Mark Agnew has been appointed director of event management at the JW Marriott Hotel in Dubai.
Scotsman Agnew said he was attracted to Dubai and especially its leisure industry after spending 11 years in Bahrain and Qatar. "Dubai in my mind will very soon be the 'Riviera' of the Middle East and I want to be part of it," he said. Agnew spent seven years at university studying for different degrees. Into the second year of his BA in Business Studies, he decided to change direction and apply for Business Studies to the hotel industry. His studies required one-year internship in a hotel. "I was lucky enough to be taken on by a prestigious five-star hotel in the Mayfair area of London," Agnew said. At first he started in the reception and soon moved to the food and beverage department. "I was caught up in the food & beverage whirlwind and the dynamics of the operation. There are no boundaries. Your only limitation is your mind itself. That's when I decided I wanted a career in the hotel food and beverage discipline," he said. Agnew started with Marriott Warsaw as a chief steward. From Poland he moved to London as restaurant & room service manager and has been promoted gradually to director of catering. He was then appointed director of event management with the Marriott in the US. He will be in charge of all events happening at the JW Marriott in Dubai. "I will use my 15 years of experience and the uncountable years of experience our team has to endeavour to always meet and exceed our customers' expectations," he said.