Job Description

1. Create Daily Guest Experiences

• Develop a continuous calendar of daily and weekly guest activities.
• Create experiences suitable for couples, families, children, groups and leisure travelers.
• Develop morning, afternoon, sunset and evening experiences.
• Create seasonal activities around weekends, holidays, Ramadan, Eid and major AlUla events.
• Continuously refresh the activity calendar to avoid repetitive guest experiences.
• Identify opportunities to use existing resort facilities and spaces in creative ways.

Examples may include:

• Sunrise yoga and wellness sessions.
• Sunset experiences.
• Stargazing and astronomy evenings.
• Outdoor cinema.
• Family and children's activities.
• Cultural workshops.
• Local arts and crafts.
• Heritage storytelling.
• Photography experiences.
• Desert walks and guided experiences.
• Cycling and outdoor activities.
• Wellness and mindfulness sessions.
• Live music and acoustic evenings.
• Pop-up experiences.
• BBQ and outdoor social experiences.
• Seasonal celebrations.
• Special romantic experiences.
• Family entertainment programs.

2. Create Signature Events

Develop new concepts that can become Shaden signature experiences rather than simply organizing existing events.

The candidate should be able to answer:

"What can we create at Shaden that guests cannot experience in the same way anywhere else?"

Responsibilities include:

• Create new event concepts from zero.
• Develop event themes, stories and guest journeys.
• Design experiences around AlUla's culture, landscape and heritage.
• Create concepts for sunset, wellness, family, entertainment, culture and lifestyle.
• Develop concepts that can generate incremental revenue.
• Test new ideas on a small scale before developing them into larger signature events.
• Build an annual calendar of signature experiences and activations.

3. Experience Innovation

• Continuously research hospitality, tourism, entertainment and experiential trends.
• Benchmark leading resorts and destinations internationally.
• Identify new activities, entertainment concepts and guest experiences.
• Monitor what is trending across social media and destination hospitality.
• Bring new ideas to management regularly rather than waiting for instructions.
• Develop a pipeline of future experiences and concepts.

The expectation is to always have the next idea.

4. Local Partnerships

Build a network of local partners who can contribute to unique guest experiences, including:

• Local artists.
• Musicians and performers.
• Cultural experts.
• Tour operators.
• Outdoor activity providers.
• Wellness instructors.
• Photographers.
• Craftsmen.
• Local producers.
• DMCs.
• Entertainment companies.
• Experience providers.

The role should continuously search for new partners and new experiences available in AlUla.

5. Commercialization

Every experience should be evaluated not only from a guest-experience perspective but also commercially.

The candidate will:

• Develop paid and complimentary experiences.
• Create packages and experience bundles.
• Identify upselling opportunities.
• Work with Sales, Revenue, F&B and Marketing to commercialize experiences.
• Develop pricing and basic cost structures.
• Monitor participation, revenue and profitability.
• Identify experiences that can generate incremental spend from in-house guests and local residents.
• Explore opportunities to attract non-resident visitors to selected experiences.

6. Cross-Department Collaboration

Work closely with:

• Guest Relations.
• Concierge.
• F&B.
• Spa & Wellness.
• Recreation.
• Sales.
• Revenue.
• Marketing.
• Rooms Division.
• Security.
• Engineering.

The objective is to create one integrated guest experience calendar rather than separate departmental activities.

For example:

Sunset activity entertainment F&B evening experience

The candidate should be able to connect different hotel departments into one compelling guest journey.

Qualifications

What We Are Looking For

We are looking for someone who has a proven track record of creating experiences, not simply coordinating events.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate:

• Proven experience creating and developing guest experiences, activities, events or entertainment concepts.
• Experience within a luxury/upscale resort, destination, hospitality, entertainment, tourism or experiential environment.
• Strong creative thinking and the ability to develop ideas from scratch.
• Experience creating daily guest activity programs, not only large events.
• Experience developing signature experiences and special events.
• Strong understanding of guest behavior and experience design.
• Commercial awareness and understanding of how experiences can generate revenue.
• Strong project management and execution skills.
• Experience working with external suppliers and experience providers.
• Strong communication and presentation skills.
• Excellent English; Arabic is an advantage.
• Knowledge or experience of AlUla, Saudi Arabia, tourism or destination experiences is highly desirable.
• Flexibility to work evenings, weekends, holidays and special events.