The emotional needs of both hoteliers and travelers were chief among the topics discussed on CoStar News Hotels podcasts over the past month.
Here's a look at the highlights from recent podcasts.
In recognition of the American Thanksgiving holiday, hoteliers from around the country shared their takes on what they are thankful for in 2025, including Mike Everett, executive vice president at CoralTree Hospitality, noting he's thankful for hardworking employees.
“This year, what we have to be thankful for are the teams that are showing up each and every day at our properties, that are at our home office, in a time where there's so many headwinds," Everett said.
Similarly, the HSMAI's latest State of Talent report highlights trends including a disconnect between employees and employers, and author Dorothy Dowling calling out some "frightening" trends.
"On a macro level, we're at the lowest level of employee engagement that we've ever had in our history," Horwath HTL's Dowling said. "And a lot of it is trust. It's that employees don't necessarily trust their employer, and they don't necessarily trust their first-line leaders. ... It is the leader's responsibility to bridge some of that trust and to invest in relationship engagement, but we have to re-earn a lot of that trust from employees."
Authentic connections was also among the trends discussed with Hertelier founder and Editor-in-Chief Emily Goldfischer, albeit with a focus on guests. She said travelers' desire for "farm charm" is an example of that.
"I think people are tired of hearing about tech; they're tired of AI and they want to reset in nature," she said.
Lisa Bonifacio, managing director of Hyatt Hotel Corp.'s lifestyle group, joined the podcast to dive into the growth of Bunkhouse Hotels, in particular. She said they're leaning into a connection to communities particularly in the food-and-beverage space.
"When you really want to be part of the neighborhood, you build a restaurant for the neighborhood. You don't build it for the hotel guests," Bonifacio said. "And that's what makes a hotel guest want to eat at it. ... What's going to sustain a restaurant is the people coming on a Tuesday night, not the Friday night hotel guest."
Tell Me More
On the November episode of Tell Me More: A Hospitality Data podcast, CoStar's Jan Freitag and STR's Isaac Collazo discussed how the government shutdown didn't have as grave of an effect on hotel performance as feared.
Recently released TSA data shows screenings during the shutdown period were up 2%.
"Folks aren't talking about that," Collazo said. "A lot of us were traveling during that time period — if you had to travel, you traveled, right? For business, we traveled. It was an inconvenience, but you didn't stop."
The Upgrade
In CoStar News Hotels' monthly podcast focusing on Europe, Middle East and Africa, Oliver Winter, CEO of A&O Hotels & Hostels, talked about his company's growth prospects across Europe.
A&O now has 43 hotels/hostels in 30 cities in 11 European countries, with a total of approximately 30,000 beds. In October 2025, the firm acquired the DoubleTree by Hilton, Docklands Riverside, which will be A&O’s first location in London.
“We are very proud after 25 years to be coming to London,” Winter said. “Three different buildings, guest buildings with a connector building.”
Next Gen in Lodging
Author Calvin Stovall Jr. joined the Next Gen in Lodging podcast to talk about his book "Hidden Hospitality: Untold Stories of Black Hotel, Motel, and Resort Owners from the Pioneer Days to the Civil Rights Era," which chronicles the history of Black hospitality leaders.
"The book starts in late 1700s, it goes all the way through, of course, the Jim Crow era, Harlem Renaissance, all the way through the Civil Rights era," Stovall said. "And then there's a last chapter in there where I talk about current Black hotel owners and those that are impacting the hospitality industry."