IHG announces new senoir appointments at UAE hotels

InterContinental Hotels at Dubai Festival City has announced new appointments across its flagship hotels in the UAE within its senior leadership team.

Mathieu van Alphen, area general manager, said: "We are very delighted to welcome both Marieke and Karim to the leadership team, and along with their extensive experience in the hospitality industry, we are confident in achieving another grand chapter of success for our flagship IHG UAE hotels in Dubai Festival City."

Karim Abdelhamid has been appointed as hotels manager for InterContinental Dubai Festival City, InterContinental Residence Suites Dubai Festival City, and Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City and Festival Arena, with a remit to further strengthen the hotel’s existing competitive advantages, establishing new operational and commercial synergies to positively impact financial performance across the properties consists of 1,088 keys and 10 F&B dining venues.

Abdelhamid has been in the hospitality industry for nearly 20 years with senior leadership roles with the world’s best hotel operators in the US including The Plaza and The Ritz-Carlton in New York City and the Westin, Georgia. He has also further augmented this experience as the food & beverage director at the Sofitel in Philadelphia. He was part of the pre-opening team for Sofitel Cataract in Egypt and in 2013 he moved to Qatar to join Amlak Hospitality, Qatar Foundation’s hospitality arm as a corporate director of operations. He was most recently the general manager at The Knickerbocker Hotel-Forbes Four Star part of The Leading Hotels of the World portfolio located in Times Square, New York City from December 2017.

Marieke Schellen has been appointed as area director of human resources, InterContinental Hotels at Dubai Festival City, joining the senior leadership team with a proven track record in a variety of dynamic environments. She will oversee human resources for the whole cluster of four hotels as well as the Festival Arena, including a team that consists of 1,100 colleagues from over 63 nationalities.

A real stalwart of the Middle East, Schellen first ventured to the region in December 2003 to embark on her hospitality journey. She was initially with the Hilton Dubai Creek and then joined the pre-opening leadership team of W Hotel Qatar in 2007. After two and a half years, she moved to Europe to be part of the pre-opening of the W London Leicester Square as director of human resources. Her successes there were recognised in April 2012 and she was promoted to a corporate role at the Starwood Hotels Central London team. She returned to the UAE to be part of Dubai Parks and Resorts where she held the position of corporate director of human resource and admin role before joining IHG. - TradeArabia News Service