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This Week in Hospitality

This Week in Hospitality

Written by: thisweekinhospitality
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Every Friday morning, This Week in Hospitality brings you the most important stories, insights, and innovations shaping the global hospitality industry — distilled and discussed by people who actually build within it.

Hosted by Ben Wolff, Scott Eddy, Edwin Kramer, and Zach Busekrus, this weekly conversation is crafted for the founders, operators, and dreamers creating the next generation of hospitality brands.

You’ll get more than just headlines — you’ll get perspective. Each episode breaks down the week’s most compelling hospitality stories and explores what they really mean for independent hotel owners, boutique brands, and experiential travel entrepreneurs. From brand strategy and design trends to tech disruption and capital markets, This Week in Hospitality keeps you informed, inspired, and ready for what’s next.

So grab your morning coffee, and catch up on the stories that matter — before your guests check in.

New episodes every Friday morning.

Ben Wolff
Ben Wolff is the visionary founder behind Onera, a trailblazing landscape hotel brand in the Texas Hill Country, and Oasi, a next-generation management company pioneering experiential hospitality. Known for pushing the boundaries of design, wellness, and guest immersion, Ben has become a leading voice in the evolution of high-end, nature-driven travel experiences. His work sits at the intersection of architecture, emotion, and environment — redefining what modern luxury feels like in the wild.

Scott Eddy
Scott Eddy is one of the world’s most recognized hospitality voices — a global keynote speaker, digital strategist, and content creator who has partnered with hundreds of luxury hotel brands, tourism boards, and travel startups. Named among the top travel influencers worldwide, Scott brings a rare blend of brand storytelling expertise, social strategy, and on-the-ground hospitality experience, offering a panoramic view of how digital connection drives modern guest loyalty.

Edwin Kramer
A hospitality executive with a pedigree forged at the world’s leading luxury hotels, Edwin has held senior leadership roles with brands like Four Seasons, EDITION, Campbell, Gray, Hyatt, and NOBU Hotels across multiple continents. Known for operational excellence and cultural leadership, Edwin has built and managed five-star teams that deliver some of the most lauded guest experiences in the industry. Today, he brings that global lens to the conversations shaping hospitality’s future — where service, innovation, and storytelling converge.

Zach Busekrus
Zach is on the founding team of Journey, a next-generation loyalty and storytelling platform empowering independent hotels and vacation rental brands to compete globally without losing their soul. He’s also the creator and host of Behind the Stays, one of the fastest-growing podcasts in hospitality, where he’s interviewed the visionaries behind some of the world’s most creative stays. With a decade in growth strategy and marketing, Zach brings a founder’s curiosity and contagious optimism to every conversation — always championing the builders shaping the future of independent hospitality.

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Episodes
  • The Uber-Hotel Hookup, Expedia Optimizes for AI Agents, and Why Americans Are Skipping Europe

    The Uber-Hotel Hookup, Expedia Optimizes for AI Agents, and Why Americans Are Skipping Europe
    May 29 2026

    Mews embeds Uber directly into its PMS, promising seamless guest transportation and a cut of ancillary revenue hotels have long been leaving on the table. The guys are skeptical — cool concept, questionable adoption, and the real winner might just be Uber’s data team. Then Expedia announces B2A — a marketing function built not for humans, but for AI agents. Scott doesn’t mince words: AI is about to expose how hollow most hotel marketing actually is. Ben connects the dots to the accelerating rise of independent, story-driven properties that LLMs will increasingly favor over generic flag brands. Americans aren’t canceling travel — they’re shortening trips, going domestic, and scrutinizing every dollar. Scott just did seven hotel site visits in Tuscany. Not one was at capacity. The Smoky Mountains are not having the same problem. Finally, a sharp op-ed on the structural dysfunction between hotel owners and operators sparks a broader debate about why the aligned owner-operator model is the decade’s single biggest competitive advantage — and why capital still hasn’t caught up.

    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 02:28 — Story #1: Mews embeds Uber into the PMS 15:28 — Story #2: Expedia’s B2A strategy for AI agents 37:17 — Story #3: Travelers trade down, not out 50:04 — Story #4: The owner-operator information gap 56:36 — 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/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
  • Airbnb’s Super-App, Expedia’s Acquisition, The Overtourism Reckoning & Why Small Markets Are Winning

    Airbnb’s Super-App, Expedia’s Acquisition, The Overtourism Reckoning & Why Small Markets Are Winning
    May 22 2026

    This week, Zach, Ben, and Edwin dig into the race to own the entire trip.

    Airbnb’s summer release becomes the main event: rental cars, boutique hotels, Instacart, airport pickups, luggage storage, landmark experiences, and aggressive travel credits. The crew debates whether this is finally Airbnb’s super-app moment — or whether the company still can’t decide if it wants to be a homes platform or the best stays platform on earth.

    That rolls straight into Expedia buying CarTrawler, Booking getting more aggressive, and Meta testing AI-powered trip planning from Instagram ads. The takeaway: whoever owns intent owns the booking — and every major platform knows it.

    Then the guys break down WTTC’s massive travel forecast: $12T in global economic impact, 376M jobs, and Europe growing far faster in tourism than its broader economy. But the growth comes with tension: overtourism, short-term rental crackdowns, and the risk that outside capital prices local operators out of the very markets travelers love.

    Finally, smaller cities get their moment as group travel shifts away from big convention markets toward more intimate, own-the-place experiences. And in Spice of the Week, Ben makes the case for creative hotel financing, Edwin explains Dubai’s knock-on effect on European luxury demand, and Zach asks a brutal question after a clunky luxury check-in: has a front desk experience ever actually made the stay better?

    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 07:36 — Story #1: Airbnb’s Super-App Push 21:50 — Story #2: Expedia’s CarTrawler Acquisition 33:29 — Story #3: Tourism Growth Meets Overtourism Pressure 47:53 — Story #4: Group Travel Shifts to Smaller Markets 54:56 — Story #5: Baby Grand and the Maximalist Hotel Bet 1:00:43 — 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/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 12 mins
  • Airbnb Rethinks AI, Brands Move Into Safari, Spain’s Tourism Reckoning, Hospitality’s Human Premium

    Airbnb Rethinks AI, Brands Move Into Safari, Spain’s Tourism Reckoning, Hospitality’s Human Premium
    May 15 2026

    This week, the guys trace one tension running through travel right now: everyone wants scale, but nobody wants the experience to feel scaled.

    Airbnb opens the conversation with Brian Chesky admitting what most travel CEOs won’t say out loud: AI still hasn’t figured out travel. The panel digs into why chatbots don’t solve discovery, why travel planning is visual, emotional, and often multiplayer — and why the best AI in hospitality may be the stuff guests never see.

    Then the conversation moves to safari, where Auberge joins the growing list of luxury brands circling Africa. The guys debate whether global capital can elevate conservation and local operators — or whether safari risks becoming another “experiential” category flattened by loyalty programs, PR machines, and imported playbooks.

    From there, the crew turns to the human touch. As hotels automate more of the journey, real hospitality gets more valuable — but only if operators hire for warmth, pay people like they matter, and use AI to remove stupid work instead of replacing the soul of the business.

    Finally, Spain becomes the case study for what happens when demand, authenticity, and overtourism collide. The takeaway: Spain doesn’t sell tourism. It sells a way of life. And protecting that may matter more than growing arrivals.

    In Spice of the Week, Scott lands the thesis: hospitality is addicted to scale — and scale is killing the feeling.

    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 04:39 — Story #1: Airbnb’s AI Reality Check 17:27 — Story #2: Luxury Brands Move Into Safari 30:50 — Story #3: Human Touch Becomes the Luxury Differentiator 44:28 — Story #4: Spain’s Tourism Boom Meets Its Limits 56:10 — 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/
    Show More Show Less
    1 hr and 5 mins
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