Beach Luxury hotel group Le Meridien has appointed Brigette Goerdt as general manager of its new Le Meridien Aqqa Beach Resort Fujairah, scheduled to open in August next year.
Currently acting as director of operations, rooms division, at Le Meridien Dubai, Goerdt initially came to the UAE in August 1979 when she was with the opening team as a housekeeper at the hotel. Her first posting as general manager was Le Meridien Hamburg in 1988, and she then moved to the exclusive Hotel Bristol in Warsaw to open that property before returning to Germany to work in Hanover and then Cologne. Having worked in nine countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Goerdt said the UAE remained her absolute favourite. The luxury beach resort project, a joint venture between Emirates and the Government of Fujairah, is aiming to jump-start tourism in this emirate on the UAE's east coast, focusing on its secluded beach coastline just 90 minutes' drive from Dubai. Meanwhile, Jean-Pierre Trabut is the new general manager of Le Meridien Abu Dhabi. Trabut brings to the hotel the expertise gained from management postings around the globe, a hotel spokesman said. Born of French origin in Rabat, Morocco, Trabut worked in England for six years, after which he joined Forte to re-open the refurbished Royal Mansour Hotel in Casablanca in 1989. His then returned to Europe, where he joined the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin, Ireland. Trabut has spent the last four years with Le Meridien on the Caribbean island of Martinique and now trades the azure coastline of that area for the equally beautiful shores of Abu Dhabi.