible guest feedback. The specific deal: a Hilton Garden Inn in Austin bought for $100K per key that reviewers called "janky" a
Google Buys Spirit’s Data, Timeshares Are Cool Now, and Alice Sherman on the Future of Hiring in Hospitality
Google Buys Spirit’s Data, Timeshares Are Cool Now, and Alice Sherman on the Future of Hiring in Hospitality Aug 21, 2026 5020 On this week's episode the guys are joined by Alice Sherman, CEO of HVS Executive Search! Alice Sherman has placed some of the most powerful executives in hospitality. As CEO of HVS Executive Search, she's seen thousands of resumes, sat across from hundreds of owners, and walked the halls of Congress to lobby for the industry. Her message to the business? You're still hiring wrong.   Years of expe

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