Hayan Abou Assali, nightlife expert and Ex former GM of Cavalli Club Dubai, appointed representative of the organisation in the Middle East during the 9th International Nightlife Congress.
Ariel Palitz, NYC’s former Night Mayor, who also participated in the Congress as a speaker, met after the event with representatives of the Barcelona City Council.
BARCELONA, SPAIN December 14, 2023
The recent celebration of the 9th International Nightlife Congress and the successful Golden Moon Awards gala during which the list of The World’s 100 Best Clubs 2023 was made public, have had a very important impact internationally, which has been used by the International Nightlife Association to expand its presence in an important territory such as the Middle East.
Thus, during the celebration of these events in Barcelona, Spain an important appointment took place, as it was agreed the appointment of Hayan Abou Assali, Ex former General Manager of the well-known Cavalli Club Restaurant & Lounge Dubai as representative of the organization in the Middle East.
Hayan Abou Assali, is a Dominican National born in the UAE, is a hospitality expert with over 25 years of experience. The brand new representative of the International Nightlife Association in the Middle East has managed different hospitality brands and venues around the globe and has succeeded in a lot of openings as MD/GM, consultant, and project management worldwide such as Roberto Cavalli Club Dubai, which was the first club in the world to obtain the Triple Excellence in Nightlife and GastroMoon seals from the international Nightlife Association.
With Hayan’s team and management style, Cavalli Club ranked as the number 1 club in the Middle East and number 2 worldwide in “The World’s 100 Best Clubs” 2019 list. Unfortunately, two years later, this famous club shut its doors due to the pandemic. Nowadays, Hayan is doing consultancy business and managing venues for hospitality and nightlife investors.
Hayan Abou Assali, has highly appreciated his appointment and explained that “I am proud and honored to represent the International Nightlife Association in the Middle East because the standards, quality and safety that the organization brings tonight life are exceptional for guests, tourists and the environment. In addition, they promote innovation, excellence and marketing with sustainable nightlife solutions and this is what the Middle East needs to reach international standards. All this is what I will be working on in my new position.“
JC Diaz, Senior Vice President of the International Nightlife Association and President of the American Nightlife Association has highly valued the integration of this new representative in the organization, explaining that “for us it is an immense honor to have an expert in the nightlife world as Hayan Abou Assali join our team, as this will entail, in addition to having a magnificent representative in this important territory known for its high quality nightlife offer, a very important growth of the International Nightlife Association, which is present in more and more cities and countries, which contributes to our sector gaining strength and prestige“.
Currently, the International Nightlife Association is present in 22 countries, including Spain, Germany, Italy, the United States, Morocco, Malta, Colombia, Argentina, Chile and Uruguay, among others. On the other hand, this year’s list of The World’s 100 Best Clubs, led by Spain and the United States with a contribution of 27 and 20 nightclubs respectively, has included nightlife venues from up to 30 different countries, such as now, Japan, Brazil, Singapore, Italy, Colombia, Argentina, United Kingdom, France, Croatia, Belgium, Denmark, Holland, India and Thailand, among others.
It is important and relevant to mention that, the International Nightlife Congress and the Golden Moon Awards gala, were also attended by José Luis Benítez, president of the International Nightlife Association and spokesman of the Spanish and Ibiza Nightlife associations, Maurizio Pasca, representative of the International Nightlife Association in Italy and Europe, Camilo Ospina representing Latam and Colombia, and Rodolfo di Pinto, representative of the organization in Argentina.
The International Nightlife Association promoted the Night Mayor figure in Barcelona during and after the International Nightlife Congress
Taking also advantage of the recently celebration of the 9th International Nightlife Congress and the participation in it, as a speaker, of the former Night Mayor of New York, Ariel Palitz, a meeting between her and representatives of the Barcelona City Council, took place after the Congress at Barcelona’s City Council. The meeting was attended by Albert Batlle, third Deputy Mayor of Barcelona, Montse Surroca, Commissioner for the Coexistence of Barcelona and Ivan Pera, Commissioner for Ciutat Vella. The meeting was also attended by Joaquim Boadas, Secretary General of the International Nightlife Association, Spain Nightlife and Fecasarm, and David Lopez, President of Fecasarm (Nightlife Association of Catalonia).
During the course of this meeting, Ariel Palitz explained to the representatives of the government of the City of Barcelona how the New York City’s Mayor Office of Nightlife works, as there is a very notable interest by the City Council of Barcelona to implement a similar figure, as it should be noted that the current mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni; already included in its electoral program the creation of an office for the specific management of the nightlife activity of the city.
Ariel Palitz valued very positively the meeting with the representatives of Barcelona’s municipal government and assured that “Barcelona would greatly benefit from such an office, without a sanctioning spirit, dedicated to help support this industry and find a vital and necessary balance with the needs of the community, while protecting the nightlife sector and improving the coexistence between locals and neighbors and, in this way, neighbors can see how it is possible to live and work together for the benefit of local culture and local tourism“.
The former NYC Nightlife Mayor went on to explain that “it is absolutely essential for a city with a wide range of nightlife offerings like Barcelona to have a person who knows well the challenges of nightlife and who serves as a bridge, a conductor, between all the city’s agents, such as the police, fire department, health department, locals, workers, community residents and even elected officials, to coordinate resources, solutions and relationships”. Palitz concluded by saying “I know that Barcelona will not only benefit, but will be grateful to create this figure“.
Source: Nightlife International
