The Irish Independent covered ILYAN in a feature article on the Tipperary technology company helping hotels identify and resolve guest issues before they become damaging online reviews. The article focused on the real-world results being achieved by Irish hotel clients, and included direct quotes from hotel operators who have deployed the platform.
Founder Stephen O'Sullivan, based in Ballina in north Tipperary, was profiled alongside the results generated for two of ILYAN's Irish hotel clients. The article described how the platform "protects reputations, drives upsells, reduces admin and gives hotels a measurable competitive edge."
The article described ILYAN as delivering an AI-powered, real-time guest engagement platform designed specifically for the hospitality sector - one that enables hotels to identify and resolve guest issues during a stay, before they result in negative online reviews, while also generating measurable in-stay revenue and reducing front-of-house workload through automation.
The piece also touched on the origin of the idea - the observation that inspired the product in the first place:
"The business was inspired by a hotel owner's observation that guests just don't speak to the front desk anymore."
Irish Independent, 2026The article noted that Stephen validated this insight through structured customer discovery with over 40 hoteliers, concluding that the real issue was measurable revenue risk driven by unresolved in-stay issues and subsequent negative reviews.
The Irish Independent article featured verified results from two of ILYAN's hotel clients:
Kasia Gowran, Revenue Manager at the Lakeside Hotel, was quoted directly in the article:
"Potential negatives that might have ended up in a public review are turned around on the spot and become positives instead."
Kasia Gowran, Revenue Manager - The Lakeside Hotel, Irish Independent, 2026The article also referenced the West Cork Hotel's results: TripAdvisor score moved from 84.1 to 91.08, with five-star reviews more than doubling and 203 private post-stay surveys completed, scoring 95 out of 100.
The Irish Independent noted that ILYAN commenced trading in 2024 as a sole trade and incorporated as I Left You A Note Ltd in 2025. Stephen brings over 25 years of experience as a qualified actuary and former deputy chief actuary at MetLife Europe, having led multinational teams and complex strategic programmes before founding ILYAN.
The business operates as a SaaS platform, supported by specialist outsourced engineers and an advisory panel with hospitality and route-to-market expertise.
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