Sell hotel & hospitality in Cologne.

Köln's hotel operating market entered 2026 on solid footing after a record FY2025. KölnTourismus reported about 4.25 million arrivals and 7.22 million overnight stays, up 1.9% year-on-year and the highest on record, with tourist turnover of EUR 5.51 billion and the bed count growing modestly to 38,865. Christie & Co's full-year read for Köln shows demand essentially flat (+0.2% YTD) but performance improving slightly, with occupancy up 0.6 percentage points, ADR up 1.1% and RevPAR up 1.7% over 2024. Crucially, Köln continues to sit above the national RevPAR level even as the German market saw ADR slip about 1.8% to roughly EUR 117 and RevPAR ease to about EUR 79. The defining feature of the Köln operating story is event dependence. KoelnMesse anchors a calendar of Gamescom, Anuga, imm cologne and FIBO that produces extreme, short-lived rate spikes; during Anuga in October 2025 occupancy rose 11.7%, ADR 55.6% and RevPAR 73.9% year-on-year, with a single-day ADR of EUR 484 and RevPAR of EUR 469 setting all-time highs. FIBO in April again pushed first-night occupancy to 96.5%. Karneval and year-round leisure around the Dom and Altstadt provide a steadier base, and international demand grew faster than the national average. For operators this means revenue management around the fair calendar is the central lever, while off-peak weeks remain the soft spot. On the supply side the picture is benign for incumbents: the pipeline is minimal at roughly 1.5% of stock, the lowest competitive intensity among the German Top-7 (3.17), and the protected Dom/Altstadt core limits new builds. The main additions are the repeatedly delayed five-star Dom-Hotel, now expected in the second half of 2026, plus smaller projects such as Aqu'otel in Chorweiler (149 rooms) and the Dorint Schloss Lerbach reopening. This scarcity supports pricing power but also reflects lower liquidity than Berlin, Hamburg or Munich. The investment lens differs from the operating lens. Köln is a more selective, event-driven income play rather than a high-volume liquidity market; capital targets well-located assets that can capture peak income, as illustrated by Pandox's 2025 acquisition of the 275-room Pullman Cologne for around EUR 66 million at an initial yield near 6.5%. Policy adds a headwind for operators: the 5% Kulturförderabgabe now applies to business travel as well, raising effective stay costs. On balance the operating market is resilient, low-supply and event-leveraged, with modest organic RevPAR growth and concentrated upside around the fair calendar.

adr eur: 1.1 ADR change % FY2025 YoY (Köln); revpar eur: 1.7 RevPAR change % FY2025 YoY (Köln); occupancy pct: 0.6 OCC change percentage points FY2025 YoY (Köln); overnight stays: 7,220,000 overnight stays FY2025 (Köln, +1.9% YoY).