Four Seasons Hotel Doha welcomes new Director of Food & Beverage, Manuel Santos, to the Qatari capital. Moving to Doha from an identical role at a highly successful UAE hotel, Santos is expected to bring his characteristic Southern European flair for fine dining and his international expertise in restaurant operations to the table as the head of the Hotel’s exciting dining offering.
Santos takes on his new role fresh from a challenging stint in the UAE capital, where he led the F&B operations at Beach Rotana Abu Dhabi, overseeing a large team of 380 permanent staff working across an award-winning portfolio of restaurants. Prior to that in 2007, Santos spent three years at Hyatt Regency London – The Churchill, heading the entire spectrum of F&B operations as Assistant Director of Food & Beverage.
Santos’ previous Middle Eastern experience also includes leading the pre-opening team as the Restaurant Manager at the award-winning Al Hambra restaurant at Al Qasr Madinat Jumeirah in Dubai, where he worked alongside Chef de Cuisine Alfonso de La Dehesa from “El Bulli” and “Arzak” – 3 Michelin Star Restaurants in Spain.
A native of Portugal – and a polyglot, who is fluent in four languages, – Santos is expected to feel completely at home in Doha’s cosmopolitan dining scene. Having worked at leading hotels in Portugal, the UK, the Bahamas and the UAE over the past 17 years, Santos will bring his strong background in building and marketing interesting dining concepts, solid operational expertise and high standards of quality to his new role, directing the seven dining outlets and lounges, as well as the in-room dining and banqueting operations at Four Seasons Hotel Doha.
“We are extremely glad to get a consummate hotelier such as Manuel on our team here at Four Seasons Hotel Doha and feel his experience and reputation for strengthening restaurant products and promoting them successfully will give us a distinct edge in what is fast turning into a highly competitive dining landscape,” said Rami Sayess, Regional Vice President and General Manager, Four Seasons Hotel Doha.
“Manuel will also serve as a member of the Hotel’s Planning Committee. His solid experience working on several pre-opening and refurbishment projects all through his career and his ability to constantly refresh restaurant concepts with creative activations and promotions make him the ideal man for the job here in Doha,” Sayess continued.
Manuel Santos holds a Diploma of Techniques and Hotel Management from the Porto Hotel School of Management. When not tasting the fruits of his labour – an occupational hazard – Santos prefers burning off the calories instead with a long list of action sports including surfing, snowboarding, wakeboarding, spear fishing or kitesurfing.
