# This Week in Hospitality: Hot Takes on Hilton, What Hotels Should Learn from the World Cup, and Shark Tank for Route 66's Last Surviving Motels

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-hot-takes-on-hilton-what-hotels-should-learn-from-the-world-cup-and-shark-tank-for-route-66-s-last-surviving-motels
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-hot-takes-on-hilton-what-hotels-should-learn-from-the-world-cup-and-shark-tank-for-route-66-s-last-surviving-motels.md
Podcast: [Behind the Stays](https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810)
Published: 2026-07-24T10:50:24+00:00
Episode link: https://behindthestays.podbean.com/e/this-week-in-hospitality-hot-takes-on-hilton-what-hotels-should-learn-from-the-world-cup-and-shark-tank-for-route-66s-last-surviving-motels/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/bcrp4btcw56eht9d/TWIH_36778va.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-stays-3506810/episodes/this-week-in-hospitality-hot-takes-on-hilton-what-hotels-should-learn-from-the-world-cup-and-shark-tank-for-route-66-s-last-surviving-motels
Duration seconds: 4176

## Resource

Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUyApple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-hospitality/id1849637233Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@ThisWeekinHospitality Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta went on record defending the brand's 28-property portfolio — and the panel has thoughts. Is the multi-brand arms race really about guests, or is it just an elaborate play for developers and distribution? Edwin makes the case that independent hotels have a competitive advantage no loyalty algorithm can replicate. Scott drops the hottest take of the episode: loyalty points have become hush money for operational failures. And Ben shares a story about a boutique hotel that turned a jackhammer nightmare into a lifelong brand loyalist — no points required. Then the World Cup post-mortem. Bank of America's final numbers are in — $20 billion pumped into the U.S. economy, RevPAR up 90% in Kansas City, 55% in San Francisco. Miami crushed it. But three separate properties reached out to Scott after the final whistle with the same question: now what? No social strategy. No post-event plan. No follow-through. The panel unpacks what hotels actually got right, what they blew, and why this should be a wake-up call for independent operators ahead of the 2028 Olympics. And to close it out — a game. It's Route 66's 100th anniversary, and CoStar toured the surviving motels still operating along the highway. The panel plays Keep, Kill, or Reimagine across six properties. Clark Gable's old room, a freshly rehabbed motor court with a paint can still in the bathtub, and a pink-walled Santa Monica hotel sitting on land worth more than the building. Scott wants to build a diner on everything. E…

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