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32 In the Spotlight
In the Spotlight
Q: Tell us about your background,
where are you from? How long
have you been working with
Habtoor Hospitality?
A:
I originate from North Lebanon
where the foundation of my career set
off after graduating in Advertising and
Marketing from Notre Dame University
Lebanon.
As an ambitious career driven
entrepreneur, I gained leadership
and market experience when joining
Habtoor Hotels as a Sales Manager for
6 years in Lebanon. I then progressed
to my role as Assistant Director of Sales
at the Bristol Hotel and afterwards
rejoined the Habtoor family as Assistant
Director of Sales & Marketing looking
after GCC Markets for the Habtoor
Grand Resort and Spa, Dubai.
Since then, my career has soared to
dizzy heights where I headed The Ritz-
Carlton Hotel Sales team in Doha only
to return to Dubai with the preopening
team for The Oberoi Hotel Dubai. I
have now returned back home to the
Habtoor Grand Resort to direct and
plan the business development and
drive the sales and marketing divisions
as the hotel redefines itself as Marriott’s
first Autograph Collection property in
the UAE.
Q: Tell us more about your current
role as Business Development
Director… What do you love about
your job?
A:
Being so passionate, my current role
allows me to improve the hotel’s market
position and financial growth through
building key customer relationships,
which also includes identifying new
business opportunities and maintaining
extensive knowledge in current market
trends.
What I love about my job is the ability
to keep the passion with in the Habtoor
Hospitality culture alive and to nurture
our organization by keeping it in line
Meet Frida Audi
Business
Development
Director
at the
Habtoor Grand
Resort, Autograph
Collection
with trending events and modern
concepts.
Q: What is your management style
and how do you motivate your
employees?
A:
Motivation and Recognition are my
most powerful techniques as it inspires
the team to want to do better. To lead
a team effectively, would be to focus
on developing team members’ various
skills, to show encouragement and
empowerment to make ‘out of the box’
decisions, which in turn creates a circle
of trust and inspires the team to work
as a single unit - a family.
Q: In your downtime, what are
some of the activities you enjoy
doing with friends and family?
A:
Downtown for me would be a
fun sunny day in a cabana on the
beach with great friends and tasty
refreshments. I also love shopping and
attending family dinners every other
weekend.