An Interview with Founder & CEO Caryl Helsel - Part One
What is your background and what led you to found Dragonfly Strategists?
“I started working at a hotel front desk when I was 19, it wasn’t my major or scholastic interest but I just fell in love with the work. I worked on property for 7 years in front office, reservations and sales before moving to the corporate office. This hands-on hotel operations perspective shapes my thinking. I know what it is like to be there on the front lines on property and what challenges arise.
After that, I had an amazing opportunity to be the worldwide Director of Reservations for Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. The experience of traveling throughout Asia and Europe in my 20s also shaped my perspective and world view by experiencing different cultures. I’ve previously owned a revenue management consulting firm and also was privileged to work for some of the top hotel and hospitality firms in the U.S. I have experience overseeing not just revenue management and distribution but sales and marketing, information technology, reservations, and customer care centers.
All of this experience led me to be perfectly positioned to create a new kind of hospitality services and consulting firm, one that encompasses all commercial strategy for our clients. We demonstrate how each area of revenue strategy, customer experience, pricing, distribution, information technology, sales, and marketing can combine to produce the best profit results for a company through a data-informed comprehensive strategy.”
What is Dragonfly’s specialty?
“We are truly a holistic commercial strategy hospitality consulting firm. We combine senior-level expertise in the following areas to maximize profits for our clients:
Though we work with a few brands and also do consulting for hospitality technology companies, we find our sweet spot with small to medium size hotel groups, boutique hotels, and independent hotels and brands. Our agile team can make the biggest difference for those groups.”
What is the mission of Dragonfly Strategists?
“We work hard on behalf of our clients to make owners more profitable by extending resources beyond what they thought was possible. We specialize in streamlining processes, we fix broken things, and we can break down barriers to implement difficult projects. We want our clients to win and proving ROI is very important to the work we do. Our global mission is to make the world a better place through participating in our non-profit work including with St. Jude Children’s Hospital.”
Where do you see Dragonfly evolving in the future?
“January will be our 4th anniversary and 2019 has been a year of rapid growth and expansion. We will be adding more team members and are developing strategic partnerships with other hospitality services companies. You’ll see us evolve into more thought leadership and learn why we deserve our reputation for integrity and delivering projects with excellence. Dragonfly has become the trusted partner firm for hotels and we plan to continue that legacy. ”
What is the significance of the Dragonfly?
“I’ve always had a deep affinity for dragonflies and fireflies. I think they have the spark of transformation in their beings. In Asian, Native American and other cultures, the dragonfly is a symbol for transformation. Our motto is “transforming strategy to revenue” and we truly do this. A great strategy is nothing if it can’t be acted upon. We design everything we do at Dragonfly to drive forward momentum and to make our clients profitable through sound streamlined structured strategy. “