Accor has announced the appointment of Ammar Hilal as Managing Director of Raffles Dubai and Sofitel Dubai The Obelisk. Joining from Fairmont Dubai, within the group’s portfolio, Ammar will oversee the daily operations of the new flagship property, and lead the strategic direction of Raffles Dubai.
Born and raised in Germany, Ammar brings 30 years of international hospitality experience where he contributed to the success of hotels within Hilton, Mandarin Oriental, Ritz-Carlton, Rosewood, One&Only and Jumeirah Group across key cities such as Hamburg, Bangkok, Cairo, New York, Hawaii, London, Hong Kong, Mauritius, Antalya and Dubai.
Ammar joined Accor in 2015 as General Manager of Sofitel Dubai Downtown where he successfully achieved the highest Employee Engagement score amongst all Sofitel hotels in the region, the highest Leading Quality Assurance score amongst all participating hotels in Dubai as well as several accolades by Forbes and Condé Nast Traveller. Ammar then joined the Fairmont Dubai team in 2017, leading the 19-year-old flagship Fairmont in the region and successfully initiated the hotel’s long-anticipated refurbishment.
Overseeing the operations of 498 rooms and suites, 97 serviced apartments, five signature dining venues including two celebrity chefs as well as Sofitel Spa with L’Occitane, Ammar aims to position the recently awarded Leading New Hotel in Dubai as a front-runner in the global hospitality realm and solidifying its reign as the second-largest Sofitel property in the world.
He also looks forward to leading the Raffles Dubai legacy, known for its unparalleled guest experience reflected in the hotel’s number one position out of 761 hotels in Dubai for the past six years and being amongst the top 10 hotels worldwide on TripAdvisor in 2020.