GMH Hotels: Banks Now Lead Travel Loyalty. Small Hotels Beat Big Brands.

0:25Hello, Sarah.

0:30Sarah Dandashy: oh my goodness look we almost have like similar backgrounds here very curated where are you coming from because that's definitely well it might be a hotel room it could yeah that would be fun uh just i am uh staying at a friend's place in los angeles very cool i like the background she's got there very curated yeah right a little bit like inspired with yours with all the things on all here. I listen to all the hotel keys I've been to. Yes. From hotels. You know, I like stuff, books, coffee, whatever. How many hotel keys do you have? I have a lot more on my desk right now that I haven't put up.

1:07I need to get it up there, but in the hundreds probably. And everyone's like, those cost money, Steve. I'm like, well, I'm keeping it as a, my little keepsake from all your hotels. Thank you very much.

1:16Sarah Dandashy: I collect them too. I just don't have them up on anything yet. I want to create like a more formalized. Yes. You got to find something there. uh eclectic recording background more authenticity from manzi digital that's right oh my god these studios that all look the same just has a tv to change the logo for these oh my goodness sarah did you get a haircut oh my gosh ladies and gentlemen let's stop Haircut. This is crazy. I mean, I did. I did. But yeah. Is it such a ridiculous thing? Is that just like a thing that ladies do whenever they get their haircut? I guess some do it too. But like you got to post their like fresh hair, right?

2:02Listen, I think it's a big deal. And we just we all want to say as viewers and listeners, it looks very nice. Good job. Oh, my God. Shout out to the salon.

2:10Sarah Dandashy: You know, the woman that's been doing my hair has been doing my hair since 2009. Oh, my gosh. Or 2008. She knows all my boyfriends. Not personally. I'm sure even more. Kidding. Anyway, it's funny. Anyway, this just went a whole personal. Well, listen, it was a holiday weekend. It was a nice long weekend. I hope all of you got to go somewhere fun or do something cool with your family and friends. I got into a black hole of the new ChatGPT model. I was just showing backstage of all the amazing things it creates. If you haven't yet, I really encourage you to get onto the new Astra model of ChatGPT and just create things.

2:55It's amazing. It's not like, you know, copying, pasting something onto LinkedIn. It's like building video game worlds that I knew that I could. And, you know, just amazing things that you can do on there. So I'm excited to see the future and what may be a year from now.

3:10Sarah Dandashy: Did you go anywhere? No, I was just... Oh, but the big news... Did we talk about this? No, we didn't talk about this last week. My mom got a dog. Oh my gosh, good. I feel like between my mother getting a dog, you got a dog, Will, producer Will in the background got a dog. Everybody's gotten dogs lately. He's got some good boys. And girls. Oh, we got a girl. Oh, we got a girl. Wow, so dismissive. Lonnie, good to see you, man. Welcome. Welcome. Good morning. Yeah, it was fun. A lot going on. It was a very rainy weekend here in Miami, so I didn't get really to do too much. A lot of storms, but we made the best of it.

3:53I have a kid's book coming out soon. My kids and I were working on it, so very excited. It's there at all the rough draft.

3:58Sarah Dandashy: I did. I got to work on some of the artwork, but we're almost there. So coming out November 1st, everyone. Yes. Excited. Very cool. very cool oh my gosh well hopefully everybody had a great labor day weekend it's wild um it is it's so it so do you consider labor day then the start of fall or do you actually wait until yeah i'm pretty in my mind like summer's over after labor day you can't wear white you can't wear white pants anymore after that you can't wear oh i'll wear white pants whenever no it's the start of fall in my mind but i know it technically isn't but in my mind it's like yeah, everyone's back to school.

4:38Summer break is done. Vacation's over. So you start, it's Christmas already.

4:42Sarah Dandashy: Yeah. Yeah. This is true. It's funny. Cause just after today's show, I'll be going over to CBS LA to do a little segment talking about fall travel, but then that's also kind of blending into holiday travel. And it's like, I mean, I'm already booking flights for Thanksgiving and definitely the December holidays. So a lot of big bookings come in over labor the people planning so an art management company a ton of bookings came through big ones too high revenue high adr so a lot of people planning yeah but what are give us the top three fall travel what should we be doing here oh well so the interesting thing is like everybody knows it thinks of fall travel as like shoulder season so we've we've done a great job as far as like educating people on shoulder season where maybe like five years ago they weren't really thinking that way.

5:33Sarah Dandashy: Um, but shoulder season now, it doesn't necessarily mean a discount, you know, because you've got either, uh, you've got destinations that are getting smart and they're adding events to their calendar, which are maybe driving a lot of traffic. Um, or it also just depends on the destination itself. So it's like, whether it's fall foliage or you've got destinations that are impacted, it's maybe slower, but it's slower because maybe it's weather related or, you know, like less people, like if you're going down to Mexico and you're like, you know, it's going to be a little bit rainier, less people are going to be going at that time.

6:07Sarah Dandashy: So a lot of interesting facts and stats when it comes to fall travel. But I mean, again, more people are, as opposed to just putting all of their travel into like one big summer bucket, they're traveling off season on that shoulder season. So stuff isn't that cheap anymore. I love it. Paul Manzi saying fall foliage season. You're right. Just like Sarah said, you nailed it. I've done that drive. I need to do one of those Northeast drives. Fall foliage in the Northeast and then like in California and even like the Pacific Northwest, depending on the where, but harvest season. So that's huge. People are like, oh my gosh, I'll just go to Napa and Sonoma.

6:50Sarah Dandashy: And yeah, that's probably their busiest season. So wild interesting times we got viewer william what's this about this is a show talking about everything in hospitality and travel william so welcome to the show first time yes thanks for joining uh well why don't you want to um go ahead let's jump on in jump on in here sarah give us our first article oh here okay we're just gonna dive in to this one okay so our first topic here why luxury GMs need a razor sharp point of view. My goodness. So this is interesting, an interesting article just as far as what it's, it's kind of doing, looking at general managers in saying that they can't necessarily have a generic point of view and that they've got to make kind of like bold decisions.

7:40Sarah Dandashy: And because of their decisions, they end up impacting for lack of a better way of saying it, the vibe, of the property. And so they, yeah, they, the general manager basically curates the feeling of the hotel. Right. Yeah. And this is something where, you know, I can see it more and more. This is a great article. If you haven't had a chance, make sure to read it by Sean O 'Neill here. Um, it really was, I'm sorry, by Colin Nagy. Um, he wrote it and it was really a good article because you get into the mind of a four seasons general manager and how he makes decisions, He started a new property, walked in and saw there was a sports bar right when you walked in blocking some of the views and how they talk to ownership of why you should make these changes and why you should have certain things in place and why things should smell a certain way.

8:31And it's really an art form to be a general manager because you have to know the business side and understand how to hit all the numbers and make sure you can pay the loans and the mortgage and the electricity and the employees and all that important things. but also how you cater to the guests to create an experience that people don't forget and want to keep coming back to. And I think it's an art form that's kind of getting lost a little bit because there's a lot of churn. There are a lot of GMs moving place to place to place, and it's hard to build a culture so fast. And once you're in a place, you see the true great GMs that I've worked with.

9:02They're there for a long time building that culture over many years. So you've worked in great places. What were some of the better GMs you worked with?

9:10Sarah Dandashy: you know it's interesting i'll think about different gms and the decisions that they made and i'll give a shout out to he was a general manager i mean i've worked with i've been very lucky that i've worked with a lot of incredible gms so fantastic uh but my shout out will be to jeff kulik and he was um at the london west hollywood um when i was there and i remember when he came in and within maybe like a year or so that property was really interesting because it was originally built in the 80s and I think it was originally like an apartment building and then they they turned it into a hotel before the it became the London and so because it was built in the 80s it was super big and boxy which is different than many of the other buildings in Los Angeles and so there were like big spaces that weren't necessarily used or optimized and I remember there was this gigantic space that they were using for storage.

10:09He came in, and I love the story.

10:11Sarah Dandashy: He came in, and he was like, we should make this a screening room. It turned into a 110-person screening room. They had an outlet. Yes, it was the largest one that people could rent out because it was bigger than Soho House. It was bigger than a bunch of others. and not only, and of course, maybe it's not going to be rented out every single day, but it took so much business away from other properties. Like the Four Seasons on Doheny did a lot of press junkets. Now they were like, well, we can do a press junket and screen the movie at the London. Like Soho House, I forget how many seats they had, but a fraction of the number.

10:55Sarah Dandashy: And they're like, well, instead of having 30 people, we can go here and have like 110 people. So what an incredible move, just that single decision. He took like a big warehouse space, but of course it took knowing the destination, knowing the business and it shifted things completely. So, um, I love that example. I think it's a great example. And I think, I don't know if I want to say the hotel, but I'll say, cause I have friends that worked before and after at this place, but there was a four-star Forbes hotel where the GM was brought in to make it five stars. And it's a very different mindset to have that.

11:31Sarah Dandashy: Very different mindset. Yeah, of course. And to come in, it really takes having to convince people what you have to do and how you have to do it. And really attention to detail is everything. And this GM, I say a lot, if I had to run, you know, if I owned a giant resort, this is the GM I would want, but it's a hard life. Like gets there at 6am, checks the buffet. Is that croissant fresh starts walking the property as every light bulb on looks at all the floors says hello to all the team members says hello to guests then you know transitions into business and meetings and then goes into the lunch rooms and sees how they're doing into the back cafeteria because the cafeteria for the employee has to be as good as the the stuff for the front of house guests right continues on his day and he's still there till 10 o 'clock at night and does that every single day six days a week so you know i'm not saying that's what every gym has to do but i'm just saying this one that I've watched really has taken it to a new level to get it to that five-star level.

12:26And you have to get rid of people too, because there's people who don't want to buy in and don't want that level of pressure every single day. So it's interesting how a GM can really impact a place when you have that right leader.

12:37Sarah Dandashy: Oh, completely. They set the tone, you know, and, and they have to take, again, as we mentioned before, like all of the numbers, you know, they're, they're supporting, you know, investors, designers, even designers, they have to take everything, all of this input, and then apply what works. And then also be strong enough to be like, hey, I hear what you're saying, but that might not make the most sense for this, or let us get there. So very interesting. But yeah. Yeah, so good article. Make sure to read this article. And I want to make sure I give the author, Colin Nagy, make sure to read his article.

13:15I thought it was really interesting, especially the point of view of a GM at a property and how they dive into it. So check that one out.

13:22Sarah Dandashy: Yes. All right. Well, let's get into our next topic here. The new travel loyalty leaders are banks. So this was a pretty interesting one. So Chase Travel did, there we go. They are, yeah. So check that out. Chase Travel, no, no, I was going to like read something with the headline, but Chase Travel did$12.6 billion in sales in 2025. Amex Travel did$11.1 billion. Capital One is emerging as a serious third player, by the way. I mean, they also have their lounges now. Basically, the major bank travel portals are doing more in sales than most airline loyalty programs combined. And it's getting close to some of the largest OTAs.

14:10Sarah Dandashy: So it's very interesting. Well, you know, I'm an American express boy. I love that card. I love all the perks. I use them all the time. And it's really tied into my world. Um, and I can see it. Look, you use it every day. And so if you can make points by going everywhere you go, I'm all about it. And I know there's people who are hardcore into it. I see it more and more. I know that you're into that points game, you know, some of my partners really are like spending everything they can on their cards, but, I guess it was a credit card is that's also connected to American Airlines because they want that status because they fly so much.

14:46They want to move up. And so it's really interesting to see how they gamified this and make it interesting. And I think the portals are interesting because I also have a Chase card. I don't use as much. And the interactions with it, I prefer using American Express because it's easier for me to see, all right, how can I plan my trip? Where can I use my points? Where am I spending money? And so I think now with technology getting faster and faster and more personalized, It's interesting to see, especially when someone knows where you're spending all your money.

15:15Sarah Dandashy: Totally. It's interesting because I also, we've talked about them a lot on here, but in a different capacity, but built, I use my built credit card and they're really making a strong move to try and get some of that travel, like some of the travelers like starting to book on their site. And so I will very much, I even actually, this happened three days ago. I was comparing booking something on built for travel related as well as on Amex and the built made more sense in this case. So sometimes it equals out, sometimes not. I mean, obviously I can also book things as a travel advisor and sometimes that makes more sense for me to do, uh, just depending on, on how it is.

16:01Sarah Dandashy: But at the end of the day, you know, use those points because. Yeah. They can't take it with you. And sometimes they don't refresh. Like at least American Express, my points stay around. I haven't seen them take them away, but in some credit cards and some places, if you don't use them, they go. But I'm curious, listeners and viewers, I see a lot of you watching here today. What are you using out there? What's in your wallet? Oh, stop. It's interesting to see, but people just feel good with it. I think that's the overall part of this is that, you know, American Express was a good example where they bought Resi.

16:35and find companies that they can just continue to build a loyalty with. So if you're going to use your Mac Express card with Resi, you get special offers and discounts and opportunities to book hot restaurants. I know Chase has theirs as well. And everyone's getting into that where it's part of your lifestyle. And so I like it.

16:54Sarah Dandashy: No, I think it's great. And I will say this. Interesting because many months back, remember when I was looking at flights for – I was looking at flights to Amsterdam and it was like everything had like just ticked up and it was for what I was looking to do, which was going to be a direct flight, not in all the other ways, not fly to another country and to take a train in, but like a direct flight, it was like$4 ,000 for an economy class. And every which way I was looking at it, even on all the portals that I have access to. And then I went on Amex and Amex had it at like$2 ,500 cheaper. I'm like, oh, wow.

17:37Sarah Dandashy: Okay, interesting. That's not always the case. That's not always the case. But I was impressed with that. I mean, I also know how they did it. And I'm like, all right. Which I'm like, fine. Be that way. But yeah. See, for the common folk out there looking for deals where the dollar can stretch, make sure to have the right credit card that you're putting all those points on. It's not as common as like I thought. Like I thought people do it. Like I have a family member that I didn't really know about the points game. Like, oh, I didn't know I could use my points for X, Y, and Z. It's interesting.

18:08It's still not for everybody.

18:09Sarah Dandashy: No, it definitely isn't. And just like in general where the points go the furthest, which in general they go further for flights than they do for hotels. But, you know, it just all depends on what you're trying to like help, quote unquote, offset at the end of the day. So, yeah. Anyway, should we continue on here? How are we doing on time? Let's continue on. We got plenty of time here. Okay, perfect. Okay, where are we? Can a small, okay, this is kind of interesting. So can a small collection of iconic London hotels out earn big brands? Now, obviously this is focused on London. And I'm fairly familiar with a lot of the properties that are mentioned in this article.

18:49Sarah Dandashy: Let me pull up the article. I've never been to London. But they talk about the owner of the Connaught and the Berkeley have hired Neil Jacobs, who left Six Senses back in 2025. and after 13 years he had started his advisory firm called Wild Origins, which was very successful and had to make a choice to kind of step back. He put someone in charge of Wild Origins and now is going to build out those brands of Constellation Hotels. Yeah. And it's a Luxembourg-based investment group that owns, I think I'm saying it right, the Cannot, the Berkeley and Emory in London. And they're really trying to grow that brand by filling a void that doesn't exist.

19:25Sarah Dandashy: Yes. Yes, exactly. But I think, I love that this was like a deep dive into London, but I think that that applies to so many different destinations, right? It is, in general, like, I feel like we've been talking about this forever, but just in general, travelers shifting towards opting for more boutique and independent hotel experiences because they feel like there's more flavor, so to speak, or more that it just feels more unique and interesting. And so the challenge is just getting that visibility so that you're just on people's radars. Because at the end of the day, when it comes to opting for something that's more local and unique and has a very distinctive vibe and feel versus something that might be a little bit more generalized, still lovely, but generalized people are opting for personality.

20:25Yep. And I like his quote here where he says, we talk about upper luxury in one conversation. And then we talk about lifestyle hotels and another conversation, but nobody ever really puts the two together. He said, so there's no brand that I can think of that really does that well and we can fill the gap. So that's really what they're going after of creating. And it's true.

20:44Sarah Dandashy: Like you think of the ultra luxury properties, you know, the four seasons and the ritz carlton's well of course carlton's ultra lecture there but the amans i think that kind of vibe as well but he came from six senses which you know isg bought um he really built a cool brand which i love a lot of their standards and ethos that a lot of people copy now i look to them as well um riches in niches paul manzi good quote yes i like that one so they're really looking to you know double down on that i've never been to london i have to make that a place i need to visit Yeah, you do. I got to go to London.

21:20We talked about Mexico cities there. We got, it's just too many. I know. I know.

21:25Sarah Dandashy: Exactly. We'll, we'll, we'll figure out, you know, something fun. In London, have you heard of any of these hotels? And when you're. Yeah, I actually know the concierge at all of them. Oh my gosh. So do you believe that they can create something that they're trying to right now? Do you think they can build this brand of a mix of luxury and lifestyle? Yeah, absolutely. And I think that London is a prime destination for that. I mean, just the volume of travelers and visitors going to London, I mean, it's booming. It's busy. And where we might have lost a lot of international inbound traffic in ways, they are still going to London.

22:15Sarah Dandashy: And so people, and a lot of these, you know, it's not inexpensive to stay in London. So it's taking a certain type of traveler who has, understanding the demographics that they're coming from, they are generally very well-traveled individuals that will be choosing these type of properties and probably paying at this price point. And so, yeah, they want something unique and they want something different. And London's also interesting. Like if we're going to look at it even culturally, like just understanding the British and the UK, they're very much steeped in tradition. Right. And so it's like like not mentioned in this article, but like Claridge's, for example, has been like so iconic for for decades.

23:04Sarah Dandashy: And so to take these iconic, longstanding properties and then add infuse a little bit of something different, it is making a little bit of waves there. So, but these are fantastic properties that are stellar. And I feel like this will be a very interesting playground to have this evolve in, I think. So I love what they're doing. Neil Jacobs, let me know if I can come by. I want to check out all three in London. I'm ready to come by and check them out. Sounds like great places to visit. Yes. Look at the websites as we're talking. Sarah's kind of a big deal. Paul, you don't know. She is huge. hardly hardly no no no oh oh my gosh um but yes so a lot of this is um yeah interesting interesting stuff but yeah we got a lot of fun stuff and so she begins to show you gm great interesting hotels and use those credit card points to get in that's the key here on today's show uh definitely excited to go and check out london you know after watching ted last time if you've seen that show it made me more interested in going and checking out the whole vibe over there so you should i'm gonna put that on my list for for this upcoming year we got too many things going on this year next year london mexico city i'm putting on yeah i have a feeling i'm putting that back out there i kind of uh put the brakes on traveling as much right now i mean obviously i have to travel for i travel for work so there's always going to be that but um doing a little bit of shifts behind the scenes and i have a very good feeling about next year traveling more to some cool places big things coming sarah big things you know what is a big thing sarah what's a big thing tell me steve my favorite part of the show listeners and viewers if you've been watching for a long time you know my favorite part is the game show we play here whose brand is it anyway we need some show music here this is where we guess which parent company owns the soft brand that we are going to show here on the screen so again we need to figure out which parent company owns this brand that we put on the screen are you ready Sarah oh I was born ready for this let's see caption hotels man hotels all right listeners and viewers can you guess which parent company owns caption hotels i've never seen caption um i haven't either all right my guess just because i mentioned it today ihg i'm going with ihg manzi says marriott i'll say hilton get your votes in now we got hilton marriott and ihg are any of these the big winner of whose brand is it anyway this week let's see will hi hey we were way up oh good job everybody i'm playing uh but caption hotel let me see this by quiet makes me feel so much better by the way when other people don't get it yeah is an upscale select service lifestyle hotel brand designed to blend local neighborhood culture with flexible community focused social spaces that's a mouthful all right caption by hyatt it looks very cool um and some unique cities look we got sydney nashville tokyo uh china we got some and i know jangsen park shanghai and and chattanooga downtown so a unique mix of different places for the caption hotels chattanooga chattanooga have you ever been to chattanooga i've been on the chattanooga river oh i have too i've been whitewater out rafting on there with my fam oh well that that makes sense because you're you're down south i was about to say i was like i've been out there but caption hotels learn something new and lonnie coming in i don't know if you put in your vote too late lonnie yeah lonnie came in with the right answer At the end.

27:29Right there, sir. All right. Well, listen, we flew through this show today here, Sarah.

27:35Sarah Dandashy: Yeah, we did. A lot of great topics, a lot of great things that we shared here. You want to take us out here today? I think we should do it together. All right. Are you ready? Yes. Stay on. It's minimal. You are not ready, Sarah. No, I wasn't.

28:02Thank you.