SPEAKER

Lionel Benjamin

Co-Founder
AGO Hotels

Lionel co-founded AGO Hotels in December 2020 bringing to the UK market a hybrid profit lease proposition for hotel owners. The USP of aligning landlord, tenant and brand with true transparency saw AGO sign and open fourteen hotel in its first eighteen months of trading. Accor’s parent company is an equity stakeholder in AGO hotels. Lionel oversees the hotel asset management and internal activities of AGO Hotels, with a focus on business development. Lionel achieved a lucrative transaction record, supporting and leading transactions with a total value in excess of $2.5bn, creating capital value whilst simultaneously driving operational performance. Prior to AGO, Lionel spearheaded the development of a circa $600m Hotel Business for Topland, one of Europe’s largest privately-owned investment groups. Lionel drove the investment strategy, acquisition, asset management, financing, and sale of the Hallmark Hotel portfolio in 2019 generating double-digit IRR and a significant return on equity invested. Lionel built his name as Operations Director / Hotel Manager of the Savoy Hotel and the Hilton London Metropole, following which he joined Hilton Worldwide’s Real Estate Team playing a key role in the company’s largest single asset sale, followed by the sale of ten hotels in six European countries. Lionel has been in numerous leadership roles across the industry for over twenty-five years holding qualifications from the Ealing School of Hotel-Keeping, now The University of West London, where he was awarded an honorary professorship and Cornell University where he attended the Hotel Asset Management, Investment Analysis and General Managers Program. Lionel’s has been nominated in 2019, 2020 and 2021 as a top three finalist in HAMA Europe’s Hotel Asset Managers Association Award.