LATEST NEWS
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TOP FLOOR
September 14, 202102 | We’re NOT Idiots
In the course of her hotel career, Kate Burda learned the business inside and out, from Minneapolis to Miami. Along the way, she figured out that the sound and fury of the hotel business could truly signify something by focusing on a traveler’s point of inspiration vs. a hotel’s product offering. Susan learns how Kate’s company helps hotels and other businesses ignite the connections between financial performance goals and sales and marketing strategies.
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TOP FLOOR
September 14, 202101 | Gas Station Menu Drop
As a teenager, Cat Meek took any restaurant job that would have her, working her way to becoming a certified sommelier and manager of a “very fahhncy” restaurant. Over romantic dates spent writing the business plan for a future fine dining establishment, she met and married her husband, who was conveniently also a chef. Susan learns how Cat built a multi-unit restaurant empire by making the guests part of the story.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
September 9, 202110 | Carlos Flores: Sonesta has ‘very lofty ambitions’ as it pursues value in the lodging industry
Sonesta Hotels International’s CEO Carlos Flores has big dreams for the company he’s led since 2012. Over the past 18 months, he’s made some of them come true, shocking an industry in the throes of the coronavirus crisis. In Episode 10 of Lodging Luminaries podcast, host Jason Freed talks with Flores about how he decided to pull the trigger to propel the company as a major contender in the franchising space. He also shares his views on the franchiser-franchisee relationship as well as whether the adoption of new technology can enhance a hotel’s value.
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TOP FLOOR
September 8, 202100 | My Not-So-Secret Mission
Susan Barry started her hospitality career sleeping in her car between parties as an off-premise caterer. Since then, she’s worked with hundreds of hotels, restaurants, and other hospitality companies to improve commercial strategy performance, gathering a bevy of wild experiences and crazy stories along the way. Top Floor explores how hospitality businesses can tell their stories, with expert tips and entertaining tales from engaging guests.
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LODGING LEADERS
September 8, 2021336 | Never Forget: 20 years after 9/11, hotel industry veterans remember the impact of the terrorist attacks
As America approaches the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks on its homeland, Lodging Leaders explores the impact 9/11 had on the U.S. travel sector. We feature hotel industry leaders who were on duty that fateful day and can recall the shock of the attacks, how they cared for frightened guests and how the event changed hotel operations. They also draw parallels to the coronavirus crisis and remind listeners of the resiliency of the nation’s hospitality industry.
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AAHOA
September 1, 2021335 | ‘Waking Up A Giant’: Armed with fresh data that reveal members’ economic might, AAHOA leaders see new day ahead
With 20,000 members, AAHOA is the largest hotel owners group in the world. But it has not regularly exercised the power that comes with size. That is about to change. A new study by Oxford Economics reveals the membership’s stunning combined economic strength, including the fact that members own 60 percent of America’s hotels. AAHOA Chairman Vinay Patel and other AAHOA leaders say the association plans to wield its might in forging a post-pandemic recovery that ensures everyone in the lodging industry a more profitable future.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
August 26, 202109 | Elie Khoury: ‘In every downturn, we learn and we take action’
Episode 9 of Lodging Luminaries with Jason Freed features Elie Khoury, EVP of operations at Aimbridge Hospitality, who says, in every economic downturn, hospitality owners and operators learn new ways of doing business. The coronavirus crisis has exacerbated the challenge of staffing a hotel operation and Aimbridge Hospitality is taking an unconventional route by embracing the “gig economy” and preparing for the inevitable cultural shift it will create in the hospitality workplace.
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FRANCHISING
August 25, 2021334 | ‘Unsustainable’ Business Model: Hoteliers turn to courts and legislation to reform franchising
Although hotel franchisees voiced discontent with franchisers long before the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic crisis has emboldened owners’ resolve to seek dramatic and lasting reform in brand licensing. Along with challenging current practices in U.S. courts, franchisees have rallied support from state and U.S. lawmakers. A proposal in New Jersey might serve as a model of reform while congressional measures would change the way the Federal Trade Commission and the Small Business Administration regulate franchising. Episode 334 explores the legal and legislative challenges confronting traditional franchising practices.
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NEXTGEN IN LODGING
August 24, 202107 | Give minority workers a voice, say Asian American hospitality professionals dedicated to diversity
This month’s episode of NextGen in Lodging podcast features Asian American hospitality professionals who urge company leaders to identify blatant and unconscious racial bias in the workplace and to promote among employees knowledge of ethnic backgrounds and cultural traditions – all to foster acceptance and understanding that can lift careers and businesses to new heights.
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FRANCHISING
August 18, 2021333 | ‘We’re Different’: Small franchisers strive to set themselves apart in a post-pandemic playing field
Chris Guimbellot grew up in the family hotel business in Louisiana. Today, as president and CEO of Hospitality International Inc. in metro-Atlanta, he is focused on turning around the fortunes of the hotel franchiser and the owners of its nearly 230 branded assets. This report is the second part of a series exploring how new and small franchisers are managing franchiser-franchisee relationships as the industry works toward a post-pandemic recovery.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
August 12, 202108 | Justin Jabara: ‘We have to be a world-class employer’
Justin Jabara took the reins as president of Meyer Jabara Hotels in Danbury, Connecticut, in March 2020. He rose to the challenge and led the company through a time like no other. Meyer Jabara Hotels grew during the pandemic year 2020 as it was able to clearly identify assets with business models that proved relatively read more
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FRANCHISING
August 11, 2021332 | ‘Enough is Enough’: New and small franchisers rewrite the book on fair licensing agreements
Patrick Mullinix founded Advantage Hotels Inc. in June 2019, just nine months before the coronavirus pandemic decimated the travel and lodging industry and pulled back the curtain on long-simmering owners’ discontent in franchiser-franchisee relationships. Mullinix believes a new day is ahead. Franchisers of legacy brands are rethinking the traditional licensing model. Mullinix says the answer may lie in new and small hotel franchisers determined to build positive business relationships in which owners and brands can equally benefit. In Episode 332 of Lodging Leaders features Mullinix as well as leaders at Sonesta International Hotels Corp., in a report about how some brands are working to make franchising a win-win for both sides even in the worst of times.
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CORONAVIRUS
August 4, 2021331 | Breaking Away: How to recruit and retain young hospitality professionals in a post-pandemic industry
Nicolas Graf, associate dean, clinical professor and chair of New York University’s Jonathan M. Tisch Center of Hospitality, will soon unveil the school’s new Hospitality Innovation Hub. Departure from the norms of doing business is key to the post-pandemic survival and success of the hospitality industry, says Graf. Companies that offer flexibility in thought and practice among employees will go a long way in leading the industry’s post-pandemic recovery. Episode 331 of Lodging Leaders explores what it will take for owners, operators and others invested in the industry to attract and retain bright young talent who can help build modern and sustainable hotel business models.
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NEXTGEN IN LODGING
July 29, 202106 | A Lost Generation of Hospitality Leaders
The coronavirus pandemic has forced thousands of young hospitality professionals to leave their jobs or rethink their career paths, leaving the industry with a dearth of mid-career talent and leadership. In Episode 6 of Next Gen in Lodging podcast, co-host Omari Head talks with Priscilla Guasso and Bijal Patel about millennials leaving the hospitality industry and how employers can bring them back and help them rebuild their careers.
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CORONAVIRUS
July 28, 2021330 | Youthful Perspective: Industry leader Bijal Patel mourns the loss of ‘an entire generation’ of hospitality workers
Bijal Patel, 31, is CEO of Coast Redwood Hospitality and the youngest chair of the California Hotel & Lodging Association. He’s made even more history at CHLA by agreeing to serve an unprecedented second term as the lodging industry emerges from the coronavirus pandemic. Patel is a third-generation hotelier. Being so steeped in hospitality at such a young age is not new for members of the Indian American hotelier community, but Patel fears the pandemic has drained the industry of emerging talent. Lodging Leaders spotlights Patel, who represents a leadership demographic that is fighting for the life of the hospitality industry as they watch their peers veer toward other career paths.
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LODGING LUMINARIES
July 27, 202107 | Robert Cole: Hotel industry ‘still has a long way to go’
Robert Cole is CEO of Hospitality Ventures Management Group, a third-party management company he founded 20 years ago. HVMG manages more than 40 hotels. Since establishing HVMG, Cole has led hotel teams through various crises, including 9/11, the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode of Lodging Luminaries, host Jason Freed talks with Cole about how HVMG managed to do more than merely eke out a profit from the hotels in its portfolio during the pandemic. Over the past 18 months, it exceeded the industry’s average house-profit levels. Cole talks about the tough decisions that were made amid the crisis to save the hotels under HVMG’s care and how HVMG has adjusted its business model to succeed in post-pandemic America.