Alan Benjamin, ISHP, ISHC

President

Alan Benjamin, President, is one of the country’s leading hospitality Furniture, Fixtures and Equipment (FF&E) experts. Mr. Benjamin is the third generation of a family that has served the interior needs of the hospitality industry since 1931. He is president and founder of Benjamin West, the FF&E purchasing firm based in Boulder, Colorado, with additional offices in Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu and London. Benjamin West was the sole consultant to develop and negotiate Host Hotels & Resorts, Inc.’s Strategic Supplier Program in 2006.

In 1999, Mr. Benjamin co-founded the International Society of Hospitality Purchasers (ISHP), an organization that works with the industry’s leading vendors and design firms to raise the bar of purchasing in terms of education, efficiency, and ethics. Mr. Benjamin was the president of the ISHP from 2001-2003. Mr. Benjamin is coordinating the charitable efforts between the ISHP and Gifts In Kind International to work with the leading FF&E vendors in matching charities’ needs with the resources of the hospitality vendors.

Mr. Benjamin has been an FF&E expert witness for Sage Hospitality Resources, Richfield Hospitality Services, and the State of Colorado. In that capacity, Mr. Benjamin provided the technical litigation support and in-court expert testimony that was a cornerstone of the legal victories in each case. Additionally, Mr. Benjamin assisted the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) in determining the FF&E budgets for the ISHC’s CapEx 2000 report, and became a member of the ISHC in 2000. Mr. Benjamin co-chaired the ISHC 2007 CapEx study, the industry's reference for Capital Expenditures, which was presented at the NYU Investment Conference on June 5, 2007, as well as HD Boutique in Miami and the HAMA Fall Conference in Chicago in September 2007. Mr. Benjamin will also be presenting the CapEx study at the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show in November 2007, the ALIS Conference in January 2008 and the Hotel Investment Conference in Atlanta in March 2008. Mr. Benjamin moderated the panel “Developing Hotels in the 21st Century” at the 2006 ISHC Fall Conference in Miami, FL and was a panelist at the 2006 ULI Conference in Denver, CO, titled “Who's Next: Succession Strategies for Real Estate Companies.”

Mr. Benjamin has been published and quoted in USA Today, Hotel Business, Lodging, Hotel & Motel Management, Hospitality Design, Lodging Hospitality, Fabrics and Furnishings, The Colorado Real Estate Journal, The Denver Post and The HVS Journal. Mr. Benjamin’s speaking engagements include the American Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS), the AH&LA Convention, the Hospitality Design Conference, the NYU Investment Conference, the Florida Hotel Conference, and the International Hotel/Motel & Restaurant Show. Mr. Benjamin moderated the Town Hall meeting at the Hospitality Design Conference in Las Vegas in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007, and is scheduled to moderate the event again in 2008. In May of 2005, Mr. Benjamin initiated a three-year term on the Board of Gifts In Kind International, the third largest charity in the world. Mr. Benjamin graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Colorado, College of Business.