Hotelier Awards 2017 shortlist: Marketing & PR Person
The Marketing & PR Person of the Year category for the 2017 edition of the Hotelier Middle East Awards pits six talented candidates against each other for the top spot.
If you'd like to meet last year's winners of all categories, click here to find out more...
Click through to find out who has been shortlisted this year... and take a look at last year's event in the video below!
Cristiano Moulin, PR & marketing manager, food & beverage, JW Marriott Hotel Dubai
Cristiano Moulin joined the JW Marriott Dubai as F&B marketing and PR manager in September 2016. In the last year, he created successful and creative F&B campaigns and restaurant promotions that resulted in a tremendous increase in PR coverage and awareness, not only for the 11 restaurants and bars, but the hotel overall. Moulin improved and enhanced the social media channels, multiplied the engagement and created fresh content. He also reorganised and improved marketing department processes, planning, coordination and relationships with the F&B team.
Dima Jaradat, cluster marketing and communications manager - Jordan, Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts - Jordan
Dima Jaradat has been leading all CSR activities in all Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts properties in Jordan - including A Kilo of Kindness, Clean up the World, Keep Jordan Clean, the Ramadan Iftar for the SOS Village, multiple collaborations with Tkiyet Um Ali’s “Food for Life” programme, and Soap for Hope. She plays an important role in aiding the marketing department’s transition from offline to online in all Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts’ properties in Jordan, launching a number of tactical and strategic online campaigns through social media advertising and featuring an attractive successful digital content. Jaradat has also created and executed several public relation initiatives, such as “Power Bites” menu and the “Go Healthy” programme.
Inna Gernega, PR & marketing director, Radisson Blu Hotel, Dubai Deira Creek
Inna Gernega has created successful PR activities that brought in six industry recognised awards for the hotel. She launched 15+ campaigns for the hotel, each driving a positive ROI. Her press clipping conversion rate 100% with PR value within the millions each year. Her efforts have also seen a month on month saving in media budget, with an overall yearly reduction at 30% driven by more efficient, effective and tailored campaigns, and leveraging her effective professional network.
Merlyn D'Silva, marketing and communications manager, Palazzo Versace Dubai
Merlyn D'Silva joined Palazzo Versace Dubai in 2015, and has accelerated social media growth by 221% in 12 months through a comprehensive paid, earned and owned content strategy, surpassing all seven hotels in its competitor set within 10 months of activation. She has cultivated a company culture that embraced the use of digital and social media and trained restaurant managers the best use of the platform in order to engage their audience. D'Silva has notably increased conversion rate through the hotels’ website and drove a 283% increase in subscriber base through a successful email marketing strategy. She has improved end-to-end guest experience through the creation, development, and implementation of a dedicated hotel mobile app, and driven substantial PR value through a variety of collaborations and initiatives.
Reema Baroudi, director of marketing, PR & communications, InterContinental Abu Dhabi
Reema Baroudi has been with the property since 2012, and started her career with IHG in 1999. In the last year, she has launched a successful online campaign targeting the German leisure traveller, seeing a substantial ROI as well as thousands and thousands of leisure room nights on the backo f the campaign. Her strong media relations promoting the eight themed restaurants at the hotel resulted in these restaurants achieving 11 awards.
Tarik Achab Zekri, director of marketing, Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi
Tarik Achab Zekri successfully created, launched and marketed the first leisure room package for Le Royal Méridien Abu Dhabi during the summer (2 months) and generated a huge increase on revenue for rooms in comparison with last year and indirectly an increase on F&B revenue. He secured and Negotiated, for two years in a row, an exclusive partnership with Cordon Bleu Paris and Alliance Française Abu Dhabi to prepare a gourmet gala dinner with Eric Briffard, a Michelin-starred chef and the hotel’s culinary team, which generated not only revenue to the F&B department but also a huge PR success around the hotel and brand awareness. He created and launched a permanent concept for the hotel lobby (Le Méridien Hub), generating PR awareness and empowering local artists.