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196 – 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt.2)
The 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.
The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities have partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 2, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities.
Episode Transcript
Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.
Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We hope you enjoyed episode one of our special edition Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. This is episode two where we’re gonna sit down with Karen Mendez and David Rosenberg, who’s gonna talk to us about the exciting updates from the postcard, cabins and outdoor collection brand from Marriott. We talked to Bill Stachler about revenue optimization. And lastly, we sit down with Albert Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Hotel Equities. We hope you enjoy these interviews, out in Las Vegas.
Ryan Embree:
Hello Everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Karen Mendez, VP of Operations, and David Rosenberg, President of the Focus Services Division and Outdoor Collection. Karen, David, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot.
Karen & David:
Thank you for having us.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Well, let’s talk about this conference. First of all, nearly a thousand people are gonna be here on site. This is very, very exciting. Um, talk to us a little bit about what you’re kind of expecting for these next couple days, and then we can get into your role a little bit. Karen, we’ll start with you.
Karen Mendez:
Oh, great. Thank you. Um, this is really exciting for me. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, this is, I’ve been in the hotel industry 26, 27 years. I’ve been to a ton of conferences, and what I’m most excited about this one is bringing the postcard general managers. They have never had an opportunity to get together like this and really talk about their business. So I’m just excited for them to build off the energy and to meet everybody within hotel equities face to face, and really just know that what they do matter.
Ryan Embree:
David, what are you excited about for the next couple days here at that leadership conference?
David Rosenberg:
I appreciate that. So our theme this year is Transforming Together and 2025 was an incredible year with the additional postcard, cabins, springboard, hospitality, our continued organic growth, not only in the US Canada, but as now we have presences in the Caribbean and Latin America. And to come together the one time a year where we get to bring an entire leadership team. It’s just inspiring to connect, learn from each other and share this time together.
Ryan Embree:
So cool. And so it’s just a testament to the comprehensive nature of hotel equities portfolio. I think, you know, one of those spaces, obviously postcard cabins and the, the, um, outdoor collection that we’re gonna talk about. Karen, you want to talk to us a little bit about your role and, um, what it, you know, how it kind of correlates with the outdoor collection?
Karen Mendez:
Sure, my pleasure. Um, we started working with postcard cabins last year, um, in January with a specific goal of bringing that brand and launching it into the Marriott ethos. So the past year, my job has been molding the two cultures, all the systems, the general managers onboarding, and getting this team ready for Marriott and getting Marriot ready for outdoors. Um, it’s been a really exciting journey, a lot of learnings and yeah, now we’re, we’re a year, a little bit over a year full into it, about six months, uh, launched on outdoor collection and really just excited to continue to see this brand grow and scale and, and see what we can do.
Ryan Embree:
What an accomplishment. And congratulations seeing your team. David, what about you?
David Rosenberg:
From my perspective, this is new territory, right? Um, it’s a segment of the business that really, uh, was born through COVID as people looked for different types of, uh, experiences. And what we found is it’s sustainable and, uh, it allows a segment of the traveler to enjoy something different than a brick and mortar hotel experience. Uh, what we’ve also found is this is a great opportunity for a drive-in market. So most postcard cabins are within an hour and a half, two hour drive of major cities, major destinations, and it, and it’s experiential and it allows people to enjoy nature in a way of what’s important to them. So it’s a drive in trip, it’s flexible, and it’s not camping, it’s not glamping. It’s a little bit of a combination of both. And we have found that customers really enjoy this experience.
Ryan Embree:
I wanna drill into that because I wanna get your opinion on why you think, David, that has such staying power as a model and how it’s not just one of those, uh, you know, fads that kind of pass by hospitality. This has some real staying power here. So much so that Marriott has, you know, has going all in, so to speak, with the outdoor collection.
David Rosenberg:
So with Marriot’s launch of outdoor collection, they also see this opportunity to scale this business, and specifically for 25 to the 45, uh, demographic, um, that really, that have really morphed into this hybrid work environment and allowing them the flexibility to, uh, extend weekends. So these cabins have wifi and they have things that, uh, they’re not typically for a business traveler, but it allows, uh, the flexibility for someone they want to be online or if the opportunity to completely unplugged Yeah. Uh, and get away from their day-to-day life. And we’re also finding that it’s a short-term booking, that it’s, it’s, it’s just so instinctual that it’s not a trip that’s planned months out. In fact, we find that most customers of booking these cabins, uh, three to seven days out, and, uh, and again, the feedback we have received from customers through Marriott surveys, through online, uh, reputation management, um, is just outstanding.
Ryan Embree:
No, I love, I love to hear that. And Karen, you know, on the operations side, I mean, as David mentioned, it’s very different type of experience out there. How do you kind of ensure, uh, guest satisfaction and make sure that, you know, the travelers that are are getting there, obviously getting the experience they want, um, but also with the level of service that they expect?
Karen Mendez:
Yeah, you know, it brought a unique challenge. Um, postcard cabin is a hundred percent contactless. So our entire guest journey, we do not have a front desk. There’s not a main lobby. Everything. The tone has to be set through a text message, um, from the day that you arrive. And how do you do that with a Bonvoy member? And how do you make that BONVOY member feel appreciated? And how do they find their cabin? It’s been an adventure, and what we’ve learned is that guests like the adventure. They like that little satisfaction that they get. Like, I kind of found this place on my own, and I had all the directions that I had, all the tools, and it really sets the tone correctly at the very beginning of the state to have that disconnection that David talked about. Um, and then it’s just making sure it’s really hotel basics, clean rooms and everything in working order, because there isn’t a front desk to go and talk to. And so having those hotel basics in there, it’s really molding the two of the outdoor and what, you know, what you expect a hotel.
Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. Fascinating to hear. And, uh, you’re right. I mean, it’s, it’s an experience unlike any other, but at the same time, that foundational piece still has to be intact there, uh, with the lo the unwavering loyalty that Marriott, uh, Bonvoy members obviously have for, for the brand. David, walk us through the postcard cabins model, you know, for maybe, uh, uh, someone that’s not too familiar and, and why it works operationally.
David Rosenberg:
Yeah. So there are 29 postcard cabins everywhere from the East coast, uh, up in the Catskills to the West coast in Big Bear in in California, and good, as Karen mentioned, the contactless journey. Um, when we first got involved, very different than a hotel playbook, and we were very, uh, focused, we were very specific on how do we make this work for this customer where not only they have a great experience, but being a new segment of the business. We need the customers to be the marketing engine to grow this business through their feedback and what they like. And what we have found really through Karen’s operational expertise and the platform she created and has now executed with the team that less is more and focusing on, uh, execution, reservation check in, checkout and services in between. The guest just wants to know they have what they need. Everything is prepared in advance for them and allow them to journey how they choose. Sure. And, uh, every story is different, but the common thread we hear is people love this journey. Um, these cabins are well appointed. Uh, the bedding is fantastic, the little kitchenette, there’s showers, all of ’em have fire pits and, and picnic tables. So the opportunity to really cook outside, over open wood campfire, but sleep under the stars with massive bay windows where you do not see another cabin from your cabin, but could just enjoy the sounds and sight of nature, allows people to relax and refresh and recharge. And again, the feedback has just been overwhelmingly positive.
Ryan Embree:
Well, to reiterate your point, I mean, the guest being the most powerful storyteller out there, I mean, what, what you just kind of set the table on, uh, if you see or hear that experience from a fa family member, a colleague or a friend, um, how powerful is that and being the ability to do that. Very, very cool. Karen, you mentioned your GMs are gonna be here at the leadership conference, who is very exciting for you. How have you really mobilized your team to, uh, achieve that consistently high guest satisfaction score that David’s talking about?
Karen Mendez:
Um, really listening to feedback. I think we were all a little nervous starting this journey, and I think, uh, in the very beginning we decided to sign with TNGI think it was important for us to be consistent in the brand voice, knowing that this was a new brand and people were gonna be interested in knowing about it, but also taking that feedback that we were getting and being nimble and really trying to say, Hey, is this working? Is this not working? Um, and really working with our partners in Marriot to say, okay, this isn’t gonna fall in line with a typical Fairfield in or this model model this is, and how can we make this successful? Um, and really just having open conversations. So I, I think that from like looking back at this whole, the last year, um, the general managers really just believed in the product and then stayed true to it, but then also knew that there’s a lot of flexibility. We had to sort of at times guide our ship into the way that we wanted to .
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Well, listen hospitality, you know, sometimes it, it gets a bad rap for not being flexible or nimble in some of the, you know, brand standards or anything like that. So being able to, you know, know that this is a new brand, you have to make changes on the fly and your GM being open to those, um, and listening to that feedback, right? Our travelers are giving us the blueprint for a perfect stay, every single review or piece of feedback they leave. So, uh, very, very cool. Now, uh, obviously the major part of this last year was the, what you and your team did with the integration with Marriott. How David has that become, you know, being a part of a major brand ecosystem? How has that influenced performance, uh, and confidence in the postcard cabin motto?
David Rosenberg:
Yeah, I think having the Marriott engine behind this brand, and it is a relatively new brand, was critical. 80% of our reservations come now through marriott.com, um, 350 million plus BONVOY members. Uh, Marriott is fully committed to the outdoor collection postcard, cabins being a founding member of outdoor collection. And we believe we’re just getting started.
Ryan Embree:
So cool to see. And like you said, a a major brand like Marriott coming in with the outdoor collection really shows that it’s a staple. It’s not one of those passing fads. It’s, it’s here to stay. So, uh, I, you know, one of these things I talked, um, you know, in another interview about these conferences, we always try to like, to predict the future look into the crystal ball, so to speak, right? So I want kind of ask you both kind of what your vision for the future is, now that you are fully integrated, uh, what do you see this brand kind of transforming into transformation obviously being a major theme here? Karen, we’ll start with you and David. We’ll, we’ll end on you.
Karen Mendez:
Yeah. I think outdoor environment is limitless and almost what it has. I think what makes postcard very cool is the disconnection part of it, where you are on your own individual journey, but I think outdoors can be group environments. It can grow into so much more, a little bit more high scale and a little bit more roughing. It. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw people in Yorks with a brand at one time, you know, in the future. I think there’s a lot of limited po possibilities for it as it continues to grow. And, um, I’m really excited to see what the future brings.
David Rosenberg:
Yeah, I would add that growing population of 25 to 45 with discretionary income. We have 29 postcards. There’s plenty of capacity, opportunity, the entire country, Colorado, Wyoming, the, the Midwest, uh, Canada, um, there is so much opportunity for, uh, outdoor collection or this type of business. I think we are in the first inning, uh, of what’ll end up being I hope, a very successful, not just brand, but a segment of our business that seems to be untapped. Yeah. And couldn’t be happier that we’re starting with Marriott, uh, major brand distribution to, um, their channels, the Bonvoy members. It’s powerful. And I would anticipate over the next five plus years, uh, we’ll be talking at this at a much larger scale than 29 assets.
Ryan Embree:
Well, plenty of outdoors to go around, like you said. Uh, you know, very cool to see this brand and everything at its infancy and so many more of those storytellers and experiences just widening and broadening and, and now with the power of Marriott behind you, uh, sky’s the limit, so to speak, on, on this, uh, segment and brand. So, congratulations, Karen and David. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today.
Karen & David:
Thank you. Thanks, Ryan.
Ryan Embree:
All right.
Ryan Embree:
Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are here at day three at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Bill Stachler, SVP of Revenue Optimization. Bill, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you, Ryan. Scheduled to come talk to us. Appreciate it.
Bill Stachler:
It’s fun to do.
Ryan Embree:
Guys have had a busy couple days here. Uh, I wanted to talk to you about kind of the, uh, how the event goes so far and what you hope to glean, uh, to glean from, uh, you know, connecting with your peers here.
Bill Stachler:
Yeah, this, this is fun for us. And, you know, revenue management teams, we’re always remote. We’re always in our house. We’re in a small office, no windows. And, uh, it’s great to see the teams come and look for their revenue manager. Yeah. And all, all the, all the happys and all the conversations, you know, it’s, it breaks the monotony of we stare at spreadsheets, we look at the computer and they’re actually getting the intermingle. So it’s fun. It’s, it’s a good experience for everybody.
Ryan Embree:
I’m sure. And you know, we’re gonna talk about it here, but there’s that, that close relationships between revenue and operation, so critical. Uh, but before we get into that, uh, give us a little bit more insight about your role and maybe hospitality journey background at led you here.
Bill Stachler:
Hospitality Journey background. I, I, I guess I, I’ll, I’ll start with that and I’m gonna age myself a little bit. So, um, I started in the hospitality industry a long time ago, and I was at a resort in Scottsdale and I was the, um, director of rooms. And one day, um, I worked for Red Lion. They brought in a new gentleman, his name was Stu Maines. They just hired him from American Airlines and he was going to start Revenue Management. I checked him in and we started talking and he asked me to launch. And before I knew it, I was the first revenue manager at Red Lion. Oh, wow. So I went from, I was on the wrong side of every merger. I was at Red Lion that got bought by DoubleTree, that got bought by Promise, that got bought by Hilton, that got bought by Blackstone. Um, and I was, I was there for about 26 years with Hilton. I was the senior director of revenue management for franchises. And, uh, joined he’s team about five years ago.
Ryan Embree:
Very cool. And you know, one of your thi one of your elements of your story, uh, is something we hear all the time whenever I ask about hospitality backgrounds, is just, is typically like a mentor or somebody that really influenced you or, or got you excited about hospitality and then just the transformation evolution between brands and, uh, gives you a lot of experience. And, you know, one of the things that when you talk about with revenue optimization is you have to look at the macro environment. You have to see kind of what guests and travelers are, uh, the sentiment that they’re feeling and how that’s going to translate into bookings and try to predict that. Try to put your finger on that. Um, what do you think in today’s climate right now, which is challenging, um, but what do you think right now travelers and guests are feeling, and how does that translate to what you’re doing?
Bill Stachler:
Well, you know, unfortunately, and you may have heard this from other people on our team, it, I wish it was a bigger picture, but it’s become a very street corner to street corner mm-hmm . And what is generating business in each one of these markets? What is, what has fallen off? Yeah. You know, we’re going through the winter now and, uh, had some really interesting learning experiences from the outdoor collection. Yeah. You know, I forgot that if there’s a blizzard, nobody can come . Um, so it’s, I think, I think the idea is to keep the pulse on each individual market. Yeah. And then look at the bigger picture. We do it every week. We go through and we look at the, the major cities. We have a lot of secondary and then tertiary markets. Sure. Um, so it becomes even more intricate Yeah. As opposed to bigger picture.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. And I think that’s has been the evolution is you have to get dialed in because you have the data, which we’re gonna talk about because each market is so different. Then you have things, uh, like the World Cup a couple years ago, Taylor Swift, what we were talking about. You have these events that come through that really have a, a major impact on, um, sometimes your entire year. Um, but you know, there there’s also a misunderstanding that it’s just about pricing. What other factors beyond pricing or levers can you pull, um, that operators are focusing on right now to make, uh, you know, to make end meet?
Bill Stachler:
Yeah. Good point. Um, I can’t price myself out of anything. I, I, I like to believe I can. Yeah. I, um, base is so important and hitting those windows has become even more important. I spent a lot of time with the, with, with our marketing team about our presence for each one of our properties and where we positioned, um, things that I’ve never quite honestly cared about, are focused on Sure. Is now one of the most intricate parts of, of what we do and are we priced to the, what we’re delivering. And that’s, you know, everybody wants more rate. Rate. I can’t tell you a day where somebody doesn’t go, bill, we need more a DR. Right. However, you know, it’s like we, we played a game yesterday with our focus service GMs on the RevPAR game, 10 hotels length, the stay when is things coming in? And it’s just trying to get everybody on the same page, I think is the most important about what is our, what is our price value, and are we pushing the envelope when we can?
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. And it’s those little, um, margins, tweaks, changes that make the difference Right now when margins are so tight.
Bill Stachler:
And when Star came out for this year, it was 0.8, they’ve already revised it to 0.6. Yeah. So the game’s gonna be, can you sell out when you can? Yeah. Can you find that extra two rooms? Can you find a penny, a dollar? Yeah. And, you know, those are the things that it’s, it’s going back kind of a little bit of old school to the how many details can you pay attention to at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. And trying to identify trends. You know, we’ve just, before we got on, we were looking at you and I, I was pulling up my star report. Sure. One week doesn’t make a trend. Yeah. Even three, four weeks doesn’t make a trend. But we’re always trying to identify, catch the wave. Yeah. Or get in front of, um, things that might not go the right way.
Ryan Embree:
That’s a great point. And you know, one of the places where you can maybe find that edge is in the data and the analytics, um, which we have more than ever now. Right. I don’t think, I’ve been to one of these conferences within the last three years and heard about AI and how that’s, you know, giving us more data, but it’s leveraging that. How are you using that on your end with the data and the analytics side?
Bill Stachler:
Yeah, there’s a million reports available. And I think consistently looking at the same reports, I think is more important. The more noise isn’t always better. Um, we’re actually spending time with my group today for about a half an hour just talking about opportunities using AI to, whether it’s shop, get more informed about what’s going on in the market. Um, I make everybody use it for email. Yeah. Um, and we’re, we’re just, we’re just trying to get ahead of that. Yeah. My goal always is I wanna be a disruptor in every market. Um, but that doesn’t mean in the week for the week, it’s, we’ve been focusing in out 90 days. Yeah. You could see patterns. We have the data, we could see who’s booked. Yeah. And going after some of those targets. The, just what we were just talking about, those three extra rooms, that one extra dollar rate, you can get that when no one else is paying attention. ’cause everybody’s so hyperfocused in inside of 14 days right now.
Ryan Embree:
It’s, it’s very, I important. ’cause that booking window has certainly evolved and, and changed a little bit.
Bill Stachler:
It’s inside a week right now. Yeah. It really is.
Ryan Embree:
Well, and what you need, there is some close relationship between your operations team and, and the revenue management team. Uh, speak to that and how, you know, something like this where you’re getting together with those, how, how closely you need to stay in contact.
Bill Stachler:
Well, each one of my people has, uh, they’re equal or the VP of operations for every asset I sit in between Pete and Dave in my office. So we’re, we’re together every day. So, um, on top of it, we have our sales connections as well. So if all three of those are on the same page and they’re, we’re not looking at the same data, we’re not looking at the same opportunities and or same challenges, we’re never gonna be successful. ’cause if you don’t move the whole ship towards the right direction, you’re gonna be challenged.
Ryan Embree:
Staying consistent. That’s where the, the magic happens there. Um, what, how do you, you talked about how, you know, market conditions right now and not focusing so much on, you know, two or three weeks doesn’t make a trend. Ownership groups right now, though. They’re looking at, they want that extra dollar, they need that extra dollar. How do you keep them focused on long-term stability and not so much focused on that volatility that might change from data?
Bill Stachler:
That’s, it’s hard. I mean, everybody wants to do better, right. And we’re very owner centric. We’re very transparent. They have access to the systems. Um, we could talk about a week, or we could talk about last night I two emails, what happened last night. Um, I think the big key to that is making sure that we’re all in the same, again, I go back to the same page, but that we’re having the communications, we’re explaining what we’re doing. We’re open, open-minded to some of the, some of the opportunities. I have no problems with testing anything, but if we have to test something, I always tell everybody, you gotta put your hands under, under, under your legs for at least a couple weeks. If we’re gonna try to test something, can we push, can we push? And we’re, we’re willing to make mistakes to do better.
Ryan Embree:
Well, and that again, lends to what we talked about, giving you more data and you can learn from those, uh, successes and sometimes even better lessons learning from those failures.
Bill Stachler:
It’s okay to fail. Yeah. Let’s just not do it all the time. Right. Let’s not make the same mistakes over and over again. Um, we have a couple tests going on right now. Uh, there’s three specific ones in my head. Um, one of them is an absolute failure. The other two we’re kind of in the gray area. So we’re kind of excited to see if, if we can’t leverage that in different markets, you know, I like to believe that every one of our markets at least has a couple clone markets Yeah. That are gonna act the same way. So we, what we do is we have a weekly meeting, and then we have at the end of that, we have about 15 minutes where we share, and we have an ongoing team. So somebody’s trying something, somebody sees something. And, you know, we’re over 20 people now and we, we cover the us It’s a constant beeping in the corner of my Yeah. But they’ve, they’ve all adapted to it and they’ve all kind of championed it. So we like to stay ahead of everybody.
Ryan Embree:
And thats the benefit of scale, that hotel equity is, uh, that hotel equities brings. Well, we’re gonna wrap up and I’m gonna challenge you. Gimme some, uh, hopeful good news for hospitality and, and 2026 and and beyond.
Bill Stachler:
I’m excited about the summer. Okay. Um, you know, the winter’s been rough. I mean, we’ve had some, we’ve had some challenging weather. You know, we have, we have the World Cup. We’re gonna wait and see what happens with the World Cup. Hopefully that brings, um, some extra demand. We had a really good summer last year, and, you know, the group, the group position in a lot of the bigger brands gets better as the year goes on. Sure. So, um, we all benefit off of that.
Ryan Embree:
We heard a lot of that kind of stormy weather, doom and gloom at the beginning of last year, but ended up being, like you said, a really good summer for a lot of hotels and on markets.
Bill Stachler:
It’s, you know, uh, the glass half full, glass half empty. I’m always the guy who doesn’t like the glass I got.So we, we, we always the, the idea is change the story.
Ryan Embree:
Love it. Well Bill, thank you so much for taking again, time outta your day at the leadership conference, and, uh, we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot.
Ryan Embree:
Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot coming to you live from the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Albert Smith, COO at Hotel Equities. Al thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
Albert Smith:
Fantastic to be here with you.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Busy couple days here at the leadership conference. Buzzing, you can feel the energy here. Almost a thousand attendees. It’s been an, an incredible couple days. Um, I wanna talk to you about the theme, transforming Together. What does that mean to you and what do you hope to get outta these, you know, couple days what spending with your team?
Albert Smith:
And again, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Uh, you kind of hit it at the beginning. Transforming together, we’re as large as we’ve ever been, right? We had a merger about this time last year and, uh, we’re, we’re topping off 12, 13,000 employees across the entire enterprise. So transforming together is really about synergizing our enterprise, providing stability, getting people to know each other, leveraging best practices, and, um, being able to do that in a intentional and meaningful way.
Ryan Embree:
Ben Rafter, your CEO, uh, talked about fit over volume. You just mentioned this is the biggest you’ve ever been. Uh, how do you continue on a operation standpoint to be disciplined about growth, um, and not kind of lose that identity?
Albert Smith:
Lemme go backwards for half a second. Biggest is fine. This is the largest we’ve ever been. Being large is not necessarily important to me. I wanna be really good at what we do. So, to answer your question, um, a level of operational readiness, the tools, the support, the people, the expertise to make sure that as we grow, if that’s what needs to happen, that we do it well and we can stabilize very quickly.
Ryan Embree:
You are also expanding into some new horizons. We had some really exciting conversations about postcard cabins and just the brand and, and everything you’re doing over there. Really cool. Even entering into new segments like Caribbean and and Latin America. Um, how do you do all of that scale operationally, but still, you know, not making it a one size fits all?
Albert Smith:
That’s a, that’s a great question. First of all, continuing to rely on our fundamentals and expectations. First and foremost, um, we have been very intentional about building different operating, um, divisions and applying very specific expertise within those divisions. So if a new asset comes along in either Cala in our lifestyle division, full service, focus service, outdoor hospitality, we’ve got no shortage of resources that can lean in, absorb, provide stability, and, uh, at the end of the day, um, uh, provide value for our owns.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, each segment, each market, very different. Um, you know, the diversity of, uh, Cala and that region too, being able to have an onsite team there, uh, I think critical, we talked to your team about that, uh, with having such a large portfolio, Al Albert, when you’re trying to roll something out to everyone, how, how is that methodical testing before bringing it to scale? Right? Because I wanna make sure everything works functionally and, uh, fits within your culture
Albert Smith:
Unofficially. But I’ll give you a little bit of a sneak preview. We have a fourth operating vertical, if you will, and we’re, we’re at the moment calling it HE Labs In a very controlled environment, and by the way, leadership, there is tech forward. Uh, but a variety and diversity of resources to help stand up whatever it is, we’re beta testing, right? Uh, so in a controlled environment, we’re able to test a new technology, uh, explore new markets and done with no shortage of resources that have been there, done that stood up operating verticals in the past. Um, so we, we, we tested out, we refine along the way and, uh, when it’s ready, we either roll it out in a very methodical way, training, communication, uh, no shortage of support to make sure that, uh, training wheels on the front end, but you can take them off very quickly and, uh, trust that, uh, those that, uh, need the ride the bike can do it, uh, efficiently.
Ryan Embree:
It, it’s brilliant. We hear a lot of, uh, brands doing something very similar trying to roll out to their franchisee. So what with, uh, portfolio of your size, I mean, um, you to see that kind of strategy and methodical, it’s gotta also be really great for your employees to know that they, this has been tested. You know, you’re, you’re making sure that you’re making a run on it and it’s being ruled out and delivered in the right way. Um, so hotel equities scale nowadays is a, a, uh, asset. It’s a privilege and, um, uh, an advantage. How do you make sure that your own property teams are, uh, seeing that as a, uh, advantage rather than a complexity?
Albert Smith:
Lemme make sure I answer that question correctly, but our shared services are, are important, right? So accounting is agnostic to style, right? Um, it is agnostic to style. There’s some nuance there, but we wanna make sure that the shared service that we have within our company is strong. It is, but it allows the experts across lifestyle, full service, outdoor hospitality, where there’s, in some cases brand nuance or in some cases needs to be more marketing forward. How we tell the story, how we go out and acquire guests, how we create awareness, uh, shared service allows us to, first of all, that’s the backbone, but let’s the experts do their job, lean in and ultimately support the property level teams so that they can operate efficiently.
Ryan Embree:
Alright, so Albert, as we wrap up operationally, been asking a lot of your, your team members, kind of, what’s the vision for 2026 and beyond for hotel equities with all this growth?
Albert Smith:
Well, first of all, transforming together, right? You gotta, you gotta start somewhere. We’ve been doing it. We’re, we’re coming together in a meaningful way. The stability portion is gonna be really important, uh, but making sure that the fundamentals are there so that we can execute at a high level.
Ryan Embree:
Well, really exciting. Like I said, we’ve had a lot of your team members here talking about all the strategic growth. Uh, love to continue to see hotel equities and, and what’s next. Hope to see, uh, you here and, um, everyone transform together. So Al thank you so much for taking the time.
Albert Smith:
Ryan, It was a pleasure. Thank you, Sir.
Ryan Embree:
All right.
Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.
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The 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.
The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities have partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 2, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities.
Episode Transcript
Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio.
Ryan Embree:
Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We hope you enjoyed episode one of our special edition Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. This is episode two where we’re gonna sit down with Karen Mendez and David Rosenberg, who’s gonna talk to us about the exciting updates from the postcard, cabins and outdoor collection brand from Marriott. We talked to Bill Stachler about revenue optimization. And lastly, we sit down with Albert Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Hotel Equities. We hope you enjoy these interviews, out in Las Vegas.
Ryan Embree:
Hello Everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Karen Mendez, VP of Operations, and David Rosenberg, President of the Focus Services Division and Outdoor Collection. Karen, David, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot.
Karen & David:
Thank you for having us.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Well, let’s talk about this conference. First of all, nearly a thousand people are gonna be here on site. This is very, very exciting. Um, talk to us a little bit about what you’re kind of expecting for these next couple days, and then we can get into your role a little bit. Karen, we’ll start with you.
Karen Mendez:
Oh, great. Thank you. Um, this is really exciting for me. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, this is, I’ve been in the hotel industry 26, 27 years. I’ve been to a ton of conferences, and what I’m most excited about this one is bringing the postcard general managers. They have never had an opportunity to get together like this and really talk about their business. So I’m just excited for them to build off the energy and to meet everybody within hotel equities face to face, and really just know that what they do matter.
Ryan Embree:
David, what are you excited about for the next couple days here at that leadership conference?
David Rosenberg:
I appreciate that. So our theme this year is Transforming Together and 2025 was an incredible year with the additional postcard, cabins, springboard, hospitality, our continued organic growth, not only in the US Canada, but as now we have presences in the Caribbean and Latin America. And to come together the one time a year where we get to bring an entire leadership team. It’s just inspiring to connect, learn from each other and share this time together.
Ryan Embree:
So cool. And so it’s just a testament to the comprehensive nature of hotel equities portfolio. I think, you know, one of those spaces, obviously postcard cabins and the, the, um, outdoor collection that we’re gonna talk about. Karen, you want to talk to us a little bit about your role and, um, what it, you know, how it kind of correlates with the outdoor collection?
Karen Mendez:
Sure, my pleasure. Um, we started working with postcard cabins last year, um, in January with a specific goal of bringing that brand and launching it into the Marriott ethos. So the past year, my job has been molding the two cultures, all the systems, the general managers onboarding, and getting this team ready for Marriott and getting Marriot ready for outdoors. Um, it’s been a really exciting journey, a lot of learnings and yeah, now we’re, we’re a year, a little bit over a year full into it, about six months, uh, launched on outdoor collection and really just excited to continue to see this brand grow and scale and, and see what we can do.
Ryan Embree:
What an accomplishment. And congratulations seeing your team. David, what about you?
David Rosenberg:
From my perspective, this is new territory, right? Um, it’s a segment of the business that really, uh, was born through COVID as people looked for different types of, uh, experiences. And what we found is it’s sustainable and, uh, it allows a segment of the traveler to enjoy something different than a brick and mortar hotel experience. Uh, what we’ve also found is this is a great opportunity for a drive-in market. So most postcard cabins are within an hour and a half, two hour drive of major cities, major destinations, and it, and it’s experiential and it allows people to enjoy nature in a way of what’s important to them. So it’s a drive in trip, it’s flexible, and it’s not camping, it’s not glamping. It’s a little bit of a combination of both. And we have found that customers really enjoy this experience.
Ryan Embree:
I wanna drill into that because I wanna get your opinion on why you think, David, that has such staying power as a model and how it’s not just one of those, uh, you know, fads that kind of pass by hospitality. This has some real staying power here. So much so that Marriott has, you know, has going all in, so to speak, with the outdoor collection.
David Rosenberg:
So with Marriot’s launch of outdoor collection, they also see this opportunity to scale this business, and specifically for 25 to the 45, uh, demographic, um, that really, that have really morphed into this hybrid work environment and allowing them the flexibility to, uh, extend weekends. So these cabins have wifi and they have things that, uh, they’re not typically for a business traveler, but it allows, uh, the flexibility for someone they want to be online or if the opportunity to completely unplugged Yeah. Uh, and get away from their day-to-day life. And we’re also finding that it’s a short-term booking, that it’s, it’s, it’s just so instinctual that it’s not a trip that’s planned months out. In fact, we find that most customers of booking these cabins, uh, three to seven days out, and, uh, and again, the feedback we have received from customers through Marriott surveys, through online, uh, reputation management, um, is just outstanding.
Ryan Embree:
No, I love, I love to hear that. And Karen, you know, on the operations side, I mean, as David mentioned, it’s very different type of experience out there. How do you kind of ensure, uh, guest satisfaction and make sure that, you know, the travelers that are are getting there, obviously getting the experience they want, um, but also with the level of service that they expect?
Karen Mendez:
Yeah, you know, it brought a unique challenge. Um, postcard cabin is a hundred percent contactless. So our entire guest journey, we do not have a front desk. There’s not a main lobby. Everything. The tone has to be set through a text message, um, from the day that you arrive. And how do you do that with a Bonvoy member? And how do you make that BONVOY member feel appreciated? And how do they find their cabin? It’s been an adventure, and what we’ve learned is that guests like the adventure. They like that little satisfaction that they get. Like, I kind of found this place on my own, and I had all the directions that I had, all the tools, and it really sets the tone correctly at the very beginning of the state to have that disconnection that David talked about. Um, and then it’s just making sure it’s really hotel basics, clean rooms and everything in working order, because there isn’t a front desk to go and talk to. And so having those hotel basics in there, it’s really molding the two of the outdoor and what, you know, what you expect a hotel.
Ryan Embree:
Absolutely. Fascinating to hear. And, uh, you’re right. I mean, it’s, it’s an experience unlike any other, but at the same time, that foundational piece still has to be intact there, uh, with the lo the unwavering loyalty that Marriott, uh, Bonvoy members obviously have for, for the brand. David, walk us through the postcard cabins model, you know, for maybe, uh, uh, someone that’s not too familiar and, and why it works operationally.
David Rosenberg:
Yeah. So there are 29 postcard cabins everywhere from the East coast, uh, up in the Catskills to the West coast in Big Bear in in California, and good, as Karen mentioned, the contactless journey. Um, when we first got involved, very different than a hotel playbook, and we were very, uh, focused, we were very specific on how do we make this work for this customer where not only they have a great experience, but being a new segment of the business. We need the customers to be the marketing engine to grow this business through their feedback and what they like. And what we have found really through Karen’s operational expertise and the platform she created and has now executed with the team that less is more and focusing on, uh, execution, reservation check in, checkout and services in between. The guest just wants to know they have what they need. Everything is prepared in advance for them and allow them to journey how they choose. Sure. And, uh, every story is different, but the common thread we hear is people love this journey. Um, these cabins are well appointed. Uh, the bedding is fantastic, the little kitchenette, there’s showers, all of ’em have fire pits and, and picnic tables. So the opportunity to really cook outside, over open wood campfire, but sleep under the stars with massive bay windows where you do not see another cabin from your cabin, but could just enjoy the sounds and sight of nature, allows people to relax and refresh and recharge. And again, the feedback has just been overwhelmingly positive.
Ryan Embree:
Well, to reiterate your point, I mean, the guest being the most powerful storyteller out there, I mean, what, what you just kind of set the table on, uh, if you see or hear that experience from a fa family member, a colleague or a friend, um, how powerful is that and being the ability to do that. Very, very cool. Karen, you mentioned your GMs are gonna be here at the leadership conference, who is very exciting for you. How have you really mobilized your team to, uh, achieve that consistently high guest satisfaction score that David’s talking about?
Karen Mendez:
Um, really listening to feedback. I think we were all a little nervous starting this journey, and I think, uh, in the very beginning we decided to sign with TNGI think it was important for us to be consistent in the brand voice, knowing that this was a new brand and people were gonna be interested in knowing about it, but also taking that feedback that we were getting and being nimble and really trying to say, Hey, is this working? Is this not working? Um, and really working with our partners in Marriot to say, okay, this isn’t gonna fall in line with a typical Fairfield in or this model model this is, and how can we make this successful? Um, and really just having open conversations. So I, I think that from like looking back at this whole, the last year, um, the general managers really just believed in the product and then stayed true to it, but then also knew that there’s a lot of flexibility. We had to sort of at times guide our ship into the way that we wanted to .
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Well, listen hospitality, you know, sometimes it, it gets a bad rap for not being flexible or nimble in some of the, you know, brand standards or anything like that. So being able to, you know, know that this is a new brand, you have to make changes on the fly and your GM being open to those, um, and listening to that feedback, right? Our travelers are giving us the blueprint for a perfect stay, every single review or piece of feedback they leave. So, uh, very, very cool. Now, uh, obviously the major part of this last year was the, what you and your team did with the integration with Marriott. How David has that become, you know, being a part of a major brand ecosystem? How has that influenced performance, uh, and confidence in the postcard cabin motto?
David Rosenberg:
Yeah, I think having the Marriott engine behind this brand, and it is a relatively new brand, was critical. 80% of our reservations come now through marriott.com, um, 350 million plus BONVOY members. Uh, Marriott is fully committed to the outdoor collection postcard, cabins being a founding member of outdoor collection. And we believe we’re just getting started.
Ryan Embree:
So cool to see. And like you said, a a major brand like Marriott coming in with the outdoor collection really shows that it’s a staple. It’s not one of those passing fads. It’s, it’s here to stay. So, uh, I, you know, one of these things I talked, um, you know, in another interview about these conferences, we always try to like, to predict the future look into the crystal ball, so to speak, right? So I want kind of ask you both kind of what your vision for the future is, now that you are fully integrated, uh, what do you see this brand kind of transforming into transformation obviously being a major theme here? Karen, we’ll start with you and David. We’ll, we’ll end on you.
Karen Mendez:
Yeah. I think outdoor environment is limitless and almost what it has. I think what makes postcard very cool is the disconnection part of it, where you are on your own individual journey, but I think outdoors can be group environments. It can grow into so much more, a little bit more high scale and a little bit more roughing. It. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw people in Yorks with a brand at one time, you know, in the future. I think there’s a lot of limited po possibilities for it as it continues to grow. And, um, I’m really excited to see what the future brings.
David Rosenberg:
Yeah, I would add that growing population of 25 to 45 with discretionary income. We have 29 postcards. There’s plenty of capacity, opportunity, the entire country, Colorado, Wyoming, the, the Midwest, uh, Canada, um, there is so much opportunity for, uh, outdoor collection or this type of business. I think we are in the first inning, uh, of what’ll end up being I hope, a very successful, not just brand, but a segment of our business that seems to be untapped. Yeah. And couldn’t be happier that we’re starting with Marriott, uh, major brand distribution to, um, their channels, the Bonvoy members. It’s powerful. And I would anticipate over the next five plus years, uh, we’ll be talking at this at a much larger scale than 29 assets.
Ryan Embree:
Well, plenty of outdoors to go around, like you said. Uh, you know, very cool to see this brand and everything at its infancy and so many more of those storytellers and experiences just widening and broadening and, and now with the power of Marriott behind you, uh, sky’s the limit, so to speak, on, on this, uh, segment and brand. So, congratulations, Karen and David. Thank you so much for spending some time with me today.
Karen & David:
Thank you. Thanks, Ryan.
Ryan Embree:
All right.
Ryan Embree:
Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are here at day three at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Bill Stachler, SVP of Revenue Optimization. Bill, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you, Ryan. Scheduled to come talk to us. Appreciate it.
Bill Stachler:
It’s fun to do.
Ryan Embree:
Guys have had a busy couple days here. Uh, I wanted to talk to you about kind of the, uh, how the event goes so far and what you hope to glean, uh, to glean from, uh, you know, connecting with your peers here.
Bill Stachler:
Yeah, this, this is fun for us. And, you know, revenue management teams, we’re always remote. We’re always in our house. We’re in a small office, no windows. And, uh, it’s great to see the teams come and look for their revenue manager. Yeah. And all, all the, all the happys and all the conversations, you know, it’s, it breaks the monotony of we stare at spreadsheets, we look at the computer and they’re actually getting the intermingle. So it’s fun. It’s, it’s a good experience for everybody.
Ryan Embree:
I’m sure. And you know, we’re gonna talk about it here, but there’s that, that close relationships between revenue and operation, so critical. Uh, but before we get into that, uh, give us a little bit more insight about your role and maybe hospitality journey background at led you here.
Bill Stachler:
Hospitality Journey background. I, I, I guess I, I’ll, I’ll start with that and I’m gonna age myself a little bit. So, um, I started in the hospitality industry a long time ago, and I was at a resort in Scottsdale and I was the, um, director of rooms. And one day, um, I worked for Red Lion. They brought in a new gentleman, his name was Stu Maines. They just hired him from American Airlines and he was going to start Revenue Management. I checked him in and we started talking and he asked me to launch. And before I knew it, I was the first revenue manager at Red Lion. Oh, wow. So I went from, I was on the wrong side of every merger. I was at Red Lion that got bought by DoubleTree, that got bought by Promise, that got bought by Hilton, that got bought by Blackstone. Um, and I was, I was there for about 26 years with Hilton. I was the senior director of revenue management for franchises. And, uh, joined he’s team about five years ago.
Ryan Embree:
Very cool. And you know, one of your thi one of your elements of your story, uh, is something we hear all the time whenever I ask about hospitality backgrounds, is just, is typically like a mentor or somebody that really influenced you or, or got you excited about hospitality and then just the transformation evolution between brands and, uh, gives you a lot of experience. And, you know, one of the things that when you talk about with revenue optimization is you have to look at the macro environment. You have to see kind of what guests and travelers are, uh, the sentiment that they’re feeling and how that’s going to translate into bookings and try to predict that. Try to put your finger on that. Um, what do you think in today’s climate right now, which is challenging, um, but what do you think right now travelers and guests are feeling, and how does that translate to what you’re doing?
Bill Stachler:
Well, you know, unfortunately, and you may have heard this from other people on our team, it, I wish it was a bigger picture, but it’s become a very street corner to street corner mm-hmm . And what is generating business in each one of these markets? What is, what has fallen off? Yeah. You know, we’re going through the winter now and, uh, had some really interesting learning experiences from the outdoor collection. Yeah. You know, I forgot that if there’s a blizzard, nobody can come . Um, so it’s, I think, I think the idea is to keep the pulse on each individual market. Yeah. And then look at the bigger picture. We do it every week. We go through and we look at the, the major cities. We have a lot of secondary and then tertiary markets. Sure. Um, so it becomes even more intricate Yeah. As opposed to bigger picture.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. And I think that’s has been the evolution is you have to get dialed in because you have the data, which we’re gonna talk about because each market is so different. Then you have things, uh, like the World Cup a couple years ago, Taylor Swift, what we were talking about. You have these events that come through that really have a, a major impact on, um, sometimes your entire year. Um, but you know, there there’s also a misunderstanding that it’s just about pricing. What other factors beyond pricing or levers can you pull, um, that operators are focusing on right now to make, uh, you know, to make end meet?
Bill Stachler:
Yeah. Good point. Um, I can’t price myself out of anything. I, I, I like to believe I can. Yeah. I, um, base is so important and hitting those windows has become even more important. I spent a lot of time with the, with, with our marketing team about our presence for each one of our properties and where we positioned, um, things that I’ve never quite honestly cared about, are focused on Sure. Is now one of the most intricate parts of, of what we do and are we priced to the, what we’re delivering. And that’s, you know, everybody wants more rate. Rate. I can’t tell you a day where somebody doesn’t go, bill, we need more a DR. Right. However, you know, it’s like we, we played a game yesterday with our focus service GMs on the RevPAR game, 10 hotels length, the stay when is things coming in? And it’s just trying to get everybody on the same page, I think is the most important about what is our, what is our price value, and are we pushing the envelope when we can?
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. And it’s those little, um, margins, tweaks, changes that make the difference Right now when margins are so tight.
Bill Stachler:
And when Star came out for this year, it was 0.8, they’ve already revised it to 0.6. Yeah. So the game’s gonna be, can you sell out when you can? Yeah. Can you find that extra two rooms? Can you find a penny, a dollar? Yeah. And, you know, those are the things that it’s, it’s going back kind of a little bit of old school to the how many details can you pay attention to at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. And trying to identify trends. You know, we’ve just, before we got on, we were looking at you and I, I was pulling up my star report. Sure. One week doesn’t make a trend. Yeah. Even three, four weeks doesn’t make a trend. But we’re always trying to identify, catch the wave. Yeah. Or get in front of, um, things that might not go the right way.
Ryan Embree:
That’s a great point. And you know, one of the places where you can maybe find that edge is in the data and the analytics, um, which we have more than ever now. Right. I don’t think, I’ve been to one of these conferences within the last three years and heard about AI and how that’s, you know, giving us more data, but it’s leveraging that. How are you using that on your end with the data and the analytics side?
Bill Stachler:
Yeah, there’s a million reports available. And I think consistently looking at the same reports, I think is more important. The more noise isn’t always better. Um, we’re actually spending time with my group today for about a half an hour just talking about opportunities using AI to, whether it’s shop, get more informed about what’s going on in the market. Um, I make everybody use it for email. Yeah. Um, and we’re, we’re just, we’re just trying to get ahead of that. Yeah. My goal always is I wanna be a disruptor in every market. Um, but that doesn’t mean in the week for the week, it’s, we’ve been focusing in out 90 days. Yeah. You could see patterns. We have the data, we could see who’s booked. Yeah. And going after some of those targets. The, just what we were just talking about, those three extra rooms, that one extra dollar rate, you can get that when no one else is paying attention. ’cause everybody’s so hyperfocused in inside of 14 days right now.
Ryan Embree:
It’s, it’s very, I important. ’cause that booking window has certainly evolved and, and changed a little bit.
Bill Stachler:
It’s inside a week right now. Yeah. It really is.
Ryan Embree:
Well, and what you need, there is some close relationship between your operations team and, and the revenue management team. Uh, speak to that and how, you know, something like this where you’re getting together with those, how, how closely you need to stay in contact.
Bill Stachler:
Well, each one of my people has, uh, they’re equal or the VP of operations for every asset I sit in between Pete and Dave in my office. So we’re, we’re together every day. So, um, on top of it, we have our sales connections as well. So if all three of those are on the same page and they’re, we’re not looking at the same data, we’re not looking at the same opportunities and or same challenges, we’re never gonna be successful. ’cause if you don’t move the whole ship towards the right direction, you’re gonna be challenged.
Ryan Embree:
Staying consistent. That’s where the, the magic happens there. Um, what, how do you, you talked about how, you know, market conditions right now and not focusing so much on, you know, two or three weeks doesn’t make a trend. Ownership groups right now, though. They’re looking at, they want that extra dollar, they need that extra dollar. How do you keep them focused on long-term stability and not so much focused on that volatility that might change from data?
Bill Stachler:
That’s, it’s hard. I mean, everybody wants to do better, right. And we’re very owner centric. We’re very transparent. They have access to the systems. Um, we could talk about a week, or we could talk about last night I two emails, what happened last night. Um, I think the big key to that is making sure that we’re all in the same, again, I go back to the same page, but that we’re having the communications, we’re explaining what we’re doing. We’re open, open-minded to some of the, some of the opportunities. I have no problems with testing anything, but if we have to test something, I always tell everybody, you gotta put your hands under, under, under your legs for at least a couple weeks. If we’re gonna try to test something, can we push, can we push? And we’re, we’re willing to make mistakes to do better.
Ryan Embree:
Well, and that again, lends to what we talked about, giving you more data and you can learn from those, uh, successes and sometimes even better lessons learning from those failures.
Bill Stachler:
It’s okay to fail. Yeah. Let’s just not do it all the time. Right. Let’s not make the same mistakes over and over again. Um, we have a couple tests going on right now. Uh, there’s three specific ones in my head. Um, one of them is an absolute failure. The other two we’re kind of in the gray area. So we’re kind of excited to see if, if we can’t leverage that in different markets, you know, I like to believe that every one of our markets at least has a couple clone markets Yeah. That are gonna act the same way. So we, what we do is we have a weekly meeting, and then we have at the end of that, we have about 15 minutes where we share, and we have an ongoing team. So somebody’s trying something, somebody sees something. And, you know, we’re over 20 people now and we, we cover the us It’s a constant beeping in the corner of my Yeah. But they’ve, they’ve all adapted to it and they’ve all kind of championed it. So we like to stay ahead of everybody.
Ryan Embree:
And thats the benefit of scale, that hotel equity is, uh, that hotel equities brings. Well, we’re gonna wrap up and I’m gonna challenge you. Gimme some, uh, hopeful good news for hospitality and, and 2026 and and beyond.
Bill Stachler:
I’m excited about the summer. Okay. Um, you know, the winter’s been rough. I mean, we’ve had some, we’ve had some challenging weather. You know, we have, we have the World Cup. We’re gonna wait and see what happens with the World Cup. Hopefully that brings, um, some extra demand. We had a really good summer last year, and, you know, the group, the group position in a lot of the bigger brands gets better as the year goes on. Sure. So, um, we all benefit off of that.
Ryan Embree:
We heard a lot of that kind of stormy weather, doom and gloom at the beginning of last year, but ended up being, like you said, a really good summer for a lot of hotels and on markets.
Bill Stachler:
It’s, you know, uh, the glass half full, glass half empty. I’m always the guy who doesn’t like the glass I got.So we, we, we always the, the idea is change the story.
Ryan Embree:
Love it. Well Bill, thank you so much for taking again, time outta your day at the leadership conference, and, uh, we’ll talk to you next time on the Suite Spot.
Ryan Embree:
Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot coming to you live from the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Albert Smith, COO at Hotel Equities. Al thank you so much for taking the time to speak with me today.
Albert Smith:
Fantastic to be here with you.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah. Busy couple days here at the leadership conference. Buzzing, you can feel the energy here. Almost a thousand attendees. It’s been an, an incredible couple days. Um, I wanna talk to you about the theme, transforming Together. What does that mean to you and what do you hope to get outta these, you know, couple days what spending with your team?
Albert Smith:
And again, thanks for having me. Absolutely. Uh, you kind of hit it at the beginning. Transforming together, we’re as large as we’ve ever been, right? We had a merger about this time last year and, uh, we’re, we’re topping off 12, 13,000 employees across the entire enterprise. So transforming together is really about synergizing our enterprise, providing stability, getting people to know each other, leveraging best practices, and, um, being able to do that in a intentional and meaningful way.
Ryan Embree:
Ben Rafter, your CEO, uh, talked about fit over volume. You just mentioned this is the biggest you’ve ever been. Uh, how do you continue on a operation standpoint to be disciplined about growth, um, and not kind of lose that identity?
Albert Smith:
Lemme go backwards for half a second. Biggest is fine. This is the largest we’ve ever been. Being large is not necessarily important to me. I wanna be really good at what we do. So, to answer your question, um, a level of operational readiness, the tools, the support, the people, the expertise to make sure that as we grow, if that’s what needs to happen, that we do it well and we can stabilize very quickly.
Ryan Embree:
You are also expanding into some new horizons. We had some really exciting conversations about postcard cabins and just the brand and, and everything you’re doing over there. Really cool. Even entering into new segments like Caribbean and and Latin America. Um, how do you do all of that scale operationally, but still, you know, not making it a one size fits all?
Albert Smith:
That’s a, that’s a great question. First of all, continuing to rely on our fundamentals and expectations. First and foremost, um, we have been very intentional about building different operating, um, divisions and applying very specific expertise within those divisions. So if a new asset comes along in either Cala in our lifestyle division, full service, focus service, outdoor hospitality, we’ve got no shortage of resources that can lean in, absorb, provide stability, and, uh, at the end of the day, um, uh, provide value for our owns.
Ryan Embree:
Yeah, absolutely. Well, each segment, each market, very different. Um, you know, the diversity of, uh, Cala and that region too, being able to have an onsite team there, uh, I think critical, we talked to your team about that, uh, with having such a large portfolio, Al Albert, when you’re trying to roll something out to everyone, how, how is that methodical testing before bringing it to scale? Right? Because I wanna make sure everything works functionally and, uh, fits within your culture
Albert Smith:
Unofficially. But I’ll give you a little bit of a sneak preview. We have a fourth operating vertical, if you will, and we’re, we’re at the moment calling it HE Labs In a very controlled environment, and by the way, leadership, there is tech forward. Uh, but a variety and diversity of resources to help stand up whatever it is, we’re beta testing, right? Uh, so in a controlled environment, we’re able to test a new technology, uh, explore new markets and done with no shortage of resources that have been there, done that stood up operating verticals in the past. Um, so we, we, we tested out, we refine along the way and, uh, when it’s ready, we either roll it out in a very methodical way, training, communication, uh, no shortage of support to make sure that, uh, training wheels on the front end, but you can take them off very quickly and, uh, trust that, uh, those that, uh, need the ride the bike can do it, uh, efficiently.
Ryan Embree:
It, it’s brilliant. We hear a lot of, uh, brands doing something very similar trying to roll out to their franchisee. So what with, uh, portfolio of your size, I mean, um, you to see that kind of strategy and methodical, it’s gotta also be really great for your employees to know that they, this has been tested. You know, you’re, you’re making sure that you’re making a run on it and it’s being ruled out and delivered in the right way. Um, so hotel equities scale nowadays is a, a, uh, asset. It’s a privilege and, um, uh, an advantage. How do you make sure that your own property teams are, uh, seeing that as a, uh, advantage rather than a complexity?
Albert Smith:
Lemme make sure I answer that question correctly, but our shared services are, are important, right? So accounting is agnostic to style, right? Um, it is agnostic to style. There’s some nuance there, but we wanna make sure that the shared service that we have within our company is strong. It is, but it allows the experts across lifestyle, full service, outdoor hospitality, where there’s, in some cases brand nuance or in some cases needs to be more marketing forward. How we tell the story, how we go out and acquire guests, how we create awareness, uh, shared service allows us to, first of all, that’s the backbone, but let’s the experts do their job, lean in and ultimately support the property level teams so that they can operate efficiently.
Ryan Embree:
Alright, so Albert, as we wrap up operationally, been asking a lot of your, your team members, kind of, what’s the vision for 2026 and beyond for hotel equities with all this growth?
Albert Smith:
Well, first of all, transforming together, right? You gotta, you gotta start somewhere. We’ve been doing it. We’re, we’re coming together in a meaningful way. The stability portion is gonna be really important, uh, but making sure that the fundamentals are there so that we can execute at a high level.
Ryan Embree:
Well, really exciting. Like I said, we’ve had a lot of your team members here talking about all the strategic growth. Uh, love to continue to see hotel equities and, and what’s next. Hope to see, uh, you here and, um, everyone transform together. So Al thank you so much for taking the time.
Albert Smith:
Ryan, It was a pleasure. Thank you, Sir.
Ryan Embree:
All right.
Ryan Embree:
To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star rating on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group. Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I’m your host, Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.
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