Round Table - Hospitality
Peham: Hospitality is, in total, a very broad business field. Serviced apartments, for instance, often require only limited adaptations, especially when suitable, high-quality investment properties are available. Another point is that it’s not necessary to assume a hotel is the best use. Serviced apartment providers often
main hurdles to overcome. Ms Kraml just mentioned the first one, namely reclassification. Once this process is completed, we need to grapple with issues like building regulations. Com- mercial renting, in some cases, involves stricter requirements
than residential clas- sification – including the creation of rescue routes that must be wider than normal es-
Hospitality is, in any case, so attractive that we at least evaluate the possibility for
© Roland Rudolph
cape routes or regulations for fire protection and accessibility. The third hurdle materialises when the change in classification exceeds 50 percent: At that point, the
Birgit Kraml: Legislators have made residential use less attractive for landlords with rental caps and similar measures. At the same time, they have also taken steps to make sure apartments remain apartments. A recent regulation includes restrictions on short-term apartments rentals – but this isn’t really relevant for the business model of my colleagues in today’s roundtable. One thing, however, is clear: Hospitality use is not covered by residential zoning and will require reclassification. It‘s also important not only to look at the federal regulations that could contain constraints on this business. The federal government has pressed ahead with a rental cap, and the provinces are following with measures that include planning guidelines to limit short-term rentals. Salzburg, for example, differentiates between apartments with short-term rental options and hotels and, when hotel use is permitted, that doesn’t mean short-term rentals are also possible. In other words, it is becoming more difficult to reclassify apartments into commercial space. And it’s obvious that reclassification can only be a realistic goal when the owner controls 100 per cent of the property. In a building with condominiums, all owners must approve the reclassification, and that is virtually impossible.
every project. - Daniel Jelitzka
law requires me to meet new construction standards that include structural resto- ration. This is more expensive than new construction and is only possible when the property is completely vacant. That sounds like reclassification is only possible when Christmas and Easter happen on the same day. Jelitzka: When the goal is full legal compli- ance and a building that is also structurally optimised for hospitality, the costs are high. But the additional yield compared with residential use and the uncoupling from rental caps also support a substantial increase in value. Here, we are talking about significantly more than 20 and up to 30 Euros per square metre.
make more economically attractive offers because their business model has become very profitable. Apparently, the devil lies in many details, especially the ones that require extensive restructuring. But must a building always fit in with the business model? Or are the operators not flexible enough to find an alternative use for the property? Vollmayr: You need to take a very differ- entiated look. From our perspective, there is no flexibility when permits are involved. A lack of the necessary approvals for short-term rentals of one night or more means the property is not interesting for limehome. The traditional long-stay market
Hospitality is, in any case, so attractive that we at least evaluate the possibility for every project. But there are naturally enough cases, for instance smaller properties, poor standards or partly available buildings – where an investment should be avoided.
Jelitzka: In this respect, there are three
© Roland Rudolph
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