Park Hyatt Dubai appoints Waike Papke as Director of Sales and Marketing

The Park Hyatt Dubai has appointed Ms Waike Papke as Director of Sales and Marketing, Ms Simone Lange as Spa Manager Amara and Mr Ali Al Haj Hasan as Chef de Cuisine, Café Arabesque.

Ms Waike Papke, a German national, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Tourism Management from Frankfurt Tourism School and speaks three languages, German, English and Russian.

Waike commenced her hotel career in 1995 at the Europa Hotel Schwerin in Germany as a financial accountant and, in October 1996, was promoted to the position of resident manager. In 1998, she joined Hyatt Regency Mainz as part of the pre-opening sales team where she held the position of business development manager. In May 2000, Waike moved to Hyatt’s worldwide sales office in Mainz as sales manager for leisure and MICE accounts within the region until her promotion in November 2001 to the position of director of sales for central Germany. Following three years in this position, Waike took up an assignment with Swissotel Krasnye Holmy Moscow, Russia, where she served as the director of revenue and marketing from December 2004 to August 2007.

In September 2007, Waike moved to her first position in the Middle East as director of sales and marketing for Banyan Tree Al Areen in Bahrain, where she remained for two years until her recent reappointment to the Hyatt family as director of sales and marketing for Park Hyatt Dubai.

Ms Simone Lange, a German national fluent in both German and English, studied at Schoener College in Germany where she gained qualifications in aesthetics, beauty, massage and finance.

She commenced her career in 2005 as a spa hostess at the InterContinental Berchtesgaden Resort in Germany until moving to the Dans Knieper Beauty Lounge in Dusseldorf as an aesthetician. In 2006, Simone was promoted to assistant manager, a position she retained until joining Park Hyatt Hamburg in 2007 as assistant spa manager. In 2008, she was promoted to spa manager. Simone’s first position in the Middle East is as spa manager of Amara at Park Hyatt Dubai.

Simone has a wealth of experience, both as a trained therapist and a spa operations manager. She cites “industry knowledge, understanding the human body and guests’ needs, training and management skills, as well as a passion for spa” as the key elements behind operating a successful spa, such as Amara. The knowledge she gained at Park Hyatt Hamburg, home to another Hyatt Pure spa, will be applied to her current role of spa manager of Amara, regarded as one of the leading Hyatt Pure spas in the world.

Chef Ali Al Haj Hasan, a Syrian national who is fluent in Arabic and English, graduated from the Industrial Institute in Hama, Syria, in 1994 as a qualified electrician. It was during the time when he was completing his studies that he realised he wanted to be a chef, not an electrician. Through five years’ work experience during college vacations, Chef Ali started to learn the culinary profession in restaurants and hotels in Syria and Lebanon.

In 1991, Chef Ali had his culinary start as a commis chef, moving onto the position of demi chef and, over the next few years in hotels in Syria and Lebanon, progressed to chef de partie, gaining culinary skills while on the job, where he specialised in Arabic and continental cuisine and food preparation.

Chef Ali’s various positions as Oriental chef from 1998 to 2004 saw him gain additional experience in Dubai. Promoted to sous chef in 2004, Chef Ali moved back to Syria to the Sheraton Damascus Hotel, followed by an appointment as Oriental chef at the Sawa Rhena Restaurant in Syria and, in 2008, as general chef for Saudi Aramco, KSA. It was from there that Chef Ali joined the Hyatt family in 2009 as sous chef on the pre-opening team for Park Hyatt Jeddah, which was followed by promotion to his current position of chef de cuisine at Café Arabesque, Park Hyatt Dubai.

Chef Ali’s passion for cooking started when he was 14 when his father opened a small restaurant in their home town of Hama, Syria, serving traditional Syrian cuisine. His favourite cuisine to cook is Syrian-style Arabic cuisine, which he feels brings together the cultures, textures and flavours of Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

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