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2026 Programme
09:40 – 10:25 Market Insights

Beyond the Horizon

A sharp, data-driven deep dive into the financial and economic currents shaping the UK hotel industry. The panel will unpack raw macroeconomic data, tying CPI changes and debt finance realities directly to RevPAR, ADR, and disposable guest spend.

Jeavon Lolay
Jeavon LolayLloyds Banking
Dave North
Dave NorthLloyds Banking
10:25 – 11:10 Operations

Frontline Fortitude

Hotel operators are caught in a pincer movement: skyrocketing supply chain and labour costs on one side, guests demanding flawless value on the other. This panel digs into asset management, smart cost-control, and building operational agility across diverse portfolios.

Julie White
Julie WhiteAccor
David Anderson
David AndersonAimbridge EMEA
David Hart
David HartRBH Hospitality
11:30 – 12:15 Leadership

The Modern Anchor

Managing a modern hospitality workforce demands a shift from old-school hierarchy to empathetic, visionary leadership. These industry standard-bearers explore how to inspire loyalty across multi-generational teams, foster open communication, and maintain personal mental resilience.

Christian Masters
Christian Mastersart'otel Hoxton
Caroline Gregory
Caroline GregoryThe Lovat Hotel
Simon Numphud
Simon NumphudAA Media Services
12:15 – 13:00 Events Market

The New Roar of MICE

The MICE sector looks radically different than it did a few years ago. From hyper-personalised retreats to tech-heavy hybrid conventions, this session uncovers what today's corporate planners actually want from a venue — and how to maximise yield per square foot.

Shonali Devereaux
Shonali DevereauxMIA
Varun Shetty
Varun ShettyThe Belfry Resort
14:00 – 14:45 Development

Blueprint for Growth

Despite tight credit markets, the appetite for strategic hotel development remains fierce. Brands and asset managers discuss the shift toward conversions, brand repositioning, and adaptive reuse over ground-up builds.

Tim Davis
Tim DavisPACE Dimensions
Gavin Taylor
Gavin TaylorClermont Hotels
Paul Blackmore
Paul BlackmoreHilton
David JM Orr
David JM OrrResident Hotels
14:45 – 15:30 Technology

Beyond the Buzzwords

AI is already driving revenue and plugging labour gaps. This panel cuts through the jargon to showcase how automated guest messaging, contactless check-ins, and predictive analytics can save thousands of labour hours.

DB
David BeersChoice Hotels
RBH
AI SpecialistRBH Management
CT
Canary PanelistCanary Tech
15:55 – 16:40 People & Culture

People First

Recruitment is tough, but retention is where the real battle is won or lost. Industry leaders share actionable advice on mental health initiatives, flexible working models, and defined career progression pathways.

Mark Lewis
Mark LewisHospitality Action
Suzanne Speak
Suzanne SpeakRadisson Group
16:40 – 17:05 Crisis Management

When the Custard Hits the Fan

In a 24/7 digital world, a single bad incident can escalate into a viral PR nightmare within minutes. A compressed, highly practical session delivering an actionable blueprint for emergency communication and brand protection.

CC
PR Leadership TeamCustard Comm.
Companies Joining Us
Accor Hilton Radisson Aimbridge RBH Hospitality The Resident Clermont The Belfry art'otel Hoxton Lloyds Banking Accor Hilton Radisson Aimbridge RBH Hospitality The Resident Clermont The Belfry art'otel Hoxton Lloyds Banking
Headline Sponsor
Canary Technologies
Supporters
Hop Software
HBD Partners
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Interested in partnering?
Please contact Michael Northcott, Editor and Event Director, at mjn@mulberrymedia.co.uk.
Canary Technologies: The #1 AI-powered guest management system. Trusted by 20,000+ hotels, Canary streamlines operations via contactless check-in, AI guest messaging, and secure transactions that reduce chargebacks by 90%.
Hop Software: A cloud-based Property Management System (PMS) built to reduce hotel expenses and drive direct bookings via commission-free engines. It simplifies complex operations for properties of all sizes at a fraction of legacy costs.
HBD Partners: Industry specialists in hospitality recruitment with 30 years of expertise. HBD focuses on sourcing elite talent and interim leadership to help leisure and travel firms achieve their impact goals.
Home > Features > Advice > 5 startups lending a hand to hotel chains
5 startups lending a hand to hotel chains

5 startups lending a hand to hotel chains

In this episode we speak to Philip Lassman, managing director UK&I at Numa. Philip spoke about the lessons learned from his time at Hilton, IHG and Accor, and how his early roles have shaped his leadership approach, the rise of aparthotels and why guests are increasingly seeking flexible and locally connected stays, how Native by Numa sites root themselves in their local neighbourhoods, and Philip’s plans for growing the Numa brand.

In association with

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Summer is fast approaching and ensuring your hotel is up to speed and at the forefront of the industry can be tough.

Last year, over 37.6 million overseas visitors came to the UK and spent over £22.5bn, according to VisitBritain. Given this seemingly huge influx of people, it begs the questions – how do businesses survive and thrive in this competitive landscape?

The hotel industry is no exception. With tasks such as improving guest relations, acquiring more direct bookings, and maintaining a steady flow of returning guests, the workload is heavy. In the interest of lighting the load and improving their overall business strategy and service offering to guests, below are five startups lending a hand to hotel chains.

Hotelchamp
Hotelchamp offers smart technology that gives hoteliers the confidence they need to effectively engage their guests and in turn, boost direct revenue as well as build guest relations.

Since launching in 2015, Hotelchamp has gained the trust of over 1,000 hotels in more than 35 countries. With the aid of their personalisation and persuasion techniques, combined with the analysis of user data, Hotelchamp is able to offer you insights on how to attract and retain customers through website optimisation.

Gig
Gig is an application making the most out of the gig-economy while leveraging the fact that millennials are accustomed to experiencing and seeking instant gratification – their app does just that. Gig helps people find flexible work.

The hospitality industry is known for it’s on-peak and off-peak seasons. So it should come as no surprise that slow and busy periods mean that traditional recruitment isn’t always the strongest tactic. Gig allows hotels the flexibility of offering work whenever it’s required instead of having to sign up to lengthy shift contracts.

Roomstorm
During the off-peak periods, some hotels find themselves with unoccupied rooms with limited scope on how to fill them. Roomstorm attempts to prevent that by working with industry-leading hotels to help them make the most of their unused rooms by ensuring they are easily visible to airline agents in cases of flight delays or cancellations.

Roomstorm has been pioneering this space and is the only completely automated and paperless solution that allows airline agents to book unoccupied hotel rooms in five simple clicks.

Tripcraft
With users moving more towards mobile devices over desktops, most hotels don’t have the support of a large in-house technology team. As a result, they’re often daunted by the task of needing to optimise their website in order to accommodate a user’s preferred device.

Fear not – Tripcraft are tackling this head on – providing hotel teams the capability of optimising commerce functionalities for mobile. This offers a cheaper and quicker solution as hotels won’t have to expand their own internal resources to optimise their platforms.

RoomChecking
RoomChecking is the hotelier’s one stop operations toolkit. The company is helping hotels with their day-to-day operations to help improve productivity throughout the workplace and also look after their employees.

The platform allows hotels to customise the workflow to deliver certain employees individual tasks to complete, so every worker understands their activity. Whether it’s for management, front office or housekeeping, RoomChecking allows hotels the technology needed to optimise their daily performance.

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