Merve Sakaoglu

Merve Sakaoglu is the Senior Development Manager for Türkiye at IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. 

In her role, Merve spearheads the expansion of IHG’s diverse brand portfolio across the country, including luxury, upscale, and mainstream opportunities through managed and franchised deal structures. 

With over 15 years of extensive hospitality experience, Merve has held various operational leadership positions at globally renowned brands such as Marriott, Shangri-La, Raffles, and Accor. At Accor’s Türkiye Head Office, she played a pivotal role in overseeing operational standards nationwide while providing significant support for the group’s development initiatives. 

Merve holds a bachelor’s degree from the prestigious Hacettepe University and further honed her expertise in Marketing through studies at Oxford.  

Abhijay Sandilya

Abhijay Sandilya is Managing Director - Japan at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the company’s strategic growth, performance and operations in Japan.

Prior to taking on this role in October 2021, Abhijay spent nearly 6 years with IHG in Australia where he most recently led IHG’s Development team as VP Development - Japan, Australasia, Pacific. Together with his team in Sydney and Tokyo, he was responsible for IHG’s biggest years of signings and openings on record in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, New Caledonia and Micronesia – signing almost 60 deals and reshaping the JAPAC region from 60 operating hotels in 2016 to more than 140 open and pipeline hotels today.

Key signings in his time with IHG have included the Appi Kogen portfolio, IHG’s biggest conversion deal in more than a decade in Japan, the first voco and Vignette Collection hotels globally, and market entries for Hotel Indigo, Kimpton and Regent.

Prior to his time at IHG, Abhijay worked for Whitbread PLC and the Jumeirah Group in Singapore and Dubai holding key leadership positions working on hotel real estate acquisitions for the groups working across markets in the Middle East, Africa and the Asia Pacific regions.

Abhijay has lived and worked in eight countries and holds a Master’s degree from Erasmus University’s Rotterdam School of Management.

Andrzej Szymczyk

Andrzej Szymczyk is Development Director for Poland & Eastern Europe at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for leading and growing IHG’s portfolio through franchise and management agreements.

Andrzej has over 15 years of extensive international experience in the hospitality industry across various hotel departments, especially in large hotel groups as well as independent hotels covering a large variety of property types. He is well positioned to help owners optimise their asset and recommending the most appropriate brand and design solutions for their properties.

Matthew Tripolone

Matthew Tripolone is Managing Director - Australasia & Pacific at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the company’s strategic growth, performance and operations in the Australasia & Pacific region.

Matthew was previously based in Dubai as Vice President of Development for IHG’s Middle East & Africa region since 2018, where he built and led the team that signed 17,000 keys, delivering unparalleled growth and signings for the Group, including the first Kimpton in MEA, and the world’s largest Crowne Plaza and voco hotels in the world.

Prior to that, Matthew headed development for IHG in Australasia & Japan, where he was responsible for IHG’s growth and doubled the annual signings, including iconic properties including InterContinental Perth, Crowne Plaza Christchurch, Crowne Plaza Sydney Darling Harbour and InterContinental Hayman Island Resort, as well as the renewal of several strategic portfolios for the group.

He joined IHG in 2014 from Accor Hotels where he held the role of General Manager, Development – Pacific, since 2008. Prior to that Matthew has worked for a number of leading real estate and advisory companies specialising in development, planning and site acquisition.

Matthew holds a Bachelor of Arts and Masters in Urban & Regional Planning from the University of Sydney.

Yuri Tsujimoto

Yuri Tsujimoto is Senior Development Manager for Japan at IHG^®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. She is responsible for the development and growth of IHG’s portfolio of brands across Japan. 

Yuri has more than a decade of experience in hotel industry. Before joining IHG in 2022, she was Development Manager at Hilton, where she supported the signing of major portfolios in Japan. Prior to that she held roles in e-commerce strategy at Hilton and at Ishin Hotels Group, where she started her hospitality career as a management trainee.

Yuri holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from California State University Los Angeles in the U.S.

Nilsun Tumer

Nilsun Tümer is Development Manager for Turkey at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. She is responsible for developing IHG´s brands across Turkey through franchise and management agreements and working collaboratively with development partners to deliver strong returns for owners.

Nilsun has over 20 years’ rich hospitality experience in different countries and has held roles as a developer, consultant, banker and lecturer. Prior to joining IHG, she held various senior positions in Citibank, Industrial Development Bank of Turkey (TSKB), Divan Hotels, PKF hotelexperts and Hotel&More.

Nilsun earned her PhD degree in EU Economics from Marmara University, Istanbul. She also has a BSc degree in Economics from Middle East Technical University, Ankara, and completed postgraduate finance programs at University of California at Berkley and University of Southampton.

Gautam Tyagi

Gautam Tyagi is the Development Manager for South West Asia at IHG Hotels & Resorts, one of the world's leading hotel companies. He is responsible for expanding IHG's brand portfolio throughout the region.

With over 10 years of real estate experience, Gautam has held notable positions at Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), HVS, Hotelivate, and the Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL) in New Delhi.

His areas of expertise include hotel investment sales, strategic advisory, hotel valuations, market feasibility, and revenue management.

Gautam holds an honours degree in Hospitality Management.

Robert van der Graaf

Robert van der Graaf is Development Director for Northern Europe for IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for the expansion of IHG’s portfolio with a focus on Austria, Germany, and Switzerland. Robert actively fosters relationships with existing growth stakeholders, creates new partnerships and asset-right deal structures.

Before joining IHG, Robert spent four years with the Radisson Hotel Group, as Senior Director of Business Development for Austria, Germany, and Switzerland, where he signed lease, management and franchise agreements and secured the entry of two new hotel brands in the region.

Prior to that, Robert worked for eleven years at Worldhotels – a global group of independently operated upscale hotels, where he added over 40 hotels to the portfolio. He also has a profound understanding of hotel commercial operations and distribution and went through the group’s three major transitions, including a rebranding, a merger and two private equity cycles.

A Dutch native, Robert speaks four languages and holds a bachelor’s degree in hospitality management from The Hotelschool The Hague.

Hylko Versteeg

Hylko Versteeg is the Head of Development for Southern Europe at IHG®, one of the world’s leading hotel companies. He is responsible for leading the growth of IHG’s brand portfolio across Southern Europe through franchise and management agreements. Working collaboratively with development partners, Hylko and his team consistently deliver strong returns for owners. With over a decade of development experience with IHG and having signed over 100 deals across multiple brands, Hylko is well positioned to help owners optimise their asset, recommending the most appropriate brand and design solutions for their properties.

Prior to joining IHG in 2006, Hylko worked at Hyatt Hotels & Resorts and in several Hotel & Tourism consulting roles across Spain and Latin America for an international consulting company and the CAF (Corporacion Andina de Fomento – the Andean Community Development Bank).

Hylko holds a bachelor degree in European Hospitality Management & Hotel Administration from The Hague Hotel School.