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The Lights On Podcast: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Kin Sio
The Lights On Podcast features conversations with hospitality leaders about the commercial strategies that drive hotel performance and growth.
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 2 days ago52 min
Why Extended Stay Is Quietly Beating Midscale on Margin With Suraj Bhakta
Suraj Bhakta is the CEO of NewGen Advisory and the Chief Legal Officer of NewGen Worldwide, its parent company, where he oversees legal, regulatory, and corporate governance matters. A member of the senior leadership team, he contributes to operational management, strategic planning, and investment strategies while leading business administration for NewGen Advisory. He grew up working in his family's roadside motel, trained as a lawyer, and returned to hospitality through transactional work, eventually building a national brokerage that advises independent and franchised hotel owners on buy, sell, and hold decisions. In this episode… Suraj Bhakta, CEO of NewGen Advisory and Chief Legal Officer of its parent company NewGen Worldwide, joins Kin Sio to talk about the real economics behind buying, selling, and holding hotel assets in 2026. Suraj grew up cleaning rooms in his family's roadside motel in Indiana, became a commercial litigator, and eventually found his way back into hospitality through transactional work, bringing a rare combination of legal, operational, and investment perspective to the brokerage world. Today he leads a national team advising independent and franchised hotel owners on some of the most consequential decisions they'll make. The conversation covers the current transaction landscape, with Suraj pointing to extended stay as the standout segment drawing attention from family offices and REITs alike. He breaks down how to underwrite extended stay differently from a traditional hotel, what demand generators actually matter, and why margin in that segment is outpacing conventional midscale properties. From there, the discussion moves into one of the most overlooked deal-killers in hospitality: the Property Improvement Plan. Suraj explains how construction cost inflation has made PIPs far more expensive than owners anticipate, how brands can use PIPs as leverage, and what buyers and sellers can actually negotiate. The episode closes with practical advice any operator can act on today, starting with a disciplined review of online guest feedback across all channels. Suraj makes the case that improving review scores is one of the fastest, lowest-cost ways to increase a property's rate and, ultimately, its sale value. Whether you're thinking about your next acquisition or preparing an asset for market, this conversation gives you a clear picture of what today's cautious buyers are really looking at.
- 1 weeks ago56 min
The Gap Between a Two-Star and a Five-Star Is Education With Jodie Odlin
Jodie Odlin is a hospitality veteran and entrepreneur who trained in five-star hotels around the world before building her own award-winning collection of Cotswolds cottages, Tetbury Escapes. She is the creator of the Hospitable Hosts book series, a five-volume collection of number-one bestsellers that brings together short-term rental hosts from around the world to share their stories. That community grew into the Global Hospitality Collective, which Jodie now leads with a focus on raising standards across independent accommodations, one host, one guest, and one stay at a time. In this episode... Jodie Odlin, founder of The Global Hospitality Collective, shares how she's bridging the gap between five-star hotel standards and the fragmented short-term rental industry. After training in luxury hotels worldwide, Jodie built her own award-winning collection of Cotswolds cottages before creating the Hospitable Hosts book series, five number-one bestsellers gathering stories from hosts across the globe. What started as one book grew into a movement of hundreds of hosts and property managers, each contributing a chapter, and formalized into The Global Hospitality Collective, a certification body designed to raise standards across independent accommodations. Jodie reveals the crucial education gap she observed when networking with operators who came from non-hospitality backgrounds, nurses, teachers, and entrepreneurs who wanted to serve guests well but lacked the professional training to deliver consistently.
- 1 weeks ago31 min
Selling a Hotel Nobody Drives Past With Brad Rowland-Aaron
Brad Rowland-Aaron is the South Florida Sales Manager for Guest Services, Inc., overseeing sales for three properties: Flamingo Lodge (the only hotel inside Everglades National Park), and concession operations at Oleta River State Park and Dr. Von D. Mizell-Eula Johnson State Park. He holds a degree in Healthcare Administration from Walsh University and built his hospitality career across Marriott general management, multiple seasons at Glacier National Park, and stints at Sun Valley and Snowshoe Mountain Resort. In 2023 he relocated to South Florida to help open Flamingo Lodge, training the lodging team before moving into his current sales role. In this episode... What does it take to sell a hotel that nobody ever drives past? Brad Rowland-Aaron, South Florida Sales Manager at Guest Services, Inc., knows that challenge better than almost anyone. After working his way up to General Manager at a Marriott property, Brad made an unexpected pivot, typing "lodging in national parks" into a search bar and finding himself in Glacier National Park within 24 hours. That detour through seasonal national park and ski resort hospitality eventually led him to South Florida, where he helped open Flamingo Lodge, the first lodging inside Everglades National Park in eighteen years. In this conversation recorded live at the Independent Hotel Show in Miami, Brad walks through the realities of opening a lodge built from shipping containers in one of the most remote locations in the country, and what it actually takes to fill it. From the logistical challenges of the pre-opening period, to the surprising group segments that find their way to Flamingo, to the relentless outbound sales work required when your property has zero drive-by traffic, Brad gives a candid operator's view of park lodging. Brad also makes a compelling case for why independent hotels, wherever they're located, need to build relationships with their local tourism and destination marketing organizations. He explains how those partnerships generate press coverage, fuel AI-powered travel recommendations, and open doors that no amount of paid media can replicate. For any independent hotel operator who feels like they're off the radar, this episode is a practical playbook for changing that.
- 2 weeks ago45 min
Your Guest Experience Doesn't Start at Check-In With Marco DiDomizio
Marco DiDomizio is a licensed hospitality broker, consultant, and strategist with InnAdvisors. He spent twenty years in corporate finance, first as a CPA and then running global finance for agencies including Ogilvy and Grey, before he and his husband bought a nine-room inn on Cape Cod. Over nine years they built it into the number one bed and breakfast in the United States on both TripAdvisor and Travel + Leisure, then sold in 2025. He now works with independent lodging owners on acquisition, growth, and exit strategy. In this episode… Marco DiDomizio spent twenty years in corporate finance, first as a CPA, then running global finance at ad agencies, before he and his husband Angelo bought a nine-room Cape Cod inn that hadn't been renovated since the 1980s. What followed was nine years of intentional, incremental work that turned the Candleberry Inn into the number one bed and breakfast in the United States on both TripAdvisor and Travel + Leisure. He sold at the top in 2025. Today, through InnAdvisors, he helps other owners buy, grow, and exit small lodging properties. The conversation covers the full arc of what Marco calls the InnAdvisors Method, acquire, optimize, exit, told through the real decisions he made at Candleberry. He's candid about the leap of faith the purchase required, the role a dedicated marketing partner played from day one, and the financial logic behind renovations that most owners defer too long. His thinking is unusually numbers-first for the bed-and-breakfast segment, and he doesn't shy away from the trade-offs: staying number one had a real cost, and he's honest about what he'd do differently if he bought again. For independent hotel owners and operators, this episode is a ground-level look at how a small property compounds its value over time, through marketing, guest experience, food, and deliberate rate strategy, and what that means for the eventual sale. Marco's advice for owners thinking about an exit in the next few years is practical and specific, and the underlying principle is that it cannot be left to the end: a buyer and their lender look at the last three years of financials, so the work has to be done along the way.
- 2 weeks ago30 min
Pricing a Hotel When a Government Agency Approves Your Rates With Jennifer Miller
Jennifer Miller is Director of Revenue Management at Guest Services, Inc., a hospitality company more than 100 years old. She has been in hospitality for almost 35 years, starting at the front desk of a Radisson on Marco Island, Florida, and has spent 21 years with Guest Services. She served as General Manager from 2013 to 2015, overseeing several communities and a condo-style hotel in the Orlando market, then as Revenue Manager for the Hospitality Division through 2020, and moved into her current role in February 2020. She holds the CRME designation from HSMAI and a BA in English from Marietta College. In this episode… What does revenue management look like when a government agency has the final say on your rates? Jennifer Miller, Director of Revenue Management at Guest Services, Inc., joins Kin Sio live on the floor at the Independent Hotel Show Miami to answer exactly that question. With more than twenty years at Guest Services and a portfolio that spans national and state park lodging, camping, glamping, houseboats, and boat tours, Jennifer brings a perspective that very few revenue managers can offer. The conversation covers what it really means to price a property like Flamingo Lodge, the lodge at Flamingo in Everglades National Park, when your comp set has to stretch to Homestead, Florida City, and the Upper Keys just to find a reference point. Jennifer is candid about the tension between leaving money on the table and honoring the parks' mandate to keep lodging accessible and fairly priced for the public. She also digs into the technology challenge behind it all: how her call center agents juggle a hotel PMS, activity software, call software, a knowledge base, chat, and email simultaneously, and why connecting all of that into a single guest picture remains the hardest unsolved problem in her operation. For independent hotel operators, the takeaway is practical. You do not need a national park contract to start thinking about the full value of a guest. Jennifer's advice is simple: get a technology in place that lets you communicate with guests before arrival and offer small add-ons, start with what you can actually execute operationally, and treat ancillary revenue as smart business rather than an upsell exercise. As she puts it, selling $20 of wine is much easier than selling a room that is $20 more expensive.
- 3 weeks ago1h 0m
She Runs a Boutique Hotel With Nobody at the Front Desk With Kim Herrlein
Kim Herrlein is the Chief Leisure Officer of Purveyors of Leisure and co-creator of The Fainting Couch, an 18-room maximalist boutique hotel in Northern California. She sold a high-performing vacation rental to fund the property's acquisition, then renovated it and built an operating model that runs with no on-site front desk staff. Before hospitality, she produced festivals in the Feather River Canyon and trained as a coach through the Stanford-rooted Creative Insight Journey. She is also the founder of Insight Seeker: Impact by Design, where she helps entrepreneurs move from living by default to deciding by design. In this episode… Kim Herrlein shares her journey from short-term rental operator to boutique hotel owner, revealing how she sold a high-performing vacation rental to fund the acquisition of The Fainting Couch, a maximalist boutique hotel in Northern California. As Chief Leisure Officer of Purveyors of Leisure and founder of Insight Seeker: Impact by Design, Kim brings a unique perspective to hospitality operations, running her property with zero on-site front desk staff using virtual reception technology. The conversation explores the challenges and opportunities that come with transitioning from the STR world to licensed hotel operations, including the complexities of OTA distribution, the evolution of contactless hospitality, and the power of design as a demand generation strategy. Kim also introduces her Golden Thread Spiral framework, a decision-making tool that helps entrepreneurs move from living by default to deciding by design.
- 3 weeks ago27 min
Why Hotel Restaurants Don't Have to Lose Money With Andrew Hopson
Andrew Hopson is the Dining Room Manager at The Inn on Biltmore Estate, the Forbes Four-Star hotel in Asheville, North Carolina. His path in food and beverage began with pre-high school admission to Johnson & Wales University's Charleston campus in culinary arts, and an internship at Charleston Place Hotel drew him into hotels. He has since led F&B across full-service premium and luxury properties, including the Forbes Five-Star Sea Island resort in Georgia. Andrew serves on the International Luxury Hotel Association's advisory council, has moderated panels at BDNY and INSPIRE, and advocates for hospitality professionals to engage in policy at the local, state and national level. In this episode… Andrew Hopson, Dining Room Manager at The Inn on Biltmore Estate, joins Kin Sio live at the Independent Hotel Show in Miami for a conversation that covers the full arc of hotel food and beverage, from philosophy to people. Andrew draws on more than fifteen years in hotel F&B, including his current role at the Forbes Four-Star Inn on Biltmore Estate, to talk about what it takes to build a dining program that actually means something to guests. The conversation moves through two interlocking ideas. The first is that F&B identity has to come before operations, marketing, or hiring, if a hotel doesn't know what it is, no amount of staffing or menu work will fix the experience. The second is that hiring great people is only half the equation. If a property's leadership and training infrastructure isn't ready to support a new team member, bringing them on is a disservice to everyone involved, including the candidate. Andrew also shares what pulled him back into the hotel industry after a period away, and why conferences like the Independent Hotel Show matter not just for vendor relationships but for the peer-to-peer learning that happens on the floor. His perspective is grounded in real decisions made in real dining rooms, and his advice is built for operators who are trying to do more with less.
- Oct 8, 202648 min
Your Hotel Doesn't Need Lower Rates, It Needs a Reason To Pay More With Laurean Sahilices
Laurean Sahilices is the founder of The Hotel Marketing Lady and a strategic hospitality advisor with more than fifteen years of experience leading marketing across global hotel brands, including IHG, Accor, Marriott, and Minor Hotels, across the Maldives and New Zealand. She marketed New Zealand's first JW Marriott while the property was still under renovation. Today she works with independent and boutique hotel owners looking to expand, reposition, or strengthen their marketing, aligning positioning, guest strategy, and commercial direction to support higher average daily rates. In this episode… Kin Sio sits down with Laurean Sahilices, founder of The Hotel Marketing Lady, to talk about what it actually takes to build a hotel marketing strategy that drives revenue, not just impressions. Laurean spent more than fifteen years inside global brands including IHG, Accor, Marriott, and Minor Hotels across New Zealand and the Maldives before launching her own advisory practice for boutique and independent hotel owners. The conversation covers the gap between big-brand structure and the flexibility independents already have, and why most hotels waste that advantage by skipping the commercial foundations. The episode goes deep on a real example from Laurean's time at JW Marriott Auckland: how her team turned a tired, dated residence, in the middle of a major renovation, into a sought-after Christmas suite by partnering with a local interior design company, curating a full experience, and driving media impressions across New Zealand and Australia. The story illustrates the central idea running through the whole conversation: that marketing without a clear commercial goal is just spending money on activity, and that the real job of a hotel marketer is to reverse-engineer the guest experience back from a rate target. Laurean is also clear about the limits of her own lane. She draws a firm line between positioning and marketing strategy, which she owns, and revenue management and sales, which require different skill sets. For independent owners trying to build a commercial engine with limited budget and no full team, her advice is direct: know what you are trying to achieve first, get clarity on what makes your property unique, and resist the urge to fill rooms with cheap rates in year one, because that decision trains your market and it is very hard to undo.
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The Lights On Podcast features conversations with hospitality leaders about the commercial strategies that drive hotel performance and growth.
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