
A Holiday Special with Your Favorite Hospitality Podcasters: No Vacancy, Hospitality Daily, The Modern Hotelier, and Suite Success
In this special roundtable episode, Katie Cline (Suite Success) brings together some of the most influential voices in hospitality podcasting for an unfiltered reflection on the moments, movements, and hard truths that shaped 2025 — and what operators should be paying attention to as the industry looks toward 2026. The conversation features yours truly, Zach Busekrus (Behind the Stays), David Millili and Steve Carran (The Modern Hotelier), and Glenn Haussman (No Vacancy). Together, they move past headlines and hot takes to examine what’s really happening behind the scenes of hospitality today.
Drawing on hundreds of candid conversations with founders, operators, and industry leaders, the group explores luxury’s continued ascent, the evolving (and often conflicted) state of loyalty, where AI delivered meaningful impact—and where it fell short—along with trade show fatigue, shifting guest expectations, and the creative ways operators protected profitability in a challenging year.
This episode isn’t about predictions for prediction’s sake. It’s a grounded, experience-driven discussion for hospitality leaders who want to understand not just what changed in 2025, but why it mattered — and how those lessons will shape smarter, more resilient businesses in the year ahead.
Welcome to the
Behind the Stays Podcast
The stories behind your favorite stays — and the hospitality entrepreneurs who’ve made them memorable.

Episode 335
This Week in Hospitality: The Hotel Owner Squeeze, Six Senses Founder's Comeback, Wyndham's Grandma Gambit, and Coachella's Dirty Secret

Episode 334
This Week in Hospitality: Why Direct Booking Isn’t Working, Hyatt’s Miss, and the New Rules of Demand

Episode 333
How a Health Crisis, a Divorce, and a Thai Monk Led Her to Create the #1 Spa in the World: Meet Diana Stobo of The Retreat Costa Rica

Episode 332
This Week in Hospitality: The Death of Hotel Discovery, The Rise of Food-Led Hotels, and Loyalty’s Identity Crisis
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Episode 335ListenThis Week in Hospitality: The Hotel Owner Squeeze, Six Senses Founder's Comeback, Wyndham's Grandma Gambit, and Coachella's Dirty Secret
Episode 334ListenThis Week in Hospitality: Why Direct Booking Isn’t Working, Hyatt’s Miss, and the New Rules of Demand
Episode 333ListenHow a Health Crisis, a Divorce, and a Thai Monk Led Her to Create the #1 Spa in the World: Meet Diana Stobo of The Retreat Costa Rica
Episode 332ListenThis Week in Hospitality: The Death of Hotel Discovery, The Rise of Food-Led Hotels, and Loyalty’s Identity Crisis