Our Founder

Mark Weingard, Founder of Iniala and Inspirasia Foundation, has poured every ounce of his being into creating his passion projects. Completely self-made, Mark grew up as an only child in Manchester, England, and later found success as a young professional in stock trading. Years later, a series of unfortunate events brought him to create the beautiful concepts of Inspirasia and Iniala.

In 1999, while living in Asia working in stock trading, Mark together with his fiancée Annika Linden, set up Hotel IQ, a mystery shopping company in Thailand that provided critical insights into service quality by rating hotels' service levels. Major international hotel chains benefitted from their evaluations, improving their offerings based on the company’s in-depth analyses. For Mark, the intelligence gathered from Hotel IQ became the seed of a visionary idea. Witnessing firsthand the elements that defined exceptional hospitality, would eventually lead Mark to create his own luxury hotel brand in the future - one that would excel in gastronomy, service, and design.

In 2001, Mark travelled to New York for a meeting in the South Tower of the World Trade Centre. Running late on the morning of September 11th, he narrowly missed the second plane hitting the tower, where 23 employees died in the office that he was scheduled to be in. The next week, he decided to donate all his business revenue to the families of the victims of the tragedy.

The following year, Annika was killed in a terrorist bombing in Bali. Devasted but determined to create something positive out of this tragic event, Mark shifted his focus to philanthropy, setting up Inspirasia Foundation (at the time called the Annika Linden Foundation), which initially started funding the education of the children of the victims of the bombings, to ensure they can complete their education. The Foundation also started supporting various other initiatives, with a focus on health and education for marginalised communities and people with disabilities. Mark’s philanthropic work led to the creation of the beautiful Annika Linden Centre in Bali, which opened as a world-class incubator for impact and a disability centre for marginalised communities. To date, Inspirasia Foundation has given over €15 million towards social impact in Bali, Thailand, India and Malta, with the Annika Linden Centre remaining the home and heart of the foundation.

When the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami hit the Phang Nga region, Mark was celebrating Christmas with friends and family in a house that he had built on Natai Beach. Witnessing the impact of the disaster on the community, through Inspirasia Foundation he immediately began supporting relief efforts in Thailand, including Childline, the North Andaman Tsunami Relief and Goodwill Group Foundation, the latter of which Inspirasia continued to support for the following 10 years. He also took a month off to set up Thai Together, which aimed at enhancing collaboration among relief agencies to ensure effective allocation of resources. Through Inspirasia, Mark’s support extended beyond immediate disaster relief to long-term community aid, donating a total of over $1,800,000 to various organisations in Thailand over the years, including the Foundation for Education and Development (FED) and the Home & Life Foundation in Phang Nga, both of which aimed to help vulnerable populations in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the damage caused by the tsunami to his house on Natai Beach - together with his insight from Hotel IQ - provided him with a vision to reimagine the space as a unique luxury hotel. This concept would later become Iniala Beach House, renowned for its eclectic design ethos. To bring this vision to life, he handpicked 11 international, world-class designers, giving them carte blanche to design thedifferent spaces within four residences, with the idea that each room must be “out of the ordinary” yet practical and comfortable. Amongst these residences, one of the villas, which features the beautiful Lotus Suite and two Siamese Suites, was designed by local designer Eggarat Wongcharit. In December 2013, Iniala Beach House opened its doors, bringing an unprecedented level of luxury hospitality to the region. Beyond its luxury accommodations, Iniala Beach House is deeply committed to community engagement. In addition to Inspirasia’s support to local NGOs within the Phang Nga region, the team at Iniala Beach House have also organised several community events, including beach clean ups and open days for children to learn about working in the hospitality industry.

Around the time Iniala Beach House was inaugurated, Mark had become captivated by the island of Malta and decided to relocate there, buying an old palazzo on the prestigious St Barbara Bastions in Valletta, with the aim of turning it into his home. Acknowledging a gap in the luxury hotel market, he decided to expand the Iniala brand to Malta, creating a hotel in this palazzo and other nearby buildings he acquired over the years. In 2020, Iniala Harbour House & Residences opened its doors. The hotel quickly became Malta’s only Forbes 5-star hotel while its rooftop restaurant, ION Harbour, gained a Michelin star within less than one year of opening, and, in April 2024, became the first two Michelin-starred restaurant on the island.

Throughout this time, committed to philanthropy and giving back to the communities he finds himself in, Mark launched a number of ventures in Malta through Inspirasia Foundation, including organsing fundraising dinners at ION Harbour, launching the Malta Social Impact Awards, which later evolved to a TV show called Changemakers, and awarded over €500,000 to social or environmental initiatives. In 2022, the Academy of Givers was launched by Inspirasia Foundation, the Gasan Foundation and Nathan Farrugia. This members-based association aims at improving philanthropy and corporate responsibility by bringing likeminded people together to learn, share and be inspired.

In December 2023, Mark, in collaboration with Simon Rogan Restaurants, opened the 15-seater chef’s table restaurant - Aulis Phuket – at Iniala Beach House, a first of its kind in the area which focuses on fresh, hyper-local ingredients, sustainable practices and an immersive experience. Aulis Phuket set new standards for culinary excellence and sustainable practices within the region, becoming the first restaurant in Phang Nga to receive a Michelin star in November 2024.

Looking ahead, Mark aims to continue pushing the boundaries of luxury hospitality and philanthropy and is currently focused on expanding Iniala Group both in Malta and Thailand. Whether leading innovative projects or collaborating on new ideas, Mark consistently demonstrates that a visionary outlook, paired with hard work and perseverance, can achieve the extraordinary.