• Frank Croston joined a well received panel session at the Property Week Hotels 2011 Conference on 24 June 2011, where the topic for discussion was, ‘The operator perspective: what are the options?’. Frank was joined by highly respected colleagues from the industry including Hugh Taylor – Mitchels & Taylor, Nick Smart – Hilton and Andrew Shaw – Accor.

• Hamilton were proud to be Gold sponsors of the Arabian Hotel Investment Conference in Dubai, 30 April – 2 May 2011, where Frank moderated a lively panel focusing on the regional perspectives of Global brands, with panellists including experts from Marriott, IHG, The Rezidor Hotel Group and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. In addition, Chris Evans moderated a thought-provoking breakout session discussing the relationship between owners and operators. The conference provides a fantastic networking opportunity and the team look forward to returning as sponsors in 2012.

• March 2011 provided Hamilton the opportunity to once again sponsor the highly successful International Hotel Investment Forum in Berlin. The team were delighted to reengage with former clients and also to introduce ourselves to potential new clients in an environment that was far more optimistic than previous years. During the conference, Frank Croston moderated a highly successful session discussing the value of brands for hotel owners, with panellists including Amy McPherson - Marriott International, David Pepper – Choice hotels International, Nick Skea-Strachan – Berwin Leighton Paisner LLP and Ted Teng – The Leading Hotels of the World.

• Following Frank’s session at IHIF 2010, he was interviewed by the Estates Gazette, where he urged the hotel industry to become more involved with asset managers in order to make the market more attractive to investors. If you would like to listen to this interview in full, please use the podcast player below:

Our business continues to grow and we are increasing our team to support this development and we are delighted to announce that Heribert Gangl joined the Hamilton team in April 2011 as a Senior Associate.

Heribert Gangl

• Heribert Gangl joined Hamilton as a Senior Associate in April 2011. He is involved in all service lines from asset management, direct management to acquisition and development support and is responsible for the business development activities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Austria and Germany.
• From 2006 to 2010, Heribert worked as Consultant and later as Business Development Manager for an international hotel and tourism consulting company, in Vienna and Budapest. During this time, he worked on a wide range of international assignments in the hotel and tourism industry, ranging from feasibility studies, concept developments, due diligences, operator and investor selections, contract negotiations, technical service agreements, pre-opening assistance to asset management. From 2009, Heribert was also responsible for planning and managing the business activities in Hungary, following the opening of a new local office.
• Heribert was Sales Manager at the Le Meridien Vienna where he was mainly responsible for planning and implementing business strategies in Austria, Switzerland and Scandinavia and managing corporate key accounts. In addition, Heribert gained valuable operational experience by working in various luxury hotels and restaurants in Austria, Germany and France.
• Heribert holds an MBA from CEU Business School in Budapest, Hungary and graduated from Hawaii Pacific University with a B.Sc. in Travel Industry Management. He also studied at the University of Vienna, Austria and at the NYU Stern School of Business in New York, USA.