Host Steve Turk welcomes Elizabeth Mullins, President of Evermore Hospitality, who shares her start as a server at New Hampshire’s Lobster Shack and her first hotel role as a Ritz-Carlton Boston management trainee after earning hospitality and business degrees.

Mullins recounts being inspired by a childhood Ritz-Carlton visit, spending 28 years with Ritz-Carlton as it grew from six to 99 hotels, opening multiple properties across Asia, becoming a GM multiple times, and later an area vice president. Recruited to Disney, she led global hotel development, renovations, premium services, and worked through the pandemic including the NBA bubble.

She then helped open New York’s Fifth Avenue Hotel as COO/Managing Director, learning independent distribution and culture measurement, before joining Evermore after being approached for her luxury-and-scale expertise.

She describes Evermore’s “togetherness” concept, Conrad Orlando anchor, 300+ villas/homes around an 8-acre Crystal Lagoon, extensive amenities, and plans for growth, and closes with career advice on courage, speaking up, integrity, and hospitality as a lifestyle.

This episode was brought to you by Lodgify. Use code THM60.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:33 Sponsor Lodgify

01:38 Meet Elizabeth Mullins

02:00 First Hospitality Jobs

03:17 Ritz Spark at Five

05:44 Ritz Career Growth

09:28 Asia Expat Adventure

17:04 Service Lessons Abroad

18:54 Leaving for Disney

21:07 Disney Hotels Role

23:15 Frictionless Check In

26:14 Independent Hotel Leap

28:36 Independent Hotel Wins

29:17 No SOP Reality Check

30:06 Distribution Lessons

30:54 Agritourism Marketing Advice

32:34 Building Culture Systems

35:25 Evermore Recruitment Story

38:49 Togetherness Travel Concept

42:27 Evermore Scale and Amenities

44:53 Service Model Evolution

46:50 Growth Plans and Year Three

49:23 Advice to Younger Self

53:58 Wrap Up and Sponsor

Host Steve Turk interviews Jessica and Damien Zouaoui, founders of Oakwell Beer Spa in Denver, a social wellness concept combining a craft beer and wine self-pour taproom with four private spa suites featuring infrared saunas, rain showers, and hydrotherapy tubs infused with hops, malt, and herbs, plus optional zero-gravity robotic massage chairs and room-service refills.

They share their hospitality backgrounds, leaving corporate jobs in New York City, and traveling to 25 countries to find a scalable U.S. concept after discovering a beer spa in Poland in 2018.

They detail market research that led to Denver, funding challenges solved through Denver’s economic development loan program and a nonprofit SBA lender, difficulty securing a lease, and a DIY buildout using auctions during COVID. Oakwell opened February 26, 2021, emphasizing five-star yet non-stuffy service, adding non-alcoholic options, and aiming to franchise within a year.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:33 Sponsor Lodgify

01:38 Meet Oakwell Founders

02:10 Beer Spa Explained

02:36 Suites And Addons

04:22 First Hospitality Jobs

05:44 Quitting Corporate Life

07:20 World Trip For Ideas

10:18 Discovering Beer Spa

12:34 Why It Clicked

14:49 From Idea To Plan

17:09 Funding And Finding Space

20:29 Landing the Space

20:52 SBA Loan Reality

21:35 From Church to Spa

22:39 DIY Build and Auctions

25:18 Opening Day Playbook

26:58 Michelin Casual Service

29:35 Touchless Spa Model

33:09 Wellness and Moderation

36:15 Franchise Plans Ahead

37:28 Leap of Faith Advice

39:09 Wrap Up and Sponsor

Host Steve Turk welcomes Tim Major, CEO of Operto, to discuss how AI is reshaping hospitality through “agentic teammates” designed role by role to assist or replace specific hotel tasks.

Tim shares his path from early hospitality exposure as a Volkswagen tour guide in Vancouver/Whistler to building computers, creating award-nominated music-industry websites, founding a hospitality-focused development company that was acquired by RoomKey, and rising from VP roles to CEO.

He explains RoomKey’s early PMS integrations (including with Expedia), the industry’s fragmented tech landscape, and how RoomKey was acquired by Full Steam to consolidate and standardize PMS capabilities across North America. Tim describes using multiple LLMs across departments, AI-driven productivity and potential burnout, and why Operto focuses on outcomes—especially direct bookings, distribution, fraud detection in brand-search ads, and surfacing real-time operational insights—while avoiding AI that harms guest experience. He emphasizes hotels being discoverable in LLMs and advises professionals to start using AI tools now.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:33 Sponsor Lodgify

01:38 Meet Tim Major

02:26 Aperto AI Agents

03:57 First Hospitality Taste

05:34 Early Tech Roots

06:36 Music Websites Breakthrough

08:09 Founding in Hospitality Tech

09:48 RoomKey Career Rise

11:40 Mentors and Learning

13:42 Hard Lessons Contracts

14:58 Full Steam Consolidation

17:47 Joining Maestro AI Strategy

18:50 Building Aperto AI Native

21:26 AI Shift Reflections

22:33 Everyday AI Workflows

24:39 Adoption Gaps and Burnout

25:47 Hospitality AI Strategy

27:06 Distribution Monitoring Agents

27:53 Stopping Brand Ad Fraud

31:21 Back of House Automation

32:16 Unifying Hotel Data

35:56 Personalized Direct Booking

38:42 Wellness Itinerary Curation

40:16 Next 12 Months Focus

41:58 Career Advice and Wrap