About the Hotel Investment Conference

Laia Lahoz

Laia Lahoz who boasts a Degree in Law School from the Pompeu Fabra University and a Master’s Degree in International Cooperation from the University of Barcelona, has a vast professional experience in Mergers & Acquisitions, Asset Management and Legal Affairs.

She started off her career in the renowned law firm Garrigues and introduced herself into the hospitality industry in 2004 when she joined Hesperia Hotels as Head of the Legal Affairs Department.  

A few years later she moved on to become Managing Director of the Hesperia Investor Group and in 2013, after the integration of the Hesperia hotel chain into NH Hotel Group, she was appointed Senior VP of Portfolio Management, becoming responsible of the Company’s global asset management strategy.

In June 2017, and after extraordinary results in her previous role, Laia was appointed NH Hotel Group’s new Chief Assets and Development Officer, becoming a part of the Company’s Executive Committee and reporting directly to the CEO. From this new position, she continues to lead the Group’s asset strategy and takes on the responsibility of its global expansion and development as well.

Felicity Black-Roberts

Felicity Black-Roberts has been working in the hospitality real estate sector for over 30 years, mostly focused on hotels. Her latest role in development for Hyatt has seen her expand Hyatt’s footprint in western Europe including overseeing market and or brand debuts for the company in most of the major cities.

David Kellett

David Kellett is a Managing Director and head of Alternative Investments at Invesco Real Estate, and a member of the European Management Committee.

David leads a pan-European team of investment professionals that work closely with Invesco Real Estate’s country-led investment teams and are specifically focused on the hotel, living, other alternative real estate sectors and multi-dimensional investing.

David began his investment career in 1999 and joined Invesco Real Estate in 2018 from InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) where he held senior roles including head of investor relations and head of development in Europe. Prior to IHG, David worked in investment banking at JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch and an independent boutique. David has 24 years of transaction and investment experience, which has focused on real estate, hospitality and leisure sectors for the last 19 years.

David earned a degree in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. He is based in the London office.

Daniel Stenbäck

Daniel Stenbäck is the Chief Development Officer and part of the corporate management of Strawberry. He is in responsible of strategic growth and portfolio development in the Nordic and Baltic countries. Daniel started his career in First Hotels in the 90s as a management trainee before he climbed the ladder and became the CEO of First Hotels.

In 2005, Daniel joined Strawberry (prev. Nordic Choice), starting as Senior Vice President of Nordic Hotels & Resorts, and later as the Managing Director of the Clarion Hotel Post. Between 2013 – 2016, Daniel was the Managing Director of Gothia Towers in Gothenburg, the largest hotel in Northern Europe (1200 rooms), before he re-joined Strawberry in 2016 as the CDO.

Besides his current role, Daniel is the CEO of Strawberry Forever, the real-estate company of Strawberry, as well as the Chairman of Strawberry Living and Nordic Property Management (Strawberry’s project management company).

Liran Wizman

Liran Wizman is the founder and owner of Sircle Collection, a hotel and development company that umbrellas several design-led lifestyle hotels including Sir Hotels, Sircle Hotels, Max Brown Hotels, Park Centraal Hotels, Àterre and the asset management for W Amsterdam. Specialising in creating and curating lifestyle experiences melding design, hospitality and unique food and beverage concepts, Sircle Collection’s portfolio now stands at 20 hotels, with several new properties set to open across Europe in the coming years.
Wizman’s career in hospitality began as a young lawyer representing and investing in small real estate, when a small hotel project showed him the impact and turnaround possible in a short time. His unique perspective has seen him segue from hotelier to lifestyle curator during his two decades in the industry. Liran skilfully uses city spaces to express the coexistence between home life and travel within a local culture, “If I visit a city, I want to base myself where interesting people live. It’s important to authentically connect guests to the city and culture they are visiting, with excellent service that stays true to the nuances of the city. I want to create hubs for both locals and travellers alike.” Wizman has built a reputation on assembling casts of diverse and interesting talents, and bringing a feeling of design-led storytelling to all his hotels and ventures.
Liran Wizman’s talent for creative transformation, rebranding and redeveloping breathes new life into
hospitality establishments that become platforms for unique experiences, for both guests and locals alike.
Based in Amsterdam, Wizman is passionate about the city’s unique point of view, creative community and openness to innovation.
It was through his initial exposure in the hospitality world, which began in 2001 when he founded Grand City Hotels Group (GCH), that Wizman realised his passion for creating distinctive and authentic spaces that reflect their location. GCH has become one of the top hotel management companies in Europe, and is currently Germany’s largest hotel owner-operator group with over 120 hotels and 25,000 rooms across Europe.
Wizman plans to expand further into Europe in the years to come, with both new and existing brands in the Sircle Collection portfolio.
Sircle Collection - www.sirclecollection.com @sirclecollection
Sircle Hotels - www.sirclehotels.com @sirclehotels

Jonas Stenberg

Jonas Stenberg is the founder and CEO of Ess Group. The company was founded in 2007 with the acquisition of Ystad Saltsjöbad based on the vision to turn tired and sleepy conference hotels into all-year destination hotels. Ess Group has since grown to include 10 hotels and 15 restaurants across the Nordics – and with several projects in the pipeline including the conversion of the historic Örenäs Castle into a destination resort named Maryhill and the greenfield development of a 150-room resort in Køge, south of Copenhagen. The company has in recent years also expanded into city destination hotels – with the high-rise 233-room Jacy’z in Gothenburg as the flagship.

Ess Group has pioneered the concept of destination hotels in the Nordics and is today one of the largest and leading lifestyle hospitality groups in the region.

Toke Clausen

Toke Clausen is Partner and Head of Offices at Nrep, a part of Urban Partners.

Toke leads a Pan-Nordic team and is responsible for Nrep’s investments and portfolio in the office segment.

Since Toke joined Nrep in 2015 he has driven investments, refurbishments and developments across office, hospitality, living and retail segments. He has been a leading part behind Nrep’s first hotel investments as well as developing Nrep’s Office strategy and portfolio which is managed under the Woods brand.

Prior to Nrep, Toke worked at Boston Consulting Group within private equity, transportation and consumer goods sectors.

Toke has a Master of Science in Finance and Economics from Aarhus University, Denmark. He is based in the Copenhagen office.

Nrep is part of Urban Partners, a platform of vision-aligned investment verticals shaped around urban problem solving. With close to €20bn under management, we invest in assets, companies, technologies, and solutions.

Nrep is a real estate investor committed to driving real change in the industry with a holistic ESG focus. Nrep is part of Urban Partners, a platform of vision-aligned investment verticals shaped around urban problem solving.

Max C. Luscher

Max C. Luschers MRICS career is closely linked to the hotel industry. After graduating from high school, he trained as a hotel specialist with management qualifications and accompanied management positions in the international hotel industry (including England, Ireland, USA, Cayman Islands). Afterwards, the Stuttgart native studied business administration/hospitality management at the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. This was followed by the development of the Hotel Real Estate and Operations Consulting at KPMG AG as well as a part-time course of studies in Real Estate Investment Management at the European Business School, Oestrich-Winkel. Since 2016, Luscher has been working as Director Development & Asset Management for B&B HOTELS, in 2017 he took over the executive management of B&B HOTELS in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria, since 2020 he is CEO Central & Northern Europe for B&B HOTELS (including the Netherlands, Poland and Denmark). He is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and a board member of the hotel association IHA. He is married and has three children.

Thomas Woldbye

Thomas is CEO of Copenhagen Airports (CPH).

Until the COVID-19-crisis CPH experienced a decade of growth and expansion with a doubling of passengers to 30 mill. with more than 180 routes establishing CPH as the leading aviation hub in Northern Europe and a pillar for economic growth in the Greater Copenhagen Area. 

With the purpose “Let’s travel together to a better tomorrow” CPH is continuing a journey to an even more attractive and sustainable airport. The focus is on Green Transformation and Efficient Operations and Development. CPH has an ambitious climate strategy, aiming to be emission free by 2030 and as well as being a business leader when it comes to initiatives on digitalization and airport efficiency. In 2020, CPH together with NetCompany, launched AIRHART – a state-of-the-art platform for total airport management.

CPH has won numerous prizes in recent years for Security, Route Development, F&B and Efficiency. CPH is consistently rated among the best airports in Europe for its customer service.

Thomas Woldbye joined CPH in 2011 having previously spend 27 years with the A.P. Moeller-Maersk group – the largest shipping company globally. While at Maersk he spent about 20 years outside Denmark and held several junior management positions and later senior management positions in the corporate APMM HQ in Copenhagen, as well as in Indonesia, Singapore, China, Hong Kong and Europe. In 2004 he moved from Group Senior Vice President to Group CEO of the Norfolkline Group (part of A.P. Moeller–Maersk) with head office in Den Haag.

Marc Henriksen

Marc is one of three Partners* in Midstar, a Scandinavian hotel property investor and asset manager. Marc’s main areas of responsibility are within acquisitions and asset management.

After obtaining an MBA from Cornell University and ESSEC Business School, Marc joined Starwood Hotels & Resorts in London working with hotel development & acquisitions in EMEA. In 2002 Marc joined IHG, working in various roles within hotel acquisitions and brand development, also in the EMEA region. In 2010 Marc joined the Real Estate & Infrastructure Department of Abu Dhabi Investment Authorities (ADIA) focused on hotel property investments mainly in Europe, Asia and Latin America. Midstar Hotels AB was established in 2015 together with four Swedish institutional investors and currently owns 28 hotels in the Nordics.

Christophe Beauvilain

Christophe Beauvilain, CFA is Pygmalion Capital’s Managing Partner. A former Goldman Sachs banker, he has 20+ years of alternative investment management experience. He is the former CEO of two long/short equity hedge funds and of Perenne Capital, an advisory boutique firm specializing in alternative asset management. Since 2014, he has been dedicated to sourcing, underwriting, and executing on special situations European hotel transactions, targeting transactions with an enterprise value of €50M to €150M. In 2017, he launched Pygmalion Capital as a dedicated special situations hotel investment group in Europe and raised a first investment vehicle from CBRE GIP and several European pension funds. A second hotel investment vehicle launched in 2021.

Gerhard Maringer

Gerhard Maringer is the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of numa, a pioneer in the tech-enabled hospitality landscape. At numa, Gerhard has been the driving force behind numerous innovations that have revolutionized the guest experience. Some of the standout contributions include the introduction of a reception-less check-in system, a sophisticated guest communication platform via app and chatbot, and the development of an in-house revenue management system along with a cutting-edge pricing algorithm. Before joining numa, he served as the Chief Technology Officer of Forexfix, a Fintech company that provided automated currency hedging solutions to small and medium enterprises. He successfully sold the company to ibanFirst in 2019.

Gerhard pursued his studies in the field of informatics at Johannes Kepler University, located in the city of Linz, Austria.

Jan Hazelton

A seasoned hotel investment and development executive, her experience includes banking, asset management, finance, development, feasibility and investment analysis.   

Presently she is responsible for development of the Kerzner brands, including One&Only, Atlantis, SIRO and Rare Finds.    

Other experience includes: Three Points Advisory, a boutique hotel advisory firm; Four Seasons Hotels, Taylor Global Advisors; Hilton Hotels; Calyon/Credit Lyonnais, lender to the hospitality industry in the US and Europe; private equity fund Olympus Real Estate; ITT Sheraton; and PKF in hotel advisory services. Her career started at the Westin Century Plaza Hotel in the management training program.

She has degrees in Hotel and Business Administration from Washington State University and was inducted into the WSU Hospitality School Hall of Fame in 2020.

A frequent speaker at industry conferences, Jan is also involved in industry organizations including International Hotel Investment Council (IHIC), as a Director; a member of Urban Land Institute (“ULI”) and a past Vice Chair of ULI’s European Hotel & Resort Council.  Her credentials also include a visiting professorship at Ecole Hoteliere Lausanne as well as a professor for the school’s online MBA program.

Born and raised in Seattle Washington, Jan is an avid tennis player and skier, enjoys traveling, cooking, wining and dining and has a keen interest in health and fitness. She has been involved with Women for Women International, a humanitarian organization that provides practical and moral support to female survivors of war.

Keith Evans

Keith founded LHC and leads its global investment and asset management platform. LHC is a private equity firm focused on real estate and corporate investment across hospitality and operational real estate sectors.

Keith has transacted on >$4B of hospitality real estate and M&A across the globe, during his career in private equity, institutional and corporate investment.

Prior to founding LHC, Keith was Chief Investment & Development Officer at Ennismore. He led the company’s investment and development activities, where he was instrumental in completing the transformational global merger of Ennismore and Accor’s lifestyle hospitality management platforms in 2021.

Prior to joining Ennismore, Keith was SVP of European Hotel Acquisitions at Starwood Capital Group (SCG) in London. At SCG, he led several successful investments, including equity, debt, strategic JVs and NPLs.    

During his 19 years of industry experience, prior investment and asset management roles include Invesco Real Estate in Europe and Kingdom Hotel Investments in EMEA & Asia Pacific. He started his career at Four Seasons in the US and received his MBA from IESE Business School in Barcelona, Spain.

Jakob Dahlstedt

Founder of TEAL Capital which acts local partner for international lenders seeking access to the Nordics. Prior roles include Senior Director in Rothschild & Co Real Estate team with focus on debt and rating advisory and restructuring. Other roles include Barclays Capital CMBS team and M&A analyst at Credit Suisse.

Currently on the board of Altaal Advisory UK, a Nordic real estate investment manager.

Hotel financing credentials:

TEAL Capital, acting as local partner

• Cheyne – Transacted 2 hotel financing deals, most recently the development financing for Hotel Maria F (5* hotel) in Helsinki, Finland. Also transacted financings in Swedish logistic
• Federated Hermes – financing of Hotel Reisen in Stockholm and Grande Hotel Odense

While at Rothschild acted borrower-side

• Qatari Diar development financing for Rosewood Hotel (former US embassy)
• Admiralty Arch on development financing for the acquisition and development into a 5* hotel, private members’ club and residence

Lucas Johansson

Lucas Johansson is an experienced CEO with a highly successful track record in European luxury hospitality industry. Throughout his 30 years career, he has focused on independent and small-company ultra luxury properties in major destinations in Europe, such as Savoy Group in London, George V and Crillon in Paris and Beau-Rivage Palace in Lausanne, as well as most recently as CEO of d’Angleterre in Copenhagen since 2013, a position he still occupies. Passionate about guest-centric service, change and turnaround management, as well as branding and marketing strategies, he works well with ambitious hotel owners. While connecting firmly with stakeholders in the short term, he has successfully brought vision to completion on several luxury properties. In 2017, he co-founded Independent Hospitality Associates, (IHA) to assist independent owners of luxury properties through Hotel Management Agreements, to reach their objectives. IHA recently signed an HMA with COPI who bought Hornbæk Badehotel, to bring the property to a new level of Nordic luxury in 2025, after a full conceptualization and renovation. This year, IHA could announce a strategic alliance with Leading Hotels of the World, being their preferred partner in Europe as Hotel Management Company.  

Independent Hospitality Associates’ is a hotel management company whose mission is to find bespoke solutions in all aspects of hotel operations, administration and commercialization for owners of independent luxury properties.
Based in Switzerland and Denmark, IHA's lean, efficient and dedicated team of highly experienced luxury hospitality executives has expertise in all functions, from day-to-day operations to transformational top-level strategy. They address a hotel’s operations and service from within, including management development, design & architecture, revenue management, CRM and digital marketing support. A discreet partner driving success for exclusive independent hotels, IHA ensures that each property’s reputation and brand are elevated, ultimately maximizing value for every client's investment.

Faisal Zanjani

Faisal currently leads Open Innovation, Experimentation & New Business Models team at The
Coca-Cola Company.
Faisal joined The Coca-Coal Company in 2016 and has held senior roles including VP of
Revenue Growth, VP of Data Analytics, Digital as well as Sr Director of Marketing
Immediately prior to Coca-Cola, Faisal ran his own strategy consulting firm in London, advising
senior managements of Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP), Schweppes, Associated British
Foods among others.
Faisal also brings extensive experience in the finance sector from his work in project finance,
private equity sector and as an investor.
Faisal is a trained civil engineer and holds an MBA from London Business School.

Jules Van Gaalen

As Vice President of Development & Asset Management and member of the Leadership Team, Jules leads the team of professionals responsible for the growth of the Odyssey Hotel Group. 

Jules began his real estate career in 1998 and joined Odyssey Hotel Group in 2022 from Colliers where he headed the hotel transactions team. Prior to rejoining Colliers in 2018, Jules, founded a boutique asset management company 2013 and held several senior positions at Colliers and other real estate consultancy companies. Jules has over 25 years of real estate transaction and investment experience and was elected a qualified member of the RICS in 2013. 

Odyssey Hotel Group is a scale-up hotel company on a mission to rapidly open the most unique hotel concepts across Europe. Amazing hotels offering real service by real people. Our team of entrepreneurial, unique, and ambitious individuals is the key ingredient to reaching our exciting goal of opening 30 new hotels per year and doing it like no one has before. This means we are daring, different, and fast. Odyssey currently operates 21 hotels. 

Trine Sundt

Trine has a long experience in the banking sector working with large corporates. The last 20 years with financing of the hotel and leisure sector and is presently responsible for the Hotel and Leisure segment in DNB

Heleri Rande

Originally from Estonia, Heleri has lived in seven countries and holds a Bachelor’s Degree from New York University in Economics and Business, as well as an executive MBA in Hospitality Administration from École Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland.

After leading Puccini Group’s growth in EMEA for two years after graduation, she has partnered with Think Hospitality to deliver on F&B strategy projects helping brands and owners assess the market, find the right concept positioning for the properties through strategic advice and review. Her focus is mostly on hotel and mall development projects with a portfolio that includes the likes of Accor, Hilton, Kempinski, Puro Hotels and Peel Holdings.

She is the Consulting Editor of Supper Magazine and programme director at various major hospitality events around the world. She co-founded Ideas-Flavours-Experiences, the leading gastronomy event in the Baltics and the New Baltic Hospitality Forum, the first hotel focused event in the region. Heleri also sits on the board of the Global Restaurant Investment Forum and is the Stammvater of the UK Chapter of EHL Alumni Network.

Christian Kielgast

Christian Kielgast is a partner and has been an integral part of building up and expanding NHC since joining the company in 2008.  The main area of activity is advising investors on hotel transactions, development projects including operator searches and contract negotiations as well as M&A advisory. Over the years, Christian has advised on hotel transactions and development projects with a combined aggregate value in excess of 3 billion EUR. Christian is based on NHC’s Copenhagen office but is active across the Nordics and coordinate cross-border clients and projects.

Christian is a honors graduate from the prestigious hotel management school Ecôle Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland.

Emil Bodiu-Bentsen

Emil joined as Partner in Nordic Hotel Consulting in January 2019, focusing on advising real-estate investors and developers, he has been with the company since summer 2014. Emil has a mixed academic background in Finance and Hospitality. Most recently he has completed his Master of Science (MSc.) in Economics and Business Administration in the Finance specialization from Aarhus University in Denmark. Before that, he graduated from Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) in Switzerland, receiving an undergraduate degree in International Hospitality Management. Earlier, Emil has worked in hotels and restaurants in London and Copenhagen.

Demian Hodari

Demian has been EHL Professor of Corporate Strategy for the past 23 years. He spends his time teaching undergraduate and graduate-level students as well as delivering executive education courses and facilitating strategic management workshops for hotel companies worldwide. Demian also co-created and co-hosted RISE, the hospitality, travel and tourism industry's live weekly web show where he conversed with executives and the audience about the industry's most pressing challenges and inspiring solutions in 53 episodes over two years. Demian's research, which focuses on the strategic relationships between hotel general managers, owners and management companies, has been recognized with awards from numerous organisations, including EHL where he was twice recognized as Researcher of the Year. Demian also often speaks at industry events and lead strategy workshops and training seminars for hotel companies and their managers. To date he has trained over 3500 industry executives. Prior to joining academia, Demian spent 15 years working in the hotel industry, including as a hotel manager, consultant, president of an independent hotel management company and parking valet.