There are dream jobs, and then there are jobs like Ben Hill's. Ben's Baseball Traveler newsletter is part culinary adventure, part architecture column on stadiums new and old, part biography series on characters of the game, part observer of the wild and wacky situations that occur nightly in cities coast to coast, part troubadour of the joys and heartbreaks inherent in Minor League Baseball. But where does he go, what does he see, what stories does he tell, where does he stay, how did he get in...
Jul 08, 2025•27 min
From New Delhi to the Yucatan Jungle, from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean, Rocco Bova has crisscrossed the world, defining what luxury hotels are and can be. The My Humble House founder talks about building a profit-sharing hospitality company, creating change in a change-averse industry, working within nature, finding the right investors, and offbeat destinations in Italy and Mexico. https://www.instagram.com/rocco.bova/ https://www.linkedin.com/company/my-humble-house/...
Jun 17, 2025•26 min
Jeff and Matt speak with Heather Heverling, President and Managing Director of Audley Travel, about the stratospheric rise of bespoke travel, the purchasing power of solo female travelers, the growing desire for unique in-country experiences, the need for local connections, the trip that totally subverted her expectations, and what makes Audley Travel different in the travel market. https://www.audleytravel.com/ https://www.instagram.com/audleytravel/...
Jun 04, 2025•27 min
Glenn Haussman's podcast No Vacancy is essential listening for anyone in the business, featuring notable names in the industry, coverage of major events, and reportage on ideas and economics. He joins us to talk luxury, labor costs, practicing the art of optimism in 2025, sustainability, and, of course, Phish. https://novacancynews.com/ https://www.instagram.com/travelingglenn/...
May 20, 2025•35 min
Questions like: What's the secret number hotel people really care about? Is the hotel market oversaturated in the U.S.? Are there any markets that really are oversaturated though? What's an underserved luxury market? Who are the hotel winners in 2025? Who's making lemonade? And is the hotel concierge truly dead?
May 09, 2025•38 min
Fear, money, and restrictions are a combustible mixture in any business sector, but in travel it can be a death knell for some businesses. The tariff situation is changing daily, and while the emphasis has been on physical goods, there is a growing shadow on tourism. Aran Ryan, Director of Industry Studies at Tourism Economics, an Oxford Economics Company, talks about how trade wars negatively affect US travel, how tourism is already taking a hit, and what we can do to ride this out.
Apr 15, 2025•23 min
Regenerative tourism focuses on leaving places better than you found them, supporting local economies, preserving culture, and protecting the environment. How does that translate to street-level tourism? Does the term "regenerative" suffer from the same thing that plagues "sustainability"—where rhetoric is strong and the action remains weak? Travelers regularly rate sustainability as a top five criteria in making travel decisions, but their buying behavior tells a very different story. Then agai...
Apr 03, 2025•23 min
Flying through a perfect storm of staff shortages, archaic technology, DOGE crosshairs, and mounting safety concerns, America's air traffic control system stands at a critical crossroads. So, how can we fix all this? Master of the Air Greg Aretakis returns to guide us to the runway, providing a 101 course on how air traffic control works.
Mar 18, 2025•34 min
Overtourism is one of those sprawling topics that everybody in the travel business has opinions on. Solutions are a bit more complicated, but let's dig in with tourism taxes, diversionary tactics, bans on cruise ships, the rise of "de-marketing," tax credits for better business practices, caps on hotel construction, and other tools that make our lives and our travel plans a bit less frantic.
Mar 04, 2025•23 min
On a stunningly regular basis, Pulitzer Prize winner Carley Thornell delivers insightful stories about sustainability, design, adventure, health, and travel. We talk space tourism, secret hotels, how people think about luxury, what Trump 2.0 means for tourism, the tax on families when they travel, and lots, lots more. https://muckrack.com/carley-d-thornell/articles
Feb 19, 2025•27 min
When people say that someone needs no introduction, we think they're talking about View From The Wing's Gary Leff. He is one of the world's foremost experts in miles, points, and frequent business travel. Gary talks with us about the math behind airline loyalty programs, how he comes across the strangest stories in travel, the differences between airlines and hotels when they start co-branding with partners, how airlines define their "best customers" and way, way more. https://viewfromthewing.co...
Feb 05, 2025•34 min
The hardest working man in hotel research talks with us about the state of hotel brand acquisitions, optimism among investors about urban markets and luxury assets, and how hotels can learn from Taylor Swift (can't we all?). Plus: What's the most overrated statistic in hotel research? What's one piece of unvarnished advice he'd give to a new investment group? Why are partnerships on the rise in Vegas and Orlando? https://www.us.jll.com/en/people/zachariah-demuth https://www.hotelmanagement.net/t...
Jan 21, 2025•34 min
Rejoice America, Jeff and Matt answer critical questions from fake listeners. If we could change one thing about the travel industry, what would it be? What are some of the best travel and travel business articles we've read this year? What's the next hot destination? What's the biggest trend coming for the industry in 2025? Whatever happened to Yakov Smirnoff? Articles we mention: The Branson Pilgrim Airbnb's idea to hold gladiator battles in Rome's Colosseum isn't going down well with some loc...
Dec 23, 2024•26 min
CBRE's Rachel Rothman and Christine Bang understand hotel brand performance and equity analysis like very few others in this business. We talk about the overall health grade they'd give to hotel loyalty programs, what we mean when we talk about luxury, hospitality partnerships aiming to reach new audiences, how loyalty programs can grow, and way, way more. https://www.cbre.com/insights/reports/hotel-brand-performance-2024 https://www.cbre.com/insights/articles/hotel-loyalty-programs-betting-on-t...
Dec 13, 2024•28 min
If Greg Aretakis had a coaching tree, it would literally include every CEO and high-ranking executive in the airline industry. We talk with the Midwest Express Airlines president about the much-needed role of mid-sized airlines, how antitrust investigations get started, the future of private air travel and small airfields, whether completely electric planes will ever fly, and so so so much more!
Nov 25, 2024•33 min
Steve Rushmore can tell you everything, and I mean everything about your hotel. His "Rushmore Approach" for allocating a hotel’s total value is the stuff of lore, but how do you even begin to evaluate a hotel's worth? What are all the factors that go into it? What makes for a particularly difficult appraisal? Is the "income approach" really the best way to appraise a hotel? And is it true Steve can appraise a hotel in 60 seconds? https://steverushmore.com/...
Nov 13, 2024•27 min
When we fly, most of us have no idea what kind of plane we're on, we just get in and go. Travel and airline journalist Edward Russell tells us what kinds of planes dominate the U.S. market, why they dominate the market, how long planes stay in circulation, and the process for buying, selling, and regulating big ol' jet airliners. Plus: America's best small airport, one thing he'd change about the check-in process, and the biggest change facing the airline industry. https://byerussell.substack.co...
Oct 16, 2024•26 min
Are "sensory inclusive" cities possible? Why do we take the basic UX of airports, hotels, and public spaces for granted? What's the report card on hotel and travel company marketing to LGBTQ+ audiences? What's the problem with carbon offsets? And why aren't more airports like PDX? Matt and Jeff solve mysteries and speak truths with JD Shadel, a London-based strategist, editor, and freelance journalist working at the intersection of tech and lifestyle, and you can read their recent work at: https...
Oct 01, 2024•32 min
Like a prophet emerging from the haze of the Arizona desert, our guest Holly Zoba leads hospitality brands to the promised land. She has decades of experience in hotel sales and marketing, and has founded, co-founded, or been essential to companies that are dedicated to educating generations of hotel professionals. Her classes are THE gold standard of hospitality sales training, and we talk about how digital marketing is changing to meet new audiences, getting on board the AI train, new trends i...
Sep 17, 2024•26 min
Travel inspires us to imagine and the American Field Service is a special catalyst. President Tara Boyce-Hofmann shares with No Show the spark that AFS-USA unleashes through the unlimited power of young minds to dream. To become global citizens. To question the ethics of borders and practice diplomatic dialog. https://www.afsusa.org/ https://www.instagram.com/afs_usa
Sep 03, 2024•26 min
This time of year is known as RFP season, the glorious time when corporate America sends their travel planners to conferences like GBTA (Global Business Travel Association) to negotiate prices and with hotels for next year. A time of wonder and mystery! If it were a company, the federal government would be the largest travel buyer of hotel stays in America, possibly in the world. And not by a little bit, it dwarfs the next highest which is believed to be Deloitte, BY TEN TIMES! How does all of t...
Aug 20, 2024•21 min
Isaac Collazo is VP of Analytics at STR, Smith Travel Research, THE global leader in hospitality data benchmarking, analytics and marketplace insights. What does that mean? It means when it comes to hotel numbers, nobody understands them like Isaac, but what he really understands, Moneyball style, is the story behind the data. We get into STR reports, what metaphor Isaac would use to describe the first half of this year, the future of extended stay, how a new U.S. president would affect the hote...
Jul 31, 2024•22 min
The airline industry. Brian Sumers lives it, he breathes, he speaks truth about it unlike anybody else. He is the founder and editor of The Airline Observer , a newsletter covering the global airline business. He's also co-host of The Air Show in which he discusses the business of the sky. Brian talks with Jeff and Matt about shenanigans at Southwest Airlines, whether inbound flight traffic from China is ever coming back, saving Boeing, Jetblue's pivot, and the future of loyalty programs....
Jul 25, 2024•27 min
Every day David Eisen translates the avalanche of data and news about the hotel industry into something everyone, not just people in the business, but everyone, can understand. He joins Jeff and Matt to talk about the rise of partnerships among hotel management companies, the ever-multiplying number of hotel brands, and the impact of flashy stunts on loyalty programs. https://hotelsmag.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-eisen/...
Jun 26, 2024•28 min
CoralTree Hospitality's Arlene Ramirez and HotStats' Tanya Venegas help us untangle and understand the Uniform System of Accounts for the Lodging Industry (USALI), an essential tool that guides financial management and reporting across hotels. How it started, why hotels use it, and how it's staying up-to-date. https://usali.hftp.org/ https://www.hftp.org/ https://www.hotstats.com/ https://www.coraltreehospitality.com/...
Jun 11, 2024•27 min
The CEO and co-founder of Kalibri Labs on the (many) existential threats to the hospitality industry, Uber and Facebook as players in the travel business, the challenges and opportunities around loyalty programs, and the hotel revenue buzzword that needs to go away. 00:50 Existential Threats to the Hotel Industry 04:40 When Will Amazon Return To Travel? 10:40 Will Uber Be A Player Too? 17:00 Direct Bookings and Loyalty Programs Impact 25:30 Mystery Question https://www.kalibrilabs.com/...
May 28, 2024•27 min
Have you ever pondered the fate of your hotel soap after check-out? Shawn Seipler did, big time, and it launched him on an extraordinary mission to improve global hygiene. The Clean the World founder joins us to talk about how its Global Hospitality Program works with over 8,000 participants to upcycle soap and tackle some of the deadliest problems on the planet. https://cleantheworld.org https://www.instagram.com/clean_the_world/...
May 14, 2024•27 min
Atomic Ranch Editor Jickie Torres joins us to talk Palm Springs, modernism, and the 75th anniversary of the Hollin Hills House and Garden Tour, now the largest mid-century modern home event on the East Coast. Touring architecture has been around as long as the Coliseum, but we're in a new era of architecture as tourism, with an economic impact we're just starting to understand. https://www.hollinhillsmodern.com https://modernismweek.com https://www.atomic-ranch.com https://www.eichlerhometour.or...
Apr 30, 2024•25 min
What exactly is Sustainable Aviation Fuel? What needs to happen for us to start using it? And what's the government's role in propelling a new era of sky travel? Our guest Meg Whitty is Vice President of Corporate Relations and Marketing at LanzaJet, a company whose aim is to decarbonize the aviation industry. She joins us in this episode to talk about jet fuel's brave new future, which is WAY closer than you think. lanzajet.com LanzaJet on LinkedIn...
Apr 16, 2024•24 min
How big of a factor is sustainability when U.S. travelers choose where to go? Who do they think should be responsible for addressing cultural and economic sustainability challenges? How much does a crowded versus uncrowded destination matter when tourists make decisions on where to go? We will definitely, absolutely find out with Madeline List, a Senior Research Analyst with Phocuswright and the author of the report Beyond Climate Change: Cultural and Economic Sustainability in Travel. https://w...
Apr 02, 2024•26 min
