Starwood Hotels & Resorts Abu Dhabi sign MoU with Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority for the “Khibrati” program

Press release

Published March 18th, 2015 - 05:38 GMT

During the event

Starwood Hotels & Resorts in Abu Dhabi announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority (TCA), as Starwood joins TCA’s “Khibrati” programme. The programme is designed to encourage nationalisation of careers in the hotel sector by providing undergraduate students opportunities within the tourism industry through training and part-time positions as they continue their university studies.

Stuart Thomson, Regional Director of Human Resources - Middle East at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., said, “We look forward to our collaboration with Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority on the “Khibrati” nationalisation programme. We will be working alongside TCA to put together a programme plan that would best suit undergraduate students during their full-time studies. Specially tailored part time jobs are being developed aimed at yielding rich experiences for the participants with one of the leading hospitality brands in the world, as well as motivating and educating them about the hospitality industry.”

The programme commenced on March 12^th and will go on for a year, where it is up for renewal.

Background Information

Starwood Hotels

Starwood Hotels represents one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies. It conducts its hotel and leisure business both directly and through its subsidiaries. Its brand names include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points, Aloft, and Element

Starwood Hotels' business emphasizes the global operation of hotels and resorts primarily in the luxury and upscale segment of the lodging industry. It seeks to acquire interests in, or management or franchise rights with respect to properties in this segment. At December 31, 2009, its hotel portfolio included owned, leased, managed and franchised hotels totaling 979 hotels with approximately 292,000 rooms in approximately 100 countries, and is comprised of 63 hotels that it owns or leases or in which it has a majority equity interest, 440 hotels managed by the company on behalf of third-party owners and 476 hotels for which it receives franchise fees.