Ilona Urban

Provided a monthly analysis of chargeback numbers & reasons, reduced chargeback volume by 50% and chargeback monthly losses by 65% by introducing 2 types of new hotel technology, creating 3 Front Desk SOPs and creating a guide for chargeback back up submission.

Reduced the outstanding AR balance by 65% in the first half a year in the position by reconciling all accounts, assisting with AR collection, maintaining AR ledger updated with all incoming payments and ensuring correct payment application, prepared weekly AR updates for the ownership team, ensured all invoiced sent out to 3rd parties are correct and sent in a timely manner.

Created a yearly strategic plan for the department consisting of 5 main objectives and a total of 40 sub-objectives, completed 75% of sub-objectives within the year.

Achieved the all-time high ratings of #3 on TripAdvisor out of 300 hotels compared to #27 prior and a steady rise to an over 8.0 rating on Booking & Expedia from 7.5, 4.5 on Google from 4.0 and 9.0 on Medallia from 7.5 by creating a strategic guest satisfaction program, analyzed guest feedback provided across various channels and created a unified customer service strategy based on the best industry practices, investigated each concern and addressed internally or with other department heads… Show more

Achieved the all-time high ratings of #3 on TripAdvisor out of 300 hotels compared to #27 prior and a steady rise to an over 8.0 rating on Booking & Expedia from 7.5, 4.5 on Google from 4.0 and 9.0 on Medallia from 7.5 by creating a strategic guest satisfaction program, analyzed guest feedback provided across various channels and created a unified customer service strategy based on the best industry practices, investigated each concern and addressed internally or with other department heads, changed internal processes and created 7 department and inter-departmental SOPs in efforts to eliminate each individual complaint, relentlessly inspired the team to provide the best customer service via daily pre-shift service tips and online review name mention recognition. Show less

Successfully operated the hotel without PMS access for 5 days during a PMS migration to another server, ensured that the guest experience is not affected and brought the system back with a minimal disruption to the hotel operation.

Conducted a series of mock Forbes inspections and carefully recorded the results, analysed and systematized the bulk of data to put in % amounts each point being hit successfully or missed out of total number of inspections, reported the statistics for the department to the GM. Created training “tips” to be delivered during the pre-shifts and produced a 10% increase in successful hits within the department within the first month.

Created a monthly statistical reports with analysis of inbound and outbound message volume and patterns, response times, team performance and template usage. Proposed a “refresh” of Zingle templates based on this analysis with the aim of improving the median response time. Introduced a new list of templates the usage of which lowered the median response time from 10 minutes to 5 minutes and the first response time from 3 minutes to 1 minute within the first two of months after the introduction.

Worked on the ‘Compelling Business Cases’ project with the aim of improving the quality of business case submissions. The analysis of business cases submitted in 2017 showed that 40% of the cases was rejected by the regional sales office due to them not featuring relevant information. Collected and systematized the knowledge about business cases and created a FAQ document as well as a presentation used during a series of webinars with the local sales teams. Produced a 9.7% increase in the… Show more

Worked on the ‘Compelling Business Cases’ project with the aim of improving the quality of business case submissions. The analysis of business cases submitted in 2017 showed that 40% of the cases was rejected by the regional sales office due to them not featuring relevant information. Collected and systematized the knowledge about business cases and created a FAQ document as well as a presentation used during a series of webinars with the local sales teams. Produced a 9.7% increase in the number of business cases that were suitable for submission to clients without any amendments during the 2018 RFP season. Show less

Participated in the Hotel Operations Tactics and Strategies project, a hotel management simulation, in the role of Rooms Division Manager. Contributed to the success of the team, which managed to achieve a remarkable occupancy of 91.8% in August in the final year of simulation, by making a number of effective decisions about rates, revenue management, refurbishment schedule and scale and housekeeping.