Executive Power List 2024: Simon Leigh

As a seasoned professional, Simon Leigh has brought a wealth of experience and know-how to Premier Inn MENA. He joined Premier Inn MENA in 2021 with more than 20 years of experience in hospitality, procurement and supply chain management through leadership roles in the UK, USA, Europe and Asia, and is now leveraging his expertise here in the Middle East. In April 2023, Premier Inn celebrated 15 years of growth in the Middle East.

With Premier Inn’s hotel room inventory accounting for a significant chunk of all mid-market rooms in the UAE, Leigh is leading the company’s contribution to the continued growth and success of the country’s tourism sector and, with more properties planned, highlighting the company’s ongoing commitment to further expansion in the wider region.

He is widely recognised as a highly respected figurehead and spokesman for the industry and is regarded as an effective, approachable leader by the company’s 625 team members. Under his leadership, a wide range of internal company initiatives have been introduced, including One Team One Heartbeat, Premier Inn’s culture, wellbeing and developments programme.

Premier Inn MENA has made great headway in the last year bringing into focus it’s three key pillars: Trading brilliantly, investing in the business and profitable growth. The business model has adapted to focus on delivering commercial and operational excellence through exceptional team and guest engagement, and centralising the commercial function to drive top-line results.

Over the past 12 months, Premier Inn significantly grew it’s market share with a 16 percent increase in RevPAR, exceeding business targets as a fully self-sufficient organisation without the need for shareholder support. In 2023, Premier Inn generated more than 1 million room nights, with revenue in excess of AED250 million, across its 11 hotels in the Middle East, boosted by large-scale events in the region.

Premier Inn’s Corporate Social Responsibility activity has also increased under Leigh’s leadership over the last few months by introducing the company’s sustainability programme, Force for Good. To ensure that all teams were fully aligned with the hotel group’s sustainability vision, the Force for Good initiative was kicked off with a series of interactive management-led roadshows at all Premier Inn’s hotels located throughout the UAE and Qatar.

The sustainability programme aims to reduce Premier Inn’s carbon footprint and supports the UAE Strategy to be Net Zero by 2050. Premier Inn focused on waste management, energy efficiency, and responsible supplier sourcing in its efforts to make the hotels greener.

Premier Inn was one of the first hotel brands in the UAE to introduce Al Ain Water’s new recycled PET water bottle in all hotel rooms. The hotel group is also committed to reducing waste to landfill by 50 per cent in 2024 and has appointed Dulsco Environment as its new waste management services partner.