Golden Tulip MENA is set to open one hotel on average per month over the next few years. As president of the group, industry veteran Amine Moukarzel has set the pace for aggressive growth with new brands and new markets on the agenda, not to mention some bold personal ambitions
Amine E. Moukarzel’s life has been nothing short of eventful. From serving presidents in the thick of civil war to setting up flagship properties in the Middle East, Moukarzel’s career boasts the kind of anecdotes any hotelier worth their salt would be delighted to talk about.
It all began with Moukarzel’s aspiration to do something different. Disregarding the traditional course of law or engineering, which was popular among Lebanese youth at the time, Moukarzel — driven by a passion to travel, as well as his flair for interaction — chose the hospitality route instead.
| Advertisement |
After studying hotel management at Hotel School Beirut, which was the only hospitality training centre in Lebanon at the time, Moukarzel began his career at the city’s Carlton Hotel as a trainee. Lebanon, at the time, was in the midst of a civil war, and Moukarzel and his team were responsible for serving the president-elect.
“We had no food to serve; we had to get bottled mineral water from the store, which was very rare to have at the time, and his dinner was cheese boards,” chuckles Moukarzel.
“In the morning, when the deputies gathered, the hotel was bombarded with shelling, and we managed to save him so he could go to the presidential palace and take over,” he recalls.
Article continues on next page ...
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
