Employee Spotlight - Oskar Will, Business Development Manager

OTA Insight’s workforce is formed of passionate and talented people from 31 different nationalities, ranging from data scientists to product managers – all driven by a set of values and a collaborative culture which come together to make the #BestTeamEver. The Employee Spotlight series aims to give you an insight into the careers of some of the remarkable individuals who make OTA Insight the industry leader for revenue and distribution enablement.

Oskar Will joined OTA Insight in November 2018 straight from university and currently works out of Sydney, Australia as a Business Development Manager (BDM) for the APAC region. Having grown up with family working in hospitality and later studying hospitality management, it seemed Oskar was destined for a career in this industry. We recently spoke to Oskar to hear more about his experience and progression working at OTA Insight.

Can you tell us about your role at OTA Insight and how it's changed since you started?

When I joined the APAC business development team, there were only a handful of people on the team – around seven in total, as opposed to fifteen now. That has been the biggest change I've seen over my two and a half years here, significant growth within the company. Which ultimately is a good sign, being able to keep adding talented people to the team means the company is in a strong position.

What does a typical day look like for you?

As a BDM, I like to say when I'm not in meetings or delivering internal tasks, I'm prospecting in one way or another, trying to bring in new business for the company.

If I start at the beginning of the day, usually I check my calendar to see what I have on, go over emails and Slack and proceed from there. For the moment however, I am heavily focused on training and onboarding our three new starters from Korea, China and my close colleague from Australia.

How have you been able to learn and grow at OTA Insight?

OTA Insight took me onboard when I was still in university, with no prior sales or corporate experience and working as a bell boy in a hotel. So it’s tough to pinpoint a specific trait that I’ve learned from the company as almost everything I know and use now I’ve been taught by the company.

If I was to choose one example, I would say shadowing my more experienced colleagues Dominik and Amit. Seeing how they approach situations and implementing it in my workflow has been integral to my success.

I should also mention that OTA Insight has always given me the independence to try and sometimes fail. In the beginning, learning by doing taught me more than any training material ever could. I was allowed to give things a go, despite a lack of experience and through my mistakes and successes I’ve been able to refine my approach.

What has been your proudest moment at OTA Insight?

I think my proudest moment at OTA Insight would be onboarding the largest operator of rooms in Australia, Meriton Suites, in my first eight months at the company. At this point in time, I only had limited experience, as I mentioned previously. Therefore, to be able to onboard a 24-hotel chain with no help from my managers or colleagues was such a special accomplishment for me. One I’ll remember for a while!

Which OTA Insight value do you associate with most and how do you see it put into action at the company?

Whilst all values have great input into my everyday work life, the values I most associate with are, ‘client comes first’ and ‘humility – success is not a given’.

The first value is ingrained in me having grown up in a family where my mother has been in hospitality her whole life, and also having studied hospitality management, so it’s something I am very used to putting into practice.

The second value is so important to have in a company, especially in a competitive environment like Business Development. People are often caught up in personal gain over most else, which the vast majority of time leads to more inefficient working relationships or not providing the best service to the client. At OTA Insight, it’s a uniquely refreshing workplace as everyone sees the big picture. In that working well together to achieve a greater goal is the best ingredient for success.

Recovery looks to be on the horizon, do you anticipate a rebound for the travel and hospitality industry as we move into the latter half of 2021?

Definitely, and in this case I will use my native Australia as the basis for my answer. Looking at the year ahead, we have a much better idea of how to handle Covid-19. We can limit infection, detect and anticipate where it will spread and take precautions to isolate it.

More significantly the vaccine rollout presents a new light of optimism which is very pleasing to see. The industry will take a while to return to its pre-pandemic former glory, however the important part of that is that it will return to normal, it will just take a little time.

Once restrictions are fully lifted which destination do you wish to travel to first? 

I’d love to travel anywhere quite honestly, perhaps Thailand or somewhere in Europe. I don’t think too many people are going to be overly picky when it comes to travelling again. As long as we can stretch our proverbial legs across the globe again, then I’m happy!

What’s your favourite activity in your spare time?

Either music producing or sim racing on my computer, I’m a huge fan of Formula One and any kind of motor racing.

What book are you reading currently?

I’m reading Haruki Murakami’s Norwegian Wood, like seemingly half the population of Australia at the moment A great book and one I would highly recommend.

What’s the last song you played on Spotify/Apple music?

B-52’s – Loveland (Party Mix), a bit retro I know but it's a slammer of a track.

Oskar's experience alongside that of other OTA Insight champions help to bring to market leading business intelligence solutions which are trusted by over 55,000 hotel partners around the globe and have been named #1 Rate Shopping & Market Intelligence Tool, Parity Management Software, and Business Intelligence Software by HotelTechReport.