Agenda
DAY 2
WEDNESDAY 14 MAY
8:45am
Chairman’s welcome
8:50am
The best or the rest? Benchmarking hotel website performance.
In the interactive session we’ll look at which hotel websites do the best job of converting visitors to bookers, and talk about some of the reasons why. Join us to find out what’s really working, how hotels compare, and what might improve your booking journey.
Charlie Osmond
Co-Founder
Triptease
9:25am
Strategies for hotel profitability and growth
With decades of experience managing assets across brands like Hilton, Marriott, and Four Seasons, Monty Bennett knows what keeps hotel owners up at night.
In this executive-level session, he’ll explore the art of aligning owner expectations with operational realities, driving sustainable profitability, and navigating macroeconomic headwinds. Ideal for senior leaders seeking to strengthen owner relationships and unlock portfolio growth.
Charlie Osmond
Co-Founder
Triptease
Monty Bennett
Chairman & CEO
Ashford
10:05am
How smart marketing and tech drove over 80% direct bookings
What does it really take to turn around a hotel's direct booking performance? Moh Baaghil worked on Dr. Wilkinson’s Resort and Spa’ digital strategies from the ground up. In this session, he breaks down exactly how he did it—what numbers mattered, what data shaped his decisions, and what actions made the biggest impact.
Moh Baaghil
VP Digital Strategy + eCommerce
Modus by PM Hotel Group
Rosie Green
Senior CSM
Triptease
10:40am
How to win on Google
Google’s hotel tools have evolved dramatically — but are hoteliers keeping up? In this session, Sanjay Vakil breaks down how Google’s platforms are designed to satisfy user intent, why OTAs continue to dominate, and what this means for direct booking strategies. From web experiments to AI planners and the power of Google Hotel Ads, you'll get a behind-the-scenes view of what works (and what doesn't) — plus practical steps every hotelier can take to stay visible, competitive, and direct-first.
Sanjay Vakil,
Former Group Product Manager
11:05am
Morning coffee break
11:35am
Track
How Marcus Hotels Reimagined the Commercial Team to Drive Growth
When departments collaborate, profits follow. In this powerful case study session, Matthew Peschke, Senior Director of Corporate Marketing at Marcus Hotels and Resorts, shares how the company dismantled long-standing silos between sales, marketing, revenue, and F&B — replacing them with a unified commercial strategy that’s delivering real business results.
With 2024 already showing major gains in web traffic, conversions, and revenue, this session also looks ahead to 2025 innovations: from AI-driven search to a shift toward ROMI and OTA cost evaluations. If you're looking to unify your teams and accelerate direct bookings, this is the session you can’t miss.
Matthew Peschke
Senior Director of Corporate Marketing
Marcus Hotels & Resorts
12:10pm
Main stage
From guesswork to growth: How Marival incorporated AI into their CRM to drive more bookings direct
What happens when you stop guessing and start using real-time data to drive action? Fernando Belmont, Corporate Digital Marketing Manager at Marival Resorts, shares how a strategic integration of AI and CRM tools led to a 37% increase in direct revenue for Marival's website. He’ll walk through the tactics that worked—from behavioral lead scoring and triggered sales alerts to retargeting loyal guests with perfectly timed offers. Moderated by Allegra Medina, VP of Direct Booking Channels at SHR, this session will offer practical lessons in tech-enabled personalization, sales enablement, and long-term direct channel growth.
Luis Fernando Gutierrez Belmont
Corporate Digital Marketing Manager
Marival Resort
12:10pm
Track
How Onera hit 80% direct with social-first strategy
At Onera Fredericksburg, direct bookings didn’t just grow; they skyrocketed to over 80%. How? With a bold, content-first, social-led strategy.
In this session, Onera Co-founder Ben Wolff shares how his team unlocked viral engagement, built a loyal following, and turned social media into their primary booking engine. From influencer partnerships to high-converting content, get the inside story on how to make social your biggest direct revenue driver.
Ben Wolff
Co-founder
Onera
12:40pm
Main stage
Decoding the Data: AI-Powered Strategies to Drive Direct Bookings and Profitability
Independent hotels are at a crossroads. This session cuts through the noise with data-backed strategies from Cloudbeds State of Independent Lodging report to navigate today's complexities and maximize direct bookings. We'll analyze key trends – from the impact of generative AI on search and the rise of influencer marketing to the talent crisis and the need for unified commercial strategies – providing actionable insights to boost revenue, optimize pricing, and enhance the guest experience. Learn how to leverage AI to personalize your marketing, combat OTA dominance , and future-proof your hotel for sustainable success.
Josh Graham
Head of Market Development NORAM
Cloudbeds
12:40am
Track
Upselling: The silent profit killer
Hotels know upselling should be a goldmine, but most are quietly bleeding revenue every day. We’ll unpack where upselling efforts go wrong, from missed guest journey touchpoints to over-reliance on staff or resource-draining DIY tools. We’ll cover why OTA guests might actually be your highest-value targets, how slow rollouts are burning your profits daily, and why commission-based models often quietly steal the margin you're trying to build.
If you're ready to stop silently bleeding money and start turning every guest into a bigger win, this is your wake-up call.
Aafke Schlemm
Sales Director - North America
UpsellGuru
1:10pm
Lunch break
1:55pm
Survival strategies for every hotelier
Tired of watching your revenue vanish before it hits the bottom line? This session delivers actionable strategies that actually impact your hotel's profitability. We'll explore common profit killers, revenue management techniques that work, and operational efficiencies the top-performing properties implement.
Anthony Melchiorri
Host and Co-Executive Producer of Hotel Impossible and Five Star Secrets
2:35pm
The personalization playbook: How to boost bookings in key holiday periods
Every potential guest is different, so personalization makes a real difference - especially once you've done the hard work of getting them to your website. In this session we'll lay out some key elements of a successful website personalization strategy, show how some of the best are using those techniques to maximize bookings in key holiday periods, and give you an exclusive first look at our new Messages product, which transforms scattered interactions into one cohesive guest journey.
Alasdair Snow
Co-Founder & CPO
Triptease
Chimmy Kalu
Senior UX Designer
Triptease
3:05pm
How Staypineapple built an in-house influencer engine
Managing influencer partnerships manually is a thing of the past—at least for Staypineapple. In this session, Casey Barks, VP of Marketing, shares how the brand built and scaled its own internal influencer management platform to streamline everything from outreach and negotiation to contracting and post-stay follow-up.
Now two years in, Casey will unveil how this system has evolved, what changes have driven the greatest impact, and how it’s fueling Staypineapple’s direct booking and social media success.
Casey Bark
VP of Marketing
Staypineapple HQ
3:35pm
Using brand and technology to build a perfect booking journey
Case study from a hotelier who used digital channels to highlight their brand consistently, build guest trust and increase direct bookings.
Paul Salmon
Chairman and CEO
Rockhouse Hotel and Skylark Negril Beach House Resort
4:05pm
Chairman’s wrap
4:20pm
Awards ceremony and sparkling reception
Stay in the know
Subscribe to our blog and get weekly emails packed full of the latest industry trends and direct booking tips from the Direct Booking Summit and Triptease.
Marketing email opt-in with link to terms and conditions or privacy policy