The Modern Hotelier #212: The Independent Hotel Advantage | Scott Eddy at the Independent Hotel Show Miami
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Scott Eddy: I honestly think that independents have such an advantage over the big names because they have so much more freedom.
David: Welcome to The Modern Hotelier, hospitality's Most Engaged podcast. Please make sure to like, subscribe, follow us and leave a comment about how you like this episode. Steve, who do we got today? 
Steve: David, today in the flesh, our good friend Scott Eddy. Scott, how are we doing today?
Scott Eddy: Doing good. I mean, our first podcast was over. Yeah. Over the computer. Yeah. So, you know, it's nice to be in person. 
Steve: Absolutely. Absolutely. So, since we last talked. What have you been up to? 
Scott Eddy: Oh my god, I don't even know. I mean, gotta be 10 countries and Wow. You know, just a lot of moving around and, uh, today we're at the conference.
David: Yeah, absolutely. So we're here at IHS Miami second year for me. Yesterday day one. Yeah. You had a couple panels. How did that go? What was the vibe? 
Scott Eddy: It was great. You know, this is my first time here. I always like the independent shows versus the bigger shows because independents have a little bit more flexibility with what they can do and what they can't do.
And, you know, when you're under the big umbrellas, you know, you're so restricted. So the panels went well. Um. They were well received. I think we had a lot of quite Q&A after, which I love I think it was great. 
Steve: That's awesome. And what were your panels on? You did two of them back to back, right?
Scott Eddy: Yeah, so the first one I was moderating, uh, f and B panel, and the second one was on quiet, luxury and wellness. I was just on the panel. 
Steve: Very nice. And any trends or any cool things that came outta that panel that you were excited to? Give to the independent hotel space. 
Scott Eddy: Yeah. You know, with me, I lived in Southeast Asia for 13 years over there, wellness and quiet luxury and these things, they're built into the DNA of humans over there. So over here it's like an added revenue stream. You know, go get a massage, okay? It costs this much over there. It's so, it's such a normal daily occurrence that it just happens to happen, you know? It's all about healing and nurturing and this and that. So wellness is, you know, it's getting massive over here, but it's always been massive over there. 
David: Alright, so I have a left field question from our dinner last night. We're not gonna throw anyone under the bus, but big thing in hospitality is loyalty. So I'll ask you, is it possible to root for three different baseball teams as I told Todd last night?
Scott Eddy: Absolutely not. Listen, I've liked the Braves since I could reach the TV and I will die A Braves fan. And I hate your team more than anything. 
David: Yeah. We had last night we were talking about how you can't really have a couple favorite teams. No. And he, he hates Philadelphia. So that's what I love about sports because he hates it and I love it. So that's what makes it. 
Scott Eddy: The yin yang, a hundred percent. 
Steve: So you travel. And you're full, you travel full time. 
Scott Eddy: Yeah. Correct? 
Steve: Yes. So you don't really have a home base. You just are on the road. What really sticks out as far as memorable experiences, whether you go on cruises, right? You stay in a lot of different hotels. What really makes a memorable stay? 
Scott Eddy: It's never the place, it's always the people that I meet while I'm there. I could stay in a hostile, but if I become friends with the, the guy at the front desk, it's a memorable experience. Versus you could stay at a six star resort, and if everybody's just hollow on the inside, I'll forget about it in five minutes. So it's always about the people that you meet while you're there. Always. 
David: And so, circling back to last night, I want to kind of hear it again. You grew up in South Florida, spent a lot of time. I did. So maybe for me, it's interesting, you know, I went to school in, in South Florida. What things have changed that you like and what things have changed that you don't like? What, what's different? 
Scott Eddy: So there was just an enormous amount. There's always been wealth here, right? But during the pandemic and since the pandemic, there's just been so much wealth that has moved down here. It's driven the prices for everything up prices are sky high, they're higher than they've ever been. Rents are ridiculous. What you're paying for nothing is insane. You know, restaurants, just everything. They're gonna have a big problem with condos very, very soon just because I think that they're putting up too many, right? You know, the higher end ones are easy to sell, but I think they're gonna have a problem with the mid-range ones.
But I love the place, I love the location, you know, when you get so many different people from different places in one place. You know, it's hard to get that genuine kindness and warmth and just niceness that I grew up with here in Fort Lauderdale, uh, the people just aren't kind anymore. You know, it's, it's becoming a very big city now having said that, I love being based here. It's super easy. I can go to the Caribbean, you know, Mexico, Europe, it's all like, the flights are super easy. It's just great. You know, in between trips we have a, one of the best beaches in the world here. I mean, so I mean there, there's pluses and minuses. It's not all bad and it's not all good like everywhere else. 
Steve: I feel like there is an energy in Miami though. Um, John and I we're staying, you know, on Ocean Drive and waking up this morning. People are rollerblading playing volleyball, going for a run or coming back from the club. So, it would you agree with that? Like there is an energy in Miami that is almost different from other places? 
Scott Eddy: So me growing up here since I was three years old, I lived in the same house in Fort Lauderdale from age three to 29. And me, I love the culture here. Yeah, I love that Latin vibe, the Caribbean vibe, the European vibe, all meshed together.
I think it's fantastic, you know, my mother was born in Jamaica, so like I have that Caribbean culture within me as well. I think it's great. I, I can't imagine living in, even though I was born in Michigan, I can't imagine living in the Midwest where you're just surrounded by one culture. Right. And you're not exposed to this on a daily basis. I just can't imagine it. 
Steve: Yeah. I can't imagine living in Saginaw, Michigan. Well, I can. 
David: We all just looked at John, so I got a question for you. 
Scott Eddy: I was born there too.
David: You know? I know it's funny. That's why it's funny, but we follow you, we see you on Instagram. Like Steve said, you're, you're, you're everywhere, all over the world, and this is maybe for me personally, 'cause a lot of things bother me. What's one thing that bothers you about traveling today? 
Scott Eddy: The biggest thing maybe you know what really bothers me is I know how people are when they're home. And I know how people are when they travel and sometimes people let their inhibitions go wild a little bit more than they should when they travel.
Right. And. You know, you think in the back of your head and you're like, you would never do that back home. Why would you do it here? Yeah. Why are you like acting buck wild? Like, it never resonated with me. I just don't understand that. 
Steve: Yeah. Good. Well, you did a LinkedIn post. A week or two ago. Okay. And it was about the top travel tips because you travel so often and I think it was specifically for airplanes. Yeah. Do you, can you tell us about maybe one of those tips or two of those tips that, that kind of stood out to you? 
Scott Eddy: Well, let me tell you something that I've always done, and this wasn't just because of the pandemic, even though a lot of people picked up the habit during the pandemic.
When I first get on a flight, I take, you know, one of those wet wipes. Yeah. I wipe down everything. The trays are like the dirtiest thing on the plane. Yeah. Right. Because they don't get cleaned. Yeah. The cleaning crew goes in there, they get, you know, they do nothing. Yeah. Like the belt buckle underneath.
Like, I don't understand like why would you, you're touching that, like the person before you might have had a cold.
David: It's a good point. 
Scott Eddy: I don't know, that is my number one. And I also, so most people in the travel industry. They pack as light as they can to carry on everything. I pack heavy, like I pack like a girl. I have two big suitcases everywhere I go, you know, but it's also equipment and stuff like that. But so I check in bags all the time. My whole goal is to be hands free at the airport. 
Steve: Oh wow. 
Scott Eddy: I have a backpack. That's it. 
Steve: That's great. 
Scott Eddy: I see people shuffling around the airport. I'm like, oh, no, no. 
Steve: You know, since you do travel so much, and not only in the US but internationally, aside from wellness, right. You mentioned that, but are there any trends that you're seeing that are kind of surprising and delighting you at the same time that you think might catch on a little bit more in 2026? 
Scott Eddy: I think places are getting, they're going even deeper with the whole f and b thing. 
Steve: Yeah. 
Scott Eddy: I think that hotels are taking control of their outlet space a lot more, and they operate the restaurant even though some, a lot of times it's not really feasible financially, and they're really going deep with as storytelling and farm to table and they have their own beehive and, you know, they grow their own vegetables and this and that. And, and I, I really like that trend. I, I think it's fantastic. I think it's the sustainability part of that is wonderful. 
David: So I think one of the great things, our panel yesterday, I asked everybody to raise their hand if they're a Hotelier. We talked about leveraging video. Yeah. And how hotels can actually, especially independent hotels, 
Scott Eddy: Yeah. 
David: Need as much help as they can competing against the brands. So kind of what are you seeing at this show? What are you seeing with the independent? Market, how they should be marketing better and actually really standing out like they are, like they do.
Scott Eddy: I honestly think that independents have such an advantage over the big names because they have so much more freedom. Right. You know, they just need to get, and this is always the hardest part. They need to get the ownership and leadership on board, but once they get that buy-in. And you could really go deep into marketing and really storytelling and really ingrain yourself in the community.
Like I think I said it on my, on my panel yesterday. Most hotels are scared to death to show anything but their hotel in their marketing. 
David: Yeah. 
Scott Eddy: We talked, they're scared to death, and I never understood that you, you should show your hotel like 20% and the destination like 80%. Yeah. You should ingrain yourself like you're part of the community.
What happens when it's not high season and you don't get all the tourism you need to, you need the local buy-in much more than you need those three months of high season. 
Steve: Yeah. And I think showcasing the people that work there as well. Hundred percent. 'cause they're the ones we all agree. People make the stay, like you said it earlier, so showcasing the bartender.
Yeah, the mixologist, the chef. Oh. Like let's do some behind the scenes stuff with the chef. That video content that everybody's, you know, taking in on a daily basis. Yeah. Instagram, TikTok. You know, just do those short videos as well. 
Scott Eddy: So when I work in the Caribbean, a big thing for me is I always want to do long form video of the chef picking up the local seafood at the market.
And that's great. Just going just to pick up those fish and Yeah. You know, it's just, it's fantastic and that's what people wanna see. 
Steve: Yeah. 
Scott Eddy: I wanna see how fresh it is. I wanna know when it gets on my table cooked. What time did you go pick that up? 3:00 AM like it. It was just awesome. I did a very cool thing with Ritz Carlton in Osaka one time, and my good friend was the executive chef there, Dutch guy, great guy.
And he said, Hey, we're gonna go to the market tomorrow morning, be in the lobby ready at two 30. So it's like am like, I wake up early, but like two 30 is like ridiculous. So I get up. And I'm waiting there. And we go to this, this market and this market is only used by hotel owners, executive chefs and restaurant owners. And if you don't speak Japanese, you have to have a translator walk with you. 'cause nobody inside speaks English. So we walked in and he had a, a group of Japanese CEOs, like local big company, was having a company meeting there. And what they do is they order. A certain grade level of tuna. So we're going around and he's like poking the different tunas to test the fat levels.
He ended up buying like this thing, it was like 39 kilos. He, and nobody takes, there's no checks. Everything's cash. He paid like $40,000. Like it was so absurd, but it was like the cool experience ever. 
David: Absolutely. That's amazing. Well. That does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier. We're here at the Independent Hotel Show in Miami with our good friend Scott Eddie.
Let people know how they can get in touch with you, where they can follow you. Plug away my friend. 
Scott Eddy: I am on everything at Mr. Scott Eddy. Like it doesn't change anywhere. That's also my website. I mean, it's just easy. Yeah, and not only that, I replied to every DM and I replied to every comment. 
Steve: You're everywhere. All the time. 
David: Everywhere. All the time, baby. That's you. All right. Well, we look forward to working with you in the future and some future collaborations. Yeah. That does it for another episode of The Modern Hotelier Hospitality's Most Engaged podcast. Whether you're watching or listening, we appreciate you.
Scott Eddy: And our next episode is gonna be next baseball season.
David: Yes. Or we might go to the Eagles Cowboys game.
Scott Eddy: Not in Philly. 
Steve: Okay. Yeah, I agree.