At Best Startup UK we track over 130,000 UK startups and over 500,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top United Kingdom based CEO’ operating in the Hospitality space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on editor@beststartup.co.uk.
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Companies House UK, Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Rami Zeidan
Co-Founder & CEO of Life House
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About Life House: Life House is a vertically integrated hotel software and management platform on the mission to make hotels operationally autonomous.
Julio Bruno
CEO of Time Out Group plc
Julio Bruno is a global leader with a track record in starting, scaling, and improving the profitability, performance, and value of companies. Julio currently serves Time Out Group plc as CEO.
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About Time Out Group plc: Time Out is a leading global media and entertainment business
David Burling
CEO Markets & Airlines of TUI Group
David Burling has been a member of the Executive Board since 1 June 2015. He is in charge of UK & Ireland, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Finland, Denmark), Canada and Russia as well as Hotel Purchasing and Aviation Platform. Prior to this appointment, David Burling was a member of the TUI Group’s Executive Committee as well as Managing Director for TUI UK & Ireland from October 2011 until June 2015. In April 2012 he joined the Group Management Board for TUI Travel PLC. David previously held the position of Commercial Director for TUI UK following the merger of the Tourism Division of TUI AG and First Choice in September 2007. David was key to the successful integration of the businesses, ensuring that both brands had clear strategy for growth. David started his career at Thomson Holidays in 1990.
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About TUI Group: TUI Group is an international tourism and hospitality organization that offers a range of tour, flights, cruises, and more.
Alexander Limpert
Co-Founder and CEO of GuestReady
Before launching GuestReady, Alex was a Country Managing Director in Taiwan and Philippines at Rocket Internet owned foodpanda, a global food delivery company. Prior to this, he was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in London, where he advised leading companies across a variety of industries including travel and hospitality. He holds an MSc with Distinction from London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Business Administration from University of St.Gallen (HSG). Alex has travelled to more than 50 countries for business and leisure, and therefore understands the needs of the modern business traveller and how any property can be turned into a guest-ready Airbnb home.
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About GuestReady: GuestReady is a platform for real estate management with a focus on short-term rentals.
Max Parmentier
Co-Founder & CEO of Birdie
Max Parmentier is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Birdie.
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About Birdie: Birdie is a digital caretech company focused on elderly care at home.
Del Titus Bawuah
Chief Executive Officer of lili
Del Titus Bawuah is a London based entrepreneur with a background in real estate management and alternative investments.
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About lili: Outdoor City pods offering flexible stay which can be accessed via smartphone or unique code on the move by the hour.
Ben Stephenson
CEO and Founder of Impala
Founder at Impala
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About Impala: Impala’s API connects room sellers and hotels, instantly. We empower you to build, innovate and sell.
David Abrahamovitch
Founder & CEO of Grind
The first of the Grinds, Shoreditch Grind was born when David turned a stand-alone perfectly circular building perched on the edge of Old Street Roundabout, into an Espresso Bar. A UCL Economics graduate, David has extensive business experience in previous roles.
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About Grind: Founded in Shoreditch in 2011, Grind & Co. has since opened espresso bars, cocktail bars, restaurants and recording studios across London.
Gerry Ford
Founder & CEO of Caffè Nero
Gerry Ford is an American businessman, founder, and Chief Executive of Caffè Nero. It is the UK’s third-largest coffee chain.
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About Caffè Nero: Caffè Nero is a European coffee house brand specialising in the creation of high quality Italian coffee.
Christopher Cowdray
CEO of The Dorchester Collection
Mr. Christopher Cowdray became Dorchester Collection’s chief executive officer in 2007, prior to being general manager of The Dorchester since 2004. Brought up in Zimbabwe, his 30 years of extensive international hotel management experience, across four continents, gives him an exceptional understanding of the luxury hotel market and the significant impact that cultural differences have when doing business around the world Mr. Cowdray firmly believes that the success of any organisation comes from its employees, with every single member of the team playing a vital role in delivering exceptional service. He has been instrumental in establishing Dorchester Collection’s Vision & Values and ensuring that these are articulated through all teams in the hotels. This has led to the entire company being visibly aligned to his vision of passion for excellence and innovation.
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About The Dorchester Collection: The Dorchester Collection provides one of the world’s largest selections of luxury hotels.
Paul Besnainou
Founder & CEO of Sweet Inn
Paul Besnainou is a 31-year old French-Israeli entrepreneur, who is entirely self-taught. After his high school diploma, he opted to pursue his studies at the Mir Yeshiva rather than attend a prominent business school. Following his seven years of Talmudic studies, he emerged filled with intellectual curiosity, discipline, and an analytical spirit – characteristics that would lead him to found and direct, only a year later, Sweet Inn. In just 5 years since its founding, Sweet Inn is already located in 13 cities around Europe and in Israel, totaling over 700 apartments and employ more than 200 employees.
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About Sweet Inn: Sweet Inn is a booking platform intended for hotel services for tourists and business travelers.
Chris Adams
Chief Executive Officer of OTHERWORLD
Chris Adams is the Chief Executive Officer at The Dream Corporation.
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About OTHERWORLD: The brick-and-mortar metaverse. An island paradise in the cloud reached through a growing network of multi-sensory immersion pods.
Jens Munch
Co-Founder & CEO of Pace Revenue
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About Pace Revenue: Pace is revolutionising revenue management with a suite of tools to deliver science, real-time and automation.
Igor Svehla
Co Founder & CEO of Trakbar
Igor Svehla is the Founder at Trakbar .
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About Project 3 Mobility, Trakbar: Smart business intelligence and predictions for bars & restaurants
Jack Jenkins
Founder and CEO of Resooma
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About Resooma: We’re building an end-to-end rental marketplace with simplified payment solutions that serves both tenants and property owners.
Alexander Lyakhotskiy
Founder & CEO of Pass the Keys
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About Pass the Keys: Pass the Keys is an airbnb management company offers an expert Airbnb and short let management service.
Brandon Stephens
Founder & CEO of Anthem
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About Anthem, Mamma Roma, REVL, Thunderbird Fried Chicken, Tortilla Mexican Grill: Anthem embraces the seismic changes in work, entertainment, and wellbeing.
Julian Bourne
CEO & Co-Founder of Sellar
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About Sellar, Waffle: Sellar is the new trade ordering experience for breweries selling beer directly to trade customers.
Daniel Holden
Chief Executive Officer of Trust Payments
Daniel is responsible for all financial and commercial aspects of the UC Group. He previously held senior positions at Deloitte and Capita, and was involved in a number of venture capital-backed companies.
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About Emerging Payments Association, Trust Payments: Trust Payments is a global unified payments group for global pay-in, pay-out and customer journey technologies.
Dominic Blakemore
Group Chief Executive Officer of Compass Group
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About Compass Group: Compass Group is a food and support services company that provides a wide range of innovative dining solutions.
Prask Sutton
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Onvi
Founder & CEO of Wi5.
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About Onvi: The mobile-first POS system for hospitality
Gareth Hughes
CEO of Crave Interactive
Gareth is a technology entrepreneur with a passion for creating innovative solutions that everyone can instinctively use. He was formerly with Dun & Bradstreet, GEC and was a main board Director of Psion plc.
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About Crave Interactive: Crave Interactive is the leading provider of cutting-edge in-room tablets designed for hotels of any size.
Maxime Leufroy-Murat
City Relay Founder and CEO of City Relay
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About City Relay, FG Properties, Outswitch: London’s premier short let management company. Short lets, but smarter.
Hubert Viriot
CEO of Yotel
Hubert Viriot joined YOTEL in May 2014 to roll out an aggressive growth strategy targeting key city centres and international airports in Asia, Europe, the Middle East and North America. Prior to his appointment as the CEO of YOTEL, Hubert was CEO of Raimon Land PLC, a leading real estate developer listed on the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET). During his four-year tenure in Thailand, Hubert orchestrated the successful turnaround of Raimon Land and increased the company’s development portfolio from USD200M to USD1.1Bn. Raimon Land’s stock was one of the top 5 performing stocks on the SET and incorporated in the SET 100 Index.Previously, Hubert spent four years as Vice President of Investments & Acquisitions with IFA Hotels & Resorts, YOTEL’s parent company, and five years with HVS, a global consulting firm focused on the hospitality, tourism and real estate industries. Hubert has a BS degree in International Management from the University of Wales and a BS degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management from the Glion Hotel School in Switzerland.
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About Yotel: Yotel offers affordable hotels with elements of luxury in smart spaces.
Antony Woodcock
Co-founder and CEO of Gig
Antony Woodcock is a co-founder and the CEO at Gig since July 2015. Prior to working at Gig, Woodcock worked as a co-founder and director at Maki, director at Parliament House Hotel Co., and member of executive brand management for Holiday Inn Express Europe at InterContinental Hotels Group. Woodcock finished Bachelor of Arts, Marketing and Management Science at University of Strathclyde.
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About Gig: Gig offers a platform for millennials who want to pick up shift work in the hospitality and retail sectors.
Rich Martell
Co-founder & CEO of orderswift
Richard Lewis Martell, also known as “Rich Martell” or “Dicky M” (born 10 February 1989) is an Internet entrepreneur best known for founding Floxx Media Group and being the creator of FitFinder. According to sources, Martell started his first internet business, when he was only 15 years old to provide income throughout his education at Bedford School and later University College London. Whilst at University Martell worked in the Technology divisions of a number of investment firms including Goldman Sachs. Martell launched FitFinder on Friday, 23 April 2010 at 9am; within 6 hours of the site being up it had to be pulled down due to such high demand and abuse. He said the site was intended “just for a few of us to communicate on throughout the day, however word got out at UCL, and after 2 days of it being online, the UCL one alone had over 25,000 unique users.” He was quoted later describing his surprise at the popularity of it as it was ‘only a joke’. In May 2010, Martell was given the maximum fine by his university for ‘bringing the university into disrepute’. Martell refused to remove the site; however, on May 28, 2010, the website was removed and replaced with a holding page and message signed off by Dicky M citing ‘increased pressure’ from universities to remove the site. He vowed to bring back a new improved FitFinder for the next academic year. On 3 January 2011, Martell launched his new business, Floxx. The initial concept of Floxx was based around a mobile app which was similar to FitFinder but with a few subtle differences. It was reported that Martell had initially raised funding from Dragons Den investor, Doug Richard and US super angel Kevin Wall. In July 2011, Martell announced that Floxx was going to focus on developing ideas that were specifically for use on mobile platforms, especially location based social networks. A few months later, the app MapChat was launched reaching a top 10 ranking in the app store. In October, Martell launched Spottd – a location based social network allowing users to share and discover posts around them. In early 2012, Martell announced that Floxx would be expanding and launching a digital media agency business as part of the company, thereby drawing from his team’s experience with mobile apps, product design and highly scalable websites.
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About Buckmore Park Karting, orderswift: orderswift is a desktop and mobile application that enables restaurants to manage their online orders.
James Osmond
Chief Executive Officer of Triptease
James is a highly experienced marketeer who has worked across a wide array of industries: from technology, to retail, financial services, hospitality and wellbeing. He learnt the ropes as brand manager at Unilever and went on to co-found a global marketing strategy consultancy, Clear, which sold to M&C Saatchi just five years later. James now leads Triptease’s HQ in London, where he leads the company from
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About Triptease: Triptease is a travel SaaS company that empowers hotels to recapture guest relationships and increase direct bookings.
Sabina Alexandra
EA to CEO & Corporate PR of onefinestay
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About onefinestay: Onefinestay give people a new way to experience a place staying in the finest homes in their favorite cities.
Bill Winthrop
Chief Executive Officer of Kitchen Cut
Bill brings over 25 years experience in the food industry to the Kitchen CUT Board having held Executive Board Member positions with H.J.Heinz, United Biscuits and Birdseye. His international experience across Europe, the Middle–East and Africa covers disciplines such as IT, HR, change management, business acquisition, business integration and general management. He joined Kitchen CUT to bring strategic direction and to help to drive significant international growth – both within the Kitchen CUT team and client base.
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About Kitchen Cut: Kitchen CUT is a unique online software solution for F&B professionals, helping you to manage your kitchen operations more efficiently.
Henry Bennett
Co-Founder / CEO of YourWelcome
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About YourWelcome: YourWelcome is a SaaS platform enabling short term rental managers to add a service layer to their business.
Rob Hall
Founder & CEO of Wriggle
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About Wriggle: A web and app marketplace helping people discover and transact at handpicked local food & drink establishments.
Chris Alexandre
Founder and CEO of GuestRevu
Founder & CEO at GuestRevu (Guest Experience Management for the hotel and accommodation industry.) Founder & CEO at IntelliMetrixx (rebranded to GuestRevu) Previously: – Founder and CEO at SurveyShack.com. – Founder and Managing Director of jungle.com – the UK’s largest digital superstore, sold to GUS in 2000. An experienced management professional with a passion for business and the IT industries, with experience spanning UK, Europe, Africa and the US. Specialties: Internet, Computer software, eCommerce, Marketing, Business Development and Entrepreneurship
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About GuestRevu: Quickly and easily gather feedback from your guests and actively manage your online reputation with GuestRevu’s cloud-based solutions.
Paddy Griffith
CEO of Huski Mountain Delivery
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About Huski Mountain Delivery: Huski is an online food and drink delivery service in the French Alps, bringing ready to heat meals to people on ski holidays.
Rob Roger
CEO of IQ Student Accommodation
Rob Roger is the CEO of IQ Student Accommodation.
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About IQ Student Accommodation: IQ Student Accommodation is a student housing company that offers a range of semester contracts.
Toby Heelis
CEO (Co-Founder) of virtuall
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About : Transforming industries by creating innovative products that connect the world more sustainably and profitably.
Gee Mann
CEO and Founder of Kiva Solutions
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About Kiva Solutions: Kiva Solutions Book meetings in real-time without the hassle, expense and wasted time of RFP’s and proposals.
Matthew Stubbs
Founder & CEO of BookingTek
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About BookingTek: BookingTek is develop and deliver innovative direct booking solutions for hospitality.
Peter Bruce
CEO & Founder of Entier
Peter Bruce is the CEO & Founder at Entier
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About Entier: A largest independent privately owned catering company.
Adrienne Hanna
Founder & CEO of Right Revenue
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About Right Revenue: Right Revenue is a brand new cloud based revenue product providing detailed analytics and accurate rate forecasting.
Merilee Karr
Founder & CEO of UnderTheDoormat
Merilee has travelled the world to over 60 countries – and feels at home in many of its major cities. A strategist, property management and partnership expert formerly working for a global energy company, she has always been inspired by authentic and memorable travel experiences. When she’s not feeding her own wanderlust, she loves hiking, cycling, skiing and taking part in the occasional triathlon. Merilee has a passion for changing the world. 12 years working for Shell and being able to observe different cultures around the globe, gave birth to her desire to actually start making a difference in the way things are done. Combining her drive for initiating change with her love of travelling, Merilee realised the potential for tourists to experience a new destination like a local while allowing homeowners to earn extra income with piece of mind through the growing sharing economy.
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About UnderTheDoormat: Our mission is to redefine the future of accommodation.
Daniel Rodgers
Founder & CEO of QikServe
Daniel is a serial entrepreneur involved in a number of ventures before seeing an opportunity to disrupt global hospitality with digital self-service. Daniel has delivered on market opportunities, such as kiosk, to ensure QikServe is on the digital pathways that lead to mobile self-service.
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About QikServe: QikServe is the enterprise platform for guest self-service in hospitality.
Prithvi Dhanda
Founder, CEO of Sentiment Search
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About Sentiment Search: The next generation of review insights for restaurants.
Julie Grieve
Founder & CEO of Information Apps Ltd
Julie Grieve joined Criton as Founder & CEO in 2015.
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About Information Apps Ltd: Guest engagement platform, helping independent hotels compete with the chains
Steven Rolfe
CEO of Kurve Kiosks
Passionate foodie & passionate about IT within hospitality, I’m an enthusiast for creating new solutions for great customer journeys and operational efficiency to meet and advance the exciting technology changes happening across our sector.
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About Kurve Kiosks: Bringing the best-in-class self-serve solutions for quick service restaurants & the hospitality sector.
Allan Nelson
CEO & Co-Founder of For-Sight
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About : Hotel CRM, CDP and Guest Engagement
