GMH Hotels: Luxury Takes Private, Cloud Cracks, & Waymo for Business
Good Morning Hospitality
10/22/25
•31m
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On this week’s episode of GMH Hotels, Sarah Dandashy and Steve Turk unpack five major developments reshaping the hospitality and travel ecosystem.
First, the luxury-hotelier Mandarin Oriental Oriental is being taken private in a deal valued at $4.2 billion. Then they examine the ripple effects of a major Amazon Web Services (AWS) outage that disrupted travel operators and highlighted infrastructure fragility.
Waymo enters the business-travel arena with its new “Waymo for Business” robotaxi program aimed at corporate clients. They also dive into the cheeky marketing strategy of Ryanair—from tanks to TikTok—and how travel brands are waging attention wars.
Finally, they explore how host cities for the FIFA World Cup 2026TM - Canada, Mexico and the United States are raising hotel taxes ahead of 2026 and what that pressure motion looks like for hotel operators.
Sarah and Steve provide a full-spectrum briefing on what hotel leaders need to watch right now and how to stay ahead of the curve!
Presented by Lodgify
Follow the Hosts: Katie Cline – LinkedIn Steve Turk – LinkedIn
Connect with Skift:
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Previous Episode
GMH Turns 5: Amex Travel Boom, United’s AI Cuts, Airbnb’s Political Push
October 20, 2025
•29m
Michael Goldin, Brandreth Canaley, and Wil Slickers celebrate five years of Good Morning Hospitality by diving into this week’s biggest industry stories — from American Express Travel’s record bookings and Capital One’s new 5x points on short-term rentals, to United Airlines cutting 4% of management roles due to AI, and Airbnb launching a political organization in Arizona.
Presented by Lodgify
Follow the Hosts: Brandy Canaley – LinkedIn Wil Slickers – LinkedIn Michael Goldin – LinkedIn
Connect with Skift:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
Next Episode
AI Agents Rise, Airbnb Gets Social, and Travel Feels the Shutdown
October 27, 2025
•32m
This morning on Good Morning Hospitality, Michael Goldin, Brandreth Canaley, and Jamie Lane explore three major forces reshaping travel and hospitality.
First, they examine how the rise of agentic AI could transform OTAs into passive order-takers. Next, they dive into the new social-features rollout on Airbnb Experiences that aim to deepen guest-to-guest connection and engagement.
Finally, with the U.S. federal hiring freeze entering day 27 of the shutdown, Jamie brings data and insight on how this continues to ripple through airports, national parks, and hotel-adjacent services.
Presented by Lodgify
Follow the Hosts: Brandy Canaley – LinkedIn Jamie Lane – LinkedIn Michael Goldin – LinkedIn
Connect with Skift:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/
WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/
Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/skiftnews.bsky.social
X: https://twitter.com/skift
Subscribe to @SkiftNews and never miss an update from the travel industry.
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