Hotelier, deeply rooted in hotel operations management for over 14 years. Award-winning General Manager and became the first female Emirati General Manager. Started my career at Burj Al Arab and then Madinat Jumeirah, then moved to grow through the ranks with the pre-opening of two luxury properties, Palazzo Versace Dubai and Address Boulevard Dubai—with a track record of operational strength, performance excellence, financial & commercial acumen, people development, Food & Beverage concept creation. Consistently maintained high financial performance amongst peers in relation to GOP & EBITDA, and for the owners closing the year 2019 with 99% flow-through. Service-quality and Guest-satisfaction oriented; initiated and introduced new commercial and market segment strategy for Vida Hotels & Resort; focused on building teams into strong calibres within their roles for an effective and efficient lean operation. Promoted to cluster General Manager. Currently, pursuing MBA with a focus in International Hospitality Management.

Strong business and work ethics, proven strength in commercial and financial performance and a track-record EBITDA for owners. Developed concepts and amended HR and Standard polices in the business unit. Service to humanity and my nation is a priority, actively involved with Community Development Authorities, Technical & Vocational Education, University curriculum development, and continuous support to UAE’s governmental entities’ local, regional and global initiates in tourism, hospitality and Expo2020.

During my tenure, I become the first female Emirati General Manager in Hospitality since 2018; and won several awards as Best General Manager for UAE and the Continent, 2019, along with Awards for the Hotel and its Food & Beverage Outlets; won The Young Arab Leader Award for Hospitality Impact at AHIC 2019; The Emirates Woman Award-Achiever category 2019; recognised by The David Rockerfeller Bridging Leadership Award for my commitment towards the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals – Goal 8: economic growth, gender balance at workplace, youth employment and decent jobs for all; and goal 8.7 eradication of modern-day-slavery; and awarded by Asia Society USA as Young Leader for UAE amongst Asia and Asia-pacific young leaders.

My commitment has continued to remain strong for the UAE National Team in Hospitality & Service Industry for WorldSkills International and EmiratesSkills competitions by training the national team, and being chief expert for UAE. I’ve been instrumental in developing Emirati nationals in hospitality, and have designed and developed the national training programme for Emaar Hospitality Group and supported the Dubai College of Tourism in various programmes and partnerships.

Achievements:

• Awarded Young Arab Leader for Hospitality, 2019
• Best General Manager Award in UAE, 2019
• Best General Manager Award Continent Category, 2019
• Became the first Emirati Female General Manager in the history of the region, 2018
• Recognised by The David Rockefeller Bridging Leadership Award for efforts and works
• Sponsored and mentored the training and growth of Service Industry TVET in youth skills development and competitions(WorldSkills International and EmiratesSkills)
• Advocated and influenced the amendments in policies in the company on sustainability and gender-based equal pay and opportunity
• Advocate the introduction of UNSDGs into education in curriculums across the educational institutions
• Advocate of UNSDSN Youth for SDGs with focus on Goal 8 and Mission 4.7

Bastien is currently manages both the performance and development of our operations across Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Prior to this he served as the Vice President of Operations for the Middle East and Africa.

Prior to joining IHG, he served as Vice President, Sales & Marketing at FRHI MEAI where he was responsible for driving the transition to Accor Hotels Luxe and implementing their new organizational structure. Prior to this, he was VP Sales, Marketing & Development, Russia & CIS at Interstate Hotels, the largest third-party company worldwide operating from major brands including Holiday Inn hotels in Moscow.

Bastien specializes in revenue management, rate structuring, hotel finance and project management, which will allow him to add great value to our operational mix in the Middle East. Bastien has also served as a General Manager in Egypt, in the luxury segment at Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah and was appointed as the Area Manager in 2012 for the Indian Ocean & Eastern Africa for Sofitel Hotels.

An industry veteran, Bastien brings with him over 30 years of experience in managing international hotel operations, with senior management experience in North America, Europe, Russia, India, Middle East, Africa and the Indian ocean.

Being an outdoor enthusiast, Bastien enjoys a range of different water sports; from canoeing and paddling to wake boarding. He is a passionate traveler, and has a host of stories to tell from backpacking across India to trekking in Siberia to sailing in Croatia.

Manus Cranny is the co-anchor of Bloomberg Daybreak: Middle East & Daybreak Europe. He brings 20 years exposure to Global markets, finance and media.

His insight and knowledge built across markets from Futures & Options, Equities, Foreign exchange ,Oil & Commodities drives the Global Coverage.

Cranny has interviewed global business & political leaders Bill Gates Microsoft Co Founder, Cyril Ramaphosa President of South Africa, UBS Group CEO Sergio Ermotti, and Barclays CEO Jes Staley , a host of oil industry CEOS Total, Shell, ENI , Equinor and BP.

In Middle East Agenda moves at Speed & Manus has access to the political and business elite across the region, HE Anwar Gargash Minister Foreign Affairs, CEO Mubabala Khaldoon Al Mubarak, SABIC CEO Yousef Al-Benyan.

Manus began his career as commodity trader, honed his institutional skills at First Chicago Bank (now part of JP Morgan Chase) & Cantor Fitzgerald.

Cranny received a Bachelor of Science degree in Management from Queen’s University Belfast.

Sameer Hashmi is the BBC’s Middle East Business Correspondent based in Dubai. He reports on business, geopolitics & technology from the Gulf region. Sameer took up the role in November 2019 and since then he has reported on a range of stories from the impact Covid-19 on the region to the historic UAE-Israel peace deal and the escalating tension between Iran and its neighbours. Sameer was one of the first international correspondents to interview Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs after the UAE-Israel peace deal was announced. He also presents Talking Business – BBC’s flagship business program from Dubai.

Prior to taking up the role in Dubai, Sameer was the BBC’s India Business correspondent based in Mumbai for nearly 8 years. During his stint – he fronted all major business & economic stories from the region, and also reported on key political, social and sport stories. He has covered the Indian national elections in 2009, 2014 & 2019, the Mumbai bomb blast in 2011 & the earthquake in Indonesia in 2018. He has interviewed CEOs of top global companies, ministers, policy-makers & actors including Richard Branson, Nikki Haley, Raghuram Rajan & Priyanka Chopra.

He was also the presenter of India’s Game-Changers series, which aired on the BBC in 2018. The show won the Asian Academy Creative Award for the best current affairs programme about India in 2019. He was also the Relief Presenter of India Business Report – a weekly 30 minute show that used to air on BBC World News until 2016.

Sameer joined the BBC in 2012, prior to which he worked with the Times of India Group in several positions.

Marc Descrozaille holds an MBA in International Hospitality Management in Paris from Cornell-Essec and is also a graduate of Lausanne Hotel School.

Prior to his appointment, Marc most recent role was President, Middle East and Africa, for Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts and he was responsible for over 50 hotels of the largest single brand in the region.

In his role, Marc oversees 191 hotels across all brands in India, the Gulf (excl KSA) and Sub-Saharan Africa, with an active pipeline of 118 hotels.

With more than 20 years of experience across a broad spectrum of disciplines in Africa (based in Cape Town), Europe and the Middle East, he worked for leading hospitality companies, including Radisson Hotels Group, Hilton Hotels and the Savoy Group (Claridge’s Hotel London). It was during his time with the Radisson Group that strong ambitions for Africa were realized and Marc led this vision for accelerated growth by opening 20 hotels in the region within a three-year span.

Marc’s operational experience is complemented by an intuitive understanding of finance, food & beverage in addition to working as a consultant at the very start of his career for KPMG, providing market and feasibility studies for upscale hotel projects and leisure concepts in Europe.

Danielle Curtis was appointed regional Exhibition Director for the Middle East for Arabian Travel Market in 2019.

Curtis took on the overall responsibility for ATM and all associated travel projects throughout the region.

Originally from Australia, Curtis has over 15 years’ experience within the events industry, including extensive knowledge of Reed Travel Exhibitions’ portfolio of events.

Prior to her accepting her latest role, Curtis was events manager for IBTM Arabia following her position as contract exhibition manager for Arabian Travel Market, where she had responsibility for the event’s strategy for the international travel and tourism showcase. Prior to that, she was Global Head of Sales for Reed’s IBTM portfolio of shows and has also worked on other hospitality-related exhibitions in the Middle East.

Curtis joined a team of accomplished travel industry veterans, and her expertise has further cement the wealth of travel trade knowledge and event experience in the WTM portfolio.

H.E. Zayed bin Rashid Alzayani was appointed Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism in December 2014.

Prior to his appointment, Alzayani led his family business as the chairman of Alzayani Investments, Euro Motors, Zayani Motors, Zayani Leasing, Zayani Properties, Alzayani Industries and Orient Motors.

In addition, he also served as the Managing Director of First Motors and Chairman of the Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) until 2016.

Alzayani graduated from Boston University, where he received his MBA in Finance and was a former Board Member of Boston University International Advisory Board.

Alzayani currently serves as the Chairman of Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority and was recently appointed Chairman of Gulf Air Board in April 2017.

His Excellency sits on the boards of the Economic Development Board (EDB), Gulf Aviation Academy, Bahrain Airport Company and the Business Family Network as well as acting as the Minister in charge of Bahrain Bourse from 2016. He is also a member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS).

Priyanka Kapoor, Group Director & Senior Regional Director EMEA for Sales, Marketing, Branding and Communications at Swiss-Belhotel International, holds over 20 years of outstanding experience in the Hospitality and Airlines industry working with leading brands such as Hyatt Hotels and Jet Airways. Currently at Swiss-Belhotel International, with a portfolio of 145 hotels and projects, she is responsible for sales, marketing and revenue growth strategies at a Group level while managing the requirements of EMEA region more closely.

In keeping with the market trends, Priyanka leads the team with innovative ideas while consolidating the company goals with the ever-changing market situations and expectations of clients and owners.

She is a Certified Revenue Management Executive (CRME) through HSMAI and holds a diploma in Executive MBA in Global Ivy League curriculum, from Emeritus Institute, Singapore.

Laurent A. Voivenel is the Senior Vice President – Operations and Development, Europe Middle East, Africa and India, and Senior Vice President – Group Human Resources and Talent Development for Swiss-Belhotel International. He holds over 30 years of extensive international hotel and asset management experience with some of the world’s leading and most prestigious hospitality brands including Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Hilton Hotels & Resorts.

Prior to joining Swiss-Belhotel, Laurent was the Chief Executive Officer of HMH – Hospitality Management Holding for over three and a half years and was the primary driving force behind repositioning HMH as the Middles East’s largest and most credible operator in the dry segment while setting in motion aggressive expansion.

With a Master’s degree in Business Administration (MBA), Laurent has a proven track record in areas of corporate mergers and acquisitions, hotel development and investment, multi-brand operations, as well as outstanding management experience across Europe, Asia Pacific and the Middle East.

Being based in the Middle East for the last 18 years, Laurent also has a deep understanding of the region’s unique business dynamics and culture that has resulted in a solid network and close ties with hotel owners, developers and investors.