GAIN Momentum - Lessons from Leaders in Hospitality, Travel, Food Service, & Technology

In this episode, we interview Tata Graham Crocombe , an independent hotel owner based out of the Cook Islands, including family-friendly The Rarotongan Beach Resort & Lagoonarium , the adults-only Sanctuary Rarotonga and Aitutaki Lagoon Private Island Resort .    Besides operating three island resorts, Crocombe is also a prominent technologist and has taken painstaking efforts to embed the lat...

In this Executive Series episode, we interview Zoe Koumbouzi , a fellow GAIN Advisor to discuss the growth of LinkedIn as a marketing tool for both individuals as well as B2B for vendors and travel or hospitality buyers. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, travel, and technology-centered ar...

In this episode, we interview Amaury Piedra , managing director at Caribe Royale Orlando , a 1,337-key, all-suite property that appeals to numerous customer segments and has recently relaunched after a sweeping renovation. Piedra brings a wealth of experience to leading this hotel through its reimaging which happened during the pandemic, including lengthy tenures at Starwood Hotels and Wyndham. **...

At long last we interview fellow GAIN advisor, Simone Puorto , and author of “ We Are The Glitch ” (2024). Puorto is the founder of Travel Singularity and Rebyu, an innovative GPT-driven startup, as well as columnist for Hospitality Net and 10 Minutes News. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitalit...

In this episode, we interview Sean Gorman , President and CEO of SafetyNet Access . Gorman has been CEO of SafetyNet Access for over 25 years. More recently, he has expanded this company with new divisions that include Select NetWorx, Amicus Networx and SNA Event Productions. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a bus...

In this episode, we interview Bryson Koehler , CEO of Revinate . Koehler brings a wealth of technology experience to his current role at Revinate where his role is on driving positive outcomes for hotel clients through better use of data. He was SVP of global revenue and guest technology for InterContinental Hotel Group for over 10 years, and was chief technology and information officer for The We...

In this special episode of our Executive series with Vincent Somsen and Michael Goldrich , we look at how the latest artificial intelligence tools are changing the nature of work in hospitality leadership in the march towards an AI-adjacent workforce. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, tra...

In this episode, we interview John Marraffino , President of VMC Media , a travel media company that operates across a variety of markets, industries and channels for over the past three decades. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, travel, and technology-centered around four key questions p...

In this special episode, Adam Mogelonsky interviews the Heymann brothers, Ken and Mark, who are the founders of Unifocus and Heymann2 & Associates . ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, travel, and technology-centered around four key questions posed to all guests and hosted by Adam Mogel...

In this episode, we interview Dean Winter , Managing Director of Swire Hotels .   Winter has a longstanding career in hotel operations and management. Working in the Food & Beverage department for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group for over seven years before joining management at MOHG for five more years. After joining the operations team at Swire Properties, he has remained with Swire Hotels for...

In this special episode of our Executive series with Chris Tomseth and Michael Goldrich , we focus on the current travel trends to see how they apply to the modern workforce wherein executives frequently travel to different continents to manage operations across multiple time zones.  ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to sca...

In this episode, we interview Omri Shalev , cofounder and CTO of Reeco .   Shalev brings a diverse software engineering background before entering hospitality technology, including LeadDaWay, M.S Bit, HARMAN International and Microsoft. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, travel, and techno...

In this episode, we interview Phelim Pekaar , CEO of P3 , a hotel software company focused on the online guest journey and booking experience.   Pekaar comes from a software engineering background, graduating from the University of Dublin before joining Jurys Doyle Hotel Group as a developer for over nine years. Pekaar founded P3 Hotel Software in 2001 and has stayed led the company for over 23 ye...

In this special episode, Adam Mogelonsky and Neil Foster discuss the book “Ultra-Processed People: Why We Can’t Stop Eating Food That Isn’t Food” (2023) by Chris van Tulleken. In this chat, we cover topics including ultra-processed foods, intermittent fasting, food environments, eating as identity and what hotels can do as food habits change. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    Th...

In this episode, we interview Jeff Robbins , founder of GuestInsight . Since its founding in late 1999, GuestInsight has excelled as a consumer market research platform leader, with tools specifically designed for hotel guest engagement and feedback. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************    The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospitality, trav...

In this episode, we interview Custódio Barreiros , founder and president of EIP MGT GmbH, a European hospitality firm focused on solving technological problems for the end users.   Barreiros is a second-generation hotelier, having worked from an early age in hotels across the continent. On the hotel side, he has worked for Accor, Grange Hotels, Hilton and InterContinental Hotel Group while living...

In this episode, we interview Daan de Bruijn , Cofounder of Bookboost .    De Bruijn brings a diverse hospitality background before cofounding Bookboost CRM in early 2017. For non-hospitality experience, he worked as a research analyst at Rabobank Nederland, in customer loyalty at VenturesOne and at DDB Consulting based out of Amsterdam. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************     The GA...

In this special episode, we sit down with GAIN Managing Partner, Michael Cohen, to discuss the emerging megatrend of being the ‘Nomad Executive’ and working while living aboard. Cohen goes into detail about his experiences over the past few years in founding and running a company while living in multiple different countries and time zones.  ************* LINKS & RESOURCES *************     The...

In this episode, we interview Sondre Rasch , Cofounder and CEO of SafetyWing .    With SafetyWing, Rasch is building a platform to provide easily accessible travel medical insurance for remote workers and nomad executives. Prior to this, Rasch has cofounded three other software companies – SolidHost, NorJobs and Superside – while also acting as a policy advisor for the Parliament of Norway. ******...

In this episode, we interview Shane O’Flaherty , the Global Director of Travel and Hospitality at Microsoft .   O’Flaherty comes from a sales, marketing and customer relationship background prior to joining Microsoft in their travel division. His earlier background in hospitality includes acting as the Director of Business and Leisure Marketing at Preferred Hotel Group for over two years and actin...

In this episode, we interview Jim Rowe , Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing at Jonas Hospitality, Property Systems .   Rowe is a seasoned veteran in the hospitality technology industry. He was a Delphi regional sales director at Newmarket International for four years, director of sales at Springer-Miller Systems for over two years and director of sales at MSI Solutions before joining a...

In this episode, we interview Matthew Opferkuch , CEO and cofounder of The Laundry Rooms .   Opferkuch is a longstanding hotel operator and executive before cofounding The Laundry Rooms in August 2019. He held senior roles including director of F&B, hotel manager and general manager at Fairmont Hotels & Resorts for over 15 years. In 2006, he became the opening general manager for The Hazel...

In this episode, we interview Charlie Osmond , cofounder of Triptease .   Osmond brings a diverse background to Triptease, starting as an engineer in the British Army before cofounding Decidedly which he launched, grew and exited over 12 years. His next venture was FreshMinds Talent which, as before, he launched grew and exited over 12 years, while simultaneously cofounding FreshNetworks where he...

In this episode, we interview Nima Anvar , CEO of GuestChat .   Anvar was the general manager of the Siesta Hotel in Grenada for over two decades before founding GuestChat in January 2021 as a hotel chatbot provider leveraging the latest in large language models. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES ************* The GAIN Momentum Podcast: focusing on timeless lessons to scale a business in hospita...

In this special episode of the GAIN Momentum Podcast, we’re looking at what hotel technology vendors can do to best prepare for HITEC, happening this year in Charlotte, June 25-29, in terms of sales team preparation, marketing tactics, booth design, networking events, press releases and looking for strategic partnerships. ************* LINKS & RESOURCES ************* The GAIN Momentum Podcast:...