{"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":368,"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":"2026-07-22T04:18:26.153492+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810"},"episode":{"title":"This Week in Hospitality: The Uber-Hotel Hookup, Expedia Optimizes for AI Agents, and Why Americans Are Skipping Europe","slug":"this-week-in-hospitality-the-uber-hotel-hookup-expedia-optimizes-for-ai-agents-and-why-americans-are-skipping-europe","published_at":"2026-05-29T07:26:37+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810/this-week-in-hospitality-the-uber-hotel-hookup-expedia-optimizes-for-ai-agents-and-why-americans-are-skipping-europe","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/behind-the-stays-3506810","url":"https://behindthestays.podbean.com/e/this-week-in-hospitality-the-uber-hotel-hookup-expedia-optimizes-for-ai-agents-and-why-americans-are-skipping-europe/","audio_url":"https://mcdn.podbean.com/mf/web/8gyyqvswr9esvw2j/TWIH_28b5qzo.mp3","summary":"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 Mews embeds Uber directly into its PMS, promising seamless guest transportation and a cut of ancillary revenue hotels have long been leaving on the table. The guys are skeptical — cool concept, questionable adoption, and the real winner might just be Uber’s data team.Then Expedia announces B2A — a marketing function built not for humans, but for AI agents. Scott doesn’t mince words: AI is about to expose how hollow most hotel marketing actually is. Ben connects the dots to the accelerating rise of independent, story-driven properties that LLMs will increasingly favor over generic flag brands.Americans aren’t canceling travel — they’re shortening trips, going domestic, and scrutinizing every dollar. Scott just did seven hotel site visits in Tuscany. Not one was at capacity. The Smoky Mountains are not having the same problem.Finally, a sharp op-ed on the structural dysfunction between hotel owners and operators sparks a broader debate about why the aligned owner-operator model is the decade’s single biggest competitive advantage — and why capital still hasn’t caught up. This Week in Hospitality is presented to you by Journey. Journey is a loyalty platform built specifically for independent boutique hotels and high-touch hospitality brands. Our mission is to give operators the same powerful rewards engine, data intelligence, and guest insights that major chains rely on — without asking them to give up the individuality, soul, or story that makes their property extraordinary. If you’re an owner or…","meta_description":"Subscribe to This Week in Hospitality wherever you get you podcasts: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5oPExA0txHMjEI5Ye13IUyApple Podcasts - https:…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3873,"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-the-uber-hotel-hookup-expedia-optimizes-for-ai-agents-and-why-americans-are-skipping-europe/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-the-uber-hotel-hookup-expedia-optimizes-for-ai-agents-and-why-americans-are-skipping-europe.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}