New Senior Appointments at the Flagship IHG UAE Hotels in Dubai Festival City

• Appointment of Karim Abdelhamid as Hotels Manager for InterContinental Dubai Festival City, InterContinental Residence Suites Dubai Festival City, Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City and Festival Arena
• Appointment of Marieke Schellen as Area Director of Human Resources for the InterContinental Hotels Group, Dubai Festival City

DUBAI, UAE. November 2019: InterContinental Hotels at Dubai Festival City announces the latest appointment across the 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, Crowne Plaza Dubai Festival City and Festival Arena, with a remit to further strengthen the hotels existing competitive advantages, establishing new operational and commercial synergies to positively impact financial performance across the properties consists of 1,088 keys and ten FB dining venues.

Karim has been in the hospitality industry for nearly 20 years with senior leadership roles with the worlds best hotel operators in the United States of America 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 Foundations 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 and she will oversee Human Resources for the whole cluster of four hotels as well as the Festival Arena, including a team consists of 1,100 colleagues from over 63 nationalities.

A real stalwart of the Middle East, Marieke first ventured to the region in December 2003 to embark on her hospitality journey. She was initially with the Hilton Dubai Creek and then she 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.

About IHG Hotels at Dubai Festival City:

Taking prime location within one of Dubais most exciting retail, leisure and entertainment destinations, Dubai Festival City is only minutes from Dubai International Airport, the major commercial hubs of Dubai and connecting roads to Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and beyond.

The IHG hotels in Dubai Festival City sit on the waters edge of the historic Dubai Creek and are just a stones-throw away from the unique city attractions including the Burj Khalifa and Dubai Frame, allowing visitors to benefit from the best of both worlds, old and new.

Encompassing the InterContinental (508 rooms), InterContinental Residences Suites (264 rooms), Crowne Plaza (316 rooms) and the Holiday Inn (509 rooms), plus almost 10,000 sq m of diverse event spaces including the Festival Arena and 14 restaurants and bars, Dubai Festival City is the perfect destination for anyone spending time in Dubai.

For more information on the hotels, conference facilities and restaurants at Dubai Festival City, please visit: dubaifestivalcityhotels.com