More than just technical due diligence

20.12.2018
Photo: B&B HOTELS

In early November, the successful B&B HOTELS budget hotel group assumed management of nine hotels from the Covivio Group. Canzler handled the technical due diligence of the buildings in advance. This structural/technical evaluation was destined to exclude any deal breakers and assess whether the existing buildings could be adapted to meet the B&B HOTELS standard.

The B&B HOTELS group has continued to grow with the recent takeover of the nine former Covivio Group hotels at different locations in Germany. The hotel portfolio now stretches to 123 hotels in Germany, including the 2018 new openings.

Alongside the usual technical DD required for acquisitions and takes-overs, the evaluation was above all meant to ascertain whether the existing hotels could in fact be adapted to meet the B&B HOTELS standard. “Can the customary level of breakfast areas be achieved with the existing footprints? Do the hotel rooms fit into the concept of budget hotels in terms of layout and electrical connections? These were key questions that our client wanted explored,” says Dr. Gerhard Braunmiller, Head of the Canzler Munich office. The buildings were examined very closely from top to bottom by well-trained eyes in order to find out where, for example, floor coverings needed to be replaced if they did not meet the B&B HOTELS quality standards, or where a preparations kitchen needed to be integrated retrospectively. All items were assigned a cost factor so that the new hotel operator could calculate the necessary outlays that would be necessary to modernize and convert the premises. “The convertibility into B&B HOTELS was a key aspect that made this TDD so unlike other comparable tasks,” Braunmiller continued. Moreover, structural faults that could not be rectified and would therefore be deal breakers needed to be excluded, too.

On another project for B&B HOTELS Canzler engineers regularly evaluate the technical plant and equipment and provide the client with a shore basis for calculating maintenance and modernization investments. Canzler is at present working for the Steigenberger Group handling the controlling and QA for new-build and conversion measures for several properties and for the technical plant and equipment in Germany, the Netherlands, and Switzerland.