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Speakers 
 Richard Arman,
Development Director, UK and Ireland,
InterContinental Hotels Group
Richard has spent over 30 years in the Leisure and Hospitality industry.
Having graduated from hotel school, he spent time with Thistle hotels as their first London sales manager. From there he moved on to head up the development team for Best Western Hotels. When Choice Hotels moved into Europe in 1986, he joined the team as Franchise Director for the UK and latterly for the rest of Europe. He was also responsible for establishing the pan European Franchise Support Department for Choice. He was also instrumental in the successful launch and role out of the Sleep Inn brand in the UK. In 2005 Richard joined IHG to head up the development department in the UK and Ireland. He is responsible for the Express by Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza brands. This role covers both franchising and management contracts.
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Mr Micheal Brooker,
Managing Director,
Bropar Ltd
By any standards Michael has an impressive track record in the Hotel industry spanning some 34 years both in the development and operation of limited service and full service hotels. His career has encompassed the development of the Copthorne brand in the 1980’s, the development of BAA’s hotel portfolio in the same decade the development of 8 Express by Holiday Inn units between 1997and 2000 and more recently the new rising star, The Hoxton Hotel in Shoreditch. Much of his experience in the industry has been concerned with the identification of innovative sources of finance. In addition he had a most productive experience of thinking outside the box led by Sinclair Beecham of Prêt a manger fame. The Hoxton opened on 1st September this year. Together with his former partner Andrew Parry and Mike Armitage he is assisting Sinclair and other investors to identify new site opportunities for Hoxton.
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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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 Mr Martin Evans,
The Tourism Business
Martin Evans runs the hotel marketing company, The Hotel Business, part of leading leisure consultancy The Tourism Business. Since 1997, he has undertaken consultancy projects for many budget hotels, and has also worked for groups including Holiday Inn and Choice Hotels Europe. In 2002, he authored the definitive Mintel Report on the Budget Hotels Market.
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 Mr Josh Feurstein,
GM Hotels,,
lastminute.com
Josh Feuerstein joined Travelocity in March, 2002 as vice president of hotels, based in New York City. Since October, 2005, he has been based in the lastminute.com/Travelocity Europe head office in London. In his current role at lastminute.com, Josh is responsible for Europe-wide strategy and product development for the Hotels, Flights, Packages and Rail categories. In addition, Josh is responsible for accommodation supply for the EMEA region. Josh also serves as Hotel Segment Manager for Sabre Holdings, responsible for hotel strategy across the Sabre organization.
Before moving to the UK, Josh managed Travelocity.com's hotel business, including directing the launch of Travelocity’s merchant hotel product.
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 Mr Patrick Fitzgibbon,
Senior Vice President Development, Europe & Africa, UK & Ireland and Nordic,
Hilton Hotels
Patrick began his career with Hilton in 1997 and has been employed in a number of high-profile management positions within the company ever since. He managed the development of the Company's stand-alone health club business, LivingWell, both in the UK and Internationally before moving to Miami to head up Hilton International's hotel development activities in Latin America, the Caribbean and Canada for three years. Patrick returned to the UK as Managing Director of LivingWell for two years before returning to the Hotels division where he is currently responsible for launching and developing all of Hilton's hotel brands across Europe & Africa following the recent reunification of the American and International companies.
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 Mr Micheal Flaxman,
Managing Director, Northern and Eastern Europe,
Accor
Michael Flaxman, a graduate of Westminster Hotel School London, joined Accor in 1983 from Forte Hotels in North America, where ultimately he was in charge of the hotels division for Accor. Previously, Michael had worked in various operational as well as development positions for Thistle Hotels and Trusthouse Forte Hotels in the UK and North America. In 2006, Michael was promoted to Chief Operating Officer Hotels for Northern, Central & Eastern Europe and is a member of the Executive Board of Accor S.A. in Paris. His responsibility encompasses over 800 hotels in 17 countries from, economy to deluxe. 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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 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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 Grant Hearn,
CEO,
Travelodge
Grant Hearn is the CEO of Travelodge, the United Kingdom’s fastest growing and most recognized low-cost hotel chain. The Travelodge chain boasts over 240 sites throughout the UK, catering for the needs of 6 million customers each year.
Grant began his career as an Assistant Hotel Manager at the Forte group, where his father and uncle were members of the board of directors. He has been a central and well-respected figure within the hotel industry ever since, holding positions with Marriot Hotels, Travel Inn and most recently Hilton UK and Ireland as Managing Director.
As a long-term advocate of the low-cost hotel industry Grant has the perfect attributes to take Travelodge through the next stage of their expansion programme. With development of more UK sites well underway and their first foray into the European market taking shape in Spain, Travelodge are ready to reclaim their position at the forefront of the low-cost hotel sector.
Grant is married, has three children and is a Fellow of the Hotel & Catering International Management Association.
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 Mr Tim Helliwell,
Head of Hotel Finance,
Barclays
Tim Helliwell heads the Barclays Hotels Team, with responsibility for the Bank’s hotel clients within the UK and Western Europe. The hotels team is an integral part of the Barclays Hospitality & Leisure business with key relationships in the travel, restaurant, pub, gaming, health & fitness, leisure operators and sports sectors. Tim joined Barclays in 1990. Having completed their graduate-training programme he has undertaken a number of roles around the UK focusing on client management to the corporate sector. Tim has become increasingly focused on the hotel sector to the extent that over the last five years all of his time has been spent within the industry.
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 Mr Christian Karaoglanian,
Chief Development Officer Accor Hotels,
Accor
Christian Karaoglanian has been responsible since 1995 for the development and asset management of the hotel chains belonging to the French group Accor, he is now Chief Development Officer for Accor hotels worldwide implementing the story development policy of the company with a team of 50 developers on five continents through organic growth as well as acquisitions. Christian Karaoglanian joined the Accor group in 1976 and the hotel side of the company in 1984 to take on the responsibility for development in the Middle East and Asia. Between 1987 and 1994, he was mainly in charge of the development in Europe. Christian Karaoglanian was born in Paris in 1951. He completed his University education at the Institute d’Etudes Politiques de Paris (IEP) and holds a degree in Economic Science. He is member of the Accor Hotels Committee.
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 Mr Hans-Peter Kolditz,
Director International Franchise,
Accor
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 Mr Mandeep Lamba,
Managing Director,
DDCAP
In 1998 Mandeep became President of Fortune Park Hotels, a wholly owned subsidiary of ITC Ltd and amongst the Country’s top five Corporates. Having held that position for five years before taking up his current assignment as Managing Director of Dawnay, Day Hotels-India, Mandeep is credited for having completely turned around Fortune Hotels and having established it as a leading player in the Indian Mid Scale Hospitality sector growing the organisation over 100% year on year.
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Mr Andew Lavoipierre,
Executive Director - Operations,
Istithmar Hotels
Andrew has 20 years of hospitality experience spanning 3 continents. Included in Andrew’s experience are key Sales & Marketing roles with Intercontinental Hotels Group, Millennium Hotels & Resorts and Orient Express Hotels. Most recently Andrew was General Manager with Cendant based in their Dubai office overseeing the Middle East region CRM portfolio for Hotel Dynamics. This involved working with most major hotel chains as well as well independent luxury operators.
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 Dexter Moren,
Founding Director,
Dexter Moren Architects
Dexter Moren is an architect and urban designer and founding director of Dexter Moren Architects, London and Moren Williams Lotter Forsythe, South Africa. He is a graduate of London’s Architectural Association and New York’s Columbia University.
Dexter Moren Architects was founded in 1992 and has grown to a 40 strong team of architects, interior designers and urban designers. Working with many leading brands and developers, Dexter Moren Architects is presently one of London’s busiest hotel designers with over 30 projects and 3000 bedrooms in the planning and construction stages. These include the 600 bed Ibis at Trocadero, a 218 bed Courtyard Marriott at Gatwick, a 200 bed Ramada at Heathrow, several Express by Holiday Inns and the UK’s largest Travelodge (396 beds).
Dexter’s future aspirations are focussed on design excellence, sustainability and global outsourcing, whilst maintaining the joy of a creative working experience for his team, consultants and clients.
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 Chris Morton,
Chris Morton Associates
Chris Morton runs an associate company of The Tourism Business – Chris Morton Associates. He has over 25 years of hotel operating and consultancy experience, including as a consultant with one of the UK’s “big five” accountancy practices. Chris is currently the leading north west business coach for the BHA’s “Profit through Productivity” business improvement programme, under which he works for a number of leading group and independent hotels. He also serves on the BHA’s Northern Committee and is a regular contributor to Caterer and Hotelkeeper’s “Strategy Clinic”.
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 Tim Muir,
Senior Vice President, Franchise Sales and Development,
Microtel Inns & Suites
Tim Muir is Senior Vice President, Franchise Sales and Development at Microtel Inns & Suites (US Franchise Systems Inc.) and has been in his current position since February 2000. He was formerly Vice President of Franchise Sales & Development since Oct. 2, 1995, and one of the founders of USFS. Muir heads up all franchise sales operations for the company’s brands for the eastern half of the United States, and has spearheaded their growth and development.
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 Prof Peter O'Connor,
Professor,
IMHI ESSEC Business School, Paris
Peter O'Connor is Professor of Information Systems at Essec Business School France, and Academic Director of Institute de Management Hotelier International (IMHI), an MBA program specialising in international hospitality management administered by ESSEC Business School, France. His primary research, teaching and consulting interests focus on the use of information technology in the hospitality sector. He has authored two leading textbooks - "Using Computers in Hospitality" (Cassell, UK - now in its third edition) and "Electronic Information Distribution in Hospitality and Tourism Industries" (CABI, UK) as well as numerous articles in the trade and academic press. He has taught seminars on technology management, distribution and electronic marketing for a variety of international hospitality companies and industry associations. Previously he held a visiting position at the Cornell School of Hotel Administration and worked in a variety of positions in international hospitality management in sectors ranging from luxury hotels to contract food services.
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 Mr Jason Price,
Vice President Business Development,
Hospitality eBusiness Strategies
Jason Price is Executive Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Marketing at Hospitality eBusiness Strategies, Inc. and also provides extensive business development experience. Jason helped build and served as the Vice President of both Whale Media, Inc. and Travelbreak.com, Inc. He has co-authored numerous articles in hospitality and technology and frequently guest lecturers to academic and professional audiences in US, Europe and Asia.
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 Mr Peter Roberts,
Chief Executive Officer,
Golden Tulip UK
Peter Roberts is a qualified chartered surveyor. His early career (between 1970 and 1985) was in surveying practices and he became Senior Partner in Davis & Bowring in 1976. He then left the profession and became Chief Executive of Langdale Group plc where he was responsible for the development of the company. He negotiated the sale of the group to Scottish & Newcastle Breweries in 1988, achieving an annual return to the original investors of 65% pa compound over the seven year investment.
In 1985 he helped set up and acted as specialist advisor to Lazard Ventures Leisure Fund, now Baring Private Equity Management. In 1989 he was instrumental in the formation of Luminar plc (now traded on the Stock Exchange). He was also a director of the AIM-traded Dragons Healthclub plc until it was sold to Crown Sports.
In 1988 he founded Countrywide Leisure Management and, inter alia, launched two Enterprise Investment Scheme funds raising £1.75m of private equity and developed limited service hotels in the economy sector in Harrogate and Edinburgh, both of which were successfully operated and then sold.
In 1998 he purchased a site and developed a 111-bedroomed hotel close to Old Trafford football ground, where Manchester United plc came in as 25% shareholder. The hotel was extended to 160 rooms in 2002. He also developed a 121 bedroom Tulip Inn hotel at the Trafford Centre Manchester and this too has been extended to 160 bedrooms.
He became Chief Executive of Pilot Hotels in September 2002 and was responsible for raising the debt and equity funding which has enabled the Group to expand to its current position.
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 Mr Georges Sampeur,
Chief Executive Officer,
B&B Hotels
Before joining B&B Hotels, Georges, held various managing positions within several service companies. In 1992 he was appointed Sales & Marketing Director for AVIS EUROPE, with responsibility for Europe, Africa & Middle East. In 1996 he was promoted to Managing Director of AVIS UK. In 2000 Georges joined CARLSON WAGONLIT TRAVEL as CEO for France and in April 2002 was appointed Executive Vice - President for Europe. On 1st September 2003 Georges became the Chief Executive Officer of B&B Hotels.
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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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 Mr Andrew Shaw,
Director of Development UK & Ireland,
Accor hotels
Andrew Shaw joined Accor in summer of 2006 to head the company’s UK and Ireland development and franchising team. Andrew comes from a hotel advisory background having previously worked for TRI Hospitality Consulting and prior to joining Accor, Knight Frank in their hotel agency division. He was previously a director of TRI Hospitality Consulting where he gained extensive knowledge of the hotel and leisure sector, advising on hotel, golf, conference centre and resort projects in the UK, Europe, Middle East and Africa. Andrew advised on projects covering all levels of the hotel market, from budget through to five star and mixed-use resort developments. In 2004 he joined Knight Frank in their Birmingham office to open and establish an hotel agency and development department covering the Midlands. Andrew left Knight Frank in 2006 to join Accor UK.
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 Mr Andrew Silver,
Managing Director,
Golden Tulip UK
Andrew Silver studied Law at the University of Northumbria and then a post-graduate diploma in Management Studies. Between 1989 and 1995 he worked for Swallow Hotels in a wide range of roles giving him experience in the whole sales & marketing mix and sales management, ending up sitting on the Board at the age of 29. Andrew joined Golden Tulip in 2002 as Director to head up the Franchise Services and Sales & Marketing teams. Andrew was promoted to the role of Commercial Director in June 2005 and he is now responsible for the day to day operations of the existing Tulip Inn and Golden Tulip hotels and also the new build hotels as they become operational in the UK and Ireland. He has further responsibility for the brand development and corporate marketing of the business.
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 Mr Paul Slattery,
Director,
Otus & Co Ltd
Paul Slattery is a director of Otus & Co a company that provides strategic advice and corporate finance services to the hospitality, travel and transport industries. Paul worked for Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein ("DrKW") for 15 years until 2002 in both equity research where he was head of hospitality research and in investment banking where he built the bank’s franchise in the hospitality arena and advised companies such as Compass Group, Scandic Hotels, Thompson Travel Group and Whitbread.
Otus operates the world’s most sophisticated hotel chain database with analytical tools that project hotel demand and supply in all 52 countries in Europe, hotel portfolio management effectiveness and the effectiveness of hotel brand infrastructure. Early in his career, Paul worked for several international hospitality companies and spent time as an academic. Paul writes regularly for academic and industry publications and is Co-Chairman of The International Hotel Investment Council.
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Mr Rynd Smith,
Head of Policy,
Royal Institute of Town Planners
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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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 Dr Cris Tarrant,
Managing Director,
BDRC Research
Cris Tarrant is founder of the BDRC Group, one of the UK’s largest independent research and advisory groups. Within BDRC a dedicated team specialises in programmes for hospitality clients, with over 300 projects to its name. Cris is a renowned industry speaker and has been on the conference platform on many occasions to discuss the hotel industry. He is also a guest lecturer for the Warwick University postgraduate MBA programme, where he has contributed to research into performance management systems, and he has been an invited speaker at Oxford Brookes Hotel School.
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Mr Maurice Taylor,
Chief Executive,
Chardon Management
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 Mr Gerard Tempest,
Marketing Director,
Premier Travel Inn
Gerard has spent the last 15 years in the travel industry in a number of senior marketing positions including Director of Marketing for Thistle Hotels, where he established the brand as the leading domestic full service hotel brand in the UK. Joining Whitbread in 2003 as Director of Marketing responsible for the UK & Ireland for the Marriott business, where one of his main achievements was repositioning Marriott in the UK as a leisure brand.
In November 2005, Gerard moved internally within Whitbread taking up his current role of Marketing Director for Premier Travel Inn, the UK’s largest hotel brand with currently 476 hotels and over 31,000 bedrooms. Premier Travel Inn’s turnover is in excess of £400m annually, and the brand was recently awarded ‘Most Improved Brand of the Year’ in the BDRC British Hotel Guest Survey 2006.
Gerard is responsible for brand marketing, product & service development, pricing & revenue management, brand standards & audit, together with the central reservations office for Premier Travel Inn in the UK.
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 Mr Tim Wheeldon,
Development Director,
Sleep Inns
Tim has over 15 years experience in the development of budget & limited service hotels in the UK and with a remit to develop the Sleep Inn brand in the UK, Tim joined CHE Hotel Group Plc from morethanhotels where he had been Development Consultant. He has also served as Property Director at Golden Tulip (UK) Ltd and assisted in the launch and development of the Tulip Inn brand in the UK.
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