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: 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...
He DJ'd for Jay-Z and Kanye — Now He's Rewiring Sound for Aman, Hyatt, and Jose Andrés
<p>Explore Raina Music: https://rainamusic.com/</p> <p>Connect with Vikas: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikassapranyc/</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 >In just a moment, you’ll meet Vikas Sapra—DJ, tech founder, and the guy who’s quietly rewiring how the world’s best hotels and restaurants think about sound. Vikas has played for A-list celebrities like Jay-Z and Kanye, just to name a few. He’s collaborated with Mark Ronson and Questlove. He’s the rare DJ wh...
This Week In Hospitality: Hospitality’s Muddy Middle Is Breaking — With Bashar Wali
<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 >Luxury hospitality has a credibility problem: the industry keeps charging more while delivering sameness, ceremony, and aesthetic shortcuts that increasingly feel hollow. Joining the quad this week is Bashar Wali—hotel operator, industry veteran, and one of hospitality’s most outspoken critics—known for pairing irreverence with sharp, experience-backed insight. He wastes...
Inside the Vrbo Where George Washington Stayed — and the Operator Turning Savannah Into a Historic Luxury Destination
<p>Connect with Corey: https://www.linkedin.com/in/corey-jones-a66a004/ </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> His tenant stopped paying rent. When he went to investigate, he found guest books, five-star reviews, and a listing on VRBO — for his own home. That's how Corey Jones stumbled into vacation rentals. No business plan. No grand ambition. Just a house he couldn't sell in 2009, a tenant who saw an opportunity before he did, and a New York Times travel feature he never...
This Week in Hospitality: The Hotel Owner Squeeze, Six Senses Founder's Comeback, Wyndham's Grandma Gambit, and Coachella's Dirty Secret
<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 hotel industry is telling two very different stories right now — and this week, the squad unpacks both.<br> <br> First up: a Skift deep dive exposes the brutal math crushing America's hotel owners. Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt are posting record profits while the people who actually own the buildings are hem...
This Week in Hospitality: Why Direct Booking Isn’t Working, Hyatt’s Miss, and the New Rules of Demand
<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, Scott, Ben, and Zach discuss the growing disconnect between industry strategy and traveler behavior.</p> <p>New data from Cloudbeds shows OTA share continuing to rise for independent hotels, even as operators double down on direct booking initiatives. At the same time, Hyatt tied executive compensation to improving direct c...
