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Hear from THE best speakers in the industry
Knowledge from inside the industry and from those who are leading the hotels industry.
- Hear case studies presented by those active in the market
- Get your questions answered during the interactive Q&A sessions
- Meet all those involved during our speed networking session and continue discussions informally at the networking drinks reception
2008 speakers included
Director of Sales, Marketing and Distribution,
The Real Hotel Company plc
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Chief Executive Officer,
EasyHotel Ltd
Lawrence joined easyHotel in July 2006, with a brief from Stelios, the serial entrepreneur, to aggressively grow the brand globally, exclusively through franchising. At the time of his appointment, the brand had just 2 hotels operating. The past 12 months has seen a number of significant announcements from the brand, including major development agreements in Germany, Austria and Portugal to add to the UAE development agreement which will see the first of 5 hotels in Dubai open in early 2009. In the UK, the brand is slated to open another 15+ hotels in the next 2-3 years. Lawrence has already indicated that the brand will have secured over 80 hotel contracts by end 2009, with the intention of becoming Europe’s leading brand in the ‘super budget’ sector. The brand expects to have 8 hotels operating by 1st quarter 2008.
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Development Director, UK & Ireland,
InterContinental Hotels
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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Senior Brand Director - Days Inn and Super 8,
Wyndham Hotel Group
Belinda Atkins, who has 18 years of experience in the hotel and franchise industries, manages the franchising of the Hotel Group’s Days Inn® and Super 8® brands internationally. Based in London, her responsibilities include setting strategic direction, managing financial and operating results for the brand and interfacing with franchise sales. She joined the company in November 2003 as director of operations for Wyndham Hotel Group International’s direct franchising business in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Prior to joining the company, she worked for General Mills UK in London as senior operations manager for the Häagen-Dazs Cafés UK and Ireland. From 2000 to 2002, she was senior national account manager for Pillsbury Bakeries & Foodservice in Miami, where she was responsible for the $30 million Burger King account. From 1997 to 2000, Atkins was regional Häagen-Dazs shops operations manager for Pillsbury Latin America and South Africa.
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Director – Hospitality & Leisure,
Quinlan Private Group
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Director - Lead Advisory Team, Corporate Finance,
BDO Stoy Hayward
Jason is a director in the corporate finance lead advisory team. He has worked in an advisory capacity with real estate structured finance market for approximately 15 years. His experience covers a variety of clients from private property companies to institutional funds. His role is to develop our property offering within BDO and to provide our client with advice and access to an increasingly competitive real estate finance market. He covers the residential and commercial market as well as niche markets such as hospitality and healthcare in both the UK and mainland Europe.
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Senior Vice President, Brand Management Hampton by Hilton,
Hilton Hotels
Phil Cordell serves as Senior Vice President-Hampton Inn Brand Management for Hilton Hotels Corporation, the internationally recognized preeminent hospitality company. Cordell joined Holiday Inn hotels in 1983, serving in a variety of hotel level management positions. He then joined the Hampton Inn division, where he opened the second Hampton Inn as General Manager. Cordell also worked as an Area Operations Director with company owned-managed Hampton Inns, where he was heavily involved in pre-opening recruitment, hiring, training, sales and operations for many hotels in the system. In the early 1990’s Cordell joined the corporate team as Vice President of Franchise Operations and subsequently as Vice President of Hotel Performance Support. In these roles, he lead the development of many of the tools, resources, programs and training that now form the franchise support structure for a large number of Hilton’s hotel brands including Embassy Suites and Homewood Suites Hotels.
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Chief Executive Officer,
BHA
Bob Cotton OBE has been chief executive of the British Hospitality Association, the national trade association of the hospitality and catering and leisure industry, with over 40,000 establishments in membership, since January 2000. Before his appointment, he spent a year as tourism adviser to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. A graduate of the University of Surrey, gaining a BSc in hotel and catering management, he joined Gardner Merchant (now Sodexho UK Ltd), one of the country’s leading contract catering companies, working in various parts of the UK and abroad. At the time of his move to the DCMS, he was director of communications and strategic development, UK and abroad for Sodexho UK. He is chairman of Hospitality Action (the industry’s benevolent organisation). He is a member of the London Mayoral Commission examining the potential for a London International Convention Centre, a trustee of Springboard and a board member of Tourism South East.
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Managing Director,
Eclipse Hotels
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Head of Development,
Accor Hotels
Uttam Dave, President & CEO, InterGlobe Hotels, and Head of Development, Accor Hotels is a leading hospitality and tourism industry expert with twenty-two years of hotel development, planning, and management experience. Uttam holds a Master of Science degree in Hotel, Restaurant, and Travel Administration from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA, and a Master of Arts degree from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi. He started his career in 1983 as a Partner with AK Davé & Associates, India’s first full-service tourism and hospitality consulting practice. Between 1986 and 1993, Uttam was variously Vice President – Corporate Development and Management Services, Joint Managing Director and Managing Director for Choice Hotels India, a company he co-founded in joint venture with Choice Hotels International and grew to a nation-wide network of 16 hotels open or under development. Following that, Uttam was Co-Founder and Partner of Tourism Futures between 1993 and 1999. In 1999, he merged the Tourism Futures practice to create Pannell Kerr Forster Consultants, India, where he was Chief Executive Officer till 2004, when he joined InterGlobe Hotels.
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Distribution & Business Development,
Citizen M
Lennert de Jong started his career in hospitality at the loyalty club concept of the prestigious Krasnapolsky Hotel in Amsterdam. After that he was involved in the startup of SynXis in Europe, a central reservation system and distribution solution for hotels, where he played a key role in growing the European portfolio of hotels from 0 to 3500 hotels. Currently, Distribution and Business Development is what keeps Lennert busy at citizenM hotels.
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Managing Director,
Premier Inn
In September 2004, Patrick joined the Whitbread Hotel Company as Managing Director, responsible for the Marriott brand in the UK. In May 2005, following the sale of Marriott hotels Patrick looked at the opportunities to take Premier Inn into International markets. In September 2005 he was then appointed as Managing Director for Premier Inn, who are now the UK’s largest hotel chain operating 500 hotels c.34,400 rooms in the budget sector. In April 2006 Premier Inn signed their first International agreement in a joint venture with Emirates to develop budget hotels in the Gulf Region. The first Gulf site, situated on the Dubai Investment Park, is scheduled to open, on time, on the 30th March 2008. In June 2007 Premier Inn signed their second International agreement in a joint venture with Emaar-MGF and plan to develop the Premier Inn brand across India A little closer to home the first site in Southern Ireland opens at Dublin Airport in December 2007. Premier Inn continues to investigate the international markets at the same time as growing their UK portfolio to 45,000 rooms by 2010/11.
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Hotel Development Director for Northern, Central & Eastern Europe,
Accor Hotels
Benoît-Etienne Domenget is Group Development Director for Northern, Central & Eastern Europe. After a first career path in Consulting and Mergers &Acquisition, he joined Accor in 2001, where he held several positions as hotel general manager for Novotel. In 2006, he joined the Corporate Development team, where he's now in charge at a Group level of Northern, Central & Eastern Europe, for all Accor brand portfolio. Benoît-Etienne is graduated from HEC Paris, the French top business school.
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MD Hotels & Tourism,
Dynamique Hôtels SAS - CB Richard Ellis Investors
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Tony Fernandes attained to prominence by founding Tune Air in 2001 and turning AirAsia, a fledging government-linked commercial airline, into a highly successful public-listed company. The airline, at the time of purchase heavily indebted repaid all debts and has been in a profitable position from the first day of operation. Under his wings, AirAsia pioneered the low cost phenomenon in Asia. Air Asia has grown from two planes to 65 with an order of 175 making them the largest a320 operator. In 2007, Tony Fernandes has again created a "first" in Asia by starting a hotel chain, Tune Hotels which is based on the no-frills concept. Tony has also founded have started Tune Money and Tunetalk.
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Chief Operating Officer, Northern, Central and Eastern Europe,
Accor Hotels
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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Sales Director,
Premier Inn
Since joining Premier Inn, Peter has been responsible for developing the brands commercial sales and distribution strategy. His strategic focus, more recently, has been the development and delivery of Premier Inn's Business Account payment solution which now delivers over 50% of all commercial booking transactions. Peter has also developed Premier Inn's meeting room product 'Touchbase' which has now become a multi-million pound sub division of the Premier Inn brand. For the past 18 months Peter has led the Premier Inn's National Account and Systems teams in the development and implementation of 'Direct Connect'. The tool has led to significant growth from intermediaries. As well as massive distribution and revenue growth, the strategy has also delivered cost of booking savings in excess of half a million pounds in the first 12 months. In 2007 Peter took on the position of Regional Operations Director for the Solus South Premier Inn sites.
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Senior Director Distribution Sales,
Hilton Hotels
Philippe is Senior Director, Distribution Sales with Hilton Hotels' International Division. He is in charge of the business with GDS, 3rd party online distributors and standardising sales contracts. Philippe has been with Hilton for 5 years and prior to that he was in management consulting with KPMG and PwC. He is married and has 3 children.
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General Manger,
ALT Hotels
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Co-President and CEO,
Groupe Germain
Christiane Germain is the strategist behind the Groupe Germain’s marketing campaigns. She is also in charge of operations for both the Le Germain and ALT Hotels brands. Energetic, persistent, and inventive, Christiane has left her mark on the hospitality industry. She studied hotel and restaurant management in Toronto and completed an internship at a restaurant in San Francisco before returning to work with her family and opening no fewer than three restaurant-bars and two luxury hotels in the Quebec City area. She then expanded her field of operations by opening hotels in Montreal and Toronto, while at the same time acquiring the Auberge Hatley, a renowned establishment in the Eastern Townships.. In addition to running a fast-growing company, Christiane was a former president of the Quebec City Tourism and Convention Board, Quebec City Summer Festival, and Restaurant Owners’ Association and sits on a number of other corporate boards. Although a hard-nosed businesswoman, she is also a warm-hearted person who takes it upon herself to handle her customers’ every need.
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Melvin Gold Consulting Ltd
Melvin Gold’s career to date has encompassed a blend of hotel industry operations, consultancy and advisory work, and the commercial world. In April 2004 he established Melvin Gold Consulting Limited, a specialist hotel consultancy advising clients active, or seeking to become active, in the hotel sector.
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Chief Executive Officer,
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. 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 with 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.
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Chief Executive Officer,
Zleep Hotels
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Vice President Lodging Emerging Markets,
Expedia
Murad Hajeebhoy is the Vice President Lodging Emerging Markets for Expedia Inc. a territory encompassing the Nordics, Eastern Europe, EMAF (Eastern Mediterranean and Africa), the Middle East and Indian Ocean regions. In this role, which he took up in February 2008, he is responsible for developing these key emerging markets. Murad began his career with Expedia in 2001 as a Regional Manager for the U.S. West Coast as part of the Market Management team. In 2004 Murad was promoted to Regional Director of Market Management for Northern Europe where he was responsible for building Expedia's hotel business in the region, and then to Vice President for the EMEA Lodging business. Prior to joining Expedia, Murad worked with the Taj Hotel Group, one of India’s leading hotel companies, and as part of a start up team that introduced Yum Brands Restaurants into India. Murad holds a Masters degree from the Cornell University Hotel School.
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Head of Hotel Investments,
Moorfield Group
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Property & Development Director,
Travelodge
Paul joined Travelodge from Hilton International where he worked for over seven years in a variety of senior positions including Vice President, Japan & Micronesia, and UK Finance Director. Prior to this Paul has worked for Meridien, Forte London and Grosvenor House.
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Colin Hatt joined the nitenite group in early 2007 - a small team with big ideas! Throughout the last year, those ideas have begun to spring into life and the company has laid plans to expand across the UK, Europe and as far afield as New York. Colin has had a big hand in growing the team, brand and business, firmly establishing it as a serious contender in the economy hotel sector in the UK and attracting interest from key players from across the globe. With nitenite's revolutionary "micro-boutique" concept - aka boutique accommodation combined with four star service and quality on a miniature scale - Colin and the team are convinced that their 'affordable luxury for less' approach is what today's travellers are looking for. Certainly, with the Birmingham hotel's books reading like a success story and top rankings on Tripadvisor, their guests would appear to agree!
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Sascha, a senior partner of StellantPartners is in the position as a consultant. Prior to establishing StellantPartners, Sascha was CEO of WorldRes, having been appointed by the Board to take the company through the final six months of a complicated and difficult sales process. Previously, he ran the global finance, support and HR functions at WorldRes and was instrumental in establishing European offices in key European countries. Prior to WorldRes, Sascha was an auditor to mid-sized companies with European and international operations. Here he was mainly challenged with audits as well as consulting on corporate tax, company structure, reporting and the implementation of finance systems.
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VP Development, Strategic Relationships,
Hilton Hotels
Jan Hazelton was appointed Vice President Development – Strategic Relationships for Hilton Hotels Corporation in December 2006, following ten years in banking, covering the hospitality sector, in New York and London. Now based in London, Jan supports Hilton’s expansion by overseeing strategic relationships with capital and development partners. She is an integral part of Hilton’s Global Development team, which focuses on extending the portfolio of world-class Hilton brands. Born and raised in Seattle, WA, USA, Jan graduated from Washington State University’s hotel school before beginning her career with Westin. She has also worked for hotel management companies, banks, private equity funds and consultancies, always focusing on development, real estate finance and asset management in the hospitality sector. Jan enjoys travel and cooking, as well as a wide range of outdoors activities, including skiing, golf and tennis.
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Marketing Corp Affairs Director,
YHA Limited
Alan Hopley started his career at London Transport in 1983 spending three years on an Executive Development Programme, before moving to Hoseseasons Holidays Limited as Marketing Manager. Hoseseasons grew rapidly into a dominant portion within the UK self catering market, with holiday parks, cottages and boats. Joined P & O European Ferries as General Manager-Sales & Marketing, with responsibility for all passengers volumes and revenues within the UK, before promotion to Sales & Marketing Director with responsibility for all passenger volumes for all ferry routes, inbound and outbound. Appointed Sales & Marketing Director to Unijet Travel Group, with sales revenue approaching £400 million through tour operating, flight only and carhire operations. Having moved to France to live, returned to the UK in 2004 to take up the position of Marketing & Corporate Affairs Director for the Youth Hostel Association (YHA) England & Wales. An organisation, which owns and runs over 200 hostels, selling 2.2 million overnights and supports a membership of 250,000.
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Managing Director,
TRI Hospitality Consulting
Jonathan is a renowned industry commentator with over 20 years’ experience in hotel market demand, financial feasibility studies, strategic planning, and product development. He advises a range of clients from individual budget hotels to multi-component urban and leisure resorts. Prior to joining TRI, Jonathan worked for Hilton International and for Whitbread in operational management and marketing roles. Jonathan chairs the British Expertise Tourism and Leisure Committee, is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and of the Tourism Society. He maintains close links with his alma mater the University of Surrey, and frequently lectures there.
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Chief Executive Officer,
Tune Hotels.Com
Mark comes to Tune Hotels from the entertainment and leisure consumer goods industry. With over 15 years with the Warner Music Group in senior Regional and Managing Director management roles throughout Asia, Mark’s experience includes managing business’s from start-up phases to managing growth oriented established businesses across Asia and Greater China. Having spent an extraordinary amount of time in hotels, including living out of one in HK and Taipei for a full year!, and seeing how little time recording artists actually spend in hotels, he is totally committed to our mission statement of promising a great night’s sleep, enjoying a fantastic hot power shower the next morning and ensuring a clean and secure environment to all Tune Hotel guests!
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Director Strategic Planning,
Taxi Montreal
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Chief Executive Officer,
Citizen M
Michael Levie worked for various international hotel chains including Sonesta Hotels and NH Hoteles all over the world. As Vice-President of Operations he managed large portfolios of hotels. Michael also worked for SynXis, where he started and headed the European office. Owning his own hotels and venturing upon a new hotel chain, Michael Levie is currently a partner and CEO of citizenM hotels.
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UK Revenue Manager,
Premier Inn
In June 2006, Warren joined Premier Inn, the UK’s largest and fastest growing hotel group, as Head of Revenue Management. Key projects to date include centralising revenue management and rolling out automation into the entire estate of over 500 hotels. He has also introduced revenue management best practice through audited brand standards and is currently focussing on Premier Inn’s expansion into international markets, where the need for new systems, processes and strategies are vital to the success of these new ventures.
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Founding Director,
Dexter Moren Architects
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SVP Marketing & Sales,
InterContinental Hotels
William Morris was appointed Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing EMEA in February 2007. A member of the IHG EMEA management committee, William is responsible for the development and execution of IHG's sales and marketing strategy throughout EMEA. Prior to joining IHG, William worked as Director of Marketing and later Chief Marketing Officer for Reed Midem, based in Paris, where he helped reengineer the business to return it to profitable growth. From 2000 to 2003, William was Director of Sales and Marketing Continental Europe for the Walt Disney Company's US Parks and Resorts, and later VP Marketing at Europe for Disneyland Resort Paris. Having started his career at Marks & Spencer, he then spent 10 years at British Airways, culminating in his position as the Director of Marketing and Communications for Air Liberte based in Paris.
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VP Brand Develeopment and Delivery,
InterContinental Hotels
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Nothern & Central Europe,
Louvre Hotels
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Since April, 2006, Prabhat Pani is CEO of Roots Corporation Limited, a fully-owned subsidiary of The Indian Hotels Company Limited, India (well known in India and many parts of the world for the Taj brand of premium and luxury Hotels). From the current number of 11, the company intends to have 30 operational ‘Smart Basics’ Ginger Hotels across India by end-2009. As CEO and Director, Prabhat Pani is responsible for formulation of strategies towards facilitating rapid growth, fostering a culture of continuous innovation and managing efficient day-to-day operations of Ginger Hotels. He holds a degree in Engineering from BITS, Pilani, India, and Post-Graduate Diploma in Management from IIM, Ahmedabad, India. He has extensive experience across India in handling portfolios of Sales, Marketing and Operations in large companies engaged in the FMCG and Telecom space. Starting his career in 1982 with the TATA Administrative Services, he has held positions in Brand Management, Sales Management and Exports functions of FMCG companies. Thereafter, he has gained experience of managing high growth in the Telecom business in India, while working in some prominent Telecom companies based in India.
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Chief Operating Officer,
Travelodge
Guy joined Travelodge in October 2004 from TGI Friday where he was Managing Director. Guy has over 20 years experience in the UK hotel industry gained through the following roles: Sales & Marketing Director for Whitbread Hotels, Marketing Director for Travel Inn and Director of Operations for Accor. As Chief Operating Officer for Travelodge, Guy has group-wide responsibility for operations, reservations, sales and marketing. Guy sits on the Travelodge board.
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Leisure Assurance Director - Leisure and Hospitality Group,
BDO Stoy Hayward
Marc is a Leisure Assurance Director within the firm’s Leisure and Hospitality Group. A German national, Marc qualified as a lawyer and chartered accountant in Germany, as well as being an associate member of BAHA. He has worked in the UK for many years and has extensive experience of advising clients in the European Leisure Sector, focusing on hotels and tour operators. His clients range from international public companies to owner managed hotels.
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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 and full service hotels under brand franchise. The company has grown organically initially developing Express by Holiday Inn and Days Hotel properties in high traffic edge of town, city centre or transport hub locations. To date the company has opened seven new build hotels comprising over 900 rooms in total. In November 2004 KGH acquired the Courtyard by Marriott business from Whitbread in conjunction with a property partner WJB Mondiale, which meant that a further 11 trading hotels were added to the portfolio bringing the total number of bedrooms in the Group to over 1,700. In February 2007 KGH acquired the freeholds from WJB Mondiale and in May 2007 the estate was re-branded to Holiday Inn. Since the acquisition KGH has opened further hotels in Norwich and at Stansted (an extension). The company continues to seek good quality development opportunities and is about to commence construction on two new build properties, one of which is at Gatwick Airport. 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. 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.
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Having graduated from the Maastricht Hotel Management School, entrepreneur Paul W.A. Rinkens worked for HYATT and Trusthouse Forte Hotels in San Jose (CA), London, Edinburgh and Amsterdam before locating to Maastricht in 1989. After a renovation and enlargement of what was then Hotel Stijns (15 bedrooms) he and his wife jointly opened the 39-bedroom Hotel Bergère in December 1990. In 2000, a complete renovation and extension of the hotel resulted in the launch of a new concept - Designhotel La Bergère - currently boasting 75 bedrooms. This was the first design hotel in the Benelux, becoming a market leader in Maastricht, and a name known throughout the country. July 2004 saw the opening of Hiphotel Sint Martenslane in Maastricht, with 13 bedrooms. This is a non-smoking hotel based on a low-service concept without staff, fully automated, bookable via internet and with an early-bird pricing scheme: ‘the earlier you book, the cheaper the price’. This unit is a pilot for a future roll-out in the Benelux of a new concept - ‘Qbic Hotels’. The first Qbic Hotel opened in July 2007 at the WTC Amsterdam and has already been awarded the Hospitality & Style Award for ‘the Best Hotel Concept 2007’!
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Chief Executive Officer,
Countrywide
Peter trained as a chartered surveyor and was senior partner of Davis & Bowring in Kirkby Lonsdale for 15 years. He then started up the Langdale Group; a European Resort and Hotel business in 1980 which was developed and sold to Scottish & Newcastle in 1989. From this he helped to set up Luminar Leisure, the nightclub business and country style inns - a restaurant/pub operation, the former was floated in the stock exchange and the latter sold into the trade in 1995. Peter started developing and operating hotels in Harrogate, Edinburgh and Manchester before starting up Golden Tulip UK in 2002. He was the CEO of the company and in particular responsible for the acquisition of sites and hotels for the company between 2002 - 2007 when the business was sold to Whitbread PLC. He has significant experience in property acquisitions and development over the last 35 years as well as being heavily involved with negotiations for freeholds, leaseholds and management agreements, together with corporate and individual funding.
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Chief Executive Officer,
Louvre Hotels
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Andrew Sangster is editor of Hotel Analyst, the intelligence source for the hotel investment community. He is a leading financial journalist who has spent his career reporting on the hospitality sector. He launched Hotel Analyst in the belief that hotel investment professionals needed a title that used first-hand journalism, reporting the issues that matter, rather than reproducing press releases or re-writing other newspaper and news wire reports. Hotel Analyst offers more. Rather that simply historic reporting, it asks the crucial “So what?” question about events, exploring the meaning and impact of today's deals and anticipating tomorrow's transactions. The allies we have add real value to our readership: controversial columnists with decades of experience both as investment analysts and hotel operators; in depth demand data that provides a profit analysis as well as revpar; and exclusive access to the best supply database in the industry.
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Development Director, 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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VP Development, UK & Ireland,
Hilton Hotels
Nick Smart joined the Hilton Development Team in November 2006, following a career of over 24 years with Radisson Edwardian Hotels in the UK and USA. He spent nine years there as Sales and Marketing Director, before becoming Development Director in 2000. Based in London, Nick is a member of the HUKI Executive Team and leads Hilton’s expansion in the UK and Ireland, working with developers and investors to grow Hilton’s world-class brands: Hampton by Hilton; Hilton Garden Inn; Doubletree by Hilton; Hilton; Conrad Hotels & Resorts; and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection. The son of a Gordon Highlander, Nick is married with eight children. A former player and now enthusiastic supporter of rugby, Nick also enjoys squash, travel, the theatre and fine wine.
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Marketing Director,
The Real Hotel Company plc
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Assistant VP Hotel Real Estate Financing Division,
Accor Hotels
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Chief Executive Officer,
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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Marketing Director,
Premier 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 Inn, the UK’s largest hotel brand with currently 477 hotels and c32,000 bedrooms. Premier 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 for both 2006 and 2007, the first time this has been won consecutively by the same brand in the history of the award. Gerard is responsible for brand marketing, product & service development, pricing & revenue management, brand standards & audit, together with the customer contact centre for Premier Inn in the UK.
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Managing Director,
Group B&B Hotels
Mark Thompson is Managing Director of B&B Hotels GmbH, the German subsidiary of the French B&B Hotel Group who operates 190 economy hotels under the B&B brand. Mark Thompson is a qualified accountant with twenty-five years experience in the service industry. Previously Finance Director of AVIS Rent A Car in the UK, he has been in Germany since 2001, initially to support the reorganisation of Alamo and National Car Rental. Since 2003 he is leading the B&B Hotel business.
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Retail Operations Director Hotels,
Mitchells & Butler PLC
Clive is a career hotelier with over 30 years experience in the sector. As Operations Director of Hotels for the recent Footsie 100 entrant, Mitchells & Butlers, Clive is responsible for the Express by Holiday and Innkeeper’s Lodge portfolios. Having opened the first franchise Express property in the UK Clive has been instrumental in driving the brand development in the UK, with 26 highly successful new build Express site under his belt. Innkeeper’s Lodge has been a stunning success; 90 locations throughout the UK, with a differentiated room and lodging experience that benefit from harmonious integration with the adjacent or linked pub restaurant. An active member of the Express franchise community, Clive returns to the budget hotel forum following his involvement at the inaugural conference in 2005. Like many current budget operators his back ground is steeped in full service hotel history: A multi award winner during his management days with Holiday Inn & Crest Hotels, he is a product of the Grand Metropolitan Hotels graduate scheme which saw him work in many of the company’s London properties. Management positions with Intercontinental and Ramada followed.
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Managing Director Motel One Development, Technology and Products,
Motel One AG
Philippe Weyland, who graduated at the < Ecole Hoteliere> in Lausanne, was working for the Accor concern at different positions (Novotel) as Hotel Manager and later as managing director of the Mercure hotel chain in Germany. After some years in the hotel specific real estate development, Philippe Weyland established different companies in the budget hotel sector, for example the brand B&B in Germany. He is Co-Founder and Managing Director of the new low budget brand MOTEL ONE which was established in 1999.
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