David Johnstone

A seasoned entrepreneur and leader in the hospitality, luxury and online space, David Johnstone is Founder and Chairman at CharitableBookings.com. At conferences and tech events, he speaks about why philanthropy should be infused into the DNA of all companies, and is leading the charge to raise £1 billion for charities globally, via TheGlobalPledge, an initiative of CharitableBookings.com

No stranger to navigating the path of entrepreneurship, Johnstone got his start at 18 in the hospitality industry, learning the ropes at The Grosvenor House Hotel, London. He was then recruited by a leading international tech founder and CEO and relocated to Asia, where he gained first hand insights into scaling businesses from the ground up. It was only when his father became seriously ill that Johnstone made the leap into becoming an entrepreneur himself - realising that it was the only way to set his own agenda and lead with his own values.

From here, Johnstone launched his own concierge, events, ticketing and deals business, initially with only £361 and 19 credit cards. While setting out to raise the first £30K for the company, he raised £1m and The Renaissance Club was born with enormous mainstream press coverage and subsequently, over 10,000 paying members.

He then went on to build Key-2 Luxury, a company delivering VIP lifestyle privileges across the world with a keyring described by the Financial Times as “one corporate gift to rule them all”. Clients included Lamborghini, Jaeger-LeCoultre, Hugo Boss, Reuters, MTV and Fortune 500 companies, with Johnstone brokering privileges for their VIPs, while developing what would become a highly valuable database business with over 100,000 keyrings held globally.

He also created The Global Party, the world's largest private party bringing together over 500,000 people, via Johnstone's expertise in audience building, databases, tech and hospitality.

Now with CharitableBookings.com, Johnstone has found a way to channel his years of expertise in luxury, hospitality and client databases, and combine this with his conviction for charitable giving through enterprise.

On podcasts and keynotes, Johnstone outlines an inspiring case for why entrepreneurs should be giving back, having himself raised over £4m for charities over the course of his career.

Thematically as a speaker, Johnstone underscores the importance of resilience when building your business, and how to engage large scale companies and build brands.

For media and speaking enquiries, email: media@charitablebookings.com