Scott’s spirit is indefatigable; she joined W Dubai — The Palm after two decades in London and eight years in Asia Pacific, where she held the role of general manager at the St. Regis Kuala Lumpur Hotel & Residences, St. Regis Sanya Yalong Bay, The Andaman, a Luxury Collection Resort and Le Méridien Chiang Rai Resort.

“I lived in London for 20 years and I got to a milestone birthday, one where the zero on the end makes it seem like the world is coming to an end, and I thought I'd either end up in London for the next 20 years or that I would go on a big adventure,” she reflects.

She was the first female to hold general manager posts across three luxury brands of the former Starwood Hotels & Resorts and brings 25 years of hospitality experience with her. Her efforts in Asia earned her the designation of ‘Asia’s Leading Woman in Hospitality’ in 2011 from the Women in Leadership Forum, as well as the Starwood President’s Award 2012 for ‘Outstanding Team’ on the launch of a coral nursery. Prior to her time in Asia, she held the role of hotel manager of The Park Tower, Knightsbridge, London – a member of The Luxury Collection.

“My mother encouraged me to go on that adventure and I decided to do a job that was most different from my job in London. I chose to join the pre-opening team of a hotel in northern Thailand and then Langkawi, then China and Kuala Lumpur. When the W Dubai came along, it was such an intoxicating thought that I just had to come here and see what we could do to make this one of the best hotels in the world,” Scott adds.

People maketh a hotel, however, and with W Hotels’ traditional passion points including fashion, design, music and fuel, these also needed to be reflected in its staff, Scott emphasises, making the hiring process for the upcoming property trickier than most. “W is such an iconic brand that people leapt with enthusiasm to get an opportunity to work for a W in Dubai. We had a wealth of candidates apply and that was great from a talent pooling point of view,” Scott explains.

Since food and beverage is at the heart of W’s operations in Dubai, that was one of the first hires that Scott made. “We had 200 top candidates who applied and we whittled that down to a shortlist pretty quickly. We’ve hired two culinary [members] and I’m really excited for the world to see what they can do,” Scott says.

Its six restaurants and bars include: Wet Deck; Torno Subito by Massimo Bottura — his first venue outside Italy; Akira Back — the Korean culinary master; SoBe - a rooftop bar with a South Beach vibe and 360-degree views; Liv — offering Mediterranean cuisine; and W Lounge –— for curated cocktails pre/post dinner.

“We have such a great opportunity to bring out a naughtier side of a beach bar in Dubai.” However, when asked to describe what a naughty beach bar is like, Scott says we will just have to wait until the hotel opens to see it.

On making the decision about the rest of the team, Scott says it was “like when you know you’ve got a good thing going on a first date.When you know, you just know,” Scott remarks.

“It took a long time to get our way through the CVs and the candidates but when the right candidate walks in the room that process happens very quickly. And then you match the product that we built and the talent that’s interested, that’s always a success story.”

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