Fairmont The Palm, Dubai appoints Dominic Arel as the General Manager
Joining the Fairmont The Palm Dubai team, Dominic will bring his 26- years of experience with Accor Group
Fairmont The Palm has announced the appointment of Dominic Arel as General Manager, making the award-winning, Arabian-style luxury hotel the newest venture in his 26-year long career with the Accor Group.
A seasoned luxury hospitality professional with an in-depth background in operations, sales, and revenue management. Dominic is passionate about providing his guests and colleagues with unique and memorable experiences. In his role he will bring his unique expertise, strategic market insight and strong leadership skills to the Fairmont The Palm executive team, guiding them through a busy Q4 of 2022.
Having first joined Accor Group in 1996 at Novotel Montréal Centre, Dominic transferred to Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile in 2002, and after a number of promotions he grew to Hotel Manager, reporting directly to Vice President Operations of Accor in North America. In 2011, he moved to the United Arab Emirates as Hotel Manager of Sofitel Dubai Jumeirah Beach, where he led the team to win the ‘Best 2012 - 5 Stars Business Hotel in Dubai’ accolade from the MENA Awards and hosted the Sofitel Stars, Food and Art event in 2012 with 12 Michelin starred restaurants showcased. Dominic assumed his first General Manager role at Sofitel Lisbon Liberdade in 2013 where he achieved the ISO1400 certification from Bureau Veritas and scored the best employee satisfaction result among other Sofitel hotels worldwide, before moving to Qatar in 2016 to pre-open Alwadi Hotel Doha – MGallery by Sofitel.
His love for Dubai remained strong, and Dominic returned to the United Arab Emirates in 2019 as the General Manager of Swissotel Al Ghurair and Swissotel Living Al Ghurair, before joining the Palm Jumeirah’s famed Fairmont The Palm in September 2022.
Dominic holds a Diploma in Hotel Management, a Higher Advanced Certificate of Bachelor’s programme in Human Resource Management from Canada, and is a Masters’ graduate in the International Hospitality Management Program from the Accor Academy in Paris, France.
In his free time, Dominic is a gastronomic person and loves to spend time in the kitchen preparing fine foods, he also enjoys spending time and travelling with his family, as well as discovering new hospitality trends.
Atithi Jaiswal
Mumbai, India