The budget accommodation chain a&o Hostels has announced the appointment of Gernot Porcher as the new senior vice president of Construction of the company. From this position, he will assume responsibility for the planning, execution, and maintenance of the group's real estate portfolio, with the goal of realizing six new openings by the end of 2028, as the company stated in a press release.
Coming from H World International (formerly Deutsche Hospitality) and with previous experience at EY, Porcher will lead a technical management team aimed at driving the brand's expansion in major metropolitan areas of Europe.
Of the total of six planned openings, four will be concentrated in 2027, with key projects such as a&o Berlin Checkpoint Charlie and a&o Heidelberg.
The CEO and founder of the chain, Oliver Winter, has emphasized that this addition strengthens the group's roadmap to double its current capacity.
The company, in the hands of Stepstone Group and Proprium Capital Partners since the end of 2023, currently operates 46 establishments with about 31,600 beds spread across 32 European cities, after achieving its best historical performance in 2025 with 245 million euros in revenue and 6.6 million overnight stays.
The acceleration of the growth plan of this Berlin-based platform is supported by a strengthened capital structure, after recently closing a refinancing of 874 million euros led by the financial investor Apollo.