No Vacancy Live and No Vacancy News
Your home for No Vacancy with Glenn Haussman as well as Friday Night Audit and more! Each show features incredible hospitality leaders that educate and empower listeners.
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Why Hotel Investors Keep Choosing Conversions
08/06/2026
Why Hotel Investors Keep Choosing Conversions
During LendingCon 2026, Glenn Haussman asks Red Roof’s Lina Patel why conversions now account for roughly 80% of the company’s hotels this year. Lina also explains how Red Roof’s RIDE initiative has helped 40 people become hotel owners and why the company sees more room to grow that number. Watch the conversation to hear what Red Roof sees happening in the hotel deal market right now. #NoVacancyNews #RedRoof #LendingCon Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Why LivAway Makes Extended-Stay Rooms 20% Bigger
08/06/2026
Why LivAway Makes Extended-Stay Rooms 20% Bigger
LivAway Suites made a bold choice: give long-term guests more room and still protect the economics behind the hotel. The company builds rooms about 20% larger than typical economy extended-stay rooms, places the kitchen at the center of the space and adds features that matter when someone lives in a hotel for weeks at a time. Fast Wi-Fi, better sound control, package lockers, useful storage and stronger ventilation all play a role. I spoke with LivAway Suites CEO Mike Nielson with Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera about how LivAway makes that model work. Mike explains how the company controls construction costs, improves housekeeping efficiency and builds an independent brand around the way extended-stay guests actually live. LivAway now operates 14 hotels and plans many more across the country, but the most interesting part of the story comes from the math behind the room. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to hear how LivAway gives guests more space without giving up the margins that make the model work. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Inside the Embassy Suites Reinventing the Brand
08/05/2026
Inside the Embassy Suites Reinventing the Brand
A Michelin-recommended restaurant on top of an Embassy Suites changes the conversation pretty quickly. I spoke with Bonnie Campagnolo, Global Head of Embassy Suites, from the rooftop of the brand’s Asheville hotel, where the restaurant draws customers seven nights a week. The property combines two-room suites, breakfast and the evening reception with meeting space, serious food and beverage, and a rooftop experience befitting the Asheville market. Bonnie explains how Embassy Suites gives developers more flexibility to shape each hotel around local demand while protecting the elements that keep guests choosing the brand. That approach lets owners add restaurants, bars, meeting space and other revenue drivers without turning every Embassy Suites into the same building. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to see how this Asheville property pushes the brand in a new direction and hear where Bonnie plans to take Embassy Suites next. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How Independent Hotels Grow Without Losing Their Identity
08/04/2026
How Independent Hotels Grow Without Losing Their Identity
Curator Hotel & Resort Collection brings together some seriously cool independent hotels without sanding away the qualities that make them interesting. New Waterloo offers a great example. The company creates distinctive hotels inside historic buildings, connecting each property to its surrounding community. Curator gives the team greater buying power, stronger vendor relationships, broader marketing support and tools that help each hotel compete—while New Waterloo protects the identity and guest experience. I spoke with Jennifer Barnwell, President of Curator Hotel & Resort Collection, and Sarah Swenson, Corporate Director of Marketing at New Waterloo, about how that partnership works in practice. Sarah explains why independent hoteliers need strong partners, and Jennifer shares how Curator supports those hotels without forcing them to follow a brand playbook. That balance creates the real story: independent hotels gain the reach and resources of a larger collection while protecting the personality that gives travelers a reason to choose them. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to see how Curator and New Waterloo make that partnership work—and get a look at some of the standout hotels inside the collection. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How This Hotel Owner Keeps Employees for 20 Years
08/03/2026
How This Hotel Owner Keeps Employees for 20 Years
Anthony Klok keeps 80% of his hotel staff for more than 20 years, and he doesn’t credit software, surveys or another employee engagement program. I visited Anthony, Principal of Rebel Hospitality, at the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace in Chicago while he cooked for his staff and handed out appreciation bonuses. He explained why people stay, why so many hotel companies still get this wrong and how owners directly shape the culture inside their properties. Anthony also connects that loyalty to stronger guest service and better business performance. His hotel just recorded its best summer in four or five years after a $1.5 million renovation, but the most interesting part of our #NoVacancyNews conversation had nothing to do with the building. It came down to what owners do every day and what employees notice long before any customer does. Click through and watch the video to hear Anthony explain what keeps his team in place for decades and why more hotel owners should pay attention. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Why Your Hotel's Brand Promise Breaks At the Front Desk
07/30/2026
Why Your Hotel's Brand Promise Breaks At the Front Desk
Every hotel brand makes a promise on a slide deck somewhere. There's a real gap between what a hotel brand promises and what actually happens at the front desk. I got brand strategist Philipp Mirow, CEO of Meridian Thinking, on the show with Dr. Producer Suzanne to figure out exactly where that promise falls apart. Philipp ran the Radisson brand while at Choice Hotels, then founded Meridian Thinking, the consultancy behind brand work for Hilton, Starwood, and 1 Hotels, among others. He's also got an unusual detour on his resume that shapes how he thinks about all of it. This conversation gets into: The unlikely operational job on his resume that still shapes how he builds brand strategy today Why a 500-page brand standards document rarely survives contact with an actual front desk A guest-recognition problem he says airlines solved years ago that most #hotels still haven't touched How a brand nobody was excited about turned pure nostalgia into a real growth strategy Where he thinks AI genuinely belongs in guest service, and where handing it to guests backfires A special thanks to our advertiser Actabl. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit them at Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Hotels Are One Bad Laundry Day From Disaster
07/29/2026
Hotels Are One Bad Laundry Day From Disaster
Picture 100% occupancy on your busiest weekend of the year — then picture running out of towels. Rooms sit unsellable, guests grow furious, and the hotel writes refunds and credits just to get through the night. Bart Begley built Integrity Laundry Services so no hotel has to live through that scenario, and I went to Destin, Florida to see how. Under Bart's model, hotels don't own a single towel or sheet anymore — Integrity owns every piece of linen outright and delivers a fresh set the night before a hotel even needs it. His proprietary system pulls reservation data straight from a property's own systems to know exactly what a property needs and when. This tour covers: The Mardi Gras scramble that leaves guests without a room and hotels writing refunds and credits Why hotels no longer own their linens at all under this model, and what that eliminates from their budget How a proprietary system reads a hotel's reservations and restocks linen before anyone calls The water and utility numbers behind linen that arrives spotless and hospital-clean What happened across an entire holiday weekend at 100% occupancy — and how not one room came up short Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Why the Hotel Market Keeps Defying Expectations
07/28/2026
Why the Hotel Market Keeps Defying Expectations
The hotel business apparently didn’t get the memo that everything is supposed to be terrible. Consumers feel squeezed. Credit-card debt keeps climbing. Business travel remains soft. Hotel construction faces the same cost and financing challenges we’ve discussed for years. Yet hotels keep performing, people keep traveling and owners keep making deals. So what’s actually holding this market together? I asked Bruce Ford, SVP at Lodging Econometrics, to help me make sense of it. We talked about why event travel continues to deliver, how hotels can offer deals without destroying their rates and why the biggest opportunity ahead may have less to do with building new hotels. One number caught my attention: Bruce expects the industry to renovate or convert between 325,000 and 375,000 rooms during each of the next couple of years. That could create a very different hotel investment market than many people expect, with major implications for owners, brands, management companies and industry suppliers. Watch my latest #NoVacancyNews conversation with Bruce to hear where he sees the hotel market heading next. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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She Runs a Hotel Management Company. She Grew Up Unable to Stay in One
07/28/2026
She Runs a Hotel Management Company. She Grew Up Unable to Stay in One
Jamie Caraher was recently recognized as one of Utah's CEOs of the Year. She runs Lodging Dynamics. Owners trust her with their #hotels. And she told me, on camera, that the moment she got the call, her first thought was: do I even deserve this? If you've ever sat in a leadership role and quietly waited for someone to figure out you don't belong there, this conversation is going to hit different. Jamie grew up in a family that couldn't afford to stay in the hotels she now runs, and she built her way up through jobs most people never think twice about. That climb left a mark on her that success hasn't erased, and she talks about it more openly than most CEOs ever would. Some of what pulled me in: The gut-check moment she had the second she found out she'd made the CEO of the Year list A decision she made to walk away from a company she swore she'd retire with A theory she has about trust that treats every owner relationship like a bank account you can overdraw Why growth, to her, has almost nothing to do with getting bigger What she's building inside her own company to make sure women in hospitality don't hit the ceiling she once saw A special thanks to our advertiser Actabl. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit them at Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Hotels Finally Fixing Decades-Old Data Problem
07/27/2026
Hotels Finally Fixing Decades-Old Data Problem
Hotels keep sending me golf deals. I don't play golf. I've never played golf. Dana Cariss, SVP of Revenue Strategy at CoralTree Hospitality, showed me exactly how close the industry now stands to fixing that problem. Disconnected systems used to trap hotel data in silos that couldn't talk to each other — point of sale here, property management there, sales and catering somewhere else entirely. Dana's team spent the last couple of years pulling all of it into one place, and the result changes what a hotel can actually know about you. This conversation covers: The specific systems that once trapped guest data in silos and blocked real personalization How data landing in one warehouse from every department changed what his team could see Why AI does more than speed up #personalization — it makes sense of data this dense in the first place CoralTree's 2026 reporting upgrade that answers plain questions instead of forcing a report The mindset Dana pushes his team to keep so comfort doesn't kill innovation Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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FNA 216: Chex Marks the Spot
07/25/2026
FNA 216: Chex Marks the Spot
drove three hours from Manhattan to The Haussman Resort, Pool Club and Smokehouse on Long Island for Friday Night Audit. In LIE traffic, you know it's bad when the cars start passing you, then a horse and buggy passes you, then an elderly woman with a walker passes you. That's Friday in the summer on Long Island. Derek made it anyway. He runs , the bag and valet check company you'll find at 1,200+ venues — the Mets, MoMA, Barclays Center, TD Garden, the O2 in London. It started as a coat check hustle in Indiana college bars, because drunk people are bad at holding onto tickets. Then he went on and turned down the investors. Somewhere in there, my cat made a break for the front door. Breaking news, as we called it on air. His colleague joined from #Vegas with the best line of the night: after a rival's bag-check system fell apart so badly staff walked off and police started holding people's Birkin bags, Chexology got the call. Nothing sells a hospitality product like "the last guys lost custody of designer handbags to the LVPD." We closed, as one does, with me cannonballing into the pool and someone threatening to throw the laptop in after me. #FridayNightAudit. Happy hour, hospitality news, zero dignity. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Wyndham Beats Marriott for the #1 Hotel Rewards Program of 2026
07/23/2026
Wyndham Beats Marriott for the #1 Hotel Rewards Program of 2026
just knocked out of the #1 spot in 's 2026 hotel rewards rankings — and the reason comes down to something travelers are clearly reacting to: devaluation. I talked with senior travel editor about this year's rewards rankings, plus a brand new list for road warriors. A few numbers worth knowing: Wyndham held onto its category-based point system while Marriott's dynamic pricing model saw a 20% devaluation. Plus, cracked the top five for the first time — and it earns guests free nights almost twice as fast as some of the bigger names. On the business travel side, Marriott and go head to head for the top two spots, and the deciding factor isn't the one you'd expect. We also dig into why hotel loyalty programs are starting to look a lot more like airline programs — and what that means for how you earn your next free night. Full rankings and methodology here: Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How AYANA's Midplaza Jakarta Stands Out in a Crowded Market
07/23/2026
How AYANA's Midplaza Jakarta Stands Out in a Crowded Market
Morris Tiedemann, General Manager at AYANA Midplaza Jakarta, joined Glenn and Suzanne from halfway across the world to explain how a hotel competes in a market flooded with luxury. Morris took a job in Urumqi in 2003 when he had to buy a book to figure out where it was. Twenty-two years in China taught him to move fast. Then AYANA came calling, and he had to slow down. Indonesia rewards patience. That tension is where his story gets interesting. The property sits in downtown Jakarta but feels like a beach destination — a pool, a tennis court, and gardens taking up real estate that most operators would have built on. The differentiator isn't the amenities. It's Indonesian hospitality baked into every touchpoint, backed by AYANA's larger story in Bali and Komodo. Also covered: how a new GM earns trust when he doesn't speak the language yet, why culture drives everything in a general manager's job, and the discipline of not "repainting the shop" in your first week. Visit ayana.com/jakarta. Actabl, they give you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Guests Spend More When Hotels Make This Easy
07/22/2026
Guests Spend More When Hotels Make This Easy
Hotel technology shouldn’t just look impressive. It should help guests enjoy their stay and help hotels make more money. The Hotel Communication Network Inc. CEO Kevin Bidner showed me how the company combines in-room tablets with AI to create a much more useful guest experience. Guests can request extra towels, explore room-service options, discover hotel amenities, research local restaurants and make reservations through one simple conversation. Kevin says hotels with room service can increase orders by 25% when guests use the tablet. Hotels can also promote restaurants, bars, spas, activities and other experiences that guests may never hear about at the front desk. The Hotel Communication Network provides the tablets without requiring hotels to buy them. The company also shares revenue from on-screen promotions and experiential marketing with participating hotels. The technology helps guests find what they want, encourages them to spend more across the property and gives hotels another revenue-generating tool. Watch the video and see the AI concierge in action. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How Explore Minnesota Generates $25 Billion in Economic Impact
07/21/2026
How Explore Minnesota Generates $25 Billion in Economic Impact
Lauren Bennett McGinty, Executive Director of Explore Minnesota, sat down with Glenn to explain how a state agency generates $25 billion in economic impact and what hoteliers can learn from it. The state welcomed 81 million visitors in 2024 and generated nearly $15 billion in visitor spending. Lauren breaks down how Explore Minnesota subdivides 5 major regions into 11 micro-regions to distribute visitors beyond the major cities, why campaigns filmed from the visitor's perspective outperform anything AI can generate, and how a state DMO supports independent operators — from family-owned resorts passed down for a century to boutique hotels in small towns. She also explains why tourism delivers immediate ROI in ways other economic development can't. Long-range business attraction takes years. Tourism marketing shows results within months. For hotel operators wondering how DMOs can actually help their business, this is the framework. Visit exploreminnesota.com. Actabl, they give you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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FNA 215: This Show is Spot On
07/18/2026
FNA 215: This Show is Spot On
showed up with a Paloma. poured a digestif. had his beer. Glenn was doing whatever Glenn does. This is how you open a conversation about parking. They're from , which turns empty hotel parking lots into cash. We got there eventually. First we had to sort out Chicago cocktail pricing, why Sarah wants to launch a podcast about parallel parking, and the moral crimes of putting ketchup on a hot dog. Pour something. Press play. Visit getocra.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Why Hospitality Should Study Retail (And Vice Versa)
07/16/2026
Why Hospitality Should Study Retail (And Vice Versa)
Liza Amlani, The Chief Merchant, spent 20 years as a merchant at Ralph Lauren. She now studies what retail can teach hospitality. The parallels are closer than you think. Both industries live and die by customer experience. Both rely on frontline workers whose voices too often get ignored. Both are trying to figure out how to bridge strategy from the corporate office to what actually happens on the floor. Liza translates retail's playbook for hoteliers who want a fresh perspective on customer experience, employee voice, and what the future of guest engagement actually looks like. Visit retailstrategygroup.com. Actabl, they give you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How This Hotel Group Is Winning (And What Others Can Learn)
07/14/2026
How This Hotel Group Is Winning (And What Others Can Learn)
Julie Kee, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Belize Collection, just revealed why her hotels are winning. It's not what you'd expect. The Belize Collection owns real estate. Spans jungle to reef to private island. Partners with local communities in ways that feel authentic because they are. And that's become their competitive advantage. But how do you actually turn that into a business model that works? That's the conversation worth watching. Visit thebelizecollection.com. Actabl, they give you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Your Phone Is Your Room Key Now (And It Works)
07/13/2026
Your Phone Is Your Room Key Now (And It Works)
Your guests are done waiting in line at check-in. Wallet key technology just made that line disappear. 🔑 Tap your phone to your room. It opens. That's it. No app. No Bluetooth. No waiting. Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Apple Watch — NFC technology that actually works. 📱 The old digital keys had 2% adoption because they were clunky. This one? Glenn tested it at Harrah's Las Vegas and it was so smooth he's already demanding it everywhere. Caesars is rolling it out now. ⚡ Here's the mind-bender: your phone dies, you're good for 5 more hours. Express mode reserves power on your iPhone and treats room access as mission critical. So you can unlock your door even after your battery quits. 🏨 Branigan Mulcahy, CEO at Virdee, says this is the loyalty driver the industry has been waiting for. Hotels that deploy it first are going to see guests actively prefer their properties. Glenn already tested this at Harrah's. Watch that video here: Visit virdee.ai. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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The Guest Canceled, So We Roasted My Travel Day
07/11/2026
The Guest Canceled, So We Roasted My Travel Day
We had a guest cancel at the last minute, so Craig, Suzanne, and I opened drinks and talked about my absolute disaster of a travel day. I’m not giving away the whole thing, but yesterday involved delayed flights, a plane too hot to board, a jammed wheelchair, Atlanta airspace doing Atlanta airspace things, a sick flight attendant, a Popeyes dream that died quickly, a late-night LIRR miracle, and the crushing realization that I wasn’t getting Taco Bell at the end of it. Suzanne somehow turned our text thread into a blues song, Craig did Craig things, and I tried to explain the whole mess without reliving too much trauma. We also got to the important business: 🍾 Identical Dispenser Bottles beat Breakfast Buffet Hunger Games 🐴 The Four Horsemen of Hotel Misery are officially set 🧠 Glenn Knows Stuff returns with Jets misery, peacoats, landlines, and cars ☎️ Craig apparently still lives in a world where landlines matter ✈️ Delta and I need some time apart Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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The Hotel Titan Behind Loews’ Biggest Bets
07/09/2026
The Hotel Titan Behind Loews’ Biggest Bets
Jonathan Tisch helped shape Loews Hotels for 45 years, built some of the company’s most important projects, and still talks about hospitality as a people business before anything else. Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera cohosts this conversation with Jonathan Tisch, retired executive chairman of Loews Hotels, and we get into the decisions behind Loews Miami Beach, the long relationship with Universal Orlando, the Arlington growth story, and why hotel people still need to fight for more respect. Jonathan also shares one line from his first sales boss that stuck with him through every chapter of his career: Never start a paragraph with “I.” That idea runs through the whole conversation. Jonathan keeps coming back to the guest, the team, the community, and the responsibility hotel leaders carry. 🏨 Why the “hospitality gene” still matters 🎥 How television production shaped Jonathan’s eye for hotel design 🌴 Why Loews Miami Beach required vision when the market looked risky 🎢 How Loews and Universal Orlando grew from three hotels to 11 🏟️ Why Arlington, Texas fits the Loews real estate approach 🙌 Why hospitality workers and tourism economies need more respect 🧠 Why communication, humility, and attention to the other person still matter in this business Thanks to Actabl for supporting this episode. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might’ve missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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We Drove The Vegas Loop With A Casino Resort President
07/08/2026
We Drove The Vegas Loop With A Casino Resort President
We drove through the Las Vegas Loop in a Tesla with Cami Christensen, President/GM of Westgate Las Vegas, and she's got 25 years of stories to tell from inside one of Vegas's most connected properties. 🏨 Westgate is about to be the first Vegas hotel with direct airport access through The Vegas Loop. End of June. You step off a plane, hop in a Tesla, and you're in your room — no traffic, no surface streets, plane to room to convention center. 🎰 Westgate just partnered with Caesars to power their sports book with Caesars technology. Full circle moment: Cami started at the property 25 years ago when it WAS a Caesars property. Now Caesars is back as a partner. The world's best sports book just got even better. 🍹 The younger generation isn't drinking like they used to. Alcohol is down. So Westgate went from maybe one mocktail option to eight or nine on every bar menu. Small shift. Big difference in revenue. 🎯 Cami's leadership rule: "What are we risking by trying it?" She lets team members pitch ideas. If it doesn't work, pivot. If it does, you get buy-in and engagement that sticks. From The Vegas Loop, Las Vegas #HotelLife #VegasHotels #WestgateLasVegas Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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The Luxury Boom Is Reshaping Where Operators Are Betting
07/07/2026
The Luxury Boom Is Reshaping Where Operators Are Betting
Your mid-market property is about to get a neighbor it didn't expect. Bruce Ford, SVP of Lodging Econometrics, explains why 158 luxury conversions are coming — and what that means for everyone else. Luxury used to be exclusive. Expensive to build. Hard to convert. Not anymore. Brands are loosening their grip. Third-party operators are moving in. Mid-market properties are being stripped down and rebuilt as five-star, with new tech and new standards. And they're happening fast. Here's what worries operators: once a guest stays at the converted property next door with all the new tech, better itinerary management, and total customer value strategy, they're not coming back to yours. Bruce talks through the pipeline — where the money is actually flowing and why your market might be next. China has 3 to 3.5 times more rooms under construction than every other country combined. The Middle East is accelerating. And New Orleans just went from one luxury hotel to seven on one street. This isn't coming. It's already here. From Lodging Econometrics. Visit lodging econometrics.com/global insights. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866. Your mid-market property is about to get a neighbor it didn't expect. Bruce Ford, SVP of Lodging Econometrics, explains why 158 luxury conversions are coming — and what that means for everyone else. Luxury used to be exclusive. Expensive to build. Hard to convert. Not anymore. Brands are loosening their grip. Third-party operators are moving in. Mid-market properties are being stripped down and rebuilt as five-star, with new tech and new standards. And they're happening fast. Here's what worries operators: once a guest stays at the converted property next door with all the new tech, better itinerary management, and total customer value strategy, they're not coming back to yours. Bruce talks through the pipeline — where the money is actually flowing and why your market might be next. China has 3 to 3.5 times more rooms under construction than every other country combined. The Middle East is accelerating. And New Orleans just went from one luxury hotel to seven on one street. This isn't coming. It's already here. From Lodging Econometrics. Visit lodging econometrics.com/global insights. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Natural Language AI Just Changed Hotel Management Forever
07/06/2026
Natural Language AI Just Changed Hotel Management Forever
Your owners are making decisions blind. PM Hotel Group just fixed that. Steve Marino, VP of IT and Hotel Systems at PM Hotel Group, explained at HITEC how they're using AI as their competitive differentiator — not to replace anyone, but to move owners from reactive to proactive. Most owners aren't hoteliers — they're investor-class people who don't know how to navigate systems or run reports. So they wait. They ask. They get frustrated. PM turned that into natural language: "Give me my cost per occupied room across these hotels for the last three weeks." Instant answers. No friction. On the BD side, AI is now helping them identify which assets and which owners actually fit their model, so they're not taking every deal that walks through the door. They're qualifying for the right fit. From HITEC. Visit pmhotelgroup.com or find them on LinkedIn. Unifocus, Workforce Management Redefined. Visit unifocus.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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How Hotels Are Getting Paid to Reduce Energy Demand
07/02/2026
How Hotels Are Getting Paid to Reduce Energy Demand
Here's obvious: Hotel energy prices aren't coming down. Rick West, CEO at Commercial Green Solutions, and Kenny Weston, VP at Commercial Green Solutions, explained why hoteliers need to stop treating utility costs as fixed. ⚡ The "double whammy" is real: your kWh costs are up AND your demand charges are through the roof. But there's $50 billion in rebates sitting in utility programs that most hotels don't even know exist. 🎯 It's not about spending millions on new infrastructure. One hotel cleaning a P-tack can save 17,500 kWh — paid for entirely by the utility. Multiply that across a portfolio and you're looking at 3-5% energy savings with zero out-of-pocket cost (#NoVacancyNews). 🔌 Peak hours matter more than total usage. If you can shift energy use away from peak demand windows, you save on kWh AND on what utilities call your "demand charge" — the penalty for asking for power when everyone else is. 💡 Utilities will literally pay you to participate in demand response programs. Their job is keeping the lights on 24/7. They'd rather give away rebates than build new power plants. Visit commercialgreensolutions.com or check them out on LinkedIn. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Why the Most Confident AI Hotel Pricing Recommendations Are the Least Trustworthy
07/01/2026
Why the Most Confident AI Hotel Pricing Recommendations Are the Least Trustworthy
Kartik Yellepeddi, Chief Product Officer at Duetto, says AI in pricing is stuck at level one: algorithms that recommend prices. That's the problem. Building three levels is the solution. 🎯 Foundation (pricing and forecasting algorithms), layer two (explaining why the AI decided what it decided), and layer three (performance engineering that guides humans across sales, marketing, and distribution). ⚠️ The most confident algorithms are often the least trustworthy. AI has to earn trust by explaining itself, showing its confidence level, and flagging where it's struggling — so humans know exactly where to jump in. 💭 Revenue managers are excellent at judgment. They don't need another dashboard. They need conversational AI that works like the computer in Star Trek — natural, explanatory, collaborative. 💰 Hotels optimize one lever: price. Yellepeddi is pushing for decision-rich systems (#NoVacancyNews) that optimize restrictions, group prices, ancillaries, labor spend — the entire commercial ecosystem at once. From HITEC. Visit duetto.app. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Hotels Are Asking the Wrong Question at Check-In
06/30/2026
Hotels Are Asking the Wrong Question at Check-In
Hotels are asking the wrong question at check-in — and Alliants just proved it. 🔑 Apple Wallet and Google Wallet keys at Resorts World Las Vegas are table stakes. Member Pass is the real play: loyalty recognition built into the digital key so repeat guests see their benefits the moment they arrive. 🎯 One customer captured additional guest names from 13,000 out of 20,000 check-ins. Hotels book one name. Alliants helps capture the whole group — the difference between selling one spa package and five World Cup packages. ❓ Nobody's asking "What's bringing you to town?" They should be. Tristan Gadsby, CEO, Alberto Santana, Chief Revenue Officer, and Andrew Pirret, SVP Customer Experience at Alliants, explained how the check-in moved to pre-arrival (#NoVacancyNews) — where you can actually tailor the stay and learn why someone came. 💰 Golf packages going to people who haven't golfed since junior high. Hotels finally have the data to ask the right questions. From HITEC. Visit alliants.com or find them on LinkedIn. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Hotel Data Breaches Are Getting Worse. Here's Why.
06/29/2026
Hotel Data Breaches Are Getting Worse. Here's Why.
Matthew Bright, SVP and Head of IT at Davidson Hospitality, made a promise not to talk about AI. He broke it 54 seconds in. 🔒 AI is making security worse and easier at the same time — phishing emails with zero typos, sophisticated language models doing the work bad actors used to do by hand. 🎯 Large hospitality companies getting breached makes the whole industry a target. People now understand what to steal. 👤 Your tools can block entry points. Your users are the real vulnerability — and they're more susceptible than ever. ⚙️ Basic security wins: strong network security, strong endpoint security. Then invest everything into user awareness, because that's where attacks are working now. 🚨 Social engineering and help desk password resets are the attacks happening right now, not the ones you're reading about. From HITEC. Unifocus, Workforce Management Redefined. Visit unifocus.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from ? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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FNA 213: At our Baikowitz-end
06/27/2026
FNA 213: At our Baikowitz-end
is a cat whisperer, networking extraordinaire, and the funnest, loudest (the good kind) person you'll ever meet. She joins Friday Night Audit alongside myself, and from Toronto (where she's "in exile" from New York) and the crew immediately put her to work on the pet peeves hotel tournament. 🐱 The parallels between training introverted cats and introverted people are uncanny. Slow blink. Build trust. Don't stare. Feed them. Deena's done it for both species. 🍤 Hotel networking events are broken: greasy sticky fingers on the shrimp, then a handshake, then touching your phone. Someone needs to design a clean-hands networking menu. Deena volunteered. We're here for it. 🏨 The pet peeves tournament is down to the Four Horsemen of Misery — and constantly hidden lamp switches just demolished anti-theft hangers 71-29. The hotel industry is listening now 💼 She speaks five and a half languages (people training and cat training), does coaches, comedy, and will absolutely work a room for you at any conference. Find her: Fireball Deena on Instagram, LinkedIn, or in the indentation at the middle of any crowd. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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Curator Hotels VP on Why Labor Costs Drive Every Tech Decision
06/26/2026
Curator Hotels VP on Why Labor Costs Drive Every Tech Decision
Brent Hayhurst, VP at , won't look at a new technology until he knows what KPI it's supposed to move. 💸 Labor is the largest line item on any hotel owner's balance sheet, and that's the number Curator's tech decisions chase. 🏚️ Curator skips the big splashy booths and goes straight to the fringes of the show floor, where the new ideas show up first. 🧪 A pilot that fails isn't wasted. Hayhurst treats it as proof the team needs a different approach entirely. ☎️ AI is already pulling phone calls off the front desk so staff can focus on the guest standing in front of them. More from the show floor at HITEC. #NoVacancyNews Unifocus, Workforce Management Redefined. Visit unifocus.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from ? Text HOTEL to 66866.
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