By Katherine McGuffey, MBA in International Luxury Brand Management 2014-2015, USA
After our Hong Kong sessions wrapped, we hopped on a flight to Dubai. The scenery when we landed was completely different. Here we saw impressive skyscrapers rising out of the never-ending dessert. Our first encounter the next morning was in the Dubai Mall. Winding our way past the 1,200 shops, we eventually found ourselves outside of the Dior store. We were warmly greeted by their many staff and were given a tour of their store, as well as their separate shoe and baby stores. After a quick lunch, we headed to the tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa. This building is also home to the Armani Hotel. Their staff spoke to us about the different positions and responsibilities from the business aspect of the hotel, and then we were given a tour of one of their suites (unfortunately the suites were 2500Euro a night, so I was unable to switch hotels). After our tour, we were taken up to the 122 floor for cocktails and a surprise 20th MBA Luxe Anniversary cake.
Throughout the week we also had great presentations from L’Oreal, Estee Lauder, Clarins, Van Cleef & Arpels, Chaloub, and Chanel. We learned many interesting things about the companies and the region (fun fact: expats make up 88% of the Dubai population). We were even lucky enough to be in Dubai for the opening of the Van Cleef & Arpels “Poetry of Time” exhibition, which included astronomy themed watches and demonstrations on how the watches are assembled.
Of course, there was also time for play. Many of the students visited the Armani and Cavalli restaurant and lounges. A group also took a safari into the desert to enjoy dune bashing, camel riding, belly dancing, and BBQ. Others visited the various souks and sampled the spices, tried on gold jewelry, and bought souvenirs.
After our two weeks of travel, our heads were full of new knowledge about the luxury world and we were happy to return home to Paris.
