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Belgium

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Brussels Grand Place

Czech Republic

Prague Charles Bridge

Germany

Berlin Kurfurstendamm

Greece

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Athens Monastiraki

Italy

Pisa Centrale

Poland

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Warsaw Old Town

Portugal

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Lisbon Bairro Alto

Slovakia

Bratislava Presidential Palace

Spain

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Barcelona Gothic

Barcelona Passeig de Gràcia

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Calpe Seafront, Costa Blanca

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Cordoba Mezquita Catedral

Madrid Central

United Kingdom

Glasgow Charing Cross

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Edinburgh Cowgate

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London Elephant & Castle

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London Kensington Holland Park

York Micklegate

Governance

Safestay Plc is committed to maintaining high standards of corporate governance throughout the Group and to ensuring that all of its practices are conducted transparently, ethically and efficiently. The Company believes that good governance will result in the continued success of the Company and improve shareholder value. Therefore, the Company has chosen to formalise its governance policies by complying with the UK’s Quoted Companies Alliance Corporate Governance code for Small and Mid-Size Quoted Companies (the “QCA Code”).

Accordingly, the Company has established specific committees and implemented certain policies, to ensure that:

It is led by an effective board which is collectively responsible for the long-term success of the Company;
The board and the committees have the appropriate balance of skills, experience, independence, and knowledge of the Company to enable them to discharge their respective duties and responsibilities effectively;
The board establish a formal and transparent arrangement for considering how it applies the corporate reporting, risk management, and internal control principles and for maintaining an appropriate relationship with the Company’s auditors; and
There is a dialogue with shareholders based on the mutual understanding of objectives.

We continue to evolve our approach and make ongoing improvements as part of building a successful and sustainable company.

Date on which this information was last reviewed: 31/12/2024

Larry Lipman, Chairman

Larry Lipman has been the main driving force behind the Safestay business since its establishment. He is responsible for the Group’s strategy and business development. He has extensive experience of the property market, gained during the last thirty years or so, throughout which he has been the managing director of Safeland plc, where his primary focus is on trading opportunities and the assessment of potential investments and refurbishment projects.

He was also a key executive in each of Safeland’s previous demergers and in each case he continued after the demerger to be closely involved with the growth of those businesses as well as continuing to manage the core businesses of Safeland.

Paul Hingston, Chief Financial Officer & Company Secretary

Paul is a KPMG qualified FCA Chief Financial Officer with an MBA.

Significant board level experience in the UK and overseas has involved operating in a wide variety of sectors including Leisure, Travel, Hospitality, Aviation and Construction. He was most recently Group Finance Director of Starboard Hotels Ltd and was appointed Chief Financial Officer at Safestay Plc in February 2022.

In addition to working with Operational teams to optimise business performance, often during periods of rapid growth, Paul has worked extensively on financing strategy with corporate finance advisers, banks, private equity funds and other city investors.

Paul’s expertise, in optimising value from the interaction of Finance with the other functions of the business has been applied across a variety of corporate structures including PLCs, privately owned and private equity backed businesses.

Additionally, he is the Business Members Representative on the Management Committee for the Beds, Bucks and Herts Society of Chartered Accountants.

Peter Zielke, Chief Operating Officer

Peter Zielke joined Safestay plc in February 2023.

His international hospitality career spans over 25 years with management and director positions held in Germany, the UK, Russia, New Zealand and other countries.

He started his career in his hometown Weimar, Germany at renowned Hotel Elephant. Most recently Director of Operations for the South-UK region for Kew Green Hotels, where he was in charge of Marriott International and IHG branded properties. He also gained considerable brand knowledge in previous roles at Hilton and Millennium & Copthorne Hotels at which he completed various operational strategy reviews.

His expertise in optimising revenue, marketing and operational management is extremely valuable for Safestay in enhancing its market position.

Peter was Chairman of the Gatwick Hotels Association until March 2023 and a member of various business focus groups.

Michael Hirst (OBE), Non-Executive Director

Michael Hirst is a former Chairman of the UK Events Industry Board where he has been advising Ministers on how to increase the value of international business events held in the UK. In that capacity, he served on the Tourism Industry Council advising Government on the Tourism Recovery Plan. He is an Executive Committee member and past Chairman of UKEVENTS, representing Britain’s Events Industry and a director of The Tourism Alliance, bringing together all the major tourism organisations in the UK.

He is a Director of CP Holdings Ltd, a diversified industrial and services group, which includes hotels and thermal spas in Central Europe and a service office business in the UK. He is a former consultant to CBRE Hotels, the world’s leading hotel experts. He also advises hospitality and tourism businesses and has acted as an Arbitrator for the International Court of Arbitration in hotel dispute resolution. Michael Hirst was appointed an OBE for services to tourism in Britain and awarded the Joint Meetings Industry Council Unity Award, for his significant contribution to the advancement of the international Meetings Industry. He was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award for his distinguished career in hospitality, leisure and tourism by the International Hotel Investment Forum and recently awarded a Fellowship by the Event and Visual Communications Association. He was a board member of the Ladbroke Group Plc where he was Chairman and CEO of Hilton International and voted “Corporate Hotelier of the World” by HOTELS Magazine.

Paul Cummins, Non-Executive Director

Paul Cummins is a qualified chartered accountant and is currently Investment Director of Pyrrho Investments Ltd, Safestay’s largest shareholder. He has previously worked at Nomura International in both Hong Kong and London as a proprietary trader, he also worked at KPMG in Hong Kong and BDO in London. He is currently Chairman of Pacific Jade Holdings Ltd, a Hong Kong based tax and company secretarial business.

Sarah Whiddett, Non-Executive Director

Sarah Whiddett has over 17 years’ experience in Insight, CX and Marketing. Currently, she is a Strategic Client Partner for Kantar Insights & Consulting, a leading global data, insight and consultancy agency. She leads a global matrix team of 30 people on 3 of Kantar’s largest global accounts worth over £17 million per annum. Sarah works across brand strategy, innovation, analytics, customer experience, creative and media, and was instrumental in leading the UK activation of a global marketing campaign at Kantar. She was previously Chair and Director of AURA, the UK’s biggest client-side research networking and events organisation, and prior to that held numerous leadership positions at food and drinks wholesaler Bidfood. Alongside these roles, Sarah has been involved in extensive public speaking and industry engagement, judging multiple Market Research Society (MRS) awards, and being selected for the Kantar Women in Leadership program.

Safestay Corporate