QuestCast

The current economic crisis, resulting from heavy-handed mitigation efforts aimed a stemming the spread of the Coronavirus, has left companies (particularly in the travel sector) scrambling to fundamentally rethink every aspect of their business. Technology transformed how companies use loyalty marketing to stimulate demand and brand love. What will change in light of recent events?

Are loyalty programs and loyalty tech more or less relevant in a downward economy. What can we learn from past recessions? As brands move past short-run recovery efforts, how will technology change the long game in loyalty?

On this episode of QuestCast, I speak CEO Ed Carey and Chief Revenue Officer John Paragine over at AudienceTown.com about the state of digital advertising in real estate, and how owners and managers can improve the way they target specific buyers and renters through programmatic advertising

On this episode of QuestCast, I speak Massimo Noja de Marco, Founder and Chief Concept Officer at Kitchen United, a kitchen-as-service provider (also referred to as ghost or virtual kitchens) now expanding rapidly throughout the United States.

On this episode of QuestCast, I speak with Eric Voyles at TexAmericas Center in Texarkana, a rural region bordering Texas and Arkansas. Eric walks us through the economic history of the region, how visitor attraction fits into the overall economic growth formula for the community, and how to leverage nostalgia to connect place with future generations.

Danny Forster & Architects is the lead design firm on the Marriott AC Hotel New York NoMad currently under construction and is set to be the world’s tallest modular designed and constructed hotel. On this episode, I speak with Danny to discuss the finer details of modular as a new paradigm in high-rise hotel development in urban settings, the economics of modular, the advantages and limitations of modular, where the development process is different, and changing roles in the hotel development process.

The membership model is a trend in hospitality and travel more generally, but what does it really take to go members only? Scale, distribution, brand, product? On this episode, Emmanuel Guisset of Outsite, a boutique co-live / co-work brand now focusing on growth and exclusivity, covers the Outsite business model, how they’ve managed to evade capture by the OTAs including Airbnb, and how to leverage “small” as a strategic advantage in hospitality.

On this episode of QuestCast, we speak to Andrew McConnell CEO at rented.com, a vacation rental market data & consulting based out of Atlanta, Georgia - to get a pulse on where the smart money is going in terms of second-home and investment property buyers looking at the various options between more traditional vacation rental markets and city markets. Urban-market focused property management brands like Sonder and Lyric are raising big institutional investment rounds, but Andrew sees places like Pigeon Forge, Tennessee better long-term investments for individual buyers.

Today I’m joined with Greg Abbott, Practice Head for the travel vertical at DataArt, to talk about how companies should think about distributed teams in terms of managing culture, expectations, and productivity across geographies and time zones. Mobile and cloud computing has given the modern enterprise more flexibility in how it structures its workforce. With that come opportunities and challenges.

Today I’m joined with Greg Abbott, Practice Head for the travel vertical at DataArt, to talk about how companies should think about distributed teams in terms of managing culture, expectations, and productivity across geographies and time zones. Mobile and cloud computing has given the modern enterprise more flexibility in how it structures its workforce. With that come opportunities and challenges.

On this episode of QuestCast, I chat with Jared O’Toole from Under30Experiences, an outbound tour operator out of Austin Texas that organizes group travel experiences for younger demographics, about the psychology of the solo traveler and how group dynamics play out during their organized adventures to trendy international destinations. We discuss optimal group size, motivations for solo travel, marketing to the solo traveler, and the bonds and relationships that form during their trips.