John Northen, general manager of JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai, has appointed Nagesh Chawla as the new Director of Rooms.

Prior to joining JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai, Chawla was with the Renaissance Mumbai Hotel and Convention Centre and Marriott Executive Apartments Mumbai for four years, where in 2003 the hotel was named Renaissance of the Year by Marriott International.

Since childhood, Chawla has been fascinated with hotels, his father, who was a diplomat, always travelled with his family and stayed in numerous luxury hotels all over the globe. He was initially allured by the glamourous lifestyle of the hotel profession, but since studying in hotel school in Vienna, Austria and working in Maldives, India, Mumbai and now Shanghai, he now believes the hotel profession is very hard work, but at the same time very gratifying. Chawla's schooling was in Berlin, Germany, hence he speaks fluent German, English, Bahasa Indonesian and Hindi.

I am very excited to be working in Shanghai, China for the first time in my career and already I am feeling great vibes from my team and the hotel. In my spare time, or when I want to relax, I enjoy listening to Indian or rock music the most, hence I will be exploring Shanghai in the next few weeks with great music to my ears.

Chawla is married and is an Indian national.