DUBAI // Hairol Castillo is accustomed to checking tourists in to the hotel where he works as a receptionist – but not his own mother and sister.
It had been more than two years since Mr Castillo, 25, from the Dominican Republic, saw his family. On Wednesday, he was treated to a surprise reunion.
Mr Castillo was one of 11 winners of a photo competition run by Dubai Tourism. Hotel staff were asked to submit their favourite image or video of the emirate, for a top prize of a trip for two relatives to visit them in Dubai.
The receptionist was almost speechless when he was ushered into a room on Wednesday to be reunited with his mother and sister, who had made a 24-hour journey from the Caribbean for their first visit to the UAE.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” was all he could say to those around him who had kept the surprise secret for almost three weeks.
Crying tears of joy, the family enjoyed a long overdue embrace.
“I never expected this. You have no idea what you have done,” said Mr Castillo, who works at the front desk of the Kempinski Hotel Mall of the Emirates.
He will now spend three days with his mother, Margarita, and his sister, Ana, as the family are shown around Dubai, experiencing everything from a desert safari to a visit to the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding.
He had no idea his photo, a selfie with a camel, had won the competition.
“I didn’t take it with the intention of it being for a competition,” he said.
“It was my colleagues who convinced me to enter. Everyone said the camel had a smile like mine. With my photo, I put that Dubai ‘makes me smile’, which is true. It’s a city where every day there’s something to do. Simple moments can give me so much happiness here.”
Mr Castillo, who has lived away from home for the past five years, regularly speaks to his mother on Skype, although she never gave her son any hint she was due to visit. “She was mean, talking to me all this time and she didn’t say anything,” he said, with a smile.
“I’ve always been so proud of him but this makes me even prouder,” said Mrs Castillo, a teacher, who kept the trip secret since April 27.
“I’m so happy to come to Dubai and really didn’t expect it to be so nice.”
She said she was excited to see at first-hand what life in the desert was like, as it was so different from the green and tropical Dominican Republic.
“Now, I will be able to not only speak about the desert to my students but share the whole experience with them,” she said.
Mr Castillo’s sister Ana was thrilled to see him after so long. “I don’t have words,” she said.
She and her brother listened to Arabic music as children, and she learnt to belly dance when she was 8.
“I have always loved the culture,” she said. “It’s an adventure and I’m excited to do things with my brother that I know he enjoys, like dancing.” Their mother said: “When she was dancing, Hairol would dance with her. He was born to be here in Dubai, so in the end, the three of us are here together.”
Slim Zaiane, hotel manager, said people like Mr Castillo were the ones who helped to make the emirate’s vibrant tourist industry the success it was.
“These people are the key players driving the industry and the image of Dubai. It’s nice for them to get this recognition,” he said.
mswan@thenational.ae
