In this compelling episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens welcomes Neil Braude, Chief Operating Officer of Imperial London Hotels, for a deep dive into how independent family-owned hotels can thrive through strategic technology adoption while preserving the human elements that make hospitality special. Neil brings 16 years of diverse hospitality experience, having worked across South Africa and London in both branded and independent environments. His current role overseeing seven properties wit...
Sep 03, 2025•29 min•Ep. 143
In this episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, addresses one of hospitality's most pressing challenges: capturing and retaining loyal guests during economic uncertainty. With CoStar predicting a 0.1% year-over-year decline in US hotel RevPAR for 2025 and international inbound travel declining, hoteliers worldwide are asking how to maintain loyalty when guests tighten their wallets. What you'll learn: ● Why you should never panic or increase OTA dependency duri...
Aug 27, 2025•6 min•Ep. 142
In this compelling webinar episode of Hotel Moment, Jack Newkirk (Enterprise Sales Consultant) and Jason Wells (Customer Success Manager) from Revinate join Dean Blackburn (Director of Resort Experience) from French Lick Resort to explore how strategic voice channel management can transform hotel revenue. The team debunks the myth that the voice channel is dead, proving instead that it's simply been neglected by most properties. French Lick Resort serves as the perfect case study, having undergo...
Aug 20, 2025•37 min•Ep. 141
In this insightful episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, challenges the conventional wisdom of points-based loyalty programs and reveals why experience-driven approaches are the future of guest retention. With 40% of business travelers choosing loyalty programs specifically for personalized experiences, hotels that stick to outdated point systems are missing massive opportunities. What you'll learn: ● Why traditional points-based loyalty programs fail to crea...
Aug 13, 2025•8 min•Ep. 140
In this compelling episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens welcomes Ben Campbell, President and CEO of Hospitality America, for a conversation that spans crisis management, data-driven decision making, and the evolving guest experience landscape. Ben's journey from night auditor to CEO provides a unique perspective on hospitality operations, having held positions in revenue management, general management, and now leading a 20-hotel portfolio representing $150 million in revenue and 900 employees...
Aug 06, 2025•27 min•Ep. 139
In this compelling episode of Hotel Moment, we confront the defeatist "it is what it is" attitude that's preventing hotels from recovering thousands in lost revenue. While this mindset might work for truly uncontrollable challenges, cart abandonment isn't one of them. Tune in as we explore: ● Why the "it is what it is" mentality is costing you recoverable revenue ● AutoCamp's incredible success story: $110K+ generated in three months with cart abandonment campaigns alone ● How AutoCamp achieved ...
Jul 30, 2025•3 min•Ep. 138
In this engaging episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens welcomes Mandi Graziano, VP of Global Accounts at HPN Global and host of the Adventures in Business podcast. With over two decades in hospitality and a unique journey from hotel operations to venue sourcing, Mandi brings invaluable insights into building stronger business relationships in today's challenging environment. Tune in as they discuss: Contract negotiation mastery : Why Mandi believes negotiations don't have to be adversarial and...
Jul 23, 2025•27 min•Ep. 137
In this engaging short episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, addresses a critical challenge facing hotels today: cart abandonment. How do you keep guests from “ghosting” your booking engine? With only 10% of website visitors entering booking engines and just 2% converting, lost bookings represent a massive revenue opportunity. Tune in as Brenna explores: ● The reality of booking abandonment rates and their impact on hotel revenue ● How automation can transfor...
Jul 16, 2025•3 min•Ep. 136
In this enlightening episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens engages with Aradhana Khowala, CEO of Aptamind Partners and a visionary leader in regenerative tourism development. With extensive experience advising presidents, prime ministers, and global CEOs across 85 countries, Aradhana brings a provocative perspective to the hospitality industry's most pressing challenges. Throughout the conversation, Aradhana challenges the industry's approach to sustainability, arguing that tourism has been fu...
Jul 09, 2025•28 min•Ep. 135
Hotel Moment is making an exciting format change to better serve the hospitality community. Moving from weekly to bi-weekly releases, the podcast will continue to feature host Karen Stephens, Revinate's Chief Marketing Officer, conducting in-depth conversations with hoteliers and industry experts from around the globe. These discussions will continue to focus on the topics that matter most to hospitality professionals — from optimizing operations to driving revenue growth. The format evolution d...
Jul 02, 2025•2 min•Ep. 136
In this enlightening recast episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens engages with Robbert Manussen, Area General Manager at Intercontinental Hotel Group in Taiwan, to delve into the intersection of technology and hospitality. Robbert offers a fascinating glimpse into how the Intercontinental brand is leveraging cutting-edge technology to enhance guest experiences and streamline operations. Throughout the conversation, Robbert shares insights from his extensive global career, explaining how his ex...
Jun 25, 2025•30 min•Ep. 134
Hotel Moment has been running for almost five years and is now ranking in the top 10 in the hospitality technology category on Apple Podcasts. This milestone reflects the conversations that matter to everyone in the hospitality industry. Karen Stephens, host of Hotel Moment and Revinate's Chief Marketing Officer, focuses on topics that drive success in hospitality, from optimizing NOI and understanding total RevPAR to leveraging customer data effectively and creating memorable guest experiences....
Jun 19, 2025•2 min0
This episode of Hotel Moment features a webinar from Revinate’s Hotel Moment Deep Dive series with Brent Sanders, Customer Education Specialist at Revinate, and Miranda Cubillas, Director of Reservations and Recreation at the Ojai Valley Inn. Drawing on nearly two decades of experience at the iconic California resort, Miranda shares how hoteliers can elevate reservation operations through a culture of excellence, experiential training, and strategic leadership. With Ojai Valley Inn’s offerings —...
Jun 18, 2025•43 min•Ep. 133
In this insightful Hotel Moment Deep Dive webinar, Anisha Yadav, VP of Customer and Product Marketing at Revinate, joins Jennifer Hill, VP of Commercial Strategy at Kalibri Labs, to provide hoteliers with critical market intelligence and practical revenue optimization strategies. Jennifer presents fresh data from Kalibri Labs revealing how recent federal policy shifts have dramatically impacted hotel demand patterns in the US. With government room nights declining by 11% and corporate bookings s...
Jun 11, 2025•42 min•Ep. 132
In this insightful episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens speaks with Jeff Wielgopolan, Service Director at Meadowood Napa Valley, about his approach to luxury hospitality and delivering world-class service. Jeff brings a wealth of experience from his 20+ years in the industry, including his role as Global Senior Vice President of Learning and Development at Forbes Travel Guide. Jeff shares the fascinating story of how he joined Meadowood after a dinner conversation with owner Bill Harlan, who ...
Jun 04, 2025•36 min•Ep. 131
In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens is joined by Sims Foster, co-founder of Foster Supply Hospitality. With roots spanning over 100 years in the Catskills region, Sims brings a unique perspective on hospitality that combines industry expertise with a deep connection to the community. Sims discusses his unconventional journey from lying about his age to get a dishwasher job at 13 to managing celebrity nightclubs in Manhattan, and eventually returning home to revitalize his local hospi...
May 28, 2025•26 min•Ep. 130
In this enlightening episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens is joined by Stuart Greif, Chief Strategy, Innovation, and Operating Officer at Forbes Travel Guide. With extensive experience shaping luxury travel experiences, Stuart shares his unique perspective on navigating innovation in hospitality. Stuart discusses his journey through the industry, from living in hotels as a client to leadership roles at JD Power's global hospitality practice, Microsoft, and now Forbes Travel Guide. He emphasiz...
May 21, 2025•34 min•Ep. 129
In this engaging recast episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Shannon Knapp, President & CEO of The Leading Hotels of the World, to explore the evolving luxury hospitality landscape and how independent luxury hotels can thrive in the modern era. Shannon shares her wealth of experience in the luxury travel space, shedding light on how her organization supports over 400 luxury hotels across 80 countries. Throughout the conversation, Shannon discusses how the definition of luxu...
May 14, 2025•25 min•Ep. 128
In this enlightening recast from the Hotel Moment archives, Karen Stephens sits down with Casper Overbeek, Chief Product Officer at citizenM, to explore how the brand is revolutionizing guest loyalty and personalization in hospitality. Throughout their conversation, Casper takes us behind the scenes of citizenM's remarkable growth story, from just 10 hotels to a portfolio of 38 properties across prime locations in Europe and the US. He reveals the strategic thinking behind their unconventional p...
May 07, 2025•29 min•Ep. 127
In this enlightening episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens is joined by Dimple Jethani, the Chief Information Officer at Aramark Destinations. With over 25 years of experience driving innovation across technology and hospitality, Dimple shares her unique journey from accounting to technology leadership. Dimple discusses her unexpected path to hospitality, from her early days at Arthur Andersen to entrepreneurship, and eventually to leadership roles at Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings during the ...
Apr 30, 2025•26 min•Ep. 126
In this engaging episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Sky McLean, founder and CEO of Basecamp Resorts, to discuss her remarkable journey from being fired to building a thriving modern hospitality enterprise in Western Canada. Sky shares the story of how getting fired after just 27 days at her "dream job" led her to make a bold decision never to work for anyone else again. Using an unexpected $38,000 from a BMW financing deal, she purchased her first piece of land in Canmore, Al...
Apr 23, 2025•20 min•Ep. 125
In this insightful episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens speaks with Dana Cariss, Senior Vice President of Revenue Strategy at CoralTree Hospitality, about how his company leverages data to drive revenue while delivering exceptional guest experiences across their diverse portfolio. Dana shares his journey with CoralTree Hospitality, which has grown from 8 properties in 2019 to over 40 hotels and 1,200 vacation rental keys today. Throughout the conversation, he emphasizes the importance of cons...
Apr 16, 2025•24 min•Ep. 124
In this insightful episode of Hotel Moment, Bryson Koehler, CEO of Revinate, engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Matthijs Welle, CEO of Mews, about the critical importance of data security in the hospitality industry. As technology continues to transform hotel operations, that same technology should keep up with the security challenges that hoteliers face. Together, they discuss: The evolution of hotel technology from legacy DOS systems to modern, integrated platforms How cybercrimi...
Apr 09, 2025•29 min•Ep. 123
In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Bashar Wali, founder and CEO of Practice Hospitality and This Assembly. With over three decades of experience in the hospitality industry, Bashar brings a refreshing perspective on creating immersive and human-centered hotel experiences. Tune in as they discuss: Why passion is the most underrated quality in hospitality and how looking at human behavior, rather than trends, creates lasting impact How hotels can balance technological i...
Apr 02, 2025•35 min•Ep. 122
In this insightful conversation, Karen Stephens speaks with Georgine Muntz, CEO of Visual Matrix, about her journey from accounting to leading a property management system company that serves thousands of hoteliers. Georgine shares how her diverse background in finance and technology prepared her to address the hospitality industry's technological lag, which she estimates to be about ten years behind other sectors. Listen as they explore: Georgine's strategy for moving clients from on-premise so...
Mar 26, 2025•27 min•Ep. 121
In this episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens welcomes Mercedes Blanco, Chief Partnerships Officer at The Hotels Network. With nearly two decades of experience in hospitality tech and digital marketing, Mercedes offers valuable perspectives on the evolving hospitality technology landscape. Together, they discuss: How hoteliers should approach building their tech stack, starting with understanding their baseline needs and their unique customer base Why hotels need to take more control of t...
Mar 19, 2025•21 min•Ep. 120
In this thought-provoking episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens is joined by Alicia Zur-Szpiro, Co-founder and Creative Director of Wanderland London, a pioneering consultancy focused exclusively on kids and teens in the hospitality industry. Alicia brings her diverse background in game design, toy invention, and children's publishing to address what she sees as a significant gap in the hotel industry. Together, they discuss: Why the $850 billion kids and teens market remains largely unta...
Mar 12, 2025•27 min•Ep. 119
In this thought-provoking episode of Hotel Moment, host Karen Stephens is joined by Agnelo Fernandes, CEO of Cote Hospitality, a visionary leader with over two decades of experience in luxury hospitality and strategic growth. Agnelo takes us through his journey of transforming Cote Hospitality, an emerging hotel management company with deep roots going back over a hundred years as a family-owned business. Together, they discuss: How Agnelo has approached rebranding and repositioning Cote Hospita...
Mar 05, 2025•32 min•Ep. 118
In this engaging episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens speaks with Kurt Bjorkman, Chief Operating Officer at The Ranch at Laguna Beach, about creating exceptional guest experiences and sustainable practices in luxury hospitality. Drawing from his fascinating background as a scuba instructor and his 14-year tenure at The Ranch, Kurt shares valuable insights on: How to create and deliver local experiences that guests can't get anywhere else — from ocean activities to artisanal workshops The impo...
Feb 26, 2025•29 min•Ep. 117
Revinators, Melissa McMullin, Dominic Donatoni, and Jack Newkirk explore the untapped potential of hotel voice channel and its impact on direct bookings and guest experience. Together, they discuss: Why the voice channel is neglected, not dead, and why it should contribute 30-38% of a hotel’s business How 58% of guests call before booking, and why personalized interactions drive higher ADR The importance of removing barriers for guests and reservation agents to boost conversion rates How the con...
Feb 19, 2025•45 min•Ep. 116
