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Speakers 
Samir Al Ansari,
Chief Executive Officer,
Dubai International Capital
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 Yousef Al-Essa,
General Manger,
Addax Investment Bank
Yousef Al-Essa is General Manager of Bahrain based Addax Investment Bank which is focused on providing corporate finance and wealth management services to clients in the Middle East.
Prior to joining Addax, Mr. Al-Essa was a co-founder and a Managing Director of Amwal, a company focused on bringing and developing advanced financial technology solutions to the Middle East region.
Prior to starting Amwal, Mr. Al-Essa worked at the National Bank of Kuwait where he worked in institutional and corporate banking.
Mr. Al-Essa serves on a number of corporate Boards including:
•Ishraq Gulf Real Estate Company, Bahrain
•Jordan Dubai Capital, Jordan
•Kuwait Interest for Financial Investments, Kuwait
•Mesk Holdings, Bahrain
Mr. Al-Essa received his Bachelor of Science in International Finance from Georgetown University and his Masters in Business Administration from Harvard University
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Simon Allison,
Director,
HOFTEL
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 Richard Arman,
Development Director, UK and Ireland,
InterContinental Hotels Group
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 Frederic Chauffier,
Managing Partner,
Duke Street Capital
Managing Partner, Head of Duke Street Capital’s French team joined in 1998 from SPEF, the private equity arm of Banques Populaires in France, where he worked on medium sized transactions, three of which were with Duke Street Capital. Frédéric has worked on continental buyouts since 1991, first based in Switzerland, where he also served as finance director of a portfolio company until it was turned around. Frédéric started in corporate finance at Smith Barney in New York City and is a graduate of Ecole Supérieure des Sciences Commerciales and Cornell University. He speaks French and English and is based in Duke Street Capital's Paris office.
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Karen Cooksley,
Partner,
Bevan Brittan
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 Patrick Dempsey,
Managing Director,
Premier Travel Inn
Patrick began his career with Forte Hotels in 1980 and graduated from Shannon College of Hotel Management in 1981. Patrick has held a number of senior positions including Managing Director of Forte’s London Hotels’ division, with such properties as the Grosvenor House, the Cumberland and the Waldorf Hotel. Patrick went on to become Managing Director of Posthouse Hotels and was instrumental in successfully repositioning the Posthouse estate as the leading mid-market hotel group. From August 2001 to August 2003 Patrick worked with Compass Group UK & Ireland where he was Chief Executive of Restaurant Associates UK, the fine dining division of Compass Group. Patrick was responsible for launching the UK division of Restaurant Associates that brought together the businesses of Roux, Leiths, Charters and Milburns as well as major City accounts. During his time at Restaurant Associates Patrick delivered substantial business growth.
Patrick Dempsey joined Macdonald Hotels as Chief Executive Officer in August 2003. Macdonald Hotels operates over 100 hotels and Resorts throughout the UK and Spain controlling a business with turnover in excess of £200 million. .
In September 2004, Patrick joined Whitbread Hotel Company as Managing Director, responsible for the Marriott brand in the UK. In May 2005 Patrick moved internally within Whitbread, joining Premier Travel Inn, becoming Managing Director in October 2005.
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 Selim El Zyr,
President & CEO,
Rotana Hotel Management Corporation Ltd
Selim El Zyr is the President and the Chief Executive Officer of the Rotana Hotel Management Corporation, a company which he co-founded in 1992.
A professional hotelier with over 30 years of experience, he has worked for 12 years with Hilton International at their properties in Germany, Spain, Egypt, Canada, Kuwait, USA and the UAE, and reached the position of a Regional Director of the company. He has also been the Vice President of the Abu Dhabi National Hotels Company, managing their Palmavira and Al Diar hotel properties in the UAE and overseas.
Selim is a graduate of the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland; he also holds degrees from the Cornell University and University of Columbia in the United States.
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 Michael Flaxman,
Managing Director N,C,E Europe,
Accor Hotels
Michael Flaxman joined Accor from Forte Hotels in 1983 in North America, where he was in charge of the hotels division. In 1992, he was transferred to Paris as Development Director for Novotel Worldwide and was also operationally responsible for several countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
In 1994, he became Managing Director Novotel UK while retaining responsibility for Eastern Europe and North America. In 1997, Michael took responsibility for Accor Business & Leisure Hotels UK and Ireland, including an aggressive development programme in both Business & Leisure and Economy Divisions. He is today Managing Director of Accor Hotels for Northern, Central and Eastern Europe, responsible for 300 hotels in 15 countries.
In 2001 Michael Flaxman was awarded the prestigious Chevalier de la Légion d’Honneur by the French Government for services to France.
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 Gerard Greene,
CEO,
Yotel!
On a mission to revolutionise the hotel industry and save consumers from expensive and boring hotels, Gerard gave up work after five years as a hotel analyst, sold his home and joined forces with Simon Woodroffe, founder of the Yo! Group to develop YOTEL, "the world's most radical hotel!" Gerard's vision for YOTEL is to provide a first class experience at an affordable price.
It takes the language of first class airline travel with luxury fittings and the latest technology. It has been designed by Priestman Goode, who have helped Airbus define the interior of the double decked A380. YOTEL's unique design, 10.5m² in size with internal windows allows it to be developed in land locked city centre sites, inside airport terminals or even underground. YOTEL will be open at major UK airports in early 2006 with London's West End shortly thereafter. (www.yotel.com)
As a director at HVS International, Gerard has worked on consultancy projects throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia advising groups such as Goldman Sachs and Kingdom Holdings including brands from Four Seasons to Express by Holiday Inn. Previously, Gerard worked at an operational level for Hyatt International, Marriott Hotels & Resorts and Conran Restaurants.
You may find him on his bicycle training for a triathlon, scuba diving or even snooping around hotels, checking out the competition. Hotel recommendation: Emerson and Green in Stone Town, Zanzibar.
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 Mr. Peter Haaber,
CEO,
Zleep Hotels
Peter Haaber (42 yrs) has a long career from hotel management behind him, starting with General Manager positions in 1989 within the Scandic Hotel chain in Denmark, working at several locations as GM. In 1997 Peter moved to another Scandinavian based chain, First Hotels, working as the Regional Manager in Norway with responsibility for 10 hotels. Relocating to Copenhagen in 1999 to become MD for First Hotels in Denmark, Peter worked 4 more years for First Hotels, before starting the Zleep Airport Hotel near Copenhagen Airport in 2003. Zleep Hotels expanded with its first management contract in 2004, the Zleep Ishøj Hotel – Copenhagen, and is adding another three hotels in 2007.
www.zleephotels.com
Nordic Hospitality which Peter Haaber owns together with two partners, was established in 2005 as one of the first and only management companies in Scandinavia, brand independent and only focused on the individual hotels profitability and turnover.
Nordic Hospitality operates 2 Zleep branded hotels, 1 Quality branded hotel, 2 individually branded Leisure hotels, and has signed on 3 new build Zleep branded hotels.
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 Stelios Haji-Ioannou,
Chief Executive,
easyGroup
Born in Greece in 1967 and a graduate of the London School of Economics and the City University Business School, Stelios is best known for creating easyJet PLC when he was 28. A serial entrepreneur, he has now established more than 16 ventures, the first of which was Stelmar Shipping, an oil tanker company that was floated on the NYSE in 2001. He has set up easyHotel, easyGroup’s entry into the budget hotel sector. Stelios also founded the Cyprus Marine Environment Protection Association and recently pledged to fund 100 scholarships over a ten year period at the LSE.
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 Jeffrey Harwood,
Partner,
Oriel Securities
Jeffrey Harwood is a partner at Oriel Securities, with responsibility for research into the Leisure and Hotel sector. Oriel Securities was founded in 2002 and has grown strongly in both institutional stockbroking and corporate finance ; the firm currently has 75 employees. Jeffrey is one of the most experienced Leisure and Hotel analysts in the city and has previously worked for a number of major banks including UBS and JPMorgan Chase/Robert Fleming.
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Jean Luchet,
Senior Vice President Assets Financing,
Accor
Since 1997 Jean Luchet is Senior Vice President in charge of ACCOR Assets Financing Division. This division is dedicated to financing and refinancing hotels Real Estate worldwide.
Prior to assuming responsibility for ACCOR, Jean has been CFO of a French developer company for 7 years.
He has been previously partner in a Real Estate European Bank for 10 years, responsible for the sales department and successively for managing the non professional loans department.
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 Minhaz Manji,
Director,
Monteacute House Ltd
Minhaz Manji is Director of Monteacute House Ltd which owns and operates hotels in the UK under licence from InterContinental Hotels Group. He’s the selected Chairman of the UK Express by Holiday Inn Owners’ Forum, representing their interests as Advisory Board Member at the International Association of Holiday Inn Owners (IAHI) for EMEA. Currently he serves as the appointed Chairman of HCE (Hospitality Consortium Europa), he is Trustee and Founder of the Embassy of Man charity, serves as a non-executive board member of Cyprotex plc and board member of Spectrum (aggregate buyer for hotels, dental businesses and nursing homes).
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Xavier Marin,
Member of the Executive Board,
Eurazeo
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 Mr Andre Martinez,
Member of the Board of Management and Head of Hotels (Europe, Africa and Middle East),
Accor
André Martinez has built up a well-founded and wide-ranging knowledge of the hospitality and tourism through more than 25 years. He started as Aircraft Contract Negociator of Airbus industry. He joined Méridien in 1982 as Senior Vice-President Development and was appointed CEO of Hotels Meridien Group till 1995.
André Martinez worked as a consultant in the hospitality and leisure industry for financial institutions, hotels owners, managers and operators during 1995-96.
André Martinez joined Accor in 1997. In the light of his extensive experience in the hospitality and tourism sector, after being Chief Executive Officer of Compagnie des Wagons-Lits in Accor Group (1997-2002) and Chief Development and Strategy Officer for Accor Hotels, he was appointed Chief Executive Officer for Accor Economy Hotels, and, since 2003 Member of the Management Board of Accor, in charge of Hotels Operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa.
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 David McMillan,
Chief Executive Officer,
International Hotel and Restaurant Association
David McMillan is CEO of the Paris-based International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA). Founded in 1946, the IH&RA is the only international trade association exclusively devoted to promoting and defending the interests of the hotel and restaurant industry worldwide. It is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to helping members achieve their business objectives on a global stage and is recognized as such by the United Nations. Members are made up of National Hotel & Restaurant Associations, International and National Hotel and Restaurant Chains as well as a select group of individual hotels and restaurants.
Prior to this, British-born McMillan had many years of international hotel and resort management & development experience in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, Canada and the United States with Hilton Hotels, Hyatt International, InterContinental Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels, several well renowned independent properties and most recently with the world renowned circus, Cirque du Soleil.
He was elected to three terms as Chairman of the Hotel Association of Canada, is a former Director of the Canadian Restaurant & Foodservice Association. He has received an Honourary doctorate from Hocking College, an Honourary membership in the Cornell Hotel Society and is a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award of the Waldorf Astoria. David and his wife, Venice, currently reside in Paris and their son Stuart and his wife live in Whistler, BC.
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 Tim Muir,
Senior Vice President, Franchise Sales and Development,
Microtel Inns & Suites
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 Mitchell Presnick,
President & CEO,
Super 8 Hotels (China) Co. Ltd
Mitchell Presnick is President & CEO of Super 8 Hotels (China) Co. Ltd. Resident in Beijing and fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Mitch has over sixteen years of management and brand development experience in the PRC and Hong Kong.
Prior to Super 8 (China), Mitch served as China country manager for Edelman, a top-ten public relations agency. During that time, Mitch provided counsel to Procter & Gamble, Microsoft, M&M Mars, Intel, Wrigley, Anheuser-Busch, GlaxoSmithKline, Fujifilm, Liberty Mutual, Ericsson, Chubb, and other leading multinationals.
Mitch assisted Anheuser-Busch with its Budweiser China market introduction in 1994, and worked with that company until 2003. Before that, he worked with ABC News in Beijing and American Airlines in Hong Kong.
Prior to coming to Asia, Mitch worked with Marriott Hospitality Services in the Dulles, Virginia, USA.
Mitch earned an MBA from Rutgers University in 2000. He holds a graduate diploma in Chinese language from Peking University, and graduated from James Madison University with a bachelors degree in management.
Mitch is former vice chairman and board member of the American Chamber of Chamber in China.
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Mr Jason Price,
Vice President Business Development,
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies
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 Mr Jeremy Richardson,
Managing Director,
Kew Green Hotels
Jeremy set up Kew Green Hotels ('KGH') in September 2001 with his partner Paul Johnson, with financial backing from Bank of Scotland and Moorfield Group. KGH is a specialist operator of limited service hotels under brand franchise. The company has grown organically developing Express by Holiday Inn and Days Hotel properties in high traffic edge of town, city centre or transport hub locations. To date we have opened six new build hotels comprising 753 rooms in total.
In November 2004 KGH acquired the Courtyard by Marriott business from Whitbread in conjunction with a property partner WJB Mondiale, which means that a further 11 trading hotels were added to the portfolio bringing the total number of bedrooms in the Group to1,620. KGH continues to seek good quality development opportunities either as single sites or by way of selective acquisition.
Prior to setting up Kew Green Hotels, Jeremy was Strategy and Business Development Director at Welcome Break Group Ltd where he had responsibility for all of the company’s non - core business activities as well as group strategy. The non-core activities included Game Zones, Other income and all Third Party revenue streams, which accounted for c£10M of annual profit contribution. Jeremy joined Welcome Break as Group Planning Director from Bain & Company where he was a consultant for two years after graduating with an MBA from INSEAD. Prior to INSEAD, Jeremy worked for NatWest Equity Partners (now Bridgepoint Capital) for three years, primarily in London but also as part of a small team sent to Manchester to revitalise the NatWest private equity office in the North of England.
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 Mr Ben Roberts,
Development Director,
Travelodge
Ben Roberts is the Development Director for Travelodge the UK’s number one budget hotel brand. He has been with Travelodge since 1997 and is responsible for Travelodge’s aggressive expansion programme of opening 15,000 rooms over the next six years, with 2,500 opening in 2005.
Recent achievements include launching the first UK budget hotel (Travelodge) in Spain and being nominated for achieving the Best European Deal of the Year – Accquiring 2 Thistle hotels within central London and converting them into Travelodge hotels overnight.
Ben graduated from Southbank Polytechnic in Estates Management and has gained a wealth of experience over the last 18 years within the property industry
Ben is married with three children.
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 Georges Sampeur,
Chief Executive Officer,
B & B Hotels
Before joining Galaxie, Georges, 50 years old, held various managing positions within several service companies.
In 1992 he was appointed Sales & Marketing Director
for AVIS EUROPE, withresponsibility for Europe,Africa & Middle-East. In 1996 he was promoted Managing Director of AVIS UK.
In 2000 Georges joined CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL as CEO for France and in April 2002 was appointed as an Executive Vice-President for Europe.
On 1st September 2003 Georges became the Chief Executive Officer of Galaxie SA."
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 Andrew Sangster,
Editor,
Hotel Analyst
Andrew Sangster is editor of Hotel Analyst, the monthly newsletter for the hotel investment community. The title, founded and owned by Andrew, draws on more than 10 years of experience covering the leisure industry for other publishers. It is designed to understand, as well as report, the news.
Andrew has become a respected authority in his field, making regular appearances both in broadcast and print. He has appeared on BBC Breakfast News, Working Lunch, CNBC, Reuters TV, plus various local evening news programmes. He has also worked for BBC business news.
In print, he appears both as a writer and commentator. He has contributed to the Times, Sunday Business, Marketing, Travel Trade Gazette, Caterer & Hotelkeeper, the Publican and other trade publications. As a commentator, he has appeared in virtually every UK national newspaper and numerous trade and consumer publications.
Andrew holds a BSc in economics and an MA in journalism. He lives in London with his wife and dog.
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 Karl Otto Skogland,
Chief Executive Officer,
Reval Hotel Management
Karl Skogland is the Chairman and CEO of Reval Hotels, the largest hotel company in the Baltic countries. Reval plans further expansion in their home market as well as into Russia and the Ukraine. Karl Skogland has a long career in the hospitality industry with a strong focus on hotel operations and development in Scandinavia and Eastern Europe. He has served in senior executive positions with SAS Radisson Hotels. Since 1999, he has been instrumental in the successful development of Reval Hotels, today the leading brand in the Baltic region. Reval Hotels is a subsidiary of The Anders Wilhelmsen Group, a major shareholder of Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, the world’s second largest cruise company.
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Mr Paul Slatterry,
Director,
Otus & Co Ltd
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 Chief eBusiness Strategist Max Starkov,
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies,
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies
Max Starkov is Chief eBusiness Strategist at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. in New York City. He advises companies in the Travel and Hospitality verticals on their Internet and eDistribution strategies. His eBusiness expertise is sought after by a diverse client portfolio of top tier multinational hospitality corporations, hotel management and representation companies, and independent, privately owned properties. Max is a highly recognized eBusiness expert in the hospitality industry.
Max also teaches graduate courses on "Hospitality/Tourism e-Distribution Systems", "e-CRM in Hospitality", Hospitality eKnowledge Systems" and "e-Travel" at New York University's prestigious Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Travel Administration.
Max has an extensive eBusiness and Web travel technologies experience. He co-founded and served as CEO and Director of two eBusiness companies: Whale Media, Inc. (B2B travel technology infrastructure provider to the hospitality, corporate travel and convention and meetings markets) and Travelbreak.com, Inc. (B2C online travel marketplace, ranked 3rd in its category after Priceline.com). Under his leadership Whale Media won the prestigious 2001 Worldwide Microsoft RAD Award for its SmartSuite Web-based technology applications, inventory management and reservation systems for hospitality.
Max has 20 years experience in pioneering and building successful travel businesses and eBusiness strategies for national and multinational hospitality and travel companies. He has written numerous reports, industry research, and published articles in major travel and hospitality publications. Max has an MBA degree, Beta Gamma Sigma Honors, from Fordham University in New York and an MS in Global Economics degree.
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 Mr Barry Sternlicht,
Chrmn & C E O,
Starwood Capital Group
Barry formed Starwood Capital Group in 1991 and from 1995 to 2004 was Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. He is also the current Chairman of the Board of Groupe Tattinger and Societe du Louvre, the economy hotel subsidy of which operates over 800 hotels and restaurants and is Europe’s second largest group. Barry was named America’s Best Lodging CEO by Institutional Investor magazine in November 2005.
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Andrew Tobin,
Solicitor,
Bevan Brittan
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Arnoud Vink,
Hotel Development Director,
Accor
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