Our People

Armin is based in Christie + Co's Munich Office. Having joined the company as a Senior Consultant in January 2004 he is now a Director & Head of Advisory and Valuation Services. Prior to this he worked for PKF hotelexperts. He has gained extensive experience of hotel feasibility, valuation studies and strategic consultancy work, having worked on a wide range of hotels, serviced apartments, time-share and other leisure properties throughout Europe. More recently, he has worked alongside his UK colleagues on a number of care home valuations.

Armin holds a Diplom-Betriebswirt (FH) degree in Economics, specializing in Hotel and Restaurant Administration from the University of Applied Sciences in Munich. Furthermore, he holds a special degree in Real Estate (Immobilienökonom IRE/BS), which is comparable to a Master of Science in Real Estate. Armin has authored several articles on hotel valuation and other hotel related topics.

Aude-Marie joined the Paris office in February 2011 as a consultant. She has four years experience from MKG Hospitality where she has crisscrossed the French hotel market by conducting market and facilities studies within the Paris – Ile de France region. Aude-Marie graduated from ESC Dijon and holds a MBA in Tourism and Hospitality Management at ESG Paris.

Markus Beike has headed up the development of Christie + Co’s German operations as Managing Director since 2003. Key achievements since his appointment have included the opening of new offices such as Berlin and Munich, the development of an advisory and valuations team, and the completion of more than 150 hotel transactions during the past three years.

Markus started his professional career 25 years ago with an apprenticeship as a qualified hotelier at Steigenberger. Subsequently, he was employed as an assistant to the executive board at Kempinski and worked as an analyst in the credit risk management of Deutsche Bank. Before joining Christie + Co, Markus Beike held the position of a manager in the corporate finance team at Arthur Andersen. Markus holds a certificate as a qualified hotelier from the German Chamber of Commerce, Hotelfachmann (IHK), a graduate business diploma, Diplombetriebswirt (FH), and a special degree in property business (EBS). He is also a Member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Markus also regularly lectures at Technische Universität Berlin, Universität Wuppertal and Maastricht Hotel School.

Carine joined Christie + Co in May 2005, having worked for a private equity fund as a portfolio management analyst. Prior to this, she spent four years working as a Consultant and Senior Consultant with HVS International in London. She has extensive experience of conducting hotel feasibility studies and advisory projects throughout Europe, and has led several detailed research and analytical studies offering strategic advice across many sectors and markets.

She also specialises in producing high quality, intelligent documentation to support Christie + Co’s Corporate and International Agency and Advisory work. Carine holds an MBA in International Hotel Management from IMHI – a joint programme between Cornell University, Ithaca, and ESSEC business school, Paris. She also has a BSc (Hons) degree in Hotel Management.

Maxime joined Christie + Co France in April 2006. He previously worked as a consultant in an international advisory firm, based in Paris, where he conducted market and feasibility studies for hospitality operations, as well as appraisals around Europe and Africa. Maxime holds a Bachelor of Business Administration (Hospitality) degree (Hons.) from the Hotel Management School Les Roches of Crans-Montana (Switzerland). He is fluent in English, French, Italian, Spanish and has a good working knowledge of German.

Based in the Paris office, Maxime has worked on several corporate hotel projects on behalf of institutional and private investors. He contributed to several advisory and brokerage assignments for clients such as the LFPI Group, Starman, InterContinental Hotels Group, Accor Hospitality and Gecina.

Emma joined Christie + Co in March 2011 to jointly lead the company’s first office outside Europe. Emma previously ran her own advisory business, and worked with TRI Hospitality Consulting and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Emma has lived in Dubai and Bahrain for the past 17 years, and worked on projects across the Middle East. Emma is a specialist in the hotel industry but has wider knowledge of Middle East business markets and consulting practice having also advised on government, services and manufacturing industries.

Emma’s has extensive experience in corporate strategy, market and financial feasibility studies, opportunity assessments, opinion papers and bespoke research assignments. Her projects range from multiple hotel portfolios within major mixed-use developments to single plot hotels and cover an array of products including budget hotels, city based business hotels, conference hotels and beach resort hotels in both established markets and emerging destinations.

Gavin joined Christie + Co in March 2011 to jointly lead the company’s expansion into the MENA region, following the successful acquisition of his hotel advisory business. Prior to this, Gavin was a Director at TRI Hospitality Consulting. In addition to his specialisation in hotel investment advisory, he has provided strategic consulting advice across many industries to large multinational companies in Europe and the Far East.

Gavin has worked extensively throughout the Middle East and North Africa for the past nine years and has a lifetime association with the region. He has provided hotel advisory assistance to a diverse array of clients, including government institutions and companies, project management and property development firms, private investors and hotel management companies. He has provided these services to many of the highest profile projects across the region from standalone hotels and resorts to significant mixed-use developments.

Gavin’s areas of expertise are in general corporate consulting, market and financial feasibility studies, highest and best use development projects, tourism development and master planning, research and opinion papers and management contract negotiation.

A graduate of Cambridge University, Ian has over 25 years’ experience of the hotel property market with Christie + Co. During this time he established the London Valuation Division, born from agency experience in the London hotel market, and was instrumental in developing the Professional Services Division across our UK network of offices, latterly assisting with our fledgling offices in Europe. He is currently spearheading our corporate hotel valuation work in London, embracing substantial individual hotel assets and cross border portfolios in the UK, Europe, North Africa and the USA.

Inmaculada is the Director for Christie + Co in Spain and Portugal. Based in our Barcelona Office, Inmaculada has been the Director of Christie + Co’s Spanish operations since they were inaugurated in 2000. She has more than 18 years’ experience in the real estate sector, and ten years’ in the hotel sector. Previous experience has included working for the Catalonia Development Agency, where she was responsible for attracting foreign investment to the region.

She also managed the ‘Site Selection Division’ of the property company, King Sturge, where she was Business Development Manager and Director of the Barcelona office. Inma was also one of the founder members of the first hotel innovation groups created in Spain. She is also a member of the recently created “Barcelona Global” platform, formed by key entrepreneurs and business leaders in the city, with the aim of acting together to promote city development.

Kimmo joined Christie + Co in January 2005 to work from London as part of our International Advisory Team. He was appointed an Associate Director in March 2007 and, in April 2008, returned to his native Helsinki, to take on the position of Director of Scandinavia, Russia and the Baltic States. He previously spent three years working in London as an Associate Director and Relationship Manager with three of the UK’s most important hotel lending banks and five years as a consultant and senior consultant with HVS International in London. He has extensive experience of conducting a range of hotel market and feasibility studies and advisory projects, including hotel valuations throughout Europe.

Kimmo holds an MSc Diploma in Property Investments from City University in London and an MBA in Hotel Management from Michigan State University (East Lansing, US). He also has a BSc in Hotel, Restaurant and Tourism Management from Haaga Institute Polytechnic, Finland.

Maureen Doyle joined Christie + Co’s Corporate Hotels group as a Hotel Consultant in February 2007. Prior to joining Christie + Co, Maureen worked for two years as a hospitality consultant at one of Ireland’s leading accountancy firms, in their Corporate Finance and Hotel Consultancy division. Prior to this she worked in the hotel industry both in Ireland and Internationally. Her consultancy experience includes many feasibility studies, market studies and advisory projects. Maureen holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Hospitality Management from Trinity College Dublin, and an MBS (Hons) in Travel and Tourism Management from the Michael Smurfit Business School, University College Dublin.

Lukas joined Christie + Co in September 2010 as Manager Business Development Austria & CEE and is based in our newly opened office in Vienna/Austria. He holds a degree in Tourism Management & Leisure Industry as well as a Master of Science in Real Estate and is a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Before joining Christie + Co, Lukas worked as Senior Advisor at KPMG in Budapest. In this position he worked on numerous projects in Germany, Austria and CEE. His projects included valuations across Europe, hotel operator searches, contract negotiations, feasibility studies, preparation of sales and marketing plans for integrated resorts as well as assistance in hotel transactions.

Prior to this Lukas worked as Development Manager for RIMC, a hotel management company in Hamburg, Germany. In this position he was responsible for the evaluation of new hotel projects, reviews and negotiations of hotel contracts as well as the preparation of operational forecasts for the proposed hotels. As part of his property development tasks he worked closely with architects, developers and investors. His professional experience in the hotel and tourism industry further includes working in places such as Switzerland, the Caribbean and the US (e.g. InterContinental, Renaissance, Sacher, Sandals Antigua Resort).

Riikka joined Christie + Co from Marriott development planning, where she worked in managerial positions for four years. She gained extensive experience with one of the largest global hotel operators and worked on a large number of feasibility, asset management and other strategic projects. Prior to that, Riikka worked for an international hotel consulting company in London benefiting from exposure to European and North African hotel markets. Her career spans over ten years of operational experience in the hospitality industry in Finland, France and the UK, including managerial positions. Riikka holds an MBA degree from a joint programme between Cornell University and Essec Business School, and a BSc from Haaga Institute, Helsinki.

Nikola joined Christie + Co as a Consultant in September 2010 having worked for NorthCourse- the global consultancy and market research arm of the Wyndham Worldwide Corporation for three years. Her consultancy experience includes assignments in Europe, Africa, India and the Middle East and encompasses market research, feasibility studies, sales and marketing advisory and strategic development briefs for hotels and leisure real estate.

Prior to this she had operational roles with Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts and Jumeirah Hotel Group. Nikola has completed a B.A. (Hons) in International Business and Tourism from The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management, in academic association with Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne.

Robert Chess has more than 20 years’ experience dealing with hotels and leisure property. He is a member of the President’s Panel of the RICS Dispute Resolution Service and a Fellow of the RICS (FRICS). Having gained experience in the corporate sector working for the Imperial Group and Grand Metropolitan, Robert has worked in private practice for more than 20 years.

Working as a specialist within the hotel sector, he is primarily experienced in the professional and consultancy side of the business, having undertaken numerous valuations, rent reviews and general advisory projects in the UK and across Europe including projects in France, Spain, Germany, Austria and Hong Kong.

Recognised as one of the industry’s leading specialists, Robert has given evidence in Court on a number of occasions and has also given evidence at planning inquiries.

Ross Petar is a Chartered Surveyor who joined Christie & Co's Corporate Hotels Group as a Hotel Valuer in January 2008. Prior to joining Christie & Co, Ross worked for a firm of Chartered Surveyors for over 3 years specialising in the leisure and hospitality sector. Ross holds a BA (Hons) degree in International Business Studies from Leeds Metropolitan University and a MA in Property, Valuation & Law at City University Cass Business School.

Sabina joined Christie + Co’s Corporate Hotels team in 2011 having worked five years for a specialist hotel advisory firm. Her consultancy experience includes financial feasibility studies, market assessments, due diligence and business reviews for projects ranging from budget hotels, luxury island resorts and boutique hotels to serviced apartments.

Sabina also worked on the assessment of the hotel development and investment opportunities at the London Olympic site for the 2012 Games. Fluent in English, German, French, Spanish and Italian, Sabina has carried out projects in the UK, central Europe and Latin America.

Prior to working in hospitality consulting, Sabina gained hotel management and tourism industry experience as an advisor for the Unctad/ITC (UN/WTO) in Ecuador, crew member with Swiss International Airlines (formerly Swissair) and in operational roles at Claridge’s in London, luxury hotels in Switzerland, Mexico as well as Australia. Sabina holds a BSc in International Hospitality Management from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne in Switzerland and is an active member of the AICR hotel manager association and EHL alumni.