THREE MAKKAH HOTELS TAKE TOP AWARDS AT SAUDI ARABIA’S INTER-HOTEL CULINARY COMPETITION

Recognised worldwide as one of the Holy Cities of Islam, Makkah is also finding a name for itself in the culinary world as three of its leading hotels have been awarded as the best hotel kitchens in Saudi Arabia.

Chefs from Anjum Hotel Makkah, Swissôtel Al Maqam Makkah, and Le Méridien Towers Makkah were awarded bronze, silver and gold places respectively, at the Kingdom’s second annual ‘Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – Mystery Box Challenge’.

The competition, which took place in Jeddah as part of the 2018 edition of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia last month, witnessed its most competitive line-up to date – with eleven kitchens from some of the Kingdom’s leading hotels cooking up a storm in a bid to be crowned champion.

Pictured: Chefs cooking at the Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – Mystery Box Challenge

Endorsed by WORLDCHEFS, the Saudi Arabian Chefs’ Association and Culinary Partner, Unilever Food Solutions, it is the only event of its kind in the Kingdom celebrating the excellent standards of its hotel restaurants.

Each participating team was given three hours to whip-up four courses using ‘Mystery Box’ ingredients only revealed to them once they stepped inside the kitchen, the final dishes presented to a panel of judges from WORLDCHEFS (The World Association of Chefs’ Societies).

The winning menu for Le Méridien Towers Makkah included a ‘Mixed Bean Salad’ for the starter, ‘Traditional Sweet Corn Soup’ for the soup, ‘Stuffed Chicken Breast with Peaches’ as the main course and an ‘Orange Crème Brulee with Caramelized Pineapple, Banana and Crispy Puff’ for dessert.

Upon winning the gold medal, Anas Mohammed Ayyub Ansari, Head Chef at Le Méridien Towers Makkah said: “This feeling is indescribable – all chefs dream to be crowned as Saudi Arabia’s top hotel kitchen and we are very proud to win the gold for our hotel, Le Méridien Towers Makkah.

“The judges commented that they appreciated how we kept our dishes modern in presentation, maintaining the authenticity of the dish yet the taste spoke volumes about how passionate we are about our food.”

Pictured: The Le Méridien Towers Makkah team are presented the gold trophy, medals and certificates from the WORLDCHEFS judges 

Chef Yasser Jad, Founder & President of the Saudi Arabian Chefs’ Association (SARCA) and Manager Food & Beverages at Saudi Airlines, chaired the jury, a line-up of expert local and international chefs.

Jad commented: “This year we raised the level of difficulty of the competition significantly by limiting the number of items in the ‘Mystery Box’, with chicken the only protein provided, for example.

“This ensured that teams had to be creative in order to give their own signature take on each dish. The winning team from Le Méridien Towers Makkah stood out with their chicken main stuffed with peaches, a unique, Mediterranean take on the dish. This team was very professional and managed to create flavorsome dishes with the limited ingredients available.

“Other chefs stuffed the chicken with dates which maintained an Arabic touch. All of the menus were very impressive and to a high standard. We look forward to returning to The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia next year with a more challenging competition format and new ingredients for the chefs to work with, in order to raise the bar even further.”

Pictured: The winning team take their awards back to their hotel in Makkah

The Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition will return for its third edition at The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2019, taking place across three days – 21-23^rd April 2019 – at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.

Find out more at: www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com

DUBAI’S HOTEL SHOW SHORTLISTED IN TWO CATEGORIES AT UK-BASED AEO EXCELLENCE AWARDS 2018

The Hotel Show Dubai – the largest and most comprehensive hospitality event in the Middle East – has just been shortlisted in two categories at the 2018 AEO Excellence Awards.

The Association of Event Organisers (AEO) award the best that the international events industry has to offer at the annual ceremony, showcasing “amazing” achievements over the past year in terms of individual events, venues, suppliers and contractors.

Long-standing The Hotel Show has been running in the UAE for almost two decades. Its 2017 edition is up for a potential win in both the AEO’s ‘Best Overseas Show’ and ‘Innovation Award’ categories this year.

Last year the event went through its most significant period of change to date, announcing a raft of exciting new features and sectors for its 18^th edition, as well as brand extensions in Saudi Arabia, Africa and the Philippines. Due to global growth plans, the entire portfolio revealed a new look and feel to provide a sleek, integrated look across all of its editions and reflect the increasing international importance of its portfolio and core event in Dubai, UAE.

The innovative new feature line up launched at the show included The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions, the focus of the event’s shortlisted entry for the ‘Innovation Award’.

The first event of its kind in the world, the brand new competition saw hotel rooms set up back to back on The Hotel Show floor and trashed. Housekeeping teams from 26 hotels competed head-to-head to clean them in just seven minutes. The Hotel Show team identified a clear gap in the market for an event dedicated to the ‘unsung heroes’ of the hospitality industry, which is now providing a platform to demonstrate industry best practice, encourage on-going training and development and drive excellence.

Pamini Hemaprabha, representative from the UAE Professional Housekeepers Group, competition judge, executive housekeeper and master trainer commented on the success of the competition: “The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions has raised the motivational bar much higher for the housekeeping division. This competition is very important because housekeepers spend less time socializing and coming out to networking opportunities. We live in a google age, and everything around us is changing so fast, so housekeepers need to come out of hotels and spend quality time with fellow housekeepers and suppliers to check out the competition and what is new in the market – it’s only doing good for their hotels and their division.”

Pictured: The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions 2017 competition underway on-site at The Hotel Show Dubai 

Educational platform, The Middle East Hospitality Leadership Forum, featured debate and discussion with almost 50 GMs. The Middle East Hospitality Awards celebrated industry excellence with a top-level judging panel including Chef Gary Rhodes OBE. As the industry evolves, the awards featured new categories which for the first time covered its entirety including a new focus on leisure (pool and spa / sports and fitness).

Pictured: Gary Rhodes OBE accepts the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Middle East Hospitality Awards 2017

Due to an overwhelmingly positive response, the 2017 feature line-up will now be replicated for all international editions of The Hotel Show.

Gary Williams, Event Director of The Hotel Show Dubai commented: “As the industry changes and grows, so must we. Through our new features that directly reflect the industry, the hoteliers and all departments within a hotel, we are confident that we are providing a stage that its people deserve and are proud to do business on. Our format for 2017 pulled down the hurdles that hoteliers find along the way – from career advancement to working with suppliers. We are a community, and The Hotel Show is our annual get-together.”

The upcoming AEO Excellence Awards will take place at Grosvenor House in London on the 15th June 2018 – check out Talk About Hospitality to find out the results.

Find out more about The Hotel Show Dubai at www.thehotelshow.com and see the full AEO Excellence Awards 2018 shortlist here

 

INTER-HOTEL CULINARY COMPETITION RETURNS TO SAUDI ARABIA THIS WEEK

The ‘Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – Mystery Box Challenge’ is returning to Saudi Arabia this week with a bigger line up of hotels and resorts for its 2018 edition, battling it out to be recognised as the country’s finest hotel kitchen.

After its highly successful debut in 2017 which saw Jeddah’s Mövenpick Resort Al Nawras cook up a storm to be crowned champion, the competition will now remain a central annual feature of The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia and run across its three days – 10-12^th April 2018 – at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.

Some of the finest hotels from across the Kingdom are set to take part this year including: Hotel Pullman Zamzam Makkah, InterContinental Jeddah, Le Méridien Towers Makkah, Hotel Mercure Jeddah Al Hamra, and Swissotel Al Maqam Makkah.

Endorsed by WORLDCHEFS, the Saudi Arabian Chefs’ Association and Culinary Partner, Unilever Food Solutions, the competition is the only of its kind in the Kingdom and its organisers’ have raised the bar this year to provide an even more challenging experience for competing F&B teams.

“In 2018 we will continue with the ‘Mystery Box’ concept, but in order to increase the degree of difficulty for the chefs we are reducing the available cooking time and adding in some more tricky ingredients – with a focus on healthy eating,” said Chef Yasser Jad – Founder and President of the Saudi Arabian Chefs’ Association (SARCA) and Food and Beverage Manager at Saudi Airlines – who will chair the panel of judges, a line-up of international chefs based outside the hotel environment, to ensure impartial judging.

Each of the teams will be given 2-3 hours to whip-up four courses using ‘Mystery Box’ ingredients only revealed to them once they have stepped inside the kitchen.

Pictured: some of the dishes prepared by the hotel chefs at the Inter-hotel Culinary Competition 2017

Jad added: “To cook an impressive, tasty four-course meal from unfamiliar ingredients is a challenging feat for any chef.

“This competition is so important for chefs in the Kingdom today. There is a wealth of new hotel and restaurant concepts opening with so many international dining options on the agenda. Hotel chefs need to be prepared to handle a wider range of new ingredients to cater to the tastes of both domestic and global travelers.

“More people are traveling across Saudi than ever before. A Japanese guest, for example, staying at a local, traditional Arabic hotel might ask for something with more of an oriental flavor that’s not on the menu. Today’s chefs need to be versatile to cater to the needs of international palettes. More unusual takes on the items in the Mystery Box and a real focus on flavor – which makes up the largest part of the scoring at 50% – is what will set the winning team apart from the rest of the competition.”

The judges will sample each dish created, before crowning the winners based on the WORLDCHEFS-approved judging criteria namely: fixed time (0-5 points), preparations and processing of raw materials and hygiene (0-10 points), correct professional preparation (0-25 points), organization and innovative presentation (0-10 points), and taste (0-50 points).

Pictured: some of the participating hotel chefs present their food to the expert judges at WORLDCHEFS during the Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition 2017

Speaking about the Mystery Box concept – made famous by various international food television programmes – Jad added: “Cooking TV shows such as ‘Master Chef Arabia’ and ‘Top Chef’ – which I have personally participated in as jury judge – undoubtedly encourage amateur and professional chefs of all ages and classes not to fear the audience and to be themselves given the challenges they face so as to develop their skills. This will also help them develop the necessary personality traits to become one of the respected, world-class chefs in the future.”

The Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – Mystery Box Challenge will take place throughout The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia, 10-12^th April 2018 at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events, with a series of heats each day until the winner is revealed on the final day of the event (12^th April 2018).

Now entering its 6^th year, the Saudi Arabian edition of Dubai-based The Hotel Show unites thousands of hotel and restaurant professionals for three days of business and networking each year.

For more information on The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2018 and how to register to attend for free, please visit: www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com

Pictured: last year’s winners of the debut Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – Mystery Box Challenge from the Mövenpick Resort Al Nawras Jeddah with the expert judging panel from WORLDCHEFS, and representatives from The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia and sponsors RAK Porcelain 

EXPERT CHEFS TO DEMONSTRATE LATEST TRENDS IN F&B IN THE KINGDOM AT HOTEL SHOW

The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia is returning to Jeddah for its 6^th annual edition next week and various live kitchens will be set up across the show floor demonstrating the latest local and international products and trends in F&B.

The Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition is returning for its highly-anticipated second edition, endorsed by WORLDCHEFS, The Saudi Arabian Chefs Association and Culinary Partner Unilever Food Solutions. Meanwhile Unilevers’ stand will have its own dedicated kitchen where various new products and recipes will be revealed to the Saudi market for live demonstrations.

Chef Jean Van Der Westhuizen, Executive Chef Middle East, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, who will be cooking up a storm at the Unilever showcase at the event, commented: “The Saudi food industry grows differently to other markets. There has always been a growing popularity for importing international brands into the Kingdom and we can see that these have started to adapt more closely to the unique needs of Saudi Arabian diners.

“We want to cater to the specific needs of the customers in HORECA and their guests. Being at The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia gives us the opportunity to interact with the industry to identify their needs and wants, and share the latest local and international trends and insights.

“We are seeing that owners and managers of high-end hotels, restaurants, and business class travel are searching to enhance their guest experience through high quality natural flavors, and they also care about every detail of service. Pure Leaf, a premium tea brand, popular in the United States, is a great fit for this purpose.

“Less sugar-based beverages are increasingly important. Thus our launch of Lipton Freshly Brewed Ice Tea offers great alternatives to soft drinks to the more health conscious diner.”

Pictured: Chef Jean Van Der Westhuizen, Executive Chef Middle East, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, Unilever Food Solutions will be cooking up a storm at the Unilever stand at The Hotel Show in Jeddah

Unilever will also use The Hotel Show as a platform to highlight its latest innovation in its foods portfolio with ‘Knorr Tomato Powder’ – a product which transform 88 dehydrated tomatoes into 6.7 litres of rich tomato sauce in just one minute. The sauce is an innovative solution for Chefs delivering less wastage, more yield per pack, savings with storage space, and provides a highly versatile ingredient for use in many dishes.

The Unilever Food Solutions team will also share its latest, specialist advice for Ramadan at the Jeddah event, focusing on inspirational buffet recipes, monitoring dish consumption to manage costs, and reducing waste, to name a few.

See the latest trends in food and beverages in the Kingdom at The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2018 at the Unilever Food Solutions stand E98 and the second edition of The Inter-Hotel Culinary Competition – featuring the Chefs working behind the scenes at some of the Kingdom’s leading hotels – 10-12^th April 2018 at the Jeddah Centre for Forums and Events.

Find out more and register to attend The Hotel Show Saudi Arabia 2018 for free at: www.thehotelshowsaudiarabia.com

 

THE HOTEL SHOW DUBAI SET TO REACH NEW HEIGHTS IN 2018

Dubai continues to lead the way for hospitality development in the Middle East as its most active city for hotel and restaurant construction, synonymous with world-leading design, service standards, and innovation.

The Hotel Show Dubai has been moving with the trends in the region’s hospitality industry for almost two decades and its 19th edition, taking place from 16-18th September 2018 at the Dubai World Trade Centre – is set to push the boundaries even further.

Like the world-first features that launched at the event in 2017, its 2018 line-up is set to reach new heights, just like the world’s tallest hotel which recently opened in its native Dubai…

The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions 2018

The first event of its kind in the world launched at The Hotel Show last year, and is returning to Dubai after widespread acclaim that’s led to editions in the likes of South Africa.  Housekeeping staff are arguably the most vital component of any successful hotel. At The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions, it is their time to shine. At The Hotel Show Dubai 2018 the event will once again pit teams from the UAE’s biggest hotels head-to-head as they race to remedy ransacked rooms against the clock. Fairmont Dubai was crowned champion last year, let’s see who will be taking the title this September…

The Middle East Hospitality Leadership Forum 2018

Will also return to the event with a brand-new line up of expert speakers. The key industry forum will feature well over 50 senior hoteliers, restaurateurs, developers and other key market players engaged in live and unscripted debate on the key strategic opportunities and challenges shaping the regional sector at this time of accelerated expansion and change.

Middle East Hospitality Awards 2018

The Middle East Hospitality Awards will once again take place at one of the top hotels in Dubai, the venue to be announced at The Hotel Show Dubai 2018 launch party (details coming soon!). The evening celebrates outstanding achievements, innovations and excellence across the region’s top hotels, resorts and restaurants over the past 12 months and is set to be attended once again by hundreds of senior industry professionals.

INNOVATION ALERT: Watch this space…
Brand-new features are yet to be announced for 2018 – set to bring innovative takes on the key functions of any hotel and/or restaurant that the industry will not want to miss…

Relive the highlights from The Hotel Show Dubai 2017 
The new show highlights video showcases all of the best of the 18th edition of the region’s leading hospitality event – take a look… 

Find out more: www.thehotelshow.com 

 

2018 FORECAST AS BUSY YEAR FOR UAE HOTEL OPENINGS WITH 83 NEW PROJECTS SET TO LAUNCH

As the region’s largest and longest-standing hospitality event draws to a close for 2017, forecasters have revealed that 2018 is expected be hugely eventful for the UAE’s hospitality industry – with no less than 83 new hotels set to open.

The latest Middle East and Africa Hotel Construction report by TOPHOTELPROJECTS –  commissioned by The Hotel Show Dubai 2017, the 18^th edition of which concludes today (20^th September 2017) at the Dubai World Trade Centre – has identified the UAE as being the busiest country for hotel construction in the Middle East and Africa.

The region currently has more than 200 hotel projects in the pipeline, with Dubai (164 projects), Abu Dhabi (25 projects) and Ras al Khaimah (12 projects) seen as the busiest areas for hotel construction in the UAE. Of these properties, 83 will open next year.

Some of the most anticipated hotel openings include Dubai’s Rosemont Hotel and Residences, Curio Collection by Hilton (730 rooms) and Fairmont Abu Dhabi Marina Hotel & Residences (812 rooms).

“The spotlight is firmly on the hospitality industry in this region, particularly the UAE,” commented Gary Williams, Event Director of The Hotel Show, part of the dmg events hospitality portfolio which also includes The Leisure Show and the Middle East Hospitality Awards – which have all run in Dubai this week to massive success.

“We have welcomed more regional and international guests to our events this week than ever before in our 18-year history serving this market, some of which have massive expansion plans for the region, covering hundreds of hotels.

“Some of the business deals orchestrated at our shows this week have been unprecedented, and this just goes to illustrate once more how continually forward-thinking and how constantly growing the hospitality market is in this part of the world. With experts revealing that hotel openings are going to galvanise the market from 2018, we are set to provide the industry with an even larger showcase of the best products and insights.”

Event organisers have today revealed the dates for next year’s The Hotel Show Dubai and The Leisure Show Dubai. Both will take place 16-18^th September 2018.

In making that announcement, the event organisers also unveiled how both shows will be brought to life with more live features than ever before.

Following on from the huge success of its debut running in 2017, The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions will once again pit the region’s exceptional pool of background staff against one another in The Hotel Show’s timed contest to clean-up ransacked guest rooms, which attracted an incredible 28 different teams for its inaugural hosting.

The Middle East Hospitality Leadership Forum – which itself drew capacity crowds to every discussion at this year’s show – will return too, maintaining the same quality caliber of speakers which included Issam Kazim, CEO, Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DCTCM).

At The Leisure Show, new features will include The Landscaping Competition, The Outdoor Furniture Showcase and Everything Golf – the latter geared at providing all the equipment vital to developing and maintaining the region’s unparalleled golf offering.

The ever-popular Fit Hub will bring live gym sessions back to the Dubai World Trade Centre once more, while the Pool and Spa Conference will gather leading professionals to dissect both the challenges and opportunities facing one of the Middle East’s fastest growing industries.

To find out more about the 2018 editions of The Hotel Show and The Leisure Show, please access: www.thehotelshow.com and www.theleisureshow.com

 

THE HOTEL SHOW DUBAI ANNOUNCES NEW FEATURES FOR 2017

The Hotel Show Dubai, the largest, longest-standing and most comprehensive hospitality trade show in the Middle East and Africa, is announcing a host of new features for its 18th edition in September 2017.

Each year the event offers the ultimate showcase of everything needed to build, develop and maintain a hotel or restaurant in the region. Sectors at the show range from décor and finishings to in-room technologies.

For the first time in 2017, the annual exhibition will form a core part of a brand-new industry mega-event ‘Dubai International Hospitality Week’ organised by dmg events and the Dubai World Trade Centre (DWTC).

Bringing together dmg’s The Hotel Show with the launch of DWTC’s GulfHost (alongside an extended programme of live events), the Dubai Tourism endorsed event is anticipated to attract more than 50,000 visitors to the DWTC when it launches in September.

The Hotel Show portfolio has unveiled an all-new brand identity this year in consultation with the global hospitality industry at a time of international growth. New editions of the event are launching in hospitality development hotspots Africa (June) and the Philippines (August), while its existing event in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia turned five in May. Each event is taking the format of the successful Dubai show, adding elements of local flavor.

Also expanding in 2017 is the feature line-up of the flagship Dubai edition. With an aim to cater to every element of the guest experience like never before, new installations are set to focus on some its most important elements: housekeeping, staff uniforms, F&B, technology and much more.

The Middle East Hospitality Leadership Forum will be a central new feature of this year’s show. GMs and owners from all types of hospitality operators will sit alongside major developers, asset managers, online travel sites and other influential players in the industry to debate the key strategic opportunities and challenges shaping the regional sector at what is a period of accelerated expansion and change. Speakers from major hotel brands including Marriott, Fairmont, Jumeirah, Four Seasons, Nikki Beach, and Waldorf Astoria will discuss a range of topics, including: ‘Building Genuine Brand Identity’, ‘Market Positioning’, ‘Online Influencers’ and ‘Women in Leadership’.

Alongside a range of educational seminars and workshops run by leading industry experts, new features have been announced: ‘The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions’, and ‘The Runway’, set to entertain and offer valuable hospitality insight.

In consultation with the UAE Professional Housekeepers Group, The Middle East Housekeepers League of Champions, sponsored by Restonic, is a live competition where two typical hotel rooms will be set-up back to back and turned upside down. Two teams of housekeepers (part of a wider league) will compete head-to-head to put the room back to its original state in the fastest time.

Lakmall Mawella, ‎Executive Housekeeper at The Address Boulevard Dubai commented: “The hotel industry keeps changing yet many people think housekeeping is stagnant, which it’s not. It has moved a lot in the last decade in terms of technology and efficiency and how to clean a hotel room. In the past, it was all about just cleaning, but now it’s about engagement with guests and the efficiency of doing things. A few years back it took one hour to clean one room and now it takes about 20 minutes. Based on this, at The Hotel Show I may meet a supplier that provides a machine which can scrub a floor in less than a minute compared to longer in previous years, so its gives us more insight how we can do things more efficiently and increase productivity which may help the hotel, revenues or ROI which is the important part.”

Meanwhile The Runway, in association with bespoke uniform designers A. Ronai LLC, will showcase trends in the latest uniform ranges for the likes of security, front of house, spa and pool personnel.

Further, exciting details of the new seminars and features will be announced by The Hotel Show organisers in the lead-up to the event. Ray Tinston, Portfolio Director of the dmg events hospitality portfolio, commented:  “As the industry changes and grows, so must we, and we have. The Hotel Show is showcasing an all-new brand identity, creating a sleek platform on which to network in the most efficient way possible.”

“Through our new features that directly reflect the industry, the hoteliers and all departments within a hotel, we are confident that our rebrand allows us to reposition our place within the region’s outstanding hospitality industry, and provides a stage that its people deserve and are proud to do business on. We are a community, and The Hotel Show is our annual get-together.”

More than 600 exhibitors, 7 show sectors and multiple installations placed throughout 8 exhibition halls, will welcome 1000s of hospitality industry professionals across 3 days. To find out more information on The Hotel Show 2017, access: www.thehotelshow.com