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

About this episode

The episode discusses the contrasting financial realities faced by hotel owners and major hospitality brands, along with innovative business models and marketing strategies in the industry.

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…

People in this episode

Host: Zach Busekrus

Guest: Bernard Baumgartner

Topics covered

• hotel industry challenges
• hospitality trends
• franchise fees
• membership-based models
• social media campaigns
• travel advisor commissions

Keywords

• hotel owners
• franchise fees
• hospitality
• membership model
• social campaign
• travel advisors
• commission

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Hilton, Marriott, Hyatt, Wyndham, Discover Collection

Places: Oman

More episodes of Behind the Stays

• This Week in Hospitality: The Airbnb-Marriott Deal That Almost Happened, MGM Goes Private(?), Journey & Cloudbeds Partner, & What Premium Travelers Want · June 12, 2026 · 56 min
• This Week in Hospitality: Sonder's Founder is Back, Hyatt's New Growth Strategy, The Human Concierge Book, and L.E/Miami Recap · June 5, 2026 · 1h 7m
• This Week in Hospitality: The Uber-Hotel Hookup, Expedia Optimizes for AI Agents, and Why Americans Are Skipping Europe · May 29, 2026 · 1h 5m
• How an Engineer-Turned-Michelin-Chef Built Epicurate, the Experience Platform for Luxury Stays · May 13, 2026 · 47 min
• This Week in Hospitality: The World Cup Bust, Spirit's Collapse, Priceline is Back, and Aman's Move in the Texas Hill Country · May 8, 2026 · 1h 3m
• This Week in Hospitality: Uber Becomes a Hotel Platform, TikTok Outperforms OTAs, and Hotels Still Don’t Own the Customer · May 1, 2026 · 1h 6m