Seán Worker

Managing Director & Principal, T5 Strategies

T5 Strategies is a leading international advisory firm, specializing in the Travel and Hospitality sector. With a deep expertise in service-oriented technology platforms, the T5 Team assists businesses in the CoLiving, Co-Working, Hotels, Hostels, Vacation Rentals, Franchising, property Real Estate and Sharing Economy categories to unlock the means to connect to their target markets and deliver their products and services efficiently.

A business transformation leader that Gets Stuff Done (GSD), T5 connects vision to strategy, utilizing front line technology and engaged people in an inclusive and transparent work environment to serve up authentic User Experiences (“Ux”).

Specialties: Business process architecture, Travel Technology Platforms, CoLiving, CoWorking, Student Living, Advisory Board formation & governance, Executive Coaching, Interim C-Suite support.

Speaking, Moderating & Forums: Urban Living Festival, Adjacent Spaces, Skift Tech Forum, Serviced Apartment Summit, HD Design Expo, Invesco Investors’ Briefing Conference Europe, Cornel Baker School of Real Estate, IHIF, The Lodging Conference.

Víctor Fernández

CEO, Room Mate Group

Víctor Fernández Cintrano has been the CEO of Room Mate since 2015. This is the international group which encompasses Room Mate Hotels, Be Mate (the innovative tourist housing company) and X-Perience (a consultancy with the Room Mate stamp and PwC collaboration). For four years previous to this he was the Managing Director of Room Mate Hotels.
Following his incorporation, the company's results have quadrupled and he has developed an ambitious diversification and expansion project, with the company now being present in more than 16 cities around the world. Before Room Mate, Víctor developed a family real-estate company which became the leading company in the tourism consultancy sector in Spain.
Víctor Fernández studied Law at the Universidad Complutense and afterwards he completed a master in Finance and an Executive MBA at ICADE. In addition, he has been a professor at ICADE and a program leader at CEU and the Instituto de Fomento Empresarial. Moreover, he has written numerous articles and participates at both national and international conferences.

Sascha Hausmann

Partner, Howzat Partners

Sascha is a partner of the London and Luxembourg based venture capital fund HOWZAT Partners.

Originally trained in tax and accounting, he started his travel career shortly before the millennium. From 1999 to 2005 he worked at WorldRes, one of the first online hotel reservation systems in the industry. Once infected with the travel bug he continued being involved in travel through companies like Rate Tiger (hotel channel management) as well as Busy Rooms (Central Reservation System).

In 2005, together with two partners, he incorporated StellantPartners, a consultancy firm specialized in Mergers & Acquisitions, operational & strategic advice as well as fund management where he is still a partner today.

Since 2006 he has also been active as a venture capital investor through HOWZAT Partners.  In the last 14 years him and his two partners have invested in over 80 companies globally across several industries. Currently close to 30 companies have a travel focus.

Rainer Nonnengässer

Chief Executive Officer, International Campus GmbH

Rainer Nonnengässer (born 1963) is CEO at International Campus Group since January 2019.
International Campus (IC) is a developer, investor and operator of innovative Student Housing and Co-living environments. Under its brand THE FIZZ, the company offers a home, innovative services and the opportunity to experience a vibrant community. The portfolio of the group of companies currently comprises around 12,000 residential units in Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Czechia, Hungary and Poland.
Before Nonnengaesser was CEO Micro-Living at MPC (Staytoo). He has more than 20 years experience in the real estate industry. After working at the investment company Union Investment, the trained banker held various management positions and board positions within the AXA Group since 1998. From 2010 to 2013 Mr. Nonnengässer was CEO of YOUNIQ AG (one of the market leaders for student housing). He has directed all project development, asset management, sale & purchase activities and was in charge of ongoing improvement of operational processes and operational management of student accommodation sites. Mr. Nonnengässer was responsible for investor relations and institutional clients. Experience of development of 1,870 student apartments on 9 sites; approx. 3,000 units under management.

David Batchelor

Managing Director, Operational Real Estate UK, CBRE

David has focused on Operational Real Estate throughout his career and is one of the sectors most experienced professionals having held a number of senior positions in advisory, operational and investment organisations. David has advised in respect some of the key events and best assets across the leisure, pubs and healthcare sectors. We now have a team of 120 professionals working across the healthcare and hospitality markets providing advisory and transactional services throughout the UK and more widely in partnership with our European network.

Jonathan Langston

Chair, IHIF Advisory Board

Jonathan is a renowned industry commentator who specialises in market demand, financial feasibility studies, strategic planning, and product development. He advises on a wide range of projects from the development of individual budget hotels to multi-component urban and leisure resorts as well as market entry and development strategies.
Jonathan has held roles at COO, CBRE Hotels and Managing Director of and the major shareholder in TRI Hospitality Consulting, a position he held from 1996 up to the time that the firm was acquired by CBRE Hotels.
Jonathan is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and of the Tourism Society, a member of the Editorial Board of Hospitality Magazine as well as a Patron of The Edge Hotel School. A graduate of the University of Surrey at which he has held posts of Industrial Fellow and Visiting Fellow, he returns to lecture undergraduates and postgraduates.
He is also a frequent commentator on the industry in the press and broadcast media and a regular speaker, moderator and panelist at conferences.

Karen Friebe

Partner, Bird & Bird

Karen is based in Bird & Bird's London office and leads its international Hotels, Hospitality and Leisure Group. Karen specialises in the sale, purchase and development and of all types of hotel property and business, from budget to luxury. She is accomplished in the negotiation of hotel management agreements having  concluded a number of recent high profile projects, both in the UK and overseas. She frequently provides strategic advice to hotel owners and operators on management and franchise agreements.

Karen is a regular panellist at hotel industry conferences and is highly regarded in the legal directories as an expert in the hotels/leisure sector. Chambers 2020 states that : “Karen Friebe is noted for her expertise in portfolio acquisitions and disposals in the hotel and leisure industry both nationally and internationally. She also has experience dealing with hotel management agreements and project development matters". The Legal 500 UK 2020  notes that “Bird & Bird LLP’s hotel and leisure practice continues to flourish under the leadership of highly recommended Karen Friebe”

Karen is a founder member of the Women in Hospitality Network, which aims to support and provide mentoring opportunities for women wishing to further their careers in the hospitality sector and which hosts bi-annual networking events including a popular breakfast event at IHIF.

Karen also co-founded Real Estate Balance (www.realestatebalance.org.uk), an organisation which brings together men and women from all areas of the real estate sector with the objective of supporting and promoting women into more senior roles in the sector.

Rami Badr

Managing Director, Orion Capital Managers

Rami is a Partner and Managing Director of Orion and is primarily located in London. Since joining Orion in 2002, he has been involved in acquisitions, asset management and realisations for the Orion European RE Funds across Europe with a particular focus on larger corporate transactions, pan-European portfolios, debt acquisitions, restructurings and retail investments. This includes active involvement in investments such as Infracity in Stockholm, Puerto Venecia in Spain, the equity participation in Société Foncière Lyonnaise, the debt acquisition and restructuring of the Spanish company Inmobiliara Colonial or the Sotogrande resort relaunch. Before joining Orion he was an associate at Arthur Andersen within the transaction support team, advising large corporations on their RE strategies. Rami is a graduate of Ecole Polytechnique.

Laura Brinkmann

Vice President, Brookfield

Erik Jacobs

Founder, HORECA Investment Partners

Current Responsibilities:

HORECA Investment Partners, an investment platform exclusively representing a family conglomerate based in Asia. HORECA targets investments into hospitality ranging from real estate, operating platforms to technology start-ups.

Our current portfolio in Europe includes the 25Hours Hotel Terminus Nord in Paris (real estate) and we have ownership stakes in Cycas Hospitality (leading pan-European hotel management platform) and Arcade Food Theatre (London based food-market concept). Further we have a number of positions in smaller technology related start-ups.

Experience:

Erik has a strong mix of experience in both the principal investment arena as well as in the transaction advisory space. Most recently Erik was responsible for European Capital Markets at JLL Hospitality Group.

Prior to JLL, Erik was responsible for European hotel investments at Invesco Real Estate. At Invesco Erik executed various hotel transactions throughout Europe. This covered a large variety of investment ranging from very institutional leases to operationally geared portfolios, from corporate investments in hotel companies to loan investments with hotels as collateral.
Prior to Invesco Erik was responsible for hotel transactions and asset management at Morgan Stanley for the opportunistic Morgan Stanley Real Estate funds.

Puneet Kanuga

Head of Hospitality Investments, Queensgate Investments LLP

Mr Kanuga is Head of Hospitality Investments at Queensgate Investments LLP, focusing on acquisitions in Europe and the US. Mr Kanuga joined Queensgate from the Rosewood Hotel Group, where he led the growth for Pentahotels, a global lifestyle hospitality platform. Prior to that, Mr Kanuga was Director at HVS Hodges Ward Elliott, a brokerage and investment advisory firm specialising in hotel M&A.

Jonas Ogren

Principal, Craft House Consulting

Jonas has over 25 years of hospitality management experience across the industry. His roles have included property level hotel and resort operations management, ranging from human resources to Food & Beverage and Sales & Marketing. He also has tourism and destination management/marketing experience serving as Managing Director of the Marianas Visitor's Authority on Saipan. He then spearheaded the development of hospitality performance benchmarking in Asia Pacific with STR Global, and provided hospitality development advisory services with Horwath HTL in Singapore. Over the years, Jonas has been involved in a number of industry organizations, charities and educational initiatives, often in a leadership role. He is also a frequent speaker and moderator at industry events. Jonas is originally from Sweden but spent his teenage years in Ethiopia. After graduating from the School of Hotel Administration at Cornell University in the United States, his career has taken him from Beijing to the Northern Mariana Islands in the Pacific, to Singapore, where he worked on development projects and valuations across the Asia Pacific region. He is now back to Europe and based in Monaco.

Tony Kurz

CEO, Brandmark Collective

Tony has carved out a niche in intelligently translating fashion and lifestyle brands into hospitality experiences. With a wealth of deep owner relationships on a global basis, as well as a rather unique access to, and demand from, many brands looking to extend into the hospitality space in one form or another, the idea for Brandmark Collective BV was born. That of a multi-brand hotel company, with one key filter running through each brand – a globally recognisable name with an existing customer base. The first brand on the BMC platform is Karl Lagerfeld, with the second brand to be announced soon.

Prior to founding Brandmark Collective, Tony was a board member at Tommy Hilfiger Hospitality Group, the hospitality venture of fashion icon Tommy Hilfiger, serving as CEO. Prior to Hilfiger Hospitality, Tony served in varying roles at Capital Alliance Partners Ltd., an independent corporate finance advisory and fund management firm based in London.

Tony is a New York native, and resides in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Jonathan Langston

Chair, IHIF Advisory Board

Jonathan is a renowned industry commentator who specialises in market demand, financial feasibility studies, strategic planning, and product development. He advises on a wide range of projects from the development of individual budget hotels to multi-component urban and leisure resorts as well as market entry and development strategies.
Jonathan has held roles at COO, CBRE Hotels and Managing Director of and the major shareholder in TRI Hospitality Consulting, a position he held from 1996 up to the time that the firm was acquired by CBRE Hotels.
Jonathan is a Fellow of the Institute of Hospitality and of the Tourism Society, a member of the Editorial Board of Hospitality Magazine as well as a Patron of The Edge Hotel School. A graduate of the University of Surrey at which he has held posts of Industrial Fellow and Visiting Fellow, he returns to lecture undergraduates and postgraduates.
He is also a frequent commentator on the industry in the press and broadcast media and a regular speaker, moderator and panelist at conferences.

Charlie MacGregor

CEO and founder, The Student Hotel

Charlie MacGregor, 1975, is CEO and Founder of Netherlands-headquartered hybrid hospitality investor, developer and operator, The Student Hotel. Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, he began his career at the age of 16 working on building sites and has developed since then into a strong business professional who is a natural disruptor. Charlie’s father developed the first PBSA (purpose-built student accommodation) in the UK in 1983. As the ‘godfather’ of the industry, MacGregor Senior built a UK-wide development company (called Peaston & Co), developing PBSA for dozens of universities. 

After his father’s retirement, Charlie purchased what was left of this company at the age of 25, which he sold 10 years later. After spending time in London, Charlie relocated to Amsterdam in 2003 where the crisis in student housing inspired him to establish The Student Hotel in 2006. Since then, TSH has become a magnet not only for students, but also for travellers, entrepreneurs and, crucially, local residents and long-term hotel guests who are encouraged to use facilities that include shared workspace, communal areas, restaurants and bars.
 

In addition to a demonstrated history of working in the hospitality / student / co-working & co-living industry, Charlie is skilled in negotiation, business planning, operations management, coaching and sales, and has a thorough understanding of the private equity and investor business. Charlie is also passionate about the refugee crisis in the EU. In 2015, he started a NGO www.movementontheground.org in response to the wave of refugees arriving in the EU via Greece.

Niamh O'Connor

CEO, Summix Capital Limited

Xavier Scheibli

Portfolio Director, GSA

Xavier is a French National with a Master of Finance from the University Lyon II. He has been with GSA as Portfolio Director since 2018 and is based out of Frankfurt. Xavier has more than 17 years of experience in multiple real estate sectors, both on the equity and debt sides. In his current role, he is responsible for managing the German portfolio of PBSA assets and maintaining a close relationship with all players in the capital stack. 

Prior to joining GSA, Xavier was a Director at LNR / Hatfield Philips, where he was leading NPL underwriting activities in Continental Europe and the firm’s co-investment opportunities. Before joining LNR back in 2013, Xavier served as Vice President at Hudson Advisors and held posts in the real estate division of UBS Wealth Management, where he was involved in fund structuring, acquisitions and distributions to high net worth individuals and institutional investors.

Piers Brown

CEO, International Hospitality Media

Piers is CEO of International Hospitality Media - specialist in online publishing; conference, exhibition and events, and advisory services for growth sectors of the hospitality industry. He plays an active role with the expansion of BoutiqueHotelNews.com, ServicedApartmentNews.com and ShortTermRentalz.com and hosts high level annual awards and conferences, including the inaugural URBAN LIVING FESTIVAL 2020: stay-live-work. Piers holds an MBA, ISMM and IDM Diplomas. He has also held senior positions in the national media and retail industries.

Anne Dolan

Co-Founder, Clink Hostels

Pieter Van Tilburg

Founder and CEO, ‎CityHub

Driven by his ambition to start his own company, Pieter chose for a Masters in Entrepreneurship and New Business Venturing at Rotterdam School ofManagement (graduated in 2010). During the early days of the development of CityHub, Pieter assisted in the development of the Volkshotel (Amsterdam) in which he supported in business planning, licensing and
overall development of the hotel from the moment of acquisition of the building until opening of the hotel.
Pieter is a disciplined hard worker that thrives on challenges and turns ideas into practical actions. Pieter brings with him financial management capabilities and organizational skills. He has naturally taken the position of leading the hotel
development, finance and administration and operational departments within CityHub. With strong dedication and conviction he has been able to propel CityHub’s growth.

Henri Wilmes

Chief Investment Officer, a&o Hostels

Henri Wilmes is Chief Investment Officer for a&o Hostels (a&o). Since January 2018, he leads a&o´s development throughout Europe via acquisitions and new lease agreements and oversees the asset management of the existing portfolio.
 

A&O is Europe´s largest hostel chain with a portfolio of 36 properties located in eight countries with a pipeline of another 5 assets. With TPG Real Estate as Partner, A&O is living an exciting moment as a company to significantly grow its presence in Europe and further consolidate its position as Europe´s leading hostel investor, developer and operator. Current main growth markets for a&o are in the Mediterranean and CEE regions.
 

Before joining a&o, Henri worked as Vice President - Hotel Acquisitions for London and Regional Properties (L+R) where he led and was involved in transactions, debt financing and restructurings for a combined value in excess of GBP 2.5bn. Henri’s involvement in the execution of asset management strategies led to L+R receiving the HAMA Europe Asset Management Achievement Award 2016. Previous to joining L+R, Henri worked for five years in financial and strategic advisory to the real estate and hospitality sectors in Spain with a focus on M&A and debt restructuring.
 

Henri is a MSc in Finance graduate from London Business School and holds a BSc in Hospitality Management from Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne.

Will Duffey

Managing Director – Co-Head European Transactions, JLL

Will is Managing Director for the JLL Hotels & Hospitality Pan-European transactions team. He is focused on large, complex hospitality transactions across Europe.  He has far-reaching experience in the sector - from structuring of and advising on development agreements, to joint ventures and both debt and equity transactions. He advises global and domestic clients across the capital stack on their hotel exposure in Europe and provides strategic advice on disposals and acquisitions in the region. 

Stéphane Bensimon

CEO, Wojo

Guy Ivesha

CEO & Founder, Maslow’s

Guy Ivesha is the CEO of Maslow’s, the hospitality-led, workspace and lifestyle concept that launched its first property, Mortimer House, in London’s Fitzrovia in late 2017. Previously Guy was Head of Acquisitions and Development for PPHE Hotel Group, the largest owner,

developer and operator of hotels in London. Guy was instrumental in the growth and success of the company, which have enabled it to achieve and exceed its expansion plans and financial objectives. In addition, Guy was responsible for establishing the group’s entire restaurant and bar operation and concept creation with great success.
Prior to joining PPHE Hotel Group Guy was the Director of Hotel Development for El-Ad Properties NY from 2005-2009, a major real estate development firm based in New York, where he oversaw the re-development, re-opening and asset management of the iconic Plaza Hotel. Earlier in his career, Guy was a consultant at TRI Hospitality Consulting Ltd. (acquired by CBRE Hotels). Guy and members of his family are shareholders in PPHE Hotel Group Limited.
With hospitality at his heart Guy has pioneered the creation of Maslow’s whose first project Mortimer House and Kitchen sits within a six-storey Art Deco building in London’s Fitzrovia. Built upon Maslow’s principles and hierarchy of needs - a philosophy of human motivation and happiness that is central to its existence - Mortimer House is a private community with an all-encompassing gamut of work areas, a restaurant and bar, gym, yoga studio, communal lounge, bar and loft space with adedicated meditation room set over eight floors. The community generates a monthly calendar of events for members drawing direction from Maslow’s founding principles.

Caleb Parker

Founder/Director, Bold

Caleb Parker is an American entrepreneur in London, and Founder/Director of Bold, which was recently acquired by NewFlex, a Newable company.  

Bold offers hotel investors a creative and boutique flexible workspace brand, which is designed to attract entrepreneurs, innovators and business travellers, operating a management agreement model similar to those which are standard in the hotel industry. 

Caleb believes in "challenging the status quo" and is a champion for entrepreneurial and innovative thinking.
 

He’s has served as founder, Board member, advisor, investor and consultant to numerous startups and small businesses, and has a keen focus on innovation and technology, with interests in the MICE market, Space-as-a-Service, and the future of work.

Caleb has been a guest lecturer, speaker, and moderator for topics such as entrepreneurship, the sharing economy, the future of work and commercial real estate at academic institutions and large corporations. He regularly takes the stage at numerous trade conferences as keynote speaker, MC, host or facilitator.
 

Caleb is the former CEO of MeetingRooms.com (2013-2016), the world's largest online marketplace (at the time of his exit) to search, book and pay instantly for meeting rooms in over 130 countries.  Prior to joining MeetingRooms.com, Caleb co-founded a technology startup in 2012 to create the first global distribution system for on-demand office & meeting space. 

Earlier in his career, Caleb was named one of Savannah, Georgia's “40 under 40” business leaders" in 2006 after launching two successful small businesses in the city's booming hospitality industry. A year later he moved to Washington, DC to join the The Regus Group DC management team. In 2009, Caleb co-founded a flexible workspace consulting firm where he brokered flexible workspace and advised businesses on agile working strategies.
 

Caleb is one of the first licensed commercial real estate agents to speak on the new economy, mobile working trends and the rise of flexible workspace, and has been quoted in numerous publications

He is @caleb_parker on Twitter.

Roger A. Allen

Group CEO, Resources for Leisure Assets

Roger is the Founder and Group CEO of Resources for Leisure Assets (RLA) a recognized global advisory to investors, owners, developers and management companies in wellbeing hospitality, specializing in hotels, resorts, residential, mixed-use, healthcare, active living communities and health tourism developments.
RLA works closely with project stakeholders across four continents from its offices in Sonoma, Vienna and Dubai to provide conceptual, financial analysis and asset management of complex assets such resorts and destination assets.
For more than 20 years, Roger has been working on multiple levels of project development in the hospitality and leisure industries, developing a singular expertise in wellbeing asset management and the complexity of project planning through to delivery and operations.
Roger has worked with most of the leading hotel operating brands, is a former a partner at Horwath HTL for Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and CIS Countries and was a co-author contributor to the book ‘Hotel & Resorts Valuation – An Investors Guide’ and is a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC).

Jean-François Garneau

Senior Vice-President of Resort Development, Propriétés & Co

Strategic thinker and creative builder, JF is Senior Vice-President of Resort Development with Propriétés & Co, an integrated resort creation company, where he oversees strategy and development of the French group’s resort properties in Europe.

He is also the founder and Director of INITIAL Real Estate, a Canadian and Swiss-based innovative strategic planning and project management company that bridges the worlds of creativity, research and business.

Working with visionary developer partners around the globe, he has created development strategies and provided creative direction for resort projects on three continents. A keen study of “people places”, he has been involved in the creation of many large-scale luxury resort real estate projects, notably as Vice-President for Master Planning and Envisioning with Intrawest.

JF’s background in architecture, urban design, and his over 35 years of diversified resort development and planning experience have allowed him to develop a unique expertise in finding creative solutions and developing execution strategies for the creation of compelling and memorable places. JF is also co-chair of ULI Europe’s Hospitality Council.

Gregory Gilbert

Principal, Benson Elliot

Gregg is a Principal and Head of Iberia at Benson Elliot, a pan-European real estate private equity fund investing across all asset classes. He dedicates his time to originating and analysing new equity and debt investment opportunities across Europe, with a primary focus on Spain and Portugal. In addition, Gregg manages Benson Elliot’s current investments in Spain.

Gregg joined Benson Elliot in 2011 from Colony Capital, where he worked on debt and equity investments across Europe. Earlier in his career Gregg was a consultant at ERA, advising clients on the market and financial feasibility of large-scale hotel, residential, and leisure developments across the United States, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. Gregg received his BA from Dartmouth College, an MA in International Affairs from the Lauder Institute at the University of Pennsylvania, and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Paul Morgan

Managing Director – Operations, Audley Group

Paul joined Audley Group in 2007 as Operations Director and was promoted to Managing Director – Operations in early 2017. Previously Paul held senior management posts at Hilton UK, Corus and Regal Hotels and was Operations Director for Bespoke Hotels. 

Paul’s key responsibilities are for all of the operating departments within the Audley Group portfolio, including the restaurants, bars, health clubs and Audley Care, the Company’s domiciliary care arm, as well as the HR disciplines across the Audley Group. Providing the strategic management of these businesses, Paul ensures delivery to the highest standards in both the care and hospitality sectors.  

Through a fulfilled and well trained team, Paul is delivering a consistent, profitable service to Audley Group’s internal and external customers.

Peter Sugden

Managing Partner, UK, Katten

The managing partner of the London office, Peter Sugden, focuses his practice on real estate investment, finance and development, hospitality and leisure, real estate joint ventures and other corporate real estate transactions in the UK and across Europe.

Peter represents private equity funds, institutional investors, property companies, overseas investors, pension funds and hotel owners and operators. His transactional experience extends over more than 30 years and spans all asset classes and transactions, including asset and corporate sales and purchases, fundings and financings, joint ventures, debt purchase, portfolio transactions and complex development. Peter has very significant experience in relation to the hospitality and leisure sector.

Clients appreciate the personal touch that Peter brings to his work. He is known for the pragmatic application of his deep experience in transactional work and ability to focus on key issues, and for personally handling many of the matters that cross his desk.

Robert Alley

Chief Operating Officer, Roomzzz Aparthotels

Robert has been leading Room^zzz Aparthotels as COO through an exciting period of growth. With four stunning new projects opened in the last 2 years Room^zzz have doubled revenues and are set to double again with an ambitious pipeline of expansion beyond the UK.

Room^zzz is well established in the exciting aparthotel sector providing stylish apartments with high guest satisfaction and strong sentiment for business and leisure guests. Robert is an industry veteran with over 30 year’s hospitality experience at some of the world’s largest hotel brands. He drives the business with a successful team focus on customer experience, brand development, commercial strength and leadership to take the group through the next few years of growth as an innovator and market leader.

Alex Ducharme

Head of Hospitality, Round Hill Capital

Matthias Niemeyer

Head of Development CEE, Adina Apartment Hotels

Since 2012, Matthias Niemeyer is Head of Development Europe for TFE Hotels based in Sydney in charge of expanding the apartment hotel brand Adina in Central Europe.
Matthias has experience in the field of hospitality real estate for more than 30 years. Before starting with TFE, he worked as developer and investment manager for closed end real estate funds in Germany as well as a consultant and appraise in the hospitality sector.
He started his career in the hotel industry with Hilton International and Steigenberger Hotels AG.
He graduated with a business degree from the University of Applied Sciences Munich and also holds a master degree in Real Estate Management and Construction Project Management from Universities of Wuppertal and Reading (GB).
Matthias Niemeyer has published books on hotel real estate as well as on serviced apartments and has lecturing assignments at the IUBH, Germany.

Steven Smit

Chief Investment & Development Officer, YAYS

With a background in hotel operations, corporate finance and real estate, I combine my experience to unlock locations for curious travellers.
 

For me, a building is more than just bricks and materials. It’s an organism in a micro ecosystem of facilities, residents, visitors, entrepreneurs and history. These neighbourhood aspects are fundamental to the Yays experience. 

My passion is to tell neighbourhood stories by using these fundamentals to make spaces and areas accessible for people to connect to each other and to feel they belong in the local environment for the time that they are there.

Philip Bacon

Director, Planning and Development & Valuations, Horwath HTL

Chartered Accountant and member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors with over 35 years’ experience in professional business advisory services and general management in a wide range of independently-managed and publicly-listed international companies
Comprehensive experience over more than 25 years of all aspects of hotel and resort development and operations, with particular expertise in residential business models and mixed use developments, managing projects and cross-functional international teams during development, start up and operational launch
Personally involved in the development of luxury branded residences involving brands such as Mandarin Oriental, Four Seasons, Fairmont, Jumeirah and Armani.
15 years’ international consulting experience of hotel valuations and feasibility studies, operator search, asset management and strategic business planning to owners, lenders and operators across Europe as well as in Africa, the Middle East and the Caribbean
Visiting lecturer at Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne - Online MBA Program (Hotel Budgeting & Forecasting).
Combines the highest standards of objective business analysis with an inspirational level of innovation and creativity

Marc Jongerius

Co-founder and Director, Zoku

Marc Jongerius is co-founder and director of Zoku, an award-winning hospitality brand that facilitates global living and working for independenttraveling professionals. Recognised by Forbes as “one of the 25 coolest hotels in the world,” Zoku’s reinvented apartment-hotel concept in Amsterdam pioneered a new category for the hotel industry.

In all that it does, Zoku maintains a sharp focus on placemaking, value innovation, and guest-centric design. The brand is set to begin its international roll-out in 2020 with new openings in Vienna and Copenhagen. Marc leads
acquisition, development, strategic partnerships, and asset management at Zoku.
Marc’s personal passion is to realise the value and growth potential of innovative companies with global ambitions. Previously, I have been active in the private equity sector for more than 10 years, and was a partner at a Netherlands-based buy-out fund. Prior to that, I worked for PwC as an auditor and M&A transaction services consultant, where my clients were mainly international enterprises.
In addition to his role at Zoku, Marc is a member of the advisory board of a large family office and the investment committee of a Mezzanine Investment Fund. He also acts as a coach to start-ups, helping to determine the best
business models and most effective strategies for talented entrepreneurs to pursue.
Marc holds a Master’s degree in Business Economics from Erasmus University in The Netherlands and Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille in France.

Christian Michel

Vice President Development Central & Eastern Europe, Wyndham Hotel Group

Christian Michel, a 30-year lodging veteran, was promoted Vice President Development for Wyndham Hotels Group International in May 2007. He is responsible for growing the portfolio of brands and leading the development team in Central and Eastern Europe.
He joined the company in May 2004 as Director of Development for Eastern Europe. Prior to joining the company, he served as General Manager at the Ramada Dubai for Almullah Companies, where he worked for two years renovating successfully the property and managing the operation of 171 rooms and 9 outlets including banquet and outside catering.
Earlier in his career, he was General Manager of 4 Swiss Inn properties in El Gouna, Egypt and before that he worked 10 years in different management positions for Mövenpick Hotels, the largest Swiss Hotel Group.
Christian Michel is a 1989 graduate of the Hotel School Lausanne where he earned a bachelor’s degree of catering trade delivered with honour. Since April 1994, he also holds a Swiss confederation certificate of Marketing Expert.

Shafi Syed

Global Head of Hotel Development, EQX LLC