Hotel Moment

In this episode of Hotel Moment, we bring you a special AI-generated conversation dissecting the 2026 secret shopped call report. Based on 308 secret-shopper calls placed across 135 luxury and upscale properties, the discussion explores why 92.2% of calls fail to capture guest contact details and why staff ask zero discovery questions over half the time. It examines how lobby check-in chaos forces front desk teams into triage, why evening voicemail loops destroy paid ad spend, and how semantic AI call scoring restores accountability across hotel voice channels.
Download the secret shopped call report here

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Andrew Shepherd, General Manager of Resorts at The Malcolm Hotel. Drawing on more than 25 years leading luxury hotels, resorts, and casinos, Andrew shares how proactive service transforms initial arrival moments into lasting loyalty. He explains why digital channels shape first impressions long before check-in, how front desk agents read body language when exhausted families arrive, and why logging details like a guest's favorite dessert turns software into real human connection. Andrew also breaks down how building 154 employee housing units in Canmore sustains service standards during industry labor shortages.

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens talks with Ami Alexander, Managing Partner at Barrel Aged Management. Drawing on two decades of experience with brands like Hakkasan Group, Sydell Group, and Virgin Hotels, Ami breaks down how guest expectations shifted from standard corporate consistency to local, intentional storytelling. She explains why developers must underwrite F&B concepts early to avoid forcing operations into poorly planned kitchens. Ami also outlines what allows concepts to scale without compromising design, and how tailored management support helps hotel teams deliver authentic experiences.

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Karen Stephens sits down with Lindsey Ueberroth, CEO of Preferred Travel Group, home to Preferred Hotels & Resorts, the world's largest independent hotel brand with over 625 hotels in 80 countries. Lindsey shares her unconventional path from change management consulting into hospitality, the key findings from Preferred's Luxury Travel Report on heritage travel and hyper-personalization, and why she believes "beigification," the sameness across branded hotels, is losing out to authentic, independent experiences. She also explains why AI visibility, not just adoption, is the single biggest opportunity independent hotels have this year.

In this episode of Hotel Moment, Dylan Cole, Managing Director, EMEA, Revinate, sits down with Lily Wecker, CEO of Aethos, a next-generation hospitality brand built on experiential luxury and meaningful connection. With leadership experience at Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Lily shares how a personal health scare reshaped her definition of luxury, from material ownership to internal validation, and why Aethos designs its properties for "high emotional density" instead of privacy. From the brand's emotion-first marketing philosophy to its new London restaurant Mitsu, Lily makes the case that the future of luxury hospitality is connection, not seclusion.