No Vacancy Live!

No Vacancy Live

No Vacancy is home to the hospitality industry's top podcasts. We speak to the CEOs, influencers and leaders to go behind the scenes of the hotel and travel business.

  1. 2D AGO

    Friday Night Audit Flashback: Where This Whole Mess Started

    Because it's STILL the holidays, I'm rerunning something that still makes me smile — episode one of Friday Night Audit. This show started in 2021, smack dab in the middle of COVID, when a lot of us in the hotel business felt disconnected, stuck at home, and spending way too much time on video calls. We also missed the best part of conferences: hanging out at the bar afterward, talking shop, telling stories, and laughing at how completely cuckoo this business can be. So we built Friday Night Audit to feel like that moment. The idea was simple: hotel people as real people, having a drink, reacting to the week, and letting the conversation go where it goes. No scripts. No polish. Just the kinds of conversations that usually happen after the badges come off. Early 2026 marks five years of the show, and we'll hit 200 episodes in February, right around that anniversary. And yes, it still feels a little ridiculous considering how this all started. This first episode sets the tone immediately, with me and Craig Sullivan, joined by our first-ever guest Kate Burda — who shotguns a beer. Producer Dave also makes his presence felt early, adding strong insulting power as we figure this show out in real time and clearly have way too much fun doing it. Highlights from episode one: 🍺: Immediate regret about starting the show — followed by leaning into it 🎤: The first guest appearance and the rhythm that stuck 🏨: Real hotel stories, awkward guest moments, and industry inside jokes 🤣: A lot of laughter that probably wouldn't have survived editing if this weren't a live show If you've ever stayed late at the bar after a conference because the conversation beat the session schedule, this show was made for you. Question: Did you find Friday Night Audit early, or did you come across it later once the chaos was already established?

    1h 20m
  2. 6D AGO

    Flashback to Just Before Everything Changed: A Live Conversation from Early COVID

    This week, as I look back on podcasts that mattered to me over the last 10 years of No Vacancy and Rouse Media, I'm sharing some episodes that reflect where the industry — and all of us — actually were at the time. This one is difficult, but important. It's one of the first live shows we ever did, recorded just before COVID shut everything down. At that point, we were still learning what this virus was, how it spread, and what it might mean for travel and hotels. I went live on LinkedIn with Anthony Melchiorri and Dr. Primas, a New York–based physician with deep experience in travel health. Anthony had known Dr. Primas since 1991, going back to his days at The Plaza, and we brought him on because we needed expert insight — not speculation. Within 48 hours of this episode airing, I lost almost my entire business. That wasn't unique to me — far from it. We all experienced loss. That's part of why this episode stands out. It captures the exact moment before everything changed. I'm rerunning this not to relive it, but to document it. It's a snapshot of what the hotel industry was thinking, fearing, and trying to understand in real time. In this episode: 🦠: What we knew — and didn't know — about COVID at the time 🏨: Early concerns about travel, hotels, and guest safety 🧠: Medical context instead of rumor or panic 📉: The uncertainty facing the hospitality industry in that moment 📍: A live conversation recorded just before shutdowns began There's no sponsor on this episode. It stands on its own as a record of a moment none of us will forget.

    48 min
  3. 12/19/2025

    1001: Hospitality's 2025 Reckoning — And What Comes Next in 2026

    We got something cool for episode 1001! Props to Katie Cline at the Skift Suite Success: Masters of Hospitality podcast for this one. I joined an end-of-year roundtable with some of the most thoughtful voices in hashtag#hospitality media to reflect on what actually mattered in 2025 and what could reshape 2026. Huge thanks to everyone who brought real perspective (and disagreement) to the table: 🎙️: Katie Cline — Suite Success 🎙️: Josiah Mackenzie — Hospitality Daily 🎙️: Zach Busekrus — Behind the Stays 🎙️: David Millili & 🎙️Steve Carran — The Modern Hotelier On hashtag#NoVacancyNews, I focused on two things that kept showing up in every conversation this year — and won't go away in 2026: • the confusion and overconfidence around AI, and • the growing economic bifurcation between ultra-luxury and everyone else. I also shared why I think profitability pressure, critical thinking, and realistic expectations will define the next cycle — and why hospitality needs to stop parroting talking points and start asking harder questions. A big thanks to Actabl — Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. What this roundtable covers: 🧠: Where hashtag#AI helps — and where the industry oversells it 💰: Why protecting profit mattered more than top-line growth in 2025 🏨: The growing gap between ultra-luxury and the rest of the market 🤝: Why loyalty programs face an identity crisis 🎤: Why conferences, panels, and media need real voices — not scripts 🔮: What each of us sees coming in 2026 (and what worries us) Question for you: Which 2025 trend do you think hoteliers misunderstood the most heading into 2026?

    1 hr
  4. 12/18/2025

    Episode 1,000: Still Showing Up 10 Years Later

    Well… this happened. This is episode 1,000 of No Vacancy is live. What started as me, a mic, and no real plan (OK, the original plan was to dominate the universe, but that proved too ambitious) turned into a platform that somehow became part of how this industry talks to itself. This episode purposely short. No guest. No agenda. Just a pause to acknowledge the milestone — and the timing. In 2026, hashtag#NoVacancyNews turns 10, which makes this episode feel a lot like a major milestone with everything lining up. On hashtag#NoVacancyNews, I touch on how the show started, how it shifted from audio to video, and why consistency matters more than getting it perfect. Why this episode exists: 🎙️: Because 1,000 episodes feels worth acknowledging and is great for shameless self-promotion 📺: Because moving to video changed everything - forcing me to get in better shape. 🤝: Because this only works with a real community behind it – like I mean it! 🏨: Because hospitality people show up, even when things get complicated. Like during Covid when most everyone became 'real' 😅: Because sticking with something this long is still shocking for a lazy lug like me If you've listened, watched, shared, disagreed, or stopped me in a hashtag#hotel conference hallway over the years — thank you. And if we haven't met yet, I can't wait to be of your acquaintance. Next stop: episode 1,001… and year 10. Thanks to my amazing team: Suzanne Bagnera, PhD, CHA, CED, David Mignano, CRME and Crystal O'Donnell Happy Holidays and we'll see you in a couple of weeks with some great new episodes!!!

    14 min
4.8
out of 5
108 Ratings

About

No Vacancy is home to the hospitality industry's top podcasts. We speak to the CEOs, influencers and leaders to go behind the scenes of the hotel and travel business.

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