Ahu Kerimoğlu Aysal was born in İstanbul, in 1957. Her father is Prof. Dr. Sebahattin Kerimoğlu, the founder of Cerrahpaşa Medical Faculty, Neurology Department and her mother is Meryem Nimet Kerimoğlu. Having completed her primary school education in İstanbul Şişli Terakki, she went on Eastborn College in England. On her way back to Istanbul she met and married her husband, Ünal Aysal. Together they went to Switzerland Neuchatel for continuing education. She accompanied her husband in Erzurum while he completed his military service after which they moved to Brussels where they resided for many years and where Mr. Aysal started his first business.
Ms. Aysal has two daughters, Ala Aysal Şirin and Ceyla Aysal and three grandchildren, Aksel Şirin, Arman Şirin and Kaan Ünal Mızraklı.
Her career in tourism began in 1995 at Kimeros Holiday Village in Kemer, Antalya. The Aysal family constructed Kimeros Holiday Village in 1985 and it was formerly named Club Salima, the first holiday village in Turkey.
In 2000 Ms. Aysal launched Ma Biche Hotel, the first Hotel in Turkey Thalassoterapy center, next to Kimeros Holiday Village. Ma Biche was conceptualized and realized completely from beginning to end by Ahu Aysal who also worked as the General Manager of the Hotel.
In 2002, she became the Vice President of Unit Tourism and Investment Co. (Unit Turizm Yatırımları A. Ş.) another family venture. That year she started the construction of the boutique hotel ‘Les Ottomans’ in Kuruçeşme İstanbul, which she had been enthusiastically anticipating for a long time. The Hotel was designed and certified according to the ‘Feng Shui’ concept and the construction, which was personally directed by Ms. Aysal was finished in 2006. Ms. Aysal has been and still is the General Manager of Hotel Les Ottomans since it’s opening in 2006 when it first started to welcome guests from all around the world.
In 2007 ‘The Ekonomist’ magazine chose Ms. Aysal ‘Woman Entrepreneur of the Year’. Since then both Ms. Aysal and Hotel Les Ottomans continues to be the recipient of many awards making her a great source of pride for Turkey. She has made a worldwide name for her boutique hotel ‘Les Ottomans’ which you can find more about at the Awards section of this website.
She is a member of SKAL International, TUROB (Touristic Hotels & Investors Association), TURYID (Turkish Restaurant & Entertainment Association), KAGIDER (Women Entrepreneurs Association of Turkey), OZBI (Association of Historical & Boutique Hotels of Turkey) and TYD (Turkish Tourism Investors Association).
In addition to her many accomplishments Ms. Aysal has also been the benefactor of a pre-school education center and a wedding hall in Antalya. She has donated her classic Volkswagen automobile to The Rahmi Koç Museum.
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