After an intense and highly competitive Pitch Battle, class of 2016 graduate Vasily Grogol collected the CHF 10,000 top prize in the Glion Alumni Accelerator competition. We found out more about the winning project…

One thing the hospitality industry has taught us in recent years is that there is always room for innovation and disruption. New brands, new concepts, new price points… it’s fair to argue that conditions have never been more favorable for hotel disruptors.

Into this fertile landscape steps Vasily Grogol and his concept Poynto. Like all great innovations, it is laser-focused on a specific opening in the market – in this case the target is the traveler on a budget, and the market gap is the one which Vasily says exists in city centers between the ‘nice but unaffordable’ hotels and the ‘cheap but ugly’ hostels and motels.

Vasily brought the concept to the 2024 Glion Alumni Accelerator, earning a place in the competition’s Pitch Battle Day. He then came out top in the final judging, securing the CHF 10,000 first prize alongside other benefits including 30 hours of expert legal services provided by Agcent Solutions, plus two hours of scheduled meetings per month to cover the drafting and review of essential documentation.

“It’s a great honor to be the winner of this competition,” Vasily says. “It’s been a wonderful journey and, while the win is the cherry on the cake, what’s more important is that doing this competition allowed me to take a deeper dive into my concept. The Pitch Battle proved that I have so many more things to learn, adapt and improve with this project. I certainly got some really interesting and complicated questions from the jury!”

Vasily was quick to praise Frédéric Frère, his mentor throughout the Accelerator program. Longer standing readers of The Insider may remember our profile of Frédéric’s own entrepreneurial endeavors. He is also a founder member of the Glion Alumni Association Entrepreneurship Commission, under whose auspices the competition is run.

“I’m so grateful to Frédéric for being my mentor,” says Vasily. “He’s been at my side since day one of this program, giving me lots of advice which has been absolutely incredible and very, very important for me.”

For his part, Frédéric says, “I’m very confident that my mentee Vasily will be a successful entrepreneur, because he already is one, with a positive and successful track record. Humility is a great asset and Vasily has it – so I recommend him to keep being humble, and keep being the resilient person he is, because that can make a difference in a successful business.”

All about Poynto

Vasily’s disruptive concept, Poynto, takes its inspiration from the capsule hotels which are commonplace in Japan, but which have never previously penetrated beyond that country’s borders – the cramped compartments, spartan facilities and lack of privacy finding little favor among ‘Western’ consumers.

Where Poynto aims to make the difference is through intelligent design, delivering more space and privacy for the guest, alongside stylish interior finishes that are a world away from the plastic-heavy Japanese capsules. He sums up this concept as “bringing style to affordable travel”.

Vasily continues, “Poynto is aimed at young professionals like myself; also budget conscious travelers such as backpackers, digital nomads, school and tourist groups, and corporate travelers who are seeking value with comfort.”

The capsules themselves will be prefabricated in Ukraine, Vasily’s home country, then shipped to the chosen hotel sites and simply laid in place, avoiding much of the time and expense normally associated with the construction and fit out of a hotel property.

The concept incorporates shared bathrooms, and while this may be off-putting for some, Vasiliy is quick to point out that the facilities themselves will be luxurious and well-appointed, adding that there’s a parallel with first class airline cabins which feature shared bathrooms. Each Poynto also features a well-equipped coworking space as well as a lounge & bar area. Room rates are pitched at an extremely competitive $69 or equivalent.

“Our capsule interiors are extremely compact but also very comfortable,” he continues. “One unit has two capsules, which can accommodate up to four people within 9m² to 10m² of space. As a guest, you’ll find everything you need: a comfortable sitting area, foldable desk, TV, Hi-Fi speakers, RGB dimmable lighting. We pledge to provide the perfect sleeping experience with our luxury double beds, mattress linen, light alarm clock, and personalized sound effect collection.

“Our capsules will feature all the things you’d find in a luxury hotel room, but in a capsule environment.”

For hotel investors/developers, Vasily stressed that the USP of Poynto is the cost saving that comes from the prefabrication of the units, which can be supplied complete or as a kit of parts to be assembled on site. He adds that this self-contained design allows the capsules to be plugged into almost any space, including currently underutilized office premises in the major cities he is targeting for the concept.

The first of these cities is London. Why London? “Because the city has millions of square meters of unused office space that are perfectly suited for Poynto. It’s also a city with very strong tourism demand, but where the hotel and Airbnb prices are skyrocketing. In addition, you are legally permitted to have windowless hotel rooms, which is very important for us. Plus London has a very popular hostel culture and is known as a trendsetter in terms of tech and innovation.”

‘Bulletproof’ concepts

Although Poynto is a new concept, Vasily already boasts an impressive track record as a hospitality entrepreneur. His two Kyiv-based projects, Bursa Hotel and Kooperativ Co-working, have survived the Covid pandemic and now the war with Russia. “So, I can assure you they are bulletproof,” he told the Accelerator jury.

He is also assembling an impressive executive team for the Poynto project, including Head of Design Devan Elías, founder of the Elías Studio, with more exciting names to be announced soon.

Now, with his Alumni Accelerator prize tucked into his pocket, Vasily is even more energized to get the Poynto show up and running.

“The cash prize will definitely help me. It comes at a very good moment, because just today I have started working on the technical drawings for my capsule,” he says. “I’m going to invest this money in prototyping, so this is a nice bonus and a step towards my bigger goal.”

Signing off, Vasily paid tribute to the entrepreneurs who had faced off against him on Pitch Battle Day.

“I loved all the concepts and I salute the bravery of my colleagues to stand there and present them. I sincerely think that each one of the projects is totally unique and has the potential to grow; they are targeting niche and needed markets in their respective fields, and I wish them all the best.”

The other finalists of the Glion Alumni Accelerator were:

Second Place: Claudia Ferrero – HorecaJob
Third Place: Roger Obeid – JoIn Hospitality
Runners-up: Love Mansukhani, Ziyaad Massoud, Umberto Illario, Victor-Andre Staebler, and Michaël Desplaces.

• To discover more about Poynto, visit the website

Photo credits

Pitch Battle images: Céline Michel
All other images courtesy of Poynto