Ben Rafter

Leadership Track

Apr 22

President & CEO at Springboard Hospitality

A little bit about Ben…

Ben is President and CEO of Springboard Hospitality which owns or manages 49 hotels and resorts, with offices in Los Angeles in Honolulu. Specializing in independent properties, Springboard has twelve properties in Hawaii and is in iconic markets across thirteen states.

Previously, Ben was the CEO of Aqua Hospitality which managed 56 properties and nearly 11,000 rooms in Hawaii. Aqua was the largest hotel operator in the Waikiki market and the only operator on all six Hawaii tourism islands. He eventually sold Aqua to what is now Marriott Vacations. Ben’s confidence in the Aqua team led him to take the unique step of placing his cell phone number in all of Aqua’s hotel rooms. At time of sale, Rafter estimates his phone number had been accessible to nearly 10,000,000 Hawaii visitors.

Ben started his career and spent almost twenty years in emerging technologies. He successfully co-founded and exited two startups including Innerlinx (LiveBid), which was acquired by Amazon.com.