# This Week in Hospitality: The Hotel Owner Squeeze, Six Senses Founder's Comeback, Wyndham's Grandma Gambit, and Coachella's Dirty Secret

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-the-hotel-owner-squeeze-six-senses-founder-s-comeback-wyndham-s-grandma-gambit-and-coachella-s-dirty-secret
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-the-hotel-owner-squeeze-six-senses-founder-s-comeback-wyndham-s-grandma-gambit-and-coachella-s-dirty-secret.md
Podcast: [Behind the Stays](https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810)
Published: 2026-04-17T10:08:08+00:00
Episode link: https://behindthestays.podbean.com/e/this-week-in-hospitality-the-hotel-owner-squeeze-six-senses-founders-comeback-wyndhams-grandma-gambit-and-coachellas-dirty-secret/
Audio file: https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/569ii5fvf3zcbxp3/TWIH_2296aow.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-stays-3506810/episodes/this-week-in-hospitality-the-hotel-owner-squeeze-six-senses-founder-s-comeback-wyndham-s-grandma-gambit-and-coachella-s-dirty-secret
Duration seconds: 4325

## 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 The hotel industry is telling two very different stories right now — and this week, the squad unpacks both.First up: a Skift deep dive exposes the brutal math crushing America's hotel owners. Hilton, Marriott, and Hyatt are posting record profits while the people who actually own the buildings are hemorrhaging cash — franchise fees, loyalty fees, F&B fees, spa fees, stack an OTA commission on top and owners could be handing over 40% of revenue before paying a single employee. The panel doesn't hold back. Edwin calls it a deadlock. Ben calls it a hostage situation. Scott says the cracks show up the moment growth slows — and right now, they're everywhere.Then: the man behind Six Senses is back. Bernard Baumgartner's new venture, Discover Collection, ditches OTAs entirely for a membership-based model with 32 villas in Oman and a bombshell incentive — travel advisors earn 12% commission on lifetime guest spend. It won't scale. That's the point.Wyndham makes a surprise appearance with a genuinely clever social campaign — a $20K Route 66 road trip giveaway pairing grandparents with grandkids, comp stays at Days Inn and Super 8, full content documentation required. The most valuable guest isn't the highest spender — it's the best storyteller.And Coachella? Ben drops a reality check. It didn't sell out in 2023. Random April weekends outperformed festival weekends at his Palm Springs hotel. Justin Bieber saved it this year. The takeaway: demand anchors are powerful, but they're lineup-dependent, not…

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