Alessandro D'Ubaldo

I have spent thirty years in hospitality, twenty-three of them in the UAE.

Where it started

My career began in 1996 in Rome, at the Sheraton Parco de’ Medici and the Hassler, and continued in London at the Sheraton Park Tower in Knightsbridge. I then spent several years in the air, first with Lauda Air out of Milan and afterwards with Emirates in Dubai, six years of them in First and Business Class. Aviation at that level is hospitality under pressure, and it teaches you to notice what a person needs before they ask.

Dubai, from 2005

In 2005 I left Emirates and founded Dubaldo Real Estate Broker, managing around forty furnished residences for short stays. This was two years before Airbnb existed and long before short-term rental in Dubai was an industry. I wrote about the sector for Property Weekly and Gulf News at the time, and those articles are on this site.

In 2006 I opened a hospitality business alongside it, and over sixteen years built it across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, ultimately leading more than 270 people, until it was acquired in 2022.

Greystone

From 2018 to 2022 I also owned and operated Greystone, a private residence in DAMAC Hills serving a UHNW international clientele. The property was sold to private investors, and the standards developed there became the reference point for this collection.

What it taught me

Across these businesses, I learned that a residence that is lived in needs active care. Maintenance, repairs and periodic refurbishment were planned before problems arose, protecting both the condition and the long-term value of the property.

Two operations

Today I run two hospitality operations in Dubai. Dubaldo Collection is the more selective of the two, held to twelve residences. Dubaldo Stays is a broader holiday-home operation for properties suited to a wider rental market. They are kept deliberately separate, each honest about what it is and who it serves.

Why my name is on it

When you entrust someone with your residence, you are ultimately trusting a person rather than a company name. The collection is kept to a size where one person can remain answerable for every residence in it, and that person is me.