Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show

Michael interviews Australian dentist Michael Filosi about applying counterintuitive, hospitality-centered ideas to dentistry to break industry norms.
Filosi bought a rundown dental practice and, after realizing he couldn’t be the best clinician, pivoted—drawing on Good to Great’s hedgehog concept—toward building the best dental practice by focusing on business ownership, high standards, and patient experience. He gradually stepped off clinical work over 2–3 years (from four days a week to zero), scaling from generating 40% of revenue to 0.6%, later selling the business unexpectedly at 41 with no earn-out.
Key initiatives included an annual free Patient Appreciation Day and a “Sparks” program (50 personalized gifts in 50 weeks at $50 each) inspired by Unreasonable Hospitality, alongside friction-reducing service, explicit cultural expectations (“the FPD way”), and hiring for customer care, helping drive retention, word-of-mouth, staff attraction, and 400+ 5.0-star reviews.
Filosi’s takeaways are uncompromising standards and putting the customer (or constituent) at the center; he recommends The Checklist Manifesto and is exploring writing, dentistry, and politics next.
Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.
Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.
For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer: 20% off all yearly and bi-yearly plans - Use code MAVERICK20.
Learn more at https://lodgify.com/
Connect with Dr Michael:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelfilosi/
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Michael and Brandon discuss the intersection of AI and culture in hospitality, arguing AI can strengthen culture by removing routine work so teams can focus on human guest experiences.
Brandon shares his career path from line-level resort roles to leading Fathom’s hotel management arm within a Maine-based real estate development firm focused on adaptive reuse and “sense of place” upscale soft-brand projects across Marriott, Hilton, and independents.
Fathom operates or develops seven hotels, typically 150–200 keys with multiple F&B outlets. Brandon highlights the Sugar House Hotel in Winooski, Vermont—a Marriott Tribute Collection property that will be all-electric, net-zero carbon, and LEED Platinum—embedding sustainability into every initiative.
He outlines Fathom’s associate-centric, value-driven culture, emphasizing authenticity, celebration, open dialogue, autonomy in recognition rituals, and cross-department cohesion, and explains using AI for SOPs, accounting, HR messaging, onboarding tools, and development analysis to reduce stress and improve retention.
Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.
Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.
For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer: 20% off all yearly and bi-yearly plans - Use code MAVERICK20.
Learn more at https://lodgify.com/
Connect with Brandon:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/brandon-hussey-5bb21830/
https://www.fathomcompanies.com/
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Michael and Pete Hurley discuss how hospitality organizations may shift away from large full-time head offices toward fractional and project-based senior talent to improve flexibility, innovation, and profitability amid tight margins and job insecurity.
Hurley shares his career from launching a hospitality tech startup in 2004 that evolved into a cultural-venue operator business he ran for nearly 20 years and sold three years ago, before moving into consultancy and noticing the growing “fractional” trend and the lack of a dedicated marketplace for hospitality expertise.
He built and coded the Well Seasoned platform in a week, launching in February and growing to about 550 consultants, around 25 hospitality businesses engaging, and regular projects posted.
They cover benefits like faster hiring/onboarding, niche expertise, reduced risk, consultants collaborating to fill skill gaps, and fractionals sometimes converting into full-time roles, while emphasizing the need for a core in-house team and an active community to avoid the platform becoming a static directory.
Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.
Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.
For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer: 20% off all yearly and bi-yearly plans - Use code MAVERICK20.
Learn more at https://lodgify.com/
Connect with Pete:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/petehurley/
https://wellseasoned.work/
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In this episode, Michael introduces Ruth Jacobs, a registered mental health nurse and founder of Certified Minds, to discuss where mental health efforts in industry have landed and how to create behavioral, cultural, and systems change that builds resilience.
Ruth shares her background in CAMHS and eating disorder inpatient care, her experience managing during COVID lockdowns, and how gaps in pediatric mental health training led her to train UK medical teams, schools, and workplaces using simulations and practical skills.
They focus on hospitality’s risk factors—high emotional demands, unpredictability, staff shortages, long hours, poor sleep, and normalized frontline abuse—and discuss proactive leadership, psychological safety, and embedding resilience and check-ins into inductions.
Ruth distinguishes everyday mental health issues from disorders, highlights early burnout signs, stresses the cost of inaction, recommends better listening and language for difficult conversations, and raises concerns about normalized cocaine use. She directs listeners to certifiedminds.co.uk and previews the Safer Faces app for lower-cost mental health support.
Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.
Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.
For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer running until July 30th: 60% off on Ultimate and Professional yearly and bi-yearly plans with the code MAVERICKS60.
Learn more at https://lodgify.com/
Connect with Ruth:
https://saferfaces.com/
https://certifiedminds.co.uk/
Book:
https://uk.bookshop.org/a/8596/9780008667290
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In this episdode, Michael welcomes his longtime friend Yazz Abdulla, previously a guest during the pandemic to discuss food delivery and dark kitchens.
They reflect on Copenhagen Street Food’s grassroots style, then focus on founder-led hospitality businesses: founders often stay emotionally attached, operate like self-employed workers, lack systems (ops, HR, marketing, supply chain), misunderstand cashflow, and fail to plan an exit; Yazz advises emotional detachment, self-leadership, discipline, rituals, and valuing time and peace over status.
They discuss the “lost art of hospitality,” arguing technology and transactional service have eroded human connection, while Gen Z is highly influential and brands like Blank Street succeed by designing for Gen Z.
AI is seen as useful for optimization but unable to replace the human element. They compare struggling UK hospitality—blaming poor adaptation and leadership—against UAE hospitality, where conflict briefly crushed tourism but decisive government support enabled recovery.
Lodgify is the headline sponsor for the Hospitality Mavericks Podcast Show.
Lodgify is an all-in-one hosting platform built on one promise, minimum hassle, maximum independence. We help independent vacation rental hosts and small-scale property managers run and grow their business with 0% Lodgify booking commissions, an AI Co-Host (COMING SUMMER 2026, early access open now), and direct booking websites built to get found by AI.
For Mavericks listeners, there's a special offer running until July 30th: 60% off on Ultimate and Professional yearly and bi-yearly plans with the code MAVERICKS60.
Learn more at https://lodgify.com/
Connect with Yazz:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/yazz-abdulla/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/urban-hospitality-group-ltd/posts/?feedView=all
Previous episode with Yazz
https://www.hospitalitymavericks.com/coming-back-stronger-episode-5-with-yazz-abdulla-ceo-and-founder-of-urban-hospitality/
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Join the Hospitality Mavericks newsletter
Tune in via your favourite podcast platform - here
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This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:

Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy