Start Date:6/10/2021
Start Time:10:00 AM EDT
Duration:185 minutes
DAY AGENDA
10:00-10:05 EDT Opening Remarks
10:05-10:45 EDT The Lending Landscape
How to find the best financial deal for all types of projects.
Speakers:
Nick Baer, Vice President - Business Development, Stonehill Strategic Capital
Vinay Patel, Vice Chairman, AAHOA
Scott Melby, Associate, Driftwood Capital
Lori Tirado, Managing Director, Head of Business Development, Access Point Financial (APF)
Moderator:
Patrick Whyte, Editor-in-Chief, Hospitality Insights
10:45-10:50 EDT Break
10:50-11:30 EDT Hygiene at the Forefront
A look at the current state of cleaning protocols and standards.
Speakers:
Drew Allison, Senior Vice President of Operations, Island Hospitality Management
Fouad Malouf, Senior Vice President, Franchise Operations, Red Roof
Heidi Wilcox, President/CEO, First Call Hospitality Inc.
Moderator:
Chris Daly, President, Daly Gray Public Relations
11:30-11:35 EDT Break
11:35-12:15 EDT Taking Advantage of Revenue Streams
Revenue management has played a vital role during the pandemic. Here's a look at best practices and strategies in terms of distribution and pricing.
Speakers:
Cassie Bond, Vice President of Revenue Strategy, Chesapeake Hospitality
Jennifer Driscoll, Vice President of Revenue Management, McNeill Hotel Company
Lori McNaught, Senior Director of Revenue Management, Olympia Hotel Management
Moderator:
CJ Arlotta, Managing Member, CJ Media Solutions
12:15-12:20 EDT Break
12:20-1:00 EDT The Technology Transformation
The hotel industry has taken great strides in terms of technology adoption. Here's where you can create the greatest impact for the least amount of investment.
Speakers:
Jeff Edwards, Senior Vice President of Property, Owner and Enterprise Products and Platforms, IHG Hotels & Resorts
David Kuperberg, Chief Development Officer, Dream Hotel Group
Rami Zeidan, Founder & CEO, Life House
Moderator:
Stacy Silver, President, Silver Hospitality Group
Sponsored by:
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1:00-1:05 EDT Wrap Up
10:05-10:45 EDT The Lending Landscape
How to find the best financial deal for all types of projects.
Speakers:
Nick Baer, Vice President - Business Development, Stonehill Strategic Capital
Vinay Patel, Vice Chairman, AAHOA
Scott Melby, Associate, Driftwood Capital
Lori Tirado, Managing Director, Head of Business Development, Access Point Financial (APF)
Moderator:
Patrick Whyte, Editor-in-Chief, Hospitality Insights
10:45-10:50 EDT Break
10:50-11:30 EDT Hygiene at the Forefront
A look at the current state of cleaning protocols and standards.
Speakers:
Drew Allison, Senior Vice President of Operations, Island Hospitality Management
Fouad Malouf, Senior Vice President, Franchise Operations, Red Roof
Heidi Wilcox, President/CEO, First Call Hospitality Inc.
Moderator:
Chris Daly, President, Daly Gray Public Relations
11:30-11:35 EDT Break
11:35-12:15 EDT Taking Advantage of Revenue Streams
Revenue management has played a vital role during the pandemic. Here's a look at best practices and strategies in terms of distribution and pricing.
Speakers:
Cassie Bond, Vice President of Revenue Strategy, Chesapeake Hospitality
Jennifer Driscoll, Vice President of Revenue Management, McNeill Hotel Company
Lori McNaught, Senior Director of Revenue Management, Olympia Hotel Management
Moderator:
CJ Arlotta, Managing Member, CJ Media Solutions
12:15-12:20 EDT Break
12:20-1:00 EDT The Technology Transformation
The hotel industry has taken great strides in terms of technology adoption. Here's where you can create the greatest impact for the least amount of investment.
Speakers:
Jeff Edwards, Senior Vice President of Property, Owner and Enterprise Products and Platforms, IHG Hotels & Resorts
David Kuperberg, Chief Development Officer, Dream Hotel Group
Rami Zeidan, Founder & CEO, Life House
Moderator:
Stacy Silver, President, Silver Hospitality Group
Sponsored by:
1:00-1:05 EDT Wrap Up
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Speakers
Patrick Whyte
Editor-in-Chief in the EMEA region
Questex Travel and Hospitality
He was previously Europe editor at Skift and before that held a number of positions at Travel Trade Gazette.
Nick Baer
Vice President - Business Development
Stonehill Strategic Capital
Nick is responsible for originating and structuring debt and equity investments across Stonehill’s hospitality lending platform and helping to drive its strategic growth efforts. He most recently served as Senior Vice President at Jones Land LaSalle (JLL), responsible for arranging approximately $7 billion in acquisitions, construction and refinancing for individual hotel assets and portfolios. Before his time with the investment banking team, Nick was responsible for the disposition of single assets and portfolios for JLL’s hotel investment sales division.
Nick earned his bachelor’s degree in real estate from the University of Georgia.
Lori Tirado
Managing Director, Head of Business Development
Access Point Financial (APF)
As Managing Director and Head of Business Development for Access Point Financial, Lori Tirado brings more than 15 years of commercial real estate expertise with a specific focus on hospitality to address the industry’s latest financial service needs. Using her in-depth knowledge of loan requirements, Lori ensures that APF continues to expand its customer base by working to identify flexible financing options that can be tailored to a hotelier’s precise goals.
Prior to joining APF in 2019, Lori served in several notable leadership roles where she was credited with facilitating multiple largescale funding agreements. These include securing more than $1.2 billion in hotel loans within the United States and Canada in her capacity as Managing Director for the Hospitality Finance Group of the Largo Group of Companies.
A graduate of Canisius College, Lori holds a Master’s in Business Administration with a concentration in finance. She further holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Business Administration with a concentration in Marketing and Management from the State University College at Buffalo.
Scott Melby
Associate
Driftwood Capital
Scott Melby is an Associate on Driftwood Capital’s lending team. In this role, he is directly responsible for the team’s deal sourcing, underwriting, and transaction execution. Prior to joining Driftwood, Mr. Melby was a Director at Masterworks Development, Co. where he worked on hotel development opportunities across the U.S. Before Masterworks, he was an acquisitions Associate at MCR focusing on premium-branded select service properties throughout the U.S. Prior to MCR, he was an acquisitions Analyst at Madison International Realty underwriting investment opportunities in office and retail properties across the U.S. and Western Europe. Mr. Melby holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration and a minor in real estate.
Vinay Patel
Treasurer
AAHOA
Vinay Patel is presently the president of Fairbrook Hotels, which owns and operates 11 properties, including IHG, Hilton, Radisson, Choice, and Wyndham brands. Vinay has been a passionate champion for hoteliers in the nation’s capital. His leadership in advocacy includes testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives on regulatory issues affecting franchisees, hosting roundtable meetings with public officials to illustrate the importance of the lodging industry on the American economy and working with lawmakers on banking rules that affect small-business owners.
Chris Daly
President
Daly Gray Public Relations
A 20-plus year hospitality communications expert, Chris is the president of DG Public Relations. DG specializes in the business of hotels and represents some of the industry’s largest owners, operators, brands, brokers, investors, developers and related businesses. The company’s services range from media relations to crisis communications.
Fouad Malouf
SVP Franchise Operations
Red Roof
Fouad Malouf serves as Senior Vice President of Franchise Operations for Red Roof, overseeing 530 locations in the U.S and international markets. Throughout his 38-year career with Red Roof, Fouad has held many positions, most recently as Vice President, Franchise Operations, directly supporting the franchisees and the franchise operations team in their day-to-day business. Fouad’s passion - building and maintaining strong business relationships by providing unique value – has been instrumental throughout his career at Red Roof. He also serves on the Red Roof Brand Standards Committee and plays an active role with the Red Roof Franchise Advisory Council.
Drew Allison
Senior Vice President of Operations
Island Hospitality Management
Drew joined the Island Hospitality team in 2005 as a Manager In Training after graduating from CSU,Chico. Over the past 16+ years has worked his way towards various General Manager and above property roles, currently as Senior Vice President of Operations overseeing operations for the North American portfolio of more than 70 upscale extended stay, select service and full-service hotels across major brands such as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, and IHG.
Heidi Wilcox
President/CEO
First Call Hospitality Inc.
Heidi is the President/CEO of First Call Hospitality Inc., a third party hotel management company which offers full management services including acquisition/development. During her 30 plus career she has held several hotel management positions while working for Tharaldson Lodging, Rosenbluth Travel/Up|Stream, and First Call Hospitality. She has also served on multiple owner’s franchise committees with IHG, Hilton and Marriott.
Heidi has a bachelor’s degree in Hotel Restaurant Management with a minor in Business Administration and an M.B.A.
CJ Arlotta
Managing Member
CJ Media Solutions
CJ Arlotta founded CJ Media Solutions, LLC, a B2B PR firm based in Stony Brook, NY in 2018. Since then, he’s been providing media relations, content writing, ghostwriting and crisis communications services to hospitality and technology companies. He’s been a journalist for more than 10 years; he’s covered several industries, including hospitality, healthcare, politics and government, and technology. He’s written for Forbes, The Saturday Evening Post, ChannelE2E, Hotel Business, The VAR Guy, MSPmentor, Long Island Press, Edible, The Fiscal Times and elsewhere. Prior to being a journalist, he worked as a communications specialist on political campaigns and for government officials in New York State.
Lori McNaught
Senior Director of Revenue Management
Olympia Hotel Management
A valedictorian graduate of the University of New Hampshire Hospitality Management Program, Lori has more than 20 years in hotel revenue management experience. Prior to joining Olympia , Lori worked as a director of revenue management with Ocean Properties Hotels and Resorts. Lori works with a team of revenue managers across a diverse portfolio of brand and independent properties to maximize revenue and find opportunities for continuous improvement.
Cassie Bond
Vice President of Revenue Strategy
Chesapeake Hospitality
Cassie Bond has over 16 years of hospitality experience with a strong focus on driving top line revenues and maximizing profitability. This is her 12th year working in revenue management for Chesapeake Hospitality and she is currently the Vice President of Revenue Strategy. In Cassie’s role, she spearheads global strategy for the Chesapeake managed portfolio as well as RevAdvantage by Chesapeake, their revenue management services only program. Cassie was selected as HSMAI’s 2018 Corporate Revenue Management Professional of the Year. Cassie Bond can be reached at 813-767-5817 or cbond@chesapeakehospitality.com.
Stacy Silver
President
Silver Hospitality Group
Stacy Silver, ISHC, is President of Silver Hospitality Group, a boutique consulting firm specializing in industry relations, marketing, and events.
Prior to launching Silver Hospitality Group, she held influential positions with both Hotel Management and Hotel Business Magazine.
As a 30-year hospitality-publishing veteran, Silver has a track record for creating successful print, online, and events for the hospitality industry. She sits on the board of Cornell University School of Hotel Administration's Center for Hospitality Research and chairs the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship Experiential Networking Program.
Rami Zeidan
Founder & CEO
Life House
Rami Zeidan is the Founder and CEO of Life House – a venture-backed & vertically integrated lifestyle hotel & technology company. Rami founded the company in 2017 and now has over 30 hotels across the US and Mexico, with an investor roster that includes Tiger Global, JLL, Thayer Ventures, Rocket Internet, Trinity Ventures, Comcast Ventures, Ashton Kutcher, David Hamamoto and many others. Prior to Life House, Rami served as a Vice President at TPG Capital where he focused on hotel and hostel related investments. Prior to joining TPG, Rami served as a Director for the boutique hotel developer, owner, and operator, Sydell Group. Before Sydell, Rami worked at Starwood Capital Group in acquisitions, hotel asset management and in brand management. Prior to Starwood, Rami worked in the Real Estate Special Situations Group at Deutsche Bank. Rami earned his BA in Economics from the Johns Hopkins University and subsequently studied Finance and Economic History at the London School of Economics.
David Kuperberg
Chief Development Officer
Dream Hotel Group
As Chief Development Officer, David Kuperberg is responsible for the continued growth and success of Dream Hotel Group and its portfolio of lifestyle brands. David most recently served as Senior Vice President of Development for Virgin Hotels before joining Dream in 2013. He began his career in 2004 as Senior Director of Mergers & Acquisitions at Wyndham Worldwide Corporation, where he oversaw the milestone acquisition of Ramada International from Marriott and was appointed to Vice President of Global Development & Strategy soon thereafter. He holds a Master of Management degree from Yale University and a bachelor’s degree in History from the University of California at Berkeley.
Jeff Edwards
Senior Vice President of Property, Owner and Enterprise Products and Platforms
IHG Hotels & Resorts
Jeff Edwards is the Senior Vice President of Property, Owner and Enterprise Products and Platforms for InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG). He joined IHG in 2017 after serving as president for Amadeus’ hotel division. Previously, he served as Chief Information Officer for Wyndham Hotel Group, President and Chief Executive Officer of OpenTable, Inc., and President at MICROS-Fidelio.