Advising you with a hand-picked team of experts
AJL Atelier prides itself in its unrivalled expertise, led by Simon Lehmann, one of the world’s leading vacation rental experts.
We're vacation rental experts
Leading and emerging firms in the travel and property industries have called on our expertise to reach their goals. From strategic reviews to mergers and acquisitions, and through every possible lever of profitable growth.

SIMON LEHMANN
Founder & CEO, Keynote Speaker, Board Member, Serial Angel Investor

CRISTINA LEHMANN
Founder, Head of People & Administration

GERNOT ZECHNER
Head of Operations & Senior Consultant

KATIE GLOVER
Head of Sales & Account Management

EFE GURACAK
Senior Consultant, M&A Advisor



Simon Lehmann
Founder & CEO, Keynote Speaker, Board Member, Serial Angel Investor
Simon is one of the world’s foremost experts on short-term rental and vacation rental. He leads AJL Atelier, a specialised vacation rental and business consultancy while also advising multiple companies as Board Member and Executive Chairman.
A sough-after speaker, panellist and moderator, Simon loves to broach high-level and technical topics alike, from the future trends of short-term rental to the specifics of online distribution in the top 5 OTAs.
Previously, Simon was the Co-Founder & Chairman of Vacasa Europe, former President of PhocusWright and ex-Board member of HomeAway, to name but a few. He’s also an accomplished operator, having led Interhome, Hotelplan Group and Swissport as CEO, Deputy CEO and EVP Commercial respectively.


Cristina Lehmann
Founder, Head of People & Administration
Cristina is the lighthouse in the ocean, the backbone and soul of AJL Atelier. As one of the founders of the company, she looks after the team – core members as well as expert contractors – and the administration of the Atelier, making sure that everything runs smoothly and stays on track, for employees, clients and partners.
With her intuitive personality, detail-orientated focus and fervent passion for coaching and developing team members, Cristina is an invaluable member of the team who is constantly creating value for our clients.
Cristina brings years of experience coordinating C-Suite executives and leading a variety of strategic HR initiatives such as improving company culture, tracking and boosting employee motivation, enhancing individual and team performance or developing and maintaining leadership talent pools.
Previously, Cristina worked in a number industries including Airlines, Ground Handling, Vacation Rental and Industrial Components Production.


Katie Glover
Head of Sales & Account Management
Katie has worked for both corporate and start-up companies within the short term rental and vacation ownership sectors.
Whilst she has gained a peripheral view and experience in the Hospitality Industry, she has a distinct ability in Sales & Business Development, where she puts her personable but persuasive personality to good use. Katie brings to the team strong leadership & organisational skills with a focus on both quality of work and performance.
Moving forward, her focus with be on developing the AJL Atelier team and expanding our business further, together with strategic growth in Europe for key partners. She is a determined team member offering integrity and credibility, with a passion for effective communication and shared success. Katie´s interpersonal skills and experience enable her to build effective relationships with multicultural teams and key stakeholders.


Gernot Zechner
Head of Operations & Senior Consultant
Gernot brings a profound understanding of the hospitality tech ecosystem and it’s dynamics. Before his focus on the short-term rental industry, he spent the last +5 years at the world’s largest OTA, Booking.com, where he gained wide-ranging knowledge of the hospitality tech ecosystem. He led product strategy, commercial development, and operations for newly established product teams and acted as “GM” in a fast-moving new product development vertical.
He is a big picture strategy thinker who is simultaneously able to zoom in and think through execution details. This is an extremely effective combination when evaluating businesses, and in gaining a strategic advantage.
At AJL Atelier, he’s leading the redesign of operational workflows and acts as strategic business adviser for the broad range of AJL’s the client portfolio.


Efe Gurocak
Senior Consultant, M&A Advisor
Efe brings 10+ years of experience in financial and strategic consulting. Before joining AJL Atelier, Efe worked at Ernst & Young in the corporate finance team advising clients on services such as business valuation, financial modeling, and commercial due diligence.
After EY, he shifted his focus to strategy consulting, working on projects such as operational excellence and performance improvement.
Efe holds a bachelor’s degree in business and a master’s degree in global business and brings a strong analytical mindset to the team. He is detail-oriented but at the same time excellent at zooming out and changing perspective. At AJL Atelier, he is leading various consulting projects and M&A mandates