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Hyde Hotel Dubai / Lifestyle hotel rebrand, Business Bay, Dubai
Always Summer
Rebranded a hotel around a feeling, then built the scene that proved it.
I led brand and marketing for Hyde Dubai, the first Hyde property outside the United States, taking a Sunset Strip festival brand and making it land in Business Bay.
Hyde’s first home outside the US. It opened as a scene, not a hotel.
Strategic perspective
- Translated a brand, did not transplant it. Ported the LA festival DNA of Hyde into a Business Bay idiom rather than copy-pasting the original.
- Led the market entry for Hyde’s first property outside the US, localizing a global lifestyle brand to the UAE.
- Made the experience the product and the room the by-product. The rooftop, the music, and the F&B were the demand engine.
Tactical approach
- Built Always Summer as the always-on demand spine, sequencing pool programming, F&B moments, and creator drops into one occupancy-driving calendar.
- Tiered the KOL strategy to the funnel: reach creators for awareness, credible micro-creators for proof, native to the Dubai creator economy.
- Gave every workstream a clear owner across a cross-functional team and partner agencies, so a complex launch shipped as one brand.
Creative execution
- Defined a brand world inspired by festivals, music, and discovery, then adapted it into a comprehensive UAE-market guideline.
- Designed the launch as a culminating pool activation, the day-club moment that is a proven demand engine in Dubai.
- Programmed the experience: live DJs, art and beauty moments, F&B and retail pop-ups, all engineered for social density.
Team and collaboration
- Aligned ownership, F&B, and a New York brand team across time zones around a single launch vision.
- Built a partnership ecosystem with local lifestyle brands so co-branded activations compounded reach without proportional spend.
What worked
- Turned a hotel opening into a launch the city wanted to be at, with strong earned reach and returns for partners.
- Converted launch-week attention into a returning guest base through CRM and guest relations, not just a one-night spike.
What was hard
- Localizing a bold global lifestyle brand to the UAE market without sanding off its edge.
- Orchestrating a high-volume launch across owners, operators, and partners while protecting one brand story.
