Episodes
Jan. 9, 2023
How I stay in touch with my teams on property - Scott Curran, Reneson Hotels
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 how he connects with his teams on property as the top operations executive for the company to stay in touch with what’s going on and identify opportunities for improvement. Follow Scott on LinkedIn Feature story: Operating lessons from a top-rated hotel owner Technology must be...
Jan. 6, 2023
I bought a Jeep Wagoneer to rally our team - Jeremy Wells
Jeremy Wells 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 Branson, Missouri the summer of 2023. Today, he shares the story of something he did that was a bit unusual - but...
Jan. 5, 2023
Providing hospitality through collaborations - Jeremy Wells
Jeremy Wells 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 Branson, Missouri the summer of 2023. I’m obsessed right now with how collaborations can enable hospitality provi...
Jan. 4, 2023
Did you buy the chicken? - Eleanor Erickson
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. Today, she shares a story from early in her career about a question that one of her mentors asked that's made a big impression on her ever since. Follow Eleanor on LinkedIn Visit Eleanor's website Join the conversation on today's episode on the Hospitality Daily LinkedIn page. Hospit...
Jan. 3, 2023
Let’s make hospitality careers sustainable - Eleanor Erickson
Eleanor Erickson was a general manager with Hampton Inn by Hilton for 22 years before focusing her time now on providing hospitality leaders with the tools they need to create more sustainable workplace cultures. Today, she explains why. Follow Eleanor on LinkedIn Visit Eleanor's website 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 ...
Jan. 2, 2023
Just go for it! - Thalia Manzo, Hilton Hampton Inn
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...
Dec. 30, 2022
How I think about mental health in hospitality - Hans Pfister, Cayuga Collection
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...
Dec. 29, 2022
How we planned and hosted our leadership offsite - Hans Pfister, Cayuga Collection
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 ...
Dec. 28, 2022
Why we need leadership offsites now - Hans Pfister, Cayuga Collection
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...
Dec. 27, 2022
Take time to be still - Sherrie Carreno, Wildhaven
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...
Dec. 26, 2022
Slow down and enjoy nature - Ken Barber, Wildhaven
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...
Dec. 23, 2022
Create a culture of safety for your team - Thalia Manzo
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...
Dec. 22, 2022
What I’ve learned about supporting my teams - Scott Curran
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...
Dec. 21, 2022
Hospitality was this conversation - Eleanor Erickson
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...
Dec. 20, 2022
Many try to be like Ace Hotel, and fail. Here’s why. (Jeremy Wells)
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...
Dec. 19, 2022
Why I moved from tech to hospitality...and stayed - Jeremy Wells
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...
Dec. 16, 2022
Why we're giving back to our community this holiday season - Tracy Morgan & Crandall Dyment
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,...
Dec. 15, 2022
How hospitality changes you (the story behind my viral article) - Maria Navarro
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 ...
Dec. 14, 2022
Learn from this cooking class I took - Samantha Hardcastle
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...
Dec. 13, 2022
Infusing culture into experiences to create memories - Samantha Hardcastle
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...
Dec. 12, 2022
The first hour is so important - Eduardo Burkard
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...
Dec. 9, 2022
I didn't expect to learn this - Eduardo Burkard
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. 👉 ...
Dec. 8, 2022
Turning around situations to build loyalty - Brian Proctor, Leeds Hospitality Group
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...
Dec. 7, 2022
Ask yourself this question - Samantha Hardcastle
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...