Jonathan “Jon” Albano is Founder & CEO of LodgingMetrics – a secure, cloud-based platform that enables hoteliers to track all of their critical business metrics across multiple properties from anywhere at any time, using a laptop, tablet or smart phone. He also hosts the popular Lodging Leaders podcast, an interview based show providing powerful business strategies for hotel professionals.
For more than 13 years, Jon defined Membership Services for AAHOA, one of the fastest-growing organizations in the hospitality industry, with over 14,000 members owning more than 20,000 hotels that total $128 billion in property value.
After effectively executing 13 national conventions, hundreds of regional trade shows, and attending numerous industry events, Jon is recognized by many as a leading hospitality needs expert in bringing owners and vendors together for mutual gain. As Vice President of Membership, he led the Membership, Education & Professional Development, Public Relations & Communications, and Information Technology departments.
Jon used his engineering background and passion for efficiencies to improve staff productivity and enhanced members’ experience by implementing countless technology solutions, designing custom software, and overseeing the development of multiple websites and mobile applications.
After years of working closely with hotel owners, Jon discovered that there are many “pains” hoteliers face on a daily basis, and in February of 2014, he left AAHOA to find ways that technology can cold solve them.
Global business travel is a $1.4 trillion industry. The Global Business Travel Association calculates the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 resulted in a loss of $113 billion in business travel spend in hotels, airlines and other sectors of the travel industry. But all is not lost. GBTA, industry analysts and travel management companies see some green shoots of hope for 2021 as the COVID-19 vaccine rolls out and corporations put some of their people on the road again. This report is part of Long Live Lodging’s ongoing coverage of the coronavirus crisis and its impact on the hospitality industry.
Long Live Lodging, an online multimedia news organization that covers the hospitality industry, found itself tossing aside its plans for news coverage late in the first quarter of 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. and devastated the hospitality industry. The year turned out to be ground-breaking for Long Live Lodging, which developed the industry’s first live digital conference, and its podcast, Lodging Leaders, which increased its followers through timely, credible and balanced reporting on trends and issues driving the industry during the historic year. The company also won international recognition for its coverage of the COVID-19 crisis and its work as a whole. Long Live Lodging is a startup media company, formed in 2019, with Lodging Leaders, which was founded in 2015. In today’s report, we celebrate the podcast’s 300th episode. Podcast founder and co-host Jon Albano and co-host Judy Maxwell have a free-wheeling conversation in which they review the top podcasts of 2020 (Can anyone say ‘fair franchising’?) and give a brief preview of what the media organization plans for 2021.