How to Make Hotels Cool Again: What the Best Operators Know That the Brands Forgot (with Bashar Wali)

Today, I’m thrilled to share a conversation with someone I’ve admired from afar for quite some time — Bashar Wali.

If you’ve spent any time in the hospitality space, chances are you’ve come across Bashar’s work — or at least his words. He’s the former President and CEO of Provenance Hotels, and today he leads two companies he founded: Practice Hospitality, a management company focused on culturally resonant independent hotels, and This Assembly, a hospitality think tank and incubator building what's next for the industry.

What I love most about Bashar is that he’s refreshingly candid, wildly insightful, and deeply passionate about this space — not just because it’s his career, but because it’s in his DNA.

In this episode, we get into:

• Why hospitality is not the same as service — and how even a roadside motel can deliver deeply human moments that a five-star hotel might miss.

• Why Bashar believes loyalty programs are really just bribery, and what real loyalty actually looks like.

• How he went from having visited just two countries by age 20 to now traveling like a true nomad — and how that wanderlust has shaped his worldview.

• Why the world’s best operators are not just spreadsheet wizards, but curators of culture who know how to feel what's cool — and create spaces where others can feel it too.

• And why the soft brand strategy has lost its edge — not because the concept is broken, but because the execution rarely matches the promise.

Bashar and I also talk about the role that AI should play in hospitality, the difference between trend-chasing and trend-observing, and what it takes for hotels to stop being sterile, beige boxes and become — in his words — merchants of cool again.

This is one of those episodes that had me nodding, laughing, and taking notes at the same time. Bashar is equal parts philosopher and practitioner — and I think you’re going to get a ton out of this.

Let’s dive in.

Learn more about Bashar

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Your host is Zach Busekrus, Head of the Journey Alliance. If you are a hospitality entrepreneur who has a stay, or a collection of stays with soul, we’d love for you to apply to join our Alliance at journey.com/alliance.