ABOUT US
Hotel Resilient is a leading digital platform that ranks and reviews hotels based on a range of sustainability and resilience metrics used by Tour Operators and Destination Management Companies world-wide.
Hotel Resilient is also a scientific benchmarking and certification body for crisis-resilient, climate friendly and responsible hotels and resorts based on internationally-aligned and industry supported standards. The Hotel Resilient digital platform provides accommodations with a detailed footprint of their disaster and climate risks, and guides users through actionable recommendations to become more resilient.
We support hotels from the design of their crisis management system to implementation of protocols, facilitation of trainings and completion of audits towards a successful certification.
OUR MISSION
Our mission is to empower the hospitality industry adopt and implement resilience and sutainability best practices. We aim to achieve this through pioneering data-driven research, fostering effective collaborations, and facilitating purposeful exchanges.
OUR TEAM
Hotel Resilient’s aim is to support resilience in the tourism accommodation industry to reduce risk from disasters and impacts of climate change.
The Hotel Resilient team is born out of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), where we led a consortium of university and private sector partners to develop the world’s only internationally recognized standards on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation for hotels and resorts. Hotel Resilient’s staff are involved in leading academic and governmental research, teaching and training activities which allows Hotel Resilient to remain at the cutting edge of scientific and technical solutions for resilience in the the hospitality sector. Within such a fertile ground for collaboration, it should be no surprise that we can draw on a wide network of international experts in many fields to achieve excellence and rapid solutions in our projects and activities.
Bijan is the CEO of Hotel Resilient, and an expert in risk management. He led the development of the global multi-hazard disaster risk management standards for hotels and resorts as part of the Hotel Resilient Initiative of the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management. He has over 20 years of experience as a Principal Investigator in a number of international consulting and research projects on disaster risk management on behalf of the UN, World Bank and other multilateral agencies. He holds Masters and Doctoral degrees in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley.
Dr. Bijan Khazai
Chief Executive Officer
Trevor is educated as an Architectural Project Manager. Trevor has extensive experience with construction standards and building certification systems. Trevor is a LEED® Accredited Professional. Trevor has worked as a construction manager, sustainability consultant, and auditor on behalf of the Canada Green Building Council. His experience with sustainability standards has proven crucial for the successful development of the Hotel Resilient Standards and is instrumental in his role as Director of Standards and Accreditation at Hotel Resilient. He holds a doctoral degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology.
Dr. Trevor Girard
Director of Standards & Accreditation
Andreas is an expert for advanced soft computing, developing self-adapting, dynamic and fast technologies for multi-hazard modelling. He was contributing to various risk assessment projects both in research and the private sector. Since 2015 he has been developing cutting-edge risk modelling software for hydrological hazards (tsunamis, storm surge), while he is also active on risk communication. He holds a doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing) from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Andreas is responsible for development the Hotel Resilient web application as well as multi-hazard modeling technologies at Risklayer GmbH.
Dr. Andreas Schäfer
James specializes in global stochastic and real-time risk modelling for insurance and governments, as well as global data analytics, exposure and socioeconomic models. He is a Senior Risk Analyst with the World Bank in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South-East Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. James is also Deputy Head of the Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction at KIT, where he as led various research projects on hazard, risk and exposure modelling. He holds a doctoral degree from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. James is in charge of the development of risk analytics for Hotel Resilient.
Dr. Eng. James Daniell
Director of Analytics
Lukas is passionate to work on enchancing tourism resilience, disaster risk management and climate change adaptation especially in the context of sustainable development. Lukas has experience working in Mexico, China and the Philippines. He is contributing to research and services of Hotel Resilient investigating the role of nature-based solutions for climate-resilient development in tourism, among other topics. Lukas has a Master in ‘Geography of Environmental Risks and Human Security’ from the United Nations University, Institute for Environment and Human Security and the Univerity of Bonn, Institue of Geography.
Lukas Edbauer
David`s experience in the Tourism Industry include working with many of the most important global sustainability programs International Standards for Quality, Health & Safety and Sustainability for accommodations and destinations in Latin America and the Caribbean. His background also includes working as the Associate Technical Director & Accreditation Manager at the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and coordinat. David holds a Master on Leadership & Environmental Management from the UCI Costa Rica and an International Master in Local/Rural Development from the Polytechnic University of Madrid.
David A. Ortegón-Martínez
Josh is a Chartered Structural Engineer with experience in disaster risk-related fields since 2008, spanning: structural engineering, catastrophe risk modelling, and engineering for Urban Search & Rescue (USAR). As a USAR Engineer since 2012, Josh has conducted and supported USAR deployments and building safety assessments in the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, 2017 Hurricane Irma, 2019 Albania Earthquakes, and 2020 Beirut Explosion. Josh is a trainer for the Structural Engineering Course of the International Search & Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG), and has experience of seismic, windstorm and tsunami design for various structures around the world.
Dr. Eng. Josh Macabuag
Training Instructor
Anita is an experienced technical advisor with a demonstrated history of working in the tourism, sustainability and management consulting industry. Skilled in Sustainable Tourism Development, Climate Change, Regional Planning, and Green Economy, Anita brings strong business development skills to Hotel Resilient. She has worked as an innovation manager on the establishment of innovation ecosystems in the German Food Sector. Her specialisation is on stakeholder engagement and capacity building. She holds a Diploma in Sociology focused in Business and Social Skills from the University of Trier.
Anita Benassi
Sara is an experienceed web marketer and coordinates Hotel Resilient’s online marketing activities. Sara is also experienced in business consulting and microfinance and brings experience in sales and management of financial flows. As an expert in writing about environmental and ecological issues, Sara has a demonstrated history of working in the tourism and management consulting industry. She holds a Matser Degree in International Relations focused in East Asia from the University of Venice and a Degree in Communication from the University of Bologna.
Sara Marci
ADVISORY BOARD
Professor Friedemann Wenzel is Professor Emeritus at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. He specializes in hazard and risk evaluation, early warning systems, rapid damage prognosis, risk management and urban resilience. He has lead many international projects on multi-hazard risk assessments and acted as Head of the Geophysical Institute and multi-disciplinary Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology (CEDIM) at KIT. Prior to his appointment at KIT he was a Director at the GeoForschungs Zentrum Potsdam (GFZ) and Professor of Geophyiscs at Potsdam University. Professor Wenzel is Vice Chair and founding member of the Earthquake and Megacities Initaitve (EMI). More recently he has established cooperation with insurance companies assessing their portfolios and risks.
Prof. Friedemann Wenzel
Brian has been an advisor to the hospitality and tourism industry for the past thirty years, including leading Ernst & Young’s Northeast Hospitality Services practice and its global destination and tourism advisory solution. During his 23 years at EY, Brian has had many leadership roles including Northeast US practice leader in advising the hospitality sector, and global solution leader in advising the broader travel & tourism sector. Brian has worked in twenty countries in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Africa. He has provided a range of advisory services to hotels and destinations including: economic impact analysis; operational assessment; growth and operational strategy, investment analysis; and destination and tourism strategy and development advisory for municipal and country-level clients.
Brian Tress
Professor Geoffrey Lipman has occupied many pathfinding and pathmaking positions advocating climate resilience building, including former Executive Director of International Air Transport Association (IATA); President of World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC); Assistant Secretary-General, UN World Tourism Organization. He is Co-Founder of SUNx Strong Universal Network; He advances tourism as serious socioeconomic sector; drives airline liberalization agenda; pioneers new travel and tourism measurement systems, green certification, and China’s Tourism opening; devised UNWTO ST-EP Program, Davos Climate Summit, and G20/T20 program. Co-author of books on green growth, travelism, and EIU airline liberalization studies. Visiting Professor, Victoria University (Australia) and Hasselt University (Belgium).