Sonja Laser
Digital communication strategist · systems builder
Story, strategy and practical systems for organisations whose real value is hard to see online. Four languages. Several industries. One recurring problem: good work hidden behind beige communication.
01 · Selected evidence
Now
2025–present
The idea emerged in late 2025 while building the hotel concierge email app and testing how a hotel’s voice could be detected and analysed. That question grew into AI-assisted systems that help people preserve a recognisable voice instead of producing the same polished beige paragraph as everyone else.
2023–present
A hotel can be warm and individual in real life while its website, booking process and emails feel like four different businesses. That gap is what I work on. I research where visibility, guest information and communication stop connecting, then develop practical audits, multilingual content and working tools. Built and shipped demos include email systems, a local concierge and diagnostic calculators. These are working demonstrations; they have not yet been bought or put into use by a hotel.
Applied
2022–2025
Entrepreneurs usually arrived with a digital problem: a better website, more social posts, marketing that was not working. Quite often, the real problem was somewhere else. I reviewed their websites and intake information, asked about customers, offers and business goals, and produced tailored reports with observations, how-to guidance and concrete next steps. In one case, I continued coaching so the entrepreneur could develop her own understanding. The work was finding the problem underneath the one they arrived with.
2019–2025
What started as “help us with the website” became a practical question: how can a small independent food business use digital tools without depending on someone else to run them? I built and maintained the website, created Dutch-language content and implemented GloriaFood for direct takeaway and seasonal pre-orders. I configured the products, menus and pricing so the owner could manage them herself. Customer data also supported research into a possible subscription service. Giving the owner control over orders, customers and her tools mattered more than the website alone.
2004–2006
Built the German-language knowledge base and operating manual from scratch for the Eurocopter Germany / EADS Germany support environment. I gathered technical and procedural information from specialists, turned it into clear instructions, trained frontline agents and provided direct IT support to VIP users. A large part of the work was knowledge design: find the answer, understand it, explain it clearly and make it reusable.
2013–2017
I bought a little historic bistro thinking I would run the business. Then the chef situation changed, so I became the chef too. For four years I ran Le Cadran in Auvers-sur-Oise, largely single-handedly on weekdays: cooking, customer service, bar, reservations, stock, suppliers, pricing and administration. I also looked after its website, local communication and occasional live music. Running a hospitality business cured me of looking at guest experience only from the marketing side. There is always an operation underneath the pretty words.
2008–2009
A traveller abroad had a problem, could not easily find the answer and called us. On outsourced travel services including Tourizoom, I researched transport, accommodation, tickets and local services across languages, then added real questions and verified answers to a shared wiki. The knowledge supported later services, including the Orange version. I also handled tour-operator calls and evening support for aparthotel guests with access and accommodation problems. Good information starts with the questions real people actually ask.
Pioneered
2000–2012
We made digital happen for independent four- and five-star hotels across France and Europe when Netscape was still the go-to browser. I worked across website content, SEO, email and emerging social channels, creating communication in English, French, Dutch and German and adapting it to cultures and markets. The purpose was direct reservations, returning guests and stronger customer relationships. The technology has changed; a hotel still needs to be found, understood and chosen. Later collaboration: a guest class for International MBA students in 2019, followed by continuing exchanges around AI, communication and education.
1998–2000
Before blogs and local-content marketing became normal, we created an English-language online publication for people who wanted to understand Paris from the inside. The idea: make the outsider feel inside. Alongside Chief Editor Allan Tillier, I worked on publishing, business and practical delivery: the website, a weekly publishing rhythm, the email newsletter and the business plan. I explored advertising, subscriptions and possible expansion to other European cities. Local content, international audiences and a useful question were already there: what does someone from outside actually need to know?
1997–1998
Prepared the business in the Netherlands in 1996 and launched it in Paris in 1997. Built a mail-order lingerie and erotic-lifestyle brand curated by women for women: suppliers, product selection, catalogue, branding, packaging and early e-commerce. Closed in 1998 and focused on Good Morning Paris. The lesson was blunt: being early means educating the market, and that requires enough capital to wait for demand. The business did not have that cushion.
02 · How I work
Spot what is genuinely valuable beneath vague positioning, complicated histories and sentences such as ‘we provide innovative solutions.’ Then name it properly.
Turn expertise into words people understand, remember and act on. That may be a hotel email, a founder’s position, an editorial concept or the sentence everyone else kept circling around.
Turn good intentions into something people can actually use: a weekly publishing rhythm, a hotel email programme, a German support manual or a direct-ordering setup. The system has to survive the people, time and constraints that really exist.
From workplace PCs and hotels’ first websites to AI-assisted content systems, the useful question has stayed the same: how will a real person understand, trust and use this?
Native bilingual Dutch-German, near-native English and French. This is not word-for-word translation. It is preserving the idea, then rebuilding the message so it feels natural in another language and culture.
When there is no brief, template or obvious expert, work out what matters and keep moving. A missing horse, a container of pharmaceuticals, an online magazine before blogs and a restaurant: different settings, same reflex. Understand the objective, build the route, get the work over the line.
04 · Honest fit
Bring me in when
This is probably not the fit when
05 · Ask AI
Ask about Sonja’s experience, working style, strengths, gaps or suitability for a role. The answer is limited to the approved evidence on this page and says when the evidence is not there.