200 - Suite Spot 200

Ryan Embree: Welcome to Suite Spot, where hoteliers check in, and we check out what's trending in hotel marketing. I'm your host, Ryan Embree. Cassady Quintana: Hello everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Suite Spot. My name is Cassady Quintana and I'm the brand ambassador at Travel Media Group.

Today's episode is a little bit different, but very special as we celebrate our 200th episode. We're flipping the script a little bit. Instead, our usual host, Ryan Embree, is stepping into the guest spot. Over the past 200 episodes, Ryan has led countless conversations with industry experts, leaders, and tons of insights.

But today we are turning the spotlight on him. So whether this is your first episode with us or your 200th, we're super excited you're here. And Ryan, welcome to the Suite Spot. Ryan Embree: Thank you.

Thank you. It's, it's a bit odd to be on the side of the mic, but I like it. Let's do this. Cassady Quintana: I'm super excited.

I feel like, you know, you've led countless conversations and, but not many people may know much about your story. So, before we jump into a little bit deeper conversation, tell us a little bit about your hospitality journey and what led you to this spot. Ryan Embree: Yeah, so, you know, I've had the, the privilege and opportunity to start my hospitality journey and career, to be honest with you, like a lot of our guests have, which is right on the front line of hospitality. And I started as a kind of a pool bar server out at the Gaylord Texan, a beautiful, beautiful property out there in Grapevine, Texas, which I still visit to this day as a guest.

And then had the opportunity to work at some incredible, resorts out here in Orlando where I, where I'm based point Orlando, where I was a bellman, and then eventually a front desk agent. And then the Grand Bohemian, which is a downtown property, very different from the resort property that you see in Orlando. Gave me a completely different type of experience traveler segment. Again, started there as a bellman, but also, moved through operations to the front desk as well.

It was some great experience that kind of got me there. I took a pause from hospitality and went into kinda, apartments and residential for a couple years up in Atlanta, but always had a passion for being in hospitality and eventually got the opportunity to come back down here to Travel Media Group, here where we partner with so many hotels and resorts across the globe. And then kind of led to this podcast, which we're gonna talk about today, which is, which is all of the subject matter today.

Cassady Quintana: Yes, absolutely. It's awesome hearing your history. Because like you said, it's similar to a lot of the guests that you have on the podcast. You know, you kind of maybe don't know if that's gonna be your passion, but you get into it and then you end up never leaving it.

So, as you stepped into this role at Travel Media Group, you started on one side and you ended up in marketing. What was kind of the inspiration behind the Suite Spot and how, how did that come to fruition? Cassady Quintana: Yeah, honestly, it was inspired by just trying to educate hoteliers and hospitality about digital marketing a a topic and a subject that changes so frequently and so often, right? I mean, I think some of the episodes that we did at the very beginning of this podcast aren't even relevant today because of the amount of change and transformation that has happened in this industry.

And it makes for an extremely exciting and compelling subject matter to talk to those who are on the front lines and who are experiencing it from day to day. So it always keeps me on my toes about the subjects and topics that we talk about. But, you know, a lot of the series came from inspiration based on the conversations that we're having every single day. You know, some of those leaders that I talked to, so many of their stories started on the front lines and, and they kind of fell into the career, like you were saying, Cassady.

And what I wanted to do is see, you know, we have such amazing hospitality schools over the, the entire country, especially right here in Florida. One of the main inspirations of our TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl was to showcase that, to show young hospitality professionals that this doesn't just need to be a summer job that you fall into and are there for a 30 year career. There's career paths, there's growth here, and it's such an exciting industry. So a lot of the inspiration for some of the series and subject matter that we do know, another one with our Spotlight series where I've had the privilege and opportunity to showcase some of the most incredible hotels are based on the fact that at Travel Media Group, we work and we partner with those hotels and resorts.

Whether it's managing their guest feedback or whether it's managing their social media and creating a unique and content for them, whether it's video or social content, and to be able to showcase some of those properties has just been such an amazing experience. And something, you know, I learn something every single day. Cassady Quintana: Oh, yeah, me too. And I'm glad you brought up this series that we do on the podcast, because that kind of leads me into my next question.

If you had to take everything you've been able to do over the last 200 episodes, what would be your favorite part about hosting the Suite Spot? Ryan Embree: Yeah, I think we're gonna talk about it here in a minute, but I think it's about just the, the transformation that has happened since the beginning of this podcast. You know, Suite Spot episode one, which I encourage any of my listeners. Do not go back and listen to that.

It was my first time doing this two, here we are at Suite Spot 200, 8 years later, and how much has changed? I love kind of leaning into that and seeing, just in the, something that I remember in Hospitality school, my professors and teachers telling me that hospitality is literally the oldest profession out there for sure. It was the first thing hosting people and how much has changed just in an eight year span in 200 episodes, but also learning about people's journeys and stories.

I know I shared a little bit about mine, but it truly is one of my favorite questions to open up the podcast with talking about people and their journey because it is such a melting pot of experience that we have in hospitality. It makes for some really compelling content. And you'll find that a lot of the guests that I have have a particular mentor or an experience that really opens up their eyes, Cassady, and changes and transforms the way that they view their career. Whether, and that's why I always encourage, whether you're a young hospitality professional or a more seasoned one, look for those opportunities to connect with someone there, because so many of those stories have someone that's been meant so much to them, right.

Has been kind of the guide to them, their Sherpa, so to speak, on their hospitality journey, and has led them to a place that they have just this incredible passion and love for our industry, which, so I love to hear that. And just again, the melting pot of brands. You know, when someone says, I worked at Hilton for 10 years and then moved to IHG or Marriott and, and I was, you know, an independent hotelier, and then I moved to a more branded hotel. I worked at a small, independent, or a major convention resort.

All of those experiences shape who you are as a hospitality professional. It gives you lessons. So it kind of like makes this skillset that's so unique that no two hospitality professionals are the same. And I find it absolutely fascinating to dig into that.

Cassady Quintana: No, I love that because every conversation you've had listening to it, it's, you know, the principles of hospitality stay the same, but their stories are completely different, like you said. And even one person story that at a boutique hotel is completely different than their experience at a branded hotel. So how much, you know, again, those principles stay the same, but how diverse your career and hospitality can be in the multiple different departments you can even be in with one hotel.

So, you know, you mentioned how much hospitality has changed since you started the Suite Spot. What's kind of the biggest change that you've seen either in digital marketing or hospitality in general since episode one to now episode 200? Ryan Embree: I think it is the digital marketing aspect of it and the technology. I mean, I don't think we can do a Suite Spot episode now without talking about AI and technology.

Right? And you are spot on Cassady with the, the premise of the principles of hospitality have stayed the same, but the way that we engage with it, the way that our travelers engage with technology or the expectations of technology have completely flipped upside down. And like I mentioned before, I think some of the episodes that I did early on educating some of these hoteliers, I mean, we had episodes very early on, Cassady, that we're talking about the importance of having managing your reputation on review sites, the importance of posting on social media.

You know, some of those tips and tricks that I was sharing then would be just second nature to a seasoned hospitality professional. They would be like, why are you educating me on this? I know, I know how much of an impact it makes. But that's so cool to see that transformation of one time.

You know, the inspiration being of, to educate hoteliers on the importance of these things to now being like, now we're more in depth conversations. Now we're sharing actionable insights with our hoteliers on how to respond to guest feedback, how AI search is playing into, is playing into some of this content. It's very, very exciting to be, but that, that is probably one of the biggest changes that I've seen since, since starting. This is the receptiveness to digital marketing and technology.

And it's really just become now such a foundational piece to success to any hotel or portfolio. Cassady Quintana: I couldn't agree more. And one of my favorite things about the Suite Spot is when you always ask your guests to kind of look in that crystal ball into the future of hospitality. So I'm gonna do the opposite with you.

If you could go back eight years to younger Ryan, what's one piece of advice you would give him before starting this, this podcast? Ryan Embree: Great question. I think, listen, very early on we kind of didn't know what we had with this Suite Spot. We had a lot of conversations about, I remember back in the episodes 40 to 80 about seeing if, if there was an appetite for this out there.

And, we started getting more and more guests and, and started to get more and more people reach out to us wanting to be and share their insights. Which I just, again, so privileged for that opportunity, but just to listen and, and ask more questions. Yeah. I mean, I think you can never, the experience that we have, we live sometimes entire, just based on our business, that being open 365 24/7, we can live almost an entire life in the span of six months.

Right? I mean, you think about some of the fires that you have to put out, some of the incredible experiences that you're able to share or been through in six months, that time sometimes spans an entire career for people outside of hospitality because of the nature of our industry. So you cannot get enough insights experience. There's been an experience, it's happened before at a hotel.

You know, someone has put their laundry on a fire sprinkler, and they've seen that kind of bust open an entire floor. We've had elevators go down where guests are stuck. There's always a story for something. There's always a solution for something.

There's also a special moment. You know, I know I tend, we tend to sometimes think about those as, oh man, this was the worst case scenario. But you really think about some of the incredible special moments that happen in our industry. It's so unique.

People getting married when loved ones are sick, and we're hosting them at our hotel hospitality. We are there for travelers and guests at sometimes the most critical points and pieces of their life. And we get to be a part of that. There's not a lot of injuries, industries that can say that.

So, listen and ask questions. That's what I would say. Cassady Quintana: Oh, I love that. I think that's great advice.

So, you just talked about all these experiences and stories you've heard. Are there any episodes or particular guests that really stand out as your favorite or one that's really memorable to you? Ryan Embree: Again, another great question. You know, I think for me, the most memorable episodes, are the ones that I've recently been able to do where we're covering hospitality events.

I mention this on the podcast a lot. There's something special that happens when hospitality professionals are in the same room together. They share the same challenges and struggles. They're seeing the same trends.

Even though the markets and segments are completely different, a lot of times you're seeing the same trends. Sometimes those conversations at those events that we have are very therapeutic for a lot of hospitality professionals that I talk to. Of like, oh my goodness, I'm sharing in the struggle or challenge with someone else. They understand where I'm coming from here.

But it also could set the foundation for fundamental change in the hospitality industry, which I think is so important. And, you know, one of the things, we obviously had to do this podcast through the pandemic right? In 2020. And there were those conversations that I would have with professionals, and I'd ask them, I mean, you'd flat out, do you think we'll ever be traveling again to conventions or will business travel ever come back?

Right. I think that's the way I specifically phrased it. And a lot of them were like, yes. And, and predicted, you know, looked into that crystal ball and said, absolutely, there's something special that happens.

I hundred percent agree with it. It was something that was missed. We talk about that term revenge travel that carried us through those, the early 2020s. But I think that there's like this revenge connection that happened at those events where you come and, and I think you go to those events after losing it for a couple years with a different mindset that you had before.

I think people genuinely connect differently now than they did prior to the pandemic, right. Because it was taken away from them. So those are the most special moments is to be able to connect with hospitality professionals at those events. And we've had the privilege of covering quite a few of them.

And hope we get the opportunities to do more. So we've got some new ones on the horizon, by the way, so stay tuned for that. Cassady Quintana: Yeah, for sure. Well, I love that story about the Pandemic, because especially now too, we're in such a digital first world that even going to those conferences now, you know, we're a few years past the pandemic, but it's still special because we are so digital first, and we don't get to meet people outside of our hotel or our management group that often.

So being able to hear, and like you said earlier, the stories and we're going through the same struggles or we're celebrating the same things, or we get to learn new techniques or a way that another property is doing something that we would have never thought of on our own. So, super exciting and yeah, I'm super excited for the conferences and shows that we're gonna get to go to in the future. So speaking of the future, looking into that crystal ball, like you like to say, what's next for the Suite Spot after episode 200?

Ryan Embree: Hopefully it's a lot more episodes and we've had some incredible guests over the last 200 episodes. I'm not sure if going back in time talking to myself, giving him that advice to listen and ask questions. I'm not sure if I could have predicted that we'd be here at 200 episodes. So it's such a cool accomplishment.

But what I look forward to growing the podcast in different ways, I have shared this before. I'm a UCF Rosen grad. So the Hospitality school and TMG Hospitality Campus Crawl was something very near and dear to my heart when we launched it. And sitting on stage with Dr.

Mejia at UCF, where at my alma mater where I went to school, it was a dream come true for me. And the experience of being able to go to UNLV and FIU and FAU Georgia State now and seeing those series grow has been just been so fortunate. Ryan Embree: But what I'm most excited about are some of the other pathways and opportunity that, that it's creating because it's not slowing down, which is, which I love, right? The appetite, which we're always so nervous about early on in our industry just continues to grow.

I mean, every day we're getting more and more interest or people reaching out, being like, I wanna share this about my brand. We've got so many things to celebrate in hospitality. And one of the things is you Cassady and, and your new, Social Success Series, which again, the appetite for that has just been absolutely incredible, the work you're doing and the hospitality professionals that you're talking to. So I'm very excited for the work that you're doing, Cassady, and, and how you're going to help grow the Suite Spot.

But it's just been, it's been a wild, crazy ride. And we're just going really where the current takes us at this point. And it's up to this point, has led to some really, really cool opportunities. Cassady Quintana: Yeah.

Well, I'm super excited to have been able to join this podcast with you and maybe take a little bit of a different avenue with the social media and social success in that, in that regard. So definitely, you know, we're kind of covering all grounds in hospitality now. I feel like we're, we're hitting on all cylinders. So how do you kind of hope that the Suite Spot continues to support and influence the hospitality industry moving forward?

Ryan Embree: Yeah, you know, I, again, I hope that the appetite remains really, really high for this type of information. And I think it has, I mean, we have that I talked about that genuine connection that happens at conferences and hospitality events. I can feel that when we do episodes and panels, which we're hoping to introduce to the Suite Spot in the future as well, to get multiple point of views, because you're absolutely right, Cassady, what you're talking about is a completely different lane.

It's very fast changing, very fast paced. Hotels are trying to navigate these waters of social media and how they're changing. They're trying to get a leg up on the algorithm. Again, I think early on we did an entire episode based on Instagram reels introducing it.

And now there's a whole strategy probably just dedicated Instagram reels and Facebook reels and, and how that changes. I mean, some of the, with social media, I mean, we look at platforms that a lot of people look at and say, you know, younger kids are saying, I, I'm not gonna be on a Facebook that's an old person's social media. I mean, that is the type of transition that we're, that that transformation that we're talking about today. So I hope to again, continue to educate and be able to share these hospitality leaders insights and what they're hearing, what they're seeing, so that hospitality can grow together.

Because I think, I know they're, obviously, we have a competitive space here and everyone's fighting for occupancy and ADR but at the end of the day, our industry moves the fastest when, when we're all on the same team, when we're sharing these insights and we're not in these silos and we're in this really cool time right now where we have so much data, so much opportunity to use that data in a variety of different ways. I hope to be able to share some of those insights and use the podcast as a medium so that we can bridge some of these gaps that we're seeing to hopefully just continue to enhance the guest experience.

Cassady Quintana: Well, I think you'll have no problem doing that because every episode you put out, I learned something new. There's always something new to talk about, a new platform, a new strategy. So I think that's the beauty of hospitality and what you're doing at the Suite Spot is there's never gonna be something we can't talk about. We're not gonna run out of things to talk about.

Like some other industries that stay a little bit the same, right? Technology's always advancing, especially with AI. So the subjects are endless and I think the Suite Spot, maybe we'll be sitting here in a few years hitting episode 400, who knows? But yeah.

So as we kind of wrap up here, is there anything else you would like to say to your listeners maybe that have been with you since the beginning? Or anybody that's, you know, starting to listen this year? Ryan Embree: I think, you know, my biggest message to them and and to everyone is, is thank you. I remember doing this podcast and, and it was a solo episode on episode 100, where we talked about some of our most popular episodes and we got to 200 very, very quickly.

I feel like that was just like last week, right? But I wanna say thank you to all of our guests that kind of made this possible, but also to everyone that has helped make the podcast what it is. So Brandon Bell, who edits all of our, our podcast, Bary Gordon, who does the, the graphic design and, and makes all of our clips look so amazing and beautiful, Cassady, you, our brand ambassador, taking, taking the lead on a new series for the podcast and helping grow that, my entire marketing team, the marketing coordinators that we've had in the past, I mean, you do something 200 times, there's so many hands that play a part in that.

Ryan Embree: So I'm just so grateful for that, grateful for my old marketing director, Anne Sandoval, who came to me with this idea to start a podcast, to my leadership team here at Travel Media Group, Dana Singer, our president, who has believed in me through all of this. So there's so many people I can thank, but I just, I look at the 200 episodes as just with immense gratitude and appreciation for the journey that's led me here. And it's a cool, exciting milestone and chapter.

It's a number, but, you know, I think the work is not done. I want continue to grow our audience, grow the insights and anything that we can do to push our industry forward. So thank you all. Thank all of our listeners for this to make this milestone so special.

Cassady Quintana: Well, absolutely. Well thank you to you, Ryan, as well, for going to all these events and these campuses and these locations to bring us this awesome content. Because without you there would be no Suite Spot. You know, you're the brains behind it and you are the vision.

So thank you for, you know, sacrificing some of your personal time to go to these different places and bring us these episodes. Because like I said, we're learning something new every single time. So I'm excited to be a part of the journey and see, you know, just how far we can continue the Suite Spot. And there is no ceiling for us right now.

So I'm super excited to continue that with you. But thank you and thank you to all of our listeners for listening to this episode of The Suite Spot, and we will see you on the next one. Ryan Embree: To join our loyalty program, be sure to subscribe and give us a five star reading on iTunes. Suite Spot is produced by Travel Media Group.

Our editor is Brandon Bell, with Cover Art by Bary Gordon. I'm your host Ryan Embree, and we hope you enjoyed your stay.