No Show
No Show is about the business of travel: hotels, tourism, technology, changing consumer tastes, the conference industry, and what you actually get for $50 worth of resort fees.
Hosts Jeff Borman and Matt Brown explore the intersection of design, architecture, place, emotion, and memory. When we travel, we pass through these intersections, supported by a massive business infrastructure and a fleet of dedicated (and patient) service professionals.
Want to be a No Show sponsor, or partner up with us to cover your event? Contact our front desk and let's talk.
Episodes
94 episodes
Toblerone Economics and Why Duty-Free Survives
For 70 years, duty free sat at the intersection of monopoly on concessions, opaque pricing, cross-border tax rules, very captive audiences, and political insulation. Non-aeronautical revenue — retail, food, alcohol, duty free — accounts for rou...
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20:01
The Sky Is Open, Except Where It’s Not
The Nine Freedoms of the Air are one of the most fascinating (and quietly political) frameworks in global aviation. They define what airlines are allowed to do when flying between countries, and they shape everything from ticket prices to wheth...
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36:19
Claudia Vecchio of Sonoma County Tourism
As President and CEO of Sonoma County Tourism, Claudia Vecchio always has an eye on the delicate balance between tourism growth and community stewardship. No small task in one of the most famous wine-producing regions in the world, a place that...
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23:21
Why DMCs Matter with Tony Lorenz
If the word "creator" were a person, that person would be Tony Lorenz. He is known universally for his work in the global meetings and events sector and his impossibly deep understanding of the event management industry. He lays out the importa...
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23:38
Jennifer Barnwell, President of Curator Hotel and Resort Collection
From the Jersey Shore to the Sunset Strip, the Garden of the Gods to Boston Common, the Eden Roc to the El Capitan, Curator Hotel and Resort Collection has been on an absolute tear, bringing some of the most unique and independent properties in...
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25:35
2026 Travel Trends: Less Noise, Better Value, Smarter Choices
We're here, it's happening, 2026 is officially a thing. As we restart our brains for the new year, we ponder:Is Hushpitality a thing?The good news about global growthFatigue as a good thing in travelThe sh...
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23:48
The Mayflower at 100: How One D.C. Hotel Shaped American History
When you walk into the Mayflower Hotel, it feels like a film set, the ideal visual representation of what a hotel should be. It is one of the most important venues in the shaping of America, hotel or otherwise. The conversations, the deals, the...
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22:45
Travel Alberta's David Goldstein
Nobody knows the ebbs and flows, ins and outs, weather patterns and trail ratings of Canadian tourism like Travel Alberta's CEO David Goldstein.In a candid and free-flowing conversation, we talk about how and why tourism traffic and sp...
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24:58
Welcome To America, Please Wait 400 Days
Tariffs, shutdowns, "integrity" fees, H2-B visa caps, FAA staffing and hardware issues, airport restrictions ... it all begs the question: Does the U.S. government hate its own travel industry?International travel is predicted to drop by...
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16:30
Trust and travel's future at the 2025 Phocuswright Conference
AI was, predictably, everywhere, all at once, in every session at this year's conference, but there was a distinctly humanist air to it all as well. Trust, connection, authenticity, reality, face-to-face communication were thematic touchstones ...
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20:10
Visionaries from the 2025 Phocuswright Conference
No Show is at the 2025 Phocuswright Conference this week talking to a variety of exhibitors, innovators, and speakers and taking their temperature on the present and future of travel technology. We found...
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32:13
2025 Phocuswright Conference preview with Mitra Sorrells
Mitra Sorrells, Senior Vice President, Content for Phocuswright, joins us on the eve of the conference to talk about the big themes, keeping hype in check, new trends around data and customer journeys, getting good answers from panelists, the s...
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24:19
No Showed: National Parks, Shutdowns, And Local Economies
A short episode this week on the quite unique, very sad U.S. government approach to tourism and park spaces. How much money are the parks losing, how much are the towns around the parks losing? And what's going on with international visitors, B...
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12:16
How Hotels and OTAs Are Actually Using AI Today
What specific AI-related things are good hotel commercial leaders actually doing today? Great question! It's already everywhere, so we got deep and practical for this episode. We talk about:How Al agents are starting to handle every...
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24:30
Will AI Kill the OTAs?
AI's true impact on travel remains deeply speculative, with companies scrambling to stake claims while few concrete applications deliver true transformation. But everyday uses like dynamic pricing, translation tools, chatbots, and trip planning...
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23:33
Tiffany Cooper on Mandarin Oriental's Plans for the Americas
How has Tiffany Cooper been so successful for so long? By bringing mind, soul, and spirit to the hotel industry. She's Head of Development, Americas for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, which for 5 decades has been owner and operator of some of t...
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26:58
The Grand Designs of Tonya Almallah Schmitt
As founder and creative director of the boutique interior design firm AIDT Designs, Tonya is changing the way we think about boutique hotel, resort, and lifestyle design. Whether design property in the Keys or reimagining a resort brand from th...
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27:26
Urban Cowboy's Lyon Porter
Lyon Porter is one of the most talked-about hoteliers of our time. Alongside co-founder and partner Jersey Banks, he transformed a five-room Brooklyn townhouse into the first Urban Cowboy. The industry, and the media, pay close atte...
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29:31
On The Road With Ben Hill, Minor League Baseball's Storyteller
There are dream jobs, and then there are jobs like Ben Hill's. Ben's Baseball Traveler newsletter is part culinary adventure, part architecture column on stadiums new and old, part...
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27:27
Rocco Bova's Profit-Sharing Hotel Business Model
From New Delhi to the Yucatan Jungle, from the Indian Ocean to the Caribbean, Rocco Bova has crisscrossed the world, defining what luxury hotels are and can be. The My Humble House founder talks about building a profit-sharing hospitality compa...
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26:05
Heather Heverling from Audley Travel
Jeff and Matt speak with Heather Heverling, President and Managing Director of Audley Travel, about the stratospheric rise of bespoke travel, the purchasing power of solo female travelers, the growing desire for unique in-country experiences, t...
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26:50
Glenn Haussman
Glenn Haussman's podcast No Vacancy is essential listening for anyone in the business, featuring notable names in the industry, coverage of major events, and reportage on ideas and economics. He joins us to talk luxury, labor costs, practicing ...
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34:46
Big Questions about Hotels (Spring 2025 Edition)
Questions like:What's the secret number hotel people really care about?Is the hotel market oversaturated in the U.S.?Are there any markets that really are oversaturated though?What's an underserved luxury market?...
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37:47
U.S. Tourism in Crisis: Aran Ryan on Travel, Tariffs, and Trade
Fear, money, and restrictions are a combustible mixture in any business sector, but in travel it can be a death knell for some businesses. The tariff situation is changing daily, and while the emphasis has been on physical goods, there is a gro...
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23:13