HOTO Group is run by its founder Tomo Horvatinčić.

Having a modest background but gifted with entrepreneurial spirit and ambition, in 1975 he founded the HOTO Group with the opening the restaurant Babylon in Samobor. It was then one of the most exclusive gourmet getaways in Croatia. After many other successful attempts in the gourmet world, he opened Hotel Babylon in 1990. It was the first privately owned hotel with 30 rooms. Already then it was evident that there was a need for quality space built upon the standards of the modern world.  

The first big project and the first real test of building maturity for HOTO Group was the CastelluM Center in Hebrangova Street in the heart of Zagreb, in the protected monument zone of the Lower Town. Two very old one-story buildings from the end of the 19th century were restored and transformed into a modern business centre with a total area of 7,764 square meters with 120 parking and garage spaces. The construction was carried out according to the demands of the conservator and tradition, as well as the morphology of the architecture in the Lower Town area. In a record number of 200 days of construction, this project quickly saw the light of day. HOTO Group’s vision, speed and quality proved its competence to not only preserve monumental heritage but also to modernize it with new values. It is especially important to emphasize that prior to this project, there had not been any similar initiatives in Zagreb that the process of restoring CastelluM Center could be compared to. It was a brave pioneer project which laid the foundation for future interpolation in the centre of Lower Town.  

The revitalization and revalorization of the old structures in CastelluM Center brought with it an already common consequence of building in the city’s core – slow bureaucracy and an environment lacking understanding for the need to revitalize the heart of the city. This lack of vision has slowed the HOTO Group projects more than once. Most of our projects prevailed and finally saw the light of day. Some projects, like building a monumental skyscraper at the base of Savska Street, where the Four Seasons Hotel would have been located, never came to life. HOTO Business Tower had a similar destiny: it was supposed to be much taller and more luxurious than its final version, with an interesting restaurant on the 17th floor. The case of CastelluM Center showed that in the long run, the project was accepted by the citizens of the city and given the highest grades by experts. This gave HOTO Group the motivation it needed for its subsequent projects.  

At the same time, HOTO Group proved its responsibility towards the community. In co-operation with its sub-contractors, in 1999 it presented the city of Vukovar its vision for the restoration of the house of Lavoslav Ružička. With HOTO Group’s financial and expert help, this rundown building was returned to its former luster, and it was also enriched with spacious workshops for youth.  

Along with the Ružička house, HOTO Group continues to nurture its responsibility towards society and help organizations for those in need. Having this goal in mind, Tomo Horvatinčić founded a trust fund that is run by 15 experts from the country’s social, political and cultural world. This is how the Tomo Horvatinčić trust fund paid one million kuna to the Ana Rukavina trust fund, a family was given an apartment and thirty students receive scholarships every year.

Another project followed the CastelluM Center project. It was HOTO Business Tower. This was the first skyscraper with more than eight floors to be built after Croatia had proclaimed its independence. This was another brave step towards the unexplored domain of urbanism in Zagreb and another building standard which we have grown to know and love. HOTO Business Tower has given the city of Zagreb top-notch business space that the metropolis needed, with four floors of underground garage and parking space and eighteen floors with more than 33,000 square meters.  

The project Hoto Villas was introduced shortly afterward – a modernly organized habitat, a great place to live with beautiful green surroundings just on the outskirts of Zagreb, with a total area of 120,000 square meters. Apartment buildings, family villas and a business centre divided by parks and green areas, with all the necessities needed for a comfortable, safe and functional life, with a controlled entrance using the most up-to-date electronic surveillance and security methods.  

Under the wings of the same company inside the HOTO Group, HOTO Kuće, another project had been completed. This was the project of revitalizing the Zrinjevac Palace in the very green heart of Zagreb, on Nikola Šubić Zrinski Square. Using the well-known and proven transformation "know how", the old apartment building was transformed into a prestigious business complex. In just 130 days, the architects and civil engineers of the HOTO Kuće company accomplished a great building feat, with excellent aesthetics, building values, and modern functionality built on the basis of tradition.  

Today HOTO Group is dealing with the revitalization of the inner city block by Cvjetni Square, where a luxurious residential complex never before seen in Zagreb is growing. It is supported by more than needed underground parking places and enriched with a new city vertical which will be a continuation of Bogovićeva Street, bringing life to the previously unused block.