Vivi Cahyadi Himmel and Karolina Saviova, co-founders of AltoVita

AltoVita was founded in 2018 by Vivi Cahyadi Himmel, CEO, and Karolina Saviova, COO, and its fast-growing global footprint has already achieved award-winning status with services spanning over 800+ cities and 165 countries. With its main objective being to improve global mobility and make corporate relocation a comprehensive and stress-free experience, the online platform offers trusted flexible housing expertise. 

AltoVita is a flexible furnished housing specialist, delivering cloud-based & duty of care compliant accommodation, including private and serviced apartments, villas and homes worldwide. The enterprise software enables employees and relocation companies to source verified and vetted accommodation fast, while saving up to 80% cost and enhancing the client-experience. The platform also serves digital nomads and employees seeking high-quality ‘work from anywhere’ accommodation.

AltoVita is headquartered in London, with regional offices in Singapore and Dallas, TX.

What were you doing before launching your business?

Karolina: I was born in Prague, and worked for a consultancy in Brussels before going on to become a business journalist in the energy sector, which took me working and living across Turkey, Indonesia, India, and Gabon. It was as a frequent business traveller that I became tired of issues that came with corporate housing. Once in India, I arrived at the property but my property manager never showed up. I was left on the street, and eventually had to return to a hotel. This is when I felt inspired to change the sector for the better.

Vivi: Prior to AltoVita, I spent eight years in real estate portfolio management, often dealing with complex commercial and industrial assets, and was naturally drawn to the ‘sexy’ residential asset-class with an element of hospitality, which I am particularly passionate about. I have lived in over 11 cities, including New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Shanghai, and London, and after relocating for roles at Credit Suisse and Lehman Brothers, I decided to work with Karolina to attack global mobility. After launching our prototype in January 2018 - and a lot of market research - we found our product market fit within the inefficient £100bn corporate housing sector.

Getting involved in Tech is still a hot topic for women, what was the motivation for you? 

Karolina: I was a frequent business traveller so I became tired of issues that came with corporate housing. As an employee using traditional legacy models, you are emailed PDFs of housing options, which often have little to no information at all about amenities, location, or even pictures of the unit. These convoluted systems within the corporate housing market made us both realise there was room for an all-in-one digital platform, which would be the most viable solution for overcoming these particular pitfalls.

Vivi: We launched AltoVita as we witnessed complacency and lack of incentives for innovation in the corporate housing sector, including employees receiving limited options and backend technology being virtually non-existent. My main inspiration came from a combination of my love for hospitality and pragmatic thinking towards asset-light and minimal balance sheet exposure. 

How have you found your journey so far and what has been your greatest accomplishment?

Karolina: I feel very proud to be representing a truly innovative company, working with our global ecosystem of hospitality and technology partners, and connecting them to a unique demand in the form of extended corporate stays. Creating a system that disrupts the rigid corporate housing system, whilst helping redefine how people engage with global mobility, has definitely been a huge achievement.

Vivi: Whilst the pandemic did present obvious barriers, we navigated our business smoothly through the pandemic. We gained 391% YoY revenue growth in 2020 and emerged as a key figure in the global corporate housing sector. Over the pandemic, we seized the opportunity and evolved from a European player to a truly global corporate housing company that spans over five continents, from North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, and EMEA. We hit a major milestone as our global footprint now represents a network of 1 million properties available across 165 countries (including 35 US states) and more than 800 cities.

What has been the most challenging thing so far?

Karolina: After our initial launch of our prototype in 2018, we were tasked with a large amount of market research. Unsurprisingly, this required a lot of energy and was very time consuming, as we were trying to balance the fast growth of the company with the natural complexities associated with the relocation sector. Although the flexible renting sector is vibrant, fragmented and considered one of the fastest growing lodging assets globally, there are still new heights to be reached in terms of quality standards and compliance.

You have created a business that is adaptable and progressive. What has that process been like for you?

Vivi: With our main goal being to improve global mobility, we aimed to deliver an adaptable and progressive approach. We understood the evolving demands within the corporate travel sector - especially in response to the pandemic - so we made sure our core values aligned with the changing nature of business travel. This versatile mindset combined with our technology-first solution has enabled us to disrupt the legacy practices in the corporate housing sector. By offering a duty of care service and independent employee support we are subverting how employees interact with corporate housing solutions.

Who is your target audience?

Vivi: With inclusivity at the heart of our business, we always aim to provide something for every type of relocating employee in five extended stay asset classes. Our wide variety of housing solutions, including private serviced apartments, homes and even villas, delivers an option for every type of corporate traveller, meaning our broad scope of accommodation can meet the changing needs and expectations that have surfaced from the pandemic. Providing options for generous work-spaces, work-ready amenities, and pet-friendly accommodation are just some of the go-to trends we’ve catered for.

What advice would you give to fellow entrepreneurs stuck on mapping out a strong business model?

Karolina: Startup entrepreneurs often consider their business to be their baby. It requires constant attention, dependency, sense of purpose, and unconditional devotion. Yet, growing a startup cannot be powered by emotions only. It requires constant monitoring and rational thinking, and if things are not moving fast enough, iterations need to be made. The product market fit needs to be the guiding principle, and one needs to make sure to constantly generate value for their target audience.

Vivi: My advice would be to have a strong conviction to the problem you are solving and articulate the market you are addressing. You can always tweak or refine your product market fit, but you can’t create a problem or market. Build a strong community of fans and early adopters, these will become your investors, employees, advisors or even clients. They are your ambassadors that will support you on your journey to success. 

What plans do you have for business over the next two years?

Vivi: Moving forward, we are rolling out a diversified portfolio of products, which we announced at our recent Corporate Housing Innovation Summit. This was an important opportunity for us to set out our vision for the future of corporate travel, which discussed how best to future-proof the industry in the hopes to improve the client and employee experience and remove the pain points associated with corporate relocation.

Our plans include releasing new multiple innovative features, including a powerful data analytics tool which empowers relocation managers to benchmark, budget, and manage client expectations more easily – a first for the industry from an accommodation booking platform. The volume of the data will be represented, and this will allow clients to see price changes for seasonality. You can expect data to be represented in both graphical and tabular formats. This tool is currently available in Beta, but it will continue to be refined by our development team and will soon be available for all clients.

Overview of how AltoVita works:

Vivi: AltoVita is a flexible furnished housing specialist, delivering cloud-based & duty of care compliant accommodation, including private and serviced apartments, villas and homes worldwide. The enterprise software enables employees and relocation companies to source verified and vetted accommodation, fast, while saving up to 80% cost and enhancing the client-experience. The platform also serves digital nomads and employees seeking high-quality ‘work from anywhere’ accommodation.