From data to deals: how hotel sales teams win more group business
A Holiday Inn Portland sales director shares how her team uses Knowland data to prospect for group business, monitor competitors, and build relationships that convert to bookings.
Interviews
Intent, Representation, and the Future of Direct Booking: A Conversation with Aven Hospitality at ITB Berlin
Aven Hospitality's Mark Hollyhead discusses how AI-driven search shifts booking from filling forms to expressing intent, requiring hotels to control their own representation.
Social, Search, and the Fight for Direct Bookings: A Conversation with Cendyn and HOSPITALITY X at ITB Berlin
Cendyn's CEO and HOSPITALITY X Co-Founder discuss how social media evolved from brand awareness to direct conversion channel at ITB Berlin.
Culture First, Not Campaign First: Inside Arlo’s Social Strategy
I had the opportunity to sit down with Dino Jevric, Arlo’s Social Media Manager, to discuss how the brand is taking a different path on Instagram at a time when many hotels still use social mainly to push rates and packages. Arlo is treating the platform less like a sales channel and more like an extension of the guest experience, curating its feed as a living diary of hotel life and neighbourhood energy. The aim is simple but ambitious: make people feel like they are already there, before they have even booked.
Hilton Grand Vacations COO Gordon Gurnik on Innovating Timeshare Experiences and Expanding Global Horizons
Hospitality Net recently had the opportunity to speak with Gordon Gurnik, COO of Hilton Grand Vacations, about the company's evolution, innovations, and future plans. Gurnik explained that Hilton Grand Vacations is a standalone public company closely affiliated with Hilton Worldwide, managing over 720,000 members across more than 200 properties worldwide. The company prioritizes team member investment to reduce turnover and maintain high service standards, supporting seamless guest experiences. Hilton Grand Vacations is positioned as the world's largest timeshare company, committed to evolving with market trends and delivering value through technology and memorable vacations.
Beyond Price: The Future of Hotel Upselling and Cross-Selling
In this insightful interview, Scott Dahl and Mercedes Blanco discuss the evolving landscape of upselling and cross-selling in the hotel industry heading into 2026. They highlight how traveler preferences have shifted away from just prices and views toward meaningful, personalized experiences, emphasizing the emotional story behind offers. Mercedes shares her extensive expertise in digital marketing and hospitality technology, underscoring the fast-paced integration of AI in enhancing guest experiences, marketing strategies, and direct booking channels.
Health Is the New Wealth: How Equinox Hotels Is Redefining Luxury Through High-Performance Living
This interview with the visionary Chris Norton, CEO of Equinox Hotels, explores how the brand is redefining modern luxury hospitality through a foundation of health, wellness and high-performance living. His team's leadership is helping make Equinox Hotels a platform for a new generation of travelers who prioritize longevity and vitality by looking for those brands that can meet this lifestyle. Health really is the new wealth. With the utmost attention to detail with the development and launch of the brand's first hotel in New York, Equinox Hotels is creating experiences that elevate guests' physical and mental well-being across every single in-room and onsite amenity.
Redefining Loyalty: Accor's Kerry Healy on Personalisation, Technology and Human Connection
As Chief Commercial Officer for Accor’s Premium, Midscale & Economy Division across the Middle East, Africa and Asia Pacific, Kerry Healy oversees some of the most diverse and fast-evolving hospitality markets in the world. In this exclusive interview, she discusses how Accor is harnessing data and AI to deliver hyper-personalised experiences at scale—without losing the human touch. From redefining loyalty beyond points and perks to embedding emotional connection and cultural relevance into every stay, Healy shares how Accor’s vision for hospitality blends innovation with authenticity to create meaningful, lasting relationships with guests.
Building the Future of Hospitality: An Interview with Niko Karstikko, Co-Founder & CEO of Bob W
This interview features Niko Karstikko, the Co-Founder & Group CEO of Bob W, an innovative hospitality company blending the comfort and consistency of hotels with the authentic local experience and affordability of short-stay rentals, designed for modern, tech-savvy travelers who mix business and leisure stays. Founded in 2017-2018, Bob W operates in commercial properties under appropriate legal frameworks and emphasizes scalability, flexibility, and sustainability through technology - such as app-enabled self-service amenities, partnerships with local gyms and restaurants, and a tech stack for guest and operational services. Their average stay length is about 4 nights and they have expanded across 19 cities in 11 European countries
Beyond Luxury: Ori Kafri’s Vision of Human-Centered Hospitality at J.K. Place
Ori Kafri introduces J.K. Place as a family-founded boutique hotel brand that defines "boutique" not by design trends, but by personal, tailor-made hospitality. With three intimate properties in Capri, Rome, Paris, and soon Milan, each averaging around 30 rooms, Kafri describes the brand"s essence as creating "homes" rather than hotels - spaces where guests feel personally known and individually cared for. He contrasts J.K."s approach to larger hotel chains, which he likens to luxury fashion houses, while J.K. Place aspires to be the "tailor-made suit" - a bespoke experience built through genuine human connection.
Up in the air, loyalty on the ground: A conversation with Ellis Connolly
There is nothing cheap about loyalty. I wrote those words years ago while evoking Ryan Bingham and his manic pilgrimage through miles and tiers, and I still believe them today. Because the true loyalty currency is not plastic or points. Loyalty is, instead, measured in attention, presence, memory, and the feeling of being recognized.
Emailing at the Right Tempo for Fewer Cart Abandonments and More Winbacks
Email fatigue is a clear and present problem for practically everyone under the sun who isn’t a monk abstaining from the temptations of the internet. All of us are opted in to blanket, impersonal newsletters that pile up in our inboxes, with this digital noise only further compounded by junk texts, social media direct messages, and telemarketers.
EHL Innovation Rewind: Rainer Stampfer on AI, Personalization, and the Human Touch at Four Seasons
During the EHL Open Innovation Summit in Lausanne, we sat down with Rainer Stampfer, President of Global Operations, Hotels and Resorts at Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. Our conversation explored the growing role of artificial intelligence in luxury hospitality, the evolving expectations around personalization, and why the human element continues to be the ultimate marker of excellence in high-end service.
ONHTEC STUDIO 2003: Interview w/ Scott Anderson, President and CEO of High Country Hospitality; Chair, AH&LA eCommerce Committee - Discussing The Impact Of Online Merchant-Model Distribution
The Merchant-Model, Channel Management, On-Line Distribution, eDistribution. These words are thrown around quite a bit these days in the hospitality industry. What do they all mean? Here's an update from High Country Hospitality's Scott Anderson.
ONHTEC STUDIO 2003: Interview w/ Bob Gilbert - HSMAI President & CEO - A Closer Look At HSMAI's New & Recently Announced Member Products & Services
Bob Gilbert - HSMAI President & CEO talks about how HSMAI helps sales & marketing professionals in finding the right tools in todays age of information overload. Gilbert also provides information about HSMAI's Foundation project called 'ClearingHouse'. Finally, the interview features information about HSMAI's new conference/marketplace geared around the lucrative airline contract market segment.
ONHTEC STUDIO 2003: Interview w/ Paul Rantilla, VP of Sales and Marketing, Passkey and Jon Carres, CIO, Boca Raton Resorts and Clubs - Passkey Helps Boca to Manage the Group Reservation Process
John Carres has 1,040 rooms. His property is putting on a large event and needs a solution to help manage the process. Carres wants and needs to fill those rooms. Give Passkey a call in Quincy. Mass. This is more than just a commercial. Paul and Jon talk about how they have teamed up to make this and other events happen - seamlessly. Why is it good for Boca and how easy is it to get done? Click 'play' and listen.
Audio Interview w/ Tina M. Samson, CFO, Loews Hotel Universal Orlando/HFTP President-Elect - Tina talks ProLinks and gives us a final preview of this year's HITEC
Tina Samson has a lot on her plate. She's CFO at the Loews Hotel Universal Orlando. With kids out of school, that property will soon be busy when families come to see Mickey and Minnie. She's the chairperson of HFTP's ProLinks, which we discuss in this streaming audio interview and finally, she's the President-Elect for the HFTP. We also get her thoughts on this year's HITEC and tell you about next year's dates and location. That's a lot of information in less than 10 minutes. Check it out before you head to New Orleans.
AH&LA Multiunit 2003 Series: Audio Interview w/ John Davis, Chairman and CEO, Pegasus Solutions, Inc. - Commenting on: 'The Merchant Model…Are Rewards Following Risk?'
Pegasus Solutions' Chairman and CEO John Davis delivered the keynote address at this year's Multiunit Lodging Operators & Owners Forum in Denver. On hand were several of the nation's management company executives and multi-property owners. Hear a preview of what one of the leading software providers for hotels and on-line merchants has to say about current business relationships between hotels and on-line merchants.
Audio Interview w/ Andrew Rubinacci, Director, Distribution Planning, Six Continents Hotels - Commenting on 6C's Recently Announced Merchant Agreement with Travelocity
Six Continents Hotels jumped a little higher on the on-line distribution bandwagon this week as inventory from 3,300 properties appeared on
Interview With Marvin Erdly, Hospitality and Leisure Practice Leader, PwC Consulting - Migration to Integrated Internet Enabled CRS-CRM (HITEC 2002 Video)
During HITEC 2002, Hospitality Net & HFTP Jointly produce HITEC Online Studio. The Studio features about 40 interviews with industry executives, consultants and CEO's of HITEC exhibitors. Interviews broadcast LIVE on the Internet and will be available for on-demand broadcast one week after show. To listen and view the interviews, you need Real-Player software installed on your system.