CO-FOUNDER
Maria Pichon
Luxury Hospitality Strategist · Service Culture Architect
CO-FOUNDER, VELORA
A trusted advisor in luxury hospitality and service culture.
Maria has been a trusted advisor in luxury hospitality and service culture for decades. Prior to her role as Co-Founder of Velora, she led international brand development and service transformations for boutique properties through to ultra-luxury, large-scale destination developments.
Most recently, as an executive leader at NEOM Hotel Development in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Maria led the curation and development of several iconic hotel concepts supporting one of the world’s most ambitious and progressive destination visions.
To deliver on this promise, she partnered closely with leading global luxury hospitality brands like Ennismore, Marriott International, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, and Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, co-creating positioning and service experiences relevant to the destination and the brand.
Maria also played a pivotal role at Emaar Hospitality Group, where she led the development and implementation of brand and guest experience standards across a diverse portfolio, including Armani Hotels, The Address Hotels, and Rove. Her work strengthened guest satisfaction, service consistency, and long-term brand equity across international markets.
Maria’s expertise is grounded in both corporate leadership and on-property operations, informed by her work with Leading Quality Assurance (LQA) and hands-on experience within luxury hotels in the United States and the Middle East. She is particularly valued for her ability to quickly identify the root issues that limit service excellence and translate insight into practical, scalable solutions.
She holds a Master’s degree in Business Management from the University of Essex (UK), where her research focused on frameworks for defining, embedding, and sustaining high-performance service cultures.
Originally from Sweden, Maria is based in Dubai with her husband and two daughters.