HOSPACE 2013 – HOSPA’s Annual Conference and Exhibition for Hospitality Finance, Revenue Management, IT and Commercial Professionals – to be held on 21 November at the Sofitel London Heathrow, Terminal 5.
One of the greatest challenges currently facing the UK hospitality industry is the crucial issue of obtaining funding for the hospitality industry as the country recovers from challenging economic conditions. In recent months, the industry has increasingly been looking beyond the high street banks to other sources of finance for their businesses as interest in the sector grows – a trend that will be examined in depth by a distinguished panel of hotel finance experts at HOSPACE 2013.
Entitled: ‘The changing face of the funding landscape for the hospitality sector’, the ‘Finance Panel’ discussion will be one of the key sessions at the prestigious 21 November event. Under the skillful guidance of HOSPA Chairman Paul Dukes – also Chairman at Kew Green Hotels – the distinguished panellists will include: Graeme Smith, Partner, Zolfo Cooper Corporate Finance, who leads Zolfo Cooper’s activities in the hotel sector; Andy Lancaster, Head of Hotels, UK Sector Coverage, Royal Bank of Scotland; Paul Beaumont, Head of Deal Origination/Investment Director, Downing LLP; and Navneet Bali, Chief Executive Officer and Head of Development and Finance at Meininger hotel group, owned by Holidaybreak – part of Cox & Kings travel company.
Commenting on the ‘Finance Panel’ session, Paul Dukes said: “Obtaining debt finance for hotel acquisitions, renovations and extensions is tough without a significant chunk of fresh equity and an understanding bank. The current growing industry trend is to look beyond the banks for financing hospitality operations; and our expert panellists will be scrutinising, amongst other important finance topics, these sources of funding – ranging from venture capital groups and private equity firms, to ‘crowdfunding’, ‘angel investors’, and ‘mezzanine capital finance’.”
In addition to the Hospitality Finance Panel discussion, other highlights of HOSPACE 2013 – to be held on Thursday, 21 November at the Sofitel London Heathrow, Terminal 5 – will include: a scene-setting ‘Leaders' Panel’discussion by hospitality captains of industry on ‘Key issues, trends and developments facing the industry today’; a thought-provoking Hospitality IT Debate on ‘Is Technology good for the hotel/hospitality business?’; and a highly informative Revenue Management Debate on ‘Integrating all the feeds for Revenue Management’. Delegates also will be able to benefit from HOSPACE’s popular, highly topical programme of hospitality industry specific educational workshops – all led by top specialists in their subjects.
As in past years, HOSPACE will be supported by a growing and increasingly influential exhibition of hospitality technology solutions – providing delegates with a ‘one stop shop’ to view and interact with the latest and ‘best in class’ technologies – covering all eventualities for any hospitality business, whether they be start-up, established independent, or multi chain-owned, operations.
For regularly updated information on HOSPACE 2013 (HOSPA Conference and IT Exhibition), visit the HOSPACE 2013 Website at: www.hospace.net . For bookings and further details for HOSPACE 2013, contact the HOSPA Membership Services Office on telephone: 01202 889 430; fax: 01202 887 967; or email: bookings@hospace.net