Suite Spot: A Hotel Marketing Podcast

Travel Media Group & Ryan Embree
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The best hotel digital marketing podcast in the hospitality industry.

  1. MAR 25

    197 - TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl: UNLV

    Tune in to the latest TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl episode featuring University of Nevada, Las Vegas!  Special guest and Dean of the William F. Harrah College of Hospitality at UNLV, David  Cardenas, who joins the Suite Spot to discuss the exciting curriculum and academic program of the college and how it is preparing the next generation of hospitality professionals. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Ryan Embree: Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. We are here for another edition of TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl. Yes, we are bringing it back. And we are live on campus at UNLV’s Harrah College of Hospitality here, with the Dean of the Harrah College of Hospitality, David. David, thank you so much for inviting us and, and, you know, bringing us here to your beautiful campus. David Cárdenas: My pleasure. Thanks for allowing me to share a little bit about this amazing program and share a little bit about the wonderful things that we do here. Ryan Embree: We’re so excited, like you said, the inspiration behind this series was just to showcase some of the amazing colleges and schools of hospitality around the nation. UNLV certainly fits the bill. We’re gonna talk about that and some of the amazing things you and your faculty and students are doing here. But before we do that, we always like a little bit of tradition. One of the things unique to hospitality is learning about people’s background because you come from different brands, sometimes different segments, sometimes you fall into the industry. Tell us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you here. David Cárdenas: Yeah. So, a little bit about myself and how I got to where I am. So, I was born in Ecuador, lived there for most of my childhood. I came to the United States to go to school in the Carolinas. And, my start in the hospitality industry is a little bit untraditional, but maybe a lot more people actually go through it the way that I did. So I was in college, and like most poor college students, I had to, to find a job. And so, hospitality was where I found it. You know, bussing tables, washing dishes, cooking, and I loved it. And that’s what paid my way through school. At the time, I was a pre-med major. I wanted to be a real doctor, what my daughter says is a real doctor . David Cárdenas: And so didn’t think anything about being in the hospitality industry while I was doing it. And, but, little by little, even in school went from, you know, a server to a supervisor to, you know, assistant manager to, by the time I graduated, I was running food and beverage operations. And my boss at the time was like, hey, you should really think about going into the hospitality industry. And said, no, I’m gonna be a doctor. And she’s like, just do it for a year. So one year turned into two, two into three, year four, my mom’s like, you’re going to medical school? And I’m like, no, I don’t wanna go to medical school. But I realized that I didn’t know what I was doing, and I hadn’t taken an accounting class. I’d taken physics and taken biochem, but I’ve never taken, you know, an HR class, and I had to go back to school. David Cárdenas: So, you know, after working in the industry for four or five years, you know, I was like, I needed to go back and get an education. And so I went back and got my master’s degree, and knowing that my path was gonna be in the hospitality industry, I thought I was gonna be a corporate trainer. I loved working with people, loved getting them you know, trained to do what, if it was serving or, you know, being a cashier, being a manager. That was what I loved to do. And so that was what I was hoping to do. And when I was in my master’s program, realized that I love to teach and I loved to do research, got the opportunity to get my PhD, one thing led to another and got into academia. But didn’t ever think about the hospitality industry when I was in school. But that’s kind of how I fell into it. And I don’t regret any of it. Ryan Embree: Well, I love what you said there. It’s the untraditional traditional route of hospitality, and that’s actually one of the reasons we started this series, is to showcase that you can have a career here. There’s so many elements to it, as you said, and you know, in some ways you are kind of training, you know, the next generation of hospitality. So it goes full circle. So, share with us a little bit about the rich history of this school and the college here. David Cárdenas: Yeah. So the, the university or the college was established in 1967. So over 50 plus years of being part of the hospitality education industry. And you know, I think that there were no better place to have hospitality education than to be in Las Vegas. And the growth of Vegas as the entertainment and hospitality capital of the world was lockstep with the College of Hospitality. And as the city grew, the college grew, and, a lot of people were attracted to come to Vegas and work to thinking about it from an entertainment standpoint, from the hospitality standpoint. And then they would come and get a degree here. And then they’d start in the industry, and they’d become the giants in the industry. David Cárdenas: So, you know, it’s pretty amazing, you know, talking to a lot of the alumni, you know, they came here, didn’t know much about it, weren’t quite sure. Many of them came here because of the basketball team. You know the rich history of what happened with basketball, and then just kind of got their foot in the hospitality industry or the gaming industry. And then our alumni start, you know, moving up in the industry, and we have the Bill Hornbuckles of the World, which are, you know, the president of MGM or, you know, Carlos Castro, the President of Resorts World. All of them, you know, kind of started here and grew up to be stars in the industry. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s incredible. And, you know, it’s interesting you bring up sports because, you know, obviously, sports have now also transformed Las Vegas. The city’s going through this transformation with sports. But, you know, talking about, for those who aren’t familiar, you know, I had the opportunity to walk around campus a little bit before this interview and could literally see the top of the Paris Eiffel Tower from campus. For those who aren’t familiar, you know, you are just blocks away from the Strip. Talk to us about that location and what it means for some of the students, and really just kind of propelling themselves right into the hospitality industry, you know, steps away from this place. David Cárdenas: Yeah. So if you’ve never been to our campus and never been to Hospitality Hall, it’s the Taj Mahal of hospitality education, and we are a mile and a half away from the center of it all. You see, most people have seen it on television or in movies, the Strip, right? We see that every day from our campus, which is pretty amazing. And what that gives us is access to people that most other universities don’t have access to. You know, at any point in time that executive can come and walk here and give a guest lecture. Or more importantly, at any day, our students can do a behind-the-scenes tour of the Bellagio Fountain Club or Tour Allegiant Field or, you know, go up the Eiffel Tower at Paris. David Cárdenas: So you know, there are many universities that come here for a week to experience it. Our students have it full-time. The other thing about that is that those executives teach classes for us. So currently we’re teaching an entertainment class. The Vice President of Entertainment for MGM, Paul Davis, is teaching that class. And so the people who are actually doing it out there are here. And that’s just an amazing experience. The students, when they go to do their internship, they go a mile and a half away. They don’t have to travel for hours or go during the summer. They’re right here. So, I think proximity is one of the main reasons we are ranked number one in hospitality. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s incredible. It’s so unique. I mean, I remember being in hospitality school myself as a UCF Rosen grad and seeing the Las Vegas strip on a PowerPoint, you know, that a professor puts up and you just, students here just look out a window and it’s right there. Very cool. So, more recently, the school just announced a new strategic framework for the college. That’s not something that’s done overnight; that obviously takes a lot of work and effort. Tell us a little bit about that process and what that framework looks like. David Cárdenas: Yeah, so it was very much a collaborative effort. So I became Dean a little bit less than two years ago. So March 1st will be my two-year anniversary here. And when I came here, I was in awe. We have amazing faculty, great support, our alumni were doing wonderful things, but I also saw that if we stood still, others were gonna pass us by. And I often say, you know, I didn’t wanna be the, the Sears of Hospitality Education where we could kept doing the same thing over and over again and we didn’t innovate. And so we went through a year and a half process of looking inward of who we are, what do we do well, what are our values, and what do we need to do to continue being a leader in hospitality education. So we did hundreds of listening sessions, focus groups, surveys, lots of meetings, lots of emails to try to figure out where we’re gonna be going to create what we have as our new vision. David Cárdenas: So our new vision is creating global leaders who inspire unforgettable experiences. So we wanted to make sure that we portrayed that we are developing leaders. So we’re developing those people who are going to be developing that next sphere or the next amazing event, or, y

    24 min

  2. MAR 5

    196 - 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt.2)

    The 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.  The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities have partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 2, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We hope you enjoyed episode one of our special edition Hotel Equities Leadership Conference 2026. This is episode two where we’re gonna sit down with Karen Mendez and David Rosenberg, who’s gonna talk to us about the exciting updates from the postcard, cabins and outdoor collection brand from Marriott. We talked to Bill Stachler about revenue optimization. And lastly, we sit down with Albert Smith, Chief Operating Officer at Hotel Equities. We hope you enjoy these interviews, out in Las Vegas. Ryan Embree: Hello Everyone. Ryan Embree here with the Suite Spot. We are at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Karen Mendez, VP of Operations, and David Rosenberg, President of the Focus Services Division and Outdoor Collection. Karen, David, thank you so much for joining me on the Suite Spot. Karen & David: Thank you for having us. Ryan Embree: Yeah. Well, let’s talk about this conference. First of all, nearly a thousand people are gonna be here on site. This is very, very exciting. Um, talk to us a little bit about what you’re kind of expecting for these next couple days, and then we can get into your role a little bit. Karen, we’ll start with you. Karen Mendez: Oh, great. Thank you. Um, this is really exciting for me. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, this is, I’ve been in the hotel industry 26, 27 years. I’ve been to a ton of conferences, and what I’m most excited about this one is bringing the postcard general managers. They have never had an opportunity to get together like this and really talk about their business. So I’m just excited for them to build off the energy and to meet everybody within hotel equities face to face, and really just know that what they do matter. Ryan Embree: David, what are you excited about for the next couple days here at that leadership conference? David Rosenberg: I appreciate that. So our theme this year is Transforming Together and 2025 was an incredible year with the additional postcard, cabins, springboard, hospitality, our continued organic growth, not only in the US Canada, but as now we have presences in the Caribbean and Latin America. And to come together the one time a year where we get to bring an entire leadership team. It’s just inspiring to connect, learn from each other and share this time together. Ryan Embree: So cool. And so it’s just a testament to the comprehensive nature of hotel equities portfolio. I think, you know, one of those spaces, obviously postcard cabins and the, the, um, outdoor collection that we’re gonna talk about. Karen, you want to talk to us a little bit about your role and, um, what it, you know, how it kind of correlates with the outdoor collection? Karen Mendez: Sure, my pleasure. Um, we started working with postcard cabins last year, um, in January with a specific goal of bringing that brand and launching it into the Marriott ethos. So the past year, my job has been molding the two cultures, all the systems, the general managers onboarding, and getting this team ready for Marriott and getting Marriot ready for outdoors. Um, it’s been a really exciting journey, a lot of learnings and yeah, now we’re, we’re a year, a little bit over a year full into it, about six months, uh, launched on outdoor collection and really just excited to continue to see this brand grow and scale and, and see what we can do. Ryan Embree: What an accomplishment. And congratulations seeing your team. David, what about you? David Rosenberg: From my perspective, this is new territory, right? Um, it’s a segment of the business that really, uh, was born through COVID as people looked for different types of, uh, experiences. And what we found is it’s sustainable and, uh, it allows a segment of the traveler to enjoy something different than a brick and mortar hotel experience. Uh, what we’ve also found is this is a great opportunity for a drive-in market. So most postcard cabins are within an hour and a half, two hour drive of major cities, major destinations, and it, and it’s experiential and it allows people to enjoy nature in a way of what’s important to them. So it’s a drive in trip, it’s flexible, and it’s not camping, it’s not glamping. It’s a little bit of a combination of both. And we have found that customers really enjoy this experience. Ryan Embree: I wanna drill into that because I wanna get your opinion on why you think, David, that has such staying power as a model and how it’s not just one of those, uh, you know, fads that kind of pass by hospitality. This has some real staying power here. So much so that Marriott has, you know, has going all in, so to speak, with the outdoor collection. David Rosenberg: So with Marriot’s launch of outdoor collection, they also see this opportunity to scale this business, and specifically for 25 to the 45, uh, demographic, um, that really, that have really morphed into this hybrid work environment and allowing them the flexibility to, uh, extend weekends. So these cabins have wifi and they have things that, uh, they’re not typically for a business traveler, but it allows, uh, the flexibility for someone they want to be online or if the opportunity to completely unplugged Yeah. Uh, and get away from their day-to-day life. And we’re also finding that it’s a short-term booking, that it’s, it’s, it’s just so instinctual that it’s not a trip that’s planned months out. In fact, we find that most customers of booking these cabins, uh, three to seven days out, and, uh, and again, the feedback we have received from customers through Marriott surveys, through online, uh, reputation management, um, is just outstanding. Ryan Embree: No, I love, I love to hear that. And Karen, you know, on the operations side, I mean, as David mentioned, it’s very different type of experience out there. How do you kind of ensure, uh, guest satisfaction and make sure that, you know, the travelers that are are getting there, obviously getting the experience they want, um, but also with the level of service that they expect? Karen Mendez: Yeah, you know, it brought a unique challenge. Um, postcard cabin is a hundred percent contactless. So our entire guest journey, we do not have a front desk. There’s not a main lobby. Everything. The tone has to be set through a text message, um, from the day that you arrive. And how do you do that with a Bonvoy member? And how do you make that BONVOY member feel appreciated? And how do they find their cabin? It’s been an adventure, and what we’ve learned is that guests like the adventure. They like that little satisfaction that they get. Like, I kind of found this place on my own, and I had all the directions that I had, all the tools, and it really sets the tone correctly at the very beginning of the state to have that disconnection that David talked about. Um, and then it’s just making sure it’s really hotel basics, clean rooms and everything in working order, because there isn’t a front desk to go and talk to. And so having those hotel basics in there, it’s really molding the two of the outdoor and what, you know, what you expect a hotel. Ryan Embree: Absolutely. Fascinating to hear. And, uh, you’re right. I mean, it’s, it’s an experience unlike any other, but at the same time, that foundational piece still has to be intact there, uh, with the lo the unwavering loyalty that Marriott, uh, Bonvoy members obviously have for, for the brand. David, walk us through the postcard cabins model, you know, for maybe, uh, uh, someone that’s not too familiar and, and why it works operationally. David Rosenberg: Yeah. So there are 29 postcard cabins everywhere from the East coast, uh, up in the Catskills to the West coast in Big Bear in in California, and good, as Karen mentioned, the contactless journey. Um, when we first got involved, very different than a hotel playbook, and we were very, uh, focused, we were very specific on how do we make this work for this customer where not only they have a great experience, but being a new segment of the business. We need the customers to be the marketing engine to grow this business through their feedback and what they like. And what we have found really through Karen’s operational expertise and the platform she created and has now executed with the team that less is more and focusing on, uh, execution, reservation check in, checkout and services in between. The guest just wants to know they have what they need. Everything is prepared in advance for them and allow them to journey how they choose. Sure. And, uh, every story is different, but the common thread we hear is people love this journey. Um, these cabins are well appointed. Uh, the bedding is fantastic, the little kitchenette, there’s showers, all of ’em have fire pits and, and picnic tables. So the opportunity to really cook outside, over open wood campfire, but sleep under the stars with massive bay windows where you do not see another cabin from your cabin, but could just enjoy the sounds and sight of nature, allows people

    35 min

  3. FEB 26

    195 - 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference (Pt.1)

    Last week’s 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference in Las Vegas was a tremendous success! The annual event was filled with thought leadership, networking, and insights with the best and the brightest in the industry.  Did you miss any of the panels, sessions, or key moments? Don’t worry!  The Suite Spot and Hotel Equities partnered together to bring you Hotel Equities Part 1, in the latest Suite Spot episode, which contains three exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names at Hotel Equities. Episode Transcript Our podcast is produced as an audio resource. Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and human editing and may contain errors. Before republishing quotes, we ask that you reference the audio. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Ryan Embree here from the Sweet Spot for a very special episode where we head out to Las Vegas, Nevada for the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. There we had the opportunity to sit down with several key team members from the hotel equities team. In this episode, we talk to Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer, who talks about the strategic growth of hotel equities and where they see opportunity. Becky Ley with commercial and strategy tips and trends that she’s seeing right now within the portfolio. And Maria Parla, who is focused on that Kala region, the Caribbean and Latin America, uh, region, which hotel equity has been growing is so excited about Can’t Wait to Bring It all to you in these next three episodes in our special Hotel equity episodes, part One. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Sweet Spot. This is the host Ryan Embry here at the RA Resort and Casino Las Vegas at the 2026 Hotel Equities Leadership Conference. I’m here with Greg Osteen, chief Development Officer. Greg, thank you so much for joining me here at the conference. Greg O’Stean: Thank you for having me. Ryan Embree: We just talked about it, almost 800 or almost a thousand attendees about to file through here. We’re right next to registration. Uh, this is your first Hotel Equities Leadership. Greg O’Stean: It is. Ryan Embree: What are you excited about? What do you hope to take away from these next couple days? Greg O’Stean: So, as you said, my first, I joined April of last year, so I just missed last year’s conference. Very excited about this one. Very excited to talk about all the things that have happened in the last year. More importantly, talk about where we’re going Sure. As we are transforming together and as we’re changing, you know, what is a great company today and making it even better. So I’m excited about that. I’m excited about meeting all the folks who make it happen every day. Yeah. Because most of the people coming here today are the leaders from our hotels, from the properties. It shouldn’t be a surprise to you there. At the headquarters where I work, there are no cash registers. Right. , we, we, we don’t make any money at the headquarters. We spend money. Yeah. But, but the company lives and dies by what happens in the field. Yeah. And those people are here, and I’m excited about that. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool. And there’s something magical when you get those onsite property Yeah. People all together, because we’re gonna talk about it here in a second, but, uh, you start to hear patterns, trends Yeah. Things bubbling up that, you know, you have properties all over the country. We do. But it could be a property, you know, that shares that struggle across the country. That’s right. And then be able to discuss those issues and, and challenges that, uh, hospitality right now, you know, continues to phase, but also all the, all the great trends that are on the horizon. Greg O’Stean: A hundred percent. And we’re growing across Canada and Latin America as well, but just in the US. Each state is a little different. You talked about being from Texas, very different from Georgia, very different from California. But there are patterns across, yeah. Right. And so when someone from Oregon says to someone from Florida, uh, here’s what I’m experiencing. And they go, oh yeah. Have you considered this? Or, here’s what we’re doing. Or, here’s a new tool, or, here’s what I tried. Sure. Right. And you take the best of the best and share those best practices. That’s, that’s what makes a company great. That’s what makes a team great. Otherwise, we’re just a collection of individuals sitting out at properties with no real vision and no real teamwork. Yeah. Ryan Embree: Well, absolutely. And again, it’s, it’s, it’s times like this, places like this that, that make that special happen. Now, Greg, you said you’ve been here, uh, you know, just less than a year coming up on a year. Um, tell us about, you know, obviously, uh, chief Development Officer always looking for new opportunities for the business. But tell, talk to us a little bit about your role, um, with, within Ho Hotel equities. Greg O’Stean: So, so my role is really the, it’s the intersection of the type of owners that we want to have, but people that actually own the hotels that we manage. Uh, because today we have largely one type of owner profile, and there’s really five or six out there, more institutional owners, more private equity groups, more family offices. Each owner profile has a different, you know, different, uh, goals, different hold periods, different things that they’re looking for. And so we wanna diversify our owner base. We also want to diversify our geographic base. Mm-hmm . Grow into markets where we’re not. Um, we want to expand in the markets where we are. ’cause there’s synergies with that. But we also want to change. Really, if you look at where we are today, there’s a, we’re a company that consists largely of smaller hotels. Mm-hmm . A lot of select service hotels. Sure. Lot of independent hotels today. Now, because of the Springboard acquisition, um, and some larger, you know, 200, 250 keys, we’re gonna move that average up. We’re gonna give more full service hotels. We’re gonna give more luxury, more resorts. Not to abandon what built us, but to just diversify and have more to, to grow, not just for the sake of growth Yeah. But to grow strategically. Ryan Embree: Yeah, absolutely. And you know, I was really looking for this conversation because I think you have some really unique insights we talked about, about the insights that you can glean from when you get a bunch of hotels together, but also when you’re talking to owners and investors constantly, I think some common trends and themes also start to percolate a little bit. They do. And you get to have to, you have the, the firsthand experience of being able to see those and hear those stories and insights from multiple people. What are you hearing right now when it comes to owners, investors, and, and a climate right now that it, again, it’s a little challenging right now. Greg O’Stean: It’s a challenging environment, no doubt. And that’s what we hear from the owners, right? It’s, you know, with labor costs going up, materials costs going up, inflation, but your top line is really not growing. Top line is flat at best, right? Yeah. So your margins are shrinking. Sure. So, and, and a lot of investment is reconsidering whether or not they still wanna be invested in hotels. Right. Because your typical institutional investor or real estate investor doesn’t have to invest in hotels that can choose, you know, to invest in a data center or multifamily or whatever. Yeah. So a lot of them were questioning like, well, what do I do now? Like in the past I could buy or sell or refi. It’s hard to do all of those right now. So the next best thing you can do, or the best thing you can do in a challenging environment is revisit your relationship with your manager. Right. If, if you can’t sell it for the price that you want and you can’t refinance it for the, for the proceeds that you need, and you can’t change the flag, because most of the time it’s a long-term agreement. Right. Then what can you do to make a difference? Reconsider your relationship with your manager. Yeah. And that’s the opportunity for us. Ryan Embree: No, absolutely. And, and especially with a portfolio, the size of yours, the sheer experience Yeah. That the organization has and the history that it hangs its hat on. Um, you know, what, what have any of these conversations kind of influenced the opportunities that you’re choosing to pursue? And I think all as equally important not to pursue right now. Greg O’Stean: Sometimes the best deals are the ones you don’t do. Ryan Embree: I’ve heard that before. Greg O’Stean: Yeah. And I learned something at my last, well, two companies ago, um, and this was actually a client who told us this bigger is not better, better is better. Mm-hmm . Right? And there’s a lesson in there just growing for the sake of growth, just to be bigger, just to be the fastest growing. We don’t want that. That’s, that’s not what we’re about. We’re talking about strategically growing, which means the right owners, the right markets, the right types of hotels, uh, and, and really aligning our vision with the owner’s vision. Right. Why, why are they hiring us and making sure we’ve got the right relationship. It’s hard to turn deals down, but sometimes again, the best deals are the ones you don’t do sometimes. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I, I, I love that. And, and strategic growth, what you’re talking about. How do you, uh, you know, without giving any maybe secrets away of, of the trade, like what, what do those conversations sound like to differentiate hotel equities? Um, because it feels like, along with, uh, obviously a new brand po

    32 min

  4. FEB 18

    194 - Social Success Series with Aislynn Roberts

    The inaugural episode of the Suite Spot: Social Success Series is here!  Join first time host and Brand Ambassador at Travel Media Group, Cassady Quintana as she sits down with special guest, Aislynn Roberts, the TMG Enterprise Client Success Manager, as they discuss the latest and greatest social media trends and landscape for hotels.  This first installment of the series is the beginning of a new age for the podcast and we hope you enjoy the discussion between two social media gurus on how hotels and property management groups can not only optimize their social media presence but also how they can see the greatest return on their social media investment. Cassady Quintana: Hello everyone and welcome to our very first episode of the Social Success Podcast, A Suite Spot podcast powered by Travel Media Group. I’m your host, Cassady Quintana, Brand Ambassador here at Travel Media Group. Super excited to finally kick off this podcast. You know, the reason we decided to start this was because of the success of our social success webinar series that we did last year and we’re still doing to this day. But I was hearing a lot of feedback from people that were watching and there’s a lot of opinions and hot takes about hotel, social media, but not nearly enough conversations with people that are actually in the thick of it working in hotel social media. So I thought, what better way to have Aislynn Roberts, our Enterprise Client Success Manager here at Travel Media Group as our first guest, she is working with partners and talking about these topics every day. So Aislynn thank you for joining me. Aislynn Roberts: Thank you for having me. Cassady Quintana: So kind of before we get into social media, I want people to know what your role is like. So just walk us through kind of what your day-to-day looks like. Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, of course. So as the enterprise Client Success Manager, I have a unique opportunity to work not only with individual property owners, but I also work with brand team execs and the C-Suite for hotel management groups as well. So it’s a very interesting role in which you are talking to these executive teams a lot around overall portfolio trends. What you’re seeing across the board industry, news updates, especially if you consider meta, how many times they’re updating. Making sure that they’re in the know of what’s happening, but also giving them trend analysis for their portfolio. What’s working well, the performance, what we’re seeing across the board versus when you’re talking to individual properties, it’s very much focused, right? What their individual goals are, what they’re trying to achieve, and, and really honing in on what works well for them. And social media content wise. The conversation becomes very much focused into their amenities, what their guests are, what type of audience they’re looking for, versus what the C-suite and brand. It’s overarching, right? Like how can you continue to capitalize this across the board? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, I totally agree. And so when you’re having these conversations, what are some of the biggest concerns or reservations that you’re hearing the most from these people you’re speaking with? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, it can differ across the board. Most of the time it really depends on each individual’s comfort level, which surprisingly matches throughout the executive team. So whether you’re individual property level as you go up, dependent on your personal use, your personal comfort with social media, your conversations could be the same or it could be vastly different. If you’re talking to a director of marketing or VP of marketing who’s eats lives and breathes social media. So, those conversations shape a little bit different, but there is a lot of fear of not knowing what to do, right? Not understanding how it works, fear of doing something wrong, or needing to be a hundred percent professional and completely photogenic and photographed and all this stuff. And like, and that’s not necessarily what social media is about. So, and then for the individual property level too, you go into time consuming, right? So they’re already in their day-to-day dealing with guest requests, having to follow up with groups that are coming through, dealing with fires that they have to put out sometimes literally that are going on at the property level. So to them, like giving them an extra task of having to think about how to create content can be very much like, whoa, like I don’t want anything to do with it. Or hard for them to wrap around their head and they just get added stress to their normal day. Cassady Quintana: And I feel like once you have, all that stress of social media, it’s easier to just put it on the back burner. Because like you said, their day-to-day is dealing with actual guests, you know, they were hired to deal with guests and do things at the property and social media is usually put to the back because it’s like, I can’t even think about that right now. So obviously you’re having these conversations, you’re educating them of the importance. Have you seen that shift with leadership and and how seriously are they taking social media now? Aislynn Roberts: Absolutely. So definitely among the brand teams and the C-Suite, when you, when you talk to them, the seriousness of social media’s definitely shifted. They understand it’s important. They know the role it’s playing in the traveler’s journey and how people are using it to make a booking decision. Especially when you’re considering the younger generation who grew up on social media. So it’s a definitely different market at the individual property level. You do still have some, but some are still a little bit slow to the take in understanding it because they themselves don’t use it or they’re only using it to communicate with their friends and family. So they’re not using it as a way to plan their trips, but when you get down to it and show them how it’s using, or you talk about booking dot com’s update where that’s now through Instagram, it opens up the eyes a little bit more, but the C-suite and brand teams definitely understand it. And that’s why you’re seeing more and more brand initiatives come out regarding social media. And it’s the hotels and themselves are almost like at a scrambling trying to figure out how are we gonna meet these brand standards, make sure we’re reaching to it because they’re still a little bit scared of how to move forward. Cassady Quintana: Well, it’s a lot. And I don’t blame them for being scared because you know, me and you look at these social media trends all the time and every week there’s something new coming out. So I can’t imagine working in a hotel and then having to stay up to date with all this. And then on top of that, your brand is sending you these requirements. It can be a lot. So kind of when they get past that hesitation and maybe they understand it a little bit more, what’s really exciting to them on social media? Aislynn Roberts: Yeah, so sometimes it takes several conversations. It’s not like an overnight switch of the mind where they start to see this. So I think what I’ve learned working, especially with brand teams and C-Suite, is that they generally have two departments for everything, or not several departments for everything. They have an operations team, they have a revenue team, they have sales and marketing. So sometimes those teams don’t necessarily communicate with all the trends that they’re seeing across the board. So if your operations team handles your reputation and your online reviews, they’re not necessarily communicating the feedback and trends that they’re seeing that way into like the sales team, right? Sales teams know what they’re targeting, they know what their budget is, they know what type of groups they’re trying to reach to bring in business into the hotels. But necessarily that’s not portrayed across the board. And what I’ve learned is that when you relate the guest feedback into turning it into an easy social media content strategy, they start to see that connection. So oftentimes, especially at the property level, when I’m talking to individual GMs and they’re weary and they don’t know how to get started, I leverage their guest reviews. So, you know, your really positive feedback that highlights everything great about your hotel, the amenities your guest really love, that’s an easy property feature post for sure. You know, write something about your shuttle or your complimentary breakfast or whatever the great thing that keeps being highlighted. If you are seeing some gaps, service gaps, whether it’s concerns about a specific policy or you had a shuttle but you don’t know where to find it in those reviews, that’s a great opportunity to do an info share an update on social media where you’re sharing, Hey, this is your pickup location for your shuttle, or these are the times. I’d say a really great example is parking. We get a lot of reviews that mention parking. Sometimes it’s about, oh, the garage is confusing. I don’t know where to find the garage. Especially if you’re in a downtown market. A simple video of just driving down the street, showing where the entrance to your parking garage is, could do a lot as far as like educating and having that transparency to perspective guests. Cassady Quintana: I think it’s interesting ’cause you mentioned earlier about these hoteliers wanting to be perfect on social media, feeling like they have to have the right shot. They, they don’t have a professional camera, but like you said, social media, it can be super easy. Take the, take the video of driving to the garage or take a video of your breakfast spread or show a sunset outside your pool with your iPhone. We have some of the most amazing camera

    25 min

  5. FEB 11

    193 - 2026 Hunter Conference Preview

    The 2026 Hunter Conference takes place on March 16-28, in Atlanta, Georgia, at the Signia by Hilton. Tune in to the preview episode as hoteliers and hospitality professionals prepare for the cornerstone industry event.  Special Guest, Madison Thibodeaux, Senior Manager, Events & Partnerships at Hunter Advisors, joins the Suite Spot to share insights and behind-the-scenes details about what conference attendees can look forward to from speakers, panels, themes, F&B, and much more. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree here, a familiar episode, if you can believe it. I’ve got a jacket on because it is absolutely frigid outside, but we’re thawing out. We’re getting ready for conference season and covering some of the biggest hospitality events of the season with the first one being the Hunter Conference. And I am here with, even though this is the Suite Spot’s, third time attending the conference, we have a first time guest, which I’m really, really happy to bring in. Maddie Thibodeaux Senior Manager, Events and Partnerships at Hunter Advisors and Conference. Maddie, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Madison Thibodeaux: Thank you for having me, Ryan. I’m really excited to be here. Ryan Embree: We are going to have a constant theme throughout this episode of a lot of the things you love about Hunter, but a lot of new things on the horizon as well, which I’m sure you and your team have been extremely busy. We can’t wait. Hoteliers can’t wait. Sponsors can’t wait. This is gonna be one for the books, but before we get into all that, Maddie, we have kind of a tradition here on the Suite Spot, especially for our first time Suite Spot guest. Tell us a little bit about your background in the industry and the journey that led you to Hunter Advisors and Conference. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah, I would love to talk about that. So my journey almost pretty much started at Hunter, which I know you’ve had Sarah as a guest on your podcast as well, and I’m sure she has a little bit of a similar story. But I was a student at Georgia State University, the Cecil B. Day School of Hospitality. I am one of the odd people that when I got to college, I already knew that I wanted to be in the hospitality industry, which I think is a rare story that you hear. Most people typically fall into it. But I went into school knowing that I wanted to be in event management. I wanted to plan events. And so throughout college I had a few different internships in hospitality. So I got some experience in the different sectors of hospitality. I worked with a catering company. I worked at a hotel in Cape Cod one summer, which was a lot of fun. Got some operational experience in hotels with the front desk and housekeeping. And then my junior year of college, Dr. Debbie Cannon at the School of Hospitality made me aware of the internship that was open at Hunter for their conference intern. And so I applied for the role, got it, accepted it. I worked for Hunter my junior and senior year. Got a lot of hands-on experience planning the event as the intern. And something that Hunter does really amazingly is they really give anyone on their team, even if you’re an intern, a platform and a seat at the table to where you can really innovate with them and present your ideas. And some of them you can see like actually come to life. And so I had a lot of great mentors at Hunter who really, you know, prepared me as a student with my professional development. And so had a great time with Hunter once I graduated from Atlanta, moved out to Chicago and started working in the trade show side of things for an exhibitor services company called GES and got a little bit more trade show experience so that I could come back to Hunter and, you know, give a little bit of insight into other events going on in the world, even outside of the hospitality industry, and kind of bring that knowledge back to the team. And so just recently this past summer, I joined the Hunter team in this new role and it’s been really exciting and really happy to be here. And I got a taste of the corporate world, but really ultimately I was missing the family feeling of Hunter. And so they welcomed me back with open arms and now I’m back with the Hunter family. Ryan Embree: It’s such a cool boomerang story to hear. And you know, something we hear a lot about in hospitality, unlikely path, like you said, a lot of people don’t go get into hospitality and that’s something we’re trying to change here on the Suite Spot. We obviously have our hospitality campus call, which teaser we’re gonna talk about here in a little bit. But to get more people to think about career or careers in hospitality as more than just maybe a summer job and what exposure that must have been for you as a student. And I ran into actually the dean at FIU’s Chaplain School of Hospitality, Dr. Chang at Hunter last year. And he was telling me about all the students and the involvement as a hospitality student myself, back when I graduated all those years ago. This is the type of exposure that can really open your eyes to show the hospitality is more than operations. It can be anything, events, F&B, there’s so many different sides and unique spaces in hospitality. And getting that exposure I’m sure was, was really cool. And now you get to be the person to expose other students to that. So that’s really cool. So give us kind of our Suite Spot audience, a little bit of a behind the scenes look at your role over there at Hunter Advisors and the role that it plays in the Hunter Conference. Madison Thibodeaux: Yeah, so I love my role. I feel like I’m really lucky to be in this position because my job is really just talking to people, building relationships, working with our partners and really being that advocate for them. They tell us what they need, like why they’re attending Hunter, what their goals are in attending Hunter. And it’s my job for us to really give them that platform and that space to do business and have a positive experience at Hunter. So I’m really lucky to be in this role on a personal-professional development aspect level of everything. I get to meet so many people in the industry, hear about their roles and what they do, and really use that to shape who I am. You know, like how can I be doing a better job in my role? And so I feel like I’m in a really lucky space where my job is really just talking to people and making friends. Who doesn’t who doesn’t love that, right? Ryan Embree: But you be, you bring up an important point because you know, at the top of the episode I mentioned it, I mean this for a lot of people. I tell people all the time, you know exactly when the Hunter Conference is happening because it literally feels like it shuts down LinkedIn in the hotel space and everyone is there, Who’s anyone, and what you said, Maddie, everyone comes for different reasons. We’ve seen brand launches, we’ve seen acquisitions in mergers that happen between management companies. We say it all the time, but as much as a few years ago we had to go virtual, the event space now is more important than ever. And that’s why, deals get done in these places. Owners, brands, management companies, general managers, even all the way down to hospitality students can glean and learn so much from this event. And that’s why we are so proud to be headed there back again for the third consecutive time. But as we mentioned, a lot of new things including its location now, funny enough, last year, quick story, we were at the Hunter Conference covering it as we do, and the morning of the second day we were actually at the Signia by Hilton Atlanta doing our spotlight series. So we were actually spotlighting the property, talking to some management over there, while it was at the same time being announced that Hunter would be moving locations to that. So just some, some really cool, kind of like fortune there. But what are you most excited about of this new location and what can attendees expect from being hosted here? Madison Thibodeaux: So as you know, from your Spotlight series, yeah, it’s a brand new development. I think it’s been open, gorgeous for three years or so, and there’s so, it’s so modern. It’s very refreshing. There’s so much natural sunlight, which when you’re attending these conferences and with my trade show background being in convention centers and you’re in there all day, you’re like, what, what time is it? Is it still light outside? Is it dark? You don’t really get that feeling here. It’s very airy and refreshing. And I think the layout of it for our event too, it’s really, it’s an easy flow. Things are just kind of stacked on top of each other and it’s really easy to get from point A to point B. So there’s been a lot of opportunity over there for us. And then where Signia is located in downtown Atlanta, it’s right next to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and the State Farm arena. And being close to those places really opens up a lot of doors for us as well. And we’re excited for our attendees to, explore that side of Atlanta a little more too. The Monday night of our event, there is a Hawks game, and the Hawks have already partnered with us and they’re offering discounted tickets for attendees. And so there’s a lot of new and exciting things attendees can explore within the Signia and also around the Signia in Atlanta while they’re there for Hunter. Ryan Embree: It’s so cool, Maddie, because you’re absolutely right with it being a new build Signia property, they built that for event space. They knew exactly what they were doing the natural lighting, even the stories behind, you know, if you’

    32 min

  6. JAN 22

    192 - Top 5 Sentiment Tags of 2025

    Tune in to the very first Suite Spot episode of 2026 as special guest and Director of Product – Respond & Resolve™, Jackie Avery, features the Top 5 Guest Sentiment Tags of 2025 and what the key findings of these tags mean not only to hoteliers but the industry as a whole as we kick off travel in the new year. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of the Suite Spot. Happy New Year as your host. As always, Ryan Embree here with another one of our favorite annual traditions. A great way to start off and kick off the year here with Jackie Avery, Director of Product for our Respond and Resolve™ review response solution for hotels. Jackie, welcome back to the Suite Spot. Jackie Avery: Thanks. It’s so great to be here. I look forward to doing this every year, so I’m happy we’re back at it. Ryan Embree: Yes, again, it’s an annual tradition. It’s a benchmark for the beginning of the year. It’s actually one of our most viewed and listened to episodes of the year, and I think it’s because hoteliers really want to get a sense of what’s going on over the course of the calendar year when it comes to reviews. To set this up off the top, we are looking at reputation, sentiment, data, the data within online guest reviews, that Travel Media Group actually pulls, and a lot of these reviews you and your team are responding to. Jackie Avery: Yeah. It’s exciting. So if it’s your first time here, welcome. And if you have been watching us the past few years, welcome back. We’re excited to kind of talk through, some of the data that we kind of went through. So to put it under perspective, we’re looking at information analyzed from over 45 million sentiment mentions. Ryan Embree: That’s an incredible number. The popularity and importance of guest feedback and reputation right. Now, I know we talk a lot on this podcast about AI technology. We’re always trying to see what’s next, but there’s no replacement for word of mouth. Right? And whether that’s physically telling someone about your experience or sharing that, what we’re talking about today, sharing that online with guest feedback and reviews, you can take away so much from that. And hoteliers, travelers obviously are looking at sentiment data, trying to figure out whether they should choose the one hotel versus another hotel. Hoteliers are looking at this data, digesting it, and trying to figure out how to improve on the guest experience. But what we’re doing today is trying to find the top five sentiments. Talk about some themes. What does this mean when these types of sentiments are found in your guest feedback? Are there things you can make operationally changes? Is it training at the hotel? Is it capital investment? Sometime some of it, like location, which we’re gonna talk about unavoidable, right? You can’t just pick up your hotel and move it. So really interested to see the list. We always start from the bottom of the list and work our way up. So kick us off with number five. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. And like you said, it’s so powerful to spend that moment reflecting. Yeah. Sometimes it’s just taking the information and putting it into this bite sized way for you to process it. So hopefully everyone finds it pretty easy to kinda, you know, come along this journey with us. So, number five, it had over 3 million sentiment mentions, right? So that’s a lot of people talking about it. And we’re talking about facility amenities. Now, some people are listening and they’re going, well, I don’t have a pool, so of course I, that didn’t get a mention for me, or, I do have a pool. Of course they mentioned that, but stay with me on that. That’s actually its own category. So here we are talking about the lobby, the hallways, seating areas, elevators, luggage carts, right? So now think about, put that into perspective. More people can really relate. So I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m come, coming to a hotel, right, I’ve had a long travel day. I’m a little tired. I am, you know, feeling antsy. I just wanna get there. But when I get outta my car or I get to walk in, I’m feeling that excitement. I’m ready for my trip to start no matter what I’m doing. I’m like, here we go. So then you’re taking that all in. Of course, travelers are mention mentioning this, right? You have those first impressions of a hotel, it gives you pause. So sometimes things that you feel as a hotelier or as someone who works at, at a property, maybe you just brush past ’em. It doesn’t mean a lot to you. It’s no big deal. Sure. You’re maybe not sure why somebody positively mentioned it or negatively mentioned it, but I wanna put you into the shoes of a traveler who’s just arrived. They’re finally at their destination and they’re ready to start their stay. Look at your hotel through a fresh lens. Was the hallway welcoming? Was it kind of dark? Did the elevator come right away? Were there any luggage carts available? Right? Did it excite you to see somewhere that maybe you might meet your friends down in the lobby and you guys might hang out there before you headed out later. So all of those things I challenge you to now kind of view your facility amenities from that first time arrival guest perspective. Ryan Embree: Yeah, that’s a great point Jackie. And, you know, I started my career in hospitality as a Bellman, so, it was very easy to kind of take all of that for granted seeing that lobby. But you’re right, these travelers are more than likely seeing it for the first time. You know, one thing I’ll also say is the way that we use the facility amenities has really evolved the way that we’re building new hotels right now. Especially the work from home or work from anywhere type of traveler, that could be their office space for the entirety of their trip. So they’re looking at your lobby, they’re looking at your public space and amenities a little bit different than historically they might have done. And again, the brands, development companies, they are building for this type of traveler. So not surprising to see that category tag fall into the top five. Let’s move on to number four. Jackie Avery: Yeah, absolutely. So, kind of shifting down this year, number four is gonna be location. So, as you mentioned, I think a lot of people feel trapped when they hear this sentiment being mentioned. Like, well, I can’t move my hotel, but actually you have a lot of power here. You can control what you’re saying about your property. And guests are mentioning your location in reviews positively, negatively, but it’s being brought up, right? Uh, so when I think about that, I think about when I’m traveling with my kids, I’ve got two young kiddos. Location is so important for me, not necessarily is it just right near the main attraction I wanna attend, or, you know, is it close to the place I’m going? But I’m looking at, are people mentioning it’s near a grocery store? Is it near a pharmacy? Is it near everything that I need or that I may need when I’m traveling with young kids? If it’s not, that’s fine, as long as I knew that. Because then I’m gonna pack, right? I’m gonna prepare for everything I might need. There’s a big mental load with that. So you can ease traveler stress and turn even just maybe what isn’t this amazing location into a positive tag if people felt like they knew what to expect with it. Ryan Embree: Yeah. I think that’s a huge part of it, is setting expectations for location. If you claim on social media or your website, that you’re close to the airport and you’re 40 minutes away from the airport, that might not be close proximity to some travelers versus another. So you’re right, the location is really based on the expectation of the traveler and what’s convenient to them. You really want to put in perspective to that traveler. If you look at, everybody has Google Maps, right? And, and has used that app for if you have your hotel and nothing else around you in the traveler’s eyes, you really have kind of failed them as far as showing them or giving them an expectation of what that location looks like. You want that thing to be filled with dots. You want them to know exactly where your restaurants are in comparison to your hotel. If there’s an airport, attractions, as you mentioned, even things like grocery store, pharmacies, minute clinics. I mean, you know, you never know, especially with, with people with families or children or pets that they might be traveling with. These are very, very important places to your traveler that that could make the difference between a good experience and a bad location. Jackie Avery: And I think sometimes we come in with our own feelings about, well, we have a good location, or we don’t, but think of all the people traveling. All the people staying at your hotel, you don’t necessarily know exactly what they’re looking for. You might think that your location is are just fine, but actually it’s exactly what they want. Ryan Embree: And a great place, again, as respond and resolve™, a great place to really put that location in perspective is your review responses, right? Jackie Avery: Absolutely. Someone praises your location or they express dissatisfaction. That is exactly where you get to share the details. And people reading those review responses feel informed and they trust you. And now they are excited for their trip. They feel even more prepared, they don’t feel stressed, and they’re ready to get going. And, you know, those positive sentiment tags are gonna come your way. Ryan Embree: Yeah. So important. You know, whether it’s travel media group responding your reviews, or even a team member the property. Ha

    28 min

  7. 12/30/2025

    191 - 2025 TMG Year in Review with President Dana Singer

    Tune in to the final Suite Spot episode of 2025 with our annual Year in Review retrospective episode with Travel Media Group President, Dana Singer. Learn about the highlights that took place this year for the organization and what our hotel partners and Suite Spot audience can look forward to as we prepare for 2026. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone. Welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot for an annual tradition. One of my favorite episodes. We were talking about this off camera, about how many years in a row it’s been that we’ve done this, but it’s such a cool time, obviously, end of the year, beginning of a new year, such a time for reflection. And, you know, looking into the future and with me today is a very familiar guest president at Travel Media Group, Dana Singer. Dana, thank you so much for joining me back on the Suite Spot. Dana Singer: Absolutely. Good morning, Ryan. Ryan Embree: From the comfy confines of our TMG headquarters and Maitland. So grateful for you having the opportunity to join me on the sweet spot too. You know, look at TMG year in review. We do this every single year. Dana 2025 has been an exciting year. It’s been a year of innovation, productivity success, obviously on the Travel Media Group side, but more importantly for our hospitality partners. And I’d like to start by just kind of reflecting on this past year and sharing how TMG has grown as a company, but also how those efforts have made meaningful contributions to our hotel partners. Dana Singer: Yeah, sure. 2025 has definitely been a successful year for Travel Media Group. We celebrated a number of milestones, but most importantly, as you just said, you know, for our hotel partners that we collaborate with and support every single day, it’s been really exciting to see their growth. One of the most significant markers of our progress this year has been the expansion of our teams. Increasing the depth of new talent across multiple departments has strengthened our ability to deliver the level of service our partners rely on. And it’s been inspiring to see fresh perspectives join our longstanding expertise. Everyone’s working together towards the same mission. It’s all about delivering industry leading solutions and an outstanding client experience every step of the way. Internally, our goal is to anticipate the industry’s needs, and based on that, we’ve developed new solutions. We refined our existing services, and we’ve continued to advance our technology. Every innovation has centered on the question, how can we empower our partners to achieve their goals? And our commitment has always been to help hoteliers succeed. And we achieve this by innovating without compromise. And in 2025, I believe we’ve done so in more meaningful ways than ever. Dana Singer: It’s so cool to see and to, quite frankly, to be a part of, to see the success of our hotel partners, new partners coming on board, um, along with new team members here at TMG, helping our partners, succeed and achieve those milestones and goals. Because I’ve had several guests on this podcast talk about the guest expectations and how not only are they rising, but they’re becoming more complex, especially with the integration of technology, it’s becoming faster than ever. The pace and acceleration of these guest expectations. And the same applies to, you know, our hotel partners. How has TMG kind of maintained to stay one step ahead and really positioned itself as the leader as we try to enhance the guest experience in our services at TMG? Dana Singer: Yeah, I mean, exceeding guest expectations is the foundation of success in hospitality. So it’s vital that we not only adapt, but we anticipate what hoteliers will need next. And this year, innovation has once again been at the center of our business strategies. You’re gonna hear me talk about that a lot, probably this morning. One of the most exciting recent advancements has been the launch of Smart Response. And this is our hybrid human AI review response solution, which has been added to our existing suite of response services. And what makes it unique is its incredibly advanced AI training that’s built on more than 2 million reviews that our in-house professional writers have personally crafted. And so that depth of expertise provides an unparalleled technology with nuance authenticity and hospitality care that hotels expect. Every response generated is overseen by our team of professional writers to ensure accuracy, empathy, and alignment in each property’s unique voice. You know, across the board, every team at TMG has been laser focused on elevating our services, refining workflows, and galvanizing our partnerships. We’re so committed to understanding our management company partners needs to ensure a positive guest experience while improving operational efficiency without compromising authenticity. So, you know, just seeing the real impact of these efforts is, is rewarding. I mean, I love hearing about the wins and watching our partners grow, and that’s what makes the work that we do so meaningful. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it really is, again, so cool to be, to be a part of those wins with our hotel partners. And I think at the foundation of a lot of the innovation and advancements to our solutions, Dana, have been conversations, meaningful conversations that we’ve had with our hotel partners, not just this year, but over the years. You know, whether that’s talking to, you know, we’ve covered a ton of hospitality events, from the Suite Spot standpoint and hosted some really industry leaders and professionals, thought leaders in hospitality. And from our educational webinars that what we host our brand, ambassador Cassidy hosts every single month. Where do you think that, or why do you think it’s important rather to kind of grow in these areas and how has it helped improve the business? Dana Singer: You know, as you mentioned, the best way to understand what hoteliers are facing day to day is to be in a position to really listen and understand their strategies. And it just doesn’t matter, you know, if that’s in person at an event or virtually, you know, these touch points allow us to deepen our understanding of how to develop our innovation roadmap to better serve their needs. And throughout 2025, if we look back, we’ve really doubled down on our commitment by attending major industry events as a press resource. This includes the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference, NYU IHIF, the Independent Hotel Show, and the Hospitality Show. And next year, we’ll be adding even more. These interviews that we conduct at these events are an important facet in keeping the industry in tune with trends and leadership strategy. It’s just one small yet crucial part of what’s shaping the hospitality industry today. Ryan Embree: Yeah, it’s been, again, such a privilege to be able to talk to industry leaders, thought leaders, you know, across the country. You know, some of the team members at TMG have been able to speak on panels at some of these events and share their insights and what we’re learning from our hotel partners. That is the catalyst for meaningful change in hospitality because 2025, it’s been a challenging year for hotels. The industry is becoming more complex and a time, there’s almost, there’s only a finite time that a hotelier has to meanwhile their daily duties and responsibilities continue to grow. So being a resource for them, as you mentioned, Dana, on the education side, has been huge. And we’ve heard, and the feedback and engagement that we’re getting, people are craving that connection right now, especially in hospitality. It’s really, really inspiring to see and hear from, from our hoteliers. And again, 2025 big year for hospitality, big year for Travel Media Group. From your standpoint, Dana, how do you make sure as a leader, we’re continuing to make that impact that TMG’s known for? Dana Singer: Yeah, you know, 2025 has been very validating in terms of strengthening TMG’s position as a trusted leader and partner in the hospitality industry. And there are a number of notable highlights. We’ve worked diligently behind the scenes to develop robust partnerships with important industry platforms. This year we finalized our direct integrations with Booking.com and Expedia, and this enables us to build review response workflow efficiencies that are unparalleled in the hospitality industry. We’re also honored to lead the industry with a unique, scalable social media content creation solution that’s developed specifically for hospitality clients. We achieved several milestones with that solution, including surpassing 1 million custom-crafted social posts. And that’s especially important as today’s travelers increasingly rely on social media to make their booking decisions. We celebrated the eighth year of our Suite Spot podcast. We’ve now surpassed 190 episodes, and clearly we’re, we’re just getting started. The podcast features guests from a wide range of hotel brands and management companies, and this platform allows them to share their diverse perspectives with a global audience, with messages that resonate, across the industry. I could go on and on, but ultimately, the true measure of our impact comes from the feedback that we receive, whether it’s from our partners, listeners, or other industry professionals. It’s clear that our initiatives are making a difference, and that motivates us to keep innovating and raising the bar. Ryan Embree: Again, I’ll circle back to just being such a privilege to work in hospitality. You can feel the passion of the hoteliers that we work with, that I speak to on the podcast and conversations that we have across the country. It’s s

    16 min

  8. 12/17/2025

    190 - TMG Hospitality Trailblazers: Ben Rafter

    As 2025 closes out, the Suite Spot wraps up with the latest inductee into the TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. CEO of Hotel Equities, Ben Rafter, joins the podcast to discuss all things hospitality and technology and how these two components come together to make the perfect guest experience for travelers. Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in and we check out what’s trending in hotel marketing. I’m your host, Ryan Embree. Hello everyone, and welcome to another episode of The Suite Spot. This is your host, Ryan Embree here with a very exciting, informative episode continuing our TMG Hospitality Trailblazers. This is our series where we are talking to those industry leaders and brands, management companies that are paving the way forward. I’ve got an absolutely amazing guest, I’m excited to speak with him today. Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities. Ben, thank you so much for joining the Suite Spot. Ben Rafter: Thanks, Ryan. Looking forward to it. Ryan Embree: Yeah, we’re gonna have fun conversation, talk all about hotel equities, but on the Suite Spot we do a little tradition where instead of just doing your normal bio, I actually like handing it over to our guests to kind of talk through their hospitality journey. because sometimes you get a little bit more insights. Us hospitality people, we got mentors. We come from different brands, sometimes fall into hospitality, quite frankly. You know, talk to us, our Suite Spot hotel audience, a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to your role as a CEO over at Hotel Equities. Ben Rafter: Sure, I fit into the fall into it category, without a doubt. I was a, uh, tech guy for better part of 15 years, mostly startups. Sold two of ’em and after selling, the second one was locked out of the industry for a year and got a phone call from a hotel guy. And he said, what are you doing? You want to come to Mount Everest with me? And just because nothing better to do for the next month. We packed up and headed over to Nepal and on about the third day he said to me, so what do you think of the hospitality industry and hotels? And it was dumb enough to open my mouth and give him my opinion that you needed to sort of fuse together larger than life hoteliers, which was his background and kind of quant tech data, guys like me. And over the next 20 days, we hashed out starting a hotel company literally on the side of a mountain, in this case. And after that ended, it was 2008, the market crashed. We had a new president. I flew to Hawaii and we started with four hotels in Hawaii. And it’s been nonstop ever since. So definitely not a traditional way to get into the industry. Ryan Embree: Yeah, yeah. You give new meaning to kind of climbing the corporate ladder, so to speak, when, when talking about that. But I think that’s what honestly makes hospitality so fascinating. Because yours, honestly, a lot of the majority of the guests we talked to Ben, hospitality was not their final destination, so to speak, what you were talking to. But I think it brings new perspective and obviously insights into an industry that, quite frankly, we’re gonna talk about it in a minute, but needs some more technology integration into hospitality right now. And to fast forward to today, obviously a strategic merger in May, 2025 with Springboard Hospitality. It’s been extremely busy second half of the year for you and your team, including a couple exciting announcements we’re gonna talk about in a second, Ben. But, you know, can you share some of the biggest kind of takeaways and lessons you’ve learned for the business, over this past six months? Maybe give us a state of the Hotel Equities as you would say. Ben Rafter: Yeah, absolutely. I mean one thing, coming from sort of independent and generally either gateway market or leisure focused. You learn how diverse some of these markets are and how much different it is running a courtyard or a Rest Inn or a Hampton in a suburb versus running a resort in the middle of Waikiki. And it’s been great kind of seeing both sides of the spectrum there. And then trying to figure out how initiatives or which initiatives work across the entire entity. And then which of ’em should be limited to $400 a night hotel or a select service hotel. And I gotta say, coming from the independent space where we’re all about content and drone shots and Instagram and social media and things like that, obviously walking into a suburban flagged select service hotel is a whole different, a whole different ball of wax, so to speak. So that part’s been great. We have great leaders in all of those divisions and it’s been great working with them. Ryan Embree: Yeah, I mean, just adds to the exposure, again, what you were talking about. And to add to that, right. You know, in October you were back on a panel discussing outdoor centric hotels at the lodging conference in Phoenix, we talk about the spectrum of from lifestyle, and now you’ve got this experiential glamping. This was the perfect topic for you and hotel equities, obviously through your management of postcard cabins, which is with Marriott’s new outdoor collection. Talk to us, how about how you guys are really capitalizing on this trend, experiential travel, that glamping that now even the big brands are trying to get into? Ben Rafter: Yeah, every, everybody’s trying to get into it. So we were on all of the postcard cabins, and that was kind of the feature point of Marriott’s launch of the outdoor, their outdoor segment. It’s one, it’s been great. It’s an area that’s growing two and a half, a little more than two and a half times faster than the regular hotel on the street. Now, of course, you break that down by segments it maybe two times and maybe three times. And it’s also so new for the brands that they’re trying to sort of get their arms around it. And because you, you just have to think when you’re staying in an outdoor experience, you’re not staying in a city. And when you search on Marriott or Hilton or Hyatt or whatever, the first thing you usually do is you type in New York City, you type in Seattle, you type in whatever. Well, if you’re gonna stay in the middle of the national forest where the nearest city is 2000 people and you don’t know what it’s called, like how do you even search for this kind of stuff? And then you combine that with staffing, where, the GM better have a pickup truck and be able to go to the nearest Piggly Wiggly or whatever to go find whatever’s needed because you may be an hour away from the nearest area to get the entity. There’s no Sysco truck driving by in the middle of the afternoon. And then high seasonality. And the big question I think for the industry is going to be how do you fill some of these things on a Wednesday afternoon in off season? Obviously we’re targeting groups in corporate and to make them kind of intimate experiences where 8, 10, 15, 20 people can get together. But it’s, it’s a totally different space. But the great thing is consumers are really interested in it because they’re interested in branching out from their traditional leisure stay, and now they can find this kind of stuff. Ryan Embree: I mean, listen, as someone who climbed Everest, right, I mean that is all about the experience. The destination and getting to that is part of the journey and part of the experience, which I think is why people love it. And they’re gonna do a lot of your marketing for you to be honest with you, between the storytelling that they’re doing on places like social media, now all of a sudden they’re telling your story and, and people are, are, are just really seeing this in a time where we’re gonna talk about in a minute, technology’s kind of taking over, but being like, Hey, maybe this is a nice little escape for me and, and something different that is going to be an experience. You know, we talk about that all the time. And a true experience. Ben Rafter: Yeah. And it doesn’t have to be outdoor travel. The great thing about this industry in general, and the way it’s evolving and I’m looking forward to talking more about technology, is that people want something more and more customized and more and more localized. It could be a food vacation, it could be outdoor travel, it could be adventure travel, which to me is a different category. And the way that we’re now interacting and searching for these experiences getting much more advanced and people can now find them. Versus before it was, I know I wanna stay outside, I’m gonna research some natural national parks, and where do I go from there? Right. And now it’s a wide open space. Ryan Embree: You wanna see how many segments our industry has gotten chopped up into go to any hospitality conference. And you’re talking about heritage, travel, food travel, like you’re talking about travel, that’s multi-generational travel, right? It used to just be business and leisure. Which one are you on now? There are so many different ways and priorities the way that people and travelers are looking at travel through a completely different lens than they did a decade ago. And I think a lot of that, to be honest with you happened. What happened in 2020. It’s interesting to see brands, management companies adapt to those and try to be at the forefront of that because it’s these emerging markets and trends are popping up and they’re becoming widely popular. Ben Rafter: Yeah, it got it, it was accelerated for sure. In 2020, I, there’s a comparison I like to make. Back, back when I was a kid and was learning how to ski, we had the little skinny narrow, super long skis. It was difficult. Snowboards came around and everyone complained about snowboards ’cause they carved up the moguls or whatever. I can’t remember what it was, but ultimately the snowboards made skiing better and the ski tec

    39 min
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