Most companies use only half of what they already have.

Here is how I put the unused half to work.

01 / People

Nobody knew what moved their pay

Bonuses came once a year from company profit, so nobody knew what their own work was worth. I built KPIs by role, tied to pay and paid quarterly, with a live dashboard. The team pulled in one direction.

Only 49% of US employees strongly agree they know what is expected of them at work.Gallup, 2026
03 / Data

The money was in the detail

Prices changed once a year, and nobody looked below country totals. I went down to each room and each day, found the nights that sat empty at peak, and priced them. Peak-season rates rose 20%.

Only 37% of executives say they work in a data- and AI-driven organization.MIT Sloan Management Review, 2025
People
One person rows while three sit back; everyone gets the same cup
Systems
Four islands with no bridges, one person on each
Data
An iceberg: a small report above water, money frozen below
Processes
A person counts on an abacus next to an unplugged computer
02 / Systems

Three systems, three answers

To check if a unit was free, the team looked in three systems and got three answers. I mapped the stack, redesigned it and rebuilt the CRM. Leads stopped falling between teams.

63% of hotel tech budgets are still spent on maintaining legacy systems.Skift Research, 2025
04 / Processes

People doing a machine's job

27,000 leads a month, answered by hand whenever reps got to them. I audited the processes, found the repetitive manual work and wrote an automation plan. From it I designed an AI agent that takes every inbound lead to a free trial and tests its own messages. The team later replaced support with a bot as well.

Today's technology could, in theory, automate about 57% of US work hours.McKinsey Global Institute, 2025
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The path

2025-now
Designing commercial systems and AI for hotels and leadersRemote, worldwide
ConsultingIndependent consultant
B2B · Commercial systems · AI · Automation
  • Designed lead handling and an AI sales agent for a B2B software company with 27,000 leads a month
  • Built a personal AI operating system for leaders
  • Building an AI operating system for hotel teams, now in pilot
2024-2025
Leading sales, revenue and systems for a luxury villa and hotel groupAsia (5 countries)
HospitalityGroup sales director (50+ people, 9 teams)
B2B · B2C · Sales · Revenue · Reservations · Guest service · CRM · AI
The Luxe Nomad
  • Grew revenue 27% YoY and the direct booking share from 45% to 60%
  • Redesigned the tech stack, rebuilt the CRM, launched AI agents for 24/7 guest service
  • Tied KPIs to pay and moved pricing to daily, room by room
2022-2024
Managing Agoda's head-office partnerships with Marriott, Hilton and IHGAsia (Bangkok)
Travel techStrategic partnerships manager
B2B · Partnerships · Data analysis · SQL
AgodaBooking Holdings
  • Grew booked room nights 58% YoY across 400+ hotels in 10+ markets
  • SQL champion: automated the reports analysts built by hand
  • Proved a key supply KPI was miscounted and got it corrected
2019-2022
Running sales and marketing of a flagship Marriott hotelArmenia
HospitalityCommercial director (team of 12)
B2B · B2C · Sales · Marketing · Revenue · Reservations · Operations
Marriott International
  • Took the hotel to #1 in its market by RevPAR: revenue +33%, GOP +8.4%
  • Set up a weekly commercial rhythm: pricing, forecasting, segmentation
  • Supported the operations of several departments
2018-2019
Opening a new Marriott hotel from scratch for the 2018 World CupRussia (Saransk)
HospitalityCommercial director (team of 9)↑ Promoted
B2B · B2C · Sales · Marketing · Pricing · Distribution · Pre-opening
Marriott International
  • Built the team, pricing and distribution from zero
  • Opened ahead of schedule, revenue +28% in the first year
2015-2018
Winning corporate clients and partnerships for a Marriott hotel clusterRussia (Saint Petersburg)
HospitalityCluster sales manager↑ Promoted
B2B · Corporate accounts · Sales · Partnerships
Marriott International
  • Hit 175% of target and got promoted
  • Our team was named Best Sales Team in Europe, 2016
  • Ran segment strategy and key accounts for two hotels
2011-2015
Selling luxury homes and hotel investment units to international buyersUAE (Dubai)
Real estateSenior consultant (team of 5)
B2C · HNWI investors · Sales · Agency · Property developer
The First GroupHamptons
  • Closed deals from $400K to $2.2M
  • Built and trained a multicultural sales team
  • Built a shared sales pitch the whole team and every new hire worked from

How I work

Kirill Shmelev

I started on the floor, carrying room-service trays at 18, and moved abroad on my own at 19. My first four months in sales brought no deals. I stayed, the deals came, and I have been running the commercial side of companies ever since. Now I build the systems behind it.

Give me a result to own and the right to decide how to get there. Marketing was spending about $20K on campaigns that brought no bookings, and the marketing team wanted to keep them. I got the support I needed inside the company and moved the money to the market where spend turned into bookings.
I check where a number comes from before the team acts on it. At a booking platform, most price alerts came from a stale rate feed, and the team was fixing problems that did not exist. I proved it and pushed leadership to change how the KPI was counted.
New ideas get a deadline, and the ones that miss it get closed. We entered a new market through a local partner and set a date to review it. Two months in, the leads were weak and the team was overloaded, so we closed the test.

Off the clock

SuitcaseTravelingSwimming gogglesSwimmingSourdough loafSourdough bakingFishing rodFishingMushroomMushroom hunting

Have a role in mind?

Commercial leadership, revenue or commercial operations.
Full-time, remote or on site, anywhere in the world.

Book a call kirill.shmelev13@gmail.com
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