Dr Markus Harder has been appointed Chief Financial Officer of a&o Hostels. In his new role, he will work closely with founder and CEO Oliver Winter and will be instrumental in driving the company's development in the areas of growth and digitalisation. Harder's responsibilities will include finance, as well as legal, organisation, business systems and processes, risk management and procurement.
Oliver Winter commented on the appointment, stating that Dr Harder's extensive experience in strategic and financial planning, financial analysis, and the procurement of debt and equity capital would be of great value for expanding and optimising the company's platform. Furthermore, Winter expects Dr Harder's expertise in fostering the growth of technology and AI-oriented companies to usher in the group's next innovation phase and increase operational and financial value creation.
A key focus of the digital agenda under Dr Harder's leadership will be the introduction and integration of cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and mobile solutions. These measures aim to optimise processes and continuously improve the quality of the guest experience. Dr Harder himself emphasised that a&o Hostels holds a leading position in a market segment whose potential is increasingly recognised by institutional investors. He sees shaping the crucial platform in the European budget hospitality sector as an attractive opportunity.
Before joining a&o, Dr Harder served as CFO and board member at DeepL, as CFO at Contentful and as finance chief at SoundCloud. He began his professional career as an investment banker in real estate at Morgan Stanley.
a&o Hostels was founded in 2000 and currently operates 46 properties with approximately 31,600 beds in 32 European cities. Oliver Winter sees significant potential for doubling the portfolio and reaffirms the company's goal of continuing to provide affordable travel options for families, young travellers and school groups in European metropolitan areas and cities. In the last two years, capacity has been increased by approximately 11,500 beds.
In 2025, the company recorded nearly three million guests with approximately 6.6 million overnight stays at its Berlin headquarters. Ongoing market developments and strong demographic factors are contributing to the establishment of the hostel segment as an institutional asset class. A recent refinancing of EUR 874 million with financial investor Apollo underscores this development. Since the end of 2023, Stepstone Group and Proprium Capital Partners have been the owners of a&o Hostels.
