No Vacancy Live!

Wyndham Rewards pushes beyond hotel nights into experiences , and Michael Shiwdin, Global VP of Loyalty at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts , explains why: engagement drives direct bookings, and direct bookings drive owner value. I talked with Michael at Wyndham Grand Rio Mar in Puerto Rico about how Wyndham Rewards Experiences works and what it means for hotels in the portfolio. 🌿 Members earn points on...

During hashtag # AAHOACON , I talked with James Ferguson🎉 , author of Seek the Good and Celebrate., about why he wrote it, what he wants readers to take from it, and how he expects leaders to use it when the day gets messy. 🧠 He turns the message into a habit system—something you run, not something you quote 📖 He connects the book to his cancer journey and how it reshaped his perspective 🎉 The...

Greg Juceam is President and CEO of Extended Stay America as and he's successfully scaling Premier Suites in the middle of one of the hardest building environments we've seen in years. 🏗️ Greg launched Extended Stay America Premier Suites in 2021, and the company invested in the first 15 hotels as proof of concept—then built the franchising system so owners could scale it 📈 Premier Suites now sit...

Suraj Bhakta doesn't sugarcoat the moment. He sees a strong Q1, then watches geopolitics and travel costs squeeze demand again. No Vacancy is the official podcast of AAHOACON , and I talked with Suraj Bhakta of New Gen Advisory on the show floor about how owners react when the Fed shifts, travel gets expensive, and buyers and sellers hit pause. 📈 Suraj says he saw a strong first quarter, then geo...

Red Roof treats AAHOACON like the Super Bowl, and Matt Hostetler explains why: owners, franchisees, and partners all show up in one place. No Vacancy is the official podcast of AAHOACON , and I talked with Matt Hostetler, Chief Development Officer at Red Roof , about growth, franchisee support, and how Red Roof helps owners win when the economy tightens. 🚀 Growth strategy for 2026 and why multi-u...

Sloan Dean put a number on it: Frontline Performance Group drove a 3–5% RevPAR lift in the hotels where he used it—so he expanded it across the portfolio. I brought in Geoffrey Toffetti , CEO of Frontline Performance Group , and Sloan Dean , former CEO of Remington and now a fellow podcaster, to kick off a 3-part series on how hotels activate the front line to grow revenue and improve the guest ex...

MyPlace just hit 125 properties. That milestone matters even more now, because extended stay keeps getting more competitive. During the Hunter Conference , I talked with Eric Myers , VP of Franchise Development at My Place Hotels , 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 every...

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 bigge...

The Lantern has been open four weeks, and Grey Raines already talks about it like a platform, not just another hotel. During the Hunter Conference , I talked with Grey Raines, CEO and Managing Partner of Raines Company , 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 missi...

Justin Jabara , President of Meyer Jabara Hotels , keeps AI simple: give hotel teams time back so leaders spend less time buried in admin and more time actually operating. During the Hunter Conference , 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 st...

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 mom...

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. 📊 Em...

During the Hunter Conference , I talked with Ben Campbell , CEO of Hospitality America , 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 watche...

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 Doug Artusio from the Extended Stay...

I ran into Wayne West III of Newport Hospitality Group during the Hunter Conference 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:...

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.

While I was at the Hunter Conference , I asked John Schultzel of Olympia Hospitality a simple question: where do you actually find profit when there's no silver bullet—just pressure everywhere? 💰 John starts with payroll, then works every other line item 💳 He calls out the hidden killers: credit card fees, insurance, deductibles, exclusions, coverage limits 💡 He talks energy the unsexy way: wal...

Sacramento doesn't have a Golden Gate Bridge. So they built demand with experiences—and then proved it with room nights. For #NoVacancyNews, I talked with Mike Testa (President & CEO, Visit Sacramento) about how Sacramento positioned itself around farm-to-fork and then stacked events that drive real overnight stays from different customer groups. 🍽️ Mike explains why "farm-to-fork" fits Sacramento...

Chapter 5 of this 6-part CoralTree Customer Journey series gets into the guest-facing side: how the strategy shows up in communication and touchpoints across the stay. A strong customer journey does not come from slogans. It comes from leadership decisions, team training, and operational discipline - and now you can see it in the guest-facing moments. I talk with Angela Berkey, VP of Customer Enga...

Graduate has lived inside Hilton for a year and a half now, and the brand is growing without losing the personality that made it work in the first place. For #NoVacancyNews, I talked with Parker Henderson , the brand head for Graduate, at the Hunter Conference about what Hilton distribution changes, what owners should know, and how Graduate makes development easier with plug-and-play F&B concepts....

While I was at the Hunter Conference , I talked with Greg O'Stean , Chief Development Officer, Hotel Equities about what makes a real owner–operator match—and what operators have to prove in this market. hashtag # NoVacancyNews 🤝 Greg frames his job as matchmaking: align the right owners with the right operator, and only take deals that add real value 🌪️ He calls out the new normal: you can't pul...

The latest  Hotel Business  Hot Topics session, "Rethinking Hotel F&B: Smarter Strategies for Profit, Community and Stability," in partnership with  Entegra , featured an insightful discussion between moderator Glenn Haussman, founder/host,  No Vacancy Live  podcast, and a panel of industry leaders on how hotels are controlling costs, optimizing procurement and transforming food and beverage into...

Glenn freezes, Suzanne can't hear anyone, and Craig somehow turns Milk Duds into a conspiracy theory. That's a normal Friday. For #NoVacancyNews, Friday Night Audit rolls into Episode 205 with Craig Sullivan , Dr. Producer Suzanne , and guest Stephanie Hills (and yes… even her name comes with a plot twist). 🍸 Stephanie Hills joins us for cocktails and immediately makes everything funnier, includi...

Thirty years in, PM Hotel Group still thinks like an owner-operator—and that matters right now. While I was at the Hunter Conference , I talked with Paul Sacco of PM Hotel Group about how they protect margin when RevPAR growth slows, costs climb, and rate resistance shows up. #NoVacancyNews 🎉 PM Hotel Group celebrates its 30th anniversary this fall—and Paul talks about evolving from owner-operato...

For # NoVacancyNews , I caught up with David Wilner , newly appointed Chief Development Officer of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts , at the Hunter Conference to talk development reality right now—conversion-heavy conditions, brand value pressure, and why he still won't count new construction out. 👥 David keeps the mission simple: drive the best opportunities and returns for franchisees 🏷️ He talks brand...