When the institutional owners of Europe's largest hotel real estate portfolios start looking beyond their existing operators for the management of complex, premium assets, the operator they select says as much about the market as the deal itself. Odyssey Hotel Group (OHG), the Netherlands-based pan-European multi-brand hotel operator, has signed Hotel Management Agreements (HMAs) for four major hotels in Germany owned by Covivio, one of Europe's foremost real estate operators with more than 280 hotels across the continent and a total portfolio valued at approximately €24.2bn. The four properties, located across Berlin, Leipzig and Potsdam, bring more than 1,200 additional rooms under OHG's management, growing its total portfolio from approximately 4,200 to more than 5,400 rooms, and lifting the proportion of rooms in the premium segment to almost half of all rooms under management.
The four hotels span a range of market segments and conference capabilities. In Berlin, the Westin Grand Berlin on Friedrichstrasse offers 400 rooms, 11 conference rooms and 687 m² of event space, serving as a key destination for business travellers and international guests in the capital. In Leipzig, OHG takes on two properties: the Westin Leipzig, one of eastern Germany's leading conference hotels, with 436 rooms, 49 conference rooms and 4,810 m² of event space, and the Radisson Blu Hotel Leipzig, with 214 rooms, 10 conference rooms and 700 m² of event space in a central city-centre location. The Mercure Hotel Potsdam City adds 210 rooms, 13 conference rooms and 457 m² of event space in the wider Berlin metropolitan region. Total meeting and event capacity across the four properties exceeds 6,500 m².
Gonzalo Carpintero Navarro, CEO of Odyssey Hotel Group, said: "This collaboration marks a decisive milestone in the development of the Odyssey Hotel Group. We have already established ourselves as a hotel operator and development partner. Now we are further underlining our expertise as a professional hotel manager trusted by leading institutional owners. We are delighted to have earned Covivio's trust and look forward to creating long-term value for owners, brand partners, our teams and our guests. With more than 5,400 rooms now under our management, we are entering our next phase of growth."
Bernardo Lazcano, Managing Director of ActivumSG, the pan-European private equity firm and sole owner of Odyssey Hotel Group, commented: "This agreement represents far more than simply an expansion of the Odyssey hotel portfolio. It underlines the Odyssey Hotel Group's strategic ambition to further strengthen its position as a leading third-party hotel manager, operating complex hotel properties on behalf of institutional investors and property owners under long-term hotel management agreements. In light of the ongoing transformation in the hospitality sector, owners are increasingly seeking experienced operational partners capable of enhancing the performance of their hotels, maximising property value in the long term and successfully managing the growing complexity of modern hotel operations. With this transaction, the Odyssey Hotel Group once again demonstrates its ability to deliver these services on a large scale.What the announcement does not explicitly address, but what makes this deal structurally significant for hotel real estate investors and developers, is the choice of HMAs over leases, and why that decision matters. Under a lease structure, the operator takes revenue risk and pays the owner a fixed rent, delivering predictable income regardless of trading performance. Under an HMA, the owner retains revenue risk while paying the operator a management fee typically linked to revenue and profit. Covivio's decision to use HMAs here is a direct signal that it wants exposure to the trading upside of these assets rather than locking in fixed lease income, and that it holds sufficient conviction in the German hospitality market, particularly the MICE-driven Leipzig conference market where the Westin Leipzig alone commands 4,810 m² of event space across 49 rooms, to accept that revenue risk. For developers and hotel investors evaluating the DACH market, that structural choice is more revealing than the room count: institutional owners of this calibre do not elect performance-linked income structures unless they expect performance to outrun the fixed income alternative.
Odyssey Hotel Group was founded in the Netherlands in 2012 and currently operates 30 hotels across six countries, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Sweden and Finland, with a pipeline of 25 further properties and more than 1,800 employees across its portfolio. ActivumSG, its sole shareholder since 2020, is a pan-European independent real estate investment manager advising on over €10bn in real estate and real estate-related investments, with a current thematic focus on residential and hospitality across Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands. Covivio holds a hotel portfolio of more than 280 properties across Europe valued at approximately €6.7bn through its subsidiary Covivio Hotels, making it the leading real estate partner for hotel operators on the continent. The transaction was managed entirely in-house by OHG's Development & Asset Management team.
People mentioned:
- Gonzalo Carpintero Navarro, Chief Executive Officer, Odyssey Hotel Group
- Bernardo Lazcano, Managing Director, ActivumSG
Companies mentioned:
- Odyssey Hotel Group, pan-European multi-brand hotel operator and management company, taking on the four hotels under HMAs
- Covivio, leading European real estate operator and owner of the four German hotel properties
- ActivumSG, pan-European private equity and real estate investment manager, sole owner of Odyssey Hotel Group
- Westin Hotels (Marriott), global hotel brand operating at two of the four properties, the Westin Grand Berlin and the Westin Leipzig
- Radisson Blu, hotel brand at the Leipzig property
- Mercure (Accor), hotel brand at the Potsdam City property
