Episodes

AI is transforming hospitality technology at an extraordinary speed. But what happens when businesses start trusting answers without understanding the data behind them? Wouter Geerts joined Abode Worldwide as Head of Market Intelligence and Research two months ago, after leading research at Skift and working inside hotel tech vendor Mews. On this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, he and Jessica Gillingham discuss why trust in AI output may become hospitality’s defining technology conversation in...

How do you scale a hotel business without losing the culture, agility and human connection that made it successful in the first place? In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham speaks with Hjörtur Valgeirsson, Chief Operating Officer of Íslandshótel, Iceland's largest hotel chain, about the challenges and opportunities of growing a hospitality business in one of the world's most distinctive operating environments. With 19 hotels across Iceland, from large conference-ready pro...

A houseboat that no bank would finance and no insurer would cover might seem an unlikely starting point for a hospitality brand. For Brian Meyer, it was the beginning of FLOHOM. Brian Meyer grew up on the water. He paddled competitively, built a paddleboard company in downtown Annapolis, and spent years living at the marina where his business was docked. When it came time to move, he couldn't afford a waterfront home, but he walked into a refurbished 1970s houseboat and couldn't get the idea ou...

AvantStay started with a simple proposition: create a consistent guest experience in a fragmented market. Eight years later, Reuben Doetsch has scaled it to more than 3,000 homes across 100-plus US markets. In today's episode, I ask Reuben a deceptively simple question. What exactly is a short-term rental operator in today's market? AvantStay spans large group homes, aparthotels,, and branded residences, with technology and data at the center of how it operates. Reuben makes a case that the bo...

Like many entrepreneurs entering the short-term rental space, Maxime Leufroy-Murat started out believing growth was a function of acquiring more properties and scaling operations. After more than a decade in the industry, he has reached very different conclusions. Maxime Leufroy-Murat has spent over a decade inside the short-term rental industry — building City Relay, one of London's most established lettings management platforms, and Opago, a tech-enabled operations business now managing aroun...

When Njål Elliasson co-founded his Norwegian-based short-term rental property management company, Heimby, in 2022, he was over the moon as it quickly grew in size and profit. But before he knew it, his company started crumbling, going from a $100k profit in year one to a $200k loss by the end of year two. By the end of 2023, Njål was forced to start over, prioritizing quality of product over profit and growth. He got rid of all of his team, downsized to just the 20 best homes, hired at CTO and ...

What does it take to build a hospitality brand that delivers genuine quality at a budget price point? Matt Bell is the Managing Director of Mollie's, a design-led motel and diner concept with properties in Oxford, Bristol, and Manchester. With nearly two decades in independent hospitality, Matt brings a rare mix of operational rigour and brand instinct to everything Mollie's does. In this episode, Matt breaks down the philosophy behind the brand — why budget doesn't have to mean boring, and ho...

Mike Rawson spent seven years as CIO of CitizenM, one of the most tech-forward hotel brands in the world. His biggest lesson? Technology comes last. In the latest episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Mike joins me to break down what most hotels are getting wrong about automation and how CitizenM built an NPS score good enough to catch Marriott's attention. His belief: you shouldn't reach for technology until you understand the real requirement, the business value it will bring, and most fundamenta...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Tim Major, CEO of Operto, joins host Jessica Gillingham to explain how agentic AI is shifting hospitality from automation to autonomous execution. Through Operto One, Operto is building an AI workforce capable of performing operational and marketing tasks, optimizing performance, and driving outcomes across hotel systems. The conversation explores what this shift means for hotel teams, guest experience, and business performance. While AI offers signifi...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Nils Mattisson, CEO & Co-Founder of Minut, explains how privacy-first technology is solving one of hospitality’s most complex challenges. Balancing guest privacy with host security. Minut developed a system that detects events such as noise, overcrowding, and smoking without recording or storing audio. This approach builds trust while enabling operators to maintain control over their assets. The conversation expands into broader industry shifts, including...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Marc Laros, CTO of The Usual Hotels, explains how sustainability, technology, and guest experience can be designed as one integrated operating system. The Usual Hotels is building toward becoming Europe’s most sustainable hotel brand, targeting 20 hotels in five years. Rather than treating sustainability as a layer, the company embeds it into how hotels are built, operated, and measured. At the same time, a flexible, API-driven tech stack and growing use ...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions with Jessica Gillingham, Cathrine Reimann, Co-Founder of Landfolk, explains why disciplined curation, not scale alone, is the foundation of a successful short-stay marketplace. Landfolk has grown from just 33 homes to more than 1,500 handpicked properties across seven markets. But unlike many platforms focused on inventory growth, Landfolk rejects roughly 50% of potential hosts in order to protect quality, brand integrity, and long-term community health. ...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions with Jessica Gillingham, Adam Tuttle, Co-Founder and CEO of Yipy, explains why hospitality’s approach to standards management has remained fundamentally outdated and how digitising standards can transform operational performance, team culture, and guest experience. While hotels have embraced digital guest journeys and automation, internal standards often still live in binders, PDFs, or static intranets. Adam argues that without a live, accessible standard...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Merilee Karr, CEO of UnderTheDoormat Group, explains how short-term rentals have evolved from fragmented, alternative accommodation into a professional, institutional-grade asset class operating at scale across Europe and beyond. With short-term rentals now accounting for over 20% of accommodation nights in Europe, the sector is no longer a niche. Merilee outlines how operational infrastructure, technology platforms, and regulatory collaboration are shap...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Laurenz Schwarzhappel, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Global Living Apartments, explains how the company consistently achieves around 92% occupancy across nine German cities by doing what most hospitality operators avoid. Narrowing the guest segment, rethinking asset use, and automating everything possible. Global Living Apartments focuses on families and group travelers, a segment traditional hotels struggle to serve. By converting commercial properties into s...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham sits down with Ulrich Pillau, Co-founder & CEO of Apaleo, to explore how AI and API-first technology are redefining what modern hospitality looks like behind the scenes and in front of guests. Uli explains why the industry is splitting between digital-first operators and legacy brands struggling to adapt, and why simply “moving to the cloud” won’t fix broken guest journeys without a fundamental rethink of operating models. 💡 In this con...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski speak with Alexander Limpert, the founder behind RentalReady and GuestReady, to unpack how automation, data, and AI are transforming operational efficiency in short-term rentals. 💡 Highlights include: 🤖 How RentalReady became the first PMS to integrate OpenAI, now powering a third-gen AI assistant 💬 Why AI replies to “confident messages” but escalates complex ones to humans 🏗️ Why GuestReady is shifting toward entire b...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Jason Hardman, Head of UK Living at CBRE, to explore how policy, planning, and private capital are reshaping the UK’s housing future. 💡 Highlights include: 🏡 Why housing models must evolve to reflect modern lifestyles and longer life spans 🏘️ How institutional investment is fueling growth in single-family rental 📊 The UK’s 1.5 million homes target—and how to balance quality, speed, and sustainability 🤝 Ho...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and co-host Kristian Lupinski sit down with Asli Kutlucan, CEO Europe at TFE Hotels, to explore how the company is bridging the gap between hotels and homes with its fast-growing Adina and MM:MT (Moment) brands. In this episode, Asli shares: 🏨 Why casual living is the next evolution of modern hospitality 🏗️ How adaptive reuse is unlocking new value from underused city buildings 🤖 How the new GXP platform is transforming guest experience and...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Stephanie Smith, Head of Residential at Muse, to unpack how thoughtful design, data, and collaboration are shaping the next era of residential living in the UK. 💡 Highlights include: 🏡 Why responsive service and maintenance matter more than flashy amenities 🌍 How early engagement with residents and local schools drives better design and safety 📊 Why “tech for tech’s sake” is out — and data-driven benchmar...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Joe Persechino, COO of Yugo, to unpack the global growth trajectory of student accommodation and the strategies needed to meet demand. 💡 Highlights from the conversation: 🌍 Why student numbers are rising from 240M to 400M by 2050 📊 Why markets like the UK are 30% penetrated while Italy lags at only 5% 🏢 How Yugo blends global brand consistency with local market nuance 🤝 Why partnerships with universities ...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Jonathan Burridge, Founder & CEO of Utopi, to explore how his company is helping operators cut costs, reduce carbon, and improve resident engagement through data-driven technology. 💡 Highlights include: ⚡ How Utopi uncovered 1,400% energy consumption variance in one building 📊 Why ESG is shifting from “compliance” to performance and ROI 🎮 Behavioral change campaigns that save energy and build community 🤖 ...

In this week’s Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Josef Vollmayr, Co-Founder & Managing Director of Limehome, to explore how the company is reshaping hospitality across Europe with efficiency, design, and digital-first operations. 💡 Highlights include: 🌍 Why most travelers now value clean, functional stays over luxury touches 🤖 How Limehome achieves 85% automation without losing the guest experience 🏗️ The building strategies behind 72% space efficiency ...

In this episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Jessica Gillingham and Kristian Lupinski sit down with Kevin Murphy, Co-founder & COO of Renew, to explore how multifamily operators can turn one of their biggest weaknesses—renewals—into a relationship-driven advantage. 💡 Highlights include: 🏘️ Why renewals should start on day one, not 60 days before expiry 🏨 How “hotelification” is reshaping expectations in the rental world 📊 Why fragmented operators struggle with loyalty—and how networks can solve it 🤖...