All Consultants / Daphne Gezen
Daphne Gezen
Hotel & Branded Residence Advisor
Advises investors, developers, and hotel owners on hotel and branded residence development, investment strategy, and asset performance across luxury and boutique projects.
Key Consulting Services
- International Hotel & Branded Residence Development
- Feasibility, Underwriting & Investment Strategy
- Operator Selection & Brand Negotiations
- Independent Hotel Repositioning Strategy
- Asset Management & Owner Representation
Expertise
Daphne is a specialist in hospitality real estate development and investment advisory with extensive international experience in hotel and branded residence projects. She advises investors, developers, family offices, and hotel owners on the strategic planning and execution of hospitality developments from concept through operation. Daphne has served independent hotels, boutique properties, and family-owned hospitality businesses seeking to reposition assets, improve financial performance, evaluate brand affiliation opportunities, or plan new developments. Her areas of expertise include feasibility studies, market analysis, financial modeling, investment underwriting, development strategy, operator selection, and owner representation. She has extensive experience structuring hotel management, franchise, and branded residence agreements with major international hotel brands and investors. Daphne has advised a significant number of regional and international clients including Aareal Bank, Merrill Lynch, major international hotel brands, ADIA, QIA and BLG Capital. She has successfully carried out assignments in major global destinations—including Istanbul, London, Paris, Berlin, Venice, New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco—as well as secondary cities and resort markets throughout Europe, Asia and America. Daphne combines operational understanding with investment and development expertise to help clients make informed strategic decisions and maximize long-term asset value.
Background
- She is a hospitality executive with more than 22 years of international experience in hotel development, real estate advisory, and asset management. She currently serves as Managing Director of DTM Global Consulting, advising investors, developers, and hotel owners on hotel and branded residence projects across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Over the course of her career, she has advised on more than 170 hospitality projects across 14 countries with an aggregate project value exceeding $7 billion. Her work includes development advisory, feasibility analysis, financial modeling, operator selection and negotiation of hotel management and branded residence agreements with major global hotel brands. She previously served as Vice President at Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels, where she led feasibility, valuation, operator selection, and strategic advisory assignments for institutional investors and developers. Earlier in her career she held operational and finance roles with international hotel groups including Hilton, Accor, Melia and Kempinski. She has also served as an adjunct and guest lecturer teaching courses on hotel development and hospitality investment.
Testimonial
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I have worked with Daphne since 2007 on consultancy and appraisal assignments for a variety of projects. I have always been impressed by her dedication, diligence and attention to detail while maintaining a clear view of the bigger picture.
A key strength is her deep expertise in hotel operations paired with a strong finance and investment perspective. This rare combination enables her to provide advice that is not only operationally sound but also commercially and strategically well grounded. Her professionalism, insight and reliability have made her a highly valued partner on every project we have worked on together.
-Buket Hayretci- Former VP of Aareal Bank
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I’ve known Daphne since 2007, from her early days at JLL in London to her rise as country head at JLL Istanbul. She combines sharp analytical rigour with rare intuition and the ability to see both detail and the bigger picture. It has been wonderful seeing her thrive across diverse geographies and cultures – the UK, Turkey, CIS, the Middle East, and the US, a true testament to her adaptability and excellence. She is detail-oriented, astute, and reliable and above all, profoundly human. Whenever I’ve needed valuation, advisory, or a bankable document, there has only ever been one port of call – Daphne.
-Dr. Aradhana Khowala, CEO & Founder – Aptamind Partners, UK, Board Member – Global Wellness Summit, USA & Board Member – Patrizia SE, Germany
Professional & Other
She is a Member of Royal Institute Chartered of Surveyor (RICS) from Valuation path. RICS is a global professional organization that sets standards for real estate, land, construction, infrastructure, and valuation professionals. She is a certified valuer and RICS valuations are compliant with internationally recognized financial reporting frameworks, including IFRS and US GAAP.
During her tenure at JLL Hotels, Daphne supported the research team in the preparation and publication of country and city reports.
She is multilingual, fluent in English, French, and Turkish, with upper-intermediate proficiency in Italian and working knowledge of Spanish and German.
