With more than 35 years of experience across hospitality, hotel operations, business development, and revenue management, Ashraf Hendawi has built a distinguished career leading hotels and resorts across Saudi Arabia and the UAE. His expertise spans operational excellence, strategic growth, franchise development, market expansion, and guest satisfaction.
Leading Hospitality at Shaden
As Director of Hospitality at Shaden Hospitality since January 2025, Hendawi oversees operations across travel, hotel management, and catering divisions. His responsibilities include strategic planning, budgeting, KPI management, asset oversight, and cross-functional coordination with HR, Finance, Sales, and Marketing.
His leadership has also supported the establishment of three business divisions—Hospitality, In-house Travel Agency, and Catering—expanding Shaden’s service portfolio and revenue opportunities.
A Career Built on Operational Excellence
Before joining Shaden, Hendawi served as General Manager at Accor from 2020 to 2025 and General Manager at WA Hotels from 2017 to 2020. Across these roles, he managed resort and hotel operations, financial planning, capital improvement initiatives, revenue strategies, guest experience, and service recovery.
Earlier, his nine-year career with Lafontaine Hotel and Resort – Lafontaine KSA included leadership in hotel operations, business development, and franchise development. He spearheaded business development across a portfolio of 8 resorts and 6 hotels and helped establish Regional Sales and Global Reservations offices in Jeddah.
Revenue Growth and Business Development
Hendawi’s career is strongly defined by his ability to connect operational performance with commercial growth. His experience includes dynamic pricing, yield management, market analysis, strategic partnerships, franchise agreements, and sales planning.
Among his achievements, he successfully launched Nemma Hotel in the Red Sea, led resort upgrades that contributed to an 18% reduction in operational costs and a 5–12% increase in revenue, and transformed desert land into a sustainable organic farm that reduced procurement costs by 7%.
Building Guest-Centered Leadership
Guest satisfaction has remained a consistent focus throughout Hendawi’s career. His earlier positions with Hilton in Al Ain included Guest Honor Manager, Tour and Groups Reservation Manager, Reservations Manager, and Front Office Manager, providing a strong foundation in guest relations, loyalty programs, reservations, and revenue optimization.
His leadership philosophy combines service quality with data-driven performance management, continuous improvement, and cross-functional teamwork.
Professional Foundation
Hendawi holds a Diploma in Hotel Management from the Institute of Administrative Technical Studies, a Commercial Management Diploma, and a Hotel Hospitality Industries Diploma. He also completed a Strategic Planning Certificate – 4 Balanced Scorecard Strategic in 2022.
His professional development includes training in commercial management, customer care, strategic planning, leadership, sales and marketing, Hilton Honors, upselling, and complaint management.
Arab Leaders Recognition
Arab Leaders recognizes Ashraf Hendawi for a career defined by more than three decades of hospitality leadership, commercial development, operational discipline, and commitment to guest satisfaction. From hotel operations and revenue management to resort transformation and hospitality diversification, his experience reflects a practical approach to sustainable growth and service excellence.
Through his current role at Shaden Hospitality, Hendawi continues to contribute to the development of integrated hospitality, travel, and catering operations in Saudi Arabia.
