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Glenn Haussman, Craig Sullivan and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera finally did Friday Night Audit together in the same room, and Memphis got the honor of dealing with all three of them.

They broadcast from Kooky Canuck, right across the street from the famed Peabody Hotel, with giant drinks on the table and friends from the Southern Lodging Summit dropping in throughout the show.

Producer Dave joined remotely, the conversation went wherever it wanted to go, and the original live audio decided it wanted its own starring role. Good news: this rebroadcast fixes the audio, so...

A major hotel brand doesn't need to make every property feel the same.

I toured the Embassy Suites Downtown Asheville with Jack Benton, Area Director of Sales & Marketing, and this hotel takes plenty of inspiration from its surroundings. Appalachian textures, mountain-inspired design, open public spaces, meeting areas that connect naturally with the rest of the hotel and guest rooms with unobstructed views give the property a strong sense of #Asheville.

The hotel also packs in more than you might expect. Its 188 suites include flexible connecting-room configurations, its meeting spaces handle groups of up to 300 people...

A popular band you've never heard of announces a tour, demand suddenly takes off in a market, and a short-term rental owner misses the signal and leaves money on the table.

That's one of the examples Anurag Verma, co-founder of PriceLabs, and I get into while walking along the Chicago River. PriceLabs watches what's happening across individual markets and combines those signals with an operator's own data, giving #ShortTermRental owners a much broader view of demand than one property alone provides.

And the scale gets pretty wild. PriceLabs works across 600,000 listings and prices inventory 18 months...

The hotel room someone books online sits at the end of a massive web of technology, partnerships and decisions most of us never see.

Danielle Von Weyhrother, Head of Sales North America at HBX Group, joins me on No Vacancy to pull back the curtain on #HotelDistribution. HBX connects hotels with airlines, travel agencies, OTAs, loyalty programs and more than 100,000 clients worldwide, helping hotels reach demand far beyond the obvious booking channels.

Then #AI changes the equation. Danielle explains why rates, inventory and room photos don't tell technology enough about a hotel. The details that...

Something enormous is happening with hotels in India, and I don't think enough people realize the scale of it yet.

I brought Bruce Ford, SVP of Lodging Econometrics, back to No Vacancy because the numbers coming out of #India are pretty staggering, but the real story goes much deeper than the size of the pipeline. Global hotel companies are making major moves across the country, investment is accelerating, and Bruce sees development spreading into markets that barely register on most people's radar today.

And this isn't simply another #HotelDevelopment boom. Bruce explains why this cycle...

Friday Night Audit gives hotel company presidents a dangerous combination: cocktails, bad ideas and three people absolutely convinced they know how to run the business better.

Red Roof President Zack Gharib made the mistake of joining us this week. We insisted our advice was genius. Zack knew better.

Between drinks, Craig Sullivan started designing a red-jacket tradition for Red Roof, Suzanne Bagnera battled technical problems, I kept one eye on a pork butt creeping toward 205 degrees, and Zack kept the whole thing moving despite the rest of us.

Then we reached the Final...

What happens when you build a hotel around elves, orcs, fairies and leprechauns — and commit fully to the idea?

Ancient Lore Village has just 14 rooms, yet some of its social videos draw millions of views, including one that topped 25 million. Now CEO Melissa Blattner is taking the concept much further.

I spoke with Melissa about why immersive storytelling connects so strongly with guests and what separates a real experience from something a hotel simply calls an "experience."

Plenty of hotels deliver perfectly good stays. Far fewer create something guests remember, talk about and sh...

What if the biggest problem at your hotel isn't what you're missing?

Heidi Stone knows that trap well. She took over Mountain Lake Lodge — the Virginia resort made famous by Dirty Dancing — when the lake had dried up and the property had plenty working against it.

Her answer wasn't to obsess over everything that was wrong.

That mindset changed the property, and it shapes how she looks at independent hotels today.

If you own or operate a hotel, there's a very good chance you're spending time and money fixing the wrong thin...

Some of the biggest hotel construction opportunities in the world right now are taking shape across Asia Pacific — and India is accelerating fast.

I spoke with Lodging Econometrics' Bruce Ford about where hotel companies are placing their bets next. India's hotel pipeline nearly tripled over the past three years, and Bruce expects a construction wave there for the next five to seven years.

China brings a different story, with huge numbers of rooms opening, major renovation activity and development patterns that look very different from what we typically see in the U.S.

If...

What if the SBA's $5 million hotel loan limit doesn't actually limit you to $5 million?

At LendingCon, SBA Regional Administrator Tyler Teresa explained how hotel owners now use the 7(a) and 504 programs together for as much as $10 million in total financing. Congress never raised the $5 million limit. The SBA found another route.

Then Tyler dropped another number every hotel buyer should hear: 15%. Under the 504 program, hotel buyers contribute 15% toward the deal. Tyler also took me through an $8 million hotel acquisition and showed exactly where the 7(a) and 504 pieces fit.

I spend plenty of time...

Waiting for "uncertainty" to disappear before making your next hotel deal? Dan Lesser has a technical term for that: a cop-out.

I caught up with the LW Hospitality Advisors president and CEO at LendingCon 2026, and Dan sees considerably more activity in the hotel market than all the hand-wringing might suggest. He says the first half of the year has been phenomenal, people continue to travel, substantial hotel transactions are getting done and there's money available for acquisitions, refinancing and construction when the economics work.

Then we got into what could drive even more deals. Owners...

Staypineapple Hotels President Dina Belon joined us for Friday Night Audit, and within minutes we were talking about underground printer-paper markets, retired Peabody ducks and why her early Google results once featured photos from the Playboy Club.

So, pretty much a standard Friday Night Audit.

Craig Sullivan and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera were along for the ride, while I broadcast from EPCOT, questioned ducks about their employment history and went five-for-five on a Phish quiz. After more than 200 shows, I would've been embarrassed if I missed one.

Dina also had plenty to say...

During LendingCon 2026, Glenn Haussman asks Red Roof's Lina Patel why conversions now account for roughly 80% of the company's hotels this year.

Lina also explains how Red Roof's RIDE initiative has helped 40 people become hotel owners and why the company sees more room to grow that number.

Watch the conversation to hear what Red Roof sees happening in the hotel deal market right now.

#NoVacancyNews #RedRoof #LendingCon

Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

LivAway Suites made a bold choice: give long-term guests more room and still protect the economics behind the hotel.

The company builds rooms about 20% larger than typical economy extended-stay rooms, places the kitchen at the center of the space and adds features that matter when someone lives in a hotel for weeks at a time. Fast Wi-Fi, better sound control, package lockers, useful storage and stronger ventilation all play a role.

I spoke with LivAway Suites CEO Mike Nielson with Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera about how LivAway makes that model work. Mike explains how the...

A Michelin-recommended restaurant on top of an Embassy Suites changes the conversation pretty quickly.

I spoke with Bonnie Campagnolo, Global Head of Embassy Suites, from the rooftop of the brand's Asheville hotel, where the restaurant draws customers seven nights a week. The property combines two-room suites, breakfast and the evening reception with meeting space, serious food and beverage, and a rooftop experience befitting the Asheville market.

Bonnie explains how Embassy Suites gives developers more flexibility to shape each hotel around local demand while protecting the elements that keep guests choosing the brand. That approach lets...

Curator Hotel & Resort Collection brings together some seriously cool independent hotels without sanding away the qualities that make them interesting.

New Waterloo offers a great example. The company creates distinctive hotels inside historic buildings, connecting each property to its surrounding community. Curator gives the team greater buying power, stronger vendor relationships, broader marketing support and tools that help each hotel compete—while New Waterloo protects the identity and guest experience.

I spoke with Jennifer Barnwell, President of Curator Hotel & Resort Collection, and Sarah Swenson, Corporate Director of Marketing at New Waterloo, about how that partnership wo...

Anthony Klok keeps 80% of his hotel staff for more than 20 years, and he doesn't credit software, surveys or another employee engagement program.

I visited Anthony, Principal of Rebel Hospitality, at the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace in Chicago while he cooked for his staff and handed out appreciation bonuses. He explained why people stay, why so many hotel companies still get this wrong and how owners directly shape the culture inside their properties.

Anthony also connects that loyalty to stronger guest service and better business performance. His hotel just recorded its best summer in four...

Every hotel brand makes a promise on a slide deck somewhere. There's a real gap between what a hotel brand promises and what actually happens at the front desk. I got brand strategist Philipp Mirow, CEO of Meridian Thinking, on the show with Dr. Producer Suzanne to figure out exactly where that promise falls apart.

Philipp ran the Radisson brand while at Choice Hotels, then founded Meridian Thinking, the consultancy behind brand work for Hilton, Starwood, and 1 Hotels, among others. He's also got an unusual detour on his resume that shapes how he thinks about all of...

Picture 100% occupancy on your busiest weekend of the year — then picture running out of towels. Rooms sit unsellable, guests grow furious, and the hotel writes refunds and credits just to get through the night. Bart Begley built Integrity Laundry Services so no hotel has to live through that scenario, and I went to Destin, Florida to see how.

Under Bart's model, hotels don't own a single towel or sheet anymore — Integrity owns every piece of linen outright and delivers a fresh set the night before a hotel even needs it. His proprietary system pulls reservation data straight from...

The hotel business apparently didn't get the memo that everything is supposed to be terrible.

Consumers feel squeezed. Credit-card debt keeps climbing. Business travel remains soft. Hotel construction faces the same cost and financing challenges we've discussed for years.

Yet hotels keep performing, people keep traveling and owners keep making deals.

So what's actually holding this market together?

I asked Bruce Ford, SVP at Lodging Econometrics, to help me make sense of it. We talked about why event travel continues to deliver, how hotels can offer deals without destroying their rates...

Jamie Caraher was recently recognized as one of Utah's CEOs of the Year. She runs Lodging Dynamics. Owners trust her with their #hotels. And she told me, on camera, that the moment she got the call, her first thought was: do I even deserve this?

If you've ever sat in a leadership role and quietly waited for someone to figure out you don't belong there, this conversation is going to hit different. Jamie grew up in a family that couldn't afford to stay in the hotels she now runs, and she built her way up through jobs...

Hotels keep sending me golf deals. I don't play golf. I've never played golf. Dana Cariss, SVP of Revenue Strategy at CoralTree Hospitality, showed me exactly how close the industry now stands to fixing that problem.

Disconnected systems used to trap hotel data in silos that couldn't talk to each other — point of sale here, property management there, sales and catering somewhere else entirely. Dana's team spent the last couple of years pulling all of it into one place, and the result changes what a hotel can actually know about you. This conversation covers:

Derek Pacqué drove three hours from Manhattan to The Haussman Resort, Pool Club and Smokehouse on Long Island for Friday Night Audit. In LIE traffic, you know it's bad when the cars start passing you, then a horse and buggy passes you, then an elderly woman with a walker passes you. That's Friday in the summer on Long Island. Derek made it anyway.

He runs Chexology, the bag and valet check company you'll find at 1,200+ venues — the Mets, MoMA, Barclays Center, TD Garden, the O2 in London. It started as a coat check hustle in Indi...

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts just knocked Marriott International out of the #1 spot in U.S. News & World Report's 2026 hotel rewards rankings — and the reason comes down to something travelers are clearly reacting to: devaluation.

I talked with senior travel editor Elizabeth Von Tersch about this year's rewards rankings, plus a brand new list for road warriors.

A few numbers worth knowing: Wyndham held onto its category-based point system while Marriott's dynamic pricing model saw a 20% devaluation.

Plus, Sonesta International Hotels cracked the top five for the first time — and it earns guests free nights almo...

Morris Tiedemann, General Manager at AYANA Midplaza Jakarta, joined Glenn and Suzanne from halfway across the world to explain how a hotel competes in a market flooded with luxury.

Morris took a job in Urumqi in 2003 when he had to buy a book to figure out where it was. Twenty-two years in China taught him to move fast. Then AYANA came calling, and he had to slow down. Indonesia rewards patience. That tension is where his story gets interesting.

The property sits in downtown Jakarta but feels like a beach destination — a pool, a tennis co...

Hotel technology shouldn't just look impressive. It should help guests enjoy their stay and help hotels make more money.

The Hotel Communication Network Inc. CEO Kevin Bidner showed me how the company combines in-room tablets with AI to create a much more useful guest experience.

Guests can request extra towels, explore room-service options, discover hotel amenities, research local restaurants and make reservations through one simple conversation.

Kevin says hotels with room service can increase orders by 25% when guests use the tablet. Hotels can also promote restaurants, bars, spas, activities and other experiences that...

Lauren Bennett McGinty, Executive Director of Explore Minnesota, sat down with Glenn to explain how a state agency generates $25 billion in economic impact and what hoteliers can learn from it.

The state welcomed 81 million visitors in 2024 and generated nearly $15 billion in visitor spending. Lauren breaks down how Explore Minnesota subdivides 5 major regions into 11 micro-regions to distribute visitors beyond the major cities, why campaigns filmed from the visitor's perspective outperform anything AI can generate, and how a state DMO supports independent operators — from family-owned resorts passed down for a century to boutique hotels in small towns.

Sh...

Bonnie Campagnuolo, Global Brand Head at Embassy Suites by Hilton, sat down with Glenn on the rooftop of the Asheville property to explain how the brand is winning in the all-suites category — and why developers keep choosing it.

The brand's "kit of parts" approach gives developers real flexibility. Build 150 keys in a small market or 500 keys in Nashville. Beach resort or urban downtown. Every property adapts to local demand while preserving the elements that made Embassy Suites Embassy Suites: two-room suites, breakfast omelets, evening reception. The Asheville rooftop, which is Michelin-recommended and busy seven nights a week, is...

James Hansen showed up with a Paloma. Sarah Becherer poured a digestif. Craig Sullivan had his beer. Glenn was doing whatever Glenn does. This is how you open a conversation about parking.

They're from Ocra, which turns empty hotel parking lots into cash. We got there eventually. First we had to sort out Chicago cocktail pricing, why Sarah wants to launch a podcast about parallel parking, and the moral crimes of putting ketchup on a hot dog.

Pour something. Press play.

Visit getocra.com.

Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, a...

Liza Amlani, The Chief Merchant, spent 20 years as a merchant at Ralph Lauren. She now studies what retail can teach hospitality.

The parallels are closer than you think.

Both industries live and die by customer experience. Both rely on frontline workers whose voices too often get ignored. Both are trying to figure out how to bridge strategy from the corporate office to what actually happens on the floor.

Liza translates retail's playbook for hoteliers who want a fresh perspective on customer experience, employee voice, and what the future of guest engagement actually looks...

Julie Kee, Director of Sales and Marketing at the Belize Collection, just revealed why her hotels are winning.

It's not what you'd expect.

The Belize Collection owns real estate. Spans jungle to reef to private island. Partners with local communities in ways that feel authentic because they are. And that's become their competitive advantage.

But how do you actually turn that into a business model that works? That's the conversation worth watching.

Visit thebelizecollection.com.

Actabl, they give you the power to profit. Visit actabl.com.

Want...

Your guests are done waiting in line at check-in. Wallet key technology just made that line disappear.

🔑 Tap your phone to your room. It opens. That's it. No app. No Bluetooth. No waiting. Apple Wallet, Google Wallet, Apple Watch — NFC technology that actually works.

📱 The old digital keys had 2% adoption because they were clunky. This one? Glenn tested it at Harrah's Las Vegas and it was so smooth he's already demanding it everywhere. Caesars is rolling it out now.

⚡ Here's the mind-bender: your phone dies, you're good for 5 more hours. Express mode reserves power on y...

We had a guest cancel at the last minute, so Craig, Suzanne, and I opened drinks and talked about my absolute disaster of a travel day.

I'm not giving away the whole thing, but yesterday involved delayed flights, a plane too hot to board, a jammed wheelchair, Atlanta airspace doing Atlanta airspace things, a sick flight attendant, a Popeyes dream that died quickly, a late-night LIRR miracle, and the crushing realization that I wasn't getting Taco Bell at the end of it.

Suzanne somehow turned our text thread into a blues song, Craig did Craig...

Jonathan Tisch helped shape Loews Hotels for 45 years, built some of the company's most important projects, and still talks about hospitality as a people business before anything else.

Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera cohosts this conversation with Jonathan Tisch, retired executive chairman of Loews Hotels, and we get into the decisions behind Loews Miami Beach, the long relationship with Universal Orlando, the Arlington growth story, and why hotel people still need to fight for more respect.

Jonathan also shares one line from his first sales boss that stuck with him through every chapter of his career:<...

We drove through the Las Vegas Loop in a Tesla with Cami Christensen, President/GM of Westgate Las Vegas, and she's got 25 years of stories to tell from inside one of Vegas's most connected properties.

🏨 Westgate is about to be the first Vegas hotel with direct airport access through The Vegas Loop. End of June. You step off a plane, hop in a Tesla, and you're in your room — no traffic, no surface streets, plane to room to convention center.

🎰 Westgate just partnered with Caesars to power their sports book with Caesars technology. Full circle moment...

Your mid-market property is about to get a neighbor it didn't expect. Bruce Ford, SVP of Lodging Econometrics, explains why 158 luxury conversions are coming — and what that means for everyone else.

Luxury used to be exclusive. Expensive to build. Hard to convert. Not anymore. Brands are loosening their grip. Third-party operators are moving in. Mid-market properties are being stripped down and rebuilt as five-star, with new tech and new standards. And they're happening fast.

Here's what worries operators: once a guest stays at the converted property next door with all the new tech, better itinerary ma...

Your owners are making decisions blind. PM Hotel Group just fixed that.

Steve Marino, VP of IT and Hotel Systems at PM Hotel Group, explained at HITEC how they're using AI as their competitive differentiator — not to replace anyone, but to move owners from reactive to proactive.

Most owners aren't hoteliers — they're investor-class people who don't know how to navigate systems or run reports. So they wait. They ask. They get frustrated. PM turned that into natural language: "Give me my cost per occupied room across these hotels for the last three weeks." Instant answers. No f...

Here's obvious: Hotel energy prices aren't coming down. Rick West, CEO at Commercial Green Solutions, and Kenny Weston, VP at Commercial Green Solutions, explained why hoteliers need to stop treating utility costs as fixed.

⚡ The "double whammy" is real: your kWh costs are up AND your demand charges are through the roof. But there's $50 billion in rebates sitting in utility programs that most hotels don't even know exist.

🎯 It's not about spending millions on new infrastructure. One hotel cleaning a P-tack can save 17,500 kWh — paid for entirely by the utility. Multiply that across a portfolio and you...

Kartik Yellepeddi, Chief Product Officer at Duetto, says AI in pricing is stuck at level one: algorithms that recommend prices. That's the problem. Building three levels is the solution.

🎯 Foundation (pricing and forecasting algorithms), layer two (explaining why the AI decided what it decided), and layer three (performance engineering that guides humans across sales, marketing, and distribution).

⚠️ The most confident algorithms are often the least trustworthy. AI has to earn trust by explaining itself, showing its confidence level, and flagging where it's struggling — so humans know exactly where to jump in.

💭 Revenue managers are excellen...

Hotels are asking the wrong question at check-in — and Alliants just proved it.

🔑 Apple Wallet and Google Wallet keys at Resorts World Las Vegas are table stakes. Member Pass is the real play: loyalty recognition built into the digital key so repeat guests see their benefits the moment they arrive.

🎯 One customer captured additional guest names from 13,000 out of 20,000 check-ins. Hotels book one name. Alliants helps capture the whole group — the difference between selling one spa package and five World Cup packages.

❓ Nobody's asking "What's bringing you to town?" They should be. Tristan Gadsby, CEO...