Entering the DACH hotel market
A hotel broker for Germany, Austria and Switzerland
Most hotel transactions in this market are never advertised. They are placed between people who already know each other. For an investor coming from outside the region that is the first obstacle, and it is not solved by watching portals. Our access comes from an unusual direction. Konen & Lorenzen began in 1997 as a recruitment consultancy for the hospitality industry and still is one. We place the general managers and executives of the operating companies, which means we know the decision-makers personally rather than through a switchboard.
Where the access comes from
Our database holds more than two thousand operating companies across the German-speaking market, from single owner-managed houses to international groups. For more than four in five of them the managing director is recorded by name. We do not write to a contact form. We speak to the person who decides.
Many of those people we know personally, because the recruitment side of the firm has placed their management. That is a different relationship from a cold approach, and it shows in how quickly a question gets an honest answer.
It also works in the other direction. When an investor asks us whether a particular operator can run a hotel through a weak year, we can usually ask someone who has worked there.
What is genuinely different about this market
Three things regularly surprise investors arriving from outside the region.
The sale is notarial. A property transfer in Germany requires a notary, who reads the contract aloud to both parties and is liable for the form of the deed. The timetable follows the notary's diary, not the parties' preference.
Employees transfer with the business. Under §613a BGB, an asset deal transfers the existing employment contracts to the buyer on their existing terms. Staff costs are therefore not a variable you set after completion.
The broker's commission is regulated. Estate agency requires a licence under §34c GewO, and the Makler- und Bauträgerverordnung sets rules on how client money and information are handled. We keep the German terms here on purpose. An invented English equivalent creates expectations about the legal position that do not hold.
How the search usually runs
We start with the acquisition profile rather than with a property list. Region, type of operation, size, condition and the commercial frame decide which of our mandates are worth showing you at all. A hotel that does not fit your profile does not land in your inbox as a precaution.
Where a mandate is confidential, which most are, we check the profile first and release the name and location once confidentiality has been agreed.
What we do not do
We do not buy for our own account and we hold no interest in operating companies. When we give a view on a price, we are not sitting on the other side of the table.
We also do not circulate property lists. If your criteria and a new mandate overlap, you hear from us. If they do not, you do not.
Questions and answers
Do you act for buyers or for sellers?
The mandate comes from the owner, and we say so plainly. That does not mean a buyer is left alone afterwards. A transaction only completes if both sides can carry it, so we give buyers our view of the business, including the parts that look better in the teaser than they do in due diligence.
We are not based in Europe. Does that change anything?
It changes the preparation more than the process. Financing, the notarial procedure and the transfer of employment contracts under §613a BGB work differently here than in most other markets. We explain what applies rather than assume it is familiar.
Which regions do you cover?
Germany, Austria and Switzerland. We have colleagues based in Austria and Switzerland, so the local market is covered by people who live in it rather than visit it.
Can you find an operator rather than a buyer?
Yes, and for an investor holding the property that is often the better question. We establish the rent the business can sustain first and approach operators afterwards, not the other way round.
Tell us what you are looking for
A short conversation is usually enough to say whether your criteria and our current mandates overlap. If they do not, a registered search profile is the faster route than checking back.
- Telephone
- +49 211 239 554 0
- Response
- within 24 hours
Your contact
Timo Hofmann
Managing Director
- Direct line
- +49 211 239 554 09
English and German. The direct line reaches him, not a switchboard.
Related
Where to go from here.