Is the Economy Segment Turning? Red Roof President Weighs In
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Release Date: 03/19/2026
MyPlace Hotels Hits 125 Properties: How They Keep Growing in Extended Stay
No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
MyPlace just hit 125 properties. That milestone matters even more now, because extended stay keeps getting more competitive. During the , I talked with , VP of Franchise Development at , about how they keep growing, where they’re expanding next, and what he sees heading into 2026. 🏨 Eric says MyPlace planted its flag in extended stay early—before everyone chased the category 🗺️ He shares the growth snapshot: openings in Arizona and California, plus expansion into Florida 📅 He previews the next owner/GM conference: September 22 in Miami at the JW Marriott, with collaboration...
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Hotel Demand Shifts: Blowout Trips, Meetings, and “Value”
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Bruce Ford keeps coming back to one idea: the next traveling economy will book and spend differently. He tracks the data as SVP at Lodging Econometrics, so he sees the shifts before they feel obvious. 📈 He talks “blowout trips” and experience travel, where guests spend big on the moment and stop sweating the room rate 🏨 He breaks down meetings demand: more meetings, smaller meetings, and a bigger need to capture total spend through #HotelOperations ⛽ He flags the cost ripple: diesel prices flow into everything, and operators feel it fast 🎟️ He talks incentives and loyalty...
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Adaptive Reuse That Pencils: Historic Tax Credits Explained
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The Lantern has been open four weeks, and already talks about it like a platform, not just another hotel. During the , I talked with Grey Raines, CEO and Managing Partner of , about what they’re building next, why they’ve exited some management relationships, and why adaptive reuse keeps showing up in their deals. 🏨 Grey shares why The Lantern is mission-focused and how the partnership with the shows up early 🏗️ He says the next Lantern is under construction in Rock Hill, South Carolina, with two more behind it 🤝 He explains the management churn: they walked away from...
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How AI Frees Up Hotel GMs and Sales Teams to Execute
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, President of , keeps AI simple: give hotel teams time back so leaders spend less time buried in admin and more time actually operating. During the , we talked about what that looks like in real life, plus why their growth focus shifts away from new builds and toward acquisitions and third-party management. 🤖 Justin frames AI as support, not stress—tools that help people operate better 📋 GM example: cut the report grind so GMs stay on the floor with guests and associates 📞 Sales example: cut prospecting time so sales teams spend more time selling 🏗️ He says new builds feel...
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Customer Journey 6: Property-Level Execution
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Final chapter. In Chapter 6 of this CoralTree Customer Journey series, we take everything from the last five weeks and put it at the property level. Customer journey work only matters when a hotel team can execute it in real time. This chapter shows what that looks like on the ground. I talk with Curtis Bova, General Manager of Hotel Polaris, about how he turns guest journey strategy into real moments on property - from reading context clues at arrival to training teams for perceptive hospitality and building experiences guests can only get there. Here is what we cover: ...
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1026: How Women Advance in Hospitality: The Data and the Playbook
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Women enter hospitality at the same rate as men. Then the numbers thin out hard at the top. That gap isn’t about “pipeline.” It’s about progression. Suzanne co-hosts #NoVacancyNews with me, and we talk with Emily Goldfischer of Her Tenure about the leadership study she and her team did with Forbes Travel Guide and what it reveals about what helps women advance—and what still gets in the way. 📊 Emily shares the benchmark: women lead 19% of Forbes Travel Guide partner hotels, and Her Tenure heard from 99 women leaders to dig into what drives advancement 🧭 She frames the core...
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World Cup Demand Reality: The 60–90 Day Booking Window
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During the , I talked with , CEO of , about what he sees right now: demand pockets, the real booking window, and why operators need to get serious about data before AI forces the issue. 📈 Ben says South Florida Q1 is “crushing it” after a flat year ⚽ He expects World Cup momentum, but he keeps the booking window realistic—60–90 days 🌍 He watches international indicators, but he says it’s still early 🤝 He says conferences work when you get outside your echo chamber and build strategic partnerships 🤖 He says growth and tech create the opportunity—get arms around data...
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Remembering Kirk Kinsell: Leadership Lessons That Still Hit
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We lost industry icon Kirk Kinsell this past week, and I wanted to re-share this 2024 conversation because it captures who he was and what he meant to many of us: a generous leader, a calm force in the room, and one of the people who helped shape the way this industry thinks about leadership and relationships. In this episode of Icons and Experts with my co-host from the . Kirk doesn’t do chest-thumping. He does substance. 🤝 Kirk talks about relationships the way the best leaders do: build them, invest in them, keep them for decades 🏨 He calls hospitality a team sport—from the...
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Hunter Hallway Talk: How Trust Turns Into Repeat Hotel Deals
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I ran into of during the and asked what owners actually want from management right now—and what separates operators who keep getting repeat deals. 🤝 Wayne says trust and alignment with owners drives repeat business, because the first deal teaches both sides how to work together 🏢 Newport runs 37 hotels and keeps key disciplines in-house: accounting, HR, construction services, corporate engineering, commercial strategy, and ops ✈️ Wayne says in-house resources let them move fast—he can put the right person on a plane tomorrow instead of waiting on a third party 👥 He says...
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FNA 206: He's Been Here Arlotta
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Friend of the show CJ Arlotta returns to do some clever PR tricks to make people think Glenn, Craig and Doctor Producer Suzanne are actually funny over here celebrating Happy Hour to get the weekend started. Plus, Bruce Ford joins for added fun.
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For hashtag#NoVacancyNews, I caught up with Zack Gharib, President of Red Roof, at Hunter Conference to talk about why he’s leaning into tech now while demand softens—and what he thinks starts to turn.
📲 Zack explains the guest experience platform: guests text requests, staff stops playing phone-tag, and hotels fix issues before checkout
🧠 He talks ROI discipline: Red Roof only adopts tech that clearly drives revenue or clearly cuts costs
💳 He says franchisees asked for cheaper payment processing, so Red Roof partnered with FreedomPay at about half the cost—saving hotels hundreds per month
🔗 He ties the tech stack together: PMS-first (HotelKey), then smoother integrations, faster execution, and direct connectivity that removes third-party fees
📈 He talks momentum: Q1 looks strong, March looks outstanding, and he sees the economy segment starting to shift after a long down cycle
🏗️ He adds the development note: new hotel signings ran 35% year-over-year last year
💵 He throws in a consumer indicator: IRS data shows average tax refunds up 14% year-over-year, and he expects more weekend drive trips
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