Emirates Launches $8 Mn Hospitality Excellence Centre in UAE

Emirates opens its Centre of Hospitality Excellence in Dubai to UAE businesses, offering customised hospitality training, fine-dining workshops and leadership programmes to strengthen customer service standards across industries.

Emirates have opened its Centre of Hospitality Excellence in Dubai to businesses and organisations across the UAE, extending its expertise in premium customer service and hospitality training beyond the aviation industry. The $8 million facility offers customised workshops, immersive learning experiences and team-building programmes designed to improve service standards and strengthen customer engagement across sectors.

Located within the Emirates Crew Training Centre, the purpose-built facility features a restaurant and lounge accommodating up to 170 guests, presentation kitchens and eight technology-enabled classrooms. The centre provides organisations with access to training methods inspired by the hospitality standards behind Emirates’ inflight customer experience.

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The programmes draw on Michelin-star hospitality principles and cover fine-dining protocols, guest engagement, service etiquette and customer experience leadership. Training sessions can be customised to organisational requirements and arranged over one to five days, allowing businesses to select modules that align with their development objectives.

Available programmes include Hospitality Excellence, which introduces Emirates’ service philosophy through practical exercises, case studies and training gap assessments. The 7-Star Dining Experience focuses on table settings, dining etiquette, food presentation and guest interaction. L’Art du Vin provides wine education, tasting techniques and food-pairing sessions conducted by WSET Level 3-certified trainers.

The centre also offers hands-on gastronomy workshops led by experienced chefs, customised team-building activities and leadership sessions featuring Emirates executives. Businesses can arrange behind-the-scenes tours of the airline’s training facilities, including aircraft simulators and culinary training hubs. Bespoke programmes can combine culinary demonstrations, leadership discussions, practical service challenges and immersive dining experiences.

Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President of Service Delivery Thomas Ney says the initiative allows the airline to share its hospitality expertise with organisations across the UAE and help develop the next generation of hospitality professionals.

The centre builds on Emirates’ 2020 collaboration with Switzerland’s Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne to develop an enhanced hospitality strategy based on four pillars: excellence, attentiveness, innovation and passion.

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The facility also remains an important part of the airline’s cabin crew training ecosystem. Emirates employ more than 25,000 cabin crew members representing over 140 nationalities and speaking more than 70 languages. Its cabin crew completes an intensive eight-week training programme covering safety, security, medical procedures, and hospitality and service delivery.

By making its training facilities and expertise available to external organisations, Emirates aims to strengthen hospitality capabilities across industries and support the UAE’s position as a global destination for service excellence.