Top Floor

Tamina Wuerth is a world-traveling free spirit with a thirst for learning -- on her own terms. After almost a decade of hotel jobs and freelance social media gigs, Tamina synthesized all of her experience and her ability to understand technology quickly into AIvolution, her artificial intelligence company that makes solutions for hotels. Susan and Tamina talk about waiting tables, making friends, and fleeing spiders.

Jeanelle Johnson is the voice hotel companies listen to about upgrading legacy technology. As leader of PwC's travel, transportation, and hospitality practice group, Jeanelle is able to meld her love of travel with a deep background in finance and M&A to give advice about planning for the future. Susan and Jeanelle talk about arrogant celebrities, keyman risks, and degree programs.

Mandy Murry has done so many cool jobs in travel and hospitality that her life story would make a great anthology series on TV. After running the Olympic Torch in Rhode Island, working on a private island in the Bahamas, and owning a hotel in North Carolina -- among many things -- Mandy has turned her extraordinary experience into a new type of consulting as the hospitality mentor for independent hotels. Susan and Mandy talk about the stumbles of staffing, the fluidity of fine dining, and the ickiness of a dead body on ice.

Elysia Burns had to stop a guy from cutting up the server room with hedge clippers, and that was at her first job. As co-founder of Friendly Like Me, Elysia is creating a way for people with access needs to figure out what they can expect at the restaurants, hotels, and attractions that they want to visit, and a way for those businesses to get more customers. Susan and Elysia talk about caved in ceilings, motorized beds, and untapped billions in spending power.

Cue the confetti -- it's episode 100! Susan Barry is joined by her sister, Cat Meek, to recap their recent Cherish Tours trip to Alaska. Learn what it's like to travel with a group of strangers who become friends with an amazing itinerary that you don't even have to plan! Susan and Cat talk about packing anxiety, the Paper Plane cocktail, and crampons. Thank you for listening, and here's to 100 more!

In this solo episode, Susan Barry shares content ideas for three real hospitality start-up businesses to use on LinkedIn. Big picture, you should think about three key messages or topics that you want your business to be associated with, and create content that hits on those messages over and over. If you want to see how well Susan does this in the real world, follow her and the show on LinkedIn!

Craig Everett came close to running out of water in a Mongolian desert, and that's not a metaphor. A serial entrepreneur with a penchant for packaging travel experiences in new and novel ways, Craig is CEO of Holibob, a technology platform that links experiences with travelers. Susan and Craig talk about humility, confidence, and tow ropes.

This is Part Two of our Loading Dock stories from the HITEC show, held in June 2023 in Toronto. There are some great ones here, so listen up!

In memory of Dylan Beaumont, one of the greats, and with thanks to HFTP, we bring you Part One of this year's Loading Dock stories from HITEC in Toronto.  Stay tuned for Part Two in episode 97.