Shaikha Al Kaabi has served as chief executive of the organization now known as Erth Abu Dhabi since 2016. Her tenure has guided its evolution from the Armed Forces Officers Club and Hotel into a broader hospitality and lifestyle destination, with the Erth brand launched in 2021. The transformation is notable because it did not discard the institution’s history. It used that history as the foundation for a more open and contemporary identity.
Before taking the role, Al Kaabi worked in business development connected with tourism at Royal Group. She entered Erth with an understanding of both commercial opportunity and Abu Dhabi’s destination ambitions. Her mandate extended across accommodation, events, restaurants, sport and large-scale catering, requiring the organization to serve very different audiences while maintaining a coherent standard.
The name Erth, meaning legacy, captures her strategic approach. Rather than importing a generic luxury vocabulary, the brand places Emirati culture, generosity and food at its centre. This can be seen in culinary concepts and the way the property tells its story. Heritage is treated not as a static display but as something experienced through service, gathering and taste.
Al Kaabi has also positioned wellness and sport as important parts of the destination. Extensive facilities allow Erth to serve residents, athletes, families and event guests as well as conventional hotel travellers. That local relevance gives the business a more resilient demand base and makes the property part of community life rather than an enclave for visitors.
Operational complexity is substantial. A hotel room, wedding, institutional catering contract and sports facility each have different standards, economics and staffing needs. Al Kaabi’s leadership has been about creating a common culture across those functions while allowing specialist expertise to develop. The rebrand would have been cosmetic without that organizational work.
Her role also carries symbolic weight for women in Emirati leadership. She is not simply a figurehead in a traditionally visible sector. She has led a multi-year transformation of a nationally significant institution, demonstrating how local executives can create brands grounded in their own culture and commercially relevant to international markets.
Erth Abu Dhabi now represents a distinctive strand of the capital’s tourism offer: hospitality with institutional memory, community use and a confident Emirati voice. Al Kaabi’s achievement is to have made legacy dynamic. She has preserved the values associated with the original club while widening who can experience them. In a market filled with international flags, that authenticity is not sentimental. It is a competitive asset.
Food offers perhaps the clearest route from heritage to everyday relevance. Emirati cuisine can be underrepresented in international hotel dining, despite being one of the most immediate ways for visitors to understand place. Al Kaabi has the platform to support local recipes, producers and culinary talent at scale, turning restaurants and events into cultural interpretation without making them feel didactic.
Her next challenge is to extend the brand while protecting its specificity. Erth’s identity is powerful because it is tied to an institution, a site and a history. Any future expansion would need to express those values rather than reproduce surface design. Al Kaabi’s transformation to date suggests a cautious principle: growth should follow meaning. That discipline can keep Erth locally trusted even as its reputation reaches a wider international audience.
