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Jacki Brown has marketed everything from household appliances to hospitality technology, including a stint leading product marketing at Amadeus Hospitality. Today, she runs a consultancy helping hotel tech companies sharpen their positioning and messaging. Susan and Jacki talk about booking barriers, buyer research, and better brand storytelling. What You'll Learn - Why hotel marketing teams struggle to do more with less - What online shopping can teach hotels about booking and upselling - How customer research exposes what buyers actually want - Why product positioning matters more than another website makeover - What hospitality gets right about collaboration - How guest conversations can become tomorrow's content - What ground rules make AI-generated writing less embarrassing - Who should be the hero of your hotel's story Key takeaway: Hospitality marketers can borrow better research, clearer positioning, and smoother buying experiences from other industries without losing the collaborative spirit that makes hospitality special. Jacki Brown on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jackischroderbrown/ Jacki Brown Marketing https://www.jackibrownmarketing.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Damon Lawrence caught the hotel bug at the front desk while he was a student at Howard University, and he co-founded Homage Hospitality to celebrate Black culture through boutique hotel ownership. After the pandemic wrecked his deal pipeline, he moved into consulting and hotel capital markets brokerage, where weeks of spreadsheet-heavy underwriting pushed him to build Underwrote, an AI underwriting platform made just for hospitality real estate. Susan and Damon talk about tax credits, terminology tests, and too many hotels. What You'll Learn - Why watching Thompson Hotels' founders live like rock stars sold Damon on ownership - What his name spelled backwards says about his hotel dreams - Why a million dollars impresses Silicon Valley but barely moves a hotel deal - Why hotels are the hardest asset in commercial real estate to model - What FF&E has to do with your property tax bill - Why the industry guards information nobody is trying to steal - How soft costs can supersize a historic tax credit package - Why so many hotel deals only work with incentives, and whether they should happen at all - What a tired Quality Inn in Fort Wayne can teach developers Key takeaway: Hotel deals reward people who learn the language, model the details generic tools miss, and spot value in buildings everyone else has written off. Damon Lawrence on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hauspitality/ Underwrote https://www.underwrote.ai/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Adam Robinson planned to teach high school history until a friend pulled him into recruiting during the Y2K frenzy, and a later stint installing software in hotels showed him firsthand how staff turnover was hurting properties. That insight led him to found Hireology, where he has spent two decades helping hospitality employers find and keep frontline workers. Susan and Adam talk about shrinking labor pools, AI-powered pipelines, and recruiting as a profit center. What You'll Learn - How curling fax paper led Adam into hospitality - Why hotel turnover is a solvable problem - Why last year's high school class is the biggest we'll ever see - How the talent pond is about to shrink by half - Why half of all job applicants never get opened - How AI turned job seekers into resume cannons - Why 80% of candidates pick the robot interviewer - What you'll learn by applying to your own hotel on your phone - When half of all hospitality turnover happens - What agent vs. agent combat means for hiring - What senior living knows about hiring that hotels don't Key takeaway: With the labor pool shrinking, hotels that move fast, clear bottlenecks with AI, and treat hiring as a revenue driver will win the talent race. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 20% off with code TOPFLOOR20 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Adam Robinson on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamrobinson1/ Hireology https://www.hireology.com Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Adam Arnold is a small business technology consultant who, with his wife Kara, owns and operates the Little Canyon Inn, a four-unit roadside motel near Colorado's Royal Gorge. After a scouting road trip with his oldest son, Adam found a fixer-upper with killer mountain views and turned it into a distinctive stay built on patio doors, local makers, and the great outdoors. Susan and Adam talk about pulling the plug on TVs, puppy perks, and partnering with fellow boutique moteliers. What You'll Learn - Why great hosts let guests drop their baggage without picking it up - What makes forgotten Western motels so weirdly irresistible - Where the best deals hide (hint: not on the market) - What the motel mullet is and why it works - Why ditching TVs shrinks the surface area for problems, even if a few guests bolt - How local coffee, soap, art, and board games turn a room into a memory - Why banks love lending to people who don't need the money - Why restoring an old motel to look like everything else defeats the whole point - Why OTAs make it harder for small properties to buy their own ads Key takeaway:  The more distinct your property, the less you have to compete, so lean into your character and let the wrong guests find a TV somewhere else. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 60% off with code TOPFLOOR60 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Adam Arnold on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-arnold-bb15975/ Little Canyon Inn https://www.littlecanyoninn.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Genna Panagopoulos grew up in her family's restaurant, studied hospitality at Michigan State, and cut her teeth on feasibility work at Davidson Hotels before moving into development and eventually brand strategy at IHG. Now she leads U.S. and Canada development for Minor Hotels, the Bangkok-based company behind Anantara and the newly launched Wolseley, and she's the only member of her team based in North America, building the brand's presence here from scratch. Susan and Genna talk about brand building, luxury's limits, and late nights across time zones. What You'll Learn - What it takes to trade feasibility spreadsheets for brand dreaming - Why Genna calls Minor Hotels a "beautiful medium-sized company" (not about hotel count) - How brand language gets lost in translation between Bangkok, Madrid, and the US - Why Genna says no to more deals than she says yes to - What "vanilla luxury" looks like, and why Anantara refuses to be it - Why luxury hotels keep shrugging off downturns other segments can't escape - How ultra-remote luxury hotels skip the competition entirely - What Anantara's Miami project is quietly building toward - Where hotel wellness is headed next, and it's not another spa menu - Why Genna thinks the hotel industry has too many brands Key takeaway:  The brands that win the next decade of luxury hospitality will be the ones disciplined enough to say no, stay distinct, and resist adding just one more lookalike to the shelf. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 20% off with code TOPFLOOR20 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Genna Panagopoulos on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/genna-panagopoulos-726a7525/ Minor Hotels https://www.minorhotels.com/en Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Jessica Gidari's career started in interior design before widening into branding and eventually hospitality. She made stops at Rockwell Group and LDV Hospitality before landing at Union Square Hospitality Group, where she led the consulting division and developed concepts for clients like JPMorgan. She is founder of Porcelain Collective, an agency that handles everything from menu writing to branding to full concept development for restaurants. Susan and Jessica talk about hotel dining, high heels, and hatch chilies. What You'll Learn - How a Phoenix restaurant opening turned an interior designer into a hospitality lifer - Why bouncing between Rockwell Group, LDV Hospitality, and Union Square Hospitality Group added up to one throughline instead of three separate careers - What pushed Jessica to trade a stable job for the risk of starting her own agency - How Jessica balances rigid process with gut instinct when building a new concept - What trick Jessica uses to keep clients' personal taste out of a design that has to perform - What most hoteliers overlook when their vision meets their actual budget and floor plan - Why so many hotel investors assume a restaurant will fill itself once the doors open - What changes when you're designing a menu for travelers instead of diners - The one question Jessica says every hotelier should ask before touching their restaurant concept - What cuisine Jessica is still waiting for someone to nail outside its home turf Key takeaway:  The best hotel restaurants succeed by dropping the hotel-restaurant label altogether, standing on their own as distinct brands built with real structure and genuine hospitality. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 20% off with code TOPFLOOR20 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Jessica Gidari on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jessica-gidari-65906120/ Porcelain Collective https://www.porcelain-collective.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Annie Holcombe has spent her career refusing to pick a side in the hotel versus vacation rental debate, working her way through property management, Expedia during the HomeAway and Vrbo years, channel management, and business development for Marriott Homes and Villas. She is now founder of Annie & Co, coaching independent vacation rental operators on distribution and growth, while also serving as a brand ambassador and US market consultant for Booking.com, sitting on the VRMA board, and co-hosting the podcast Alex and Annie: The Real Women of Vacation Rentals. Susan and Annie talk about convergence, consistency, and commissions. What You'll Learn - Why the early job Annie's most grateful for wasn't the one you'd guess - What it took to finally convince Annie to bet on her own business instead of someone else's - What happened to the company Annie and her husband ran together before this one - How Annie decides what gets her time between consulting, board seats, a podcast, and her own company - Why hotels and vacation rentals used to feel like separate worlds, and what's pulling them together now - What a converted roadside motel reveals about where hospitality is headed - How the OTA relationship changes depending on which side of the lodging industry you're standing on - Why rate parity gets complicated the moment you're not a thousand-room hotel chain - Why the vacation rental industry can't seem to agree on standards, and whether that could ever change - What conventional wisdom Annie wants new rental operators to ignore, and what she'd tell them instead - Where Annie predicts the hotel versus vacation rental rivalry actually lands Key takeaway:  The hotel and vacation rental worlds are converging, whether the industry likes it or not, and the winners will be the ones who stop fighting over turf and start listening to what guests actually want. Our sponsor, Lodgify [https://www.lodgify.com/], has a special Labor Day promo from August 25th to September 8th. Using code TOPFLOOR60, our audience will get 60% off their Professional and Ultimate plans (one- or two-year plans). This is a huge deal, so jump on it quickly! Annie Holcombe on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/annie-holcombe-vrgal/ Annie & Co. https://anniecosolutions.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

This special episode of Top Floor comes from a webinar hosted by the Hospitality Creator Summit. Scott Frisch, COO and EVP at AARP, was scheduled to join the Summit in person, but travel issues had other plans. Instead, HCS co-founders Anna Blue and Anthony Melchiorri brought the conversation online, with Susan emceeing a fireside chat about one of hospitality's biggest opportunities: the longevity economy. Scott has spent two decades at AARP with a front-row seat to the economic muscle of Americans 50 and older. With AARP's latest research putting their annual travel and leisure spending at a staggering $1.4 trillion, Anna, Anthony, and the HCS community dig into the billions, blind spots, and hot buttons that make a difference to this group of travelers. What You'll Learn - What $1.4 trillion in annual travel spending actually buys - When America crosses a demographic line it has never crossed before - Why hospitality keeps designing for 25-year-olds while the real money skews gray - How steamers and irons became a generational battleground - How a $12.5 trillion economy still cannot find the light switch - How loyalty programs quietly stopped mattering as much as everyone assumes - Why anticipation beats algorithms when it comes to actually knowing your guest Key Takeaway: The longevity economy already rivals the world's biggest economies, and hospitality brands willing to rethink design, service, and marketing for it stand to win over the fastest-growing group of travelers in America. Our sponsor, Lodgify, has a special Labor Day promo from August 25th to September 8th. Using code TOPFLOOR60, our audience will get 60% off their Professional and Ultimate plans (one- or two-year plans). This is a huge deal, so jump on it quickly! Scott Frisch on LinkedIn Anthony Melchiorri on LinkedIn Anna Blue on LinkedIn AARP's Longevity Economy Outlook Report Hospitality Creator Summit Join the Top Floor Mail Club

Dan Jacobs is a chef and restaurant owner in Milwaukee, where he co-owns Dan Dan and EsterEv, and a familiar face on shows like Top Chef and Beat Bobby Flay. He's spent decades in professional kitchens, from short-order cook to hotel sous chef to independent restaurant owner, and is an outspoken advocate for independent restaurants and for awareness of Kennedy's disease, the neuromuscular condition he lives with. Susan and Dan talk about concepts, costs, and Kennedy's disease. What You'll Learn - What hotel kitchens taught him about trading freedom for structure - Why he pushes every 25-year-old on staff to start a 401(k) now - What Kennedy's disease does to the body, and how it's reshaped his kitchen life - Why Dan Dan and EsterEv worked when so many concepts flop - How restaurant margins slid from 20-30% in the '90s to barely double digits today - How rent, labor, and food costs outpaced the price of a burger - How a busted HVAC system and a pandemic doomed one restaurant and saved another - What to grill your landlord about before signing a lease - How Dan spots a cook with real potential in about five seconds Key takeaway: Independent restaurants survive on gut instinct, thin margins, and giving people what they really want, and Dan Jacobs keeps building his that way even as Kennedy's disease changes how he works. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 20% off with code TOPFLOOR20 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Dan Jacobs  https://www.chefdanjacobs.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Natalie Kelley spent years as a stay-at-home mom before trading carpool duty for a cockpit, earning her private pilot's license in her 40s and eventually flying corporate jets for a front-row education in high-end service. After a divorce sent her back out into the world with her kids in college, she launched Fly Girl to help solo travelers and empty nesters, especially women in their 50s and beyond, chase their travel bucket lists without draining their savings. Susan and Natalie talk about cockpits, credit cards, and confidence. What You'll Learn: - What a 1999 bucket list pulled out of a scrapbook had to do with her pilot's license - Why the climb from co-pilot to captain never actually stops - What made her turn down a full-time corporate pilot job she'd already been offered - What hotels and travel brands get dead wrong about solo, bucket-list travelers - Why she'd rather hire a private tour guide than "make friends" on vacation - Why chasing sign-up bonuses beats swiping for everyday points - How letting the points pick the destination landed her a trip to Germany and Switzerland - What "analysis paralysis" is costing travelers who think every trip needs ten days - How timing one big expense can unlock a six-figure points haul Key takeaway: You don't need to be young, rich, or fearless to chase your bucket list, just willing to start and be smart about your points. Thank you to Lodgify for sponsoring Top Floor! Access 20% off with code TOPFLOOR20 here. [https://www.lodgify.com/] Natalie Kelley on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/flygirlkelley/ Fly Girl https://flygirlllc.com Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Sam-Erik Ruttmann has spent decades in hospitality, working his way from a 24-hour shift hotel receptionist in a small Finnish town to regional leadership roles with Hyatt, Dusit International, and Langham Hospitality Group. These days, he channels that global perspective into hotel design, working with a Helsinki-based architecture studio built around a nature-first philosophy, and hosts "The Social Hotelier," a podcast that has reached listeners in over 100 countries. Susan and Sam talk about crossing continents, conscious design, and what's next for global hospitality. What You'll Learn: - How a 24-hour shift in small-town Finland became the ultimate crash course - What thirteen years in Thailand taught about guest loyalty and staff pride - How an elephant welfare crisis turned into an award-winning foundation - Why one blog post relaunched a stalled career back home in Finland - What "nature-first" design actually means when you refuse to clear the trees - Why most sustainability claims don't hold up to a closer look - How more women in leadership became hospitality's biggest bright spot - Why lighting is the detail most hotel rooms get wrong - What Sam predicts for the next big hotspot in global travel - How climate shifts are quietly redrawing the vacation map Key takeaway: The best hospitality isn't about bigger resorts or flashier design, it's about building a genuine connection to place. Sam-Erik Ruttmann on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/sam-erik/ The Social Hotelier https://www.youtube.com/@thesocialhotelier Studio Puisto Architects http://www.studiopuisto.fi  Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Nina Kleaveland spent years in marketing, loyalty, and strategy roles at major hospitality and travel companies like Starwood, American Express, and Wyndham before striking out on her own. She's now the founder of Lanyard, a company solving one of the industry's quietest headaches: where seasonal and essential workers actually sleep. She's also the founder of Female Founders in Hospitality, building community for women doing exactly what she's done. Susan and Nina talk about pivots, partnerships, and picking the right problem to solve. What You'll Learn: - What turned a hostel concept for budget travelers into a lifeline for HR departments - How biology and French degrees led to a corporate housing empire - Why "do one thing well for one paying customer" became Nina's mantra - What three co-founders with three different skill sets taught Nina about who to bring into a business - How AI runs the back office at Lanyard without touching the human relationships that matter - Where corporate housing is headed next, from unfurnished houses to almost a boat Key takeaway: The hardest part of entrepreneurship is having the discipline to fix the right thing instead of chasing every shiny new idea. Nina Kleaveland on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nina-kleaveland-19514214/ Lanyard https://lanyardstays.com/ Female Founders in Hospitality https://femalefoundersinhospitality.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Mike Medsker is the founder of Siv, a hospitality technology company focused on helping hotels respond to group sales inquiries faster without sacrificing the human touch. After building and selling his first company, Focal, Mike returned to entrepreneurship to solve one of the biggest revenue leaks in hotel sales: slow or missing responses to meeting planners. Susan and Mike talk about response speed, sales strategy, and smarter systems. *** What You'll Learn • Why outbound prospecting still matters, even with a full pipeline • How to protect institutional knowledge when top performers leave • Why "build it and they will come" rarely works • What really happens after a planner submits an RFP • Why hotel leaders should secretly shop their own properties • Why planner hours aren't the same as seller hours • How Mike's own wedding venue search inspired Siv • How small outreach tweaks that can double or triple appointments • Why text messaging deserves a place in hotel sales • How technology makes today's cluster model different from yesterday's *** The Takeaway: Nearly a third of hotel group inquiries never receive a response, and fixing that may be the biggest revenue opportunity in hospitality. Mike Medsker on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/medskermike/ Siv https://www.sivconverts.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Josh Ellis is the co-founder of Abra, a hospitality technology platform that helps hotels create more personalized guest experiences by connecting fragmented guest data across operational systems. After an unconventional journey through philosophy, meditation, consulting, and hyper-growth tech, Josh teamed up with his wife and hotelier, Dana, to solve one of hospitality's biggest operational challenges. Susan and Josh talk about data, differentiation, and delight—and why the future of hospitality depends on getting all three right. *** • How to turn fragmented guest data into unforgettable guest experiences  • Why personalization is really a data problem  • How to build hotel software integrations without insider connections  • Why hotels need to create institutional memory that survives staff turnover  • How to connect existing hotel systems instead of ripping and replacing them  • When new technology solves problems—and when it creates them  • How to motivating frontline teams through gamification, not mandates  • What are the lessons from scaling one of the fastest-growing tech companies during COVID  • How to overcome the hospitality industry's lingering technology trauma  • Why hoteliers should view operational technology as a revenue driver instead of a cost center  *** The Takeaway: Personalization becomes possible when every team member has the right guest information at exactly the right moment. Josh Ellis on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-ellis1126/ Abra Hospitality https://abrahospitality.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club

Nick Falcone is an entrepreneur, developer, and hospitality innovator who has built businesses across restaurants, real estate, technology, and branded hospitality. As co-founder of Rentyl Resorts, he is helping redefine vacation lodging by creating purpose-built branded residential resorts that combine the space of a vacation home with the service and consistency of a luxury hotel. Susan and Nick talk about branding and building. *** * How one unforgettable vacation rental disaster sparked an entirely new business * What branded residential resorts actually are—and why they're booming * Why travelers increasingly want togetherness without sacrificing hotel service * How hospitality brands create value beyond just distribution * What developers look for before investing in a new market * Why today's economics are accelerating the growth of residential resorts * How to diversify your business without chasing every shiny opportunity * Why operational clustering beats rapid geographic expansion * What AI will change, and why genuine human service will become even more valuable * Where hospitality development is still painfully inefficient *** The Takeaway: Creativity in hospitality comes from seeing gaps others accept as normal and turning them into unforgettable guest experiences. Nick Falcone on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicholas-falcone-7b4713107/ Rentyl Resorts https://rentylresorts.com/ Join the Top Floor Mail Club https://www.topfloorpodcast.com/mail-club