The questions companies and candidates ask us most often. Answers are short and factual, and updated as the market moves. If you cannot see what you are looking for, the contact page is read every working day.
Recruitment fees depend heavily on the role, the scope, the geography and the level of work involved, so there is no single figure and no standard rate card. We would always rather have a conversation first, understand the requirement properly, and then propose a fee and a model that genuinely fit it. Whatever is agreed is confirmed in writing before any work begins.
A contingent recruitment process typically takes two to four weeks from brief to shortlist. A confidential C-level search typically takes four to eight weeks. Pre-opening and visa-dependent processes can run longer. We agree a realistic timeline with you at the briefing stage.
Confidential searches are run discreetly. A company’s name is not shared on any approach until a candidate has signed an NDA. Long-lists and shortlists are shared securely, and the internal list of people aware of the search is kept to the minimum the process needs. References are taken only with the candidate’s explicit permission.
A General Manager package at a five-star hotel in Saudi Arabia in 2026 typically sits between SAR 50,000 and SAR 100,000 per month in base salary, with housing, school fees, transport, flights and a performance bonus on top. Total cost to company often lands between SAR 900,000 and SAR 1.8 million a year. New-build and pre-opening packages can sit above that range, and mid-scale businesses below it. We publish a more detailed view in the annual Salary Guide (Q4 2026).
Retained executive search is used for C-level and V-level appointments, and for difficult-to-fill director-level roles. It is a retained, confidential, comprehensively mapped process, and it includes salary benchmarking and psychometric testing as standard. Recruitment, on a contingent basis, covers the broader range of management and senior roles across every function. Both are run to the same standard of market knowledge and honest advice, and we will advise on which one fits the role in front of us.
The GCC is our strongest market and our strongest network, covering all six countries. We also recruit across the wider EMEA region, including the UK, Europe and North and East Africa. Hospitality talent is genuinely global: the strongest candidate for a role often sits in another market entirely, and a large part of our value is knowing where to look. We are comfortable recruiting across borders in both directions.
Every placement carries a written replacement guarantee. If the candidate leaves, or is asked to leave, within the guarantee period, we will run a replacement recruitment process free of charge. The length of the guarantee period is agreed with you and set out in the engagement letter, alongside the specific terms.
We work on a retained or a contingent basis, depending on the role. We can also work on a project basis, or as an RPO partner, where we manage part or all of a recruitment process as an extension of your team. We will advise honestly on which arrangement suits a given requirement.
Shortlisted candidates are referenced before they reach you, with their permission. References are taken from people who have genuinely worked closely with the candidate at a senior level. For executive search, we also arrange formal background checks, covering right to work, regulatory and public record, through a third party. You see the reference notes alongside the CV.
Our strongest network is across all six GCC countries: the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman. We also recruit across the wider EMEA region. In practice, we are as comfortable recruiting for a QSR operator in Poland or a private members’ club in Switzerland as we are for a hotel group in the GCC. If the role is in hospitality and in the EMEA region, it is likely in scope.
We do not share your CV or your name with a company without your explicit permission, role by role. We do not load candidates into shared databases. Conversations happen in person, or by direct call, wherever possible. We hold ourselves to the standard a professional should expect.
In the GCC, demand is strongest for General Managers and senior operations leaders across new-build hotels, pre-opening leadership across the new destinations in Saudi Arabia, and senior operations and supply chain talent across multi-unit brands. Across the wider EMEA region, multi-unit and brand leadership remains active. Demand for senior catering and production leadership is the steadiest year-round. Commercial, finance and people leadership are in demand across all four divisions.
You can. We would rather you did not, but we understand why candidates do. What matters is that the recruiters you work with represent you well: that they do not put your CV in front of a company without your permission, that they do not duplicate your application to roles you have already applied for, and that they tell you the truth about a role. We aim to be the recruiter you stay with.
It usually starts with a conversation, by call or over a coffee, often confidential. If there is a fit to a live role, we give you a full brief on the role and the business. Then come interviews with the company, usually two to three rounds, references with your permission, and any final-stage assessment the company uses. After that, the offer, the negotiation and the resignation. We stay close once you have accepted, and we keep in touch after you have started, so the move settles in well for both sides.
Yes, with your permission. Most senior hospitality roles are filled before they are advertised. If we know your profile and we know a brief is a fit, we will speak to you before any approach is made to the company.
That depends a great deal on your function and your division, and the honest answer changes through the year. The fastest way to a real answer is a short message through the contact page. We will reply with a view shaped by what we are actually seeing in our live roles, rather than a recycled market commentary.
Yes. We recruit across the GCC and the wider EMEA region, and a good part of our work involves moving people between markets. Whether you are in the GCC and considering a move, or outside the region and considering a move in, we can have that conversation.
