Is Hyatt About to Beat OTAs With AI?

On this week’s Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast: GMH Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and guest host Katie Cline, host of Suite Success: Masters of Hospitality, a Skift Podcast, break down Hyatt’s latest AI push and whether hotel brands can finally compete with OTAs by capturing travelers earlier in the booking journey.

They also explore Hilton’s new YOTEL partnership and what it signals about a platform-style model, Marriott Hotels’s potential new brand revealed through trademark filings, and United Airlines’ plan to add more than 250 aircraft as it doubles down on long-term demand.

Finally, in the Unhinged Story of the Week, a possum is discovered hiding among stuffed animals in an airport gift shop in Australia, a reminder that sometimes the wildest travel moments happen before you even board the plane.

Watch This Episode

All right. So Hyatt is making a big push into AI, and it’s not just about efficiency, it’s about capturing travelers earlier in the booking journey.

Today, we’re breaking down why that matters, what it means for competition, and who might be falling behind. Plus Hilton’s new platform play, Marriott’s possible new brand, United’s massive fleet expansion, and one very, very unhinged airport moment.

Let’s get into it. Well, a very good morning.

Good morning.

We have got the fabulous Katie Cline joining us today. In case you were wondering, you’re like, wait a second, hold on, that doesn’t look like Steve.

Steve’s looking a little different today. No, hello everyone. I’m Katie Cline.

I’m the host of Skift’s podcast, Suite Success, and so happy to be back with my friend, Sarah.

I love it. You know, I love doing the show with you. I obviously love doing the show with Steve as well, but it’s always fun.

You always bring a great, unique perspective to it. And I don’t know, it’s just, I just really love how you are able to articulate your points of view, and it just is super interesting and great.

That’s a very kind thing to say to a mom of two who definitely has some baby brain still going on.

Oh, no, you are doing fantastic. So don’t you worry at all. But I’m sure you’re kind of like, wait, oh my gosh, what are we doing?

Where am I right now?

Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. So speaking of where are you right now, where are you? Where in the country are you joining us from?

We always start off the beginning of the show. Everybody, if you’re tuning in, let us know where you are joining us from.

I am at home in New York City and I see Lou is joining us from Charleston. He said it’s a high 70 today. So a little chilly.

To me, that sounds glorious, Lou. What about you, Sarah? Where are you?

Well, I happen to be actually in Las Vegas this week.

Yeah, which is nice for a little bit of something calm. For those that have been following along, I was in Orange County last week, Brazil the week before, Berlin the week before that. It’s been a whirlwind.

So it’s nice to be a little bit stable for a bit, but you need a Carmen San Diego map for you of like, where in the world is?

I definitely feel a lot like Carmen San Diego.

Over the past couple of weeks, I was totally like, especially because I’d have clients call me and I don’t know.

Sometimes I just don’t like to overly advertise where I am because they, I’m like, they must think I’m either they think it’s cool or they must think I’m totally crazy. I mean, arguably, I may be crazy.

Both are good. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, ish, ish, you know.

You keep it interesting, that’s for sure.

Yeah, definitely. We got somebody based in New Delhi, India. I just had clients in New Delhi.

They were there for a week, so that was nice. And cool. Well, yeah, as you guys join us, please let us know where you’re joining us from.

So Katie, before we just dive in, anything new with you since you were last on that you want to just quickly share, like what’s been going on aside from being a fabulous mom and your amazing show?

Well, that’s very kind.

I was going to say you were a guest of Suite Success, so that was really fun because we’ve gotten to spend a lot of time together personally, but it was really inspiring, Sarah, honestly, to hear your story, to hear how you started your brand and

your whole world into travel and hospitality. So quick plug for Suite Success to check out Sarah’s episode. Yes.

Oh, my gosh. I know we’ll have to definitely link to that. And I’ve got some clips too, so we need to figure out.

We’ll figure out some clips to share, to send people over to the show, but that was definitely a lot of fun.

I’m sure people would love to spend a little bit more time with you. What about you? Besides the whirlwind trip, are you coming down?

Did you unpack yet? Or are you someone who leaves the suitcase in the corner for a while?

That is such a good question. So I did unpack. I technically got back Saturday.

I unpacked yesterday because I’m trying to put things in a cup. It depends. That’s a great question.

I’m pretty good at unpacking within two days. In this particular case, I was super exhausted and I was like, oh, now that I have an extra room, I don’t have to look at it. So I’m like, oh, yeah, I should unpack.

But there are times that I have a quick turnaround. So there was the one night I landed, I got in at 1 a.m. and I was back out at 8 a.m.

So obviously, in that case, I definitely unpacked and repacked. Yeah.

I’m admittedly horrible at that. I do leave it a little too long sometimes. The carry-on, sometimes the actual physical small carry-on, because I don’t check.

I don’t like to check my bag, so I have a big carry-on and then my little parcel, little purse thing. Sometimes that doesn’t even get fully unpacked and it’s just ready for the next trip for me.

Totally. Well, my carry-ons definitely stay mainly packed and ready to go for the next trip. I also have my toiletries, by the way.

This is turning into a whole travel tip series, but we’ll get into our topic shortly. I actually keep my toiletries pretty much packed and ready to go.

And if I remember from the trip, like, oh, I was running low on XYZ, the first thing I do when I get home is make sure I stock up on whatever that is.

So when I’m packing, I literally just toss in the toiletries and I don’t have to worry about anything. So that’s a nice little pro tip here. But I know enough with our travel tips.

How do we get into some topics? Are you ready for that?

Yes, let’s do it.

You’re like, let’s talk. All right. Our big story this week is about Hyatt and their AI strategy, winning the customer earlier.

And for those that have been really following along with the AI journey and seeing just where what’s been happening, it’s all about how do we grab the traveler or the customer earlier in the journey?

Because now we’re playing in a whole new different landscape with AI. So Hyatt is using AI tools there to basically engage travelers earlier in the discovery phase. So not necessarily just a booking.

And they’ve found, which is not a surprise, the early results have showed improved conversion, sales efficiency, and productivity gain. So this is great because it helps them kind of keep directly, compete directly with OTAs, Google, all of that.

So I love the example that they gave that you can essentially give a prompt.

Something like, I want to go somewhere where it’s 70 degrees or warmer, where there’s a great golf course and there’s a beach, maybe a Michelin-starred restaurant within a five-minute drive.

And I think that this is really cool because a lot of times, I don’t think all of the times, but a lot of times, you don’t really know where you want to go.

If I think about this summer, I planned a long weekend with a big group of friends and all of our kids. I wanted to be within a three to five-hour drive of New York City. I wanted a house big enough for all of us.

I ideally wanted a pool or a lake, maybe some walkability. But other than that, I didn’t really care where we were going. Well, even after Christmas, my husband and I wanted to take the kids.

We wanted to go someplace that had a direct flight from New York City. We wanted it to be a fairly short flight, same time zone ideally, to someplace warm. Other than that, we didn’t really care.

So I do think that there is a lot of the travel decision that’s happening in that kind of dreaming phase. But I think the question remains, what is better used for that?

Do we want to go to a Chachi BT and a Claude and maybe like almost a third party? Or do we want to go to a Hyatt or one of the other branded companies to have that conversation?

Well, I think that’s a really great point. I love that you said that because there is, I think all too often, maybe those in the industry underestimate how, in general, people can be fairly flexible at the beginning.

I just had a woman yesterday in the gym. She was like, oh my gosh, you’re in travel. Maybe you can help us decide and plan our honeymoon.

We don’t even know where we want to go. We just want to go to a beach and just relax on the beach. It’s like, that could be anywhere.

That could be Mexico, that could be the Caribbean. What type of flight are you wanting to do? You could go to the Philippines.

It could be so many different things. I think there is also, as you mentioned, that dreaming phase. It’s like that discovery phase is interesting because it kind of lets people realize, oh, wow, these are the possibilities, which is kind of nice.

The huge opportunity I also see, and they touched on this in the article, is that this is going to give Hyatt and other companies who are using search AI like this really a good read on what the traveler’s priorities are, what price sensitivities

they might have, their desired trip type and potential add-ons. Yes. I also think, and we’re going to talk about this in a future article that we’ll get to, but I think it’s also going to tell them, what new brands should we launch or are we missing?

What destinations do we have demand in that maybe we don’t actually have something to service?

That’s going to help them really intentionally draw their development pipeline as much as it’s going to help them to know, like, hey, we can buff up prices here or surface this more.

That’s such a great point because really, I mean, they’re going to have access. We all know that data, that information is so important because they’ll see.

They’ll be like, okay, wow, there’s been a lot of particular searches for road trips and national parks. And it’s like, how is our presence in those areas, whatever that might be. So yeah, that is a very, very key point.

But again, it’s interesting.

I mean, it’s showing that just everybody, everybody that’s in travel as in all the big brands, I mean, they’re very actively incorporating and getting involved in AI so that they are just further upstream, so to speak, of the whole planning process

as they should be. And it’s, it is still, I still think it’s, because there’s been a little bit of waffling back and forth.

I know with Chat GPT as far as, okay, can they book, will they be able to book right then and there, like in the actual chat conversation? Does it push them to another site?

Right now, I think they’re saying not to actually have it book in chat because that would basically completely destroy the OTA. You know, OTAs and it just really would really change the landscape.

But I don’t know, I still would be surprised that things could definitely change.

Yeah, I think we are so in the infancy of this technology. And this is an embarrassing story. But I remember I used to have an iPod, okay, like a lot of us did.

Okay, that’s part of the reason.

I remember when the iPhone came out and you could have your music on your iPhone.

And I remember saying, I would never want that. I want to separate the two. I mean, that is a ridiculous statement.

I also think I was thinking within the confines of like megabytes and like, that would take up too much space on my phone. And now here we are in worlds of terabytes and more.

So I think very much with AI, I’ve already seen in my personal life, that shift from like thinking about AI as chatbots, to now seeing the full spectrum of what it can do.

I remember when it was first coming out as well, people were talking about how the searches were moving from Google to chat GBT. And at first, again, I was a bit like, I don’t know, like, would I need that?

But there’s so much nuance that you can talk to AI with, that you can’t just in a straightforward chat. So I think it’s just cool to see travel companies, hospitality companies, hotel brands experimenting with it.

Because I don’t think anyone is going to get it right on the first try.

But I think making it a priority in your business landscape means, like you said, you’re going to be more ahead than people who are just sitting back and saying, I’m never putting songs on my iPhone. Yeah.

Oh, and that’s such a great point. By the way, I love that you brought up the Google example, because I remember people just typing stuff into chat that I was like, I would just type that in.

There is a, yes, you can use both, but there are definitely certain things that I absolutely still search for in Google. And then if I want a different explanation or something more in-depth, I’m putting it into chat.

I don’t know, I still use them in slightly different ways. But yeah, I mean, people would just be like, let’s just ask chat. And I was like, you’re gonna ask chat for a website or whatever?

You know, it’s just like, okay. But yeah, I mean, again, they’re just grabbing users’ attention and then they can, you know, from that, but I mean, the possibilities are endless.

Yes. Hotel brands, airlines, et cetera, wanting to own more of the traveler journey than just the stay or just the flight is nothing new, right? This has been going on in our industry from the beginning of time, really.

But I think this is now a really cool way that they are not only going to help the traveler surface places that maybe they didn’t even know were in the portfolio, but vice versa, get that full loop of feedback to then implement different strategies

or openings, etc. in the future for them as well.

Yeah. It’s changing fast. It is changing fast.

Well, speaking of changing fast, why don’t we go on? We’ve got a couple of other stories that we want to touch on. We’ll probably do a little bit more rapid fire on them, but big things happening in the world of hospitality.

So our next topic here is Hilton and Yotel. Could there be a new platform model? So Hilton’s deal with Yotel suggests a shift towards a platform style model, which is bringing sort of external brands into Hilton’s ecosystem.

Always a big thing for a lot of these bigger brands. Ultimately expanding distribution without really having to build it from scratch.

So this is interesting because it’s kind of signaling an evolution beyond traditional franchising, which is interesting. But I guess the big question is, and I want to hear your, is like our hotel brands basically becoming marketplaces.

I would say yeah, they are.

Absolutely. I mean, and we’re starting to see this. Marriott has the licensing deal with MGM Resorts.

Hyatt has a near identical one with the Venetian in Las Vegas. IHD with Novum. So we are starting to see this more and more.

And what’s interesting to me, and the article did touch on this too, is the reputational risk. Because you know, Sarah, when I was at Marriott, when I was at Starwood, I was on the Crisis Communications team.

We saw back in January that Hilton removed a Minneapolis Hampton Inn from its franchise network after that hotel had refused to service to…

I wish I would have talked to you about that, but yes.

Yes, absolutely. So that they were able to do that because they have this 300 page plus franchise agreement that is able to be very, you know, okay, you’ve done something that hurts our reputation, you are out.

If you are bringing in more and more product that you potentially have less control over, how could that potentially affect that brand halo in the future?

That’s a great point. And I love also that you used the term brand halo. So certainly from the brand standpoint, but also just the consistency so that you know what you’re going…

But then again, it’s basically sub-brands under the bigger brands. You know, there’s a very different guest experience that’s going to happen at a Waldorf Astoria, for example, than at another one of Hilton’s brands.

Yeah, but you’re raising a really good point about that consistency because even the brands and the franchises within the mothership, if you will, have very tight regulations for each of them.

And if you’re at the top of the luxury side, if you’re at the lowest price offering, there’s still certain things you know you’re going to get when you stay at a Marriott or a Hyatt branded hotel.

Like a clean room, we hope, you know, good Wi-Fi, certain things that you have that trust on. That’s a really good point to think about, too. Yeah, yeah.

Well, I think the only saving grace with that, and I’ll say this from the lens of, I work with another big brand and I do a lot of their TV work.

And in general, in general, the average consumer is not putting like we know, and if somebody was really forced to maybe think about it, they might be able to put two and two together.

But I don’t know if everybody, for example, is realizing that the Waldorf Astoria is under Hilton. Oh, great.

But I do think we are seeing a trend, particularly with Hilton, Marriott, where they do a brand by Marriott Hotels. Sure.

When the name is in the title, totally different.

Exactly. And they’re doing that more and more. I know we’ll talk about that in one of our other stories, too, potentially a little gossip happening in that space.

But it is, if you’re tying yourself that closely, you’re right. So I think if you’re going to stay at a hotel, unless you booked it through the Hilton website, you probably have no idea that this partnership exists.

And what they are saying is that Yotel customers who haven’t tried Hilton yet, this could be a way to get them into the Hilton ecosphere.

I know this was something that we talked a lot about when I was at Starwood and Marriott, is that you have different brands, not only for different trip types, but potentially for different socioeconomic classes or ages or something.

And then people can kind of graduate throughout the brand’s ecosphere, if you will.

Totally. That’s such a great point. And I mean, that’s the whole point, is kind of get them in at the entry level and then maybe with work or this type of travel, or that’s the whole thing.

It’s like, oh, we like staying at these type of properties when we’re going for work, or traveling for work. We like staying at these other types of properties when we’re traveling with our family.

And so there really is not only something for every traveler, but even as they kind of grow through their profession and maybe their socioeconomically, they can travel differently in five years. And so they can kind of stay in that system.

So absolutely. No, that’s a very good point. So why don’t we go on to our next topic here?

Marriott, the trademark filing is hinting at a new brand. I love this. Like everybody’s trying to, oh, what’s coming next?

So there was a trademark filing that suggests a possible new brand, Matter Hotels, which is, I mean, does the big question, does Marriott need another brand? What do we think? What’s going on with that?

Yeah, so Marriott is now at 37 brands now, which is crazy.

When I left the company, we were at 30. So it’s just incredible to see that continued growth. I think their strategy a lot has been about capturing niche traveler personas.

We’ve seen that with the acquisition of postcard cabins, for example. So maybe this is, there was speculation that this could potentially be more wellness branded. Also, speculation, it might not be.

I personally have to wonder if this really all comes back to area of protection, which as we know with branded hotel, franchise hotels, when you sign a deal, you are given an area of protection that essentially the company is saying, we will not

allow another branded hotel within this bubble. And it can be bigger or smaller depending on the brand, depending on the negotiation, the location, etc.

So the skeptic in me questions, is this for the consumer or is this to attract more ownership groups? Oh, whoa, whoa.

I would say both.

And I don’t think that’s a bad thing for the consumer, right? More option is good.

Yeah, yeah, no, absolutely. I mean, and they, I mean, obviously, as we’ve seen with their strategy lately, they are trying to capture more niche traveler individuals.

So it makes, it makes sense, but you bring up a very, very, very valid point, as always, that, I mean, again, if it gives them the opportunity to work with more owners, I mean, that’s, that’s just smart business.

Exactly, exactly. There’s nothing wrong about that by any means. It’s more about, like, that’s an intelligent business decision.

And, and also, if you’re growing the options for your customer, that’s a good thing too, because you’ll have more choices of where to stay, you’ll have more exposure to different brands that might make you fall in love with one and want to travel

someplace else and try something else. So yeah, very interesting to see what will come out of this.

Yeah, definitely. Well, and Capuano, by the way, I mean, had gone on to say that he sees a very long runway for mid-scale hotels. And I think that makes complete sense, just considering the general economic climate that we’re in globally, by the way.

So, you know, we’re in this time where it’s like, where choice, people just want choice. And if it’s going to be just a slight shift for something a little bit different, it just makes sense. I mean, there’s a lot that they can gain from that.

Yeah, it definitely takes a lot to build a brand.

I remember when I was working for W Hotels, we were opening W Punta de Mita, and we were there and I was talking to a guest. I said, what made you want to come here? They said, I’d never heard of this destination before.

But the fact that W opened here, I wanted to come check out the newest W Hotel. Yeah, that I think is a proof point of really strong brand loyalty. I don’t think you necessarily need that at every price point or for every brand.

Some of you just need options, like you said. So I think that will be a positioning exercise for the company to determine how much do we need to put into building an actual brand that people follow versus giving options and choice.

And I loved how in the article, they said that matter has that same evocative, one-word energy that we’re seeing from lifestyle hotel brands like Canopy, Motto, Ruby, Nomad, and Netonia.

Well, and also, we’ll just touch on this and then we’ll move on to our next topic here. But matter, just what that is. And we’re seeing in general a shift just culturally, just our mindset is people are shifting more to things that matter.

And that word is being used in a lot of different contexts. So I find that part curious and interesting because people want meaning and meaning is matter, you know? And so it’ll be interesting to see how they end up rolling that out.

Absolutely.

And we did see in one of the trademark filings that it was matter by Marriott, going back to our earlier point of tying those together, right? You’re right.

You’re right. OK, so Lou saying when I’m looking for a hotel and see brand by Marriott, I know what to expect.

Exactly.

That’s exactly it.

We also have someone joining from the Caribbean, a lovely and Matthew joining us from Vermont as well. So hi, everybody. Thanks for joining us.

Thank you for joining.

Exactly. All right. So this is interesting.

Shifting gears a bit to airlines. And by the way, there’s a lot going on with airlines. But United is planning to add 250 planes, basically expanding their fleet.

I think it was by 2030, if I remember correctly. I’ll pull it up in the article. But that’s huge.

They’re basically, they are really trying to expand their fleet, but more so with premium demand, because these particular planes will basically have more seats and will have more premium offering or premium seats that they are able to sell as

they’ve seen, and we’ve seen this kind of across the board, which also applies to hotels, is that that’s really where their money makers are, is in premium, and airlines are completely in alignment with that, and they have a strong confidence in

long-term travel demand. I agree with that. We as a society will never stop traveling. There might be dips because of things that are happening currently.

One of the big ones being jet fuel, which I know that just a couple weeks ago, there’s like, oh yeah, that might increase fares by 10%.

I highly would recommend or suggest that it will probably increase fares by 20%, which is a significant price jump.

Yeah. Yeah. And it’s interesting.

The CEO said that demand is strong and has remained so with the rising oil prices. But I do think you’re right. At a certain point, the customer is going to go, is this worth it?

Is this price tag worth it for me? They say they’re preparing for oil costs as much as $175 a barrel and staying above $100 a barrel until 2027. So that is a significant jump.

But you’re right.

Not only are they taking up more space for premium seats, but they’re also adding something in the back, which I think is quite cool, a snack bar.

I really like this idea. And they talked about other airlines who are doing something similar too. You do always have that kind of funny interaction with the flight attendant where it’s like you may get your one cookie now.

Yes. And maybe you didn’t want the cookie or maybe you wanted two of the peanuts or whatever it might be. So I do think that kind of self-serve option is interesting.

I wonder if that’s also about staffing too, but quite an interesting option for us as travelers.

It is. I mean, my understanding is that they’ll still do their regular food and beverage sort of service. But I don’t know.

Gosh, I mean, I’m just going to say it. Sometimes some people get rowdy in the back of a plane. I also refer to a crowd as the Costco Free Sample Crowd.

Like, oh, there’s a free sample. Oh, my gosh. You know, and that’s not necessarily my favorite crowd because people are just so…

I’m hoping that it doesn’t turn into a bum rush. And people are actually sophisticated about it. I do see similar things on international flights.

But it was interesting because it’s a similar but different touch.

But in Delta, for example, in their more premium cabins, they come around and instead of just like the normal tray, they actually come around with a basket that you could choose from a variety of things and they’re more like elevated snack options.

So I’m just curious how this will be because also do they want people moving? They said in here that like, oh, people can move about the cabin. And I’m like, but do we want that?

I don’t know.

Very true. Yeah. Lou said in the chat that airlines need to change their approach and have larger planes and fewer flights.

Airports just can’t handle the traffic control.

Yeah, that’s great.

We are days after the unfortunate crash at LaGuardia just here. So it’s interesting point that he raises.

Yeah, no, completely. I mean, there’s a lot of shifts happening. I mean, this is going to be interesting to see how it will roll out.

I mean, it’s obviously not changing tomorrow, but these plans, I think, make sense as far as moving forward in the future for United.

Should we move on to something that does not make sense? Yeah, yeah.

Let’s go on to that, our unhinged travel story of the week. Okay, this is wild. Do you want to lead on this?

Sure.

A real possum was discovered hiding among stuffed animals in an airport shop in Tasmania. Shoppers actually thought it was a plush toy at first, until they saw its eyes blinking back at them.

Blink, blink, blink, blink. That’s wild. A possum.

An actual possum. I mean, that is just crazy. Oh, Paul joined us.

Yeah, free stuff turns everyone into a giveaway goblin. Ooh, giveaway goblin. I’m going to have to steal that.

Oh, I like that.

Yeah.

No, definitely. But this is really, I mean, come on. Okay.

What’s happening here? How is a possum getting into the airport? Also, like, what was the possum?

Not that now we’re trying to get into the mindset of a possum, but like, what was he thinking? Oh, my people. Wait, they’re not.

No, like, what’s happening?

I just loved the very dry Aussie reporting at the end of it, where it said, it was unlikely to have been placed there as a prank. Someone would have had to put the possum through X-ray screening to get it into the secure departure terminal area.

Like, yes. Thank you. Thank you for pointing that out.

Oh, my gosh.

Can you imagine? I mean, like a possum too. That’s crazy.

I know.

I know. Never a dumb woman at airports, I suppose.

No, no, no. I mean, it is also, I mean, we’re talking about Tasmania. So, but I love that it like it found itself like right next to like kangaroos stuffed kangaroos and all that stuff.

That’s right.

That’s right.

This is great. Yeah, this image is hilarious. Like it’s, I mean, it’s like blinking back at it.

So let us know, guys, if has there been anything crazy that you’ve seen at airports? I feel like the craziest thing that I’ve seen, I’m used to seeing dogs. Although I feel like I saw a lot and now I don’t see as many.

What always is interesting to me is cats. I get it. People have to travel with their cats, especially if they’re moving.

Generally it would be like when they’re moving. But when I’m on a plane and I hear like a cat meowing, I’m just like, what is happening? It’s like, what are these?

This like, this shouldn’t be here right now. This shouldn’t be here right now. And the poor cat’s probably like, what in the world is happening?

I’ve actually flown with my late dog twice when we moved to the UK, when we moved back from the UK.

And it is a trip. I mean, sometimes the requirements are crazy. They required us to bring diapers for the dog.

Like as if my dog was going to wear that. But Kate is joining us. She said, oh wow, I would freak out.

How did that happen? Who handled that situation? I think that last question is so great.

You’re leaving a gift store attendant to have to deal with some wildlife. A bit crazy day on the job.

Right. Or they call security and security is like, I’m not trained in animal control. Although arguably some people might be considered animal control.

But there’s going to be a total not me moment.

No, not it.

Not it. Yeah, for sure not it. That which also and that should probably be a conversation for another show.

But we should talk about the crazy not it moments that we’ve had working in hotels because I know that we’ve all been in hotels where something happens and we’re like, oh, I am not trained. We are not trained for this. Not it.

No, thank you. So I know that we’ve got a whole lot of a lot of stories around that. But why don’t we do a quick before we wrap up here, real time recap.

What have you seen out there in the streets of hospitality?

And if you need me to go first. I have such a good one. No, I have a great one.

So there is this company called Quip, like a short for equipment, and they allow you to rent a variety of things when you’re traveling. But I know them for baby things. So after Christmas, we went to Florida.

Obviously, we didn’t want to check the pack and play or a high chair or these really bulky things. So you’re able to actually rent everything you need. And it’s through a real person.

So it’s almost kind of like, think of Airbnb, how there’s hosts who own their properties, and they’re putting this on the platform. There’s people who own the stuff, have to keep it to a certain standard, and they’re on the platform. Okay.

The person that I was assigned to run through was just fantastic from the beginning. So she had messaged me a few days before our trip and said, Where are you staying?

I want to reach out to your management company and see if I can get into your rental before you arrive and set everything up for you. So that alone was huge, and the fact that she did that.

We flew, this was my son’s first flight, two kids, we touched down in Key West, and of course, we then sit on the tarmac for an hour and a half, which is the most frustrating feeling as the pilot is telling us, there’s no gates available and we’re

looking at four open gates out of the plane window. So, this time, I’m having to now change my Instacart order, which was supposed to be delivered to us.

And luckily, again, the management company was able to open the door, so they were able to deliver my groceries. So that was a huge, huge win. But then I also had this woman from Qwip texting me saying, everything is all set up.

And just that moment of feeling taken care of by somebody, when everything else is messy, was incredible. Then I knew this was going to happen, but we get to the rental car counter.

And even though I booked a car seat for my daughter, guess who didn’t have a car seat? So they gave us a car seat for bigger kids, which would not be really adequate for her for the whole trip.

And I was able to text this woman through Qwip and say, can we add a car seat to our order? Not only did she say yes, but she’s like, I live really close to the airport. If you want, I’ll leave it on my porch for you.

I’ll just add it to your order. This way, you can get her in that car seat as soon as possible. So there’s just those little moments of really feeling taken care of.

Wow.

How many other parts of the travel experience broke, whether it not being having a gate when we arrived or not having my car seat that I pre-booked.

And then having someone there who’s like, I got you, I got you taken care of. That was huge.

That sounds okay. You just had somebody really just help save the day.

I know. So now I’m a walking commercial for Qwip.

Well, as you should be, because I mean, they really helped. And again, it just shows you like, if you have the right person that can just help make, it’s all about making things easier for those that are traveling.

And I think that that’s the biggest key. I mean, that was certainly what I did as a concierge when I worked at a hotel. And which kind of brings me to my story.

So last week, I was staying at the Westin South Coast Plaza. It’s where I stay when I work with a client of mine. And they know me.

Like, I’ve stayed there multiple times. And there’s a couple of things going on. And they know how to anticipate my needs.

They also, the level of service that they deliver is like, they’re like, what do you need? Like, we’ve got it. And I can even be at higher-end hotels, and they’re still not as responsive as this particular Westin.

Now, I will also say this. I do make sure that I tip and say thank you to every single person. I’m talking about the valet, and my car stays up front.

The front desk, because sometimes I have to move around rooms. The housekeeper, whoever is delivering room service to me. And it’s just a reminder, because I know sometimes there’s a bit of tip fatigue.

People are like, oh my gosh, we have to tip everybody. But if you tip the right people at the right time, the appropriate amount, not saying to go crazy, that so many people have tipping fatigue, that that little bit makes you stand out.

And so the next thing you know, they’re like, I’ll bring your cappuccino to your room. And you’re like, oh my gosh, that’s great. Or whatever it is, we keep your car up front so you never have to wait long.

Or I’ve got these like boxes of things, no problem, we’ve got them all for you.

And so I think this was, first of all, exceptional service, but it was also this reminder that like, you know, we should still tip people even as the, even though we are, there’s a lot of fatigue out there.

If you can do that because it does make a difference because so many people are just being left to like fend for themselves as far as just relying just on that hourly wage. And you know, we need a little bit more help these days.

Yeah, that’s such a great insight and a good reminder too, because you’re right, sometimes you’re like, oh my gosh, I’m being asked again, or I don’t know how much I should do.

But that little bit can really be a huge difference maker in how they see you as a guest and then therefore how they take care of you.

Yeah, definitely. So wait, this last quick topic here, or question, Matthew said, how do you think hotel properties can utilize AI and products like Quip within their upsell programs?

Oh, great one, great one.

A quick sound bite on that.

Yeah, I mean, Quip is such a good one too. I don’t know if it’s as appropriate for hotels, because hotels might be able to stock the similar items and just keep that all in house. But it’s great for short-term rentals particularly.

It’s therefore, if you’re not somebody who wants to stock it yourself or trust your cleaning team to be able to set it up to the right quality and standards, having that third party that you can still offer those amenities, because in a way that

would influence my booking decision, right? If I am a mom who’s flying someplace and can’t bring all of this stuff that I need for the safety and sleep of my child, I might choose house A over house B if they offer it.

But if house B says, you can book it through Qwip and it’s all taken care of for you and it’s just as easy, if not better, because they have a bigger array of things. I was able to get a bottle sanitizer, I name it, they had it.

I think it is an excellent unlock for smaller operators, particularly.

And smaller operators, including hotels, because a lot of the things that you described might be part of a guest services division, but not every property has a guest services division.

So maybe for more of the mid-scale properties, it would absolutely be something that they could add on and just help give a bit of peace of mind. Just think about a longer-term rental or longer stay hotel. This would be great for them as well.

Maybe somebody like, just because we keep throwing out the name there, like a Waldorf or Soria or Ritz-Carlton might not need it necessarily.

Or maybe it’s like they still go through the people on staff, but then they have this in the background that’s helping them procure items when they can’t physically leave the hotel because that’s also-

Or maybe the car rental companies could partner with it because this, I knew they were not going to have my car seat, even though I booked direct and booked it in advance.

So if you can support, by the way, these are individual people in the community who are stocking these items, who are keeping them clean, who are keeping them ready. You’re supporting a local and you’re delivering a better guest experience.

I mean, what a total win-win.

Totally, totally win-win. Oh my gosh, we covered so many great topics. I know we went pretty long today, but thank you all for joining us.

Thank you, Katie, for joining us as well.

Thanks for having me back. I always love being here with you guys and with everybody in the comments. It’s so great to see the engagement.

No, it is really great.

I know that there’s a lot we could have kept talking, but due to time, I know we’ll have to wrap today’s show. But thank you, Katie, for joining us. By the way, thank you all for joining us as well.

Live, chiming in, sharing your questions, your thoughts in real-time, that is what we love, to be able to have that real-time engagement makes it so much more fun and exciting. As always, if you found this show useful, be sure to share it.

Like, subscribe, follow all the things, you know the deal. But wait, Katie, do you know how we end this show?

Tell me.

We both say stay hospitable at the same time.

All right, let’s do it.

All right, so with that, thank you guys for tuning in. And until next time, stay hospitable.