NASHVILLE, Tennessee — Ashford Inc. Vice President of Revenue Optimization Jeff Borman spent years on the brand side of the hotel business before jumping over to ownership, and he said of all the things happening in hotel revenue optimization, the thing that brings him the most joy is a simple one: predictability.
"The lack of volatility is my favorite trend," he said. "I don't even know if it's really a trend. It's a stable, flat-ish line. You'd want it to be a more aggressive, rising line, top line, right? [With] all things commercial, we'd like to see more growth, but I think the lack of volatility, the predictability at this time of the year, is pretty welcome."
Speaking on the latest episode of the Hotel News Now podcast, Borman discussed how his grandfather inspired a love of travel at an early age by sending him post cards from around the world and how the desire to satisfy curiosity led him to become the co-host of his own podcast, "No Show, A Travel Industry Podcast."
He said the impetus for the podcast was regular conversations with now cohost Matt Brown about the "whys" behind travel industry news.
"That conversation continued for years, until we finally put a microphone and a recording device on it, and that's really what it was," Borman said. "So explaining the why. Why did travel work this way? I think it's evolved now to where I get to ask the questions instead of just answer them."
For more from Hotel News Now's interview with Jeff Borman, listen to the podcast above, and subscribe to the Hotel News Now podcast wherever you find podcasts.