The people behind Grand

Faisal grew up in Riyadh and trained in hotel management in Lausanne before running resorts in the Maldives and Marrakech. He came home to open Grand in 2021, and has spent every season since walking the valley with the archaeologists and rangers the heritage fee supports. He greets every arriving guest himself when he can, usually with a small cup of Saudi coffee and a recommendation for the evening light.

Khalid was born in AlUla and spent his childhood exploring the canyons around his family's date farm. He studied geology in Jeddah, trained as a guide with the archaeological teams at Hegra, and now leads our team of naturalists. He knows every rock carving within an hour's walk of the resort, the best ledge for watching ibex at dawn, and the names of most of the stars.

Omar cooked in Beirut, Florence and Dubai before coming to the valley. His kitchen at Saffron runs on date-palm wood and charcoal, with vegetables from our oasis farm and fish from the Red Sea coast. He buys spices in the souk in AlUla every week, and on Saturdays teaches guests to bake khubz in the tannour oven.

Noura trained in hammam traditions in Istanbul and in massage in Bali before leading spas in Jeddah and Abu Dhabi. At the Oasis Spa she created our signature frankincense ritual and the treatments that use date-seed oil and rhassoul clay. She leads the sunrise yoga on the dune deck most mornings, and believes the hammam is the best cure for a long flight.

Saad comes from a family of falconers in the north of the Kingdom and flew his first falcon at nine. He looks after the resort's four birds, two sakers, a lanner and a peregrine, all bred in captivity and never used to hunt. He leads the morning with the falconer on Fridays and Sundays, and children are usually his most fearless students.

Reem studied tourism in Riyadh and Madrid, and leads our team of hosts. She is often the first person you hear from after you book, and plans everything from balloon flights and Hegra mornings to private dinners in the dunes. Ask her about the festival season in AlUla, or the best spot on the resort for the last light of the day.