Dr. Gershwin Narraidoo, DBA

Dr. Gershwin Narraidoo is one of the most operationally grounded luxury hospitality educators working today — with over 30 years of experience spanning five-star resorts, fine dining, executive education, and high-performance service operations across four continents.

Born and raised in Mauritius, his career began in fine dining and progressed through landmark properties including The Setai Miami Beach (pre-opening team), Loews Miami Beach Hotel, and Hilton Miami Airport. He later served as Director of Learning & Development at Acqualina Resort & Residences — ranked #1 Resort and #1 Hotel in the United States by U.S. News & World Report — and as Director of Operational Excellence at Brightline Trains, the only privately operated intercity railroad in the United States.

A tenured faculty member for nearly 14 years, Dr. Narraidoo served as Assistant Professor at Johnson & Wales University (College of Culinary Arts, North Miami) and held faculty roles at Blue Mountains International Hotel Management School (Australia) and Vatel Hotel School (Mauritius).

He holds a Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) from Walden University, with a published dissertation titled "The Role of Internet of Things in Hotels' Profitability" (2020). He also holds an Executive Certification in AI Business Strategies from the UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, a Bachelor of Arts from Bournemouth University, and multiple wine and spirits certifications — including the French Wine Scholar (FWS) designation, having passed the Bordeaux Master Level examination with highest honors, a distinction recognized by the Wine Scholar Guild.

He is the creator and trademark holder of Luxury Intelligence™ (LQ™) — a proprietary execution framework built on five behavioral pillars: Presence, Perception, Precision, Poise, and Purpose. LQ™ is the intellectual foundation of every Atelier 5 Star program, designed to move teams from knowing service standards, to doing them consistently, to embodying them as a cultural norm.

His work sits at the intersection of luxury operations, behavioral science, and AI-integrated education — built not from theory, but from three decades of frontline and executive experience in some of the world's most demanding hospitality environments.