If Marloes Knippenberg’s direction for Kerten Hospitality could be summed up, it would be ‘collaboration’. As a mixed-use operations leader, collaboration is at the core of the company, and has brought the CEO a lot of wins in 2021. Under her leadership, Kerten has grown from grown brand in one country to a footprint of 35-plus projects across more than 12 countries and a portfolio of 11 lifestyle brands.

In September, Kerten opened its flagship lifestyle destination property in Jeddah – The House Hotel Jeddah City Yard – a hotel with a collaborative business hub and 14 food and beverage outlets that is today a community hub in Jeddah.

Kerten marked the second half of 2021 with three mixed-use project openings in KSA and Turkey, signed five new deals in new markets like Morocco and Italy and has further expanded its footprint across five new projects in the GCC that combined have added over 1,000 keys to the pipeline.

Mohamed Awadalla

Chief executive officer, TIME Hotels Management

Under Mohamed Awadalla’s leadership, TIME Hotels has continued its mission of delivering international standards of hospitality service throughout the region.

In early 2021, TIME Hotels launched its mobile app and contactless guest services, in partnership with Neorcha. According to Awadalla, the implementation of innovative technology was crucial to recovery post- Covid-19, as well as future growth within the tourism industry.

During the pandemic, Awadalla also launched two new properties. TIME Asma Hotel, which is made up of 232 rooms and has 80 percent, female staff, including the hotel manager, and TIME Onyx Hotel Apartments, which is made up of 176 apartments and 42 stylish studios, perfect for the build-up to Expo 2020.

The group has also launched a series of high-profile sustainability and environmental initiatives, which have been the foundation for TIME’s success today. As a result, 2021 saw TIME Hotels being awarded a CSR Label from Dubai Chamber for the seventh consecutive year.