Behind the Stays

This Week in Hospitality: Schrager’s Hotel Reset, Accor launches in ChatGPT, Disney’s Broader Hotel Play?

Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

 

This week, the guys zero in on where real leadership in hospitality is showing up — and where it isn’t. Accor’s ChatGPT partnership leads the conversation, not as a booking play, but as a signal that intent is shifting away from websites and toward questions. The takeaway is clear: brands willing to test behavior, learn how guests search, and show up early in the decision journey are already ahead. Scott brings ground truth from Thailand and Jamaica, exposing a widening mindset gap. In Asia, hospitality is still treated as craft — GMs obsess over service, personalization, and staying relevant in hyper-competitive markets. In much of the Caribbean, demand is more destination-driven, and innovation often feels defensive. Edwin adds

Europe’s perspective, framing it as split between tradition, efficiency, and emotion — with each region defining “success” differently. The episode closes with Ian Schrager partnering with Highgate to scale Public Hotels — a smart handoff of execution without sacrificing creative control — and Disney’s CEO succession as a reminder that physical experiences still beat disposable content. Spice of the Week lands the point: attention is expensive, but emotion is what actually builds loyalty.

 

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at alliance.journey.com.

 

Your Hosts:

Zach Busekrus — Journey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ 

 

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

 

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniquestaysguy/

 

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/

The Next Frontier of Short-Term Rentals: Building, Investing, Operating at Scale w/ the CEO of AirDNA

In this episode of Behind the Stays, Zach Busekrus sits down with Rohit Bezewada, CEO of AirDNA, to unpack what may be the most important shift yet in short-term rentals.

From Airbnb’s evolving relationship with hotels to the fading “thrill” of discovery, Rohit shares what happens when a marketplace grows up — and what comes next for brand building, investing, and operating at scale. Drawing on his experience at Uber and now at the helm of one of the industry’s most influential data platforms, Rohit offers a clear-eyed view of a sector moving from side hustle to institutional asset class.
The conversation explores:

• Why Airbnb’s move toward hotels signals a deeper strategic shift
• How short-term rentals are professionalizing — and who benefits most
• What the data reveals that headlines miss
• The coming consolidation of STR tech and the real role of AI
• Why confidence, not just inventory, is the next competitive edge

This is a candid, future-facing conversation about where short-term rentals are headed — and how the next frontier will be built.

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.

This Week in Hospitality: The Biggest Winners, Losers, and Plot Twists of 2025 — and Predictions for What Comes Next in 2026

Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

 

2025 was a year where the hospitality world stopped playing offense and started getting sorted — by who could scale, who could actually operate, and who was still living in the low-rate, high-growth fantasy of the last cycle.

In this special year-end episode of This Week in Hospitality, Zach is joined by Ben Wolff, Edwin Kramer, and Scott Eddy to break down the biggest winners, biggest losses, and biggest storylines that defined the year — and then go all-in on the predictions that will matter most in 2026.

 

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at alliance.journey.com.

Key Topics & Timestamps

00:00 — Intro
4:07 — 2025 in Review: Winners That Defined the Year
17:01 — The Biggest Losers of 2025: What Broke and Why
24:52 — Innovation in 2025: What Actually Mattered
34:15 — The Biggest Plot Twists of 2025
39:14 — 2026 Predictions: Companies, Bets, and Shifts to Watch
1:06:54 — Rapid Fire: Buzzwords, Disruptions, and What’s Next

Your Hosts:

Zach Busekrus — Journey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ 

 

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

 

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniquestaysguy/

 

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/

A Holiday Special with Your Favorite Hospitality Podcasters: No Vacancy, Hospitality Daily, The Modern Hotelier, and Suite Success

In this special roundtable episode, Katie Cline (Suite Success) brings together some of the most influential voices in hospitality podcasting for an unfiltered reflection on the moments, movements, and hard truths that shaped 2025 — and what operators should be paying attention to as the industry looks toward 2026. The conversation features yours truly, Zach Busekrus (Behind the Stays), David Millili and Steve Carran (The Modern Hotelier), and Glenn Haussman (No Vacancy). Together, they move past headlines and hot takes to examine what’s really happening behind the scenes of hospitality today.

Drawing on hundreds of candid conversations with founders, operators, and industry leaders, the group explores luxury’s continued ascent, the evolving (and often conflicted) state of loyalty, where AI delivered meaningful impact—and where it fell short—along with trade show fatigue, shifting guest expectations, and the creative ways operators protected profitability in a challenging year.

This episode isn’t about predictions for prediction’s sake. It’s a grounded, experience-driven discussion for hospitality leaders who want to understand not just what changed in 2025, but why it mattered — and how those lessons will shape smarter, more resilient businesses in the year ahead.

How One Risk-Taker Turned a Quarter-Life Crisis into a New Kind of Resort: The Story of TIBA

On today’s episode of Behind the Stays, you’re going to meet a guy who has made a habit of burning the ships… twice.

Josh went from helping people write on their walls with his first company, Writeyboard – the e-commerce brand that turned boring offices into floor-to-ceiling whiteboards – to designing the kinds of spaces people dream about escaping to.In his early 30s, sitting on a house in LA and feeling a quarter-life crisis creeping in, he looked at his girlfriend and said, “This year, we’re moving to Bali.” He sold the house, unwound a decade-long business, and flew halfway across the world to start over in real estate in a place where the rules, language, and rhythm of life were completely different.

That leap set off a chain of projects and partnerships that eventually led to Tiba – a Bali-inspired hospitality brand – and now to his boldest undertaking yet: a highly designed, nature-immersed resort in the hills of Tennessee that blends luxury, landscape, and a whole lot of soul.In this conversation, we get into how Josh thinks about risk, why he keeps selling everything to chase the next build, and what it actually looks like to try and create the next generation of stays from scratch.

Website: https://tibaliving.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiba_tennessee/

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.

This Week in Hospitality: Capital One’s Hopper Play, LuxUrban’s Collapse, Google’s AI Booking Push

Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

 

A big week of structural shifts in travel and hospitality.

Capital One moves to acquire Hopper’s installed software and hire key hotel and engineering teams — signaling a deeper push into owning the traveler journey.

The team explores the LuxUrban collapse which predates the Sondor fall out but has an eerily similar story.

And Google announces that hotel and flight bookings are coming directly into AI Mode, collapsing research and booking into a single conversational experience.

We break down what these moves mean for distribution, loyalty, hotel operators, and the future relationship between brands, banks, and big tech.

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at alliance.journey.com.

Key Topics & Timestamps

00:00 — Intro

03:10 — Story #1: Capital One Set to Acquire Hopper Travel Software

15:22 — Story #2: Yet Another Hospitality Company Files For Bankruptcy: LuxUrban

30:34 — Story #3: Hotel and flight bookings are coming to Google's AI Mode

44:30 — "Spice of the Week"

Your Hosts:

Zach Busekrus — Journey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ 

 

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

 

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniquestaysguy/

 

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/

The Future of Vrbo: How Creator Marketing, One Key, and Expedia’s Demand Engine Will Redefine Vacation Rentals

For the final episode in this special Future of Travel series, I sat down with someone who has quietly shaped more of the vacation rental industry than almost anyone working in it today: Tim Rosolio, VP of Vacation Rental Partner Success at Expedia Group.

If you’ve ever wondered how VRBO evolved from a subscription classifieds site to a global e-commerce engine—or what the next decade of supply, demand, and distribution will actually look like—this is the conversation insiders will be talking about.

Tim has spent the better part of a decade helping lead VRBO through some of the most dramatic shifts the category has ever seen: the end of inquiry-based booking, the rise of instant book, the professionalization of hosts, the explosion of supply post-2020, and now, the dawn of a new era where quality, trust, and distribution matter more than raw inventory.

In this conversation, we get into:

• When vacation rentals truly went mainstream
• Why Vrbo is prioritizing quality over raw supply
• The rise of branded portfolios and social-led demand
• Expedia Group’s distribution advantage
• How One Key changes the funnel
• The real take on OTAs vs. direct

Connect with Tim: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tim-rosolio-434b2a98/

Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/

Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/

 

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.

Introducing: This Week in Hospitality—The Sonder Collapse, Hilton’s New Bet, and Airbnb’s Hotel Ambitions

Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy
Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233
Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

 

In this episode of This Week in Hospitality, Zach Busekrus sits down with Scott Eddy, Ben Wolff, and Edwin Kramer to unpack three major stories dominating the travel and hospitality world. From Sonder’s dramatic collapse following Marriott’s termination, to Hilton’s launch of the Outset Collection, to Airbnb’s bold embrace of hotels — this was one of the most consequential weeks the industry has seen in years.

The team brings perspectives spanning global travel, hotel development, luxury operations, and hospitality tech. Fast-paced, unfiltered, and deeply informed — this is the weekly breakdown every hotelier, operator, developer, and investor should be listening to.

This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at alliance.journey.com.

Key Topics & Timestamps

00:00 — Introductions & why this podcast exists

09:12 — Story #1: Sonder × Marriott partnership collapses

17:08 — Ben’s take: STR brand value & commodity product problem

23:45 — Marriott, scale, loyalty, and future brand strategy

25:47 — Story #2: Hilton launches The Outset Collection

33:50 — Owner perspective: data, flag strategies, ROI trade-offs

39:01 — Independents vs. major flags: the next 10 years

42:11 — Story #3: Airbnb officially welcomes hotels

45:42 — Airbnb’s evolution into a hospitality ecosystem

50:51 — Does Airbnb need a total rebrand?

54:00 — “Back to hospitality roots” debate

54:53 — Wrap-up & what’s coming next

Your Hosts:

Zach Busekrus — Journey

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ 

 

Scott Eddy — Global Travel & Hospitality Expert @MrScottEddy

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrscotteddy/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrscotteddy/

 

Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/uniquestaysguy/

 

Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/

From Search to Discovery — Inside Expedia’s Vision for an AI-Driven Travel World w/ Greg Schulze, CCO of Expedia Group

Greg Schulze has spent more than two decades helping build one of the most influential companies in modern travel — Expedia Group.
But here’s the thing about Greg — he doesn’t talk like a corporate executive. He talks like a traveler.

He’s lived and worked all over the world. He named his dog Kaya after a coconut jam he discovered while living in Southeast Asia. And he still lights up when describing what it feels like to walk through an airport on the cusp of somewhere new.

Greg’s career has spanned from American Airlines in the early 2000s to leading Expedia Group’s global commercial strategy today — a period that’s seen the birth of OTAs, the rise of mobile, and now, the dawn of the AI-powered traveler.

In this episode, Greg and I explore:

• How Expedia has evolved from a dot-com upstart to a travel empire spanning Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo.
• What he’s learned from 20 years of guiding one of the most complex, global marketplaces in the world.
• The real story behind Expedia’s relationship with independent operators — and what “partner forward” actually means.
• How the tension between discovery and control will define the next decade of travel planning.
• And why he believes the future of OTAs will be built not on ads or algorithms — but on trust, clarity, and flexibility.

Greg’s a global citizen in the truest sense of the word — deeply thoughtful about the human side of technology and the emotional heartbeat of travel itself.

This conversation is the second episode in my new Behind the Stays series, The Future of Travel, recorded live at EXPLORE Connect in Austin, Texas — a gathering of the world’s top vacation rental operators and hospitality leaders.

If you care about where the industry is headed — and how the people behind its biggest brands are thinking about discovery, booking, and guest experience in the years ahead — this is a must-listen.

 

Connect with Greg: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregschulze/?originalSubdomain=uk

Connect with Zach: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zacharybusekrus/

Apply to join the Journey Alliance: http://journey.com/alliance/

 

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.

Inside Expedia’s Next Move — How Vrbo Plans to Out-Innovate Airbnb with Larry Plawsky, General Manager of Vrbo

Welcome back to Behind the Stays, presented by Journey.
This episode kicks off a special series on the future of travel — conversations recorded live in Austin, Texas, at Expedia Group’s EXPLORE Connect — a gathering that brought together some of the most powerful voices in travel tech alongside the top owners and operators of vacation rental management companies from around the world.
I sat down with several of Expedia’s most influential leaders — the folks guiding brands like Expedia, Hotels.com, and Vrbo — to unpack how they’re reimagining discovery, bookings, and experiences in an AI-powered world.
In this first conversation, I chat with Larry Plawsky, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Vrbo. And get this — this was actually Larry’s first-ever podcast interview.
Larry’s a brand builder who’s spent his career rooting for the underdog — from helping revive Old Spice back in the day to scaling massive two-sided marketplaces like Ticketmaster. And now, he’s leading Vrbo into its next chapter within the Expedia Group ecosystem.
We dive deep into:

• How Vrbo plans to take on Airbnb by doubling down on trust and quality — not just scale.
• The single biggest opportunity Larry sees to increase traveler confidence when booking a home.
• How Expedia’s integrated network of brands — from Hotels.com to One Key — gives Vrbo a unique competitive edge.
• And how AI is already reshaping discovery on Vrbo — from smart sorting and review summaries to a vision of what travel planning could look like when chat-based search meets marketplace precision.

Larry’s thoughtful, humble, and sharp — a rare mix of brand soul and analytical rigor — and in this conversation, you’ll hear exactly how one of the most iconic names in alternative accommodations plans to redefine trust and loyalty in the years ahead.
So grab your coffee, settle in, and enjoy this special conversation with Larry Plawsky, SVP and General Manager of Vrbo, right here on Behind the Stays.

 

Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.