Oliver Winter is the CEO and co-founder of a&o hostels, having founded the company 20 years ago with Michael Kluge. Since then it has gone on to become one of the most successful hostel chains in the world, with annual turnover in the nine-figure range.

Oliver joins Jeannette to talk about how he founded a global brand, and the differing skill sets he has acquired along the way, including becoming a prolific property investor.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• Hostels provide a sense of community, where people can come together in ways not possible in the hotel world.
• Almost half of the business relies on groups for bookings, and hostels prove extraordinarily popular with the likes of students, who seek low-cost accommodation that allows them to remain together as a group.
• Maintaining hostels requires not just a sense of business, but investment. Oliver has, along the way, become a property investor, and is now responsible for many units.
• If you have a good business idea, then be brave enough to put it out there into the world, and be disruptive enough to see it through. Stick to your idea and stick to your way of doing things.

BEST MOMENTS

'You have to understand your target group'

'I always was focussed on operations, but to control a property has some charm'

'Our early lives influence our lives as adults'

'Be brave, be disruptive'

'The priority was to bring. commercial culture to the people who raise the money'

This is the perfect time to get focused on what YOU want to really achieve in your business, career, and life. It’s never too late to be BRAVE and BOLD and unlock your inner BRILLIANCE. If you’d like to jump on a free mentoring session just DM Jeannette at [email protected] or sign up via Jeannette’s linktree https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot

VALUABLE RESOURCES

Brave, Bold, Brilliant podcast series - https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/brave-bold-brilliant-podcast/id1524278970     

ABOUT THE GUEST

Oliver Winter is the CEO and co-founder of a&o hostels, having founded the company 20 years ago with Michael Kluge.

Winter intended to begin his career in teaching, but while on a study break travelling the world in the mid-1990s, he was inspired to come up with a new hostel concept. Oliver wanted to give people, especially students or young people, the opportunity to stay in professionally managed, affordable and centrally located accommodation, with no youth hostel card fee.

After several initial attempts at getting the company off the ground, Winter was approached by his experienced, entrepreneurial landlord, who deemed the idea a ‘winning’ concept. The two of them collaborated, and together in 2000 they opened their first a&o hostel, a 164-room property in Berlin.

Since launching the brand, Winter has successfully expanded the company having been responsible for its strategic growth, with a&o operating 39 hostels in 25 cities and nine European countries. A 40th property is planned for spring 2024 with a&o Florence.

In 2022 a&o recorded its most successful year to date. Welcoming more than 5.55 million overnight stays and a turnover of more than 172 million Euros, the hostel chain surpassed results from the pre-COVID year 2019 (around 150 million) and experienced a turnover increase of more than 100 million Euros compared to 2021 – almost 150 percent more.

ABOUT THE HOST

Jeannette Linfoot is a highly regarded senior executive, property investor, board advisor, and business mentor with over 25 years of global professional business experience across the travel, leisure, hospitality, and property sectors. Having bought, ran, and sold businesses all over the world, Jeannette now has a portfolio of her own businesses and also advises and mentors other business leaders to drive forward their strategies as well as their own personal development.

Jeannette is a down-to-earth leader, a passionate champion for diversity & inclusion, and a huge advocate of nurturing talent so every person can unleash their full potential and live their dreams. 

CONTACT THE HOST

Jeannette’s linktree - https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot

https://www.jeannettelinfootassociates.com/

YOUTUBE - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtsU57ZGoPhm55_X0qF16_Q

LinkedIn - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot

Facebook - https://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeannettelinfoot

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/jeannette.linfoot/

Email - [email protected]

Podcast Description

Jeannette Linfoot talks to incredible people about their experiences of being Brave, Bold & Brilliant, which have allowed them to unleash their full potential in business, their careers, and life in general. From the boardroom tables of ‘big’ international businesses to the dining room tables of entrepreneurial start-ups, how to overcome challenges, embrace opportunities and take risks, whilst staying ‘true’ to yourself is the order of the day.

Travel, Bold, Brilliant, business, growth, scale, marketing, investment, investing, entrepreneurship, coach, consultant, mindset, six figures, seven figures, travel, industry, ROI, B2B, inspirational: https://linktr.ee/JLinfoot