LIAM ALEXANDER

Providence Hospitality

With a Bcom degree in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and more than six years’ experience in online hotel distribution, Liam adds great value to Providence Hospitality’s analytical and data-based problem solving. He has a passion for technology, automation and optimization of systems within hospitality. He leads individuals with transparency, ethical practice and servant leadership. You will find Liam either reading up on the latest tech to improve his home PC or enjoying a flat white on his morning walk, with his dog Lyla.

LLOYD BARKHUIZEN

Calibrate Travel Technology & Analytics

Lloyd Barkhuizen is the founder and owner of Calibrate Travel Technology & Analytics with more than 30 years of travel experience, which includes airlines, hotels, GDS connectivity providers, travel management companies, and tour operators. Lloyd has a passion for travel and challenging the status quo when it comes to business travel and how we continue to create value and innovate travel for the traveller and organizations alike. Lloyd believes that as people evolve so should the way we view travel and its application thereof for business.

EFI ELLA

Pepperclub Hotel

General Manager of the Pepperclub Hotel, Efi holds Master Degree from Cornell in finance and revenue management. He is passionate about revenue management and, mostly enjoy debating the revenue management (tools) suggestions Vs. the human knowledge/preference. Efi says- don’t say I’m not leaving money on the table. Rather, say I left that (money) for the guest next trip.

TIAGO FERNANDES

OTA Insights

Tiago studied Hospitality Management in Portugal and right after Uni he specialized his career in hotel distribution, where he worked through 3 very different types of Business Modules. First at a Boutique Tour Operator contracting hotels in Portugal. Moving then to a B2B Wholesaler Tourico Holidays as a product manager to then join Expedia Group in Johannesburg contracting hotels in South Africa and Kenya focusing on B2C.

MARIETTE DU TOIT-HELMBOLD

Destinate

Mariëtte du Toit-Helmbold established Destinate, a destination management and strategic marketing agency, in 2013 after ten years as the award-winning CEO of Cape Town Tourism. Destinate develops and helps implement strategy, builds brands, markets destinations and connects people with great brands and destinations (often over good food and wine). Mariette is in demand internationally as a tourism and marketing strategist, facilitator and speaker on tourism, destination management, wine tourism and innovation in marketing.

NICK KLEYNHANS

Atomize

Nick has been working in the hospitality-sector for 12 years. He has experience from different management positions in hotels in Africa and during the last 5 years, Nick has managed several executive sales roles in the hotel tech space in Africa and Australia, most recently as Sales Director for MEWS in Africa. He now joins Atomize as Director of Growth for Africa and Australia, Nick truly knows the daily challenges for hoteliers and how important accurate data is to make good decisions that truly supports your hotel business.

EBEN MARAIS

Ankerdata

Driven by his love of technology and hospitality, Eben joined Ankerdata Hospitality, the longest standing hospitality technology provider in South Africa. He put his talent to work, solving problems, and looking for ways to build better systems and processes with hotel tech. His secret was understanding the ins and outs of operations. Twelve years later, when the opportunity presented itself, Eben took the helm at Ankerdata as Managing Partner and still maintains his connection to both people and solutions in the industry – helping solve problems. As the landscape changes, his focus is on moving with the times.

ALAN O’RIORDAN

apaleo

Based in London, Alan joined apaleo as co-founder in 2018. He works internationally with customers and distribution partners and has held senior commercial roles in the world of PMS since 1999.

NEILS VERSPUI

RoomRaccoon

Niels Verspui brought RoomRaccoon to South Africa in 2017. He is originally from The Netherlands but immigrated to South Africa in 2016. Niels loves the nature, people and climate in South Africa and believe it is the perfect combination to settle down in this beautiful country.

MARTIN WIEST

Tourvest Destination Management

Martin Wiest started out as a bus driver in 1987 and worked his way up to an office job and eventually took up the position of CEO of Tourvest Inbound Operations and a member of the Tourvest Holdings (Pty) Ltd executive committee in January 2009. Martin comes from a strong marketing and sales background so when he was appointed COO in 2006 he did a Postgraduate Diploma in Business Administration, amongst other courses, to gain financial experience. Martin has been in the tourism industry for 32 years, having worked at Welcome Tourism Services from 1988 until his appointment at Tourvest, and has extensive experience in general management and business development.

ANKUR YADAV

RateGain

Ankur IS Sales Head APAC & Africa at Rategain and has 10+ years of experience in Hospitality Technology, Thought Leader in Revenue Management and Online Distribution, working closely with over 2000+ hotels.

ERIK MUNOZ

Lybra.tech

Erik is a hotel technology specialist, originally from Australia, but now based in the UK and is the Chief Commercial Officer for Lybra.tech – the intelligent revenue assistant.  Erik leverages his deep experience with property management systems, online distribution technology and revenue management analytics to provide his clients and partners with valuable insights and advice to help grow a hotel business in a more efficient manner.