Behind the Stays

By Zach BusekrusBusiness Entrepreneurship Investing Marketing

Behind the Stays episodes

July 24 This Week in Hospitality: Hot Takes on Hilton, What Hotels Should Learn from the World Cup, and Shark Tank for Route 66's Last Surviving Motels
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta went on record defending the brand's 28-property portfolio — and the panel has thoughts. Is the multi-brand arms race really about guests, or is it just an elaborate play for developers and distribution?
Edwin makes the case that independent hotels have a competitive advantage no loyalty algorithm can replicate. Scott drops the hottest take of the episode: loyalty points have become hush money for operational failures. And Ben shares a story about a boutique hotel that turned a jackhammer nightmare into a lifelong brand loyalist — no points required.
Then the World Cup post-mortem. Bank of America's final numbers are in — $20 billion pumped into the U.S. economy, RevPAR up 90% in Kansas City, 55% in San Francisco. Miami crushed it. But three separate properties reached out to Scott after the final whistle with the same question: now what? No social strategy. No post-event plan. No follow-through. The panel unpacks what hotels actually got right, what they blew, and why this should be a wake-up call for independent operators ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
And to close it out — a game. It's Route 66's 100th anniversary, and CoStar toured the surviving motels still operating along the highway. The panel plays Keep, Kill, or Reimagine across six properties. Clark Gable's old room, a freshly rehabbed motor court with a paint can still in the bathtub, and a pink-walled Santa Monica hotel sitting on land worth more than the building. Scott wants to build a diner on everything. Edwin wants to preserve the soul. Ben's doing the math.

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This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey. Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary. If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

—

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
12:07 — Story #1: Hilton’s 28-Brand Defense and AI’s Loyalty Shift
33:15 — Story #2: Did the 2026 World Cup Actually Deliver for Hotels?
43:23 — 100 Years of Route 66: Motel Draft (Keep, Reimagine, Kill)

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Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 10 min
July 24 This Week in Hospitality: How Norwegian Air Went Viral for Losing, Should Airbnb and Ennismore Hook Up? and the Slow Death of Organic Discovery on Vrbo
This week, the squad breaks down Norwegian Air's World Cup Instagram stunt that cost next to nothing and generated more brand equity than campaigns with budgets a hundred times the size. Eivind Hammer Myhre, who leads comms and marketing at Norwegian, joins us live to walk through exactly how it happened — the 25-minute brainstorm, the one phone call to get sign-off, and what came after when the whole thing blew up overnight.

Then we get into the Ennismore story. Skift's Rafat Ali floated a thought experiment this week that reads less like an op-ed and more like a deal memo left on the wrong desk — a potential distribution and loyalty partnership between Airbnb and Accor's lifestyle hotel subsidiary ahead of a $3.7 billion IPO. Ben, Edwin, and Scott dig into whether the math actually works for owners, who benefits more, and why Wall Street keeps struggling to put a number on cool.

And finally — Vrbo is launching sponsored listings. The beta is live. The full rollout is coming. And if you've been around long enough to remember what happened when organic reach died on Meta, you already know where this is going. Scott's spice of the week ties it all together: four stories that seem unrelated until you realize they're all asking the same question. How do you earn trust at scale? And what happens to the brands — and the platforms — that can't figure that out?

—

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey. Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary. If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

—

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
03:18 — Interview: Norwegian Air's Viral Women's Euro Campaign
26:53 — Story #1: Airbnb and Ennismore Hook Up
33:47 — Story #2: The Slow Death of Organic Discovery on Vrbo
39:52 — Story #3: South Korea Could Strip Hotels of Stars for Price Gouging
1:04:47 — Spice of the Week

—

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 16 min
July 24 This Week in Hospitality: Ideas, Stories, and Hot Takes with James McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of NIHI Hotels
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

James McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of NIHI Hotels, joins the core four for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to build a legendary independent hospitality brand — from the jungles of Sumba to the halls of the Ritz-Carlton.
James traces his career across some of the most storied names in luxury hospitality — Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood, the Carlisle, YTL — before partnering with Chris Burch to build NIHI Sumba, now widely regarded as one of the world's most exceptional and emotionally resonant hotel experiences. He breaks down the difference between operating inside a behemoth brand versus building something from scratch, and what it really costs — personally and professionally — to go independent.
The conversation covers demand creation in the pre-algorithm era (think hot cookies at Malaysian airports and a chef moonlighting as a "technology butler"), how a yoga teacher ran NIHI's Instagram for its first five years, and why NIHI's most viral post — horses casting shadows on a beach at sunset — gets mistaken for AI-generated content daily. James also shares his philosophy on guerrilla marketing, the power of generosity as a brand strategy, and why scarcity may be the most underutilized asset in luxury hospitality today.
On the business side, James gets candid about partner selection, equity, the emotional toll of betting on yourself, and what independent operators consistently get wrong: great product, poor storytelling. He argues that the GM running a flagged property matters more than the flag itself — that soul can't be systemized, only lived.
A masterclass in brand building, emotional hospitality, and the courage it takes to build something the world hasn't seen yet.

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 2 min
July 21 Why Luxury Hospitality Is Optimizing Itself Into Irrelevance — And What To Do About It (with Colin Nagy)
Connect with Colin: linkedin.com/in/colinjamesnagy/
Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/
Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/
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The luxury hotel boom of the last decade produced more five-star rooms, more high-end brands, and more capital chasing premium travelers than any period in modern hospitality history.

It also produced a lot of hotels that feel exactly the same.

Colin Nagy has spent nearly a decade covering the business of luxury travel for Skift while leading global brand strategy for Instagram and Threads at Meta. He sits at a rare intersection — deeply inside the world of brand, culture, and consumer behavior, and deeply inside an industry he genuinely loves. That combination makes him one of the most clear-eyed observers working in hospitality today.

In this episode, Colin and I dig into why luxury has optimized itself into sameness — and more importantly, what the brands getting it right are actually doing differently. We get into the role hospitality plays in a world where AI is accelerating isolation and people are hungry for real human connection. We talk members' clubs — the ones worth betting on and the ones burning through capital without a clue. We get into the macro disruption question most operators aren't asking loudly enough. And we talk about what world building actually requires — and why so few brands are willing to do the work.

Colin isn't cynical about any of this. He's demanding. There's a difference. And if you care about where this industry is headed, this conversation will sharpen how you see it.
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Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of Growth at Journey. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.
56 min
July 14 How Cloudbeds Is Shaping the Future of Independent Hospitality with Their New Partnership with Journey
What if the technology helping independent hotels compete with the biggest brands in the world shouldn’t feel like technology at all?
Cloudbeds serves tens of thousands of properties across more than 150 countries — giving its team a uniquely expansive view into how independent hotels are performing, what operators are struggling with, and how the way travelers discover and book stays is rapidly changing.
In this episode, Zach sits down in person with Rafael Blanes, Chief Growth Officer at Cloudbeds, and Sébastien Leitner, VP of Partnerships, to unpack why they believe this is one of the most exciting moments yet to be an independent hotelier.
Rafael and Sébastien explain why the traditional PMS is evolving into something much bigger, how fragmented hotel data prevents operators from making confident decisions, and why the industry’s obsession with “AI” may be getting in the way of solving the problems hoteliers actually care about.
They also share a look at Ask Signals, a conversational tool that could allow operators to ask questions of their property data, generate reports in seconds, receive explainable pricing recommendations, and eventually get a proactive daily briefing before arriving at the hotel.
The conversation also explores why OTAs can actually help hotels generate more direct bookings, what independent properties must do to compete with the marketing machines of major flags, and why operators should never treat an OTA guest differently from someone who booked direct.
Finally, Rafael and Sébastien share the story behind the Cloudbeds Collection — a portfolio of 100 distinctive independent properties around the world — and why Cloudbeds selected Journey as its loyalty partner to help those hotels share guests, strengthen direct relationships, and offer the benefits of a global loyalty ecosystem without sacrificing what makes each property different.
You’ll also hear why the next hotel Rafael builds will almost certainly have a marina, how Sébastien prepares a five-day roast chicken, and the remarkable story of the technology partner who worked through the night to help former Sonder properties keep their doors open.
Alright friends, without further ado, get ready to meet Rafael and Sébastien.
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Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks at boutique hotels, private residences, landscape hotels, glamping retreats, and so much more.
Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur with a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join the Alliance at journey.com/alliance.
50 min
July 03 This Week in Hospitality: Airbnb Founder's Secret AI Lab, Bass Pro's $300M Resort Bet & The Economy Hotel Franchise Revolt
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

Zach, Scott, and Edwin dig into three stories reshaping the industry this holiday week. First: Skift's The Big Squeeze Part 2, which spotlights a family in Iowa who let their Wyndham franchise expire, renovated their Super Eight, and beat their old revenue numbers — no flag required. With 1,200+ economy agreements hitting end-of-term by 2030, the off-ramp is more viable than ever. Then: Bass Pro Shops quietly acquiring Cheeca Lodge in the Florida Keys for a reported $300M — a masterclass in brand ecosystem building that's staying firmly in its lane. Finally: Brian Chesky's reported shadow AI lab, what it says about the limits of building inside a public company, and why the chat interface might be the wrong bet entirely. Spice of the week: Edwin on why budget season is the moment to rethink your AI staffing strategy, Scott on hospitality's leadership crisis (not labor crisis), and Zach on why the World Cup turned out to be anything but a non-event.
This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.
Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.
If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
07:11 — The Economy Hotel Franchise Revolt
24:36 — Bass Pro’s $300M Resort Bet
35:56 — Airbnb Founder’s Secret AI Lab
45:03 — Spice of the Week

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 1 min
June 26 This Week in Hospitality: Pali Society Goes Bonvoy, Hilton's Incubating 5 New Brands, and Hot Takes with Skift's Hospitality Editor, Sean O'Neil
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

Sean O'Neill of Skift joins the roundtable this week for a conversation that cuts straight to the fault lines running through the hotel industry right now — distribution versus identity, brand proliferation versus brand meaning, and the wellness promise versus wellness delivery.

The panel leads with Pali Society's decision to bring its 16-property California portfolio into Marriott's Design Hotels ecosystem — the single largest addition in the program's history. Edwin draws the line everyone in the independent space is afraid to say out loud: using Marriott as a marketing channel is smart; slowly operating for Marriott guests instead of your own is how you lose the thing that made you worth joining in the first place. Scott is blunter: "Every owner in the world loves independence until they have empty rooms."

From there, Sean's own Hilton story lands on the table. Hilton's new CDO is signaling five or six organic brands are coming — and a trademark filing, locked domain, and placeholder social accounts are already pointing toward a lifestyle concept called "Tortoise." The group debates whether the major brand groups, Hilton included, are actually delivering on their supposed superpower. Sean's take: in an AI-discovery world, the question isn't how many brands you have — it's whether any of them mean anything.

The conversation gets sharper on wellness — a category where nearly everyone claims the space and very few actually own it. Ben makes the obvious argument: if Oura can sync with fitness apps, why can't Canyon Ranch pull your health data? Edwin adds the counterweight — the freedom to do nothing is the next frontier that nobody's building for.
Plus: Soho House gets called out for failing to remember Edwin's green tea order after ten years, Scott's Venice discovery about a pool built in feet instead of meters, and Zach's verdict on San Antonio as the most underrated hotel market in America.

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.
Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.
If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
38:13 — Story #1: Palisociety Joins Marriott’s Design Hotels
49:52 — Story #2: Hilton’s New Brand Factory
01:01:51 — Spice of the Week

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 15 min
June 19 This Week in Hospitality: CoStar’s Forecast Reversal, Marriott Hits 10K Hotels, and Amsterdam’s Tourist Tax Revolt
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

This week opens in full TWIH chaos: Zach and Scott are somehow a mile apart in San Antonio and still not together, Ben is on the Connecticut shore debuting smarter-looking glasses, and Edwin is back in Barcelona sweating through a muted AC situation.
Then the guys get into the real stories moving hospitality. CoStar and Tourism Economics upgrade 2026 RevPAR forecasts, but the panel is skeptical. Luxury keeps pulling away, select service is stuck below inflation, and Ben argues the real problem is product-market fit: too many boring midscale hotels charging more without giving guests a reason to care. Edwin warns that the rush into luxury could create a wave of copy-paste properties that look expensive but mean nothing. Scott lands the bigger question: are we measuring industry health while ignoring the health of the guest experience?
From there, Marriott hits 10,000 properties with the JW Marriott Ranthambore in India — and the milestone becomes a debate about scale, owner trust, Bonvoy economics, and whether loyalty programs are quietly becoming financial institutions. Edwin points to owners pushing for a bigger slice of Marriott’s credit-card and loyalty revenue, while Ben argues younger hoteliers may not see the same value in flags that previous generations did. The crew digs into whether AI, better data, and a more independent-minded generation of owners could start cracking the big-brand moat.
In What’s in Your DMs, Ben is seeing a wave of narrative-driven independent hotel projects, Scott hears from a travel advisor whose clients are bringing AI-generated itineraries for human validation, Edwin is getting flooded by designers looking for work, and Zach admits he built a Claude agent to help find better podcast guests.
Finally, Edwin breaks down Amsterdam’s tourist-tax fight, where the city is pushing toward a 20% tax by 2030 and hotel leaders are moving from dialogue to lawsuits. The group debates overtourism, whether cities want visitor revenue without visitor relationships, and why Europe is starting to feel materially more expensive for travelers.
Spice of the Week closes with World Cup infrastructure chaos in Miami, six-hour stadium commutes, and Ben’s Messi doppelgänger moment.
This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.
Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.
If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
06:51 — Story #1: CoStar’s Hotel Forecast Reversal
24:00 — Story #2: Marriott Hits 10,000 Hotels
46:50 — What’s In Your DMs: AI Travel Planning & Independent Hotel Momentum
1:00:13 — Story #3: Amsterdam’s Tourist Tax Revolt
1:11:22 — Spice of the Week

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 17 min
June 12 This Week in Hospitality: The Airbnb-Marriott Deal That Almost Happened, MGM Goes Private(?), Journey & Cloudbeds Partner, & What Premium Travelers Want
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

Two of the biggest casino operators in the world became takeover targets in the same week — and the squad has thoughts.
Barry Diller's People Inc. just offered $18 billion to take MGM Resorts private, days after Fertitta agreed to buy Caesars. MGM's own CFO didn't argue the company was fairly valued — he argued investors aren't doing the work. Ben, Scott, and Edwin debate whether public markets are simply too lazy to underwrite experience-driven hospitality, and what the next-generation casino actually looks like.

Then: the deal that almost rewrote the industry. On a recent podcast, Airbnb's former Chief Strategy Officer Chip Conley revealed that Marriott and Airbnb spent six months negotiating a major partnership in 2016 — including talk of earning and burning Bonvoy points on Airbnb stays — before Marriott's owners killed it. Was it the most expensive "no" in hospitality history?

Plus: Zach got access to Odesia, the AI travel search platform from Sonder's co-founder that just landed $6M from Sequoia — and it's the best AI trip-planning experience he's seen, full stop. And a new survey of 2,000 travelers reveals what premium guests will actually pay more for: quiet rooms, verified sustainability, and tech that connects rather than dazzles. Spoiler — it's a home-field advantage for independents.

Spice of the Week covers a sandwich shop that turned away revenue over a tiny dog, why full hotels fool owners into thinking their marketing works, the OTA-fee budget shell game, and Zach's big announcement: Journey's new strategic partnership with Cloudbeds.
This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.
Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.
If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro
05:08 — Story #1: MGM’s Take-Private Bid and the Value of Live Experience
16:31 — Story #2: Marriott and Airbnb’s Partnership That Never Happened
33:43 — Story #3: Travelers Will Pay More for Quiet, Calm, and Credibility
44:54 — Spice of the Week

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
56 min
June 05 This Week in Hospitality: Sonder's Founder is Back, Hyatt's New Growth Strategy, The Human Concierge Book, and L.E/Miami Recap
Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:
Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

This week opens at LE Miami — which Scott describes less like a travel conference and more like Coachella for hotel nerds — before the guys dive into the real industry tension underneath the party.
Hyatt tells investors to stop counting rooms and start counting fees, arguing that “empty calorie” growth is the wrong metric. But the panel digs into the contradiction: the premium story is Park Hyatt, Andaz, Thompson, and Alila — while the actual growth engine may be Essentials, all-inclusives, and credit card economics. Translation: hotel companies are increasingly distribution platforms, loyalty machines, and maybe even banks.
Then Hilton’s Undergraduate by Hilton gets a second look. The name still gets roasted, but the strategy starts to make sense: college towns are wildly underserved, Graduate doesn’t pencil everywhere, and tired select-service boxes are begging for conversion. The question is whether this is lifestyle innovation — or just another brand solving an owner pipeline problem.
The guys also react to Sonder co-founder Francis Davidson’s new AI travel startup, Odessia, and debate whether dedicated AI travel agents can win when ChatGPT and Claude already own so much user context. That leads into a bigger conversation about trust, human travel advisors, preference passports, and why overwhelmed travelers may want fewer options — not more.
Finally, Minor Hotels makes the case for “asset-right” hospitality, arguing that brands need more skin in the game if they want owner trust. The crew closes with DMs, celebrity hotel speculation, World Cup demand anxiety, and Ben teasing a possible conversion-brand play of his own.
This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.
Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.
If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

Key Topics & Timestamps
00:00 — Intro & L.E/Miami Recap
05:52 — Hyatt’s New Growth Strategy
16:35 — Hilton’s Undergraduate Brand Bet
24:25 — Sonder’s Founder Is Back: Odessia and AI Travel Planning
33:35 — The Human Concierge Is Making a Comeback
50:00 — What’s In Your DMs?
59:25 — Spice of the Week

Your Hosts:
Zach Busekrus — Journey
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
1 hr 7 min

About Behind the Stays

From the publisher's feed

Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life.