{"podcast":{"title":"Behind the Stays","slug":"behind-the-stays-3506810","podcast_index_feed_id":3506810,"rss_url":"https://feed.podbean.com/behindthestays/feed.xml","website_url":"https://www.behindthestays.com/","image_url":"https://pbcdn1.podbean.com/imglogo/image-logo/10635360/BTS-Artwork-1400x1400.jpg","author":"Zach Busekrus","episode_count":383,"summary":"Welcome to Behind the Stays — a podcast that shares the stories behind your favorite boutique hotels, short-term rentals, and hospitality brands and the hosts, operators, and entrepreneurs who’ve brought them to life. Every Tuesday and Friday you’ll meet the military veterans, retired flight attendants, tech entrepreneurs, school teachers, single moms, hoteliers, and real estate investors who are all, in their unique ways, shaping the future of travel and hospitality. Discover how these visionaries — from all over the world — have built stunning landscape hotels in the mountains, designed bohemian bungalows on the beach, erected eclectic off-grid and nature-immersed escapes, and so much more. Behind the Stays is brought to you by Journey — a first-of-its-kind loyalty program that brings together an alliance of the world’s top independently owned and operated stays and allows travelers to earn points and perks on boutique hotels, vacation rentals, treehouses, ski chalets, glamping experiences and so much more. And I’m your host, Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. Alright friends, enjoy the show!","last_synced_at":"2026-09-12T02:22:44.365150+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810"},"episode":{"title":"This Week in Hospitality: From Ian Schrager to AKA — Blake Danner on the Loyalty Lie, Brand Differentiation, and Staying Small","slug":"this-week-in-hospitality-from-ian-schrager-to-aka-blake-danner-on-the-loyalty-lie-brand-differentiation-and-staying-small","published_at":"2026-09-11T13:15:08+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-from-ian-schrager-to-aka-blake-danner-on-the-loyalty-lie-brand-differentiation-and-staying-small","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810","url":"https://behindthestays.podbean.com/e/this-week-in-hospitality-from-ian-schrager-to-aka-%e2%80%94-blake-danner-on-the-loyalty-lie-brand-differentiation-and-staying-small/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/3xiashyxsd7ccdxt/TWIH_436r4oc.mp3","summary":"Blake Danner has spent his career inside the rooms where lifestyle hospitality was invented. Eleven years alongside Ian Schrager opening the Clift, Sanderson, and Shore Club. Seven years as founding COO of the Sydell Group, where he helped create Nomad, The Line, and Freehand — 11 hotels in seven years. A stint running operations at Proper Hospitality. And now, as COO of AKA Hotels & Hotel Residences, he's running a 16-property luxury serviced residence portfolio where the entry-level monthly rate starts at $30K and the loyalty program charges $750 just to join. This week, Blake makes the case that the mid-size independent operator isn't just surviving — it's winning. He explains why he's \"completely unhireable\" by big brands, what he learned from Schrager about staying culturally voracious, and the Andrew Zobler lesson he still carries: never sacrifice brand DNA, no matter how big the check. He tells the Delano pool story — suits outnumbering swimsuits — and why the Nomad once turned down a million-dollar group that wanted a banner over the front desk. Then the crew digs into Skift's latest loyalty data showing credit cards and banks now outrank hotels as the most rewarding loyalty programs in the eyes of travelers. Blake's response: boo hoo. If your product is good enough, people will skip the points. The conversation turns to Neil Jacobs' new operating company backed by Constellation Hotels — his pitch for a \"third way\" between global management scale and solo passion projects. Blake co-signs the thesis and adds: AKA doesn't want 50 properties, and that restraint is the whole point. Stream The Hotel Daddy PodcastFollow Blake on InstagramConnect with Blake on LinkedIn Your Hosts: Zach Busekrus — Journey LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zachbusekrus/ Instagra…","meta_description":"Blake Danner has spent his career inside the rooms where lifestyle hospitality was invented. Eleven years alongside Ian Schrager opening the Clift, Sander…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3850,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/behind-the-stays-3506810/episodes/this-week-in-hospitality-from-ian-schrager-to-aka-blake-danner-on-the-loyalty-lie-brand-differentiation-and-staying-small/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-from-ian-schrager-to-aka-blake-danner-on-the-loyalty-lie-brand-differentiation-and-staying-small.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}