8 Guido De Wilde

With responsibility for the operation of all Starwood properties in the Middle East, currently numbering 48 hotels and resorts, Guido De Wilde comes in at number eight on Hotelier Middle East’s Power 50.

He started his career in the region in Bahrain in 1984, heading up Sheraton’s Worldwide Reservations Centre for the Middle East after joining Starwood just the year before — instead of opting to be a teacher, a route he had initially considered.

Since then, his career with Starwood took De Wilde to Morocco, Germany, Belgium and Portugal before his current role in January 2006, when the regional office was set up following Starwood’s acquisition of Le Méridien.

At the helm of one of the region’s oldest operators — Sheraton Kuwait opened in 1966 — De Wilde’s power lies in the fact that the brands operating in the region (The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Le Méridien, Westin and W) have largely contributed to the quality of the Middle East hospitality industry as it is today.

But he also holds the power to take the company, and the industry, into a new era of hotel management following the opening of W Doha just a few months back, as under his leadership, the next two to three years will see the entrance of Starwood’s three remaining brands to the region with Aloft, St Regis and Element properties already signed.

This will also no doubt see the 16,000 staff base working across Starwood’s hotels in the Middle East grow in number too.