Marriott International appoints Wael Soueid as General Manager for JW Marriott Hotel Dubai

Soueid brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to his new position, with over 16 years of international experience with Marriott Hotels & Resorts. His career with Marriott began in 1991 at the Marriott Prince de Galles in Paris as the Night Audit and Night Manager.

Within two years he found himself promoted to Front Desk Manager; a position he held for a short time before moving to the JW Marriott in Dubai as Front Office Manager. This role expanded his depth and knowledge, as he was actively involved in successfully opening the additional 150 room extension to the hotel.

Soueid also managed the hotel through a significant refurbishment of all the bedrooms and restaurants, managed and maintained successful relationships with Abu Dhabi Government accounts, and launched the finest Royal Suite in the Middle East.

In 2001, after his many great accomplishments at the hotel, Soueid was promoted to Director of Rooms Operations, where he and the Executive Committee delivered, for the first time, the owner's priorities in 2002 and 2003. He was pivotal in retaining the hotel's market share position of number 1 in the face of increasing competition, and introduced many initiatives into the Front Office and Housekeeping departments to ensure the hotel remained ahead of the fast-paced competitor environment.

Soueid's experience, not only at the JW Marriott Dubai, but also on the task force which opened the Renaissance Tunis and piloted the conversion of the JW Marriott Kuwait, led him to the appointment of Cluster General Manager of the Jeddah and Madinah Marriott Hotels in 2003.

During his time as the General Manager of these two properties, Soueid retained market share and RevPar leadership, whilst managing challenging issues with regard to terrorist threat. He also managed the Jeddah Marriott through an extensive renovation programme and created an effective outside catering operation which now generates 12 million Riyals in sales from an initial base of 1 million in 2003. His skills and expertise were recognised in a number of global leadership awards in 2005 and 2006, including an International Lodging General Manager's Award in 2006.

Meanwhile, JW Marriot Dubai also recently welcomed Claude El Sayed to its team as Loss Prevention Manager for the property. With a strict military background in the Lebanese secret service - including the role as personal bodyguard to the first lady - the 28-year-old was an obvious choice for the position of handling Marriott's flagship Dubai hotel.

After leaving the military, El Sayed joined The Ritz-Carlton Doha in 2003 as part of the loss prevention team, where he gained additional expertise in dealings with the US Embassy, American secret service and FBI, in addition to other military organisations. El Sayed joined the Marriott Hotels and Resorts team in 2005 at the Beirut Marriott Hotel, and later in June 2006, moved to The Courtyard by Marriott Dubai and Marriott Executive Apartments Green Community, as the hotel's Loss Prevention Supervisor.

During his time at the two Green Community properties, El Sayed enhanced the feeling of security by the guests to 97 percent, and implemented the Job Safety Analyst Training and Manager on Duty training at the properties. Currently, he is also heading up the Safety, Environmental and Energy Conservation Committee, as well as the ECHO (Environmental Conscious Hospitality Operation) committee for all Marriott properties in Dubai.