LEADERSHIP | EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW
IT WAS SO INEXPENSIVE TO TACTICALLY GROW THIS BRAND DIGITALLY IN A RAPIDLY DIGITISING WORLD – FROM INSTAGRAM TO FACEBOOK TO GOOGLE SEARCH
Palm Jumeirah gamble pays off The FIVE story started back in 2011 . Then known as SKAI Holdings , the real estate development and hospitality company made a huge success of running a small hotel in Dubai ’ s Green Community that they had acquired from Emaar Hospitality .
That led to the bold decision to build a residence and hotel on the prime Palm Jumeirah development – something Aloki describes as ‘ an expensive , all-in investment ’. Unfortunately , the relationship with the potential hotel operator did not work out . That ’ s when Aloki got the call asking him to run the hotel himself – having successfully sold the US $ 400 million residences .
“ I had a fairly good idea how to run rooms from a small perspective , but never luxury ,” Aloki admits . “ I had never run a restaurant . Parties , for sure , I did that as a kid and these things stay with you .”
SKAI became FIVE in 2017 and Aloki made the brave decision not to learn the hotel business from anyone else , but instead to go through the process his way – and that was to focus on the brand from a digital perspective .
He had been quick to recognise the drive to digital and the fact that there was an opportunity for a small brand like FIVE to take on the big boys .
68 November 2023