In this strategic episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, CMO of Revinate, welcomes back Agnelo Fernandes, CEO of Cote Hospitality with over two decades in luxury hospitality, to discuss Revinate's 11th annual 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report findings specifically for the voice channel. The report gathered data from Revinate's platform with 12,500+ customers, analyzing 2 billion emails, 28 million guest reviews, 4 million calls, and 22 million text messages, diving into tactics for email, voice, messaging, and web channels broken down by hotel size and class.


What you'll learn:

• Voice as premium inventory mindset: Agnelo emphasizes voice is premium inventory "like gold today" requiring protection and prioritization by connecting to CDP, rejecting declining voice beliefs while acknowledging maturation where calls still convert strongly despite peak time pressures. 
• Peak season staffing transformation: Peak season breaks manila staffing models requiring two frames: triaging calls into revenue versus service categories, and scaling staffing into two layers with highly trained closers separated from service support staff. This hunters versus nurturers approach keeps revenue layers from dilution by transactional work.
• Unified CDP data paramount importance: Having unified guest data and CDP with orchestration layer where agents view preferences based on what's needed proves paramount. Cote's evolution took data, scrubbed it well, and put it into buckets where agents have information upfront equipping them with conversion or fade back strategies. This transforms calls from negotiations into booking experiences guests crave rather than 60-90 minute information fishing.
• Lead capture and AI structural fix: Only 56% of guest profiles have phone numbers representing massive missed opportunity, with Cote incentivizing agents where greater data capture builds incentive banks. Non-booker data stores why guests didn't choose them, enabling preference-based targeting for next relevant offering. With only 16-34% of calls being booking needs, AI provides structural fix giving sales protected capacity with CDP data preventing information fishing while handling FAQs through AI filtering.
• Mindset shifts for voice revenue growth: Treating voice as strategic revenue inventory versus operational cost separates hotels growing voice revenue from those quietly losing it. 
  
  

Throughout the conversation, Agnelo and Karen emphasize that AI doesn't like data silos with effectiveness only possible if data is clean, synthesized, and in one place, explaining why CDP foundation matters as things move faster than ever with six months potentially bringing very different conversations about possibilities, and that investments and mindset shifts separating hotels growing voice revenue from those quietly losing it center on treating voice as strategic revenue inventory versus operational cost, measuring it like hotel inventory to protect and grow the highest touch and highest profitable channel hotels can own.

Read Revinate’s 2026 Benchmark Report here: Revinate.com/hospitality-benchmark-report/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Agenlo Fernandes here:

• LinkedIn
• Cote Hospitality

Connect with Karen Stephens here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights
[02:50] Voice as strategic revenue channel - Agnelo establishes the framework: "We treat voice as a strategic channel, that it's staffed appropriately, that it's fed by unified guest data, and then prioritized for true revenue moments rather than letting some of the operational noise drown it out, and then we lose sales."
[05:36] Peak season staffing layers - Agnelo explains the two-layer approach: "One is triaging calls into what is revenue and what is service. The calls that come in, if they're not divided between the two, then you're losing potential revenue. Second piece is scaling staffing into two layers, one being a revenue-focused layer where you have the best of the best highly trained closers, those that can upsell, and then separate that from those that know how to service and support the guests. It's like the hunters versus the nurturers."

[08:36] CDP data transforms agent confidence - Agnelo describes the impact: "Having that unified guest data and CDP and then building an orchestration layer where they're viewing the preferences of the guests based on what is needed and not what is intuition. It's absolutely critical for them to have this information at their fingertips. Otherwise it becomes more of a negotiation versus let me just truly book you this experience that you're craving for. The more information agents have at their fingertips, the better equipped they are, the more confidence that they have in terms of going for that conversion versus just making it transactional."

[10:32] Non-booker data gold mine - Agnelo reveals the opportunity: "That potential guest has likely gone somewhere else or decided not to travel. That data is extremely important in helping us build our gold mine. We've got a list of questions that agents ask them so that this way we can build continuity the next time we reach out to them. We find that a lot of folks like to hear directly from the brand, especially if you're proactive and you've got a message that resonates with them."
[14:20] Phone number capture incentives - Agnelo shares their approach: "What we try to do is incentivize our agents to make sure that the greater data you capture, the better off you are. It's not just getting email and address, but an actual phone number, then you can build your incentive bank if you're able to capture all that data. The only way to do it is to have it in the script, make sure they can ask the question at least twice without being intrusive."

[18:12] AI filtering service from revenue - Agnelo explains the structural fix: "When you think about 16% to 34% are real booking needs, the structural fix is how do you separate the responsibilities and the toolings. I would ensure that we give sales protected capacity along with the data that's built on CDP so they're not wasting time 60 to 90 minutes fishing for information. FAQ and leveraging AI to enable you to have information at your fingertips, whether it's booking confirmation, housekeeping requests, all this can be handled by AI."


Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
03:21 - Voice as premium inventory mindset 
05:36 - Peak season staffing: hunters versus nurturers 
08:36 - Unified CDP data's paramount importance for agents 
10:32 - Lead capture and non-booker data leverage 
14:20 - Phone number capture strategies and incentives 
18:12 - AI structural fix for filtering service calls 
22:06 - Mindset shifts for growing voice revenue


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this recast episode of Hotel Moment, Bryson Koehler, CEO of Revinate, engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews, about the critical importance of data security in the hospitality industry. As technology continues to transform hotel operations, that same technology should keep up with the security challenges that hoteliers face.


Together, they discuss:

• The evolution of hotel technology from legacy DOS systems to modern, integrated platforms
• How cybercriminals have become increasingly sophisticated in their targeting of hotel systems
• Practical strategies for protecting guest data, including single sign-on, two-factor authentication, and proper user access management
• The vital role of employee education and awareness in preventing security breaches
• The importance of maintaining clean, actionable data without compromising security
• Approaches for building a tech stack that balances innovation with robust security measures
  
  

Matthijs emphasizes that while technology solutions like two-factor authentication are crucial, the human element remains the most vulnerable point in security systems. He stresses the importance of having security champions within hotels who regularly educate staff about emerging threats and best practices.


Don't miss this essential conversation about safeguarding your hotel's most valuable asset: guest data.


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.


Connect with Matthijs here:

• LinkedIn
• Mews

Connect with Bryson here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[02:04] The democratization of hotel technology - Matthijs reflects on how hotel technology has evolved dramatically over the past 20 years, from DOS-based systems that required extensive training to modern, flexible solutions. He notes that today, hoteliers have the freedom to build technology stacks uniquely suited to their properties and guest needs. This shift has been so profound that technology considerations are increasingly influencing brand decisions, with some properties even reconsidering their brand affiliations to gain more technological flexibility.


[09:54] The critical role of staff education in security - While discussing the growing sophistication of cyber threats, Matthijs emphasizes that technological solutions alone aren't enough. He stresses the importance of educating frontline staff who have access to sensitive data, explaining that single sign-on and two-factor authentication can reduce vulnerabilities, but proper staff awareness remains essential. Matthijs describes security as a "long-term game" that requires ongoing education to counter evolving criminal tactics.


[14:14] Strategic approaches to data access management - Matthijs outlines practical steps for protecting guest data, beginning with thoughtful control of who has access to what information. He recommends that hotels carefully evaluate whether staff members, such as housekeeping, really need access to complete guest profiles. He advocates for single sign-on as "one of the best ways to protect your company" despite the significant investment required, and emphasizes the importance of teaching staff never to Google login pages, as this is where criminals often set traps through misleading ads.

Chapters:
00:00 - Intro 
01:00 - The evolution of hotel technology 
03:30 - How brand dynamics are changing with technology 
06:00 - Modern security challenges in hospitality 
09:30 - Educating staff on security threats 
12:00 - Building security-focused technology teams 
14:00 - Best practices for protecting guest data 
17:30 - The role of Google in security challenges 
19:30 - Balancing data utility with security 
21:30 - Approaching tech stack design strategically 
24:00 - How Mews is investing in security 
27:30 - Closing thoughts




If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this inspiring episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, CMO of Revinate, sits down with Rachel Humphrey — a connector, storyteller, and leading advocate for women in hospitality leadership. As Co-founder and chair of the Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance and Co-founder of the award-winning Personal Stories podcast, Rachel brings unique perspectives on career pivots, authentic leadership, and creating meaningful access across the industry.


What you'll learn:
● Rachel's unconventional journey from 20-year trial lawyer specializing in franchise law to executive leadership at AAHOA 
● Why quitting without another job — though terrifying — became the catalyst for discovering hospitality 
● How fear of failure transformed into a career superpower through curiosity and hard work 
● What AAHOA is: the largest hotel owners association representing nearly 20,000 members and hosting the world's largest hotel owner trade show 
● Why technology vendors should connect with AAHOA to reach decision-makers as margins shrink and efficiency demands increase 
● How hospitality's slow innovation pace creates opportunities for technology education and adoption 
● The power of Personal Stories podcast: creating free access to industry leaders without membership or paywalls 
● Why "no two journeys are the same" in hospitality — and how that diversity of paths creates strength 
● How the hospitality industry itself isn't a career but an industry where any profession (accountant, marketer, lawyer, salesperson) can thrive 
● Why imposter syndrome appears at every career level — and how hearing relatable struggles from C-suite leaders empowers rising talent 
● The Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance: a consortium of 33 organizations collaborating to elevate women into leadership  
● Why "we can no longer accept hearing people say that there are no women in those roles" when expertise exists across every facet 
● The harmful narrative that "advancement of some means demotion of others"—and why it must be dismissed 

Learn why Rachel views her legal career, AAHOA leadership, and current "retirement" work as three distinct chapters, how fear and imposter syndrome became unexpected motivators, and why representation and visibility matter critically for career trajectories.

Rachel will be moderating the Women in Leadership panel at NAVIGATE in Phoenix, April 14-16. Get tickets at revinate.com/navigate 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Rachel Humphrey here:

• LinkedIn
• Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance
• It's Personal Stories, A Hospitality Podcast

Connect with Karen Stephens here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights
[02:41] The terrifying career pivot - Rachel shares her leap from trial lawyer to hospitality: "I did the terrifying move of just going in one day and resigning... I walked away from a practice that I had been at a long time doing exactly what I knew how to do." Without another job lined up, she started exploring, which led to discovering "transferable skills" lawyers bring to association executive roles.

[07:43] Fear as career accelerator - What seems like imposter syndrome became Rachel's superpower: "When I become afraid, I lean into superpowers. I work really hard. I'm really curious. And I have an ability to learn whatever I thought I needed to learn to be successful." This fear-driven curiosity led her to learn every department at AAHOA, which eventually opened the COO opportunity.

[14:46] Why personal stories matter - Rachel explains the Personal Stories podcast mission: "One of the things I love about hospitality is that no two journeys are the same. You and I can have very different paths to leadership and still end up in a place that is very successful and very fulfilling for each of us." The podcast creates free access to leaders, making connections without barriers.

[20:21] The speaker directory revolution - Launching just over a year ago with nearly 2,000 women: "We can no longer accept hearing people say that there are no women in those roles because women have subject matter expertise really across every facet of this industry. And it was really just providing exposure."


Chapters:
00:00 - Intro 
02:41 - From trial lawyer to hospitality leader 
07:43 - Fear as a motivator vs. deterrent 
12:30 - Why technology matters for hotel owners 
14:46 - Personal Stories podcast and connection 
20:21 - Women in Hospitality Leadership Alliance 
24:00 - What hospitality needs to accelerate growth 
27:18 - Living the best professional life


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this announcement episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, previews the upcoming 2026 Hospitality Benchmark Report — Revinate's 11th annual data analysis providing actionable insights for hotels worldwide. Drawing from over 12,500 customer properties and analyzing more than 2 billion emails, 28 million guest reviews, 4 million calls, and 22 million text messages, this report serves as a strategic training manual for the modern hospitality landscape.


What you'll learn: 
● Why having technology tools doesn't make you super—knowing, how to use them together does 
● The sobering revenue reality: hotels globally lost $488 in incremental revenue per room in 2025 (28% drop) despite 34% database growth 
● Regional performance disparities: APAC's 24% email revenue increase vs. North America's 14% decline 
● Why North America's top-tier data capture doesn't translate to revenue without execution strategy 
● Database health as the superhero foundation: declining rich guest profiles and rising OTA email masking (34% in EMEA, 22% globally) 
● The engagement crisis: only 16% of guests globally respond to messaging, meaning 84% of communications are invisible 
● The critical role of phone capture stuck at 56% globally 
● Four channels that unleash guest engagement: email (direct and powerful), voice (personal and revenue-driving), messaging (instant impact), and web capture (first-party AI enabler) 
● Region-specific insights for North America, APAC, EMEA, and global markets 
● Actionable benchmarks segmented by property size and hotel class 
● How AI and automation multiply impact when database health is strong 
● Why 2026 is the year strategy trumps volume as guests' attention spans shorten and wallet share fragments

Learn why execution quality matters more than tool possession and discover how top-performing hotels turn everyday technology into genuine competitive advantages through database strength, strategic activation, and precision personalization.

Read the full report at Revinate.com/hospitality-benchmark-report/ 

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.


Connect with Brenna Turpin here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[01:05] Tools don't make superheroes - Brenna sets the stage: "Having the tools doesn't make you super. Knowing how to use them together — that's what turns you into a hotel superhero." With every gadget imaginable available, from PMS to AI assistants, the real challenge is strategic alignment rather than technology acquisition.

[03:03] Database health foundation - Critical metrics reveal declining fundamentals: "North America's rich guest profiles dropped from 12% to 11%, EMEA from 9% to 8%. OTA email masking is rising — 34% in EMEA, 22% globally." Without strong database health, even the best tools deliver limited impact.

[03:52] The revenue villain strikes - The sobering global reality: "Hotels lost $488 in incremental revenue per room in 2025 compared to 2024 — that's a 28% drop. Meanwhile, databases grew 34% worldwide." More data doesn't automatically mean more revenue—execution determines outcomes.


Chapters:00:00 - Intro00:45 - Why 2026 demands hotel superheroes01:20 - The revenue reality: global trends02:24 - Regional performance breakdown03:03 - Database health as your foundation03:45 - The engagement crisis: 84% invisibility04:26 - Four channels that matter most05:26 - Sign up for the 2026 report


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this recast episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens engages with Aradhana Khowala, CEO of Aptamind Partners and a visionary leader in regenerative tourism development. With extensive experience advising presidents, prime ministers, and global CEOs across 85 countries, Aradhana brings a provocative perspective to the hospitality industry's most pressing challenges.

Throughout the conversation, Aradhana challenges the industry's approach to sustainability, arguing that tourism has been fundamentally "extractive" and calling for a shift to regenerative models that give back more than they take. She delivers a controversial assessment of AI in travel, describing much of current innovation as "lipstick on legacy" systems rather than true technological advancement. Aradhana also addresses the devastating impact of geopolitical conflicts on global tourism and makes a compelling case for tourism as the world's best "agent of peace."


What You'll Learn:

• The critical difference between sustainable and regenerative tourism models and why the shift matters for long-term business success
• Why current AI implementations in travel are often superficial improvements on outdated systems rather than true innovation
• How geopolitical conflicts create ripple effects throughout the entire tourism ecosystem, from major hotel chains to local vendors
• The strategic importance of The Middle East's $800 billion investment in luxury hospitality infrastructure
• Practical leadership strategies for women breaking through barriers in hospitality and technology sectors
• Why tourism can serve as a catalyst for global peace and cultural understanding rather than just economic growth
• How to balance short-term financial pressures with long-term regenerative business practices
• The urgent need for coordinated global leadership in tourism during times of crisis
  
  

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Aradhana Khowala here:

• LinkedIn
• Aptamind Partners

Connect with Karen here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[05:12] The sustainability failure of tourism - Aradhana doesn't mince words about the industry's sustainability efforts: "As travel and tourism industry, we have really fallen short when it comes to our sustainability efforts. It's failed on a structural level. It's failed at a leadership level, and what we need is systemic change." She emphasizes that the industry has been "tinkering at the edges" rather than implementing the fundamental changes needed for true regenerative growth.
[06:45] The innovation drought diagnosis - Aradhana delivers a provocative assessment of technology in travel: "As a travel industry, we are in a bit of an innovation drought. This is an industry that touches billions of lives in travel and hospitality, we have barely evolved in how we operate digitally." She argues that while interfaces look sleeker, the underlying booking and pricing mechanics are still rooted in early 2000s logic, calling much of today's AI "lipstick on legacy."

[17:17] Tourism as an agent of peace - During discussion of geopolitical challenges, Aradhana makes a powerful case for tourism's role in global understanding: "We are the best agent of peace out there. Tourism is not a casualty, it's a catalyst, and it's about time we acted as one. There is no better agent of peace because once you travel to a destination, you can never hate the place and the people." This highlights tourism's potential as a force for cultural understanding and conflict resolution.


Chapters:
00:00 - Intro 
03:03 - Career journey and inspiration 
05:14 - What is regenerative tourism? 
08:28 - AI and the innovation drought in travel 
14:18 - Navigating geopolitical challenges and soft bookings 
22:55 - The Middle East's luxury development boom 
25:41 - Leadership advice for women in hospitality 
27:23 - Closing thoughts


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this strategic episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate, teams up with Nick Ellis, Country Director Oceania & Indonesia and Enterprise Director SE Asia at Revinate, to translate the five major 2026 hospitality trends into practical applications for Australia's unique market. Dylan notes that showing up to Australian hoteliers with decks of global best practices causes immediate tune-out because the market needs specialized treatment, while Nick acknowledges that if something sounds great on deck but doesn't work during busy Sunday morning checkout with short-staffed front desks, Aussie hoteliers sense it immediately.


What you'll learn: 

• Australia's commercial savvy personalization: With some of the planet's highest labor costs and unusual hotel mix from 500-room CBD towers to remote resorts, Australian hoteliers use personalization not for fancy subject lines but commercial necessity to drive direct bookings, encourage on-property spending, and make loyalty feel like genuine relationships rather than point spreadsheets, setting properties apart from competitors fifty meters down the street.
• The jigsaw puzzle problem and CDP solution: Nick shares his GM pet hate where every guest handed every staff member tiny jigsaw puzzle pieces of preferences, but no one assembled complete pictures to create experiences — emphasizing the sweet spot of using data before arrival and during stay rather than three weeks later. Customer Data Platforms provide practical Aussie solutions with one clean guest profile connected through APIs, allowing hotel groups to change stack parts without collapse while surfacing insights so bartenders know favorite drinks and front desks greet returning guests with "We've got a piña colada waiting for you."
• Real-time data's critical importance: Real-time data matters more in Australia because conditions change instantly with massive population on tiny pinheads, where concerts sell out cities within hours and surprise US Navy aircraft carrier harbor visits fill hotels completely within two hours at lead-in rates. Nick's GM story demonstrates how reviewing performance after checkout means missing revenue optimization opportunities, with real-time updates ensuring teams react with context rather than guessing, enabling bar supervisors to know hourly sales warranting current staffing and profiles firing book direct emails every time OTA guests check out.
• Privacy and personalization moving in tandem: Recent top-tier Australian companies and government agencies appearing on news front pages because of data breaches make privacy front-page concern where Aussies don't mind sharing information as long as it's clear why while maintaining control and understanding usage. At Revinate, privacy and personalization move in tandem where getting one right while ignoring the other causes guests to notice negatively because no one does business with brands they don't trust, requiring technology decisions considering both elements together.
• Connected systems for employee and guest experience: The move from isolated guest communications to full journey orchestration matters because guests think in experiences not systems, while hotels still stitch together different platforms for email, messaging, feedback, and loyalty. With staff quality and availability representing Australia's biggest hospitality challenges beyond even labor costs, connected tools and easy tech create smoother experiences teams enjoy where smoother means more efficient and efficient means profitable, making employee experience equal guest experience importance.
  
  

Throughout the conversation, Dylan and Nick emphasize that Australian hoteliers don't need to chase every trend or add more tools or systems that almost integrate, but need better connections, better timing, better guest experiences feeling joined up, teams feeling connected to tech and guests, with connectivity and timing as central themes.


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Nick Ellis here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Connect with Dylan Cole here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights
[00:00] Australia's commercial savvy necessity - Nick Ellis opens with market reality: "In Australia, we're commercially savvy, we have to be with the high cost of doing business in Australia. So personalization, we use it to get guests to book direct, knowing what they're going to buy, encouraging spending while they're on property."


[04:54] The jigsaw puzzle problem - Nick describes his GM frustration: "Every guest we had in our building would hand every single staff member a little tiny piece of that jigsaw puzzle of who they were and what they loved and what they were looking for. And everyone had these tiny little jigsaw puzzles, but no one had that complete picture and was able to put them all together and create that experience. There's such a sweet spot around using that information before arrival, during the stay, not three weeks later."


[07:11] CDP as Aussie solution - Nick gets excited: "It's so exciting for me as a career hotelier slash tech nerd. It's just practical, it's flexible, it's powerful, no unnecessary drama. I'd call it a bit of an Aussie solution. Hotel groups who run multiple properties, it means you can change parts of the stack in and out without everything falling over. Being able to surface those insights that you're collecting, it's such an awesome opportunity for hotels to really understand the guests, but then also deliver on it."


[08:36] The aircraft carrier story - Nick shares revenue lesson: "I was a GM leaving a hotel at 5 p.m. and we were sitting at 30% for the evening. Two hours later I get an automated email saying we had now sold all inventory. I walked in the next morning like, 'What happened?' Turns out the US Navy had parked an aircraft carrier in the harbor and the entire city had filled within two hours. We sold every room at lead-in rates. The bosses were like, 'Why didn't anyone react? Why didn't anyone yield?' That cost us a lot of money. If you're reviewing the performance after checkout, you've missed the opportunity."


[12:18] Real-time context for teams - Nick explains operational shift: "When you've got real-time updates happening, it just means your teams aren't guessing. They're reacting with context. You employ all these people throughout your business who are sort of best in what they do, but at the end of the day, unless they've got the picture of what's happening at the time, they're just making a decision with a little limited piece of a puzzle."


[14:52] Employee experience equals guest experience - Nick emphasizes priorities: "The biggest challenge to doing hotels in Australia is the cost of labor, but first and foremost, before that, it's where the team coming from. The quality and availability of team. That value proposition and becoming an employer of choice is more critical now than ever. Employee experience is just as important as guest experience. When the tools are connected and the tech is easy and the experience feels smoother, the team enjoy it. Smoother means more efficient and for hotels, efficient means profitable."

Chapters:00:00 - Intro 
03:49 - Personalization as commercial necessity in Australia 
05:17 - The jigsaw puzzle problem with guest data 
07:11 - Customer Data Platforms as practical foundation 
08:36 - Real-time data and the aircraft carrier story 
11:50 - Privacy as front-page concern in Australia 
13:40 - Guest journey orchestration and connected systems 
16:36 - Wrap-up and 2026 benchmark report preview



If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director EMEA at Revinate debuts as podcast co-host with over 13 years at the company across New York, San Francisco, Singapore, and Amsterdam offices — bringing essential regional context to the five major hospitality trends shaping 2026. While the previous trends episode covered hyperpersonalization, unified tech stacks, real-time decisioning, cybersecurity and privacy, and guest engagement platform evolution from a global perspective, Dylan demonstrates that hoteliers in London, Munich, Stockholm, and the Amalfi Coast face fundamentally different pressure points requiring regional strategy.


What you'll learn:

• Regional personalization motivations: In UK and Ireland, personalization defends margins against OTA dominance with high labor costs and price-sensitive guests, making it about driving direct bookings and valuable loyalty rather than being fancy. DACH guests demand clear consent and value-driven communication without creepiness, requiring prominent opt-in buttons and data privacy lines. Northern Europe expects zero tolerance for generic communication tied to brand credibility where guests who trusted brands with data expect right messages. Southern Europe uses personalization as powerful in-stay revenue lever for driving experiences, increasing on-property spend, and maximizing peak demand without discounting.
  
  
• Operations-driven tech unification: Unified tech stacks are pushed by operations teams rather than IT departments, particularly in UK and Ireland where really lean teams have no appetite to juggle five different systems that don't talk to each other, making unified stacks mean less manual work, faster execution, and fewer things breaking at worst moments. DACH portfolios find disconnected systems create risk beyond slowdowns, Northern Europe needs flexibility to evolve without locking into yesterday's decisions, and Southern Europe requires unification for managing seasonality and rapidly changing staffing models.
  
  
• Real-time data regional priorities: UK and Ireland need real-time data for survival where expensive labor and quickly changing guest behavior mean inability to react causes absorbed unnecessary costs. DACH uses real-time data for precision forecasting holding up under scrutiny from multiple stakeholders. Northern Europe finds static reports feel outdated with real-time visibility becoming baseline expectation. Southern Europe captures on-property value while guests are present, especially when demand shifts with weather or events, with bottom line being that looking only at last month's performance means you're already behind.
  
  
• Privacy as brand promise: Privacy functions as a brand promise rather than compliance, with DACH and Northern Europe guests actively assessing data handling where transparency, consent, and restraint all matter. UK and Ireland see rising guest awareness influencing repeat bookings and loyalty. Southern Europe with international travelers finds strong data protection is simple expectation. What's different in 2026 is privacy can't be treated separately from personalization, making trust a brand promise rather than legal checkbox.
  
  
• Unified engagement platforms: Guest communication platforms evolve because guests think in experiences not systems, while many hotels communicate in fragments with separate systems for email, messaging, and feedback creating friction. Unified platforms bring pre-arrival, in-stay, post-stay together, helping UK and Ireland drive direct revenue, supporting DACH structured compliant communication, meeting Northern Europe high digital expectations, and enhancing Southern Europe experiential differentiation with different reasons producing same smoother journey outcome.
  
  

Throughout the episode, Dylan emphasizes that 2026 hospitality trends solve very real regional problems, where simplification creates value, and where activation of existing capabilities rather than new technology purchases can drive results.
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

 If you want to go deeper into these trends, we have a full guide to the latest hospitality trends of 2026 with practical insights designed to help you move from strategy to execution. 

Connect with Dylan Cole here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights
[03:00] UK and Ireland margin defense - Dylan explains the regional driver: "In the UK and Ireland, personalization is really about defending margins. The market is dominated by OTAs, high labor costs, and price-sensitive guests. So personalization isn't about being fancy, it's about driving more direct bookings, making loyalty actually feel valuable, and selling the right upsell to the right guest at the right time. If you're not activating guest data here, you're going to feel it straight in your P&L."

[03:50] DACH consent requirements - Dylan describes the different conversation: "Guests still want relevance, but they want it done with clear consent, and they want to make sure that values are driven with the communications. They don't want any creepiness. So you got to make sure that you're dropping in that line about data privacy in your conversations, your communications, and that you're leaving that opt-in button pretty prominent for those guests."
[04:37] Southern Europe revenue leverage - Dylan contrasts drivers: "In Southern Europe, hoteliers, especially in resort destinations, can use personalization as a powerful in-stay revenue lever. Basically, it's how you drive experiences, it's how you increase on-property spend, it's how you maximize peak demand without discounting. It's all the same trend, it's just completely different drivers."

[05:20] Operations-driven tech unification - Dylan reveals the unexpected insight: "Unified tech stacks sound like a trend that should be driven by the IT department, but in Europe they're actually being pushed by the operations team. In the UK and Ireland, we're seeing that teams are quite lean, in fact really lean, and there's no appetite from our customers to juggle five different systems that don't talk to each other."

[06:32] Real-time data regional priorities - Dylan breaks down survival versus precision: "In the UK and Ireland, real-time data is about survival. Labor is expensive, guest behavior changes quickly, and if you can't react in the moment, you are going to absorb unnecessary costs. In DACH, real-time data supports precision, better forecasting, and fewer surprises."

[09:07] Fragmented communication challenges - Dylan identifies the core problem: "Guest communication platforms are evolving because guests don't think in terms of systems. They're thinking in terms of experiences. And right now many hotels are still communicating in fragments. They have one system for email, another for messaging, another for feedback. Across EMEA, that fragmentation creates friction for guests and staff."


Chapters:00:00 - Intro
02:14 - Five trends with regional context for Europe 
03:00 - Hyperpersonalization across UK, DACH, Northern, Southern Europe 
05:20 - Tech stack unification driven by operations teams 
06:32 - Real-time data and decisioning regional priorities 
07:30 - Privacy as brand promise across European regions 
09:07 - Guest engagement platform evolution and fragmentation 
09:58 - Strategic prioritization framework for European hoteliers


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this special recast trends episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer at Revinate, and Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, preview what hoteliers should expect in 2026. Withinsights from  conversations throughout 2025, they identify five critical themes that will reshape the industry.


What you'll learn:

• Hyper-personalization becomes mainstream: Building on Carlo Del Mistro from Ennismore's 2025 prediction, personalization shifts from collecting preferences and stay histories to actually using that data for tailored experiences. The evolution moves from "one size fits some" broad segments to "one size fits one" individualized offers, with generative AI creating messaging and real-time triggers activating upsells based on guest behavior.
  
  
• Unified tech stacks replace legacy patchworks: Ideas' Future Forecasts report reveals only half of hoteliers currently use mostly integrated tools, but 2026 will drive adoption of cloud APIs and microservices architectures, enabling faster innovation. Customer Data Platforms emerge as the anchor, consolidating siloed data sources into single guest profiles while enabling activation across channels through embedded CRM functionality.
  
  
• Check out the Idea’s report here.Real-time decisioning transforms operations: Moving beyond retrospective analytics, hotels will use live data from local events, weather patterns, foot traffic, and travel trends to adjust demand forecasts and revenue strategies dynamically. Unified dashboards pulling live stream data rather than batch data enable occupancy forecasting, dynamic pricing, staffing optimization, and event-based interventions based on actual conditions.
  
  
• Cybersecurity and privacy become non-negotiable: As guest data grows richer with behavioral and location information, regulatory frameworks including GDPR, CCPA, and global equivalents continue evolving. Hotels must transparently explain data usage with clear opt-in/opt-out controls, treat every IoT device and integration point as potential vulnerability, and prioritize unified clean data since fragmented data creates open doors for cyberattacks.
  
  
• Guest communication evolves into orchestration hubs: Platforms move beyond separate email tools, chatbots, and messaging apps to create connected guest journey systems. AI virtual concierges access full guest history and current context to trigger hyper-personalized offers, mobile apps integrate real-time request handling with upsell opportunities, and API-first approaches enable seamless data exchange while maintaining human-led service for complex interactions.
  
  

Throughout the conversation, Karen and Brenna emphasize that 2026 represents a pivot point where initial digital adoption waves complete and the focus shifts to real-time activation, deep personalization embedded into operations, and viewing technology through added privacy and safety measures as must-haves rather than nice-to-haves.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Check out the Idea’s report here

Connect with Brenna Turpin here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Connect with Karen Stephens here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[01:35] The action frontier - Karen sets the stage: "We've had a watershed year for digital transformation, and the next frontier is not just about adoption, it's about action. We've got to weave together guest experience, operational agility, and data-driven decision making."

[02:25] Beyond name and greeting - Karen explains evolving expectations: "Guests expect more than name and greeting. They really expect tailored stays, meaningful upsells, and experiences that anticipate their needs. It's really about show me that you know me and market to me as if you know what I'm gonna want pre, post, and during stay."

[04:20] From accumulation to activation - Brenna identifies the critical shift: "2025 has been about guest data and accumulation. 2026 will be the year of guest data activation. It's going to shift from just purely collecting the data to really translating it to actual personalization from pre-arrival to post-stay."

[08:45] Real-time decisioning emerges - Brenna highlights operational transformation: "Data has long been a hot topic in hospitality, but many hotels still use it retrospectively. In 2026, the emphasis is on growing towards real-time operational decision-making using occupancy forecasting, dynamic pricing, staffing optimization, and event-based intervention."
[13:23] Security as loyalty driver - Karen addresses escalating concerns: "Hotels are going to need to transparently explain how they use data. Opt-in, opt-out controls and secure infrastructure will gain loyalty. You've got to make sure you're using a platform that's got best-in-class security embedded."


Chapters
00:00 - Introduction to 2026 trends 
01:43 - Trend 1: Hyper-personalization goes mainstream 
05:49 - Trend 2: Unified tech stacks and microservices platforms 
09:15 - Trend 3: Data analytics and real-time decisioning 
12:57 - Trend 4: Cybersecurity and privacy escalation 
15:36 - Trend 5: Guest communication platforms as orchestration hubs 
19:01 - Recap and looking ahead to 2026


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this celebratory New Year's Eve episode of Hotel Moment, host Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, reflects on an extraordinary year for the podcast that saw it reach over half a million listeners and climb to the top three on Apple Podcasts for Hotel Technology. Rather than simply counting downloads, she curates the wild stories, crisis moments, and bold decisions that reminded listeners why hospitality is such a special industry.

What you'll learn:

• Redefining luxury service: Jeff Wielgopolan, Service Director at Meadowood Napa Valley with over 20 years in luxury hospitality including former global senior vice president of learning and development at Forbes Travel Guide, defines luxury as "the ability to not have to think" where guests simply show up and pay while every need is anticipated, explaining how intentional interactions move guests from past travel stress to present moment awareness to future excitement.
  
  
• Training philosophy transformation: Jeff challenges conventional staff training by asking whether teams are taught what and how to do tasks versus why they do them, demonstrating how bell staff asking "how was your trip?" while guests enjoy beautiful views disconnects them from the moment by making them think about cramped airplane seats instead of being present at the property.
  
  
• Hiring smarter than yourself: Sky McLean, founder and CEO of Basecamp Resorts, describes building a $600 million hospitality empire by acknowledging she had no idea how to run a hotel after managing just two Airbnbs, immediately hiring an operations manager and accountant, emphasizing that success comes from putting the right people in the right seats by matching their skill sets and desires with organizational needs while treating people the way she wants to be treated.
  
  
• Scaling through empowerment: Sky's approach from those first two hires grew Basecamp to 300 employees and expansion into wellness tourism with Everwild spa concept combining Nordic spas, hot and cold therapy, and stunning mountain settings, demonstrating the innovation that happens when entrepreneurs hire great people and empower them to run.
  
  
• Crisis management under impossible conditions: Ben Campbell, president and CEO of Hospitality America, describes Hurricane Helene's devastating impact when two feet of rain in 24 hours caused mudslides and left hotels without power for a week and one property without water for three weeks, creating sanitation challenges for toilets, linen, and basic operations while serving as shelter for FEMA workers and displaced residents whose homes washed away.
  
  
• Operating without systems: Ben shares running a hotel for 14 days without internet or property management system during a previous hurricane in South Florida, managing everything on spreadsheets with room matrices, demonstrating resilience when digital systems fail completely and paper emergency binders become the lifeline for operations.
  
  
• Values-driven crisis response: Hospitality America's PEACH values (Passionate, Excellence, Adaptable, Community, Humble) weren't just poster words during the crisis but the framework guiding every decision as teams rented box trucks to transport linen between properties, with staff staying late to do laundry for hotels without water, showing hospitality isn't just about good times but being there when things fall apart.
  
  
• Emergency preparedness essentials: Ben emphasizes never taking anything for granted, maintaining fully updated emergency binders on paper because digital systems fail, creating comprehensive crisis binders with step-by-step documentation covering all bases, and choosing to be more prepared than underprepared for any threat to the area.
  
  
• Culture as first strategic priority: Agnelo Fernandes, CEO of Cote Hospitality managing properties including a dude ranch in Arizona with over 200 horses, reveals his strategic priorities start with culture and leadership rather than top line revenue, spending his first two years as CEO resetting culture with minor tweaks in some cases and major cleanses in others because culture is the beginning and end of pretty much any organization.
  
  
• Long-term thinking over quarterly returns: Agnelo's unconventional approach told investors and boards that culture would be fixed first before growth, maintaining a "brag book" of positive feedback and accolades as reminders of the leader he wants to be and the impact he wants to have rather than focusing on immediate returns that typically drive quarterly decisions.
  
  
• AI exploration without implementation pressure: Agnelo's team spends one hour weekly playing with AI by thinking through problems faced during the week, using artificial intelligence not to solve issues directly but to be inspired to think about different options, identifying 40 different aspects of their business that could be transformed while emphasizing that people will never change even as technology evolves.
  
  

Throughout the compilation, Brenna emphasizes the common thread connecting these diverse stories: hospitality is fundamentally about people, seeing what others need and showing up to meet that need, having the courage to do things differently when different is what's required, whether through massive financial risk based on vision, showing up daily during crisis, prioritizing culture over short-term revenue, or redefining luxury as effortless care.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Brenna Turpin here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[03:10] Luxury is the ability to not have to think - Jeff Wielgopolan from Meadowood Napa Valley delivers a memorable definition: "Luxury is the ability to not have to think. It's the greatest luxury that you can give somebody. From a guest perspective, all you should have to do is show up and pay." This reframes luxury away from marble bathrooms and thread counts toward anticipating needs before they're expressed.

[03:44] Moving guests through time - Jeff explains intentional interactions: "Upon arrival, I will always say that my best arrivals move the guest from the past into the present into the future. The front drive deals with the past, the front desk deals with the present, and as the bell escorts you to your room, they tell you about the future." When bell staff ask "how was your trip?" while guests enjoy beautiful views, they disconnect guests from the moment by making them think about cramped airplane seats.

[06:00] Hire people smarter than you - Sky McLean shares her scaling strategy: "The key in this whole thing is hire people smarter than you at the thing you need them to do. I knew I have no idea how to run a hotel. I ran two Airbnbs. That doesn't make me a hotelier. So I hired an operations manager and an accountant. It's always about putting the right people in the right seats."
[07:25] Hurricane Helene crisis management - Ben Campbell describes devastating conditions: "Two feet of rain in 24 hours. We had two hotels. One lost power for about a week. One hotel lost water for about three weeks. How do you stay sanitary without running water? I rented a box truck, drove up to that hotel, got all their linen, drove it down to our Embassy Suites in Greenville. The staff stayed late, did the laundry, then did all the laundry for the hotel that didn't have water."

[08:54] Operating without technology - Ben shares previous hurricane experience: "I went 14 days without internet. I went 14 days without a property management system. We were running a hotel off of a spreadsheet that I created with a room matrix." In 2025, his team ran hotels on paper for two weeks because they had no other choice during the crisis.

[11:12] Culture before revenue - Agnelo Fernandes reveals his priorities: "If you look at our strategic priorities, it starts with culture. It doesn't start with top line. It doesn't start with anything else but culture and leadership. I spent a good part of my first two years resetting culture. In some cases, minor tweaks and in some cases, major cleanses. Culture is the beginning and end of pretty much any organization."

Chapters:00:00 - Intro
03:10 - Jeff Wielgopolan on redefining luxury and intentional service 
06:00 - Sky McLean on building a $600M empire through smart hiring 
07:25 - Ben Campbell on crisis management during Hurricane Helene 
11:12 - Agnelo Fernandes on culture as first strategic priority 
15:00 - People-centered hospitality


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill
  
  

In this celebratory episode of Hotel Moment, host Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, takes a different approach by curating the most impactful moments from the podcast's archive this year. Rather than featuring a single guest, she presents a carefully selected compilation that showcases both the entertaining personality and serious innovation driving modern hospitality forward.


What you'll learn:

• Rethinking loyalty beyond points: Bashar Wali, founder and CEO of Practice Hospitality and This Assembly, with over three decades in hospitality, delivers his unfiltered perspective that points programs represent bribery rather than genuine loyalty, arguing true loyalty comes from making guests feel seen, understood, and valued rather than simply rewarded with transactional benefits.
  
  
• Simplifying direct booking friction: Bashar also compares buying shoes on Instagram with three button presses to hotel websites requiring 75 steps, including keyboard switches between alpha and numeric inputs, emphasizing that hotels with perishable inventory shouldn't fight guests every step when they're trying to give you money.
  
  
• Entrepreneurial origin stories: Sky McLean, founder and CEO of Basecamp Resorts, shares how she took a $38,000 loan check from a BMW dealership for a car she couldn't afford and used it to buy land in Canmore, then lived in a camping trailer on the construction site while building what would become a $600 million hospitality empire, advising that "there's no right time, so just do it."
  
  
• Cybersecurity's human element: Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews, warns that cybercriminals now use AI to impersonate voices and buy Google ad words to create fake login pages, emphasizing that teams at the frontline with access to sensitive data must be trained because IT departments can't provide 100% protection when human error creates vulnerabilities.
  
  
• Never Google your login pages: Matthijs shares the critical practice of bookmarking login pages or using single sign-on instead of searching on Google, where criminals set traps with ads looking exactly like legitimate pages that steal credentials when employees enter them.
  
  
• Master data management as a foundation: Dimple Jethani, CIO of Aramark Destinations, overseeing technology for iconic properties in Yosemite and Yellowstone, emphasizes, master data management becomes critical when implementing systems like Salesforce because failing to integrate properly ruins your master data and creates silos, preventing actionable insights.
  
  
• Starting with guest questions: Dimple stresses defining what you want to know about guests before collecting data, building systems to answer specific questions about how you know them, engage them, and understand what's important to them, rather than accumulating information without purpose.
  
  
• Transaction-level personalization: Dana Cariss, Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy at CoralTree Hospitality, describes how their four-year investment consolidating data from PMS, point of sale, and sales systems into a single warehouse enables them to see not just whether guests used resort credits but exactly where they spent them, allowing hyper-targeted campaigns sending spa packages to spa lovers rather than generic promotions.
  
  
• Technology for social impact: Georgine Muntz, CEO of Visual Matrix, explains how their PMS and housekeeping tools enable staff to safely document suspicious activity related to human trafficking without confronting potentially dangerous criminals, feeding information into databases that help identify patterns and assist law enforcement.
  
  
• Partnerships over integrations: Georgine emphasizes that while APIs and integrations are important, hotels operating 24/7 in real time need partners who will fix issues at 2 a.m. rather than point fingers, achieving 98% issue resolution without referring customers elsewhere through relationship-focused support.
  
  

Throughout the compilation, Brenna reinforces that great hospitality happens when human connection balances with intelligent technology, using data to enhance rather than replace intuition while building systems that free teams to make guests feel welcome, understood, and valued.

If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate, and review it on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Connect with Brenna Turpin here:

• LinkedIn
• Revinate

Follow the podcast here:

• LinkedIn

Episode Highlights:
[02:20] Points are bribery - Bashar Wali delivers his bold perspective: "Points are not loyalty. Points are bribery. If I stop giving you points, are you still coming? No, that's not loyalty. I'm buying your loyalty, not earning it." His point underscores that true loyalty comes from making guests feel seen and valued, not just rewarded.
[03:05] The 75-step booking nightmare - Bashar compares retail to hotel booking: "I go on Instagram, I see a pair of shoes, I press three buttons, they're in the mail. I go on a hotel website to book a room, and on step 75, they're making me change my keyboard from Alpha to Numeric. Please don't fight me every step of the way when I'm trying to book my room on your website."
[04:16] The BMW loan origin story - Sky McLean shares her wild beginning: "I end up with a check for $38,000 from BMW. I'm like, done, sold. I'll take this car I can't afford with a $1,000 a month payment, and I'm gonna take that check and buy a piece of dirt in Canmore, which is the land where the first Basecamp Resorts now sits."
[06:44] The human cybersecurity vulnerability - Matthijs Welle warns: "We have to teach everyone who works at the frontline that has access to sensitive data how to protect that data. You can't look at an IT department to do 100% protection. That's never 100% unless you really make your teams aware of it."

[08:43] Master data management matters - Dimple Jethani emphasizes: "No one wants to talk about foundational things, but master data management matters. If I decide to implement a system and I don't integrate it, my master data has just been ruined."
[09:59] Transaction-level personalization - Dana Cariss explains hyper-targeting: "We can see quickly if the guest is using resort credit or not. Do we understand where they are actually spending that credit? Once we do, are we tailoring our ongoing messages based on that guest spend? Once you understand at a transaction level, then we can truly tailor personalized communication."

Chapters:00:00 - Intro
02:20 - Bashar on loyalty and booking friction 
04:16 - Sky McLean's entrepreneurial leap of faith 
06:44 - Cybersecurity with Matthijs Welle 
08:43 - Master data management with Dimple Jethani 
09:59 - Transaction-level personalization with Dana Cariss 
11:07 - Technology for social impact with Georgine Muntz 
13:00 - Closing reflections on high-tech, high-touch hospitality


If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.

Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so


Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.


Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.

If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:

• Innovation in hospitality technology
• Guest experience transformation
• Revenue optimization strategies
• Emerging industry trends

Express your interest in being a guest →
Check out the three most downloaded episodes:

• Revinate’s new CEO — on a mission to empower hoteliers with data-driven technology | with Bryson Koehler 
• Guests define what luxury means today | with Shannon Knapp
• Your commercial strategy as an evolution and not a revolution | with Jennifer Hill