a&o Hotels and Hostels GmbH is a chain of hostels, headquartered in Berlin, that targets young travelers and backpackers, offering cheap group rooms and hotel rooms for two. The hostels are generally centrally located, mostly close to train stations. A&O has 43 subsidiaries in eleven countries, making it the biggest privately owned hostel-chain in Europe. In 2024 it recorded about 6.2 million overnight stays and realised sales of €232 million.
History
Founder Oliver Winter had the idea of opening a hostel after several trips through Europe in the late 1990s. There were few hostels in urban areas in Germany at that time; hostels in Germany were mostly situated in suburban or rural areas and were run by the German Youth Hostel Association; this was a problem for foreign travellers, because only members of the organisation could stay there.
In the year 2000 Winter and his landlord Michael Kluge opened the first a&o Hostel in Berlin Friedrichshain with 164 beds. After a year they doubled the number of beds, and in the years 2002 and 2004, they opened new hostels in Berlin. In 2005 the company opened its first houses outside Berlin, in Prague, Hamburg and Munich. From then on the company established various subsidiaries every year, mostly in Germany, but also in bordering countries.
In 2009, the company made headlines by winning a nearly 5-year-long Lawsuit against the DJH, the German Youth Hostel Association. In 2005, the DJH accused a&o of illegally using the word "Jugendherberge", the German term for youth hostel, which DJH had registered word as a brand in 1998. a&o objected and wanted the brand to be deleted, claiming that the word "Jugendherberge" is too common to be protected. Finally, in 2009 the Federal Patent Court of Germany decided that "Jugendherberge" should be deleted from the brand register.
In 2017, the Investment company TPG Capital purchased the majority of the company shares. Since a&o has been acquired by TPG, they massively reinforced their expansion plans. The company published a list of 25 cities in Europe, where new hostels shall be opened in the near future. Besides nine locations in A&O's core markets Germany and Austria, the list also contains cities in Ireland, Scotland, England, the Netherlands, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
Properties
Current locations As of 2025, A&O maintains one or more locations in 30 cities in 10 European countries.aohostels.com retrieved 18 August 2024
Name CountryOpenedBerlin FriedrichshainGermany2000Berlin MitteGermany2004Munich HauptbahnhofGermany2005Hamburg Hammer KircheGermany2005Munich HackerbrückeGermany2006Hamburg HauptbahnhofGermany2007Dresden HauptbahnhofGermany2007Leipzig HauptbahnhofGermany2008Vienna StadthalleAustria2008Hamburg ReeperbahnGermany2009Düsseldorf HauptbahnhofGermany2009Cologne NeumarktGermany2009Berlin HauptbahnhofGermany2010Cologne DomGermany2011Nuremberg HauptbahnhofGermany2011Dortmund HauptbahnhofGermany2011Hamburg CityGermany2012Graz HauptbahnhofAustria2013Vienna HauptbahnhofAustria2013Frankfurt Galluswarte (Messe)Germany2013Aachen HauptbahnhofGermany2014WeimarGermany2014Munich LaimGermany2014Amsterdam Zuidoost (Bijlmer)Netherlands2015Stuttgart CityGermany2015Berlin KolumbusGermany2015Cologne HauptbahnhofGermany2016Salzburg HauptbahnhofAustria2016Copenhagen Nørrebro Denmark2017Venice MestreItaly2017Bremen HauptbahnhofGermany2017Frankfurt OstendGermany2018Prague RheaCzech Republic2018Warsaw WolaPoland2020 Budapest CityA&O Hostels planen in Budapest, Artikel der Allgemeinen Hotel- und Gastronomie-Zeitung vom 05. Oktober 2018 Hungary 2020 Copenhagen Sydhavna&o eröffnet zweites Hostel in Kopenhagen , Artikel der pegras vom 16. Juli 2018 Denmark 2020Edinburgh CityUnited Kingdom2021Rotterdam CityNetherlands2022Brighton BeachUnited Kingdom2024Antwerp CentraalBelgium2024Brussels CentrumBelgium2025Florence Campo di MarteItaly2025Milano Ca GrandaItaly2025London Docklands Riversidehttps://southwarknews.co.uk/area/rotherhithe/rumours-quashed-that-the-rotherhithes-hilton-hotel-will-be-closed-to-house-migrants/United Kingdom 2025
Former locations Name CountryOperatedBerlin ZooGermany2002-2012Prague Holešovice (Franchise)Czech Republic2005-2012Prague Metro StrizkovCzech Republic2012-2022Karlsruhe HauptbahnhofGermany2012-2018Salzburg Wolfgang's (Management contract)Austria2019-2023Venice Mestre IIItaly2019-2022
References
External links
Official website