Oct 30, 20261h 19m
Special guest: Andrew Humphries — Bridge Hospitality Partners LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-humphries-66a1918/ Are the biggest hotel brands still in the business of running great hotels, or are...
Business
This Week in Hospitality
Business · EN
About this Podcast:
Every Friday morning, This Week in Hospitality brings you the most important stories, insights, and innovations shaping the global hospitality industry — distilled and discussed by people who actually build within it. Hosted by Ben Wolff, Scott Eddy, Edwin Kramer, and Zach Busekrus, this weekly conversation is crafted for the founders, operators, and dreamers creating the next generation of hospitality brands. You’ll get more than just headlines — you’ll get perspective. Each episode breaks down the week’s most compelling hospitality stories and explores what they really mean for independent hotel owners, boutique brands, and experiential travel entrepreneurs. From brand strategy and design trends to tech disruption and capital markets, This Week in Hospitality keeps you informed, inspired, and ready for what’s next. So grab your morning coffee, and catch up on the stories that matter — before your guests check in. New episodes every Friday morning. Meet the Hosts Ben Wolff — Ben Wolff is the visionary founder behind Onera, a trailblazing landscape hotel brand in the Texas Hill Country, and Oasi, a next-generation management company pioneering experiential hospitality. Known for pushing the boundaries of design, wellness, and guest immersion, Ben has become a leading voice in the evolution of high-end, nature-driven travel experiences. His work sits at the intersection of architecture, emotion, and environment — redefining what modern luxury feels like in the wild. Scott Eddy — Scott Eddy is one of the world’s most recognized hospitality voices — a global keynote speaker, digital strategist, and content creator who has partnered with hundreds of luxury hotel brands, tourism boards, and travel startups. Named among the top travel influencers worldwide, Scott brings a rare blend of brand storytelling expertise, social strategy, and on-the-ground hospitality experience, offering a panoramic view of how digital connection drives modern guest loyalty. Edwin Kramer — A hospitality executive with a pedigree forged at the world’s leading luxury hotels, Edwin has held senior leadership roles with brands like Four Seasons, EDITION, and W Hotels across multiple continents. Known for operational excellence and cultural leadership, Edwin has built and managed five-star teams that deliver some of the most lauded guest experiences in the industry. Today, he brings that global lens to the conversations shaping hospitality’s future — where service, innovation, and storytelling converge. Zach Busekrus — Zach is on the founding team at Journey, a next-generation loyalty and storytelling platform empowering independent hotels and vacation rental brands to compete globally without losing their soul. He’s also the creator and host of Behind the Stays, one of the fastest-growing podcasts in hospitality, where he’s interviewed the visionaries behind some of the world’s most creative stays. With a decade in growth strategy and marketing, Zach brings a founder’s curiosity and contagious optimism to every conversation — always championing the builders shaping the future of independent hospitality.
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Contact path
Public web form
Booking probability
31%
Guest openness
Selective
80/100
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What is This Week in Hospitality about?
Every Friday morning, This Week in Hospitality brings you the most important stories, insights, and innovations shaping the global hospitality industry, distilled and discussed by people who actually build within it. Hosted by Ben Wolff, Scott Eddy, Edwin Kramer, and Zach Busekrus, this weekly conversation is crafted for the founders, operators, and dreamers creating the next generation of hospitality brands.
What has This Week in Hospitality covered recently?
Recent episodes include "Did Amex Just Hand Airbnb the Luxury Traveler? Best Western's Identity Crisis and Andrew Humphries on the Middle East Hotel Boom" (30 October 2026, 79 minutes), "Which Hotel Would You Steal for $1? Marina Bay Sands, Ted Turner's Ranch, and the Case for Hotel Emma" (23 October 2026, 68 minutes), and "Can AI Fix Hotel Margins? Alex Cabañas on AI's Margin Opportunity, Expedia's Lawsuit, and the Longevity Hotel Debate" (16 October 2026, 71 minutes).
How often does This Week in Hospitality publish?
This Week in Hospitality publishes roughly a few times a week, with episodes averaging 61 minutes across 55 episodes.
How hard is it to get booked on This Week in Hospitality?
Booking probability for This Week in Hospitality is 31%, and the host is rated Selective on guests. This Week in Hospitality requires a Pod Score of 80 or higher. This Week in Hospitality's contact route on record: public web form.
Who should pitch This Week in Hospitality?
The strongest fits for This Week in Hospitality are Hotels & Lodging. This Week in Hospitality has a business audience.
About the host
This Week in Hospitality is a business podcast with 55 episodes published.
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Recent episodes
Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.
- Oct 23, 20261h 8m
Fifty episodes in, we're skipping the news and handing out the hospitality awards nobody asked for. Zach, Ben, Edwin and a returning Scott Eddy each nominate, defend and vote across five categories. For "The Hotel I'd...
- Oct 16, 20261h 11m
This Week's Guest: Alex Cabañas Executive Chairman, Pyramid Global Hospitality Founder and CEO of Astound Ventures https://astound-ventures.com/ What happens when the hotel front desk disappears, but hospitality gets...
- Oct 14, 202629 min
This Week’s Guest: Shawn Cioto - Vice President of Operations, Dovetail + Co LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shawn-cioto-914264b/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn...
- Oct 9, 20261h 8m
On this week’s This Week in Hospitality, Zach Busekrus, Ben Wolff, and Edwin Kramer dig into hospitality’s search for consistency, growth, and better economics. Scott Eddy is away in Italy, so the trio gets straight to...
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- Oct 6, 202636 min
This Week’s Guest: Dina Belon-Sayre - President, Staypineapple Hotels LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dinabelon/ Explore Staypineapple Hotels: https://www.staypineapple.com/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey...
- Oct 2, 20261h 4m
Scott is in Sicily, so Zach, Ben Wolff and Edwin Kramer take the docket. Edwin checks in from a new boutique hotel on Spain's Costa Blanca, and Ben is fresh from the glamping show. The first story: Hilton's CIO says AI...
- Oct 1, 202636 min
https://roompricegenie.com/ Checkout code for 25% off: WISH26 This Week’s Guest: Jennifer Barnwell - President, Curator Hotel & Resort Collection LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-barnwell-a8689ba/ Explore...
- Sep 29, 202632 min
Heidi Zimmer closed on her construction financing the day before the country shut down in March of 2020. Then lumber tripled. She had to cut an entire building from the plan. And the business she'd underwritten, roughly...
- Sep 25, 20261h 5m
The full squad is back. Royal Caribbean is taking a 50% stake in Sandals Resorts for roughly $3 billion, and the crew breaks down why a cruise line wants an all-inclusive hotel brand. Edwin runs the numbers on who is...
- Sep 18, 202627 min
Fresh off Independent Hotel Show Miami, Zach and Ben break down two days of conversations with eight owners, operators, and investors from across independent hospitality. Before the full interviews roll out on This Week...
Episode #44
From Ian Schrager to AKA — Blake Danner on the Loyalty Lie, Brand Differentiation, and Staying Small
Sep 11, 20261h 4mBlake Danner has spent his career inside the rooms where lifestyle hospitality was invented. Eleven years alongside Ian Schrager opening the Clift, Sanderson, and Shore Club. Seven years as founding COO of the Sydell...
- Sep 4, 20261h 9m
TikTok Go was supposed to turn creators into a hotel distribution channel. Instead, a Skift investigation found dozens of AI-generated fake videos attached to real properties — fabricated suites, nonexistent amenities...
- Aug 28, 20261h 9m
Hotel sales in the US are up 28% in the first half of 2026 — and a meaningful chunk of that activity is chasing bad Yelp reviews, not trophy assets. JMI Realty founder Drew Bridges joins the show to break down how his...
- Aug 21, 20261h 24m
On this week's episode the guys are joined by Alice Sherman, CEO of HVS Executive Search! Alice Sherman has placed some of the most powerful executives in hospitality. As CEO of HVS Executive Search, she's seen...
Episode #40
Airbnb & Trip Advisor Partner, IHG's Owner Gambit, and a Loyalty Program Worth More Than the Airline
Aug 14, 20261h 15mAirbnb just partnered with TripAdvisor to bring 425,000 experiences onto its platform — a move that signals Brian Chesky isn't just dabbling in experiences anymore, he's building a second business inside the first. The...
- Aug 7, 20261h 13m
This week we're joined by Sarah Kopit, Editor-in-Chief of Skift — the publication that fuels basically every episode of this show — and she came ready. We open on the story all of hospitality shared this week: Aman's...
Episode #38
Sonder is back, Fora hits a $1B valuation, The Odyssey drives travel & Google’s AI booking grab
Jul 31, 20261h 3mSonder is back — sort of. Eight months after going bankrupt and stranding guests mid-stay, the brand name has been bought by a Vancouver affiliate firm that paid for one thing: search equity. The buildings are gone. The...
- Jul 24, 20261h 10m
Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta went on record defending the brand's 28-property portfolio — and the panel has thoughts. Is the multi-brand arms race really about guests, or is it just an elaborate play for developers and...
- Jul 17, 20261h 16m
This week, the squad breaks down Norwegian Air's World Cup Instagram stunt that cost next to nothing and generated more brand equity than campaigns with budgets a hundred times the size. Eivind Hammer Myhre, who leads...
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