Zero Gravity and Alantis Dubai Crowned Champions On Busy Final Day at The Hotel Show

• Chefs’ Table and Housekeepers League of Champions produce dramatic finales, while inaugural Hospitality Procurement Forum produces fascinating insights into AI
• Co-located INDEX 2025 showcases innovative new products, including Quooker tap that  produces chilled, 100℃ boiling, still, and sparkling water

Dubai, UAE: The pressure-cooker finale of a dramatic Chefs’ Table competition at Dubai World Trade Centre marked the end of another hugely successful edition of The Hotel Show, the Middle East and North Africa’s leading event for the hospitality industry. Co-located alongside INDEX, HITEC, and WORKSPACE, the annual show is into its fourth decade, with the quartet spanning 11 halls and this year featuring more than 900 exhibitors. 

Yet it was the seventh annual Chefs Table – a culinary competition featuring nine hotel teams divided into both front and back of house – that had attendees gripped on the final afternoon. Organized and managed by the Emirates Culinary Guild, teams were tasked with setting a table and serving judges two mocktails, a coffee creation, canapés, a four-course lunch, and petit fours in the hope of winning the coveted ‘Champions of Chefs Table 2025’ title. 

With teams judged collectively rather than individually, Dwarika Bhatt, Executive Chef at Zero Gravity, explained the pressure his winning team experienced. Competing outside its usual environment, with unfamiliar appliances, and in front of both senior management and a film crew all ramped up the heat in the kitchen, he said.

"Winning this year was a proud moment for our team at Zero Gravity, and The Chef’s Table was instrumental in that journey,” said Bhatt. “It’s a platform that challenges, inspires, and brings together exceptional culinary talent. The path to success involved long hours, pressure, and honest feedback, but every step was a learning experience.”

Following a two-year hiatus, the Housekeepers’ League of Champions returned to The Hotel Show for 2025,  with a renewed vision and elevated experience. Staged within three fully immersive, life-sized mock-up hotel rooms for the first time, each room was meticulously designed to represent either earth, fire, or air. Each room also featured integrated wellness components to reflect the evolving expectations of the modern-day guest.

Bringing together leading housekeeping teams from across the MENA region, this year’s edition served as a platform for professional growth, collaboration, and industry recognition. It also presented an exceptional opportunity for brands to gain strategic visibility by showcasing their products directly to key decision-makers within the hospitality sector.

Over the course of three action-packed days, 31 teams competed for the coveted title. On the final day, it was Atlantis Dubai who emerged victorious, earning the ‘Housekeepers League of Champions’ title

"This was an incredible experience for our team,” said Subhojit Banerjee, Director of Housekeeping at Atlantis Dubai. “After two months of rigorous training, they delivered an exceptional performance, consistently scoring over 94 per cent among the 30-plus top hotels. It was a proud moment to see their often-overlooked work in the spotlight. Balancing training with daily operations wasn’t easy, but the results speak for themselves. This win has lifted morale and reinforced our commitment to excellence. We’re proud to carry the Atlantis standard and remain focused on learning, evolving, and striving for even greater achievements."

Hospitality Procurement Forum
New to the event this year was a closing day Hospitality Procurement Forum, which featured a range of speakers from multinational and regional companies, including The First Group Hospitality, Le Meridien Hotels, and Azumi. An executive think tank panel discussion featuring, among others, Brett Whitfield, Vice President and Head of Group Procurement at Dubai Holding, and Joel Cairncross, CEO of Cairncross Martin LLC, explored AI in procurement strategies, highlighting the tool’s necessity for managing complex processes. 

“We process over 600,000 purchase orders a year,” Whitfield said. “We've got over 5,000 active suppliers. We're managing 200,000 stock-keeping units in food and beverage. You can’t do it now without some form of AI – it's a must. From a procurement point of view, it's all about speed, value, and customer service. If I don't do it with some form of advanced technology that's going to process this in a fast way, my internal customer will be extremely frustrated.” 

The most aggressive projections estimate that AI will eventually replace 30-40 per cent of procurement staff, and Whitfield is convinced that a time will arrive when AI agents will even negotiate with each other. Yet while Cairncross agrees AI in procurement is a case of “utilize it or get left behind”, he was quick to note that “we still are very reliant on the IP and experience of our staff, which at this stage AI has not replaced”. 

A later session looking into supplier-buyer relations and featuring Jaime Selga, Head of Procurement at Noon, focused on the importance of trust and the benefits of a hybrid local-global model, emphasizing the need for regional suppliers to meet world standards. 

“When it comes to the Middle East, the question is purely how do we help a region that's growing?” Selga said. “How do we embrace an area that has a young population? How do we help an area that needs promotion and local development? And I think that’s where we should all start from – the  base. I will go international for many products if needed because we don’t have a Plan B, but our objective is always to get it in-house, so how do we build it?”

INDEX Exhibitors
On the last day of INDEX, the Middle East and North Africa’s flagship interior design and furniture trade show, exhibitors once again spoke of the benefits of attending a show now into its fourth decade and that, as part of a quartet of co-located exhibitions, features representatives from 48 different countries.  
Speaking about Romania's participation in the exhibition, Ioana Oancea, International Exhibitions Coordinator at the Romanian Furniture Manufacturers Association, said he was proud to see 12 companies from his country exhibiting: “We are experiencing increased interest and engagement from both individual and corporate buyers compared to previous years. This platform allows us to highlight our companies’ strong commitment to environmentally ethical sourcing, fully aligned with the European Union’s stringent environmental protection standards. This focus resonates well with the UAE’s own ambitions to advance sustainability and environmental stewardship for future generations.”

Philippe Van der Loo, Managing Director at Quooker UAE, which provides chilled, cold, 100℃ boiling, and even sparkling water directly from a tap. He added: “This is our second year at INDEX and it’s been an incredibly rewarding experience. We’ve connected with a wide range of visitors, from architects and designers to developers and end users, all genuinely curious about what we offer. Sustainability is embedded in our design: We help cut plastic use and reduce energy consumption by up to 50 per cent. That message really landed with people here.”

Louise Pitt, Head of Marketing and Communications (Gulf Office) at Geberit, added: “We’ve been part of INDEX in both Dubai and Saudi Arabia for several years, and it’s firmly established itself as a key fixture in our calendar. It’s a place where meaningful conversations happen, where we reconnect with the design community, and where the future of the industry takes shape. This year we’ve seen strong interest in our 2025 innovations, but what truly stood out were the Design Talks. Hearing leading voices explore trends, sustainability, and emerging tech such as AI made this year’s edition feel especially relevant. Sustainability is at the core of everything we do at Geberit, so being part of a conversation that aligns with our values is incredibly important.”
The Hotel Show, INDEX, HITEC, and WORKSPACE will return next year from June 2-4, 2026.