Hilton's first palace hotel appoints senior management team

The 46-all-suite opulent palace hotel, which is located adjacent to the Jeddah Hilton and managed by Hilton International, recently welcomed Mr. Marc W. de Beer as Manager for Qasr al Sharq and Mr. Akram Sha'ar joins as Director of Business Development for the super luxurious property.

"In anticipation of an early opening and the huge amount of interest this outstanding property will generate, it was imperative to develop our key senior management team and solidify our regional expertise while fine tuning the luxury, detail - oriented service that will be available at the Palace," said Hagop Doghramadjian, General Manager for Jeddah Hilton and Qasr al Sharq.

Epitomising a new generation of exclusive, super-luxurious, and unique palace hotels, Qasr al Sharq will introduce unprecedented levels of luxury and service from every aspect of the guest experience. The property will introduce the region's largest guest suites, the most advanced high tech amenities, a unique personalized butler service, and unimaginable interior design aspects of a most spectacular caliber.

With over a decade of hotel industry experience, Marc de Beer's career began in the food and beverage industry in his native Netherlands. De Beer soon joined the Marriott hotel chain and moved to New York and later to London.

In the mid 1990's Marc moved to the Middle East and joined the Royal Meridien chain where his career as a Food and Beverage Manager advanced rapidly. After a stint in Riyadh, he moved to China where he opened a new hotel and revived an existing one for Marriott International as Operations Manger.

De Beer returned to the region when he joined as Director of Operations, Jeddah Hilton in February 2004, and this led him to the forefront of Hilton's most ambitions project to date with the managerial appointment to Qasr Al Sharq

"It is an honour to be associated with what will become the region's most luxurious hotel. Levels of service at the palace will be second to none, and will provide a benchmark for the industry - within the Middle East and abroad," said de Beer.

With extensive hospitality sales and destination marketing experience, Akram Sha'ar has been living and working in the Kingdom for over five years and was most recently Director of Sales and Marketing for a leading Jeddah-based tour operator. He joins Qasr al Sharq as the Director of Business Development, and as such is tasked with cross selling the diverse banqueting facilities of the 414- room Jeddah Hilton with the exclusive services that will be available only through the palace.

"The palace will offer the perfect compliment of high end luxury to large events such as high profile weddings and international conferences. Guests will be able to utilize the Jeddah Hiltons outstanding conference facilities and rooms, while CEO-level executives may wish to indulge and enjoy a stay in the Palace. Similarly for weddings that take place in the Jeddah Hilton, Qasr al Sharq will offer a convenient first night honeymoon location" stated Sha'ar.