Behind the Stays
Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every Tuesday and Friday you’ll meet the military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so muc...
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This Week in Hospitality: Ideas, Stories, and Hot Takes with James McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of NIHI Hotels
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p>James McBride, Co-Founder & CEO of NIHI Hotels, joins the core four for a wide-ranging conversation on what it actually takes to build a legendary independent hospitality brand — from the jungles of Sumba to the halls of the Ritz-Carlton.</p> <p>James traces his career across some of the most storied names in...
This Week in Hospitality: Airbnb Founder's Secret AI Lab, Bass Pro's $300M Resort Bet & The Economy Hotel Franchise Revolt
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p>Zach, Scott, and Edwin dig into three stories reshaping the industry this holiday week. First: Skift's The Big Squeeze Part 2, which spotlights a family in Iowa who let their Wyndham franchise expire, renovated their Super Eight, and beat their old revenue numbers — no flag required. With 1,200+ economy agreements hitting end-of-term by 2030, the...
This Week in Hospitality: Pali Society Goes Bonvoy, Hilton's Incubating 5 New Brands, and Hot Takes with Skift's Hospitality Editor, Sean O'Neil
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> Sean O'Neill of Skift joins the roundtable this week for a conversation that cuts straight to the fault lines running through the hotel industry right now — distribution versus identity, brand proliferation versus brand meaning, and the wellness promise versus wellness delivery.<br> <br> The panel leads with Pali Society's decision to bring its...
This Week in Hospitality: CoStar’s Forecast Reversal, Marriott Hits 10K Hotels, and Amsterdam’s Tourist Tax Revolt
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p > </p> <p >This week opens in full TWIH chaos: Zach and Scott are somehow a mile apart in San Antonio and still not together, Ben is on the Connecticut shore debuting smarter-looking glasses, and Edwin is back in Barcelona sweating through a muted AC situation.</p> <p >Then the guys get into the r...
This Week in Hospitality: The Airbnb-Marriott Deal That Almost Happened, MGM Goes Private(?), Journey & Cloudbeds Partner, & What Premium Travelers Want
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p >Two of the biggest casino operators in the world became takeover targets in the same week — and the squad has thoughts.<br> Barry Diller's People Inc. just offered $18 billion to take MGM Resorts private, days after Fertitta agreed to buy Caesars. MGM's own CFO didn't argue the company was fairly valued — he ar...
This Week in Hospitality: Sonder's Founder is Back, Hyatt's New Growth Strategy, The Human Concierge Book, and L.E/Miami Recap
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p >This week opens at LE Miami — which Scott describes less like a travel conference and more like Coachella for hotel nerds — before the guys dive into the real industry tension underneath the party.</p> <p >Hyatt tells investors to stop counting rooms and start counting fees, arguing that “empty calorie” growth is the wr...
This Week in Hospitality: The Uber-Hotel Hookup, Expedia Optimizes for AI Agents, and Why Americans Are Skipping Europe
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p >Mews embeds Uber directly into its PMS, promising seamless guest transportation and a cut of ancillary revenue hotels have long been leaving on the table. The guys are skeptical — cool concept, questionable adoption, and the real winner might just be Uber’s data team.<br> <br> Then Expedia announces B2A — a marke...
How an Engineer-Turned-Michelin-Chef Built Epicurate, the Experience Platform for Luxury Stays
<p>Explore Epicurate: https://epicurate.vip/</p> <p>Connect with Max: https://www.linkedin.com/in/max-porterkhamsy/</p> <p>Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/ </p> <p>Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/</p> <p>—</p> <p>Every once in a while on this show, I get to share news that I'm personally invested in — and this is one of those episodes.</p> <p>A few weeks ago, Journey acquired Epicurate, a private chef and experiences platform that has become one of the most beloved platforms in the luxury segment of the short-term rent...
This Week in Hospitality: The World Cup Bust, Spirit's Collapse, Priceline is Back, and Aman's Move in the Texas Hill Country
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p>The hospitality industry was supposed to print money during the 2026 World Cup. Instead, nearly 80% of hotels across the eleven US host cities are pacing significantly below forecasts, with Kansas City operators calling it a non-event and Boston, Philly, and San Francisco not far behind. On this week's episode, Zach is joined b...
This Week in Hospitality: Uber Becomes a Hotel Platform, TikTok Outperforms OTAs, and Hotels Still Don’t Own the Customer
<p>Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:</p> <p>Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy<br> Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233<br> Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality</p> <p> </p> <p>This week’s conversation pulls apart a reality the industry has been circling for months—but is now impossible to ignore: travel demand is no longer being created, shaped, or captured by the companies that actually deliver the experience.<br> <br> It’s happening upstream.<br> What starts as a discussion around...
