Brand Insiders

Hospitality Net
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The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving, varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, amenities, heritage, and many other attributes. For hoteliers who live and breathe this industry, this variety is a rich tapestry to help travelers of all types discover new destinations. For everyone else, this multiplicity can be dauntingly confusing! Brand Insiders gives a voice to innovative hotel brands. Episodes focus on what makes hotel brands unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. It’s a series for all to learn about industry trends, trendsetting brands, growing categories and emerging markets.

  1. 6d ago

    Niels and Thijs van der Valk of Baoase on Family Hospitality, the Art of Saying Yes, and Building the Caribbean's Number One Resort

    Niels and Thijs van der Valk didn't inherit a hotel. They inherited a father's love letter to an island — five villas built for five children who never showed up — and turned it into the number one resort in the Caribbean. In this episode of Brand Insiders, the co-directors of Baoase Luxury Resort in Curaçao sit down with Adam Mogelonsky to trace the family story behind one of the most awarded boutique resorts on earth, and explain why a property that operates at fewer than 100 guests and says yes to everything has beaten the biggest names in Caribbean hospitality at their own game. In this episode Why the name Baoase was never changed even though nobody could pronounce itThe purple flag system that tells staff when a guest wants to be left aloneHow bringing Michelin-starred chefs from Europe trained a local kitchen team into award-winning cooksThe divers who emerged from the ocean carrying magnums of red wine at a private beach partyWhy Curaçao has no real low season — and why that is harder to manage than it soundsWhat a second Baoase somewhere in the world actually requiresA few lines from Niels and Thijs "He said: I'm going to change it into a hotel and you're going to lose your villa. We think it was on purpose.""There is no situation in which we say no. There is only finding out what is possible.""The world deserves a second Baoase. You cannot buy this. You need to treat it."Guests: Niels and Thijs van der Valk are the co-directors of Baoase Luxury Resort in Curaçao, the number one resort in the Caribbean by Travel + Leisure and Condé Nast Traveler in 2025. baoase.com Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers.  Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  2. Oct 21

    Charlotte Weatherall of Corinthia London on Leading From the Heart, the TMT Programme, and What It Really Takes to Run London's Most Central Luxury Hotel

    Charlotte Weatherall spent years forming strong opinions about Corinthia London — what it was doing well, what it could do better, and what she would change if she were ever in charge. In July 2025, she was given the job. What surprised her most was not the complexity. It was how personally you take everything when there is nobody left to deflect to. In this episode of Brand Insiders, the General Manager of Corinthia London sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to share what she has learned in her first year leading one of the city's most celebrated luxury hotels and what it actually takes to run a property competing against Claridge's, Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, and The Dorchester in the most competitive luxury market in the world. In this episode The TMT programme: why every team member has £200 to spend on any guest, no approval requiredWhy special moments should not be reserved for VIPs — and the commercial case for extending them to everyoneBiome by Corinthia London: what Primal Luxury actually means and why the old spa model no longer fits the guestHow Corinthia keeps guests on their wellness routines while traveling — from PT programs to sugar-free roomsWhy Charlotte no longer uses anything other than AI search — and what that means for the hotel's digital strategyThe one thing she would tell any future GM who has never been in charge beforeA few lines from Charlotte "It's very easy to critique. When it rests on your desk it's a little bit more challenging.""I would almost question somebody who tells me they do know everything about digital strategy right now.""You have to care. If you want to deliver great service and a great experience, at the heart of things, you have to care about what you're doing."Guest: Charlotte Weatherall is the General Manager of Corinthia London, a two Michelin Key luxury hotel in Whitehall with 279 bedrooms, seven penthouses, and Biome by Corinthia London, one of the city's largest and most celebrated urban spas. corinthia.com/london Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  3. Oct 14

    Xavier Mufraggi of Generator on Affordable Lifestyle Hospitality, Keeping the Host in Hospitality, and Building the Future of City Travel

    Xavier Mufraggi spent twelve years at Club Med, ran YPO - the world's largest CEO peer network - and then took the top job at Generator, the affordable lifestyle hospitality brand backed by Brookfield with ambitions to double its European footprint by 2030. His reasoning was simple: the generation that wants to travel more than any before it has less money to do it with, and nobody had built the right product for them at scale. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Mufraggi sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to explain what Generator actually is and why affordable and design-led are not contradictory. He talks about keeping the host in hospitality at a moment when most budget brands are replacing people with digital boxes, why the solo woman traveler is Generator's most important guest, how a Generator property can turn a B-minus neighborhood into an A, and the Generator Europe Pass launching in weeks that lets explorers switch cities on the fly with a single booking. In this episode Why affordable is not cheap and the shower story that sums up the whole design philosophyHow Generator serves 500 guests in a 100-room building and what that does to the F&B marginThe solo woman traveler: why safety is non-negotiable and what Generator does about itThe gentrification effect: what 500 daily guests do to a transitional neighborhood over three yearsThe Generator Europe Pass: book a multi-city trip and switch cities on the flyWhy you can be a GM at 27 and a shareholder at 35 and how Xavier is recruiting on that promiseA few lines from Xavier "I'm affordable. I'm not cheap. So why are you painting those doors blue and putting ugly numbers everywhere?""Keep the host in hospitality. A lot of people today proclaim themselves to be hospitality but it's just digital boxes.""No AI is going to replace that. Finding a good AI-proof career is pretty cool."Guest: Xavier Mufraggi is the CEO of Generator, the affordable lifestyle hospitality brand operating 15 properties across Europe's creative capital cities, backed by Brookfield and targeting 30 to 40 properties by 2030. staygenerator.com Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  4. Oct 7

    Eivind Hjulstad of Citybox Hotels on Scandinavian Design, Budget Done Right, and Why the Middle Market Is Running Out of Time

    Eivind Hjulstad has spent fifteen years building City Box Hotels since joining in 2010, taking a Bergen-founded budget concept and expanding it into ten hotels across six countries. His approach starts from a simple question, what do guests actually value, and strips out everything else, from staffed receptions to in-house restaurants, to keep prices low without feeling cheap. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Eivind sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to explain how City Box replaced front desks with check-in kiosks well before it became common practice, why efficient room design at 14 square meters still leaves space to walk around the bed, and how revenue-based lease structures with landlords work differently in Scandinavia than elsewhere. He talks through the company's employee cost advantage, at roughly 15 percent versus double that at full-service hotels, and why City Box leans on OTAs for visibility while steadily building direct bookings through its Citybox France loyalty program. He also gets into why the brand is already showing up well in AI-driven search, and what a three-star branded residence might look like. In this episode Why City Box replaced hotel receptions with check-in kiosks 16 years before it was standardHow revenue-based lease structures work with Scandinavian landlords, and why global brands struggle with themWhat "value for money" means operationally, down to a 14-square-meter efficient double roomWhy City Box outsources food and beverage instead of running it in-houseHow the brand is already surfacing well in AI-driven hotel search without extra investmentWhy Eivind believes younger travelers will accept fewer traditional luxury services, even at higher price pointsA few lines from Eivind "We have taken away those things that we think are not necessary in hotels and focus on what the guests value most.""If you don't dare to do something different, then I think it's difficult to succeed.""This is our market. This is how the real estate market works. This is how the landlord wants it to be."Guest: Eivind Hjulstad is CEO and co-owner of City Box Hotels, a modern budget hotel chain founded in Bergen, Norway, now operating ten hotels across six countries.  Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences.  Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  5. Sep 29

    Sloan Dean of AI Hospitality Group on Rebuilding Hotel Management From First Principles

    Sloan Dean spent eight years as CEO of Remington Hospitality, one of the largest third-party hotel management companies in the United States. Then he walked away and started over because he believed the entire category was broken, and that the only way to fix it was to rebuild it from scratch with AI at the foundation. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Dean sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to explain what that actually means: a profit-share model where AI Hospitality Group only gets paid when it moves the owner's GOP, a proprietary data lake that normalizes inputs from ten different hotel systems, a roadmap to over 75 AI agents coordinating across every function of the operation, and a clear-eyed timeline for when robots — not humanoids, but purpose-built fleets of single-function bots — start cleaning hotel rooms. In this episode Why every existing third-party management company is a commoditized staffing agency and why that matters nowHow the AICOS data lake works and why system-of-record agnosticism is the key architectural decisionThe three levers that move GOP: management restructuring, operational efficiency, and commercial strategyWhy the AI sales agent alone can move margin by 100 basis points at a full-service hotelThink Star Wars, not iRobot: what hotel robotics actually looks like in practiceWhy robots cleaning rooms on any schedule eventually breaks the logic of 3pm check-in and 11am checkoutA few lines from Sloan "Is Aimbridge any different than Highgate, any different than Pyramid, any different than Crestline? If you talk to any institutional capital, they will tell you that entire space is commoditized.""Nobody got into a hotel and said, I want to do accounts payable. If we can automate all that and free up the humans to go be hosts, we can actually make the jobs more satisfying.""Think Star Wars, not iRobot. It's not Betty the humanoid robot making your bed. It's a fleet of purpose-built bots coordinated by an AI brain."Guest: Sloan Dean is the founder and CEO of AI Hospitality Group, the first AI-native hotel management company, operating on a profit-share model aligned with owner outcomes. aihg.com Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  6. Sep 23

    Charles McDiarmid of the Wickaninnish Inn on Storm Watching, Sustainability, and What It Really Means to Be a Relais & Chateaux Member

    Charles McDiarmid runs the Wickaninnish Inn on a rocky point in Tofino, British Columbia, land his father bought in the 1950s after falling for a remote fishing village at the edge of the Pacific. Three decades later, Charles has turned winter storms into the inn's signature draw and become one of seven sustainability commissioners at Relais & Chateaux, guiding the association's UNESCO-backed commitments across 580 properties worldwide. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Charles sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to trace the Wickaninnish Inn from a business plan written longhand after his kids went to bed to a property that operates eleven months a year, storms included. He talks about what Relais & Chateaux membership meant for an independent hotel at the edge of the world, the philosophy behind The Pointe Restaurant's commitment to local farmers, fishers, and foragers, and how a family compost bin turned into an electric fence strategy for coexisting with black bears. He also gets into the West Coast Sustainable Tourism Association and why he thinks the next generation of hoteliers matters as much as the next sustainability milestone. In this episode: How storm watching went from a family tradition to a year-round business modelWhy joining Relais & Chateaux in the inn's first year became its "good housekeeping seal of approval"The financing story behind the Wickaninnish Inn, from land-rich, cash-poor to a family-owned propertyHow The Pointe Restaurant builds its menu around the terroir of Vancouver IslandWhat the West Coast Sustainable Tourism Association's 1% fee has funded in TofinoWhy McDiarmid sees hospitality skills as lifetime skills, whatever career they eventually lead toA few lines from Charles "We are at the end of the road. You don't wind up in Tofino by accident.""Sustainability was never going to be turned on like a light switch. It's a journey, and we're all on this journey together.""At the end of the day, it's about creating magical experiences for each and every guest you encounter."Guest: Charles McDiarmid is the maître de maison of the Wickaninnish Inn in Tofino, British Columbia, and a sustainability commissioner at Relais & Chateaux.  Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences.  Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  7. Sep 16

    Neil Gallagher of Soneva on Bare Luxury, Just What Matters, and the Evolution of Ultra-Luxury in the Maldives

    Neil Gallagher runs Soneva as CEO, thirty years after the brand pioneered what it now calls barefoot luxury across three private island resorts in the Maldives, Soneva Fushi, Soneva Jani, and the newest and smallest, Soneva Secret. His focus these days is less about adding more to the guest experience and more about stripping it back to exactly what each guest needs, nothing more, nothing less. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Neil sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to explain how Soneva trains its barefoot butlers to ask guests how they want to feel rather than what they want to do, and how technology stays entirely behind the scenes to make that possible. He talks through the emotional engineering behind villa design, why retention matters more than recruitment on a remote island, and how a geographically diverse guest base helped the resorts stay full even amid regional flight disruptions. He also gets into the 24-hour chocolate and ice cream rooms that have become something of a cult favorite. In this episode Why Soneva trains hosts to ask guests how they want to feel instead of what they want to doHow villa design functions as emotional engineering, down to retractable roofs for stargazingWhy technology stays invisible to guests even as AI shapes decisions like adding a wakeboard boatWhat staff retention reveals about trust and empowerment on a remote island resortHow a diverse international guest base kept resorts full during regional flight disruptionsThe story behind Soneva's 24-hour chocolate and ice cream rooms, and why they never run outA few lines from Neil "We're not giving you more, we're not giving you less. We're giving you just what matters.""Awe, for me, is when I'm stuck for words.""The burden of creativity sits with us, not with the guest."Guest: Neil Gallagher is CEO of Soneva, a barefoot luxury hospitality brand operating three private island resorts in the Maldives: Soneva Fushi, Soneva Jani, and Soneva Secret. Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

  8. Sep 9

    Nicolas Peluffo of Awasi on Ultra-Luxury Lodge Travel, One Villa One Guide One Vehicle, and the Last Untouched Frontier in Luxury Travel

    Nicolas Peluffo leads Awasi, a collection of five intimate luxury lodges across some of South America’s most remarkable landscapes, from the Atacama Desert and Patagonia to Iguazú, Mendoza, and the coast of Santa Catarina in Brazil. Built around the philosophy of “one villa, one guide, one vehicle,” Awasi creates highly personalized journeys designed around each guest rather than a standardized resort experience. In this episode of Brand Insiders, Nicolas sits down with Adam Mogelonsky to explore how Awasi defines ultra-luxury through personalization, human connection, and a deep sense of place. He discusses South America’s potential as a luxury travel frontier, empowering employees beyond standard operating procedures, the role of travel advisors, conservation and community partnerships, and Awasi’s new active wellness and longevity program in Brazil. He also explains why future growth will always prioritize quality over volume. In this episode Why “one villa, one guide, one vehicle” sits at the heart of the Awasi experienceHow personalization has become Awasi’s definition of ultra-luxuryWhy South America still offers enormous potential for high-end experiential travelHow empowered employees create deeply personal guest experiencesWhy travel advisors remain central to Awasi’s businessHow conservation and local communities are integrated into the guest experienceHow Awasi Santa Catarina combines exploration, wellness, and longevityWhy the brand is choosing quality over aggressive expansionA few lines from Nicolas “We don’t sell rooms. We sell a private way to experience and move around a territory.”“If I had to distill it down to one word, it would be personalization.”“Trust is earned, and you only earn real trust with performance.”“It’s not about volume. It’s about quality.”Guest: Nicolas Peluffo is CEO of Awasi, an independently owned collection of luxury lodges across South America, focused on highly personalized travel, conservation, community engagement, and wellness. Host: Adam Mogelonsky is a hospitality strategist, author, and partner at Hotel Mogel Consulting, focused on helping hotels build stronger brands and better guest experiences. Brand Insiders is a Hospitality Net original. The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving — varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, and heritage. Brand Insiders gives a voice to the innovative brands shaping that landscape, exploring what makes each one unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. Visit Hospitality Net: www.hospitalitynet.org Explore the latest Hotel Yearbook: www.hotelyearbook.com Follow Us on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/hospitality-net/

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The world of hotel brands is beautifully diverse and constantly evolving, varying by guest profile, scale, region, design, amenities, heritage, and many other attributes. For hoteliers who live and breathe this industry, this variety is a rich tapestry to help travelers of all types discover new destinations. For everyone else, this multiplicity can be dauntingly confusing! Brand Insiders gives a voice to innovative hotel brands. Episodes focus on what makes hotel brands unique, how their operational playbooks generate returns for owners, and how they are meeting the evolving needs of modern travelers. It’s a series for all to learn about industry trends, trendsetting brands, growing categories and emerging markets.

Information

  • Creator
    Hospitality Net
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    22
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Hospitality Net
  • Show Website
    Brand Insiders