A Legacy of Hospitality: John Rubino’s Journey
Four decades into his hospitality career, John Rubino uncovered an unexpected connection to his family’s past. He discovered his great-grandfather’s obituary and photograph, revealing that he had worked as a bellman at a classic hotel.
“I hung on to that picture, and then my wife surprised me a year later by having it framed and enlarged. I really treasure that and the family history that comes with it,” – John Rubino
Today, that tradition carries forward through Extreme Hospitality, where John works alongside his son and partner, Eric Rubino, and their business partner, Ryan Alpert. Their partnership reflects the enduring role that family, trust, and long-standing relationships play in the hospitality industry.
Looking back, John sees his decision to switch majors at Penn State as the turning point that shaped his career. What started as a new direction became a lifelong passion – one that continues to influence the people he mentors and the legacy he’s building.
The Power of Empathy & Culture in Hospitality
Drawing on decades of experience managing billions in hotel assets, John believes great leadership starts on the front lines. Leaders who have worked in operational roles develop the empathy needed to understand their teams, make better decisions, and earn lasting trust.
For that reason, he encourages young hospitality professionals to gain experience across multiple departments early in their careers. A broad operational foundation builds perspective and prepares future leaders for greater responsibility.
This people-first mindset also shapes workplace culture. When employees feel valued and supported, they build stronger teams, deliver better guest experiences, and drive more robust business performance.
John believes technology and AI should reinforce that approach – not replace it. By improving efficiency and reducing manual work, they allow teams to focus on the human connections at the heart of great hospitality.
“We know how AI is making our jobs easier, but you’re never going to fully replace people. When you talk about hospitality, it is about making guests feel welcome, and that cultural piece is so important.” – John Rubino
[Watch John’s full interview series on YouTube]
The “People-First” Rule for Vendor Partnerships
For John, great leadership starts with transparency, trust, and a shared focus on long-term results. Whether selecting a management company, working with hotel owners, or choosing a technology provider, he believes leaders should look beyond the sales pitch and prioritize shared values, mutual respect, and long-term alignment.
Those same standards shape how he evaluates growth opportunities. Not every opportunity is the right fit, and protecting a company’s reputation sometimes means walking away from a business that doesn’t align with your personal ethics and values or long-term strategy.
This is especially true for early-stage vendors looking to break into the space; in an industry crowded with constant sales noise, success often comes less from cold outreach and more from building trust within established networks.
“We want to do business with people that we enjoy being around, but what’s really important to us is ethics and how you treat people. We have to like you as a person first. If our business ethics align and we feel we can do great things together, then it’s all systems go.” – John Rubino
In hospitality, lasting success depends as much on the quality of the partnership as the solution itself.
Personally Experiencing Your Team’s Service As A Guest for Real Life Feedback
As organizations grow from a single hotel to large portfolios, maintaining a pulse on operations becomes more complex.
To truly understand the reality of the guest experience and employee morale, John advocates for personally experiencing the service and amenities offered to evaluate them from a guest’s perspective – stepping onto properties unannounced or experiencing them through the eyes of a regular guest, rather than arriving for a polished, scheduled executive visit. This should never be an “I got ya” moment. It should be a shared learning experience to enhance the service, product, and amenities we offer.
This firsthand feedback allows leaders to see if the culture set at the top is successfully flowing through regional leaders, general managers, and frontline supervisors. High standards and empathy are not mutually exclusive. By getting real, unfiltered feedback on the ground, leaders can recognize strong performance publicly and address personal underperformance privately – an approach that reinforces respect, protects morale, and sustains true accountability at scale.
The Shift from RevPAR to TrevPAR in Hospitality
Traditional hotel metrics no longer fully capture modern performance. John Rubino highlights the shift from RevPAR to TrevPAR, which measures all on-property revenue rather than just rooms, offering a more complete view of financial health.
He also emphasizes separating occupancy and ADR instead of relying on blended metrics, helping uncover overlooked ancillary revenue opportunities within the property.
Parking is a clear example – often treated as unused space, but when strategically managed, it becomes a dynamic revenue stream that improves NOI and asset value. Modern hospitality is also expanding beyond physical real estate; digital self-guided tours, for example, can enhance the guest experience while strengthening resort fees through deeper local engagement.
“You’re not just looking at generating more revenue. You’re looking at generating more profitable revenue because that’s what increases NOI. When you increase NOI, you’re increasing the value of your business and the underlying real asset.” – John Rubino
Ultimately, John believes asset leadership must evolve as these modern solutions scale across property types. Micromanagement slows growth, while strong leaders empower regional teams to adapt strategies to their local markets.
The Platinum Rule: How to Actually Treat Hotel Teams
Looking back on his career, John believes kindness and approachability are non-negotiable traits for hospitality leaders. An open leadership style creates an environment where employees feel safe to share ideas, take risks, and communicate honestly.
For John, great hospitality must be practiced internally first. He encourages leaders to treat employees with the same respect, warmth, and attention traditionally reserved for guests.
“Sometimes you don’t know what their home life is like. When they show up for work, it can really be the best eight hours of their day. So if you create that culture and that tone, the hotel just starts humming, the guests feel it, and the guests come back.” – John Rubino
After four decades in the industry, his focus has shifted from financial performance to long-term impact. The most rewarding part of leadership is practicing the “Platinum Rule” – treating teams how you would want your family to be treated, mentoring the next generation of hospitality professionals, and watching them grow from frontline roles into executive positions.
“We’re in the hospitality industry, there’s got to be that knowledge of hospitality that also comes with being good in business. My goal was to be a really good hotelier but to still be a good leader and be hospitable, not just to your guests but to your employees.” – John Rubino
Join The Conversation
If you would like to share your perspective or be a guest on an upcoming episode of SpotOn, please reach out to Tiffany Gabriel at tiffany@getocra.com.
About Ocra
Ocra is the first AI-powered revenue management platform purpose-built for hotel parking assets. Hotels use Ocra to sell underutilized parking inventory to non-guest customers without adding labor or disrupting operations, increasing net operating income (NOI) while never compromising guest parking.
25+ hotel groups partner with Ocra to achieve optimum yield of their parking assets – including MCR, Starwood Capital Group, Aimbridge, Stonebridge, Highwood Properties, Concord Hospitality, and OTH Hotels & Resorts. Ocra has raised $10M in strategic funding to date – $3.5M in an oversubscribed round in April 2024 led by MCR and Parker Technology, and $5M led by Trestle Partners with significant follow-on from MCR in August 2025.
Ocra was named the winner of the 2026 ALIS Tech Challenge and was ranked #1 overall on Hotel Tech Report’s Global Best Parking Management software list in the 2026 HotelTechAwards.For more information, visit getocra.com or email info@getocra.com.
