Top Floor

235 | Lucky Breakdown

17 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Jascha Kaykas-Wolff is the CEO of Visiting Media and a longtime tech leader who has helped shape digital marketing at companies like Yahoo, Microsoft,...

234 | Model Room Mayhem

10 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Lori Mukoyama is a Design Principal and Global Hospitality Leader at Gensler, shaping hotel experiences across cities from Chicago to Tokyo. With a ba...

233 | Musical Tasting Menu

03 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kurt Oleson is the Chief Operating Officer and co-owner of Custom Channels, a Denver-based company delivering fully licensed, human-curated music solu...

232 | Don't Skip Seasoning

24 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Leora Lanz is an associate professor at Boston University's School of Hospitality Administration and a former global marketing leader who helped grow ...

231 | Accounting for Taste

17 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Travis Burns is Executive Vice President of Business Development at Remington Hospitality, where he's helping scale the company's third-party manageme...

230 | Hotels Are Political

10 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Susan Barry is the founder of Hive Marketing and the host of Top Floor, bringing hotel sales, marketing, and ownership-side perspectives to the mic. I...

229 | Pig Coming Through

03 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Tracy Stuckrath is the founder of thrive! meetings & events, where she helps planners, venues, and chefs stop accidentally poisoning their guests (a l...

228 | Lights Out, Newport

27 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Christine Malfair is a lifelong hotelier turned independent-hotel marketing fixer, with a career spanning cruise ships, GM roles, and 15 years buildin...

227 | Next Up, Locusts

20 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Brown is a former attorney and CPA who ditched billable hours for buildings, turning a brotherly townhouse-flipping side hustle into Furnished Qu...

226 | Phony on the Phone

13 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Stacy Garcia is a designer, entrepreneur, and trend forecaster known for bold patterns and a sharper-than-average crystal ball. She built a multimilli...

225 | Chocolate-Covered Laundry

06 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Kipp Lassetter is a former ER physician turned health-tech founder, hotel owner, and gas-station-barbecue legend who now runs RBN, a luxury real estat...

224 | Bridge & Tunnel Walk

30 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Rubin is the CEO of Collared Martin Hospitality, the management company behind Faraway Hotels, with a career that's zigzagged from overnight ma...

223 | Tasting Catastrophe

23 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Franck Desplechin is a French-born chef turned luxury hotel food and beverage executive, with roots in Michelin-starred kitchens and brands like St. R...

222 | Baa Baa Bourdain

16 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Christin Marvin is a hospitality lifer who's opened 13 restaurants, run high-performing teams from the Broadmoor to booming Denver concepts, and survi...

221 | Unsubtle Resignation

09 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Brady Lowe is a connector, educator, and experience-maker who founded Taste Network and the nonprofit Piggy Bank, spending more than two decades build...

220 | Breakfast Father Figures

02 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Broadhurst is the Chief Operating Officer at StepStone Hospitality, a lifelong hotelier who sprinted from dish pit to nightclub manager to sen...

219 | Holiday Gift Guide

25 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special episode of Top Floor, Susan talks with three founders whose products made this year's Hospitality Holiday Gift Guide. Michael Albert f...

218 | Fryer Oil Boardwalk

18 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Taylor Scott is a hospitality lifer turned leadership coach who cut his teeth at Walt Disney World, led sales at Disney Vacation Club, and earned his ...

217 | Swimming Pool Disaster

11 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lisa Holladay is the first Chief Experience Officer at TIGER 21, where she crafts learning, access, and connection for a global community of ultra-hig...

216 | Job Site Sabotage

04 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Jake Zwaagstra is the CEO of TriCelta Development and a veteran builder of complex hospitality projects from the Las Vegas Strip to tribal mega-develo...

215 | Fire Trucks at Tiffany's

28 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ashley Ching is the founder and CEO of InHaven, a company standardizing vacation rentals with hotel-grade essentials and service. After 13 years at Ti...

214 | High-Altitude Hunger

21 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Al Lagunas is the co-founder of Levee, an AI-driven vision-and-voice platform that converts room inspections into verified data and automated workflow...

213 | Party Ambulance

14 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Bill Fanning is an Austin-based software leader turned hospitality-tech exec who's led revenue and sales across VC-backed, public, and PE-owned compan...

212 | Hotel Meth Takedown

07 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Debbie Feldman literally grew up in hotels—her father founded Embassy Suites—and she's since worn almost every hat: GM, asset manager of a 45-hote...

211 | Martini Mayhem

30 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Messeroff spent three decades in hospitality and was JetBlue's first intern before swapping corporate partnerships for a life of travel and a car...

210 | Six Months at the Waldorf

23 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Josh Kremer is the co-founder of Paradero Hotels, a Baja-born luxury brand blending boutique resorts with destination management to create immersive, ...

209 | 4th Anniversary!

16 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Happy anniversary, Top Floor!  Calvin Tilokee is the founder and creative director of RevPAR Media, blending 20+ years of revenue management and mark...

208 | $900 Uber Escape

09 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Hawkins is the founder of Gamemasters Escape Solutions, a creator and operator of high-performing escape rooms for hotels and resorts. After a s...

207 | Mindset Drives Everything

02 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Agnelo Fernandes is the CEO of Cote Hospitality, a company blending resorts and heritage summer camps into unforgettable indoor-outdoor experiences. H...

206 | Cater Waiter Diss

26 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Steven Moore is the CEO of Actabl, a hospitality operations platform uniting four hotel operations tools into one streamlined solution. From his early...

205 | New Year, New Pillow

19 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Wil Slickers is a hospitality pro turned podcasting powerhouse. He launched Slick Talk in 2018 to scratch an industry itch, then turned it into a mult...

204 | Failure Into Fuel

12 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sundip Patel is the founder and CEO of AVANA Companies, a financial services firm managing over $1 billion in assets. Born in Zambia and raised in the...

203 | Director in Sheep's Clothing

05 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shanté Micah is a seasoned storyteller and strategic PR pro who launched her career covering the Olympics before earning her master's from Syracuse a...

202 | Casino Money Bag

29 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Dahlager is the Chief Operating Officer and a partner at Mereté Hotel Management, a hotel management company based in Oregon. With roots in bouti...

201 | Collect 12 Postcards

22 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Kim DiMarco is a veteran textile executive and the founder of Somato Textiles, a brand reimagining hospitality fabrics through creativity, sustainabil...

200 | Boom Boom Trip

15 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It's the 200th episode, and who better to celebrate with than the show's most frequent flyer—literally—Cat Meek! Restaurateur, sommelier, real est...

199 | Scorpion Snack

08 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chuck Kelley is a seasoned hotelier who's done it all—from F&B to executive leadership across the globe. Now a partner at Cayuga Hospitality Consult...

198 | Elevator Pitch at HITEC (Part 2)

01 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this second batch of HITEC interviews, Susan invites a new group of hotel tech leaders into the Top Floor recording booth to deliver their best Ele...

197 | Elevator Pitch at HITEC (Part 1)

24 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special HITEC edition of Top Floor, we're riding the elevator with hospitality tech leaders who know how to make a pitch. From PMS platforms t...

196 | Old Blue Eyes

17 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mahendra Doshi is a journalist, historian, and author who came to the U.S. from India in 1967 with just $8 and a dream. From working in Nevada casinos...

195 | Basket of Puppies

10 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Guise Bule spent nearly two decades in tech and cybersecurity before pivoting to hospitality, where his personal experience as a frequent traveler and...

194 | American in Saudi

03 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Tripoli is a veteran restaurateur, consultant, and podcast host with decades of hospitality experience under his belt. From teenage busboy to in...

193 | Room for Trouble

27 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Roby is a lifelong hotel enthusiast whose love for hospitality began during childhood stays at the Ritz Carlton. After studying at Cornell's Hot...

192 | Fluff and Fold

20 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Shelley Brown is a keynote speaker, artist, and former hospitality pro who has built a career by challenging the status quo with heart and humor. Afte...

191 | Unzipped and Flipped

13 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sarah Moss is the Chief of Staff at Hunter Hotel Advisors, where she's the operational glue behind both the firm and its booming hotel investment conf...

190 | Handshake Deal Robbery

06 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Donte Johnson is a hospitality veteran with a 20+ year career of transforming hotel experiences through cultural integration and community connection....

189 | Sneaky Server Bonus

29 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Adrian Balcan is the founder of Feed Check, a platform that helps hospitality businesses decode customer feedback and outshine the competition. With a...

188 | Scared in the Dark

22 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Renee Rubens is the founder of Symphony of Leaves, a luxury tea company rooted in ethical sourcing and sensory sophistication. After decades in global...

187 | Fixing the Curve

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Michael Blank is a hospitality veteran who's worked every angle of the hotel biz—from slinging room keys at the Willard in D.C. to steering multimil...

186 | Honest Sushi

08 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Mumford is the General Manager of Brand g Vacations, a leading luxury travel company serving the LGBTQ+ community. After a long career in corpora...

185 | Squash Milk

01 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Episode Summary: Steve Fortunato never planned to make hospitality his life's work—until he realized it was embedded in his DNA. After starting room...

184 | Hotel Room Saddle

25 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Lan Elliott's career spans the highest levels of hotel real estate, from acquisitions at Starwood to asset management at IHG. Now, as the co-founder o...

183 | Bathtub Disaster

18 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sloan Dean climbed the hospitality ranks from revenue management to the CEO of Remington Hospitality in 2020, steering the company through a global cr...

182 | Wrong Kind of Rally

11 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Born in Korea and adopted by Japanese American parents in Seattle, Shari Leid knows what it means to search for belonging. A former litigator who rein...

181 | Smoky Light Pole

04 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

With 20 years in hospitality, Tommy Beyer has done it all—from parking cars to managing multimillion-dollar assets. After 16 years with Newport Hosp...

180 | Balloon Transformer

25 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Janet Irizarry has spent 30+ years in the restaurant industry, from owning multiple eateries to teaching at the Culinary Institute of America. Now, sh...

179 | Bridal Suite Sweethearts

18 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

James Ferguson started his hospitality career at the front desk and worked his way up through operations and leadership roles. Now, as Director of Cul...

178 | Screamed at in the Hall

11 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mathew Focht is a pioneer in blending data-driven strategies with hospitality innovation. With a career spanning engineering, real estate development,...

177 | Little Wooden YoYo

04 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Alicia Zur-Szpiro is a trailblazer in creative industries, blending her background in game design with her passion for hospitality. Co-founder of Wond...

176 | Murdered Murder Mystery

28 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Ryan Fitzgerald started his career as a saxophonist, faking his way onto a cruise ship gig and eventually becoming a cruise director. He transitioned ...

175 | $7,000 Vacuums

21 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Micajah Sturdivant is the third-generation leader of MMI Hospitality Group, a hospitality company managing hotels, restaurants, golf clubs, and more a...

174 | Apron on a Fence

14 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Mitch Prensky is a food and beverage development consultant with a storied career spanning fine dining, catering, and hotel restaurant concepting. Aft...

173 | Wartime Mattress

07 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fabio Zaniboni is a visionary engineer with a career spanning automotive robotics, luxury yachting, and high-end hospitality. As a specialist in IoT s...

172 | Pandemic Survivor Couple

31 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Geetika Agrawal is a designer and entrepreneur with a career that spans architecture, digital product creation, and cultural preservation. Formerly of...

171 | Shower Not Included

24 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Niamh McAnally is an adventurer and author who has traveled the world as a hotelier and volunteer. With a career spanning from actor and director in I...

170 | Very Pricey Photocopy

17 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Pablo Torres is a seasoned hotelier with experience managing properties across Europe, from Spain to the UK. A revenue strategy expert, Pablo has trai...

169 | Breathtaking Beauty

10 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Peter Follows, founder of Carpedia, has spent over 30 years helping businesses turn strategies into actionable results. From working with industrial g...

168 | Celery in the Hoodie

03 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Paul Bishop is an award-winning designer and the founder of Bishop Design, renowned for crafting immersive hospitality and entertainment venues worldw...

167 | Compost, Compost, Compost

26 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Amy Wald is the founder of greenluxe, where she's on a mission to make sustainability a natural part of the hospitality industry. After years in sales...

166 | Lead Yourself

19 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mike Schugt is a hospitality industry leader who started his career at 15 as a dishwasher and rose through the ranks to become Vice President at Hilto...

165 | Purple Flower Luxury

12 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Florence Li is Vide President of International Sales and Marketing for Songtsam, a family-owned collection of luxury boutique hotels nestled in China'...

164 | Oscar the Ghost

05 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Laura Lee Blake is the president and CEO of AAHOA, the largest association for hotel owners in the U.S., representing nearly 20,000 members. With a ba...

163 | Ice Bucket Investigation

29 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Aurora Dawn Benton is a sustainability consultant and author of Exponential Impact: Harnessing Human Potential to Drive Sustainability in Organization...

162 | Money-Making Machine

22 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Michelle Pascoe is a Sydney-based expert in hospitality and customer service with over 30 years of experience. As the founder of her own consultancy a...

161 | Airline Bankruptcy Surprise

15 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jared Lerner, co-founder and CEO of Nappr, transformed his personal challenges with sleep and travel into a platform offering short-term hotel stays d...

160 | Sleeping on the Train

08 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Liz Owens is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Vacations by Rail, North America's leading provider of train vacations. With over 20 yea...

159 | 15-Day Career

01 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gustavo Viescas is the president of Wyndham Hotels and Resorts for Latin America and the Caribbean. After more than two decades in finance, Gustavo's ...

158 | Bad Business Bullets

24 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Stephen Galbreath is the Chief Development Officer and Head of Design and Construction at Garfield Public Private, specializing in the development of ...

157 | Cauldron of Light

17 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Kevin Fedarko is a magazine writer, adventurer, and author of A Walk in the Park: The True Story of a Spectacular Misadventure in the Grand Canyon. Ke...

156 | Bar Tab Larceny

10 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Tim Hentschel is the founder of HotelPlanner, which sought to digitize the analog process of booking group business in hotels. HotelPlanner has change...

155 | Royal Ride Regrets

03 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Adam Tuttle is a luxury hotel veteran and founder of Yipy, an app that helps hotels digitize their service standards so that nothing gets missed. Afte...

154 | Football Lost & Found

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Mindi Cooke is fashion executive turned reunitor of lost things. As SVP of Business Development at Reunitus, Mindi helps airlines, ski mountains, and ...

153 | Our Robot Overlords

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Matt Casella is a former finance guy and restaurant automation entrepreneur who serves as President of Richtech Robotics. The company creates robots w...

152 | Missing Blanket of Snow

13 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Andrea Piana is committed to a sustainable, zero-waste economy, so it may come as a surprise to learn that he is CEO of a more than 400-year-old texti...

151 | Rolls Royce Chauffeur

06 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ali Krupnik is founder of MyWellCo, a wellness events company. Ali is passionate about bringing wellness to corporate events without it having to be y...

150 | Wedding Wing Man

30 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Jennifer Barnwell is president of Curator Hotel and Resort Collection, a consortium of about 100 independent hotels across the US who have joined forc...

149 | Sweethearts on the Run

23 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

John Bianchi is founder of STR Search, a data analytics company that helps real estate investors determine which properties are best positioned for ca...

148 | Aisle Seat Swap

16 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Seema Jain is founder and president of Seva Global, a cultural competency training and consulting company. After using her own cultural competency to ...

147 | Black, Brown, and Down

09 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ashli Johnson is finally holding a conference for Black and Brown hospitality leaders, and the world will be better for it. An industry mainstay with ...

146 | Bikinis in December

02 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bruce Jordan has been in the hotel business since age 12, and he's picked up so many tricks along the way that he put them into a book. The Hotel Reve...

145 | Chamber of Commerce

25 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Alioto is co-founder and head of growth at whimStay, a last-minute booking platform for short-term rental stays, and Noel Russel is chief marketi...

144 | Book in the Cloud

18 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Cory Mortensen is a travel writer and explorer who has published three books, the most recent called Embracing Bewilderment. Cory spent two years trav...

143 | Toilet Paper Mountain

11 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Ludovic Siouffi is founder and CEO of Fox Fold, a company that makes toilet paper and facial tissue dispensers that lower costs and reduce waste. Afte...

142 | Chris Green Spills All

04 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Chris Green is the author of The River Guide to Leadership and former President of Remington Hospitality. In his exit interview on Top Floor, he spill...

141 | Silverware Secret Message

28 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Rebecca Dean has had concurrent career paths in healthcare and hospitality, which positioned her perfectly to found Healthpitality. A virtual medical ...

140 | Gay Wine Weekend

21 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Gary Saperstein is a 30 year restaurant veteran and founder of Out in the Vineyard, a travel and event company that brings the LGBTQ+ and winemaker co...

139 | Sleepless in Vancouver

14 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Oliver Winter is founder and CEO of A&O Hostels, the largest privately-owned chain of hostels in Europe, with 40 properties in 25 cities. After a brus...

138 | Boxed Bellman Excreta

07 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Scott Greenberg is a motivational speaker, former Edible Arrangements owner, and author of "Stop the Shift Show: Turn Your Struggling Hourly Workers i...

137 | $600,000 Trash Can

30 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David Lund is the Hotel Financial Coach, a thought leader and trainer on using finacial data to drive your business decisions and your career. A 30-ye...

136 | Understood the Assignment

23 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

From a haunted vacation rental to a casualty-free plane crash, the teams of the Hunter Hotel Investment Conference and Hunter Hotel Advisors brought t...