Jumeirah Group has created a new vice president position, looking after wellbeing, group and corporate.

The Dubai hotel group has hired industry expert Niamh O’Connell for the task
It comes as the group promises a “renewed focus” on wellness, seeing it as a major demand from the luxury travellers of today.

O’Connell calls herself, “A perceptive pioneer of wellness & lifestyle brands with a distinctive ability to conceptualise and activate change.”

Commenting on her new role, O’Connell said: “It is a true privilege to join Jumeirah Group at this pivotal moment in the brand’s journey. Over the past three years, a remarkable shift in the landscape of well-being has been witnessed, and now the industry stands on the brink of an exhilarating transformation.

“I look forward to inspiring a new approach to wellbeing across our hotels and resorts, guided by the principles of lifelong learning, longevity, and inclusivity. By adopting this approach, my aim is to ensure we empower our guests to enhance their physical and emotional wellbeing through sustainable wellness practices.”

Katerina Giannouka, CEO of Jumeirah Group, added: “The relationship our guests have with wellness and wellbeing today has transcended from isolated treatments offering a functional fix to an all-encompassing guided approach to longevity, life balance and self-care. Niamh is a world-class expert in this space and I’m delighted to have her join our team at Jumeirah Group as the Vice President of Wellbeing.

“This is a new role we deemed essential as we begin to invest strongly in advancing our wellbeing offering through new concepts, therapies and partnerships, designed to enrich the life and wellness experience of our guests while staying at Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts.”

Niamh O’Connell’s career
O’Connell has primarily spent her near-two decade career across Asia. She began as a spa director with the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, going up to area spa director for Hyatt’s greater China area two years later.

In 2010, she was named Hyatt’s international corporate VP of spa, and later its director of spa operations and development. Prior to Jumeirah, she spent six years with Rosewood, first as group VP of guest experience and wellness, and from 2020 to 2022, as its group VP of wellness and brand experience.

Source: Hotelier Middle `East