Farnek Avireal, one of the region’s leading property and facilities management outsourcing companies, has appointed Sandrine Le Biavant as division manager of its consulting division.

Le Biavant will be responsible for growing the company’s portfolio of clients throughout the region’s hospitality sector, as well as promoting the company’s sustainability consulting capabilities and tools to help organisations implement carbon neutral operational solutions, a statement from the company said.

She has 16 years of experience consulting within the international luxury service sector and managing high profile sales and marketing roles in the hotel industry, including senior postings with Hilton International in France and UAE.

“I am looking forward to developing sustainable strategies for our hospitality clients using our unique portfolio of measurement and benchmarking tools and carbon management programmes,” said Le Biavant.

“Nearly 50 per cent of travellers polled by Travel Weekly said they would be prepared to pay up to 10 per cent more to stay in a sustainable hotel and 66 per cent had serious doubts about environmental claims posted on hotel websites,” she said. “Hotels now understand that it is imperative to be environmentally friendly, what many lack though is a sustainability strategy and credible international certification.”

Le Biavant will also be responsible for communicating its portfolio of products and capabilities to a wider audience through participation in major regional trade shows and exhibitions such as the forthcoming Hotel Show and the World Green Tourism Conference, the statement said.

With current contracts for over 1,000 properties across Dubai, and a workforce of more than 1,700 staff, Le Biavant will also focus on cross-selling the company’s environmentally-friendly cleaning, maintenance and security expertise capabilities, it said. – TradeArabia News Service