ACCOR’s Makkah, Managing Director, Alaa Eldin Saleh Wins Hospitality Leader of the Year
The 2019 edition of the prestigious Middle East Hospitality Awards took place at the DIFC. The industry awards evening provided the richly deserved opportunity to recognize and celebrate the most outstanding properties, projects and people in the Middle East’s vibrant hospitality industry
The 2019 awards saw ACCOR’ Makkah, Managing Director, Alaa Eldin Saleh win Hospitality Leader of the Year. The award is open to senior hospitality professionals who have been in post since the 1st of July 2018, this award recognises Founders / CEOs / MDs / GMs or Heads of Department who have demonstrated exceptional business performance, initiative and leadership qualities over this period, enhancing or transforming the operation and reputation of their brand
Saleh oversees Makkah Clock Royal Tower, a Fairmont Hotel, Raffles Makkah Palace, Swissôtel Al-Maqam, and Swissôtel Makkah. Alaa Eldin stated at the event “I would like to thank the Middle East Hospitality Awards for recognising us, but I feel that this award belongs to my entire team of 2,500 colleagues. At Accor Makkah we have faced many challenges that we overcame by leveraging our human potential and creating exceptional team synergy even in the most challenging conditions. Open-mindedness, always learning and a hands-on operational approach are what I believe to be the recipe for success in the Hospitality industry today, this will give us a boost in 2020 to raise the benchmark and achieve new records
Alaa Eldin Saleh has achieved outstanding excellence through 28 years of experience in key leadership and executive roles in some of the most challenging markets. From 1989 to 2004, Alaa Eldin held various positions in the food and beverage industry with large International Chains throughout North Africa, France, Turkey, Indonesia, Thailand, Greece, Bahamas and USA, prior to his promotion to an Executive leadership position at Accor Egypt in 2007 and then to cluster General Manager for south Morocco. He joined Accor Makkah in 2017 as the Managing Director of the Accor Makkah Cluster with over 5,000 rooms and 2,500 staff under his responsibility
His hotels have maintained brands luxury standards an excelled guests satisfactions scores. Alaa Eldin and his team have increased their hotel ranking within Makkah and maintain the top 3 positions on TripAdvisor month after month. He is described by his staff as a man of stellar character and one that empowers them daily
Alaa Eldin had also recently signed the first of its kind partnership with the royal commission of Al-Ula, taking an unprecedented challenge of fully managing and operating the Winter Camp ‘AI Wadi’. Winter at Tantora event to be held in Al-Ula County, home to an astonishing UNESCO World Heritage Site set in the North Western part in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, as part of Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030
The Camp welcomed 37,000 guests from 72 countries, and hosted International Royal Families, Heads of States and A-list celebrities
