The panel will also include head of brand at Elegant Resorts, Sally Booth, who has been a product and marketing expert in luxury travel since 2002 and now leads a 15-strong in-house marketing team at Elegant. Flying in from Dubai, Robert Swade, group chief operating officer of Jumeirah Group, will complete the panel, which will be chaired by Chris Hartley, chief executive of Global Hotel Alliance and another expert in luxury travel.

“What these people don’t know between them about what is happening in luxury travel probably isn’t worth knowing,” said April Hutchinson, editor of ttgluxury.

She will chair a panel discussion on the future of luxury hotel design with Will Meyer and Gray Davis, partners in a successful New York-based interior design company.

Their recent work includes W Hotel Lakeshore in Chicago, The Paramount in New York and the first in a new group of hotels – 1 Hotel South Beach Miami, as well as a range of restaurants. Joining them will be Anchalika Kijkanakorn, a pioneer of boutique hotels in Thailand who is also expanding into Laos with the opening of The President by Akaryn in Vientiane later this year, and Martin Hulbert, designer of Coworth Park and The Grove hotels.

The day also starts with Luxpo, ttgluxury’s one-to-one meetings event that connects top luxury travel sellers with suppliers of luxury product, while the UK version of the ULTRAs will also take place on May 23, with a dinner event in the evening, celebrating the winners of the awards.

“With the one-to-one nature of Luxpo, the thought-leadership of the Forum and the recognition of the ULTRAs, we are connecting the industry in unique ways that few other events do in the UK,” said Hutchinson. “There is no other date like this in the calendar.”

To attend the event on May 23, tickets for delegates cost £195 (+VAT). Full details of the event and other sessions are also available.