Matt Talks Hospitality: Real conversations for innovative hoteliers

The PMS has been at the heart of every hotel for decades. Has it changed at all? What does the next generation PMS look like? Some of hospitality’s most well-known voices, Ira Vouk and Simone Puorto, join Matt to trace the full arc of hotel tech: why big brands are stuck on legacy systems, why hoteliers keep picking the wrong PMS and what every hotelier should ask before signing their next contract.

Matt arrived at an 800-room Marriott and ended up in a line that went out the door. In this episode, he breaks down what he'd do differently if he were running that front desk today. You’ll hear about the best housekeeping practices, early check-in charges, kiosks, online check-in and how all of it works together to shrink lines and drive revenue at the same time.

When Gorjan Lazarov became the CEO of OREA Hotels & Resorts in 2016, direct bookings were at zero and guests chose the brand mainly for its locations. Ten years and 20 hotels later, guest ratings are through the roof and 60% of revenue comes in through OREA’s own platform. Gorjan shares how the group rebuilt its culture, utilized innovative tech and turned OREA into one of the Czech Republic’s most beloved hotel brands.

Hotels have always been in the business of trust: guests hand over their passports, their credit cards, their personal information and expect it to be safe. But this industry is a prime target for cybercrime. What are some of the most common threats to data security in hospitality and how can hoteliers protect against them? Matt talks to CISO/Security expert Fleur van Leusden and Terry Brown, Senior Director of Engineering at Mews.

The best guest experiences don’t come from SOPs. Hotels invest in training programs, but the moments guests talk about long after checkout are rarely the ones anyone planned for. Miru Schuurman, Guest Performance & Product Quality Manager at Amrâth Hotels, shares how too much structure can create staff that sticks to scripts instead of reading rooms, and what that can cost you on OTA ratings.