Meet the Team Behind the Platform
A team combining deep hospitality expertise, technology innovation, and customer-first thinking. We understand both sides of the luxury travel ecosystem—hotels and advisors—because we've lived it.
Dmitry Gaiduk
Co-Founder & CPO/CTO
Background
Former McKinsey consultant turned product/tech leader. Built scalable platforms from 0→1 across fintech, travel, and SaaS. Deep expertise in AI/ML systems, data infrastructure, and B2B platform design.
What They Built
- •Skipper AI: Trained on hotel data to answer advisor questions instantly
- •AI Matchmaking Algorithm: Analyzes advisor booking patterns to identify best-fit partners
- •Performance Analytics Dashboard: Real-time insights for hotels and advisors
- •Scalable data infrastructure: Handles booking attribution, rewards tracking, campaign analytics
15+ years building products that solve complex business problems with elegant technology.
Gaurav Sharma
Co-Founder & Head of Travel Advisor Network
Background
Luxury travel industry veteran with 15+ years across advisor networks, consortia relationships, and hotel representation. Deep connections in India's luxury travel advisor community (IATA/CLIA certified professionals).
Key Responsibilities
- •Building verified advisor network starting with 100+ India-based luxury travel advisors
- •Advisor onboarding, training, and ongoing support
- •Understanding advisor pain points: what tools they need, what motivates them, how they work with hotels
- •Ensuring advisors see value in platform (Skipper AI, rewards, exclusive offers)
Knows how advisors think, what they need, and how to earn their trust. This is not a tech problem—it's a relationship and trust problem.
Amit Chawla
Co-Founder & Head of Hotel Partnerships
Background
Hospitality industry expert with 15+ years in luxury hotel sales, distribution, and representation. Former senior roles at leading hotel groups and representation firms. Understands hotel revenue management, distribution strategy, and the economics of advisor relationships.
Key Responsibilities
- •Onboarding launching hotel partners (Aman, Rosewood, One&Only—subject to confirmation)
- •Training hotel teams on platform usage: creating offers, reviewing booking submissions, analyzing advisor performance
- •Translating hotel needs into product requirements (e.g., "We need to know which advisors drive repeat bookings")
- •Demonstrating ROI: showing hotels how platform drives measurable bookings vs. traditional representation
Speaks the language of hotel revenue managers and sales directors. Knows what metrics matter and how to prove value.
Elena Gaiduk
Co-Founder & Head of Customer Success
Background
Customer success and operations leader with 10+ years building high-touch support programs for B2B SaaS and luxury services. Expert in onboarding workflows, training programs, and turning customers into advocates.
Key Responsibilities
- •Hotels get onboarded smoothly: data upload, offer creation, team training
- •Advisors get responsive support: answering questions, troubleshooting uploads, explaining rewards
- •Both sides see ongoing value: proactive check-ins, success metrics, feedback loops
- •Platform improvements come from real user feedback (not assumptions)
Makes sure nobody gets stuck or frustrated. Customer success = product success.
Why This Team Works
Hotel-Side Expertise (Amit)
Amit knows how hotel revenue teams think, what metrics they care about, and how to prove ROI. He translates hotel needs into product requirements and ensures the platform solves real revenue problems.
Advisor-Side Expertise (Gaurav)
Gaurav understands what advisors need to succeed: fast answers, exclusive offers, recognition for their work. He ensures the platform serves advisors, not just hotels—because without advisor buy-in, nothing works.
Technology Excellence (Dmitry)
Dmitry builds the AI and infrastructure that makes the platform intelligent and scalable. Skipper AI, matchmaking algorithms, performance analytics—technology that solves business problems elegantly.
Customer Success (Elena)
Elena ensures everyone gets value from the platform. She turns feedback into improvements, prevents churn through proactive support, and makes sure both hotels and advisors feel heard and supported.
The Result: A team that understands the luxury travel ecosystem from all angles—hotels, advisors, technology, and customer success. We're not just building software; we're solving a decades-old problem in hotel representation with intelligence, transparency, and respect for how the industry actually works.
Our Mission
We're building the intelligence layer for luxury hotel representation—making it measurable, efficient, and rewarding for everyone involved.
Traditional representation is expensive with zero visibility into who's actually driving bookings. Advisors get no recognition or rewards for their work. It's opaque and broken.
Penguins changes that. Hotels save at least 70% compared to traditional representation while gaining full visibility. Advisors get recognition and rewards. Everyone wins.
Want to Learn More?
Reach out to discuss how Penguins can transform your hotel's representation strategy.
Contact Us: team@penguins.travel