James Chappell

James is the London based Global Business Director of Horwath HTL, the world’s largest and most experienced Hospitality Consulting Brand. James and his team are responsible for the growth, marketing, business development and support for the 50 offices in 39 countries that make up the group. Originally from the world of advertising, James started in the hotel business in the best possible way, by accident, and has never left. James did a three-year management trainee course at the famous boutique hotel, Lydmar, in Stockholm before leaving to join consulting firm Overlook Hospitality Management with a brief to develop new products for the industry.

One of these became The Bench, which revolutionised the way performance data was collected and used in hotels. James was Managing Director of The Bench for five years before becoming Managing Director of STR Global, the company formed by the merger of The Bench, Deloitte’s HotelBenchmark and Smith Travel Research.

James has been with Horwath HTL for seven years and is a regular speaker at conferences and on television. James has appeared on CNN, The BBC, Bloomberg and others talking about the industry.