No Vacancy Live!

During the recently held DUETTO PERFORM, I interviewed Jesse Sturges, Director of Strategic Marketing at Mohegan Sun, about how one of the world's largest casino resorts uses loyalty, influencers, and faster recognition to connect guests to tailored experiences.

🎸 Mohegan Sun marks 30 years at the property and 25 years for the arena, with Metallica booked for two nights 📣 Jesse uses influencers as a real growth lever, including slot influencers from New England and Vegas 🧠 Jesse focuses on motivation: who guests follow, what they respond to, and how to connect them to tailored experiences 🎭 The resort runs multiple experiences at once—comedy, concerts, shows—so different customers build different trips 🏷️ Jesse's biggest tip: show loyalty value immediately, not after 10–25 stays, and personalize faster

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Renovations and conversions are about to outpace new builds by a lot — and that changes who suppliers should sell to.

Glenn Haussman talks with Bruce Ford, SVP at Lodging Econometrics, in Las Vegas while Choice Hotels International's convention and HD Expo run in the same building.

🔁 Transactions drive conversions: trading hotels unlocks renovation + repositioning decisions 🏗️ Bruce puts numbers on it: about 86,000 new rooms vs about 350,000 renovated rooms this year 🏦 Expensive debt keeps new builds tough, while cash-flowing hotels still finance better 🧾 PIPs push decisions: renovate, sell, or exit 📦 Supplier reality: shipping costs jump 50–60%, and that hits hotel P&Ls fast 🤝 Supplier advice: sell accounts and partnerships with active ownership/management groups, not one-off quotes

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Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Choice's loyalty refresh goes the opposite direction of most programs: easier to earn, easier to reach status, easier to redeem. During Choice Hotels International's 70th Annual Convention in Las Vegas, I talked with Noha Abdalla, Chief Marketing Officer at Choice Hotels, about the Choice Privileges refresh, the Keegan-Michael Key campaign, and why owners should care.

🎭 Keegan-Michael Key helps Choice break through generic hotel marketing 💳 Choice Privileges changes: second + third stay bonuses, first elite tier at 5 nights (down from 10), plus a new Titanium top tier 🏈 Passion points: Learfield college sports + Trackhouse Racing/NASCAR for access members actually want 💰 Owner angle: loyalty members stay more often, spend more, and cost less to acquire 📈 Noha says members who joined in Q1 this year spent 5% more than members who joined in Q1 last year

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Matt McElhare, Vice President & Segment Lead, Extended Stay at Choice Hotels International, says extended stay leads new hotel development right now, while conversions let owners move faster than new builds.

I talked with Matt in Las Vegas about what Choice has in the pipeline, why conversions matter right now, and why he thinks extended stay still has a long runway.

🏗️ 2026 milestones: Choice expects the 600th extended stay to debut, the 300th WoodSpring Suites, and the 30th Everhome Suites

🏨 Choice share: Matt says Choice flags 50% of extended stay hotels under construction (WoodSpring + Everhome)

⏱️ Conversion window: roughly 3–6 months (sometimes faster) vs 18–24 months for new construction

🔄 Suburban Studios conversion strategy: convert 100+ key transient boxes into extended stay

✅ Progress marker: Choice crossed 20 Suburban Studios transformations, with 30 more in the pipeline

📍 Everhome pipeline includes Las Vegas-area sites: Henderson and north of Vegas near the base

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David Pepper, Chief Development Officer at Choice Hotels, says Q1 turning RevPAR positive brought buyers back into the market. Glenn Haussman talks with David from Choice's annual convention about why transactions drive conversions—and why extended stay keeps leading new builds.

• Conversions need transactions: buyers have to trade hotels for conversions to happen
• Q1 momentum: industry up, Choice up, investors start moving
• Choice relicensing up 50% in Q1 as buyers re-sign existing Choice hotels
• Country Inn & Suites up 50% this year
• Extended stay leads new construction: 50% of Choice's pipeline runs extended stay
• WoodSpring + Everhome make up 50% of extended stay hotels under construction

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#ChoiceHotels #HotelDevelopment #HotelConversions #ExtendedStay #Hospitality #NoVacancyNews

Hotel restaurants lose revenue in boring ways—slow first drink delivery, late refills, and servers who don't know what they leave on the table.

Geoffrey Toffetti, CEO of Frontline Performance Group, and Sloan Dean, former CEO of Remington Hospitality, break down CheckMax and the coaching system that uses POS data, leaderboards, and short training to drive stronger F&B performance.

🍸 Geoffrey targets an easy win: get the first drink out fast, then replenish sooner so tables order a third round 📊 CheckMax shows servers where they rank and what the gap costs them using leaderboards and gamification 📈 Geoffrey says outlets running the program see about 15% revenue per guest improvement year over year with the same servers 🎥 Sloan explains the "how": POS data + coaching + short training content, including chef-recorded videos that teach servers how to sell key items 🧠 Geoffrey uses AI to spot patterns and turn messy POS data into coachable moments, including pairing strong servers with weaker ones for two weeks

Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

During DUETTO PERFORM in Fort Lauderdale, I talked with Bob Matsuoka, Chief Technology Officer at Duetto, about AI in hotels the only way that matters right now: practical, operational, and money-saving.

🤖 Bob draws a clean line: machine learning does the work; AI makes it accessible 🚫 He warns against treating AI like an "answer machine" because it can hallucinate 🔁 He says AI wins today on operations: read emails, compile action items, synthesize reports, and stop wasting hours moving data between systems 📊 He shares a real example: revenue teams spend too much time pulling reports and building decks—AI can take that off their plate 🧩 He says AI works best as a translation layer between data and plain language, including writing the code behind the scenes 🗂️ His practical tip: connect AI to email + Google Drive and let it build your daily report while you sleep

Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

HotelKey's self check-in kiosk scans an ID, runs face verification, and issues keys without a front desk line. I talk with Aditya Thyagarajan, co-founder of HotelKey, and Fareed Ahmad, co-founder and CEO of HotelKey, about why kiosks only work when they connect directly to the #PMS. 🪪 Guests scan ID, complete face verification, pick an available room, and check in 🔑 The kiosk handles check-in, check-out, duplicate keys, stay extensions, room moves, and room-out-of-order 🧩 HotelKey builds the kiosk inside the PMS ecosystem instead of bolting on integrations later 🧑‍💻 HotelKey backs the kiosk with 24/7 live support so guests can tap a button and reach an agent 🏨 Owners testing it say lines shrink and staff shifts from desk transactions to guest interaction Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Axel Hotels runs 12 properties across four countries with nearly 1,000 rooms, and the brand focuses on the LGBTQ+ community.

I talk with Efrain Castro, COO of Axel Hotels, about how the brand creates community-driven hotels and where the team wants to expand next.

🏳️‍🌈 Efrain calls Axel the largest hotel chain focused on the LGBTQ+ community, built as a "space of freedom" that welcomes anyone who wants that environment 🌍 Axel uses social spaces to connect travelers and locals, and that local/traveler mix drives repeat demand 🏨 Axel operates through leases, management agreements, and franchise deals, with a current push toward franchising 📍 US expansion sits on the table again; Axel previously operated in Miami Beach, and Efrain names Palm Springs, Las Vegas, and New York City as top targets 🧩 Efrain says Axel tailors the product to each deal—new build, conversion, or guidance on an existing asset 📩 Franchise and development inquiries: [email protected] or the form on axelhotels.com

Thanks to Actabl for supporting this episode. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Starwood Hotels builds 1 Hotels, Treehouse, and Baccarat around one idea: products need emotion and soul, not templates.

While hosting Starwood's annual conference, I talked with Raul Leal, CEO of Starwood Hotels, about differentiation through nature-led design, human experience, and AI-driven personalization that stays human.

🌿 Raul says nature-led "hardware" sets the tone the second guests walk in 🤖 He uses AI to understand preferences and deliver better moments on-property without creeping people out 🍽️ He treats F&B as brand identity, not a side business 💰 He focuses on total revenue per customer instead of RevPAR-only thinking 🎁 He frames the mission program as affiliation plus perks, not points for points' sake 👥 He uses guest and employee focus groups to keep the brands honest

Thanks to Actabl for supporting this episode. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed? Text HOTEL to 66866 for #NoVacancyNews.