Hospitality Daily Podcast

In this episode, we hear from Amy Yip, a former leader in Google’s global food program and now a sought-after leadership coach for companies including Amazon and Verizon. Amy shares her own career-defining shift from management to leadership—moving beyond titles and task lists to authenticity, trust, and inspiring others. She reflects on lessons from mentors, including a VP at Google who pushed her to step into uncomfortable opportunities that ultimately shaped her into the leader she is today. For hospitality leaders, Amy’s journey is a reminder that real leadership isn’t about authority, but about unlocking potential and creating environments where people thrive.Learn more about Amy Yip's work 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

When Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney bought Wrexham AFC, the eyes of the world turned to a small Welsh community. For Steven Hesketh—CEO of Savvy Hotel Group, founder of The Hospitality Hero, and co-owner of Devafest—it was the beginning of something bigger. In this episode, Steven shares how local hospitality operators came together, why collaboration beat competition, and the creative ways they turned global attention into regional growth. Listeners will take away practical lessons on placemaking, building local relationships, and using hospitality as a force for community pride and transformation. 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, Sloan Dean returns to share a new perspective on artificial intelligence in hospitality. While AI is often framed around efficiency and cost-cutting, Sloan points to lessons from outside the industry -- like his experience with Waymo -- that show how AI can actually enhance the customer experience and create pricing power. He explores what this could mean for hotel operations, guest interactions, and the future of luxury hospitality. Listeners will come away with a new way of thinking about AI: not just as a tool for savings, but as an opportunity to elevate service and grow demand.Resources:Not Done with Sloan Dean AI Psychosis & Humanity in Hospitality Leadership - Sloan DeanNot Done: Sloan Dean After Remington - How He's Betting on Himself and What's NextMore episodes with Sloan 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, Michael Escalante, former Global Vice President of Hilton’s Center of Operational Excellence, shares how his team delivered 6–12% savings on labor across more than 600 hotels, while improving both guest service and employee satisfaction. Michael explains the methodology behind Hilton’s approach: observing processes instead of people, quantifying human behavior, and modeling work as a function of volume. He also shares how Hilton overcame the hardest part -- change management -- by building transparency, securing buy-in from teams and unions, and creating a culture of efficiency with technology.Also see: Labor, Leadership & Leveling Up: How Michael Escalante Went from Aerospace Engineer to Hilton's Global VP of Operational Excellence 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

Michael Escalante took an unexpected path from aerospace engineering to hospitality, eventually serving as Hilton’s Global VP for the Center of Operational Excellence and the President of Operational Effectiveness at Hotel Asset Value Enhancement (hotelAVE). Today, he's the CEO and founder of R5 Hospitality Solutions. In this conversation, he shares how scientific thinking and people-first leadership helped him uncover hidden value, improve service, and deliver millions in labor savings across hundreds of hotels.See Michael's posts on LinkedIn.  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, Josiah Mackenzie and Sloan Dean explore the concept of "AI psychosis" - how people's over-reliance on AI tools can cause them to lose touch with reality and critical thinking skills. They discuss the evolution of leadership from physical strength to IQ to emotional intelligence, and examine how the hospitality industry has a unique opportunity to preserve human connection and counter the isolating effects of our increasingly digital world. Sloan shares his concerns as both a CEO and father about what we might be losing as a society when we outsource too much of our thinking to artificial intelligence. 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, Sloan Dean shares why he stepped down as CEO of Remington Hospitality after eight transformative years, walking away to bet on himself as a founder and disruptor. He discusses enrolling in MIT AI courses, his philosophy on taking calculated risks, and why becoming CEO was never meant to be his "summit."Resources mentioned:Not Done with Sloan DeanCulture Creates Room To Thrive At Remington HotelsMore episodes with Sloan 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, Sloan Dean shares why curiosity and the willingness to keep learning might be the most important leadership trait in hospitality today. In a candid conversation, Sloan shares his view on the flat state of RevPAR, the generational gap slowing AI adoption, and why the industry risks falling behind if it only experiments on the fringes. Drawing on his own deep dive into AI education and lessons from other industries, he offers a challenge to rethink how we grow, lead, and adapt. Resources mentioned:Not Done with Sloan DeanAI courses from MITChris Williamson podcastEvery (AI resource)More episodes with Sloan 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, STR President Amanda Hite shares how she’s thinking about the role artificial intelligence could play in the future of hospitality forecasting. Recorded at the 2025 Hotel Data Conference, this conversation explores why STR’s 40 years of proprietary hotel data remain its greatest advantage, how her team is cautiously testing AI tools without risking data integrity, and the opportunities AI presents for improving data onboarding and analysis. Amanda also explains why human judgment will always be essential in interpreting numbers and telling the story behind them. Hospitality leaders will come away with a clear understanding of what AI can — and can’t — do for forecasting, and how to integrate it effectively while maintaining trust in the results. 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, STR President Amanda Hite shares why benchmarking still matters in a hospitality market that feels like it changes every month. Recorded at the 2025 Hotel Data Conference, this conversation explores the “golden rule” of benchmarking, why consistency matters more than the specific numbers, and how hotel leaders can grow market share even when overall demand is flat. You’ll hear how to cut through the noise of rapid change, focus on what you can control, and use performance data to compete smarter—whether you’re running one property or an entire portfolio. 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