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Behind the Stays: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Zach Busekrus
Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every episode features military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so much more. Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance.
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- Today1h 11m
Why Short-Term Rentals Stopped Penciling and a Motel Did, with Chalets Hygge’s Kerri Gibson
Check out Lodgify to claim your exclusive discount: 65% off all yearly and bi-yearly Ultimate and Professional plans Offer Code: BTS65 https://www.lodgify.com/behind-the-stays/ Offer available Nov 12 - Dec 12, 2026 Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts This Week’s Guest: Kerri Gibson, Co-Founder, Chalets Hygge & Motel-Boutique Hygge Explore Chalets Hygge: https://www.chaletshygge.com/ Explore Motel-Boutique Hygge: https://www.motelboutiquehygge.com/en/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chalets_hygge/ and https://www.instagram.com/motelboutiquehygge/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kerri-gibson-cpa Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ A night in one of Kerri Gibson’s chalets leaves her about $180 in margin. A night in one of her motel rooms leaves $50 or $60. The motel is still on track to out-earn the chalets, because volume makes up the difference. Kerri is back on Behind the Stays, and she’s the kind of guest I love most: someone who started in a completely different world. She’s a CPA who spent 22 years in tax and accounting software, from an early-stage startup to running the U.S. small professional division of a multibillion-dollar Dutch company, then resigned with no idea what came next. A run-down house in Quebec ski country was supposed to be a renovation project. She couldn’t bring herself to sell it, so it became a short-term rental. It was the first of the seven chalets that now make up Chalets Hygge, which she runs with her partner, Philippe, in Orford. When short-term rentals stopped penciling, they underwrote more than 20 motels. They bought a tired 17-room roadside motel in Baie-Saint-Paul that was still running like it was 1998, and today it’s Motel-Boutique Hygge. We get into how Kerri knows it’s time to grow, and her clearest signal is boredom. She explains why she brought the motel under the Hygge brand but kept the old name in its tagline, so the European guests who fill most of high season can still find it. She also breaks down how the guests differ. Chalet guests plan everything weeks out. Motel guests tune in on arrival day, stay 1.4 nights on average, and expect someone on site to help plan their stay. We also talk about: why Google reviews drive the motel while social media drives the chalets why she’s leaning into micro-influencers and scaling back paid ads how she’s thinking about showing up in AI search how her direct-booking mix compares across the two businesses Plus: her value-first newsletter and 10% returning-guest discount, the exercise that helped her separate her skills from her job description, why Lodgify sits at the center of her tech stack, and the best compliment the motel has gotten so far, courtesy of a Swiss guest whose idea of a motel came from American movies.
- 4 days ago38 min
This Week In Hospitality: Why Owners Want More of Marriott's Loyalty Money, Booking.com's AI Bet, and Hilton Points at the Bar
Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts Is the line between a hotel and a vacation rental finally gone? Zach Busekrus and Ben Wolff think the stays category is collapsing into one, and the big brands are waking up to it. This week it's just the two of them, together in person at the Oasi office in Austin, while Edwin and Scott are traveling. They open with big news: Zach is joining Oasi, a revenue growth firm for hotels, as chief growth officer. Then the headlines. Marriott's gross fees jumped 14% to $1.52 billion in the third quarter, driven by the co-branded credit card business, while a group of owners asked for a bigger share of loyalty income. Zach and Ben talk through what that means for owners and for the brand. Booking.com is leaning into AI, and they ask whether consumers really care about the payments layer and what AI assistants could do to direct booking. They also get into revenue management, and why dynamic pricing tools need watching instead of a set-and-forget approach. From there it's hotels versus short-term rentals, with points and loyalty at the center. Hilton's move to let guests pay a bar tab with points raises the question of who wins. Zach makes the case that regulation and permitting need to catch up with how people actually book stays. They close with local retailers, towns and hospitality businesses working together on new local offerings. A short pod this week. The full crew is back next week. Your Hosts: Zach Busekrus — Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Ben Wolff — Founder of Onera & Oasi LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ben-wolff/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/iambenwolff/
- 6 days ago59 min
Why a Five-Star Amazon Sheet Isn't Hospitality-Grade, with HostGPO's Jeff Iloulian
PriceLabs https://hello.pricelabs.co/dynamic-pricing/?utm_source=amb-youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nov26_amb_bts_podcast_ep3 Code: BTS15 30-day free trial plus 15 percent off Dynamic Pricing for the first 3 months. PriceLabs Global Property Manager Report 2026: https://hello.pricelabs.co/global-property-manager-report/?utm_source=partner-social&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=behindthestays_podcast Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts This Week’s Guest: Jeff Iloulian, Founder & CEO, HostGPO Website: https://hostgpo.com LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeff-iloulian-bb0b6829 Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ What does the stuff inside a vacation rental tell you about where the industry is headed? Jeff Iloulian is back on Behind the Stays. Before launching HostGPO, Jeff left a career in law and built a property management portfolio of about 150 homes in Southern California. The two questions he kept running into - what should I actually buy, and how do I get it for less - became the foundation for HostGPO, the members-only buying group for vacation rental and boutique hospitality operators that just won Supplier of the Year at VRMA. In this episode, Jeff shares what he can see from his seat: why operators are done replacing the same cheap coffee table every year, why standardizing linens and furniture has become a brand decision, and how granular market data - down to how many homes within five miles of you have a sauna - is deciding what gets built. We also get into the mood at VRMA, where private equity and consolidation dominated the conversation, and why Jeff reads it as excitement with a proceed-with-caution asterisk. Plus: the amenity wars, why a five-star sheet on Amazon is not a hospitality-grade sheet, new partners from Lowe's to Schlage, and why he'd rather stay in his lane than chase more of your wallet. And then there's AI. HostGPO members are already connecting their AI agents to do the buying. If you've wondered what the AI discovery era means for how this industry spends money, Jeff has a concrete answer.
- 1 weeks ago33 min
Do You Really Have to Trade Identity for Distribution? WorldHotels' Jenn Parks on the New Soft-Brand Deal, Branded Residences and the Backdrop Outdoor Bet
Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts https://roompricegenie.com/ Checkout code for 25% off: WISH26 This Week’s Guest: Jenn Parks, Vice President of Development, North America, WorldHotels (part of BWH Hotels) LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenniferfigariparks/ Explore WorldHotels: https://www.worldhotels.com/en-us Your Host: Zach Busekrus LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Zach talks with Jenn Parks, Vice President of Development for North America at WorldHotels (part of BWH Hotels), about where independent hotel development is heading. Recorded live at the Independent Hotel Show in Miami, Jenn names two big growth areas: branded residences, including WorldHotels' first in Vietnam, and elevated outdoor hospitality through the new WorldHotels Backdrop brand, including Zion Wildflower Resort and a property in Asheville. She explains why owners pick WorldHotels over soft brands like Autograph or Curio: flexibility with no stringent brand standards, shorter agreements and lower fees, a brand-storytelling workshop at onboarding, and the commercial power of BWH's roughly 70-million-member loyalty program. Jenn also highlights an underrated benefit: the community of independent hoteliers who swap best practices at an annual conference. On demand, she sees residences leading in APAC and the Middle East, and true boutique, outdoor and lifestyle resort product leading in North America. Many owners she meets are leaving a big brand and are wary of going fully independent. And her hot take: curated, place-specific retail is an underused part of the hotel experience. It's why she still thinks about a Grand Cayman resort every time she puts on a shirt she bought there.
- 1 weeks ago1h 19m
This Week in Hospitality: Did Amex Just Hand Airbnb the Luxury Traveler? Best Western's Identity Crisis and Andrew Humphries on the Middle East Hotel Boom
Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts Special guest: Andrew Humphries — Bridge Hospitality Partners LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-humphries-66a1918/ Are the biggest hotel brands still in the business of running great hotels, or are distribution and fee streams becoming the real product? This week, Zach Busekrus, Ben Wolff, Edwin Kramer and Scott Eddy are joined by Andrew Humphries, partner and co-founder of Bridge Hospitality Partners. After decades in luxury hospitality, Andrew brings an operator's perspective to the hotel investment conversation, fresh from the GIOHIS conference. We start with the Middle East: resilient demand, the growing role of regional travelers, Asian investment, branded residences and emerging co-living concepts. Andrew explains why Saudi Arabia's hotel ambitions may take longer to deliver without disappearing, and why the Maldives and Seychelles remain part of the investment conversation. We also get into interim general managers, brand proliferation and where AI can help hotel operations without replacing the human side of luxury. Then it's the week's headlines. What does the Amex-Airbnb partnership mean for luxury hotels, distribution and the relationship with the guest? And does BWH's move to the WorldHotels name change anything meaningful for travelers, or is the real audience the hotel owner? In Spice of the Week, Scott asks whether an AI assistant could become hospitality's most powerful gatekeeper. Ben weighs the brands' identity crisis and Hilton's tech ambitions. Zach shares a lesson from his Pendry conversation about scaling a distinctive hotel brand. Edwin wants owners to sleep in their own rooms. Andrew makes the case against over-amenitization: get the core experience right before adding more. 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/iambenwolff/ Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
- 2 weeks ago54 min
Why the Future of Luxury Hotels Might Not Look Like Hotels at All — with ENVI Lodges Co-Founder Noelle Homsy
PriceLabs https://hello.pricelabs.co/dynamic-pricing/?utm_source=amb-youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=nov26_amb_bts_podcast_ep2 Code: BTS15 30-day free trial plus 15 percent off Dynamic Pricing for the first 3 months. Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts This Week’s Guest: Noelle Homsy, Co-Founder, ENVI Lodges Website: envilodges.com (live-checked October 26) LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/noelle-homsy Email: hello@envilodges.com Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Noelle Homsy's friends still aren't sure how she ended up in hotels. She studied architecture, and at 24 found herself the one left in charge of a construction site with four hundred workers. Then came years in dispute resolution, managing egos, reading the fine print, planning for the worst, before an MBA at INSEAD, weekend trips through Southeast Asia's locally run eco-lodges, and a hotel operator job in Dubai eventually led her to co-found ENVI Lodges with Chris Nader in 2021. ENVI is an asset-light brand and operator of luxury eco-lodges: long-term management agreements, villas-only, low-density properties designed to disappear into their environment. The first lodge, ENVI Paje in Zanzibar (22 keys), opened this summer as proof the model works. Guests choose community excursions over the tourist menu, pack donations for local schools through the Pack for Paje program, and leave, as Noelle puts it, a little kinder than they arrived. We get into why she believes sustainability is the byproduct of experiences that make people happy, not the goal; why taking care of the local community creates more impact than protecting a single plot; how ENVI wins owners away from the big brands; and what it takes for a lodge to earn the ENVI name. Plus: two lodges coming to Saudi Arabia, one on the shores of Oman, and where the brand goes next.
- 2 weeks ago1h 8m
This Week in Hospitality: Which Hotel Would You Steal for $1? Marina Bay Sands, Ted Turner's Ranch, and the Case for Hotel Emma
Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts Fifty episodes in, we're skipping the news and handing out the hospitality awards nobody asked for. Zach, Ben, Edwin and a returning Scott Eddy each nominate, defend and vote across five categories. For "The Hotel I'd Steal," Scott and Edwin both take Marina Bay Sands - Edwin to bankroll a portfolio of tiny rural hotels with its profits - while Ben makes a play for Vermejo, Ted Turner's half-million-acre New Mexico reserve, and Zach stays closer to home with San Antonio's Hotel Emma and the Pearl District it anchors. For "The Biggest Bet," Edwin backs Soho House's post-buyout second act as a wellness-driven lifestyle community, Ben doubles down on farm hospitality, Scott picks Ennismore's ecosystem approach, and Zach makes the case for Sloan Dean's AI Hospitality Group and its plan to rebuild the hotel management company from scratch. The "Most Overrated" round goes after membership clubs, loyalty programs that measure points instead of genuine loyalty, brand proliferation nobody can explain, and the industry's obsession with capturing demand instead of creating it. "Sleeping Giants" covers hotel staff as personal brands, the 45-to-65 first-time independent hotel buyer, the industry's missing attribution layer, and the day-guest economics of ResortPass. And on "Hills We'll Die On": hospitality brands built on belonging rather than hotels, every hotel company thinking like a media company, ripping out the front desk, and why tech talent should be pouring into IRL experiences. Plus Edwin's Airbnb ad read that is absolutely not an Airbnb ad read. 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/iambenwolff/ Edwin Kramer — Luxury Hotelier Consultant & Former GM LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/edwinckramer/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edwinkramer/
- 3 weeks ago1h 3m
From Backcountry to Frontcountry: How Janice Stitzer Built a 7-Cabin Micro-Resort
PriceLabs https://hello.pricelabs.co/dynamic-pricing/?utm_source=amb-youtube&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=oct26_amb_bts_podcast_ep1 Code: BTS15 30-day free trial plus 15 percent off Dynamic Pricing for the first 3 months. Modbeans Coffee Code for 15% off: BTS15 https://modbeans.co/bts This Week’s Guest: Connect with Janice Stitzer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/janicestitzer/ Your Host: Zach Busekrus - Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthestays/ Four cabins had private saunas and cold plunges. Three didn't. And within the first few months, the bookings were telling Janice Stitzer she'd made a mistake. So she ordered three more saunas. I love that story because it gets at what this conversation is really about. You can have the beautiful renderings. You can have the cabin that looks incredible on Instagram. But at some point, the guest has to choose you, and the business has to work. Janice is back on Behind the Stays, and she is one of my favorite people to talk to about the actual work of building these places. She comes from finance, including time at Disney and Fox Studios. She and her husband, a third-generation contractor, have spent years buying, renovating, and building real estate. Then they built Backcountry A-Frame in Colorado, and that opened the door to something bigger. Her latest operating project is Frontcountry in Salida: seven micro-cabins on one acre. And that one acre came with some very expensive lessons. A well, parking requirements, setbacks, and septic all competed for the same little piece of land. The septic system alone ended up costing ninety thousand dollars. We get into all of it. Why she chose an established destination over a more remote piece of land. What she learned about the amenities guests will actually pay for. And why, when someone asks her how many cabins they should build, she starts with a different question: what revenue does this business need to support the life you want? Her starting point is roughly a million dollars in annual revenue, then working backward. That's her planning framework, not a promise that every project can get there. We also talk about Vista Meadows Ranch, the farm-and-workshop experience she's building next, and why she's starting with the experience before the overnight stays. If you've ever looked at a beautiful little resort and thought, "I could build something like that," this is the conversation I'd want you to hear before you buy the land. Please enjoy my conversation with Janice Stitzer.
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About Behind the Stays
Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every episode features military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so much more. Behind the Stays is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance.
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