With an impressive 38 years’ experience working within the industry, Darroch Crawford enters the Hotelier Middle East Power 50 at number 28.
The current managing director of Premier Inn Hotels has been in his current role since August 2006, in which time he has overseen the opening of the brand’s first two hotels in the region and brought a new thesis to Dubai’s hotel market.
Crawford says Premier Inn is more akin to a retail brand than a chain of hotels, suggesting the brand has brought to the market four-star rooms available at two-star prices.
He has come a long way from spilling soup and greasy tomatoes on the members of the golf club where he undertook his first job as a banqueting waiter; he has since worked for some of the hospitality industry’s biggest firms, including Thistle Hotels, Hilton International, Forte and current Premier Inn owner Whitbread.
| Advertisement |
The secret to his success is, he suggests, down to treating his staff with respect and remembering that they are often better at answering hospitality challenges than he is.
Crawford remains positive about the future and his current priority is to establish Premier Inn as the region’s leading brand in the value-hotel sector.
Interestingly, he claims to have once taken a room service call from a jovial Rod Stewart, who ordered a crocodile sandwich, asking him to “make it snappy” before hanging up.
Search our database of more than 2,700 industry companies
