26
WINTER 2020
Zeina Dammous Nahas, Joumana Dammous Salamé, Nouhad Dammous, Randa Dammous Pharaon
The Guru of Hospitality: Nouhad Dammous
If his father had his way, Nouhad Dammous ‘51 would be a physician right now. But fortunately, Providence interfered, and Dammous’s name became synonymous with hospitality. He is no other than the country’s first hotel school founder – a pioneer in the Arab region. Today, at 87, his ideas continue to flow enthusiastically, perhaps in a slightly different direction, but still in the realm of the hospitality world he had created in his youth. It was his eldest daughter, Joumana, who had opened the door to the exciting domain of event management. The father-daughter duo made waves when they launched HORECA in 1993. It became the largest annual meeting place for the hospitality and food services industries – heralding in an era of highly successful events, including the Garden Show, Beirut Cooking Festival, Wine Lab, Hospitality Salon Culinaire, and Salon Du Chocolat. Over 18,000 trade visitors attended every year. So successful was HORECA that the brand name was franchised-out to KSA, Kuwait, and Jordan and more in the pipeline and three online - magazine platforms serving the industry: Hospitality News ME, Taste & Flavors, and Lebanon Traveler His wife, Claude (who passed away three years ago), and two other daughters joined
in. And so it was that the Dammous clan continued to preside over the kingdom of hospitality – slowly building up a highly competent team who would serve them for the next 20 years (and ongoing). As he sat in his Dekwane office, once a humble paternal home quickly expanded into three floors back in the 1990s, Dammous proudly gestured towards his daughter. Ironically, it was she who hounded him into allowing her to enter the hospitality sector. “It’s not for you,” replied her father. “It’s a day and night job.” But she was relentless. Finally, the LAU business graduate was sent off to the US to train in management in the Hyatt Regency hotel. She returned with enthusiastic ideas on event management. And not on a small scale either. She had long put together two plus two: a guru of hospitality with a wide range of contacts and a young graduate with novel ideas can only lead to triumph. She was right. “Hospitality always gets back up on its feet,” said Joumana. “The best way was to have a series of conferences. Let’s get the heads of institutions together, network, and discuss their products.” Dammous looked warmly at his
