Fairmont Dubai Team Appointments

- Stephen Banks and Kent Cooper head sales team -

Michael Kaile, general manager and vice president of The Fairmont Dubai, has announced two key appointments in his management team, prior to opening of the 34-storey landmark complex on the Sheikh Zayed Road in Dubai in February 2002.

Joining Fairmont Hotels & Resorts as regional sales & marketing director for The Fairmont Dubai is Stephen Banks, a veteran in the regional hotel sector. He first worked for Inter-Continental in Muscat and Abu Dhabi, prior to heading area sales and marketing for the group in Cairo. Moving to Ritz-Carlton, he was appointed sales & marketing director at the Ritz-Carlton Dubai, and most recently took over a regional role to launch the Ritz-Carlton in several other Middle East destinations.

New to the Middle East is Kent Cooper, who comes to Dubai from New York where he was director of group sales at The Plaza, another of Fairmont’s landmark hotels. He also worked for Hilton and Hyatt in the United States prior to joining Fairmont in 1999. Kent Cooper will head the sales team as director of sales, The Fairmont Dubai.

According to Michael Kaile, his team represent the best of both regional and Fairmont skills: “We are delighted to welcome Stephen Banks to Fairmont and expect his knowledge of the Middle East market to be a great asset in establishing The Fairmont Dubai.

“In Kent Cooper, too, we have a highly skilled hotelier who will greatly assist in promoting the Fairmont name and brand in Dubai and the region.”

The Fairmont Dubai has 394 rooms including 128 suites. Other features of the deluxe hotel include state of the art business facilities; 117 residential apartments; four floors of office space; a world class spa and health facility and a collection of 8 diverse restaurants and lounges.

The project represents the first step in a strategic alliance between the private office of His Highness, Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan and Fairmont Hotels & Resorts to build and operate a number of luxury hotels in the region, and elsewhere.