Marina Franolić

Founder and CEO, HESA Group

I began my hospitality career at the Glion Institute of Higher Education and the Hotel Savoy, Rocco Forte group, in Florence. After several years outside of the hospitality industry, in 2012 I established my own company with the goal of bringing global trends to the regional industry.

In 2013. Adria Hotel Forum was launched with an idea of showcasing world trends, sparking the creation of new ideas and partnerships and overall development of the hotel industry. Within years, AHF confirmed to be the only internationally recognized hotel investment conference within the South Eastern Europe whose partners are global companies.

In 2017, the company started a unique event with a goal of bringing trends into everyday hotel operations – HOW /Hotel Operations Weekend/ Festival that gathers every year more than 500 participants.

In 2018, the company has been rebranded as HESA Group and served as the connoisseur of the regional market and opportunities.

In 2019, I got the offer from Bench Events for acquisition of Adria Hotel Forum. From June 2016, AHF is part of Bench Events and I became their Managing Director for CEE with new project coming up – set of events for CEE/SEE/CIS – IDEEA Hotel Investment Forum.

In addition, I serve as the Industry Advisory Board Member at Glion Institute of Higher Education.