Dubai-based luxury hospitality company and member of Dubai Holding, Jumeirah Group, has appointed new general managers for several of its hotels around the world.

Margaret Paul has been appointed general manager of Madinat Jumeirah – The Arabian Resort in Dubai. She will oversee the management of the resort’s three hotels – Al Qasr, Mina A’Salam and Dar Al Masyaf – as well as the popular Souk Madinat Jumeirah and the resort’s conference centre, a statement from Jumeirah said.

Paul has been with Jumeirah Group since 2002 when she became hotel manager for Jumeirah Carlton Tower in London. In 2004, she moved to Dubai as hotel manager for Jumeirah Beach Hotel. She was then appointed general manager for a pre-opening property before coming back to Jumeirah Beach Hotel as general manager in 2008.

Prior to joining the Jumeirah Group, Margaret worked for Le Meridien Hotels in Europe and Dubai, the statement said.

Taking over Paul’s former responsibilities, Mahmoud Sakr has been appointed general manager of Jumeirah Beach Hotel. He started his career with Jumeirah in 1999 as director of rooms for the group’s flagship hotel, Burj Al Arab.

He was promoted to executive assistant manager - rooms division, and then to resident manager, before becoming hotel manager. In 2008 he became general manager of Mina A’Salam, part of Madinat Jumeirah resort. Sakr has also worked for several prestigious hotels throughout Egypt, Saudi Arabia and UAE.

Graham Kiy has been appointed general manager of Jumeirah Guangzhou, where he will lead the pre-opening team of the 200-room, five-star luxury hotel which will be located in the centre of New Pearl City Tian He District, Guangzhou’s premier and rapidly growing commercial city centre, it said.

Graham joined Jumeirah in August 2010 as the pre-opening hotel manager for Jumeirah Zabeel Saray in Dubai. Prior to this he worked with the pre-opening development team of Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel, Shanghai.

Jumeirah was recently appointed to manage Pera Palace Hotel in Istanbul and the hotel’s current general manager, P?nar Kartal Timer, will join the Jumeirah Group leadership team when the hotel rebrands as part of the Jumeirah portfolio on May 1.

Timer started her career at the Hilton Istanbul in 1988. She held several positions until her promotion to director of sales and marketing for both Hilton Istanbul and Hilton Parksa in 1994, the statement said.

She also worked for Moevenpick and Kempinski before being appointed as general manager of Pera Palace Hotel in 2009, it said.

Jumeirah currently operates 19 luxury hotels, resorts and residences around the world. From the start of 2011 to the end of 2012, the group will have more than doubled the number of hotels it manages and almost quadrupled the number of countries in which it operates.

In the coming six months Jumeirah expects to open Jumeirah Port Soller Hotel & Spa in Mallorca, Spain; Jumeirah Bilgah Beach Hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan; Jumeirah Messilah Beach Hotel and Spa, Kuwait; and Jumeirah Creekside in Dubai. – TradeArabia News Service