Simon is the founding chairman of HOFTEL, the leading global association for hotel real estate investors who pay management or franchise fees to, or get rents from, the brands, with members’ portfolios now around US$ 100 billion. Members and subscribers include significant investors worldwide such as Katara, Union Investment, Blackstone, Schroders, Brookfield, Invesco, CapMan, 4C Hotels, Klarent Hospitality, CTF Development, Cedar Capital, Swire Properties, SC Capital, Aldar, and Harilela Hotels.  We also have domestic players like HR Group in Germany, Er Yatirim in Turkey, Dur Hospitality in Saudi Arabia, Boutique Group in Thailand and Lionstone Development in the USA.  HOFTEL holds meetings for its members annually in Europe, the Americas, the Middle East and Asia as well as publishing a quarterly Hotel Owners Journal.

HOFTEL also runs three hotel investor-led conferences each year, one in Spain (www.aohis.co) one in the UAE (www.giohis.com) and one in Thailand (www.seahis.com). 

Simon has widespread hotel industry experience, having been Chief Development Officer at Onyx Hospitality in Thailand from 2009 – 2013 and, prior to that, Chief Financial Officer of both luxury operator Six Senses and of US$ 500 mm hotel ownership company Hospitality Europe BV. Before that he worked for ten years in the corporate finance division of JP Morgan in London, coming to head up their global hotel industry coverage.

Simon has an MA in Modern History from Christ Church, Oxford