FNA 217: Belon Our Wildest Dreams

Waiting for "uncertainty" to disappear before making your next hotel deal? Dan Lesser has a technical term for that: a cop-out. I caught up with the LW Hospitality Advisors president and CEO at LendingCon 2026, and Dan sees considerably more activity in the hotel market than all the hand-wringing might suggest. He says the first half of the year has been phenomenal, people continue to travel, substantial hotel transactions are getting done and there's money available for acquisitions, refinancing and construction when the economics work. Then we got into what could drive even more deals. Owners who financed three, five or seven years ago now face debt maturities at significantly higher interest rates, while brands are also pushing properties that postponed renovations to get the work done. Some owners will refinance. Some will renovate. Others are going to decide they've had enough and sell. That's when things get interesting for everyone else. Dan explains why he doesn't believe the money ever really disappeared to the sidelines, where he's seeing hotels repriced and why his business currently spans everything from proposed new developments to distressed and bankruptcy-related assets. There's a lot happening underneath all that "uncertainty." Thanks to my friends at Actabl for supporting #NoVacancyNews. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Staypineapple Hotels President Dina Belon joined us for Friday Night Audit, and within minutes we were talking about underground printer-paper markets, retired Peabody ducks and why her early Google results once featured photos from the Playboy Club. So, pretty much a standard Friday Night Audit. Craig Sullivan and Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera were along for the ride, while I broadcast from EPCOT, questioned ducks about their employment history and went five-for-five on a Phish quiz. After more than 200 shows, I would've been embarrassed if I missed one. Dina also had plenty to say about what Staypineapple is doing with AI, guest experience, technology and those famous pineapple chunks. 🍍 Pineapples 🦆 Ducks 🎸 Phish 🖨️ An office-paper black market 🍸 And eventually, drinks Watch the latest Friday Night Audit and see how far we managed to wander while still technically talking about hotels. #NoVacancyNews Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

During LendingCon 2026, Glenn Haussman asks Red Roof's Lina Patel why conversions now account for roughly 80% of the company's hotels this year. Lina also explains how Red Roof's RIDE initiative has helped 40 people become hotel owners and why the company sees more room to grow that number. Watch the conversation to hear what Red Roof sees happening in the hotel deal market right now. #NoVacancyNews #RedRoof #LendingCon Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

LivAway Suites made a bold choice: give long-term guests more room and still protect the economics behind the hotel. The company builds rooms about 20% larger than typical economy extended-stay rooms, places the kitchen at the center of the space and adds features that matter when someone lives in a hotel for weeks at a time. Fast Wi-Fi, better sound control, package lockers, useful storage and stronger ventilation all play a role. I spoke with LivAway Suites CEO Mike Nielson with Dr. Producer Suzanne Bagnera about how LivAway makes that model work. Mike explains how the company controls construction costs, improves housekeeping efficiency and builds an independent brand around the way extended-stay guests actually live. LivAway now operates 14 hotels and plans many more across the country, but the most interesting part of the story comes from the math behind the room. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to hear how LivAway gives guests more space without giving up the margins that make the model work. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

A Michelin-recommended restaurant on top of an Embassy Suites changes the conversation pretty quickly. I spoke with Bonnie Campagnolo, Global Head of Embassy Suites, from the rooftop of the brand's Asheville hotel, where the restaurant draws customers seven nights a week. The property combines two-room suites, breakfast and the evening reception with meeting space, serious food and beverage, and a rooftop experience befitting the Asheville market. Bonnie explains how Embassy Suites gives developers more flexibility to shape each hotel around local demand while protecting the elements that keep guests choosing the brand. That approach lets owners add restaurants, bars, meeting space and other revenue drivers without turning every Embassy Suites into the same building. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to see how this Asheville property pushes the brand in a new direction and hear where Bonnie plans to take Embassy Suites next. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Curator Hotel & Resort Collection brings together some seriously cool independent hotels without sanding away the qualities that make them interesting. New Waterloo offers a great example. The company creates distinctive hotels inside historic buildings, connecting each property to its surrounding community. Curator gives the team greater buying power, stronger vendor relationships, broader marketing support and tools that help each hotel compete—while New Waterloo protects the identity and guest experience. I spoke with Jennifer Barnwell, President of Curator Hotel & Resort Collection, and Sarah Swenson, Corporate Director of Marketing at New Waterloo, about how that partnership works in practice. Sarah explains why independent hoteliers need strong partners, and Jennifer shares how Curator supports those hotels without forcing them to follow a brand playbook. That balance creates the real story: independent hotels gain the reach and resources of a larger collection while protecting the personality that gives travelers a reason to choose them. Click through and watch my latest #NoVacancyNews video to see how Curator and New Waterloo make that partnership work—and get a look at some of the standout hotels inside the collection. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Anthony Klok keeps 80% of his hotel staff for more than 20 years, and he doesn't credit software, surveys or another employee engagement program. I visited Anthony, Principal of Rebel Hospitality, at the Best Western Plus Hawthorne Terrace in Chicago while he cooked for his staff and handed out appreciation bonuses. He explained why people stay, why so many hotel companies still get this wrong and how owners directly shape the culture inside their properties. Anthony also connects that loyalty to stronger guest service and better business performance. His hotel just recorded its best summer in four or five years after a $1.5 million renovation, but the most interesting part of our #NoVacancyNews conversation had nothing to do with the building. It came down to what owners do every day and what employees notice long before any customer does. Click through and watch the video to hear Anthony explain what keeps his team in place for decades and why more hotel owners should pay attention. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Every hotel brand makes a promise on a slide deck somewhere. There's a real gap between what a hotel brand promises and what actually happens at the front desk. I got brand strategist Philipp Mirow, CEO of Meridian Thinking, on the show with Dr. Producer Suzanne to figure out exactly where that promise falls apart. Philipp ran the Radisson brand while at Choice Hotels, then founded Meridian Thinking, the consultancy behind brand work for Hilton, Starwood, and 1 Hotels, among others. He's also got an unusual detour on his resume that shapes how he thinks about all of it. This conversation gets into: The unlikely operational job on his resume that still shapes how he builds brand strategy today Why a 500-page brand standards document rarely survives contact with an actual front desk A guest-recognition problem he says airlines solved years ago that most #hotels still haven't touched How a brand nobody was excited about turned pure nostalgia into a real growth strategy Where he thinks AI genuinely belongs in guest service, and where handing it to guests backfires A special thanks to our advertiser Actabl. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit them at Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

Picture 100% occupancy on your busiest weekend of the year — then picture running out of towels. Rooms sit unsellable, guests grow furious, and the hotel writes refunds and credits just to get through the night. Bart Begley built Integrity Laundry Services so no hotel has to live through that scenario, and I went to Destin, Florida to see how. Under Bart's model, hotels don't own a single towel or sheet anymore — Integrity owns every piece of linen outright and delivers a fresh set the night before a hotel even needs it. His proprietary system pulls reservation data straight from a property's own systems to know exactly what a property needs and when. This tour covers: The Mardi Gras scramble that leaves guests without a room and hotels writing refunds and credits Why hotels no longer own their linens at all under this model, and what that eliminates from their budget How a proprietary system reads a hotel's reservations and restocks linen before anyone calls The water and utility numbers behind linen that arrives spotless and hospital-clean What happened across an entire holiday weekend at 100% occupancy — and how not one room came up short Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.

The hotel business apparently didn't get the memo that everything is supposed to be terrible. Consumers feel squeezed. Credit-card debt keeps climbing. Business travel remains soft. Hotel construction faces the same cost and financing challenges we've discussed for years. Yet hotels keep performing, people keep traveling and owners keep making deals. So what's actually holding this market together? I asked Bruce Ford, SVP at Lodging Econometrics, to help me make sense of it. We talked about why event travel continues to deliver, how hotels can offer deals without destroying their rates and why the biggest opportunity ahead may have less to do with building new hotels. One number caught my attention: Bruce expects the industry to renovate or convert between 325,000 and 375,000 rooms during each of the next couple of years. That could create a very different hotel investment market than many people expect, with major implications for owners, brands, management companies and industry suppliers. Watch my latest #NoVacancyNews conversation with Bruce to hear where he sees the hotel market heading next. Actabl gives you the power to profit. Visit Actabl.com. Want the weekly roundup of news, videos, and what you might've missed from #NoVacancyNews? Text HOTEL to 66866.