General Hotel Management (GHM) named Patrick Moukarzel general manager of the Al Bait Sharjah, a 53-key hotel scheduled to open later this year.

Moukarzel’s appointment is a homecoming of sorts. Between 2006 and 2012, he rose through the ranks from a food and beverage manager at The Chedi Muscat to general manager positions at the luxury hotel group’s properties in Thailand and China.

Since Moukarzel’s last role with GHM as a general manager in Suzhou, Moukarzel has managed luxury hotels in Penang, Malaysia and in Maldives where he shepherded the Soneva Jani from the final stages of construction to full operation.

Moukarzel’s move to the Al Bait not only marks a return to GHM, but to the UAE, as well. After schooling at Lycée Hôtelier Toulouse, his first job as a fledgling hotelier was as a restaurant manager at the Hotel InterContinental in Dubai.

Moukarzel worked two more years at an InterContinental in Egypt before returning to Dubai, this time for a stint with Hyatt.