Simply Abu Dhabi VIII

2 9 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I too. The complex lies 10 minutes' drive from Abu Dhabi's international airport. It’s an unbelievably quick five minutes from the golf course and the newConvention Centre – and just 20 minutes from the Corniche and the city centre. If you stop amid all the luxury to contemplate the exquisite experience guests are treated to at the Shangri-La, you’ll soon start to wonder who’s behind it all. Who has the vision, the tenacity and the sheer determination to pull this off? The answer is Mr Arbind Shrestha. He joined the Qaryat Al Beri complex – where he is alsomanaging the Traders Hotel – from Shangri-La’s Barr Al Jissah Resort & Spa in Muscat, Oman – where he spent a total of three years as general manager. He clearly has just the right experience for this job: he held a similar role before at Shangri-La’s Rasa Sayang Resort and Spa, Penang – and at Golden Sands Resort, Penang Malaysia. Mr Shrestha is a cosmopolitan character. An American national who was born in Nepal, his 17-year career with Shangri-LaHotels andResorts follows a 10-year career withWestin Hotels and Resorts in the United States. He has developed an extraordinary amount of top-level hospitality experience in the US, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He gained his hotel school foundations at Schloss Klessheim in the pretty town of Salzburg, Austria – and subsequently at the prestigious Cornell Hotel School in Ithaca, NY, USA. The urbaneMr Shrestha also holds aMasters of Business Administration degree fromHenley Management College in the historic county of Oxfordshire in the UK.