Luxury Hotelier - April 2008 - (Page 18)

18| Personalities Nakheel’s executive chairman, Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem (top left), oversees the company’s activities, including Nakheel Hotels, which includes properties in Dubai and around the world (shown here). for business and tourism. Its holding company, Dubai World (boasting 50,000 employees on five continents), manages and supervises a diversified portfolio of businesses and projects including DP World, the third-largest port operator in the world, according to the company. While Nakheel and its hotels division continue to grow at a rapid pace, Mr. O’Donnell has refined his own keen personal focus on sustainability and environmental issues. He was appointed a director of the Green Building Council of Australia in 2004 and, during that year, was Green Globe Ambassador by the New South Wales Government Department of Energy Utilities and Sustainability. This past November, Nakheel Hotels was launched as the new name for Istithmar Hotels, after Dubai World consolidated its hotel business under one banner to create a fully integrated hotel investment company. The hotel division, originally formed in April 2006 as a hotel investment and asset management business of Istithmar, has accumulated a global hotel property portfolio in excess of $3 billion in less than two years, according to Mr. O’Donnell. Nakheel’s green initiative was launched in January, committing $136 million over the next five years to a major sustainability project, Blue Communities. Reflecting its status as a pioneer in waterfront development, the objective is to raise awareness of issues specific to coastal development. “Blue Communities is a call to action,” Mr. O’Donnell says. “And as a pioneer in waterfront developments, we are, as a company, in a unique position to kick-start the program.” Mr. O’Donnell reinforced the role real-estate developers must play in sustainability. It’s a position he speaks on widely, and his stance is for Nakheel to take a leading role in promoting these issues. Luxury Hotelier | April 2008 | www.LuxuryHotelier.com http://www.LuxuryHotelier.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Luxury Hotelier - April 2008

Luxury Hotelier - April 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Inform Network Personalities Insight Properties Inspire Deliver Innovate Development Indulge Advertisers Index Editorial Index Source Listing Dossier

Luxury Hotelier - April 2008

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.