Slick Talk With Wil

Simone Puorto is a former hotel General Manager, consultant, author of two best-selling books on hotel marketing, contributor for the major blogs in the industry, and MBA lecturer for schools such as Les Roches, ESSEC, and LUISS. He is the founder and CEO of Travel Singularity, the consulting firm whose vision is to solve the growing needs for connecting the dots between digital disruption and existing technologies in hotels. Over his career, spanning across over 20 years, he consulted for international hotel groups such as Divani Hotels Collection in Greece, Library Hotels Collection in New York, and The Pavilions Hotels & Resorts in Asia and Europe, helped to consolidate one of the largest hotel chains in Italy, and he advised for countless travel tech companies worldwide. In this episode we talk about the current things happening in the hotel world and what Simone will be speaking on at the I Meet Hotel Virtual Event that is on October 29th and is free to ALL! I have it linked here in the show notes and o

Why Real Estate? Why Virtual Assistants? Why property managers should get leverage this in their business? Dan Ramsey, CEO of MyOutDesk, tells me about his experience with running a business and how the moment he brought on virtual assistants, his business and life changed for the best.  I've "opened up my doors" to any audience members that want to have a chance to talk to me one on one! 2020 hasn't been easy for us in hospitality but we have a solid community and I want to get to know you all! You can book a time to chat with me by clicking this link! If you just wanted to talk about this episode or anything under the sun, just book your time! Mentioned in this episode: MyOutDesk Website MyOutDesk Facebook MyOutDesk Instagram MyOutDesk "Scaling Your Business" Book Return On Rentals Online Event Slick Talk Website & Socials Hospitality Game Changers Group! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I love that the phrase "This is how we've always done things" is no longer a term that is being used and it's now transformed to "We've never done this before but we can make it work one way or another." The Chicago Gray Hotel has been demonstrating this new phrase since the beginning of COVID19 on such a limited amount of staffing but just as much heart and passion to continue to serve their guests, team, and community. I sat down with Joel Contor, the Director of Sale & Marketing, and discussed whats been the biggest take aways from all of this and what they've done to keep their doors open. Day use rooms/whole floors of the hotel, hybrid meetings and out door spaces are all coming together to create a whole new experience! I've "opened up my doors" to any audience members that want to have a chance to talk to me one on one! 2020 hasn't been easy for us in hospitality but we have a solid community and I want to get to know you all! You can book a time to chat with me by clicking this link! If you just w

Fülhaus, a design and furnishing service for hotels, apart-hotels, and short-term rentals in Canada, the USA, and Europe, has launched a new concept as Montreal’s first direct-to-consumer furniture rental service. Andria and I had a great discussion on how now more than EVER, design plays such a huge role in what guests are looking for when staying at a property. The standards of a clean and functional place to stay are no longer the only things travelers are looking for as almost all of us are spending way more time indoors than usual. I also wanted to say that I've "opened up my doors" to any audience members that want to have a chance to talk to me one on one! 2020 hasn't been easy for us in hospitality but we have a solid community and I want to get to know you all! You can book a time to chat with me by clicking this link! Mentioned in this episode: Fullhaus Website Fullhaus mentioned in ShortTermRentalz.com Fullhaus Instagram Slick Talk Website & Socials Good Morning Hospitality Live Morni

Blanche is an award winning certified Interior Designer with over 24 years of experience in residential, hospitality and commercial design and is the owner of B. garcia Designs based in Montclair, New Jersey. She is a “Green Design” LEED Accredited Professional through the United States Green Building Commission. She is also a “WELL AP” design professional which utilizes healthy concepts to promote human health and wellness within the built environment. Blanche was also the principal designer featured in the popular Travel Channel reality series, “Hotel Impossible” for five seasons, where she helped tackle the job of revamping hotels along with host, Anthony Melchiorri. Mentioned In This Episode: Blanche Garcia Slick Talk Website & Social Medias Anthony Melchiorri from Hotel Impossible Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are you ready to change how you play the game? The hospitality industry rises to the challenge and we want you to join us. Learn more here on the Slick Talk Blog! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Andrew Bates and his team saw sophisticated homeowners leave a second home empty for 48 weeks each year because they did not want Internet strangers sleeping in their bed, and using their dishes. This makes complete sense to us. They began studying this Internet stranger anxiety to help our friends earn income from an asset they already had. How can we use our expertise in travel distribution, technology, and data science to improve the chance of a safe stay? Tune in and find out what it takes to improve vacations and making them safer for ALL stakeholders! Mentioned In this episode: Safely.com Safely Facebook Slick Talk Website and Socials Happy Hour Q&A Virtual Event Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Moriya Rockman, founder and CMO of Smiling House Luxury Switzerland, managing over 2.500 properties in 65 destinations in 24 countries. As a Media creative and PR expert, Moriya was involved in the Business Development of many companies. 4 years ago, together with her husband Ira, they founded Smiling House and Smiling Flats Holiday Rentals. Both companies are busy with creating a bridge between Legacy Travel Players and holiday rental professionals, especially in the luxury and premium segment. In this episode we talked about how her business has actually seen a rise in booking and revenue during these times of COVID19 and how they've been able to stand out by working with many others in the industry!  Mentioned In This Episode: Smiling House Luxury Moriya's LinkedIn Book Direct Show Slick Talk Website & Socials Q&A Happy Hour Virtual Event Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dustin is a wild adventurer at heart from childhood and all the way to the current day. On this episode we talk about his natural love of being in the trees and his passion for building treehouses that are more than just a play area for kids but is truly a destination for all the wanderers and travelers around the globe! We talk about his mission and concept with the newly launched Treewalkers brand under O2 Treehouse and how launching a Start Engine funding campaign in the middle of the pandemic actually gave them more drive and unexpected results than initially anticipated. Do you want to invest in an amazing hospitality concept that is going to be more than a trend by becoming a sustainable way of travel, hosting, and innovation for generations to come!? Click here to see their funding campaign and become a real stakeholder today! Also, sign up for the virtual Q&A Happy Hour happening via Zoom and the first 10 people to sign up, I will purchase your drink of choice! It's free and I will bring on pas

Marcus Cornelious - Director of Sales and Marketing at the Sheraton Grand Hotel in Chicago.  What a guy to have on the show. He brings so much insight to how a bigger hotel like his (with over 1200 guest rooms) has been impacted by the COVID19 virus and even though they are still closed, he mentions something that is key for the outcome of all of this...  "We are no longer able to say that this is how things have always been and how we've always done it. I try to put systems in place and I can't because things are changing everyday and I have to throw out our playbook and constantly try new things. It's like we're not a corporate business anymore, we're really independent entrepreneurs of our own independent hotel. It's really quite exciting!" Mentioned in this episode: Sheraton Grand Hotel Website Sheraton Grand Hotel Instagram Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The man who was my first industry guest on the podcast has joined me again to talk about whats going on in todays world and how maybe hotels can learn something from the vacation rental industry. Adam Knight also has this episode on his podcast since it was a crossover so go give it some love and check out the Proven Principles Podcast! Mentioned in this podcast: Adam Knight Proven Principles Podcast Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Social Media Pages Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An inception of podcasting! Adam Knight from Proven Principles Podcast invited Michael Tingsager from Hospitality Mavericks Podcast and myself all talked about how podcasting in the Hospitality Industry has impacted our businesses and careers for the best! In this episode: Proven Principles Podcast Adam Knights LinkedIn Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Michael Tingsager LinkedIn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This guest shouldn't need any introduction. As you all can tell from the episode title, this episode is in memory of Anton Zilberberg the founder of Autohost. Unfortunately he passed away 4 days after recording this episode and the whole community and his family is heartbroken beyond belief.   This episode won't be sponsored or have any promotions on it. We want you all to just tune in and enjoy the amazing content and laughs Anton brought to the show. This is for you Anton, your family, and legacy.  Please send your love, prayers, thoughts out to his family, community, and team as we continue learning how to live without him by our side. Autohost Website Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Michael Driedger is the CEO of Operto and we had the opportunity to sit and talk about how vacation rentals and hotels can benefit from using smart tech like Operto to help save money by implementing their devices and software to help with power effienceiis and automating the way we make sure we aren't over spending when it comes to utilities. From my hotel background, this is an absolute game changer, especially in these COVID times we are in now.  Mentioned in this episode: Operto Website Michael's LinkedIn NoiseAware Slick Talk Website & Socials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For the second time featuring NoiseAware on the show, Michael Goldin the Director of Business Development and myself talk about the short, mid, and long term affects on the short term rental market with COVID19 and the current trends and chain of events that possibly are speeding up the evolution of the STR industry as a whole. This episode is sponsored by Hostfully so make sure you check them out and use my promo code SLICKTALK20 to get 2 months free on their amazing guidebooks!  Mentioned in this episode: NoiseAware Rent Responsibly Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials Rented Inc. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A natural-born entrepreneur, Michael started his first company at the age of 18. From the age of 24, he worked for 4 years for a large international enterprise and was responsible for a turnover of 45 million euros per year. Thereafter he founded the online travel agency, Travelservice. Currently, he is CEO and co-founder of Bidroom, the world’s first membership-based zero commission hotel booking platform for frequent travelers.  In this episode we build off of the new (and working) approach Michael and his team at Bidroom have taken to change the way things currently are when it comes to OTAs, commission battles, and delivering the proper catered experience with 3rd party providers. We are giving away FREE tickets to Bidrooms event brand, I Meet Hotel! It's a virtual conference for all hoteliers globally and we want you (yes, all of you) to take advantage of this! So, ALL Slick Talkers get a free ticket if you use this promo code! SlickTalk-IMH is the code and I hope to virtually see you all there! In

Shaun, Open Pantry Co’s founder has been an industry leader in Melbourne’s hospitality industry for over 20 years. Shaun has been a venue owner himself, he knows the commitment, effort and experience required to develop a concept into an award-winning, and profitable venture. He also knows how to develop a process to get there that’s enjoyable and rewarding for all involved. This episode is a podcast crossover! You will hear us both discuss our industry experiences and background and how we have seen everything in the motion of hotels, accommodation, restaurants, cafes, you name it, we talked about it! If you are truly in love with hospitality, I highly suggest you listen to this! All thoughts and feedback welcomed regarding anything you hear in this episode. Mentioned in this episode: Open Pantry Co Open Pantry Podcast Open Pantry Instagram Open Pantry LinkedIn Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials Josh Kopel Website & Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What have we seen hotel and short term rental managers struggle with pre-COVID? What are we still seeing them struggle with during and post- COVID? What can we do as an industry to move forward and keep these pain points in the past? Brian Butler from EZcare and I talk about what he and I have seen and how you can apply these actionable skills to your business and actually come out on top when this is all said and done. This episode is made possible by my friends at Hostfully! If you're looking at managing these pain points from this episode, Hostfully is definitely a great start! Plus they integrate with EZcare if you're interested in signing up with them as well! Mentioned in this episode: Hostfully  EZcare Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is always a pleasure to talk to my friend Josh Kopel. A return guest on the show and an amazing hospitality innovator, Josh and I talk about what is needed coming from this global pandemic and current state of the industry as we are no longer settling for the way things used to be but how they need to be as we move forward as an industry. You will not want to miss this. Brought to you by Typsy! An amazing online learning platform for the whole hospitality industry! It's free until September 30th so go sign up today! Mentioned in this episode: Josh Kopel Website Full Comp Podcast Typsy Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Working in the hotel industry:  We love it.  We hate it.  We can't escape it. It's a Love Hate relationship with a lot of us in this industry. There is a lot we Love and there is some we Hate. Author of this hospitality book Love Hate Hotels, Tony Matthews, joins me and all of you Slick Talkers out there about his journey in the industry, the concept of the book and what he has done through his social media platform in order to build a business while still servicing the hotel world. You can find the book here!  This episode is sponsored by Cleaning Certification by VR Scheduler! Use my code SlickTalk20 for 20% off and use this certification to help increase trust, confidence, and bookings! Mentioned in this episode: Love Hate Hotels Website Love Hate Hotels Instagram Slick Talk Website Slick Talk Socials  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices