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Josiah Mackenzie

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  • 1 min

How to Turn Wellness Into a Profit Center – Emily Johnson

🏨 Emily Johnson, founder of Elevate Wellness Collective, emphasizes practical steps for hotels to enhance revenues through wellness audits. Her strategies include sleep-focused room upgrades, minibar redesigns, team training, and retreat partnerships, enabling hotels to boost top-line growth without significant capital investment. This approach aims to uncover hidden revenue opportunities, offset rising costs, and improve retention. The discussion is supported by Mews, an integrated hospitality operating system.
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What Hotels Get Wrong About Wellness – Emily Johnson

🏨 Emily Johnson, founder of Elevate Wellness Collective, explains why hotels often misinterpret wellness, focusing beyond spas to include mental and emotional well-being. She argues for integrating wellness into design and operations strategies, not as a standalone amenity. This discussion is part of Hospitality Daily, supported by Mews, a hospitality operating system. For more on AI and hotel tech, listen to Richard Valtr's insights. Transform these ideas into actionable strategies for your team!
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Expert Hotel Leaders On How To Outperform In 2026 (Chris Green, David Lund, Shozib Khan)

📈 In 2026, Josiah Mackenzie, Sarah McCay Tams, Shozib Khan, David Lund, and Chris Green discuss hotel management strategies. The focus is on aligning revenue, labor, CapEx, and culture through shared data and forecast accuracy. This approach democratizes financial insights and emphasizes daily execution, aiming for improved reporting, sharper decisions, and sustainable profit without neglecting people. The conversation highlights the importance of data beyond numbers alone to drive real portfolio performance.
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A Hotel Owner’s Unfiltered View of 2026 – Bashar Wali

📋 Bashar Wali, founder and CEO of Practice Hospitality and This Assembly, discusses 2026 hospitality industry challenges, highlighting flat revenues, rising labor and insurance costs, and policy uncertainty. These factors are leading to eroding margins, frozen investments, and delayed renovations. Wali emphasizes how owners are reconsidering growth and risk strategies to navigate these tough economic cycles effectively.
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Humans Are Starving for Connection. Hospitality Can Deliver It. – Heather Dunwoody

💬 Heather Dunwoody, founder of Hospitality in Bloom, discusses how participatory experiences and community-centric approaches enhance guest experiences in hospitality. Drawing from extensive experience with agencies and large brands, she emphasizes that people crave connection, and hospitality is key in fulfilling this need. Tune into her insights on how fostering connections can build stronger brands and resilient hospitality businesses.
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How to Get Real Performance From Hotel Technology – Stacey Milgram Potzka, Actabl [Sponsor Bonus]

📖 Stacey's role and the implementation process of Actabl in hotel technology were discussed at 02:30. At 05:00, the focus shifted to how hotel technology is implemented, followed by effective collaboration with tech partners at 10:09. By 12:48, tools improving tech setup and adoption were highlighted. Professional services' support was covered at 15:18. Training for technology usage was emphasized at 19:06, and the importance of community in hospitality tech was noted at 22:47. Career reflections and work meaning were explored at 27:40.
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“Sportspitality” and the Future of Placemaking – Walter Isenberg, Sage Hospitality

🏟 In this episode, Walter Isenberg, CEO of Sage Hospitality Group, delves into "Sportspitality"—combining hotels with sports and entertainment venues. He highlights how these projects exceed traditional travel needs by boosting demand through arenas and stadiums, impacting professional sports, universities, and urban centers. Sage's McGregor Square project serves as an example. Join Josiah on February 5th for a live session about enhancing portfolio reporting.
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  • 7 min

Hotels Are Splitting Into Two Completely Different Businesses – Walter Isenberg, Sage Hospitality

🏨 Hospitality industry faced challenges in 2025. Sage, with 65 hotels, 50 restaurants, and entertainment venues, experienced mixed results and flat RevPAR. Costs increased amid geopolitical uncertainty, impacting urban and resort markets. Despite GDP growth, RevPAR declined, an unusual trend. Optimism surrounds 2026 with strong group bookings and the corporate transient market's return. AI is expected to transform suburban select hotels, while experienced hospitality focuses on authentic, curated spaces like Denver's Dairy Block, emphasizing the importance of retaining quality staff.
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