Rutkay Gülbağ

Since May 2019, I have been continuously developing my career within the Hilton brand, striving for both personal and professional growth. For the past three years, I have served in a management position within the Front Office Department at Hilton Istanbul Bomonti Hotel & Conference Center, one of Hilton’s largest properties, featuring 829 guestrooms and a Front Office team of approximately 60 team members. Having progressed through various operational and acting leadership roles, I have gained extensive experience in front office operations, guest service excellence, team leadership, and performance management.

As a hospitality professional, I firmly believe that exceptional guest service should always remain the top priority. I place great importance on maintaining a collaborative, approachable, and positive working environment, fostering strong communication and engagement within my teams while ensuring operational excellence.

In addition to my role as Assistant Front Office Manager, I have served as the hotel's Hilton Honors Champion and representative since 2024. Through focused coaching, performance tracking, and team engagement initiatives, I successfully led significant growth in Hilton Honors enrollments. While the hotel closed 2023 enrollments, in 2024, representing approximately 50% growth in enrollments. Building on this momentum, we achieved over %100 enrollment increase in 2025, effectively doubling membership acquisition within a two-year period. This success was driven through structured team development, continuous training, and clear performance objectives.

Since 2026, I have also been appointed as the hotel lead for Hilton’s Front Office Upsell Program (FPG / In-Gauge). By implementing targeted training strategies and supporting the team in maximizing upselling opportunities, I played a key role in achieving a 50% increase in upsell revenue (EUR) during the first five months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025.

Guest satisfaction and hospitality metrics have always been among my primary focus areas. Through data-driven initiatives and guest-centric improvements utilizing Qualtrics insights, I contributed to a significant enhancement in overall guest experience performance. As a result, our 829-room conference hotel achieved a ranking of 4th among Hilton properties across Europe in guest satisfaction performance, representing a major accomplishment for both the Front Office team and the wider hotel operation.

Throughout my leadership journey, I have consistently focused on developing people, improving key performance metrics, and driving operational excellence. I believe I have successfully elevated team performance across multiple Front Office disciplines, and I am currently preparing myself for the next stage of my career in a more senior operational leadership position.