Tourism

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT) launched its Serious Eats Dinner Series with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG). The pop up series features six one-off and exclusive dining experiences brought to life across unique and unusual locations within Starwood hotels in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. Each distinctive dinner will be built around the ethos of the Starwood brand and will be hosted by an emerging local talent who will add relevant programming to bring each dinner to life

For the dinner series, Starwood has partnered with social concierge Lime & Tonic and Careem, a luxury chauffeur-driven car booking service, to transport guests to and from each pop-up dinner.

The series kicked off with the first dinner at Al Maha, A Luxury Collection Desert Resort and Spa, on Saturday 13th December 2014. The inaugural event was hosted by Sarah Walton, a popular culinary and travel blogger known for her blog The Hedonista. Sarah is a true foodie having been a restaurant manager and sommelier and now travels the world to discover locations through their flavours and culinary experiences. The exclusive event saw invited guests, including SPG members, dine on a four-course menu designed by Chef Piotr Kamieniczny, paired with wines chosen by Sarah.

There is a growing and exciting gastronomy scene in the UAE which Starwood has been an integral part of and continues to fully support, said Guido de Wilde, Senior Vice President, Regional Director, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Middle East. With new culinary world-class options being launched continuously across the country on what often feels like a daily basis, this Serious Eats Dinner Series is the perfect way to differentiate by highlighting some of Starwoods more unique offerings and experiences. By bringing curators on board we can also support local and emerging talent whilst adding a creative touch to each dinner.

Each Serious Eats dinner within the pop up series will welcome small groups of up to 16 guests to enjoy an out-of-the-ordinary dining experience in a truly unique setting with location, menu and fellow guests remaining a mystery until the meal itself. Guests are picked up in style and driven directly to the secret destination where they will be welcomed by the local talent hosting the meal.

Starwood Preferred Guest is focused on building greater loyalty through guests dining experiences and the Serious Eats pop-up dinner series is the perfect example of this. Each meal will be a once in a lifetime experience with every detail carefully taken into account which are exactly the type of opportunities we deliver to our members and guests to keep discovering new culinary experiences, said Daniel Kerzner, Vice President of Distribution, Loyalty & Partnership Marketing, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Europe, Africa and Middle East.

Further Serious Eats events are planned across the UAE with the next event in the current series taking place on 16th December at a secret location in Abu Dhabi.

For more information or to be one of the select SPG members attending future dinners, please visit www.spg.com/seriouseats or follow #SPGSeriousEats.

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