Episodes

Thalia Manzo is the general manager of the Hilton Hampton Inn in Daly City, California - a Reneson Hotel. We met Thalia in a previous episode where she talked about building a team culture that earned great guest reviews and helped her become a TripAdvisor Traveler’s Choice winner this year. I wanted to bring her back as we kick off a new year because towards the end of our conversation she reflected back on her career journey and overcoming fear to step into areas of increased responsibility. T...

Hans Pfister is the President of Cayuga Collection, and recently hosted an offsite leadership development event for his teams. One of his team members said they really appreciate how Cayuga thinks about mental health, so I asked Hans how he thinks about this - and an exercise they did at their offsite to promote mental health. Read the blog post Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospitality Daily isn't just a podcast! Every morning - Tuesday throu...

Hans Pfister, President of Cayuga Collection, recently hosted an offsite leadership development event for his teams, and in this episode explains how he planned and hosted the event to encourage sharing best practices. Read the blog post Follow Hans on LinkedIn Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospitality Daily isn't just a podcast! Every morning - Tuesday through Friday - I summarize the stories you need to know as a hospitality professional in ...

Hans Pfister, President of Cayuga Collection, explains why he hosted an offsite leadership development event for his teams. Read the blog post (and see photos) Learn more about Cayuga Collection Follow Hans on LinkedIn here Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospitality Daily isn't just a podcast! Every morning - Tuesday through Friday - I summarize the stories you need to know as a hospitality professional in a short email. Read today's issue and...

Sherrie Carreno, General Manager of Wildhaven in Sonoma, California, explains why she turns to nature to rejuvenate and renew as a hospitality leader. Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospitality Daily isn't just a podcast! Every morning - Tuesday through Friday - I summarize the stories you need to know as a hospitality professional in a short email. Read today's issue and subscribe here. Run a hotel? Then check out my website HotelOperations.c...

Today Ken Barber, co-founder of Wildhaven, explains the importance of nature in restoring ourselves - and the role it can play in providing hospitality to others. Follow Ken on LinkedIn here Learn more about Wildhaven Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospitality Daily isn't just a podcast! Every morning - Tuesday through Friday - I summarize the stories you need to know as a hospitality professional in a short email. Read today's issue and subscr...

In previous episodes, we’ve heard from Scott Curran, Chief Operating Officer of Reneson Hotels - which owns and operates hotels around California that are all in the top tier of guest satisfaction in their respective brands. I wanted to understand more about the culture they’ve developed that earns these impressive guest reviews, so I drove down to Daly City - just south of San Francisco, to meet with Thalia Manzo, General Manager of the Hilton Hampton Inn. Thalia has quickly progressed up the...

Scott Curran is the Chief Operating Officer of Reneson Hotels - which owns and operates hotels around California that are all in the top tier of guest satisfaction in their respective brands. Today, he’s sharing with us what he’s learned about supporting his teams on property. 👉 What practical steps can you take to take care of your teams? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've been working with to help hospitality providers understand how to use data to better ser...

Eleanor Erickson was a general manager with Hampton Inn by Hilton for 20 years before focusing her time now on providing hospitality leaders with the tools they need to create more sustainable workplace cultures. I asked her what remarkable hospitality means to her and she told me it’s about creating a human connection in the ordinary moments that could be forgettable and making them memorable. Today, Eleanor shares a story to illustrate this. 👉 What would it look like for you to take more ti...

Today we’re joined by Jeremy Wells, who is the Managing Partner at Longitude°, a branding group that has helped companies like 21c Museum Hotels, SALT Hotels, and Real Hospitality Group showcase their unique approach to hospitality. I asked him why it seems so many hotels try to offer hospitality like the iconic Ace Hotel did (and does) - but so many miss the mark. While they have cool design and furniture, their lobbies sit empty and the vibe is off. Listen to today’s episode to hear how we c...

Today I’m excited to introduce you to Jeremy Wells, who is the Managing Partner at Longitude°, a branding group that has helped companies like 21c Museum Hotels, SALT Hotels, and Real Hospitality Group showcase their unique approach to hospitality. He’s also the Managing Partner at Flyover Developments, a hospitality development and investment group, through which he’s preparing to open his new hotel - The Ozarker Lodge - in the summer of 2023. Jeremy started his career in the technology indust...

Richard Garcia joined us a few weeks ago to share the opportunities we have in F&B today, and it remains our most popular episode to date. So when he recently posted the story of a hotel up in Alaska that’s doing something for their community…. …I wanted to invite their leaders onto the show to talk about what they’re doing and what they’ve learned in the process. Listen to Tracy Morgan, General Manager, and then Crandall Dyment, Chief Engineer, from the Sheraton Anchorage - a Remington hotel,...

Our guest today shared a photo and wrote an article you’ve probably seen on LinkedIn because it’s gone viral with more than 130,000 readers in a very short time. The article was written by Maria Navarro, who has worked in food & beverage and events at various boutique hotels here in the US. In today’s episode, Maria explains what she shared in the article - and the big idea behind it. 👉 How has working in this business changed your perspective on the world? Hospitality Daily is brought to you ...

Samantha Hardcastle is the founder of The Storied Experience, and yesterday she shared how we can uplevel the hospitality experiences we provide by infusing them with culture. Today, she shares a story of what this looked like for her recently in a cooking class she took while traveling. 👉 What could you add to your guest experience that people wouldn’t expect - but would surprise and delight them? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've been working with to help ho...

Samantha Hardcastle is the founder of The Storied Experience, and today is sharing some practical advice on how we can uplevel the hospitality experiences we provide by infusing them with culture. 👉 How could you infuse your experiences with more culture? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've been working with to help hospitality providers understand how to use data to better serve and communicate with their guests. Download our research on how hotels are using da...

Today we’re going to look at how we can better show hospitality to our teams, specifically our new team members. Joining us to discuss this is Eduardo Burkard, who started his career in hospitality as a valet at the Ritz Carlton Atlanta before moving up in management at Hyatt and Sonesta properties. Eduardo and I worked together a few years ago, and I asked him to rewind the clock to his first day working at the front desk of a hotel - and what he learned from that experience. 👉 How do you de...

Our guest today is Eduardo Burkard, who started his career in hospitality as a valet at the Ritz Carlton Atlanta before moving up in management at Hyatt and Sonesta properties. Eduardo and I worked together a few years ago, and I wanted to get his take on some of the benefits of working in hospitality that he has experienced throughout his career. I hope today’s episode makes you smile - and perhaps helps you communicate to others some of the overlooked benefits of working in our industry. 👉 ...

Brian Proctor is an exceptional hospitality leader who held executive roles at Starwood, Evolution Hospitality, and BridgeStreet - where he was Chief Operating Officer - before founding Leeds Hospitality Group. Today, he shares with us how he trained his team to handle a situation that could have turned confrontational - but instead, he would use it to inspire guest loyalty for life. 👉 How can you help your team provide better hospitality today by showing them how to diffuse situations like th...

Today we’re going to hear from Samantha Hardcastle, founder of The Storied Experience, on why every great hospitality experience begins with a concept - and the one question you can ask yourself to refine your concept. 👉 What do you believe? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've been working with to help hospitality providers understand how to use data to better serve and communicate with their guests. Download our research on how hotels are using data to drive re...

Samantha Hardcastle is the founder of The Storied Experience, a consulting agency that helps hospitality providers go beyond just putting heads in beds to become a destination for creating more enriching experiences. In today’s episode, she shares why you should consider investing in experience. We’re at an interesting point in hospitality today. Demand is still sky-high in many markets, which means many hotels can charge more than they ever have. That’s great but it also means guest expectatio...

Today is International Volunteer Day, and I want you to hear from one of the best leaders I know about what he’s learned from volunteering. Today David Jurcak, President of Grand Hotel on Michigan’s Mackinac Island, shares: * How he got started volunteering in his community * Why he started volunteering * What he learned from the people he worked for 👉 What have you learned from volunteering that shapes the way you provide hospitality today? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by...

Joshua Schaeffer is the General Manager at Virgin Hotels Chicago. Yesterday, we heard about how he hosted a holiday celebration for his team. Today, we’re going to hear more broadly about the philosophy and culture they have that enabled that. * The motto that drives them * Why staff need to feel special * How Joshua does this at his property 👉 How can you treat your team like rockstars? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've been working with to help hospitality...

Joshua Schaeffer is the General Manager at Virgin Hotels Chicago. Last week I saw some photos on LinkedIn of an event he hosted for his team and had to know more. Today, he shares an experience he had earlier in his career that shaped how he thinks about providing events for his team - and then how he hosted a “Teamsgiving” last week. 👉 How about you - could you do something fun like this with your team this holiday season? Hospitality Daily is brought to you this month by Sojern, whom I've be...

Scott Curran is the Chief Operating Officer of Reneson Hotels - an owner of branded and independent hotels here in California - as well as the co-founder of GuestEQ, a hotel operations technology platform. These dual roles give him a unique perspective on how technology can improve operations and delight guests. In today’s episode you’ll learn: * The role of automation in hotel operations today * What he’s seen as a hotel owner and operator * Lessons from improving the hotel check-in proces...