Airbnb Just Got Serious About Hotels

On this week’s Good Morning Hospitality, A Skift Podcast: Hotels Edition, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk break down a week where three big stories all pointed at the same shift: the distribution, loyalty, and infrastructure layers of hospitality are all getting reshuffled at once.

The conversation opens with Airbnb naming Andrea D’Amico, an 18-year Booking.com veteran, as its new VP of Hotels, and what that hire says about how seriously Airbnb is coming for the boutique and independent hotel market.

From there, Sarah and Steve dig into why boutique brands like Room Mate Hotels are running out of room on loyalty, and what the SpaceX IPO filing reveals about how deeply STARLINK has already embedded itself into travel’s connectivity infrastructure.

This episode is presented by ⁠⁠Plusgrade⁠⁠ & ⁠⁠Bilt⁠⁠. Visit plusgrade.com to learn more.

And for hotels with restaurants and restaurant owners, Bilt Hospitality is finally here. Go to ⁠⁠joinbilt.com/gmh⁠⁠ to learn more.

Watch This Episode

All right. Well, good morning or good afternoon, wherever you happen to be joining us from. For me, it’s afternoon.

Sarah Dandashy, along here with Steve Turk, and we’ve got a great show today. Airbnb just made a major hire to run its hotel business, and the person that they picked says a lot about where they think they will be going.

Also, we’re going to be getting into the loyalty gap, and why it’s quietly squeezing boutique brands, and Starlink’s IPO filing just revealed how deeply imbedded it already is in the travel infrastructure. So, Steve, you ready for today’s show?

Let’s do it.

Yeah, bring up that energy. Good morning to you, Steve. Good morning.

So you’re live.

Where are you coming from? Because you’re definitely not in your home office. Where are you?

I am not.

Are you got a little bit of a sneak peek here right behind me?

The river? I see some water features.

I am in Amsterdam at the Muse Unfold event. It’s a one day event. It is happening today.

I’m going to show you. How about this? I’ll just take you on a little tour.

Oh my gosh.

Don’t drop your computer. Don’t drop your computer.

Don’t worry. Don’t worry. Take a look at all those people behind me.

Hello, everybody.

Hello.

This is a lot of hoteliers, a lot of tech people. It’s great. By the way, this space is fantastic.

Here in Amsterdam, they did a fantastic job. We are at the Musica Bau, something like that, the big musical. Please don’t come at me for my Dutch.

But yeah. We’re live and in action and had a great day. I just did a panel talking about creating guest moments in a digital era and how to use technology to make special magical moments happen, which I think is what we talk about.

But it’s certainly the world that we’re living in, also a lot of big tech announcements, but I’ll leave it for them to share that. So it’s exciting times.

I know you just got off stage. I’ve seen you on stage before. You always do a fantastic job of getting the crowd excited and motivated and inspired.

So I’m sure you did today as well.

Try to.

I wish I could be there with you today. It looks like an awesome day in Amsterdam. I’ve never been and I would love to visit one day.

Maybe next year.

Maybe next year. Okay. We’ll plant the seed.

Okay. Hey, Muse. Okay.

Richard, Matt, let’s make this happen.

All right. Well, viewers and listeners, I’m coming to you at, if you have an aura ring, you may know my readiness score yesterday was 29, and today I’ve got it up to a 51, which is not good. I’ve been sick for the last couple of days, but I’m here.

I wanted to make sure I was here with all of you. We thought it was the Hanta virus. Turns out just a regular old virus, so we’re okay.

We’re good. We’re back. Everything’s fine.

Oh my gosh.

Oh my goodness. Well, I’m glad you’re doing okay and you’re feeling better, at least better enough to join us, that’s for sure. But before we dive into today’s show, do you want to go ahead and give our first little sponsor mention?

I think we definitely should.

We always love our sponsors on the show. We appreciate you supporting and we’ve got Plusgrade.

A quick shout out to them because Plusgrade helps travel companies unlock new revenue through upgrades, premium experiences and personalized offers across the traveler journey.

From airlines to hotels, they’re powering a lot of the behind the scenes monetization you’re seeing across travel today. So come on guys, learn more at plusgrade.com. Make sure to check out Plusgrade, our fantastic sponsor.

Love it.

Perfect.

4:54

Airbnb Hotel Expansion

Well, I think we should go ahead and dive into today’s topics. There’s a lot that’s going on. This one is pretty exciting.

So Airbnb, I love that they say this, just got serious about hotels. There’s actually been a lot of discussion today here at Muse Unfold about that. They’ve got Lou from Airbnb who’s been here and kind of talking about that.

But in this particular news, Airbnb named Andrea D’Amico, who spent 18 years at booking.com, including as VP and managing director of EMEA overseeing 1,500 employees across 90 offices.

So what’s interesting is, is this decision because again, this is a little bit of an unexpected move. But I wanted to hear your thoughts on this, Steve.

Yeah. I’m curious to hear what they were saying at Muse if you’re allowed to tell us. But look, it’s not unknown that Airbnb has been trying to get into hotels more and more.

They do own Hotel Tonight, which is one of those booking platforms that hoteliers love when they need to fill in last-minute demand. And it also shows that Airbnb, this is where they’re going to get their growth from.

They want to become that travel platform. If you’ve been on their website recently, you can see that has changed a lot over the last 24 months, where they’re pushing more experiences and things that you can do locally without having to book a home.

So they’re really trying to be that travel program for everybody.

And I can tell you just for managing short-term rentals and vacation rentals, and now getting into boutique hotels, that vacation rental spot is tough because you can’t really, you know, you don’t know who that host is going to be, how good they’re

going to be. It’s a lot of refunds, party homes, not that much security. So if I was getting into this part of the business with Airbnb, I like it. I think that they’re going to do well.

They’re looking for boutique hotels that are one-offs because they know, look, when you have a Marriott high at Hilton, and when we play our Who’s Branded It Anyway game later today, they have the engine pretty much built in with those big companies.

They’re really trying to help and support those unique and cool boutique hotels around the world. They’re going to make a big push. I can see this becoming something very big and pushing.

I’m just curious what the benefits are of booking through them, instead of booking directly with that boutique hotel. That’s what I’m going to be curious to see.

Well, I think I see more. It’s an OTA play. I mean, and hence, I mean, I clearly, obviously, hence with the booking background.

I mean, obviously, booking direct is always the best for everybody. I think every hotel and property agrees with that. But in this particular case, again, it’s getting more visibility.

I think it makes sense. They boutique in independent hotels, see the average Airbnb consumer or guest as someone that would probably be more likely to go for that independent boutique route. I mean, so I mean, it’s a smart move.

I mean, and obviously, this also on the heels of there’s been several different announcements, but they’re really continuing to push for making Airbnb, that sort of one-stop shop where you can book everything. So to cars.

Yeah. I know you’re cutting in a little bit, Sarah, which we’re going to keep rolling here with you. I hear you on that.

So it’s going to be interesting to see because when you book a home right now in Airbnb, they don’t share the address with you. You can see the area, so you can’t really book directly with that home. It’s harder.

So with a hotel, a lot of times we’ll go search on OTAs. He says, all right, I like that hotel, and he booked directly with them, and it’s really hard to book directly a home through Airbnb.

They block you from doing certain things, from certain URLs, certain phone numbers. So it’s interesting to see what will happen here, but I’m excited to see how it evolves. There’s more and more players in that business.

It’s a good business to be in. If you can get an audience and you can direct them to the hotels, you’re in good shape. So I’m curious to see how she does because Booking is the big player in hotels and they’ve got her now overseeing this.

They’ve demoted some people that were within the company that maybe weren’t doing it at such a high level. So we’ll see how it goes from there. Hold on.

You’re on mute now. There we go.

Oh my gosh. There we go. There we go.

Sorry about that. It looks like we’re on break over here. So we got a lot of people on their phones, everybody crowding the Wi-Fi a little bit behind me, but hopefully this is better.

But yeah, again, very interesting times indeed. And I think that we’re going to see. It’s interesting just like looking at whether it’s Airbnb, which is obviously we’ve talked about, it’s obviously going more of the OTA direction.

But then also seeing where OTAs are in the world of chat and like an AI. So everybody’s just fighting for how can we A get under, get in front of the travel consumer first and then B keep them here at our ecosystem. So not too big of a surprise.

Yeah.

And I think you’re going to see a lot of loyalty plays here because it was one, I think we were talking about a couple episodes ago. If you were to book on Hotel Tonight, they would give you a discount to use on Airbnb next time.

So they’re going to get people into that flywheel, I think very quickly and testing out new things like, hey, Airbnb, you booked the home with us, get a discount now for a hotel.

Flywheel, look at you using some fun language.

It’s the NyQuil talking, it’s working.

That is, that definitely is. Yeah, I know we’ve got a lot of cool discussions coming up here. But before we get into that, I know that we’ve got another little sponsor mention, but do you think you’ll be able to do it just since I’m going to be?

Absolutely, since you’re breaking up a little bit here and there, I’m going to make sure our sponsors are happy with us.

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12:31

Boutique Loyalty Challenge

Awesome, very cool.

OK, well, why don’t we get into our next topic here? If you are ready, sir.

Ready, let’s do it.

Yeah, so the loyalty gap, squeezing boutique brands. This is a pretty interesting article here.

So, Room Mate Hotel CEO Victor Fernandez says that competing with the loyalty programs of major hotel groups is one of the biggest challenges for mid-size boutique brands. Not too much of a surprise.

I mean, I think that’s definitely been something that they’ve struggled with for quite some time. So, the five largest hotel companies run now about 40 lifestyle brands. Obviously, over 2,000 properties and 350,000 rooms.

So, I mean, when you’re talking to some sheer volume alone, it’s hard to compete with that.

But he’s also pushing back against this lifestyle label, basically arguing that basically replicating one concept across 50 hotels doesn’t really make you lifestyle or that sort of unique.

And Room Mate actually calls itself more boutique than lifestyle.

So, yeah, it’s interesting to see how they’re pushing. He’s pushing back, Room Mate. I know their brand and they have a unique model too.

First, I want to mention that is they actually lease out their hotels, which is good and bad. It’s high risk, but if you do well in that area, you can make more money.

And so we saw a couple of hotel brands try that in the US and they started to grow too quick and went out of business. So I’m hoping they’ve learned those lessons first.

But the other is how you differentiate yourself and how you drive people to your property is to be unique in that property, but also be excellent at the new marketing, whether it’s on Instagram and TikTok and social media, meeting people where the

attention is. That really is a differentiator and I can see it with hotel brands that are doing it. I’m learning a lot from one of my business partners because we’re building a boutique hotel.

And so if you haven’t yet, you should go check out Ben Wolf and follow his newsletter because he shares in his marketing, because they’ve become superstars at this where they’re creating viral videos for each property.

And those are generating two to three million views that then generate several hundred thousand dollars in direct bookings. And it’s a new way of doing business.

So for me, that’s the way companies are going to have to start competing against the big boys, because like they say in this article, the Marriott’s and Hilton’s and Hyatt’s have already invested, if not millions, hundreds of millions into their apps

already, into their ecosystem, into keeping people there, into credit card rewards. They’ve built these giant monsters that’s going to be hard to compete against.

But you can if you create something that people really connect with, want to be a part of, and I think that’s what we’re trying to do with our property. I think a lot of properties are doing that.

So I’m cheering on Room Mate, but they may end up like Citizen M where, hey, we’re going to get purchased and that’s what will happen. So I’m curious what you see because you’ve been staying in a lot of different boutique hotels recently.

Okay.

So I’m going to push back on that just a little bit because yes, they, and especially knowing social media as intimately as I do, and yes, that strategy works in really cool, really unique places, but the reality is, many boutique hotels are just

lovely, but the wow factor of a cool, unique boutique hotel that might be perfectly located, really integrates the local scene and atmosphere is going to be a very different social media proposition or the chance of going viral versus maybe a

I’m gonna push back on me now.

I’m pushing back on you, because if they had a Sarah Dandashy at the Ask a Concierge desk, and she was doing a weekly series, like you did something recently, not too long ago with the dancing guy in New York, the dancing bellhop or something, right?

I’m sure people booked there just to go see the dancing bellhop. So it’ll be interesting to see how that continues. So I think you can find something interesting.

Like there’s people going to restaurants because they’re putting on cool little videos and fun little things that, hey, I want to go see it, and these cool little reality shows that are a minute long.

I think there’s just an interesting trend coming along. So I hear you. I hear you if it’s not cool, it’s just a standalone place.

But there’s some things we could always do, I feel like.

For sure, for sure. And then kind of just bring it back to the points part of this and the loyalty programs, because that’s obviously what kind of discussed it. I mean, it is hard.

I think that’s always going to be a forever challenge until we’re all playing in the same sandbox and the same level of loyalty and rewards points and redemption and all of that, which the reality is that we won’t be.

Or you could even maybe look to brand agnostic points like Amex, et cetera. But in general, as far as like the brand loyalty in that game, it’s always going to be tough for these smaller brands.

It’s going to be hard, but you could do it. Cheering on you on, little guys. We could do it.

Let’s keep going.

17:40

Starlink Travel Integration

All right.

Speaking of our next topic here, how’s my Wi-Fi holding up?

Your Wi-Fi, I think, needs some Starlink. That’s what I think you need over there.

You want to go ahead and lead us on this next topic?

Yes.

We’re going to be talking about Starlink is becoming unavoidable in the travel infrastructure, and SpaceX IPO shows Starlink generated 11.4 billion in revenue in 2025, and has signed the biggest airlines cruise lines including United, Southwest,

British Airways, Lufthansa, Carnival, and Royal Caribbean. I’ll give another one. They’re working with a local company here, Miami, the Brightline Train. I’ve actually used it.

It’s very good. I see a lot of people who are in the world of, I don’t know, Will Slickers, if you have a Starlink, but I know you go out into the mountains and camping, and there’s just so many different uses for it.

It’s just amazing to see what this company has created. I know Elon Musk is a divisive individual and leader in the world, and company leader, but he’s created something that’s become the industry standard. So you travel a lot on planes.

I haven’t used it yet. I don’t think on any of the airlines. Have you?

I have not used it.

It has not been on, actually, I don’t think it’s been on any of the flights that I have been on or even. Gosh, I don’t even know that it’s been on any of the cruises I’ve been on.

Hmm.

I need to, I definitely need to give that a go. That’s for sure. I mean, obviously, staying connected is the world that we’re living in today.

And we could see it right now, me living it live. But it’s a game changer. But what was interesting, did you…

This kind of made me laugh because you guys all know I’m a big Delta fan. A little bit of pushback.

So obviously Delta CEO Ed Bastion ended up going with Amazon’s version, their Prime Internet that they’re going to be putting on all of their planes moving forward. And, oh my goodness, Elon Musk was so salty, like, oh, I can’t believe…

Oh, it’s Amazon’s Leo, sorry, Leo satellite. Elon Musk was so salty about it. And it was just like, guys, like you can’t be everywhere, you know.

But I did think it was an interesting move just because one of the reasons why I’m a big fan of Delta is everything that they do really comes at a…

There’s a high level of customer service and care and consistency across the board that I don’t think any other airline really matches. And so to go a different route makes me curious. What’s Amazon going?

What’s going on with Amazon?

Yeah, I’ve never heard of Amazon’s products. So it will be interesting to see how they put it together.

But for all the tech nerds like me, who I run, you know, Wi-Fi speeds all the time, there’s a big performance gap versus what we’re used to on flights to where it’s going. So traditionally, you get megabit speeds with 500 ms latency.

Starlink delivers 400 megabytes per second. So they’re really in a different category to where you could do a live stream from an airplane now. And you could do your video chats and watch things and do things much faster.

So I think we’re going to put it in over there in Amsterdam for you. So the next time we’re there together, we can do a live show nice and easy. So I think that you’re on the legacy Wi-Fi for sure over there.

For sure, for sure.

Which, and this is interesting. I love that we’re even talking about this because it’s so much of the conversation that’s been happening today at Muse.

I mean, a lot of it, we’re talking about data, you’re talking about AI, you’re talking about different tech stacks and how to simplify and streamline our life. So when you think about it, technology is so imbedded in everything that we do.

And the whole point is for it to be seamless. And when it’s seamless, you don’t even think about it, right? But when it’s not quite working, does it become super obvious?

You know, so it’s, I just, I’m just really, it’s gonna be interesting to see just how not only hotels, but other hospitality brands, airlines, cruises, and really continue to evolve with it, whether it’s guest facing as something like just access to

really good wifi or, you know, building out a whole extra tech stack. So, and using that.

Yeah, it’s really cool to see too, because some of these remote hospitality locations, you know, that are in Safari and all these places didn’t have wifi. Now you can have and be able to use these systems.

The other part, you know, I kind of liked when I could go on a cruise ship and be like, Oh, I don’t have wifi in the middle of the ocean right now. And you get to disconnect for a little while. So we’re getting more and more connected, always on.

So it’s good to have those little detoxes every once in a while.

22:44

Brand Guessing Game

Totally.

Speaking of detox, is he doing okay over there?

Hanging out with you all re-energizes me, but we’ll see what the rest of my day looks like after this.

Oh my gosh. Well, I know that we’re kind of blazing through these topics here, but you ready to go into our fun topic of the day? Whose brand is it anyway?

Yeah, my favorite part of the week.

Whose brand is it anyway? Where Sarah and I try to guess which sub brand or what big brand owns this sub brand because we talked about it earlier. There’s so many brands within these companies.

So let’s see what we got. We don’t know what we’re being shown yet today. So whose brand is it anyway?

Brought to you by GMH.

Oh, ever home suites, ever home suites. First of all, oh my God, am I allowed to say this? I’m just going to say it.

So when I look at these and I don’t necessarily know the brand, my first thing is what is up with that logo?

It looks like a home base, a baseball base. Is that what it is?

Yeah, I can see that. It also looks like a house. A house.

It’s a house. Ever home.

Home.

I get that.

All right. Well, ever home, I have no idea. I’m going to go with…

Hold on. What are the big brands that we always have on here? It’s got to be like a European brand.

I’m going to Core.

You are?

The Core.

I don’t know. I’ll just go with… IHG.

All right.

Let’s see the answer. Choice Hotel.

Choice. Well, then that makes… That checks out.

All right.

Yeah, you don’t. I got to check them out.

The brand checks out.

Ever home. I’m checking out their website now. Looks cool.

They got some nice sweets, you know, in that budget range. We can get one right now in Ocala, Florida for $76 tonight. And they get a nice little sweet.

So nice gym, nice little lobby area. Very cool. Ever home.

All right. Well, look, I’m not feeling great. Your Wi-Fi is going in and out.

I think if we owe ourselves this one show where maybe we wrap a little early today.

But for listeners and viewers, make sure to subscribe, to share this episode with everybody and Sarah, thank you for coming live from Amsterdam, doing your best to work out through the kinks of a live show. You made it happen.

We tried. We tried.

But yeah, that’s part of a live show. That’s why we are the number one show in Hospitality GmH because we take risks and always make sure that we bring you some cool things every single week.

Oh, my goodness. I have to say. Yes, chiming in.

Way to go.

I like the mom joke. Very good.

Way to go. Oh, man. That’s great.

Well, and then I find a little shout out to our friends over at Muse. This event is fantastic. If you are a partner with them, that is how you can get invited to this show.

I highly recommend it next year. If you happen to be a property and you have Muse, definitely come. The conversations are great.

What I really like about them, and I will wrap it up after this, is these are real conversations. It’s not just like fluff. It’s pushing back a little bit.

It’s not just talking points. It is really getting to the real nitty and gritty. I really appreciate that when we see that in conferences.

Congratulations to them for putting on a great show. I’ve been honored to be here. Thanks, guys.

All right.

Well, until next week, everyone, stay hospital.