Carl Schneider, founder of GuestRights, is the very definition of well-traveled. The renowned commercial photographer has spent the better part of his career trotting around the globe, in pursuit of the perfect scene and the perfect shot, staying in hotel after hotel. In his travels, Carl experienced the entire spectrum of hotel service, from multi-star resorts with impeccable service and miles of amenities to no-frills lodgings that offered little more than shelter from the elements. In his more than 20 years on the road, what struck Carl most was the almost complete lack of consistency in the standards of guest service at places of lodging. It didn’t seem to matter the country, the room rate, or the number of rooms the property had – many places simply didn’t keep up their end of the bargain. And when Carl arrived in Hawaii on a family vacation only to find his reserved resort unable to provide the amenities it advertised, he decided it was time to do something about it. And so GuestRights was born.

Anne Edwards is Editor in Chief of ehotelier.com and lecturer in Cross Cultural Issues and Academic Writing at the Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School, Australia. Prior to these roles, Anne travelled and worked internationally for twelve years, holding various positions in the field of education, most notably as linguistic advisor to the Crown Princess of Thailand for two years in which she sampled some of the best hotels in the world. Her love for travel spans the freedom of wandering on a shoe-string budget to the finest standards of service in world-class properties. As editor of one of the largest hotel news sites in the world, Anne has a birds-eye view of what is happening in the industry internationally.