Insights

Owners who want to part with a hotel have good reasons not to talk about it, and those reasons lie with the staff, the bank, distribution and the price.

Lease, management agreement and own operation make three different investments out of the same property, and where they differ is set out in the contract with the operator.

The value of a hotel follows the result it earns repeatably, which is why a price per square metre is of little help in that calculation.

Whether a hotel passes as an asset deal or a share deal changes tax, liability and timetable, and the points for that are set before the price talks begin.

A hotel sale in Austria takes six to twelve months and is decided at four points: the valuation out of the earnings, the structure, provincial land transfer law and the order of the conversations.

The Vienna hotel market calculates differently from the alpine one: twelve months of operation, international demand, three buyer groups with three different calculations and a local accommodation tax that rises again in 2027.

In Switzerland three questions are decided before the price: whether a permit is required under Lex Koller, which tax regime the canton applies, and where the municipality stands under the Second Homes Act.

Germany has the deepest buyer market of the three German speaking countries and the highest acquisition costs. Both change which route is the right one for which house.

Nine out of ten overnight stays come from abroad, and at many houses on the Adriatic the land under the building belongs to the municipality rather than to the owner. Both decide the price before anyone has talked about it, which is why a sale in Croatia begins in the land register.

Property, business or shares: in Italy three routes lead to a sale, and they cost different amounts. Since the 2026 budget act the choice falls out differently than it did the year before, and the most expensive clause of the contract is the one that allocates the price.

The stock is large, the transaction market is small. Anyone wanting to find a house before it is offered needs a profile, a route in and an answer to the land transfer law of the province.

Twenty million overnight stays, around 450 houses and no land transfer procedure. What decides an acquisition in Vienna sits in the zoning of the units of use and in the operator agreement.

Three questions come before the price: are you subject to authorisation under Lex Koller, which cantonal tax regime applies at the location of the property, and does the municipality fall under the Second Homes Act.