Innovation

Kids are all back in school, holidays for the parents as they say. So let’s get caught up on what happened last week. PS: If you haven’t filled out my…

Sometimes the biggest career setback becomes the opportunity that changes everything. In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Sky Mitchell, Founder and CEO of Basecamp Resorts, to talk about the unexpected journey that took her from getting fired after 27 days to building a $600 million hospitality enterprise. Sky shares how a $38,000 BMW financing deal helped her buy the land that became the first Basecamp property, how she raised capital while living in a construction trailer, and why her approach to building a team is simple: Hire people smarter than you. She also gets into the evolution of Basecamp, including the development of Everwild Nordic spas, and how sustainability is woven into everything from land acquisition to construction and guest amenities. It’s a candid look at entrepreneurship in hospitality, and a reminder that there may never be a perfect time to start. As Sky puts it, “There’s no right time, so just do it.” Meet your hosts Karen Stephens As Chief Marketing Officer at Revinate, Karen is focused on driving long-term growth by building Revinate’s brand equity, product marketing, and customer acquisition strategies. Her deep connections with hospitality industry leaders play a key role in crafting strategic partnerships. Karen has more than 25 years of expertise in global hospitality technology and online distribution — including managing global accounts in travel and hospitality organizations such as Travelocity and lastminute.com As the host of The Hotel Moment podcast, she interviews top players in the hospitality industry. Karen has been with Revinate for over 11 years, leading our global GTM teams. Her most recent transition was from Chief Revenue Officer, where she led the team in their highest booking quarter to date in Q4 2023. Dylan Cole Dylan began his career as a TV personality in South Korea. He then brought his love for travel and technology to Revinate where he played a vital part in establishing Revinate’s position in the US market, followed by the Asia Pacific region and now in Europe. Dylan is currently the Managing Director of Revinate Europe and is based in Amsterdam. Watch the video Transcript [00:00:00] Sky Mitchell: $75,000 car, finance 100% of it at 1.9%, which is like, in my mind, free money. And, “We’ll give you a car loan for $75,000. This new car, we take back the old car. And in light of all that…” I end up with a check for $38,000 from Bimmer. And I’m like, done, sold, give me the loan, I’ll take the check. I’ll take this car I can’t afford with a thousand bucks a month payments, and I’m gonna take that check and buy a piece of dirt in Canmore, which is the land where the first Basecamp Resorts now sits. [00:00:32] Karen Stephens: Welcome to the Hotel Moment Podcast presented by Revinate. I’m Karen Stephens, Chief Marketing Officer, joining you from sunny San Francisco, California. [00:00:40] Dylan Cole: And I’m Dylan Cole, Managing Director of Revinate Europe, calling in from Amsterdam. [00:00:45]

Travel buyers are embracing change, but they want to be the ones driving it. That was the overarching takeaway from 470+ travel buyers who participated in the interactive Buyer Buzz session at GBTA Convention 2026 . Results from live polling during the session paints a picture of a profession that is optimistic about technology, committed to partnership and increasingly focused on influencing change within organizations. AI Is Here to Stay, But Buyers Are Keeping a Watchful Eye More than 78% at the Buyer Buzz session said they’re already “hooked” on generative AI, and an overwhelming 92% believe AI will make their jobs “more strategic” rather than replace them. Sixty four percent cite “hallucinations and incorrect information” as a bigger concern than AI’s environmental impact, while 60% associate AI’s future more closely with Terminator than Star Trek . Buyers are split on whether AI should enforce travel policy automatically. While 51% say it should, 49% prefer AI to simply recommend the best travel choices. Buyers see AI as a strategic advantage, but they’re still working through how much authority they’re willing to give it. The Real Challenge Is Internal Influence When asked about their biggest challenge, 57% said “influencing internal stakeholders,” compared with 43% who cited “influencing traveler behavior.” Nearly four out of five buyers (78%) identified “change management” as the most important skill for travel professionals, ahead of “commercial thinking (22%).” When it comes to innovation, 64% said their biggest source comes from “internal business needs” rather than “external market trends.” Success increasingly depends on building consensus, leading change, and aligning travel programs with broader business objectives. Buyers Want Strong Partnerships, Not Transactions An overwhelming 92% of participants said the best supplier relationships are built on “long-term partnerships,” while just 8% favored “competitive tension.” At the same time, buyers don’t want suppliers to do all the driving. More than three-quarters (77%) believe innovation happens fastest when “buyers push suppliers,” rather than when “suppliers challenge buyers.” Technology Helps But People Matter Most Nearly six in ten buyers (58%) identified “seamless human response and support” as the most important element of traveler safety, ahead of “trust and consistency” alone. In the modern travel program, technology may improve efficiency, but human support remains essential during moments of disruption, uncertainty or risk. Looking for Solutions to Growing Complexity Nearly two-thirds (64%) said groups and meetings are harder to manage than transient travel, underscoring the increasing complexity of managing meetings and events. Buyers want new approaches to managing change, leveraging AI, improving traveler experiences, and tackling an increasingly complex landscape. Travel buyers are not resisting the future. They are actively preparing for it.

European travelers aren't rejecting technology, they're getting selective about who earns their trust. Friends and family remain the top planning source at 50% trust, ahead of retail agents at 37%. AI usage is rising, but trust in AI results holds around 17-20%. Data sharing rises with concrete, transactional benefits and drops with opaque personalization. Country gaps matter: U.K. travelers are more open, Germans more cautious, French more skeptical. Trust is now a product requirement.

Guest data is one of hospitality's most valuable assets. It’s also one of its most wasted. Most hotels have plenty of data. Booking histories sit in the PMS. Guest preferences live somewhere else. Spa visits, restaurant spend, Wi-Fi logins, OTA interactions and website conversations create even more data points. The problem is that these pieces rarely come together in a way that helps a hotelier do anything useful. That was the focus of the latest episode of Matt Talks Hospitality , where Mews CEO Matt Welle spoke with three leaders from CRM solutions on the Mews Marketplace: Daan de Bruijn, co-founder of Bookboost, Bryson Koehler, CEO of Revinate and Benjamin Devisme, Senior Problem Solver at Quinta, formerly Quicktext. Their products take different approaches, but they all point towards the same opportunity: hotels that understand their guests better can build stronger relationships and convert more of that relationship into direct revenue. The problem isn't a lack of data The hospitality industry doesn't need more guest data. It needs better access to the data it already has. As Bryson explained, guest information is often fragmented across almost every part of the hotel operation. "The property management system has a source of information, the point-of-sale systems, the Wi-Fi login... the spa system, the bike rental station." Each system holds a different piece of the picture. A guest may have stayed three times, spent heavily on F&B and always booked a particular room type, yet the hotel still treats them like a stranger the next time they receive a marketing campaign. That's where CRM and customer data platforms can change the perspective. Bookboost, for example, brings data from different sources into a central master profile before allowing hotels to segment and action that information across marketing, the guest journey, customer service and analytics. Daan's view is simple: "Every hotel should be able to know its guest digitally." That richer profile can have an impact across the entire operation. It can help automate repetitive enquiries, improve response times and personalize communication. It can also create opportunities for more relevant upselling and re-engagement. The more complete the guest profile becomes, the more useful it gets. Direct bookings start with knowing who you're talking to One of the biggest commercial opportunities for any hotelier is turning existing guest relationships into repeat direct business. Hotels spend significant sums acquiring guests through third parties. But once a guest has stayed, the relationship doesn't have to end there. The challenge is identifying that guest again, particularly when data arrives through OTAs in incomplete or obscured formats. Revinate has focused heavily on solving that problem. They have the ability to connect messy OTA data back to existing guest profiles and create a fuller view of the customer. Once that happens, the hotel can move beyond generic campaigns. Instead of emailing every previous guest with the same offer, it can identify the people most likely to return. It can recognize former OTA bookers and give them a reason to book directly next