2022

As Head of Hospitality at Areen Design, Andrew is involved in, and monitors all aspects of a project: from initial client contact, brief and concept development through to documentation and site installation. His passion for delivering design solutions which add value, without compromising creative quality, is resolute.

Andrew has designed insightful interiors for many of the world’s leading hotel operators including Hilton, Marriott, Radisson, Accor, Hyatt and InterContinental Hotels Group. The concept for each project is anchored in the site, situation and cultural condition of the building and the community it inhabits. Andrew believes that a design can only be considered truly successful if it achieves integration with its local environment, he explains “Functionality and efficiency may drive returns, but any hospitality brand has to integrate the personality of the place and the people in each location.”

Andrew has worked across four continents on both new build projects and major refurbishments of hotels. His reputation as both a conference speaker and thought leader continues to grow, founded on design principles which he firmly believes will release more value to investors and operators.

Areen Design is currently working on projects across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, India, Central Asia and China.

Beat Fornaro is Area Director of Portfolio Development for Design Hotels™. He is responsible for the curation of the hand-picked portfolio of one-of-a-kind properties across Europe, the Middle East and Africa. With his multidisciplinary background of 15 years in hospitality and tourism. Beat held positions in the US, Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa. He is passionate about forward-thinking hotel concepts that engage local culture with international hotel standards to create exceptional guest experiences. In his role, he looks for hoteliers who act as elicitors for the guest’s personal enrichment.

Before joining Design Hotels™, Beat worked many years in Sub-Saharan Africa, where he has been responsible for creating and implementing hospitality related projects in challenging environments. Among others, in partnership with his alma mater, École hôtelière de Lausanne, he has built a hotel school in Angola.

Summary
Experienced Executive Manager with a demonstrated history ofworking in the services industry – financial & hospitality business.Skilled in Business Planning, Investment Banking, Private Equity,Hospitality Industry, Capital Markets and Securities. Strong financeprofessional with a Executive MBA, focused in Economics fromASEBUSS.

Experience
Ana Hotels Romania CEO June 2018 – Present, Bucharest, Romania
Ana Hotels Romania, CEO & President of the Board,June 2018 – Present Bucharest, Romania
ANA Teleferic S.A., President Of The Board Of Directors, June 2018 – May 2019 (1 year), Poiana Brasov, Braşov County, Romania
CNCIR S.A., Deputy General Manager / CFO, August 2014 – May 2018 (3 years 10 months), Bucharest, Romania
National company owned by the Ministry of Economy, SSIF Intervam SA, Member in the Board of directors, November 2008 – October 2015 (7 years) Bucharest, Romania
Romanian Banking Institute (RBI), Lecturer, November 2010 – November 2012 (2 years 1 month) Bucharest, Romania
Capital markets regulatory framework’ courses
Ana Hotels Romania, CEO & Member in the Board, January 2005 – June 2008 (3 years 6 months)
ANA Hotels is the owning company of Athenee Palace Hilton Hotel andCrowne Plaza Hotel in Bucharest, 3 Hotels in a mountain resort PoianaBrasov, Europa Hotel and ANA Aslan Health SPA and Hotel Astoria, in BalckSea side resort Eforie Nord.
BCR Securites S.A., CEO and President of the Board, September 2001 – December 2004 (3 years 4 months)
BCR Securities was a division of Banca Comerciala Romana (actual ErsteBank) dealing with the stock trading, IPO, privatisations and other capitalmarkets types of transactions.
KPMG US, SENIOR/ AUDIT, January 2001 – August 2001 (8 months), Banca Turco Romana
Capital Markets Division Manager- 1998 – January 2001 (3 years 1 month),
Tradeville, CFO, 1996 – 1998 (3 years)

Specialising in hospitality design, Neil has been able to bring together his passions and his design ethos. Because, to him the ultimate hospitality experience is enjoying a meal – eating fantastic food, against the back drop of a beautifully designed space, accompanied by excellent music. Over the course of his education and career as a designer, his collected experiences from a range of cultures and countries have continued to mould his work and design philosophy. For Neil, design is a medium for communicating a story, something that triggers emotions and memories in those that experience it.

 Neil joined Perkins and Will in March of this year to lead the London studio’s Hospitality team. He is currently working on a range of projects including a large-scale hotel in London, projects in Manchester, Europe and the US.

 “I’m extremely excited to be taking part in this year’s Leaders in Hospitality Summit. We are at a potential point of great change within the hospitality industry, and I look forward to sharing ideas and knowledge with industry peers, as this is the way that we continue to learn and move forward collectively. Perkins and Will have put measures in place to ensure that we are at the forefront of sustainability and I relish the opportunity to share our expertise with others.”

Irina and Olga were born in Chelyabinsk, a Russian city on the border of Europe and Asia. They developed their first real interest in architecture when they were 15, taking an active part in the home renovation and designed their first café for a friend on their second year of university.

Sisters hired their first employees in 2004, shortly after their graduation, and set off to conquer the world.

Working mostly on private interiors with Forbes’ 100 clients in the first years, SS soon realized that their genuine interest lies in creating signature public interiors not just for one, but for all, including themselves.

Irina and Olga are often invited as speakers to the British High School of Design in Moscow, as well as numerous international hospitality & design events (Dezeen’s talks, Sleep+Eat, BDNY and others) and as judges at international design & architecture awards (Dezeen Awards, 2019; The Architecture MasterPrize 2018).

«In the modern world, evolving constantly and faster than ever before, the greatest luxury we can afford is timely exchange of experience and knowledge. I am delighted to contribute to this year’s Leaders in Hospitality Summit in 2020, with the key takeaways, gathered throughout S+S studio’s 15 year journey. This is our time to unite as professionals and bring forth the best of our collective expertise to accelerate the advancement of the HoReCa sphere globally for the sake of guests, clients, investors and our planet.»

My experience has been developed over 30 years in a variety of locations, positions and building type. I have worked the last 15 years in a variety of roles in Eastern Europe, currently head of technical services for Hungary, Slovakia, Czech republic, Poland, Baltic states Romania & Balkan countries

Predominantly viewed as head of the Design & technical service, being involved from the development phase till the opening to public of the building and following the maintenance afterward, I have in-depth experience of systems processes, procurement, IT and project management skills which are all put to the test working for Accor as local executive committee member for several years.

I am a good communicator whose key skill is seeing the big picture and being able to translate overall requirements into manageable pieces of work for the team. I have experience of managing geographically dispersed teams across multi-site, multi country organizations with a track history of getting the best out of them.

Specialist of Project management in Design, Construction, Renovation, Maintenance and Process management

Dimitris Manikis was appointed President and Managing Director for EMEA in April 2018. In his role, he is responsible for the development of all of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ brands in the EMEA region as well as maximising the performance of all new and existing franchise and managed hotels. He focuses on driving the strategic objectives of Wyndham Hotels & Resorts including quality and technology solutions as well as loyalty, sales and marketing.
Dimitris Manikis has a long-standing career and deep knowledge of the hospitality industry. Prior to joining Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, he spent over 27 years with RCI, the worldwide leader in vacation exchange, across a number of senior roles, and most recently served as Vice President of Business Development for EMEA. Earlier in his career, he also held a number key positions in the region as Managing Director of RCI Greece and RCI South Africa.
A Greek national, Dimitris was born in Athens and holds a Bachelor degree in Tourism and Administration from the University of Patras in Greece, and an MSc Postgraduate degree in Tourism Marketing from the University of Surrey. His passion for people and work ethic comes from his father, who built up a grocery retail business in Athens where Dimitris learned the value of high customer service, positive outlook and hard work as being the foundations of success in both business and life.

He is based in Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ London office.

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts is the world’s largest and most diverse hotel company, encompassing approximately 8,000 hotels and more than 600,000 rooms in 66 countries under fifteen hotel brands.

Matthieu is the managing director for B&B Hotels in Switzerland and CEE regions. Prior to running the CEE HQ in Prague, Matthieu has worked as property developer for Bouygues in Czech Republic. He joined B&B Hotels in 2012 as development manager for France.
The economy chain currently operates 8 hotels in the CEE region (6 in Poland, 1 Prague and Ljubljana). Another hotel is under construction in Budapest and the group aims to further develop its network in all main cities in central and south eastern Europe (Slovakia, Croatia, Serbia, Romania, etc.).
B&B opened its first hotels in France in 1990, and has grown into a network of more than 500 hotels (43,000 rooms) in 12 countries. With a turnover of 580 mil € in 2018, B&B has accelerated its international expansion following a significant rollout program (averaging one opening per week).

B&B Hotels
B&B Hotels is a hotel chain started in Brittany, France in 1990. It has since opened hotels in Germany, Italy, Morocco, Poland, Spain and Portugal, and has over 400 hotels across Europe. In 2010, it was acquired by the Carlyle Group for €480 million