Lindner Hotels are insolvent

Kurz vor Weihnachten erschüttert der Insolvenzantrag der Lindner Hotels AG das deutsche Beherbergungsgewerbe. Das Unternehmen sieht keinen anderen Ausweg, als über eine Insolvenz in Eigenverwaltung einen Weg in die Zukunft zu suchen. Der Betrieb in den 13 Häusern der Kernmarke Lindner im gehobenen Mittelklasse-Segment unter anderem in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Frankfurt und auf Sylt laufe weiter, hieß es. Die Beschäftigten sollen Insolvenzgeld erhalten. Insgesamt führt die Unternehmensgruppe 41 Hotels, Tochtergesellschaften für die L-Collection-Häuser sowie die 7-Pines-Luxusurlaubsresorts sind von der Insolvenz vorerst nicht betroffen.

Landesweit klagen Hotels über gestiegene Ausgaben. Der Branchenverband Dehoga moniert „Kostenexplosionen bei Nahrungsmitteln und Energie“, sowie steigende Ausgaben für Personal, das schwer zu finden ist. Außerdem belasten Spätfolgen der Corona-Pandemie. Schulden müssen abgebaut werden, dazu kommen mitunter nachzuholende Pachtzahlungen, die in der Krise gestundet wurden.

Um Lasten zu senken, fordert der Dehoga eine dauerhafte Senkung der Mehrwertsteuer auf Speisen auf den ermäßigten Satz von sieben Prozent, einen Verzicht auf eine abermalige politische Erhöhung des Mindestlohns sowie flexiblere Beschäftigungsregeln, was etwa durch das Streichen des gesetzlichen Tages-Höchstarbeitszeit erreicht werden soll.

Zwar hatte das Statistische Bundesamt für die ersten zehn Monate dieses Jahres errechnet, dass mit 433 Millionen Übernachtungen das Rekordniveau von 2019 wieder erreicht sei. Hotels fehlen aber noch zahlungskräftigere Kunden aus dem Ausland und Geschäftsreisende. Unternehmen schicken Beschäftigte seltener zu Auswärtsterminen und halten mehr Videokonferenzen ab. Preisbereinigt haben die rund 39.000 Hotels, Pensionen und Beherbergungsbetriebe in diesem Jahr laut Dehoga reale Umsatzeinbußen hinnehmen müssen.

For Lindner Hotels AG, it was necessary to apply for self-administration proceedings, especially because of past obligations, said restructuring expert Frank Kebekus, who will support the Lindner management as general representative in the self-administration proceedings. Previous restructuring efforts appear to have been insufficient. The Düsseldorf District Court appointed lawyer Dirk Andres as the provisional administrator.

The Lindner Hotels are by no means the first chain to send out signals of crisis this year. Most recently, the Achat Hotels filed for self-administration bankruptcy at the end of November. Difficulties after expanding the location portfolio and the long-term economic consequences of Corona had led us into a corner. The Arcona Hotels have just come out of self-administration proceedings.

Restructuring took place elsewhere. Dertour, the travel division of the Rewe Group, has brought the Travel-Charme hotels from the industrialist family Hirmer into its own hotel portfolio and from now on wants to run most of the locations under the Arosa or Aja brands. The hotel company Novum Hospitality had announced the end of hotels under its own name; they will continue to exist as franchises under IHG Group brands such as Holiday Inn, which should make more international customers aware of the hostels.

The Lindner Hotels had also already sought proximity to an international hotel group. In autumn 2022 they announced a partnership with Hyatt; from now on the Lindner hostels should also be marketed under the Hyatt line “Joie de Vivre”, which should make international guests aware of the hotels in Germany.

What was widely praised as the “marriage” of the hotel companies was initially not associated with the sale of company shares. However, money from the Americans at Hyatt should flow to the Germans for modernizations in their hotels. Later, Lindner was to pay in the opposite direction via a franchise fee for guests referred by Hyatt. This year, Hyatt took over the younger Lindner brand line Me and all.

The major partnership was announced two years ago by then Lindner boss Arno Schwalie, who left the company this summer and now works for the chain of B&B hotels. Shortly before, the board member responsible for day-to-day business, Stefanie Brandes, had moved to the competitor Dorint.

The Lindner Hotels bear the name of the founder, the Düsseldorf architect Otto Lindner, who died in 2020 and who created the hotel group from his architectural office. From the family, Frank Lindner is part of the management of Lindner Hotels AG. The name Lindner is common in the hotel industry. One of the company founder's sons, Otto Lindner junior, who no longer holds a position at Lindner Hotels AG, is the chairman of the IHA hotel association and deputy president of the Dehoga industry association.

Lindner Hotels AG currently employs around 650 people. Hotel operations should continue “as smoothly as possible”. The general representative, Kebekus, aims to “sustainably restructure the company using the instruments of the insolvency regulations”. An insolvency plan should be in place by the summer, which the creditors will then vote on.