I’m Elitza Stoilova - CEO & Co-founder of Umni, speaker, digital transformation strategist, and Bulgaria’s leading voice on AI chatbots in business.

With 20+ years of executive experience in the hospitality and tourism industries across the U.S., Asia-Pacific, and Europe, I’ve built my career at the intersection of service, innovation, and customer experience.

AI in my life:
In 2017, I co-founded Umni - a no-code AI chatbot platform that empowers businesses to automate support, boost sales, and innovate in marketing, with an AI chatbot powered by generative AI without tech expertise.

In addition to AI chatbots, I share my expertise in AI Search optimization (certified AEO specialist, website audit and AEO consulting), AI usage for business (AI literacy for business teams training), AI and Robotics in Tourism industry (training).

I’ve spoken at 80+ industry forums, international conferences, workshops and seminars including UNWTO, UNESCO, Webit, HTIF Bulgaria, and other regional events. I have 60+ hours of airtime on TV, radio and podcasts as guest expert and 70+ articles and interviews on various online and offline media.

I also lecture my own course - Bulgaria’s first-ever course, on AI chatbots for business since 2023. I am guest-lecturer at the Software University, New Bulgarian University, University of National and World Economy, University of Library Studies and Information Technologies.

My mission: to democratize AI, help businesses work and grow smarter, and empower people to spend more time doing meaningful work.

Let get in touch!

From Hotel Manager to AI Chatbot Leader:

After 20+ years in hospitality and 17 years in hotel management, I experienced first-hand the pressure of nonstop customer service, and saw the opportunity to turn AI from buzzword to solution.

Umni’s AI chatbots have now supported 1+ million customer interactions monthly, helping businesses in tourism and hospitality, education, service industry, public services, and retail save thousands of hours in repetitive communication - day and night. Our customers report saving between 1,400 work hours and 7,000 work hours annually, with up to 52% of them at night time, extending business operations to 24/7. Since Umni founding in 2017 in Sofia, Bulgaria, we have developed not only the Umni platform as a trusted AI communication solution, but also gained the customer love and loyalty internationally, servicing customers and partners in 9 countries on 3 continents.

As a startup founder, I’ve led Umni through international accelerators like Founder Institute (USA), Next Floor Tech in Tourism (Austria), and BoostX Scale Up (Portugal), getting the company to the finals. We’ve won a global startup competition by UNWTO, and awards from the EU Travel Awards and the Bulgarian Ministry of Tourism. Umni was named one of the Innovation Champions of UNWTO and is a member of UN Tourism Innovation Circle.

I work with public organizations, business chambers, and SMEs across Europe, Asia and US, offering strategy, consulting, and keynote talks on AI in business, chatbot UX, AEO and best practices, and digital empowerment, also training business teams on adopting AI in daily business operations helping employees growing professionally by using the power of generative AI.

Let get in touch!