General Manager
Aloft Al Ain
Total years of experience :23 years, 4 Months
Implement and design of the customer brand experience of the aloft brand in the Al Ain market.
• Proactively work with hotel owners and contractors to deliver hotel project on brand and on budget. Define and develop detailed hotel services and positions the hotel in the local market.
• Administer hiring of all talent for the hotel operation and manage the daily operations of hotel and hotel staff. Direct procurement of all hotel operating supplies and equipment.
• Cultivate short-term and long-term financial and operational plans for the hotel. Monitor the performance of the hotel through verification and analysis of guest satisfaction systems and monthly financial reports.
Spearhead the operational teams for a pre-opening 654 room hotel with 4 Restaurants, Bars and Lounges, 1000m2 Spa and Sheraton Fitness. Supervise recruiting, hiring and operational departments as well as actively engage in the purchase of all hotel OSE and manage the handover from contractors to the hotel team.
♦ Introduced the “Grand” Sheraton sub-brand in the Middle East alongside a dozen hotels worldwide by helping define the criteria for an upgraded Sheraton brand experience for global loyalty program members.
♦ Successfully executed and implemented operations such as: culinary and food & beverage; housekeeping and guest services; security and health, hygiene & safety and Spa.
♦ Directed all OSE procurement for the operation exceeding 10million USD in value. Professionally coordinated with 5 main contractors for the snagging and handover of the completed building.
♦ Controlled and managed the marketing department during pre-opening along with handling the licensing and setup of business entity and permits.
Regional Director of Marketing
Actively represented the Starwood marketing organization in the region towards hotels, partners and ownership entities. Established and led the regional digital field marketing organization. Introduced 3 internationally acclaimed hospitality brands in the Middle East: W, St. Regis and aloft hotels.
• Shepherd brand marketing for all 9 Starwood Brands in the Middle East; performed pre-opening marketing activities for new hotels; headed all marketing program activities for +/- 50 hotels in the region; oversight marketing budget of all hotels (excess of 40 million USD annually) food & beverage marketing activities (excess of 400 million USD in revenue).
• Led and represented an award-winning loyalty program in the region, which included management of regionalized benefits, member growth and partnerships with Emirates, Etihad, Qatar Airways and member exclusive sports and music events.
• Adeptly completed annual budget preparations and reviews for +/- 50 hotels. Efficiently managed marketing communications with hotel owning entities in collaboration with Senior Vice President, Regional Director of Operations. Authenticated pro-forma budgets for new hotel management contracts under negotiation.
• Developed a cross-brand marketing communications platform to feature all hotels in the region under spgmiddleeast.com. Conceptualized and launched a restaurant website platform that is used across the enterprise by almost 1000 restaurants & bars.
Online Distribution & Field Marketing Manager, Middle East Office (Dubai)
• Successfully launched and introduced field marketing culture in the region. Directed hotels in shifting marketing dollars from offline to online channels.
• Developed close working relationships with Online Travel agencies and helped hotels significantly reduce distribution costs and increase online room bookings.
• Integrated Le Meridien hotels post Starwood acquisition into the Starwood sales & marketing systems and guided 20+ hotels to embrace and foster the refreshed brand definition.
Supervised internal communications and intranet services as well as development for EAME portion of the global company Intranet. Executed special projects for online marketing and eBusiness activities.
• Accountable for growth and usage of Starwood’s Intranet system; steered the divisional internal communications activities; established and integrated 3rd party applications for business use.
• Dynamically played an important role as divisional representative for translation of global websites into German and French; powerfully settled and managed divisional search engine marketing activities; facilitated regional team members in their activities and promotions.
• Skillfully developed and managed numerous online marketing tools, such as CRM platforms.
Sheraton Luxembourg Aerogolf Hotel 2001-2004
Groups & Banquets Sales Executive Responsible for Groups and Banquet Sales.
Executive MBA in Tourism and International Management 2007 HTW Chur - SSTH Chur
Master Thesis subject: "Dubai 2012 - An outlook on the sustainability of hotel development in Dubai Graduate in Hotel management - Institut Arthur Haulot 2001 Brussels, Belgium
Baccalaureate, European School of Luxembourg 1996 Luxembourg