Behind the Stays Podcast Por Zach Busekrus arte de portada

Behind the Stays

Behind the Stays

De: Zach Busekrus
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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 Tuesday and Friday you’ll meet the 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 brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more. Behind the States is hosted by Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance.Copyright 2021 All rights reserved. Economía Finanzas Personales Gestión y Liderazgo Liderazgo Marketing Marketing y Ventas
Episodios
  • This Week in Hospitality: The Death of Hotel Discovery, The Rise of Food-Led Hotels, and Loyalty’s Identity Crisis

    This Week in Hospitality: The Death of Hotel Discovery, The Rise of Food-Led Hotels, and Loyalty’s Identity Crisis
    Apr 3 2026

    Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

    Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233 Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

    This week, the guys unpack a massive shift happening across hospitality — and what it means for who actually owns demand. Hotel executives are finally admitting what’s been true for years: discovery is no longer happening on their platforms. It’s happening on social, in group chats, and increasingly through AI. If you’re not part of the inspiration phase, you don’t exist. At the same time, food is stepping into the spotlight as a true demand driver—not just an amenity. From chef-led concepts to destination restaurants, hotels are betting big on F&B to differentiate, drive rate, and create relevance. But with thin margins and fierce competition, most will underestimate how hard it is to win. And then there’s loyalty. New data suggests travelers care more about trust, recognition, and real value than price alone — exposing just how outdated many loyalty programs have become. Points aren’t enough anymore. Guests want to feel known. We break down what all of this means for operators, brands, and investors—and why the hotels that win next won’t just distribute demand… they’ll create it.

    This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

    Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

    If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

    Key Topics & Timestamps

    00:00 — Intro

    06:39 — Story #1: Discovery Moved Upstream

    32:16 — Story #2: Hotels Bet on Food as Identity

    47:15 — Story #3: Trust Beats Price

    56:01 — Spice of the Week

    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/
    Más Menos
    1 h y 6 m
  • This Week In Hospitality: Hilton’s New Power Play, Marriott’s Brand Explosion, and the Battle for Who Owns Demand

    This Week In Hospitality: Hilton’s New Power Play, Marriott’s Brand Explosion, and the Battle for Who Owns Demand
    Mar 27 2026

    Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts:

    Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUy Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233 Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality

    Hilton just rewrote the rules on growth—without buying brands. Marriott keeps flooding the market with more flags. And underneath it all, a bigger question is emerging: who actually owns demand in hospitality? This week, we break down Hilton’s Yotel deal and what it signals about the future of “platformized” hotel brands, Marriott’s relentless expansion strategy (and whether guests even care anymore), and why distribution—not differentiation—is becoming the real battleground. We also get into Four Seasons’ move into luxury yachts, Thailand’s push to own wellness travel, and how Netflix is quietly reshaping restaurant demand. If you’re building, investing in, or operating hospitality, this episode is about one thing: control the guest—or rent them from someone who does.

    This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey.

    Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary.

    If you’re an owner or operator of an extraordinary, independently owned and operated hotel or residence — and you want to see whether your property is a fit for the Journey Alliance — you can learn more and apply at https://www.journey.com/alliance

    Key Topics & Timestamps

    00:00 — Intro

    02:06 — Story #1: Hilton’s Yotel Deal Turns Brand Into Distribution

    27:18 — Story #2: Four Seasons Bets That Luxury Belongs at Sea

    40:31 — Story #3: Thailand Makes Wellness a National Strategy

    51:11 — Story #4: Netflix Is Now a Travel Demand Engine

    01:04:37 — Spice of the Week

    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/
    Más Menos
    1 h y 13 m
  • He Built the Most Iconic Cocktail Bar of a Generation. Now Death&Co's Founder is Coming for Boutique Hotels.

    He Built the Most Iconic Cocktail Bar of a Generation. Now Death&Co's Founder is Coming for Boutique Hotels.
    Mar 25 2026

    Connect with David Connect with Zach Apply to join the Journey Alliance

    David Kaplan didn't come up through the industry the traditional way. He went to art school, never tended bar a day in his life, and opened Death & Co in New York's East Village on New Year's Eve 2006 with a vintage cash register and zero business experience. What followed was twenty years of one of the most influential runs in American hospitality — a craft cocktail institution that helped shape how a generation drinks, thinks about bars, and expects to be taken care of. But David was never just building a bar. He was building a brand, a culture, and eventually a company — Gin & Luck — that now spans consulting, multiple Death & Co locations, and his newest venture: Midnight Auteur Hotels, whose first property, Municipal Grand in Savannah, is already turning heads. In this episode, David traces the full arc. We get into the origin story, the partnership drama that stalled expansion for years, why he walked away from a family office overlooking Central Park to raise $18 million from 5,000 individual investors instead, and what it actually takes to scale hospitality without losing the thing that made it special in the first place.

    Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more.

    Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.
    Más Menos
    1 h y 4 m
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