Meet the Team

Jan Bertelsen
Managing Director

+45 287 296 88
jb@hoteladvice.com

Originally progressed the hotel ranks via front office, and later Sales, Marketing and Business Development followed by many years as General Manager for a number of hotels. Before starting his own consultancy business, Jan was Chief Operating Officer, Asset Manager and Owners representative for the Hotel assets owned by the Bhatia family in London. He has a Bachelor degree in Economics.

Nicholas Rettie
Senior Consultant

nr@hoteladvice.com

Nicholas Rettie is a well-regarded hotelier, with extensive experience of opening and managing some of London’s best independent and innovative restaurants and hotels, and a past winner of the ‘Hotelier of the Year’ award.
His track record as General Manager includes opening and managing The Metropolitan (Park Lane), and The Halkin (Belgravia). As Managing Director of the Great Eastern Hotel, he oversaw its £65m reconstruction programme, re-opened and managed it until the sale to Hyatt in 2006.
Nicholas has been retained by investors, both in London and Moscow to support the development of design-led boutique hotels and to advise on the revival of one of Moscow’s finest grand hotels.

Mari-Elena
Senior Consultant

me@hoteladvice.com

Mari-Elena has more than 20 years experience in Sales and Marketing within the travel industry. Her experience, primarily within the US, Caribbean and Mexico, includes leading the sales and marketing efforts for regional airlines and hotel resorts with such companies as Marriott International, Sonesta Hotels and Air Aruba.
Most recently Mari-Elena served as Director of Travel Industry Sales for Marriott Offshore Resorts: A collection of 10 resorts in the destinations of Aruba, St. Thomas, Jamaica, Curacao, St. Kitts, Cancun and Puerto Vallarta. Achievements at Marriott International included obtaining an increase in production from this segment of more than 56% in the first year alone. Mari-Elena also holds a Graduate Degree in Travel & Tourism Management from Clemson University and an Undergraduate Degree in Marketing from Shorter College.

Diana Mountain
Consultant & Analyst

dm@hoteladvice.com

Diana Mountain has specialised in finance in hotels, resorts and restaurants since qualifying as a Chartered Accountant in 1991 and has worked in the UK, the Caribbean, Africa and the Middle East. As a freelance consultant her recent projects have included preparing financial projections for prospective hotel owners, assisting in the pre-opening process for independent luxury hotels – from managing budgets to procurement to implementing IT systems and training staff – and conducting operational risk reviews across a group of luxury resorts in order to recommend some practical but effective internal controls.

Lisbet Becker
Hotel Consultant & Administrator

+45 757 222 12
lb@hoteladvice.com

Lisbet’s hospitality experience is mostly related to the Online Travel industry, as well as a number of years in the time share exchange world for Interval International. Lisbet also holds a Master’s degree from Southern University of Denmark.

Silvia Fernandez
Hotel Consultant

+34 935 701 274
sf@hoteladvice.com

Silvia has had lengthy spells with both Hotel industry, the Online Travel Agency business as well as some years with consultancy house Deloitte in Barcelona. Based in Barcelona, Silvia looks after the consultancy work in Spain and Portugal.

Simon NG
Hotel Consultant & IT/SEO specialist

+44 7838 125 678
sn@hoteladvice.com

With lengthy work history in both the Online world, as well as with London Plaza Hotels, Simon is specialised in SEO, PPC/Adwords, Distribution and IT.

Jitu Patel
Senior Financing Consultant - Global

jp@hoteladvice.com

Representing and advising a large number of hotels and hotel groups in UK in Particular, and with a former background from BDO, Jitu advices hotel owners on Tax, company structures and setup, financing whilst also preparing accounts prior to submission to Audits. Jitu is a specialist in controlling the financial dealings between brands and the hotels they operate.