Ras Al Khaimah · UAE hospitality

Sofia Marin

Marketing & Communications Leader

ResortsF&BPre-openingsPRCommercial campaigns

Thirteen years building demand for Hilton resorts on Marjan Island, after sixteen years on radio and television.

Contact Sofia See the results
Marjan Island, Ras Al Khaimah
515rooms at the world’s largest Hampton by Hilton
723rooms at DoubleTree Resort & Spa Marjan Island
96%average annual occupancy, 2024 and 2025
15restaurants and bars launched
01

Scope of the role

One budget and one small team, aligned to the trading priorities of a high-volume resort.

Sofia sets the marketing and communications agenda for the world’s largest Hampton by Hilton, and before that helped market the 723-room DoubleTree resort next door.

ExperienceMedia, brand and hospitality
29 yrs
Annual budgetRooms, F&B, leisure
AED700K
Direct reportsDesigner, marketing coordinator
2
Agencies directedPR and social media
2
Career, 1997 to today
1997–2013 Radio and TV presenter and producer2013–today Hilton, Ras Al Khaimah
02

What she solves

Six problems resorts bring her, each answered with work already delivered.

Low visibility

Make the property worth talking about

Press angles, destination stories and partners that lift a resort above its listing.

Ras Al Khaimah named one of five Hilton landmarks worldwide for Hilton’s 100th anniversary.

Underperforming outlets

Turn venues into local destinations

A sharper concept, a proper launch and a calendar of reasons to return.

CLAW BBQ, Best Restaurant in Ras Al Khaimah, BBC Good Food Middle East 2024.

Weak destination pull

Give guests a reason to travel

Big dates turned into events worth booking a trip for.

New Year’s Eve 2024/25, the hotel’s highest one-day Rooms and F&B revenue.

Launch complexity

Sell the hotel before it is built

A film, a model and a story buyers can see and hold.

AI film and 3D-printed maquette for Hilton Marjan Island.

Source-market disruption

Rebalance demand fast

Budget and message move to the channels that can still fill rooms.

The response to the 2024 FTI insolvency.

Fragmented teams

One plan everyone works from

Agreed with the GM and shared by sales, revenue, F&B and agencies.

Two direct reports and two agencies on one brief cycle.

03

Commercial results

Hampton by Hilton Marjan Island. Hotel results, delivered with revenue, sales and operations.

96%

Average annual occupancy

Held in both 2024 and 2025, through a beach renovation and a lost source market.

202496%
202596%

Ahead of budget

Year to date, November 2025. Revenue above AED 10.8M.

RevPAR+11%
Average daily rate+10%
Gross operating profit+3%
0%12% above budget

OTA growth

After campaigns she directed, steered by booking data.

Booking.com room nights+720%
Agoda room nights+500%
Booking.com revenue+490%
0%800%

No. 1 on MakeMyTrip

Best-selling property in Ras Al Khaimah.

Competitor average1.0×
Hampton Marjan Island2.7×

170% above the competitor average.

Return on OTA spend

Peak campaign result.

17:1

Gold dot spent, teal dots returned.

Budgets she has run

Annual marketing plan, HamptonAED 700K
Cinema campaign, DoubleTreeAED 350K

Different properties and years. The cinema campaign covered creative, media and hotel sign-off.

Openings and milestones
  1. 2013

    DoubleTree pre-opening

    Nine restaurants and bars branded and launched.

  2. 2016

    Cluster growth

    Four à la carte restaurants and the 225-room Bay Club.

  3. 2020–21

    Pandemic openings

    Hampton Marjan Island and DoubleTree Corniche Residences.

  4. 2022

    Ramp-up award

    Hilton Commercial Award, Best Hotel Opening Ramp-Up.

  5. 2024

    Record night

    New Year’s Eve sets the one-day Rooms and F&B high.

  6. 2025

    Ahead of plan

    AED 10.8M revenue by November.

04

F&B launch and positioning

Fifteen openings. Each follows the same five steps, and the last one matters most.

1

Concept story

A name, an identity and a reason for residents to come.

Nine DoubleTree venues
2

Launch sequence

Previews, photography and press timed to opening.

Four à la carte restaurants
3

Opening night

A first story for guests and media to tell.

Karma Kafé by Buddha-Bar
4

Programming

Events that give people a reason to return.

DJ Ravin, the Gipsy Kings
5

Sustained demand

Partners, awards and habits that build each season.

CLAW BBQ, 2024 award
11
A brand she built

Islanders Brunch

Sofia created it, named it and took it to market. It has run for eleven seasons.

Who each venue is for
VenueAudienceWhat draws them
Karma KaféResidents and visitorsHeadline music nights
CLAW BBQLocal diners and hotel guestsAn award-winning grill, its best revenue year in 2024
Islanders BrunchRas Al Khaimah residentsA weekend ritual
New Year’s EveStaying guestsThe biggest night of the year
05

Crisis response: FTI, 2024

A major European tour operator went into insolvency and took a key source of guests with it.

Commercial risk

Empty dates

Rooms held for FTI guests had to be sold again, quickly.

Dependency exposure

One route in

Too much of one market reached the hotel through one company.

Action taken

Move the money

Budget and creative shifted to channels that could fill those dates.

Channels activated

Four new routes

MakeMyTripExpediaBank partnersCommunity groups
Stakeholder alignment

One plan

The GM, revenue and sales agreed priorities, so rates, partners and campaigns moved together.

Recovery logic

Breadth over dependence

The wider mix held through the 2025 beach renovation and the 2026 regional disruption.

Before
FTI Hotel
After
MakeMyTrip Expedia Banks Community Hotel

Line weights show the shape of the change, not volumes. No revenue-saved figure is claimed.

06

Pre-opening and innovation

Hilton Marjan Island had no rooms to photograph. She gave buyers something to watch and something to hold.

WINGTOWERWING

From flat renderings to a film and a 3D-printed model. Illustration only.

The signing

Story from day one

Led communications from the official agreement signing, giving owners and partners a story to repeat.

The film

AI-generated video from renderings

Architectural stills turned into footage of a hotel that did not yet exist.

The model

3D-printed maquette

A physical object for buyers and press to gather around.

The stand

Trade-show storytelling

Film and model together gave sales a story they could tell in two minutes.

Opened in the pandemic

Two hotels

Hampton by Hilton Marjan Island and DoubleTree Corniche Residences.

Recovery campaigns

Guests back

Why Fly · Stay for Free · Stay Longer · Getaway to Get Closer

Hilton award, 2022

Best Opening Ramp-Up

For how quickly the new hotel reached full trading.

07

Stakeholder leadership

Two direct reports, two agencies, five commercial partners, inside Hilton’s standards and the owners’ expectations.

Brand and ownership
Hilton brand standardsOwnersLocal market
Colleagues she aligns with
  • General Manager
  • Revenue
  • Sales
  • Operations
  • F&B
Reports to her
  • Designer
  • Marketing coordinator
SofiaM&C lead
Agencies she directs
  • PR agency
  • Social media agency
08

Signature campaigns

A resort, two venues and a crisis.

Resort

Hampton by Hilton Marjan Island

Objective
Make the world’s largest Hampton a place people choose.
Challenge
Fill 515 rooms all year under a select-service brand.
Approach
Destination stories, press and F&B moments tied to data-led OTA and paid campaigns.
Channels
PR, OTA, paid media, social, events
Outcome
96% average occupancy, No. 1 on MakeMyTrip in RAK, OTA returns up to 17:1.
F&B

CLAW BBQ and Karma Kafé

Objective
Make two hotel venues somewhere residents book on a Friday night.
Challenge
Hotel restaurants compete with the whole city for local diners.
Approach
Clear positioning, headline entertainment, brunch-and-stay packages, local partners.
Channels
Events, PR, partnerships, social
Outcome
CLAW BBQ named Best Restaurant in RAK in 2024, its highest-grossing year.
Crisis

FTI disruption response

Objective
Keep bookings coming after a major tour operator failed.
Challenge
One source market depended on a single company.
Approach
Spend and message moved to new channels, agreed with revenue and sales.
Channels
MakeMyTrip, Expedia, banks, community groups
Outcome
A wider channel mix that held through a renovation year and a regional disruption.
2022Best Hotel Opening Ramp-UpHilton Commercial Award
2023Marketing PowerlistHotelier Middle East
2024Best Restaurant in RAK, CLAW BBQBBC Good Food Middle East
2024 · 2025Best Hotel Silver, Best Green HotelRAK TDA Excellence Awards, property
09

What she builds next

Five systems, proven on Marjan Island, ready for the next resort.

  1. i

    Integrated resort marketing

    Rooms, restaurants and leisure on one calendar, set against the trading year.

  2. ii

    Stronger F&B positioning

    Concepts and programmes that bring residents back, not only hotel guests.

  3. iii

    Launch strategy

    Story, film and assets ready long before the doors open.

  4. iv

    Owner-ready reporting

    Campaigns reported in occupancy, rate, RevPAR, return on spend and channel mix.

  5. v

    Crisis-response structure

    Channels and partners lined up in advance for the day a market fails.

Hotels bring Sofia in for a clearer position, a stronger launch, one team pulling together, and marketing that answers to revenue.