Pillow Talk Sessions
Pillow Talk Sessions is a podcast about modern hospitality operations and how guest experience is operationally delivered in a tech-enabled world.
Hosted by Jessica Gillingham, author of Tech-Enabled Hospitality, and produced by Abode Worldwide, the show features in-depth conversations with leaders building, operating, and scaling modern hospitality across hotels, short-term rentals, serviced living, and flexible living models.
Each episode explores how hospitality is evolving beyond traditional hotels. From the hotelization of real estate to the rise of platform-driven and automated operations, we unpack how technology, systems, and organizational design are reshaping how stays are designed, delivered, and experienced.
Pillow Talk Sessions goes deep on hospitality operations, technology, and strategy. Topics include new operating models, guest experience delivery, AI and automation, platform ecosystems, and the convergence of hotels, short-term rentals, and serviced living.
This podcast is for hospitality operators, founders, owners, and technology leaders who want to understand the future of hospitality beyond trends, and how modern hospitality actually works on the ground.
About your host
Jessica Gillingham is the author of “Tech-Enabled Hospitality – Strategies to Elevate Guest Experience and Operational Efficiency,” and is also an industry speaker, adviser, and the CEO of Abode Worldwide, a global strategic communications and PR agency for the tech transforming hospitality.
The podcast is brought to you by the team at Abode Worldwide.
Pillow Talk Sessions
How CitizenM Mastered Hospitality Automation with Mike Rawson (Formerly CitizenM)
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Mike Rawson spent seven years as CIO of CitizenM, one of the most tech-forward hotel brands in the world. His biggest lesson? Technology comes last.
In the latest episode of Pillow Talk Sessions, Mike joins me to break down what most hotels are getting wrong about automation and how CitizenM built an NPS score good enough to catch Marriott's attention.
His belief: you shouldn't reach for technology until you understand the real requirement, the business value it will bring, and most fundamentally, the people around it.
In this episode, Mike shares with me:
- Why the speed of AI innovation is making decision-making so difficult for operators right now
- How most operators are currently stuck between paralysis and poor decisions
- The compliance, governance and control conversation nobody in hospitality is having — and why that's going to hurt
- How AI, done right, frees people for the moments that actually move NPS
- What Mike's ideal hotel would look like if he were starting from scratch in 2026
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Website: https://www.pillowtalksessions.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pillowtalksessionspodcast/