{"podcast":{"title":"The Lights On Podcast","slug":"the-lights-on-podcast-7759126","podcast_index_feed_id":7759126,"rss_url":"https://feeds.libsyn.com/609375/rss","website_url":"https://www.lightson.co/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/4/a/d/4/4ad46d7ca0cb69a7d959afa2a1bf1c87/Kin_Sio_Updated_Artwork_FINAL72.jpg","author":"Kin Sio","episode_count":15,"summary":"The Lights On Podcast features conversations with hospitality leaders about the commercial strategies that drive hotel performance and growth.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T16:17:16.035310+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lights-on-podcast-7759126"},"episode":{"title":"Hidden Economics of Hotel Growth in the OTA Era With Dan Wacksman","slug":"hidden-economics-of-hotel-growth-in-the-ota-era-with-dan-wacksman","published_at":"2026-05-14T06:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lights-on-podcast-7759126/hidden-economics-of-hotel-growth-in-the-ota-era-with-dan-wacksman","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lights-on-podcast-7759126","url":"https://ea25c55f-2258-48f1-bd3b-7f245055ea08.libsyn.com/hidden-economics-of-hotel-growth-in-the-ota-era-with-dan-wacksman","audio_url":"https://traffic.libsyn.com/secure/ea25c55f-2258-48f1-bd3b-7f245055ea08/Lights_On_-_Dan_Wacksman.mp3?dest-id=5310465","summary":"Dan Wacksman is the Founder and CEO of Sassato LLC and Hawaii Hotel Hui, where he leverages decades of expertise to help hotel clients make strategic decisions and execute on marketing, distribution, and technology projects. Under his leadership, Hawaii Hotel Hui has grown into a key industry platform, reaching over 4,000 hospitality professionals across the Hawaiian Islands. With over 20 years of global experience spanning the US and Asia, Dan is recognized for his in-depth knowledge of hotel commercial strategy, tech stacks, and fostering local industry communities. In this episode… Most hotels lose margin in the same places: OTA rate discipline, tech stack bloat, misaligned KPIs, and weak direct booking conversion. Dan Wacksman has worked both sides — 20 years in travel distribution, then 12 as SVP of Marketing and Distribution at Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, and now running Sassato LLC out of Honolulu. Kin Sio sits down with Dan on The Lights On Podcast to break down what independent hotels consistently get wrong — and what it takes to fix it. Dan's OTA position is direct: the relationship works when managed with rate discipline. His rule — never give an OTA a better rate than your direct channels — sounds obvious, but he still walks into properties that violate it. The fix starts at the front desk. When an OTA guest checks in, that's the moment to collect contact information, build a direct relationship, and make sure the next booking doesn't go back through Expedia or Booking.com. As Dan puts it: \"I am happy to get OTA bookings as long as the second time they book me, it's direct.\" The ROAS trap catches a lot of hotel marketing teams. A campaign with 20-to-1 return on ad spend looks like the obvious winner — until you realize it's brand search, capturing demand…","meta_description":"Dan Wacksman is the Founder and CEO of Sassato LLC and Hawaii Hotel Hui, where he leverages decades of expertise to help hotel clients make strategic deci…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2870,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-lights-on-podcast-7759126/episodes/hidden-economics-of-hotel-growth-in-the-ota-era-with-dan-wacksman/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-lights-on-podcast-7759126/hidden-economics-of-hotel-growth-in-the-ota-era-with-dan-wacksman.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}