SMACK Hospitality

Founder & Chairman @Minor Hotels …

Host @ Hospitality Daily .

CEO @ YOTEL Yes, you can do things differently! Even in the hotel business. Listen to 2024’s first smack episode and learn from YOTEL CEO Hubert Viriot how the brand has established a new status quo in the travel business over the past decade. YOTEL has been rocking its own way from the beginning, by focusing on highly tech-savvy customers and the future of traveling, instead of sticking to beaten paths. Some of its milestones: being the first non-luxury brand in an eternity to construct a new property in New York and making hourly hotel bookings sexy again. Hubert has not only seen this baby grow, but is said to be majorly responsible for pushing YOTEL from a unique airport hotel to a global player. His background in project development and real estate surely has helped to establish YOTEL hotels around the globe and set them into pole position as one of the first hotel brands to be involved in the development of the mega project NEOM in Saudi Arabia. Hubert and Fritz connected at FHS and had plenty to talk about from branding, bleisure-trends and the future traveler to what YOTEL has to do with sushi. They also tackled a question, that seems to have left Fritz sleepless for a while: How many brands can a customer possibly understand? Curios? Tune in and enjoy the show! PS. The next FHS event by BENCH is only a couple of months away, Riyadh will be the place to be from April 29th to May 1st 2024.

Founder & CEO @MTS Vienna Winter wonderland vibes coming your way! 🏰 🌟 Gabriela Schmidle, Founder and CEO of mts vienna (Marketing Tourism Synergy #Vienna) and organizer of the Schloss Schönbrunn Christmas Market in Vienna, joined Pat for a jolly chat about the business side of these unique events. Patrizia and Gabriela discussed what makes the perfect location for a christmas market, the beauty of different market concepts and the magic they bring to Vienna as a city. After 30 years in the business, Gabriela has a special set of eyes when it comes to markets, especially Christmas Markets. She filled Pat in on the #secretmissions she takes up, during summer, to find the greatest concepts and local vendors for all her market endeavors - from Pottery, over Easter, to Christmas markets – Gabriela has them all. As an Alumni of the Tourismuskolleg Innsbruck, Gabriela worked for the tourist office in St.Anton, Vorarlberg for a while and later joined the Hofburg Congress Center in Vienna, but deep down she always felt the urge to start her own business. The story of her business is the perfect example of being at the right place at the right time, meeting the right person and seizing an opportunity that is right in front of you. Gabriela left us with great advice for all entrepreneurs: Be courageous! Go and find out what really fits you. Say no! Reduce to your core competence and find something you love and enjoy. Enjoy the show! Secret Santa: SMACK Hospitality 🎄 🎅 christmasmarkets #hospitalitypodcast #hospitalitycareers

Head of Public Policy DACH & CEE @Airbnb What happens when Airbnb meets hotel management? Well, confessions were made by Dr. Ellen Madeker Head of Public Policy for Germany, Austria, Switzerland (DACH) & Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at Airbnb and Phil during a live podcast recording at the Berlin Travel Festival. A lot has changed in the apartment rental business and sharing economy in the last couple of years and some of that is thanks to Airbnb, which has given a face to a formerly often overlooked part of the hospitality industry and offered a new economic lifeline to a bunch of people. Ellen and Phil discussed the beauty of the diversity within the travel industry and what it means to find a balance for tourism, that caters to hosts, cities and communities sustainably. They also spoke about the gap between adding sustainability measures to your offer and the demand for it, the undeniable benefit of “working from anywhere” and how to support future female leadership. And of course, we are not going to miss out on the opportunity of getting some personal career advice from Ellen, who has been wowing in EU politics very successfully. So tune in to this podcast episode and see what happens if a full-throttle hotelier meets up with a true Airbnb aficionado. Enjoy the show!

Founder & CEO @Hospitality Rising & Supersonic Marketing Attention please: “Hospitality Rising” That’s the title of Mark McCulloch’s campaign, which is addressing the painful topic of staff shortage in the UK hospitality scene in an unseen way. And one thing is for sure: This is a game-changer in how employment in hospitality is seen, not just in the UK, but potentially everywhere. If you want to know how to convert one in three GenZlers to potential hospitality-fans you better tune in to this SMACK episode. Mark and Phil did not only talk about Hospitality Rising UK though. They also touched on a few other topics. From joy-bonding at work, to building a kick-ass CV as a marketeer, to how to leave a task that’s just not your calling. And of course, there’s an analogy to soccer, the British music scene, Buddhism and some interesting dating advice. If you are like us and just can’t get enough of this Supersonic Marketing mastermind, who has worked with and for a whole bunch of great companies like last.minute.com and Yo!Sushi, this is your chance to pick his brain and find a whole bunch of good reasons why choosing to work in hospitality is never a bad move. Enjoy the show!

Vice President, F&B Strategy & Development Europe, Middle East, and Africa @Hilton This episode will leave you hungry for more! 😋 Emma Banks Vice President, F&B Strategy & Development Europe, Middle East, and Africa at Hilton joined us for an episode of SMACK at the recent Future Hospitality Summit in Abu Dhabi hosted by the Bench to tell us her story. Fritz and Emma discussed the gourmet plate of all hospitality topics: F&D. Wait, F&D?! Yes, Food & Drinks as Emma rightfully calls it. Let’s be honest: has anyone ever used the word “beverage” in a normal context? Emma and Fritz talked about the most important meal of the day, breakfast and its impact on customer satisfaction. Emma’s love and hate relationship for buffets, and how to generate an ethical and fiscal win for hotel owners and customers by reducing food waste with the help of AI. 🗑 She explained that food waste makes up an incredible one-third of global carbon emissions – and we couldn’t agree more with her and her team that The future of hospitality is sustainability, not only in terms of food waste and plastic reduction, but also in terms of sourcing locally and responsibly. Her love for #hospitality clearly showed as she talked about her own career path, including what went wrong with the original plan of becoming a criminal pathologist, and the possibilities that the industry offers for those in love with F&D. As Emma said: If you want a career full of color, hospitality is for you! 🫵 😁 Enjoy the show!

President @IHI & Chairman @St.Justine Do you ever run out of battery? This man surely doesn’t! We are proud to welcome Dr. Jeffrey O - Chairman of the Directors Board at St. Justine, President of the International Hospitality Institute, coach, mentor, writer, and simply put: One of the most influential people in #hospitality. Jeffrey let Flo in on his story and his approach to being humble and respectful above anything else. A trade that is direly needed in an industry where every team member, from housekeeping to CEO is equally important for delivering perfect service. They chatted about the International Hospitality Institute, the #HospitalityHallOfFame, which we should all have an eye on in the next couple of weeks, and the importance of recognizing and celebrating success within the industry. Check out our podcast episode with Gilda Perez-Alvarado, who is one of the Hospitality Hall of Fame judges. Of course, they also talked about #StJustineHotels, which is Jeffrey’s latest transformational #luxury hotel project, which is about to redefine what luxury is by incorporating ultra-personalized services and technology. Tune in and listen closely to his advice on very busy schedules! Enjoy the show!

COO @ Anschutz Entertainment Group Europe Have you ever been to a large arena and thought to yourself, “Damn – this place is huge.”?!   John Langford, the COO of Anschutz Entertainment Group for Europe, knows all about that feeling as he is responsible for the operations of some of the largest arenas in Europe, including The o2 in London, Mercedes Benz Arena in Berlin and the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg. We are beyond proud that he took the time to join us on the podcast and shared his story with us.   Philip and John had a beautiful conversation about John’s career path, the importance of live music and the immense responsibility that comes with it. John, who grew up in South Africa explained how he got into managing well-known arenas that host world stars on a regular basis. He lived in Alaska, South Africa, and the United Kingdom, while constantly traveling the world. His love for live music is evident, especially after his experience at a Michael Jackson concert he couldn't attend, but still managed to somehow be there. Curios? You should be.   He also told us about the interesting and impressive way of responsibly handling the sustainability part of arena operations. Philip and John finished off by sharing their love for beer and the German Reinheitsgebot.    Enjoy the show!

COO & CO-FOUNDER @ GETYOURGUIDE Welcome Tao Tao, co-founder and COO of GetYourGuide, the revolutionary of travel experiences and one of the best people to hang out with if you need top travel advice in any city on this planet. For the opening of SMACK's fifth #podcast season, Florian had the pleasure of hosting Tao Tao and discussing his founder story, the tough times GetYourGuide had to face during the past couple of years, and what experiences mean to the travel industry today. They started off by talking about the latest phenomenal funding round of GetYourGuide and moved on to tactics and strategies to build long-term value in the midst of gloomy times. The two went deep into the company's founding history, which was initiated by one miss-booked flight to Beijing, and discussed the benefits of taking the right people on the founding journey. Teamwork apparently really does make the dream work. Tao and Flo closed off the episode talking about supporting Bayern Munich and Tao's dream tour that they do not offer, at least not yet. Trust us, you’ll want to hear the whole story. Check out our brand-new podcast episode on Spotify, Apple and anywhere else, where there are good podcasts. Enjoy the show!