Episodes

In this episode, Christina Poon, the General Manager at the Detroit EDITION, shares how she's building a great hotel guest experience before the property opens. She talks about recruiting leaders in a place where she started with zero network, hiring for attitude plus operational readiness, and designing the guest experience while the building is still under construction. You'll hear why she meets every candidate one-on-one instead of relying on CVs, plus the W Hotels chef collaboration that ...

In this episode, Christina Poon, the General Manager at the Detroit EDITION, shares how vision guides the moves you make as a hotel leader and throughout your career. You'll hear how Christina builds a property vision with owners and the team, why she compares each hotel chapter to making a movie, and how her yearly personal review helped lead her from New York to a construction site in Detroit. Listen to the first part of our series: The Unexpected Joy of a Career in Hospitality A few more re...

Christina Poon, General Manager of the soon-to-open Detroit EDITION, shares the story of how an unexpected career recommendation led her into hospitality and why she's never looked back. She reflects on the power of human connection, creating lasting guest experiences, and building a career aligned with your personal values. Christina also explains why she began documenting the realities of hotel leadership on LinkedIn, offering aspiring hospitality leaders a rare behind-the-scenes look at the w...

In this episode, Milou Neelen, the Founder of Hôtel Magique, shares why so many beautifully designed hotels leave guests feeling nothing. You'll hear why she chases awe over polish, how imperfection makes a space feel more human, and why she believes an awe-inspired hotel moves guests from memorable to transformational. She also gets into the science of awe through the work of UC Berkeley's Dacher Keltner, author of Awe: The New Science of Everyday Wonder. Connect with Milou: LinkedIn Instagram...

Scaling a hospitality brand is about more than adding new properties. The real challenge is preserving the culture, service, and sense of connection that made the brand successful in the first place. In this episode, Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, shares how the company approaches growth by investing in people first, choosing locations with intention, and expanding alongside the communities they serve. She explains why culture is the foundation for scaling and why staying true to your identity mat...

Creating a memorable hospitality experience is only part of the challenge. Communicating it in a way that feels just as human is what sets great brands apart. In this episode, Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, explains how the company's human-centered philosophy shapes its marketing and communication. She shares why Aethos prioritizes people over products, how its campaigns capture the spirit of the brand rather than staged perfection, and why storytelling attracts guests who will really connect with...

In this episode, Lily Wecker, the CEO at Aethos, shares how the brand designs guest experiences around 360-degree wellbeing rather than entertainment alone. She walks through Aethos's mix of outward-facing programming, DJ nights, live sketching, listening sessions, and inward-focused rituals like a personal-question card game played after community dinners. You'll hear why Lily believes wellbeing has to include social connection alongside sleep, food, and exercise, and why she builds both distr...

In this special bonus episode, Josiah Mackenzie and Nazpari Aydin, Founder and Managing Director of Destination AI, introduce the State of Hotel AI survey, a study designed to reveal what's really happening with AI across the hotel industry, where it's delivering results, and where it still falls short. They discuss why an honest look at AI adoption matters, how the findings will help you benchmark your organization against your peers, and what attendees will learn from the research at this year...

In this episode, Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, shares how her teams break hotel brand standards to deliver a feeling rather than a checklist. You'll hear why one property has no TVs in the rooms, why she tells front desk teams to observe guests instead of predicting what they want, and how a GM in Sardinia turned beach rocks into welcome-card holders. This conversation is hosted by our innovation correspondent Matthias Huettebraeuker. Also see: Human-to-Human: Rethinking Luxury Hospitality - Li...

In this episode, Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, explains why she believes the future of luxury hospitality is shifting away from status and product, and toward genuine human connection. In conversation with our innovation correspondent Matthias Huettebraeuker, she shares how Aethos is redefining luxury through community, belonging, and a human-to-human approach to service. It's a fresh perspective on how guest expectations are evolving and what hospitality leaders should be thinking about next. Al...

This episode introduces our week-long series with Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, in conversation with our innovation correspondent Matthias Huettebraeuker. She reflects on her journey and a pivotal moment that changed how she thinks about success, leadership, and listening to yourself. A few more resources: If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each ...

In this episode, Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities, shares where he believes AI is already delivering measurable results in hospitality and why operational applications are advancing faster than guest-facing experiences. He explains how Hotel Equities evaluates and tests new technology through HE Labs, the questions hotel owners should ask when selecting a management company, and where he sees AI driving hotel performance in the years ahead. Learn more: HE Labs by Hotel Equities Hotel Equities...

In this episode, Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities, shares how his team is using AI, data, and real-time operational insights to improve labor management, often the largest controllable expense in a hotel. He explains how better scheduling and smarter decision-making create opportunities to improve efficiency while maintaining the guest experience. You'll also hear why data alone isn't enough and how intelligent recommendations help hotel leaders think more like owners. Learn more: HE Labs by ...

In this episode, Ben Rafter, CEO of Hotel Equities, shares why he believes today's hotel operating model is becoming increasingly unsustainable for owners. He explains the growing pressure from labor, insurance, and other operating costs, why healthy hotel ownership is essential for the entire industry, and how Hotel Equities is responding through its problem-first innovation initiative, HE Labs. If you're looking to better understand the economic challenges facing hotel owners and how leadin...

The use of AI is one of the biggest strategic questions in hospitality, and many hotel leaders face the same challenge: they believe in the potential, but need a clearer path from experimentation to measurable results. In this episode, Actabl CEO Steven Moore and CTO Joseph Benjamin explain Actabl's new forward-deployed engineering offering for the hotel industry. They discuss why data foundations matter, how AI might help hotel companies improve profitability, and why custom workflows matter...

Martin Soler shares one of the most common challenges in hospitality: seeing the industry only through your own perspective. Drawing on his experience as a hotel operator, technology leader, and advisor, Martin explains why great ideas often fail when we don't fully understand other viewpoints. He shares practical ways to adopt different viewpoints, make better decisions, and evaluate opportunities more effectively. Hospitality leaders will come away with a simple framework to avoid blind spots ...

Personalization is one of hospitality's most important goals, but is it really a technology problem? In this episode, hospitality advisor and former hotel general manager Martin Soler explains why guest preferences are far more contextual and dynamic than many systems assume. Drawing on examples from both hospitality and everyday consumer technology, Martin explores the limits of hyper-personalization and why the most memorable guest experiences often come from observation, empathy, and human...

Martin Soler returns to explore "The PMS Wars," his ongoing series examining one of the most important shifts in hotel technology. What started as a race from legacy systems to cloud-based PMS platforms is now evolving into a conversation about AI, data infrastructure, and the future of hotel operations. In this episode, Martin explains why hospitality adopts technology differently from other industries, why changing a PMS remains one of the hardest decisions a hotel can make, and why AI will...

Hospitality is often criticized for lagging behind on technology. Martin Soler sees it differently. In this episode, he explores the paradox of hospitality innovation, arguing that hotels have frequently been ahead of other industries while also becoming burdened by technology that adds complexity rather than removing it. This conversation examines how AI could reverse that trend, freeing hospitality professionals from administrative work and allowing them to spend more time creating meaningful ...

In this episode, Martin Soler shares where hoteliers should focus as technology and AI reshape the industry. Recorded ahead of HITEC 2026, Martin explains why strong data foundations matter more than the latest AI tools, how to evaluate technology vendors through the lens of integrations and APIs, and what hotel leaders should prioritize today to prepare for what's next. If you're trying to make smarter technology decisions in a rapidly changing environment, this conversation offers a practical ...

This episode is sponsored by Actabl. Learn more about its new product, Altitude, here. For years now, AI has promised hotel leaders something it hasn't delivered: the ability to ask a question and get an answer you can actually trust. Today, that changes with the launch of Actabl Altitude. In this episode, I sit down with Stephen German, Actabl's SVP of Product, to tell the story behind it. We get into why most AI answers fall apart the moment you check them, what it really takes to trust a num...

What separates good leaders from great ones? According to Dina Winder, the EVP of Asset Management at Highgate and President of the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA), the answer is simple: great leaders create more leaders. In this conversation, Dina shares why she has dedicated so much of her time to mentoring future hospitality professionals through Highgate, HAMA, and AHLA's FORWARD initiative, and why she believes senior leaders have a responsibility to actively pull others up a...

What's really going on in the hotel industry right now? In this episode, Dina Winder, EVP of Asset Management at Highgate and President of the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA), shares her perspective on the forces shaping the hotel industry today. Drawing on conversations with owners and asset managers across the industry, she explains why demand has remained the top concern in multiple HAMA surveys and why filling rooms remains the foundation of hotel performance. Dina also disc...

Monthly owner calls are often viewed as performance reviews, but Dina Winder sees them differently. As EVP of Asset Management at Highgate and President of the Hospitality Asset Managers Association (HAMA), she believes the most productive conversations focus less on what happened last month and more on what happens next. In this episode, Dina shares how hotel leaders can prepare for owner calls more effectively, why thinking like an owner builds trust and credibility, and how strong operators ...