GETTING TO KNOW YOU: HOTELIER’S EXPERT PANEL
Dima Ayad
Director of marketing and communications
Raffles Dubai
Dima Ayed has been in the hospitality marketing industry for more than eight years, having begun her career as accountant director for F&B title Grumpy Gourmet. She moved into hotels as a PR executive for Jumeirah Group, progressing through the ranks to F&B marketing manager for Madinat Jumeirah, Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel. Having left the industry for a year to join Dubai Holding as marketing manager, Ayad returned to hotels when she joined Raffles Dubai in May.
Sanaz Ghahremani
Assistant marketing manager
Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates
Having joined Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates three years ago as marketing co-ordintor, Sanaz Ghahremani is now in charge of a team looking after marketing, PR, advertising, e-commerce and social media. She is a graduate of The Emirates Academy of Hospitality Management in Dubai.
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Yvonne Luedeke
Director of communications and public relations
The Monarch Dubai
Yvonne Luedeke has always been involved in hospitality marketing, starting as an apprentice with IHG in Berlin after graduating from college and then taking on roles in Paris and the US. She then moved to Dubai to join Jumeirah Group, was part of the pre-opening team for Burj Al Arab and then took on the role of F&B marketing manager for the group for six years. Prior to joining The Monarch in 2007, Luedeke was marketing communications manager at Hilton Hotels and Resorts for a year and a half.
Daniel Spijker
Online marketing manager
Aloft Abu Dhabi
Referring to himself as “the new kid on the block”, Daniel Spijker moved to Abu Dhabi seven months ago for the pre-opening of Aloft Abu Dhabi, which opened on October 27.
He has two years experience with Starwood and specialised in marketing and online marketing during an 18-month placement in London, which followed a hospitality university course in Holland.
Gabriele Feile
Personal assistant to regional director UAE,
The Monarch Dubai
Boasting a varied career background, Gabriele Feile was originally a banker for Deutsche Bank before entering hotels in a corporate role for IHG in Germany for five years. She then joined a head hunter in the European fashion industry. Feile moved to Dubai to join The Monarch in 2007 having received a phone call from general manager Henning Fries who she had worked with previously. A passionate fan of social media, Feile heads up The Monarch’s social marketing efforts in partnership with Luedeke.
Rob Singleton
Online marketing executive
InterContinental Hotels Group properties in Dubai Festival City
Rob Singleton moved to Dubai from the UK two years ago, taking on the role of PR co-ordinator for the InterContinental Hotels Group properties in Dubai Festival City. He has since been promoted to online marketing executive, a new role created with the remit to primarily look after the hotels’ social marketing presence as well as ensuring websites are up to date.
Facebook: friend or foe?
“I would say friend personally, friend/foe professionally, so I’m still debating.”
Dima Ayad, Raffles Dubai
“I have to share what Dima says, personally I love it, whereas Twitter; not yet.
“Professionally I was a bit sceptical at the beginning, but now I am a big fan. However, I still have to learn more.”
Yvonne Luedeke, The Monarch Dubai
“I am a big fan of social marketing both personally and professionally, which is the reason why I am doing it in the hotel. I think it is the new way of communicating.
“It will take over a large part of the daily communication. Here we are still at the beginning so there is a lot to learn.”
Gabriele Feile, The Monarch Dubai
“I am a big fan of social media, I think I am a Gen Y kid, I like all the new technology and social marketing is definitely one of them. I use it in my job a lot.”
Daniel Spijker, Aloft Abu Dhabi
“The role was created for me because I’d already started getting involved with social networking and getting a presence online and then they saw the potential to develop it.I should spend half to the majority of my role pursuing this and see where it can take us.”
Rob Singleton, IHG properties in Dubai Festival City
“Friend or foe — I’m a big fan of Facebook personally and professionally. Twitter is still very new to me, so I created my own page a few months ago and I’m just learning how it works.”
Sanaz Ghahremani, Kempinski Mall of the Emirates
How many fans and followers do you have?
The Monarch Dubai had 820 followers on Twitter on the day of the roundtable (October 7). “It is good as we only started in April this year, so that is a good number for the city,” says Gabriele Feile.
At Raffles Dubai, “in a month and a half we are following 600 people and we have 400 people following us and the level of engagement is incredible,” says Dima Ayad, referring to Twitter.
InterContinental DFC has more than 5000 followers and Crowne Plaza 3500-plus on Twitter, reveals Rob Singleton. He attributes the growth to a major summer campaign involving multiple giveaways.
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