LATEST NEWS
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December 14, 202116 | Duke Cookie Face
Based on the list of adventures he’s had, you would never guess that Nick Shelton considers himself shy. Whether he’s racing cars, crewing sailboats, or skydiving, Nick thinks about how to break social interactions down and use mindset hacks to make them fun and fruitful. Susan and Nick talk about the angel of rescue, the cape walk, and of course, Duke Cookie Face.
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December 7, 202115 | Yes, I Was a Super-Nerd
Susan Barry was a super-nerd in eighth grade, but that didn’t stop her from having to learn things the hard way. In this solo deep-dive episode, Susan describes how your sound, surroundings, mindset, and glass of water will set you up for podcast guest success. She also shares tips for finding cash and other exciting items in your hotel room and reminds you to go potty.
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November 30, 202114 | Loser Buys Dinner
Like many in hospitality, Teague Hunter tried — and failed — to leave the business for another industry early in his career. After being drawn back in, Teague has set records and helped lead the way back to recovery through his show, Teague Talks, and his company’s annual conference. Susan discusses working with family and dodging bullets with the CEO of Hunter Hotel Advisors.
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November 23, 202113 | Canned Good Centerpieces
Entertaining is a way of life for Jana Robinson, from singing her way through each morning to creating dynamic events with plenty of compelling content. Jana has produced happenings for President Obama and Real Housewives, but her passion lies in giving back. Susan and Jana talk about the energy difference between live and virtual events, how to shop for the planner in your life, and the joys of being a Gemini.
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LODGING LEADERS
November 17, 2021346 | Repositioning For Recovery: Hotel conversions to outpace new builds
Lodging Econometrics has tracked the hotel industry since 1998. Its global database includes new-hotel pipelines as well as renovations and brand conversions. Hotel franchisers once eager to launch new brands are focused on converting existing hotels because it’s a faster way to recover revenue lost to the COVID-19 pandemic than through new construction. In Episode 346, Lodging Leaders explores the increasing number of conversions in the U.S. hotel industry and what owners and operators need to consider before repositioning an asset.
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HAPPY TO BE OF SERVICE
November 17, 202103 | Ben’s Friends: How a hospitality tastemaker is saving others from addiction
Steve Palmer is founder of Indigo Road Hospitality Group, owner and operator of restaurants and hotels in seven U.S. cities. Palmer has won accolades for his various dining concepts. He’s the first to tell you he loves everything about the hospitality industry, especially people. In his transparency, Palmer also shares his battle with alcoholism and how it nearly killed his career and ended his life. In response to the death of a colleague who struggled with addiction, Palmer and fellow restaurateur Mickey Bakst established Ben’s Friends, a community of restaurant owners, managers, chefs and other workers who seek sobriety. Palmer tells how Ben’s Friends came to be because he wants to raise awareness of substance abuse in the F&B industry and let those who struggle with addiction know there’s acceptance and help. This session is part of Long Live Lodging’s special series called Happy To Be Of Service: Stories of hospitality giving back.
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November 16, 202112 | This is Not the Norm
Adele Gutman danced her way through performing arts high school before feeling the pull of hospitality, courtesy of a destination spa trip with her mom. Adele found a home at the Library Hotel Collection, where she led its New York portfolio to a truly odds-defying 15 years at the top of the TripAdvisor charts. Susan and Adele talk about the ins and outs of managing a hotel’s reputation by making small but continuous improvements to reduce friction in the guest experience.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
November 11, 202114 | Josh Ramsey: Deploying revenue management technology without right people is ‘handing a machine gun to a monkey’
If it’s true that opportunity is borne out of crisis, then Josh Ramsey and his cohorts at startup Prosper Hotels might be on to something big. Comprised of former executives at Hilton who found themselves unmoored in the early days of the coronavirus crisis, the team at Prosper Hotels believes it can draw on its collective expertise in pricing strategies and customer experience to navigate small to medium-sized hotels to profitability now and post-pandemic. In this episode of Lodging Luminaries, Ramsey, founder and managing partner at Prosper Hotels, talks about how hotel owners and operators can blend rate, technology and customer service into a money-making enterprise.
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HAPPY TO BE OF SERVICE
November 10, 202102 | Tiny Smiling Faces: Hotelier rebuilds schools, children’s futures in India
Arun Patel established Tiny Smiling Faces in 2012 as a U.S.-based organization that funds improvements in public schools in West India. The program has lifted hundreds of families out of poverty and has given children health and hope for tomorrow. This session of Happy To Be Of Service, features Patel’s story of giving back. It’s part of a special series by Long Live Lodging that spotlights hospitality companies and people making a difference in their communities or around the world.
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LODGING LEADERS
November 10, 2021345 | ‘Rosy View of Future’: Hotel industry sees unleashing of pent-up investor demand
In the first few months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U.S., financiers anticipated a swell of distressed hotel businesses. Some raised rescue funds to respond to what they thought was a pending crisis. Though there are financial rescues taking place, the level of such activity is far below what industry advisers and fund managers expected. Commercial real estate investors positioned to act in the early days of the pandemic held off and are now just beginning to unleash their cash hoards totaling billions of dollars. Episode 345 of Lodging Leaders podcast explores the state of capital investment in the hotel industry.
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November 9, 202111 | Swedish Pastry Dreams
Although she still dreams of the Swedish pastries from her first job, Tracy Judge has both feet firmly planted in the realities of the modern events business. Tracy’s journey as a freelance economy platform entrepreneur has led her to explore how the soft skills planners cultivated in live events can smooth the way and soothe the anxieties of a shift to virtual and hybrid meetings. Susan learns about how Tracy evolved her company to meet real-time needs and tripled her community along the way.
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HAPPY TO BE OF SERVICE
November 3, 2021344 | Clean the World: Recycling hotel soap prepares nonprofit to save lives in pandemic
Shawn Seipler of Orlando, Florida, founded Clean the World 12 years ago to fight life-threatening illnesses in children who had no access to soap and water. He started by collecting discarded guest-room soaps from a single hotel in his neighborhood. Today Clean the World has recycled 63 million bars of amenity-sized soap from more than 8,000 hotels and resorts and distributed them in 130 countries. The COVID-19 pandemic dealt Clean the World a dramatic blow in its programming and growth strategy. Lodging Leader’s introductory episode in its special series, “Happy To Be Of Service: Stories of hospitality giving back,” features Seipler who talks about Clean the World’s beginnings and how a hospitality industry in recovery has helped the nonprofit pick up the pieces and move forward with its life-saving mission.
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November 2, 202110 | Literally a Strip Search
Jay Schwartz was not interested in starving as an artist, so he transformed his fine arts degree into a career in graphic design and brand strategy. Exploring piles of mud, silvery blue waves, and a Scarface-mountain of casino chips, Jay uses a sense of place — and lots and lots of pictures — to craft the guest experience. Jay and Susan talk about branding hotels and restaurants along every point in the guest journey and how the pandemic was the best thing to happen to QR codes.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
October 28, 202113 | Mitch Patel: Vision Hospitality Group having ‘robust conversations’ with brands as company restructures and launches management division
Mitch Patel, president and CEO of Vision Hospitality Group, is repositioning his 25-year-old company to identify and execute on opportunities to grow its new management subsidiary, Humanist Hospitality. After forming Humanist in early 2019 to manage VHG’s boutique and lifestyle hotels, the company in September announced a shift in strategy in which Humanist is managing all of VHG’s assets as well as seeking third-party agreements. In Episode 13 of Lodging Luminaries podcast, Patel shares the reasons behind the move, including teaming up with real estate developers in mixed-use projects. He also talks about how he’s parlaying his close relationships with hotel company CEOs and other top executives to redo brand standards and rewrite such things as cancellation policies to increase profitability for all owners.
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LODGING LEADERS
October 27, 2021343 | Take a Cue from Hospitality: Senior living is next big opportunity
Hoteliers and allied companies invested in both lodging and senior-living assets demonstrate how the spirit of hospitality and its best practices extend into other real-estate-asset groups. Episode 343 of Lodging Leaders podcast is the second in a two-part series that explores the hospitality industry’s growing interest in senior living.