Selling a Hotel in Germany: Market, Criteria and Valuation 2026

Selling a hotel is not an ordinary property sale. To sell successfully, you need to understand how the current market works, which criteria determine the price – and who actually qualifies as a buyer. This article outlines the German hotel transaction market in 2025/2026 and shows what really matters when selling.

Key Points at a Glance

• The market has stabilised. After years of restraint, the hotel transaction volume in 2025 exceeded the five-year average for the first time since 2022 – between EUR 1.66 and 1.9 billion depending on the advisor, up roughly 19 to 38 % on 2024.
• The first half of 2026 looks weaker, but barely is. At EUR 721 to 790 million, it came in below the exceptionally strong H1 2025 – yet with the highest number of individual deals since 2019. The decline is almost entirely due to a lack of large single transactions, not to fading demand.
• There is not one hotel market, but two. Above the statistically recorded institutional market (trophy assets, portfolios, top-tier cities) lies a far larger, barely captured market of privately run houses, country inns and leisure hotels – where the majority of real sales take place.
• Size determines the buyer pool. Properties of up to around 50 rooms effectively fall through the grid of large institutional investors. Only from around 80 rooms, in good locations and "operator-ready", do properties become part of institutional acquisition profiles.
• The most common mistake when selling is the valuation. A hotel is valued on its earnings, not per square metre. Wishful pricing prevents deals.
• Succession pressure drives supply. According to the German Chambers of Commerce (IHK), around 81 % of handover-ready senior businesses in hospitality struggle to find a successor.

The hotel market 2025/2026: status quo

The German hotel investment market recovered markedly in 2025, supported by robust tourism demand: with around 497.5 million overnight stays, Germany set a new record in 2025. In parallel, the share of hotel property in the overall commercial investment volume rose from five per cent (2024) to seven per cent (2025), according to Colliers.

One point is decisive for this return, and it sounds more technical than it is: after years in which buyers and sellers were far apart on price, expectations are converging again. This is what first creates reliable comparables on which further transactions can be calculated.

Important for context: these figures almost exclusively reflect the institutional, large-volume sub-market. The market of family- and owner-run houses – the core business of most regional sales – barely appears in them. Both markets follow different rules. Anyone selling a hotel first needs to know which of the two they are operating in.

The transaction market in figures

Full year 2025. The leading real estate advisors reported differing total volumes:

• JLL: around EUR 1.84 billion across 64 deals; foreign investors accounted for more than half of the volume at 51 % (EUR 928 million). By risk profile, value-add dominated at 52 %, followed by core (25 %) and core-plus (23 %).
• Colliers: around EUR 1.66 billion, up 19 % on EUR 1.39 billion (2024). About 82 % of the volume came from large single deals.
• Other advisors reported up to EUR 1.9 billion.

The year was shaped by several landmark transactions: the sale of the Mandarin Oriental in Munich (the largest single deal of the year at around EUR 150 million, according to BNP Paribas Real Estate), the Steigenberger am Kanzleramt in Berlin, the Motel One Cologne-Messe and the Courtyard by Marriott Munich City Center. Munich and Berlin led the city ranking by a wide margin.

First half of 2026.

• JLL: around EUR 741 million (–18 % on the very strong H1 2025 of EUR 901 million), 28 deals including five portfolio transactions. The largest was the Penta portfolio at around EUR 275 million.
• CBRE: around EUR 720.9 million (–23.8 %), characterised by many smaller transactions; the prime yield for hotels with long-term leases stood at 5.25 %.
• BNP Paribas Real Estate: around EUR 790 million – effectively on par with the previous year (–4 %), with an accelerated second quarter (EUR 475 million) and, for the first time since 2019, more than 50 half-year deals.

The buyer structure in H1 2026 (JLL) is telling: the most active group were high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and family offices at around 37 %, followed by institutional investors (35 %), hotel operators (12 %) and private equity (10 %). Foreign investors again accounted for more than half of the volume.

Two markets, not one

The decisive insight for any seller: a hotel's buyer pool depends almost entirely on size, location and operational readiness.

• Up to approx. 50 rooms / country inn / leisure hotel outside the metropolitan areas: for large institutional investors and funds, this segment is generally too small. Buyers here come from a different circle: private hoteliers, owner-operators, regional investors, smaller operator chains and successors.
• From approx. 80 rooms, good to metropolitan location, "operator-ready": only here does the institutional acquisition profile begin. In demand are properties with sound operator concepts, ideally long-dated lease or direct-lease agreements, good building fabric and resilient locations.

Structural data confirm that privately run hotels make up the larger, if less visible, part: in leisure hotels the owner-operator share exceeds 90 % of businesses. The smaller and more rural a property, the more private the market – and the less the mechanisms of the institutional investment market apply.

Sales criteria: what determines success

When selling a hotel or inn, several groups of criteria must be considered:

Property & location. Location remains the dominant value driver – the starting point for occupancy, revenue and therefore any valuation. Relevant factors are macro-location, micro-location, building fabric, deferred maintenance, and potential for extension or conversion.

Operations & key figures. Every buyer wants reliable numbers: at least the business analyses (BWA) of the past two to three years, plus occupancy, ADR/RevPAR, revenue and cost structure, fixed costs and normalised operating result. Without a sound data basis, neither a price can be justified nor financing arranged.

Operational readiness / "operator-ready". Institutional buyers generally acquire a cash flow, not operational risk. Operator quality, brand affiliation and contract terms are increasingly moving into focus, ahead of pure location and property quality.

Lease & contract structure. For leased properties, the lease amount, term, index-linking, tenant creditworthiness and the separation of property and fixtures (FF&E) are central pricing factors. A long-dated, indexed lease with a creditworthy operator is what the core segment seeks.

Legal & tax structure. Asset deal vs. share deal, real estate transfer tax, treatment of inventory and buy-out payments, and – for family businesses – inheritance/gift tax and business-asset relief. In private hotels in particular, the tax structuring of succession is often more complex than the sale itself.

Discretion. For operating businesses, confidential marketing is often vital: if it becomes known that a sale is under way, it unsettles staff, guests and suppliers. A structured off-market process with an NDA protects the operating value during the sale.

Hotel valuation: the most common deal-killer

A hotel is not a residential building. Its value is measured by sustainably achievable earnings, not by price per square metre. In practice, two perspectives must be combined: the earnings value of the business (EBITDA multiple or initial yield) and the property/asset value. The current institutional anchor is the prime yield of around 5.25 % for long-term leased core properties; smaller, owner-run houses trade at clear yield premiums, i.e. lower multiples.

The classic mistake is a wishful price – from gut feeling, from emotional attachment to a life's work, or from false comparables. Such prices create shelf-warmers, waste marketing time and – especially in discreet processes – damage the negotiating position. A professional, derivable valuation is therefore the foundation of any successful sale.

Why a specialist hospitality & hotel broker

From the points above, the answer follows almost by itself. A broker specialising in hospitality and hotels differs from a generalist property agent in several dimensions that are decisive for sales success:

• Access to the right buyer pool. The value lies in the network: private hoteliers, owner-operators, small and mid-sized operator chains, and regional and institutional investors with a matching acquisition profile. A generalist lists a property; a specialist knows the few buyers for whom this house, at this size and location, is even relevant – and approaches them directly and discreetly.
• Valuation expertise. Earnings value, EBITDA multiple, lease assessment, business vs. property value – a sector specialist masters this valuation; a residential agent generally does not.
• Operator matching. For leased properties, not only the price but the suitability and creditworthiness of the tenant/buyer determine the sustainability of the deal. Pre-selection is a core competence of the specialist.
• A discreet, structured process. Off-market marketing, NDA management, professional documentation and a clean process through to contract and handover protect operating value and negotiating position.
• Sector and legal knowledge. From the treatment of inventory and buy-out payments to lease clauses and energy-certificate, licensing and trade-law matters.

How to read the market figures

The four major advisors report differing volumes for the same periods (2025: EUR 1.66 to 1.9 billion; H1 2026: EUR 721 to 790 million). The reason is methodological: they define differently what counts as a hotel transaction – minimum size, conversion properties, the allocation of mixed-use deals, portfolio attribution. What matters is therefore not the single figure but the direction – and that consistently points upward or to a stable level.

The apparent decline in H1 2026 is almost entirely due to missing large deals, while the number of transactions was the highest since 2019. At the same time, operator risk remains real: the insolvency of the Revo Hospitality Group shaped the operator market in the first half of 2026 – a reminder that a hotel property's value is only ever as reliable as the business behind it.

Conclusion & outlook

The German hotel transaction market stands at the beginning of a new cycle. For full-year 2026, the industry is targeting a volume approaching EUR two billion – supported by better financing conditions, returning institutional demand and a well-filled pipeline in the mid-size segment.

For owners ready to sell or lease, the message is clear: demand is there – but it is selective. Success is determined by valuation discipline, clean key figures, buyer-focused preparation, and access to the right, often non-public buyer pool. The pressure is reinforced by demographic reality: the succession gap in hospitality structurally creates supply – and makes professional guidance the real safeguard of value.

As a specialist broker for hospitality and hotel property, Absolut Gastronomie Immobilien supports owners in Bavaria, Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate with the discreet sale and leasing of their houses – from reliable valuation and confidential marketing to the right buyer. If you are preparing the sale or lease of your hotel, we are glad to discuss it with you, without obligation and in confidence.

Sources

• JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group – German hotel investment market reports (January 2026, July 2026)
• Colliers – German hotel investment market 2025 (January 2026)
• CBRE – German hotel investment market H1 2026 (July 2026)
• BNP Paribas Real Estate – German hotel investment market Q4 2025 & Q2 2026
• IHK / specialist advisory on business succession in hospitality; official 2025 tourism/overnight-stay statistics