Fairmont moves its headquarters from Paris to Dubai

The Fairmont Group, one of the world’s largest hotel operators, has moved its global headquarters to Dubai as the country’s hospitality industry is heading for further development. In addition to “Fairmont”, the group also owns and operates the “Raffles” and “Swissotel” brands. The current headquarters are located in the French capital, Paris, which arose after the acquisition of the hotel chain by the French “Accor” group in 2016. The original headquarters of Fairmont was in Canada.

According to Gulf News, Mark Willis, CEO, said, “When he officially became the leader of the Vermont brand, he started discussing the location of the headquarters, and while some major cities such as New York and London came to his mind, the idea of ​​Dubai was in his mind, as the emirate continues to promote Its position as a global hub, and it is currently a major center of attention as it has attracted some of the talents and the best international brands, companies and investors.”
The emirate is attractive to individuals and companies

He pointed out that «the emirate’s prosperity and the quality of life it provides, along with the ease of doing business, security and the availability of tourist attractions, made it very attractive as a home for both individuals and companies».

The other obvious reason for choosing Dubai was the geographical connection to Europe, Asia and Africa, where Vermont’s presence is expanding, as flights between these regions do not exceed six hours, with a slight time difference between the time of the markets. More importantly, approximately 40% of Fairmont’s current development projects are in India, the Middle East, Africa and Turkey, so having the headquarters in Dubai makes the group take advantage of the huge opportunities across the region.

The Fairmont Group operates more than 70 hotels around the world, and Willis stated its active plan to expand its managed hotel presence in the Emirates. The first Fairmont hotel in the Middle East was opened in the Emirates, and we currently operate five hotels across the country.
He said, “It is not in their plans to slow down the pace of adding more, as they have under construction real estate (Fairmont Dubai Skyline), which will be opened within the next two years.” He pointed to “the importance of the country as a market for luxury brands.”