Speaker profile

Scott Antel
Scotts FZ LLE

Scott Antel is a highly respected emerging markets hotels & hospitality lawyer with 25+ years’ experience advising both owners/developers and, less frequently, international operators in the Middle East, Russia/CIS, Africa, Turkey, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean on hotel & resort, branded residential and mixed-use developments.

A former senior partner in DLA Piper and BCLP, Scott regularly advises clients on all aspects of hotel & resort, branded residence and mixed-use development as well as on related operational matters, including litigation.

He has acted on hundreds of hotel projects including numerous landmark projects such as Sochi 2014, Blue Amber Zanzibar Resort in Zanzibar, Grand Hotel Europe and Astoria Hotel in St Petersburg, the Ritz Carlton and Mandarin Oriental in Moscow, Four Seasons, Mandarin Oriental and Chedi hotels in Oman, JW Marriott and W Yas Island in the UAE, Sofitel and Hyatt in Cyprus and many others projects in numerous locations, including Moscow, St Petersburg, Sochi, Almaty, Istanbul, Bodrum, London, Muscat, Zanzibar, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Jeddah, Makkah, Riyadh, Tehran, Muscat, Limassol, Crete, Montenegro, Vietnam and ten African countries.

He also works in the franchise sector advising hotels, restaurants and retail clients and on the structuring and set up of inbound franchise investment in numerous other sectors.

Scott is recommended as a "Leading Adviser" and "go to" hospitality lawyer by Chambers Europe and Legal 500 legal directories and listed in Best Lawyers. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Russian Hotel Investment Forum and is a regular speaker at the event, as well the Berlin IHIF, UAE AHIC and ALIS (US) hotel conferences. Scott is a regularly published thought leader and frequently quoted on hospitality related legal and commercial topics and a regular speaker at industry events and conferences.

Scott was recipient of the Russia/CIS Hotel Investment Forum's 2012 “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his contribution in developing the hotel industry in emerging markets, the only lawyer or consultant to ever receive this prestigious award. In 2011 he was elected a member of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC).