Business judgment. Operating experience. Applied AI.

I get to the heart of a business. And help move it forward.

I work through complex problems by understanding the business, the people, and the systems involved. I connect what matters, work out a useful way forward and stay involved in making it work.

My experience spans more than 15 years across 12 countries. I’ve held full P&L responsibility, created departments, built financial and operating systems, and mentored GMs and department heads. I’ve led the physical and commercial redesign of a live 120-key resort and worked as an embedded scale-up and strategy consultant to an 850+ vehicle travel-tech business. I hold an MBA in AI Product Management and have conceived, architected, built, and released three public AI products.

Work & ImpactThe full stories behind the results Kourai KhryseaiThree public AI products, with demos and build notes

Selected operating impact

Jump to an impact area

Implementation and commercial impact

Board-engaged scale-up and strategy · 850+ vehicle travel-tech business · Sri Lanka and Cambodia

Built the systems leaders used to run a growing business.

Paid marketing spend identified as wasteEliminated. Bookings held.: 90%
Nine-month scale-up and strategy engagement: Extended twice

The business had expanded across two countries, but its reporting and operating systems had not kept pace. Over nine months, I worked alongside the Global GM and department leaders to build shared KPIs, dashboards, workflows, and management routines. The team used them to review performance, agree priorities, and resolve problems.

One investigation began with weak booking growth. I examined the sales process, then worked back to paid traffic: marketing spend had increased, but bookings had not. I tested the relationship five ways, including whether bookings followed traffic after a delay, and asked leadership and the marketing team to challenge the diagnosis. The Board accepted my recommendation to eliminate the unproductive spend. Bookings held after paid spend fell 90%.

Operating systems and implementation Marketing diagnosis and decision

Full-P&L GM · Live 120-key resort, restaurant, and 24-hour bar · Thailand

Rebuilt the guest experience and the economics together.

F&B gross margin: 15 → 50%
Average nightly rate: +40%
Occupancy versus competitors: 2–4x

Competitors were selling rooms below our cost. I raised our rates while rebuilding the guest experience. The restaurant and bar were splitting guests into separate groups, and the move between them gave people a reason to leave. I relocated the bar into the dining area and rebuilt the layout, service, and programme so guests could stay together and choose how to spend their evening.

I also rebuilt menu costing, pricing, stock control, and the sales and financial systems, including a bespoke POS. The resort stayed open throughout. Average nightly rate rose 40%, occupancy reached 2–4x competitor levels during the price war, and F&B gross margin rose from 15% to 50%. Ancillary revenue on quieter nights tripled, and the new systems removed more than 20 hours of weekly administration.

Guest experience, systems and commercial decisions

People and customer experience

Bar Manager · Five-star hotel · Australia

Recovered service and revenue by changing how the team worked.

Bar revenue in 30 days: +50%
Guest complaints: −95%
Staff tips: 2x

The bar had underperformed for years, and staff had become afraid to approach guests because mistakes were punished. I made the team’s mistakes my responsibility and worked beside them during service, coaching them through guest interactions. As confidence returned, they began taking more initiative.

I also increased staffing and introduced proactive table service across the multilevel venue and outdoor dining area. Guests ordered more often and spent more per visit. Revenue rose 50% in 30 days, complaints fell 95%, and tips doubled. When the hotel’s restaurant was full, I turned the foyer into a fine-dining pop-up with four hours’ notice. It became a recurring offering.

The leadership and service recovery

Programme and department creation · 300+ key social resort · Greece

Built the departments behind record participation and spend.

Departments createdActivities and marketing: 2
Tours and events personally led across three continents: 2,000+

Too many competing activities split guests into small groups. Tours missed their minimum numbers and were cancelled. I created activities and marketing departments with responsibility for the programme, guides, sales, guest communication, and content, and replaced the sprawling menu with a focused daily programme.

Day tours created friendships that carried into evening events, where guests booked the next day’s tour. The department reached record participation and guest spend. I personally led 1,500+ tours and events at this resort. My wider experience spans 2,000+ across three continents, including groups of up to 600. That experience shaped the programme, staff roles, and safety practices.

The programme and operating design

Ownership under pressure and uncertainty

Emergency operating cover · Australia

Kept a motel running until its new managers could take over.

From the owner’s call to working on the floor: 3 days

An urgent COVID assignment became emergency cover across three properties. I arrived 1,200 km away within three days of the owner’s call, then moved between sites as staffing and management gaps emerged. Alongside service, I repaired equipment and POS and helped managers work through costs and margins.

At one motel, I ran the property alone when needed, handling housekeeping, laundry, bookings, and check-ins. I trained the incoming managers through practical work, then stepped back as they took it on independently. The assignment ended with a functioning motel and managers ready to run it.

The operating recovery and handover

Market-entry assessment · Philippines

Clarified the legal position and changed the entry plan.

Legal clarity, field research, and a revised entry plan: 3 weeks

A travel-tech business needed to establish whether and where it could launch in the Philippines. I arrived without government contacts or pre-arranged meetings and secured official clarification from the relevant Undersecretary. That resolved the legal question that had stalled progress.

I then spoke with tourists, locals, and potential partners, comparing demand, travel patterns, and operating conditions across locations. That research ruled out the preferred location. I recommended an alternative and gave leadership a revised entry plan covering the customer profile, product requirements, operating roadmap, and a potential local partner.

The research and changed decision

Acquisition diligence · Island resort, Greece

Walked away from an acquisition I wanted to make.

Before asking investors to commit capital: Deal declined

After five years inside a 300+ key resort, I developed an acquisition and turnaround proposal with partners. The 400-page case tested what the operating improvements would cost, the returns they could earn, alternative uses of capital, and the downside. Under conservative assumptions, our model projected recovery of the full investment within three years.

Diligence exposed structural risks that the operating plan could not resolve. I wanted to own the business, but its projected returns did not justify exposing investors to those risks. I declined the acquisition before asking them to commit capital.

The investment case and decision to decline

Kourai Khryseai

AI products

I’ve conceived, architected, built, and released these three public AI products.

All products and build notes

Planning & decisions

Finite

Helps you revise plans when costs, dates, or commitments change. An AI agent researches and proposes options, Finite checks them against the plan’s rules, and you choose which change to approve.

In the demo: three extra nights in Paris, with the same total budget.

Compare changes to other stays, accommodation, and an optional tour, then choose which revision to approve.

Finite comparing alternative changes to a travel plan, showing the combinations checked and the directions that fit the demo rules. — Captured demo · Comparing changes to a travel plan

How I designed it

I kept budget calculations and constraint checks in code, with approval tied to the person’s exact choice. An old session cannot overwrite a newer plan, and retrying a failed save cannot apply the same change twice.

Product and walkthrough Design decisions and test record

Photo library memory

Cimmich

Helps you find photos through the people, places, events, and documents connected to them. Your confirmations give its face-matching suggestions better evidence.

I kept its connections and confirmed identities separate from the underlying Immich photo library, leaving the original photos and library unchanged.

Product and guide

Learning & development

Virgil

Turns saved reading into short lessons for the time you have, then uses your answers and corrections to decide what to teach next.

I separated the learner’s own statements from the AI’s assumptions. Learners can correct those assumptions, and lessons retain their sources so unsupported instructions can be withheld.

Product and demo

Contact

Benji Hart

Email benjihagenhart@gmail.com Profile LinkedIn

Operating transformation and business-led AI deployment. Permanent, interim, and fractional roles where the fit is right.

Australian citizen with work rights in Germany, Finland and the U.S.

Open to global relocation and on-site work.