Hospitality Daily Podcast

Alex Cabañas, founder and CEO of Astound Ventures and executive chairman of Pyramid Global Hospitality, shares how our industry can innovate to make hotels more profitable, working in hotels more rewarding, and stays in hotels more enjoyable.

Learn more:
Astound Ventures: launch announcement, net unit margin approach & portfolio companies
Operational examples: Base Power (home batteries) | Fox Fold (refillable paper) | Outmore (heated outdoor furniture) | Relivable (meeting and event workflows)
Events: Destination AI Forum | Blueprint
A few more resources:
If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. 
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.
If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!
Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Sloan Dean introduces AI Hospitality Group and explains why he's building an AI-native hotel management company. He covers the pace, risks, and benefits of AI; the pressure on hotel owners; and how he's approaching recruiting, sales, and daily operations through hotel partnerships. Sloan also explains his profit-sharing management model and what he believes this approach could mean for hotel associates, owners, and guests.
Links:
AI Hospitality Group
Sloan’s newsletter: Services Are the New Software. Hotel Management To Be Heavily Disrupted.
Sequoia Capital: Services: The New Software
Emergence Capital: Why AI-Native Services, and Why Now
Emergence Capital’s original 2024 essay: The Death of Deloitte
Subscribe to Sloan’s NOT DONE newsletter
Listen to NOT DONE with Sloan Dean
Connect with Sloan on LinkedIn
Previous conversations with Sloan:
AI for Hotels: MIT Lessons, Claude, Vibe Coding and Real Use Cases
Not Done: Sloan Dean After Remington
The Power Shift in Travel
The Future of Hotel Management: Automation, AI, and Innovation

A few more resources:
If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. 
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.
If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!
Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, Cornell professor Chris Anderson shares why hotels cannot afford to treat AI as a "wait-and-see" issue. Drawing on research he conducted about how different traveler segments use AI, he explains why hotel discovery is becoming more contextual and why reviews and trusted third-party information matter. We also discuss what hoteliers can test now, why integrated technology will matter more, and how more specific guest requests could eventually change what hotels offer.
Chris Anderson will be speaking at Destination AI 2026. Learn more about the event here.
A few more resources:
If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. 
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.
If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!
Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

In this episode, hosted by our careers correspondent Emily Goldfischer, founder of hertelier, Charlotte Weatherall, General Manager of Corinthia London, shares what she has learned about building a career and leading as herself.

Charlotte explains how her sales and marketing background prepared her to become a GM, why trusting her team shapes the guest experience, and how she balances ambition with family life. She also shares what hospitality needs to change to support women’s progression and why kindness belongs in even the most difficult leadership conversations.

Read Emily’s original Hertelier article: Charlotte Weatherall, General Manager of Corinthia London, on Authentic Leadership and Why Kindness Wins.
A few more resources:
If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. 
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.
If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!
Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands

Jeff Wielgopolan, Service Director at Meadowood Napa Valley & The Napa Valley Reserve and former Senior Vice President of Learning & Development at Forbes Travel Guide, shares a recent experience with AI as a guest, and then what it's like providing service in a world where more and more people use AI as they travel.
Previous episodes with Jeff:
The Energy of Excellence
The Fundamentals of Service in Luxury Hospitality
The Experience That Earned Us Michelin’s Three Key Distinction
A few more resources:
If you're new to Hospitality Daily, start here. 
You can send me a message here with questions, comments, or guest suggestions
If you want to get my summary and actionable insights from each episode delivered to your inbox each day, subscribe here for free.
Follow Hospitality Daily and join the conversation on YouTube, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
If you want to advertise on Hospitality Daily, here are the ways we can work together.
If you found this episode interesting or helpful, send it to someone on your team so you can turn the ideas into action and benefit your business and the people you serve!
Music for this show is produced by Clay Bassford of Bespoke Sound: Music Identity Design for Hospitality Brands