CEO Spotlight: Alberto Gutierrez of Civitatis

Alberto Gutiérrez, the founder and CEO of tours and activities marketplace Civitatis, had no business plan when he set out to build the company.

Asked for his advice for travel startups, Gutiérrez attributed the success of the Spain-based platform, which was founded in 2008, to his ability to do a little of everything from coding and finding partners to accounting.

"I always see this as the key to my success but it is not easy to replicate," he said during an interview in the PhocusWire studio at The Phocuswright Conference in November.

Since founding Civitatis, he has built up the brand, attracted significant investment and expanded to Latin America. Most recently, the company struck a partnership with Rappi, which saw the Latin American super app launch a tours and activities vertical as part of Rappi Travel. 

Now the company wants to build on its presence in Latin America where Gutiérrez sees huge opportunity through Rappi's 50 million users and a population that tends to travel locally, he said.

He also touched on the curated marketplace model and said he believes people want to be guided.

"When we offer the top five things to do in a city the conversion is much higher."

Watch or listen to the full interview below with PhocusWire's Linda Fox where Gutiérrez also discusses the role of the Civitatis shops, his challenges as CEO and Airbnb's return to tours and activities.