Nobu Hotel Riyadh appoints new management team
Nobu Hotel Riyadh has made key management appointments ahead of its scheduled opening of Q4 2016.
Initially reported to have a 2015 opening, the hotel, designed by the Rockwell Group Europe and a member of The Leading Hotels of the World, is located in downtown Riyadh on King Fahd Road.
With 99 rooms and 35 suites, it claims to be the first luxury boutique hotel in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It will offer three restaurants, including its signature Nobu restaurant, the Market Place all-day dining restaurant, and Zan Tea House.
The Nobu Hotel Riyadh will also offer event facilities: two ballrooms with separate green rooms, six meeting rooms and personalised off-site catering, along with a VIP lounge and the Abariz Spa.
Nobu Hotel Riyadh general manager Mark Carnazzola said: "I am extremely delighted to welcome our experienced and talented executive managers to the hotel and I look forward to working with them in opening this very exciting hotel."
The hotel has made appointments in the finance, human resources, rooms and sales & marketing departments, and is currently recruiting for a director of F&B and director of engineering.
To find out who was appointed in these roles, click through to the next page...
Timothy Magee, director of finance
From Brisbane, Australia, Timothy Magee has 30 years experience in the hospitality sector.
Magee started his career in hospitality managing RSL Entertainment businesses in Queensland before joining the Accor Group in 2006, where he held positions in Tasmania and then Victoria at the Sofitel Werribee resort before joining the Lancemore Hotel as group financial controller.
He continued his career with the RACV Royal Pines resort on the Gold Coast as a finance manager and then Hilton Hotels & Resorts as director of finance for the Northern Territory.
Next is a Saudi national in HR...
Hana Al Toaimi, director of human resources
From Al Khobar, Saudi Arabia, Hana Al Toaimi has been working over 20 years in the human resources sector.
She first built her experience in the education field in different schools and then developed her skills in the hospitality business, mainly in the East region of the Kingdom where she is from.
In her last position as HR manager for Coral Hotels in Al Khobar, Al Toaimi was responsible for over 200 colleagues from a variety of nationalities and succeeded in introducing numerous HR practices and maintaining a positive and cohesive team environment.
The director of rooms, who was raised in the UAE, is revealed next...
Amr Essa, director of rooms
From Alexandria, Egypt, Amr Essa has more than 20 years of experience in rooms and food & beverage operations.
Raised in the UAE, he was part of the pre-opening management teams for Jumeirah Bab Al Shams Dubai in the UAE, Sheraton Sharm Al Sheikh in Egypt, and Thunderbird Resort in the Philippines.
With Nobu Hotel Riyadh, Essa will share his knowledge in dealing with pre-opening situations.
An Egyptian national with 25 years' experience will head up sales & marketing; click through to find out more...
Ahmed Dahmash, director of sales & marketing
From Cairo, Egypt, with 25 years of luxury hotel management, Ahmed Dahmash's experience spans various settings.
From a sales manager to becoming country director of international sales with Hilton Worldwide, Dahmash's experience includes both hotel-based and corporate office-based positions in the Middle East, including Riyadh, Jeddah and Kuwait City.
Before joining Nobu Hotel Riyadh, he was in Egypt as executive director at GCI Hospitality Management.