Kipp Lassetter is a former ER physician turned health-tech founder, hotel owner, and gas-station-barbecue legend who now runs RBN, a luxury real estate referral and rewards platform. He's on the show to unpack how he thinks about building and selling businesses, turning "boring" transactions into unforgettable experiences, and why the right real estate agent matters more than any points haul. Susan and Kipp talk about loyalty and rewards.

• What really connects ER medicine, healthcare IT, hotels, and a gas-station-turned-destination barbecue joint

• Why Kipp bought a "bad" gas station and the mindset he used to turn it into a must-visit moneymaker

• A simple framework for deciding when to hold a business for cash flow versus when to sell and move on

• How RBN quietly taps a standard real estate referral fee and turns it into "guilt-free" reward points for buyers and sellers

• What RBN is learning about keeping rewards meaningful in an era of overcrowded lounges and points inflation

• How AI will supercharge loyalty with hyper-personalized offers and smarter "gamification" of points for both brands and members

***

Our Top Three Takeaways

1. RBN turns real estate transactions into meaningful, high-value rewards.

Kipp explains that RBN uses the agent referral fee to give buyers and sellers a massive amount of reward points—often enough for a safari, Japan trip, or other bucket-list travel. The model reframes home buying as a chance to earn "guilt-free" experiential rewards rather than just a stressful financial transaction.

2. A great real estate agent matters more than any number of points.

A core philosophy of RBN is that no reward can overcome a bad real estate experience. The company puts significant emphasis on vetting and selecting top-performing agents first; the points are "icing on the cake," not the main event.

3. The future of loyalty is hyper-personalized, AI-driven experiences.

Kipp predicts that AI will rapidly transform loyalty programs by tailoring offers to individual members—think curated experiences based on personal interests, bucket-list items, and dynamic point optimization. He also notes the challenge of welcoming new members without making elite status feel unattainable.

Kipp Lassetter on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kipp-lassetter-md-1aa499b/

RBN Rewards
https://www.rbnrewards.com/

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Steven Rubin is the CEO of Collared Martin Hospitality, the management company behind Faraway Hotels, with a career that's zigzagged from overnight manager at a 600-room Marriott in 1999 New York City to revenue strategy trailblazer and culture-first leader. He's helped open and grow iconic lifestyle hotels at Kimpton, led across operations, asset management, and hospitality tech, and now steers an independent, experience-obsessed brand expanding from Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard into Sag Harbor and Jackson Hole. Susan and Steve talk about muses, markets, and management—brand-building.

What You'll Learn About:

• How to think about the "best" path to GM in different segments, from luxury F&B to commercial

• What overnight shifts in late-90s New York teach you about composure, guest recovery, and not losing your mind

• Why Steven moved from front desk chaos to revenue zen, and how that one decision rewired his whole career

• Why Collared Martin is betting on high-barrier leisure markets like Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, Sag Harbor, and Jackson Hole

• The madness and method of onboarding 26 tech systems in a brand-new management company

• How Faraway's fictional female muses shape design, rituals, and guest touchpoints in each destination

• Where AI can actually enhance a stay (hello, smarter pre-arrival notes) and where lazy prompts will absolutely backfire

• The one thing Steven would change about hotel management companies: caring more loudly, clearly, and courageously

***

Our Top Three Takeaways

1. Leadership Begins With Self-Awareness and Empathy

Steven's stories from overnight relocations in New York City to his Kimpton-era emotional intelligence training highlight one central theme: great hospitality leadership starts with understanding people. His guiding principle, "seek first to understand, then to be understood," shapes how he handles guests, conflict, and his executive team's two-word check-ins. This human-centered approach influences Collared Martin Hospitality's culture and his belief in caring deeply for employees and guests.

2. Place-Based Storytelling Creates Brand Magic

The Faraway brand's muses, fictional women inspired by each destination, guide design, rituals, service cues, and even pre-arrival moments. This narrative framework ensures that each hotel feels rooted in its location rather than created from a template. Steven's examples, including Susan Bloomfield, the pirate captain in Nantucket, show how authentic local storytelling can inform guest experience without becoming cheesy or generic.

3. Seasonal Markets Require Creative Multi-Sensory Training and Talent Strategies

Operating in high-barrier leisure destinations means rebuilding teams every year. Steven is developing a multi-sensory training model that blends visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and cognitive learning to rapidly onboard seasonal staff from around the world. His openness about still learning, experimenting, and adjusting systems, including onboarding 26 technology platforms in a single month, offers practical ideas for hotels that work with seasonal labor or rapid openings.

Steven Rubin on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenmrubin/

Collared Martin
https://www.collaredmartin.com/

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Franck Desplechin is a French-born chef turned luxury hotel food and beverage executive, with roots in Michelin-starred kitchens and brands like St. Regis and Auberge Resorts. After running iconic properties (including a wild Sedona chapter with his wife as co-leaders), he launched a nationwide task force and consulting practice and distilled his "chef mindset" leadership style into a book. Susan and Franck talk about building healthy, high-performing teams in high-pressure environments.

What You'll Learn About:

• Lessons from a 15-year-old apprentice about reliability, humility, and showing up that still matter in the C-suite
• Navigating partnership when you and your spouse run the hotel together without killing each other (or the vibe)
• How COVID, quarantine, and a pregnant partner forced a workaholic to completely rearrange his priorities
• What the "chef mindset" really is and how to use adversity, rejection, and pressure as a leadership training ground
• Spotting when your culture is out of balance between guest experience and employee experience
• Rethinking "we have jobs because we have guests" and flipping it to a culture-first, people-first philosophy
• What task force really looks like behind the scenes and how elite consultants show up differently than the average fill-in
• Serving what the property needs vs pushing what you think they should fix as an external expert
• Meetings that should absolutely die and how to spot the recurring time-wasters with zero impact
• Simple daily rituals that build loyalty, like the 15-minute "hello tour" that makes your team feel seen
• Where luxury F&B is headed next and why fewer, better outlets may beat "infinite options" for modern travelers

***

Our Top Three Takeaways

1. Leadership in luxury F&B is shaped early, and built on discipline, humility, and constant learning.
Franck traces his approach to leadership back to the foundations laid in Michelin-starred kitchens: showing up on time, staying coachable, being reliable, and remaining a lifelong student of hospitality. These habits, formed at age 15, still anchor his leadership today.

2. Task force success hinges on humility, flexibility, and meeting properties where they are.
High-performing task force leaders don't walk in trying to fix everything. They focus on what the hotel truly needs, adapt to existing team culture, assess emotional dynamics, and provide continuity during leadership gaps. Ego and personal agenda have no place in effective interim leadership.

3. Luxury F&B's future is fewer outlets, sharper concepts, and deeper employee focus.
Franck predicts a shift away from sprawling multi-outlet hotels toward tighter, more exceptional concepts, because guests increasingly value quality over variety and seek local experiences. He also argues that employee satisfaction should be measured and prioritized with the same rigor as guest satisfaction, because the guest experience depends on it.

Franck Desplechin on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/franck-desplechin/

Franck's Website
https://www.cheffranck.com/

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