Host Steve Turk welcomes listeners to The Hospitality Mentor Podcast, brought to you by sponsors Lodgify and Biscayne Coffee, He interviews Adam Tuttle, co-founder of Yipy, described as the industry’s first hospitality standards management system that centralizes hotel standards by role, adds analytics, and supports inspections and audits.

Adam shares his early hospitality work in a Nevada casino, his first professional role as an Eiffel Tower elevator operator in Las Vegas, and studying hospitality at UNLV. He moved from Caesars Entertainment to help open a La Quinta, gaining broad operational and sales exposure. Through mentorship, he joined Four Seasons, worked in multiple markets including opening Four Seasons Orlando at Disney World, and later returned to Las Vegas.

After reconsidering his GM path, he launched a consulting business and then created Yipy to solve persistent standards and measurement challenges, building it with co-founder Phil Erickson and client-driven development. Adam discusses Yipy’s pre-seed $1M raise, partnerships including Leading Hotels of the World, Marriott approved vendor status, and excitement about AI, and closes with advice on relationships and networking.

00:00 Podcast Welcome

00:33 Sponsor Lodgify

01:38 Meet Adam Tuttle

01:54 What Is YPI

02:50 First Hospitality Job

03:56 Choosing Hospitality

05:21 Vegas During Recession

07:46 Opening La Quinta

10:07 TripAdvisor Success

11:53 Mentorship To Four Seasons

14:25 Learning Luxury Service

16:19 Go To Grow Culture

18:27 Four Seasons Disney Magic

22:03 Entrepreneurial Turning Point

23:50 Starting Consulting Business

24:39 Landing First Clients

25:19 Leaving Ops for Consulting

26:14 Landing First Clients

27:31 Finding a Consulting Niche

28:22 Just Do It Mindset

29:16 Why Yippy Was Born

29:47 Proving Training ROI

31:44 Building the First Tool

32:43 From Tool to Platform

34:51 Coding Reality Check

36:02 Customer Led Product Design

37:09 Hoteliers in Tech

38:27 Funding and Big Partnerships

41:38 AI and the Standards Database

44:20 Advice to Younger Self

46:24 Wrap Up and Sponsor