John Pantelides has taken over as the new general manager of Sheraton Deira Hotel & Towers.

Pantelides has extensive experience in the region and is fluent in seven languages including Arabic, English, French, German, Greek, Italian and Spanish.

"I have always had a fascination for languages and what better business to be in than hotels and especially in a cosmopolitan city such as Dubai," said Pantelides.

"At the Sheraton Deira Hotel & Towers, we host clients from all ends of the globe. My passion for languages has proved to be a great advantage, as it makes guests feel that bit more at home when one can communicate with them in their own mother tongue."

Pantelides joined Sheraton Hotels in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 1979 as sales manager, after graduating from the acclaimed hotel school in Lausanne in Switzerland.

He was then progressively promoted to more responsible positions in sales and operations in France, Gabon, Belgium, Seychelles, Zaire, Guinea Bissau, Nigeria and Djibouti.

From 1993 - 2001, he held the position of general manager at the Sheraton Agadir Hotel in Morocco. He joined the Sheraton Deira after holding the position of complex general manager Liwa Hotels at the Sheraton Marrakesh Hotel, Morocco.

"The hotel industry in Dubai is of a very high level with and one has to keep innovating in order to keep up with the competition," said Pantelides.

"At the hotel, we have recently undergone a soft refurbishment in 64 of our rooms by changing the flooring from carpet to parquet. We have also introduced a new Italian theme night in our The Terrace restaurant and there are other exciting plans ahead."