In Brief: a&o Hostels has appointed Markus Harder chief financial officer, effective immediately.
-
Markus Harder – Image Credit a&o Hostels
Based in Berlin, Harder will work with CEO Oliver Winter and shareholders to drive the next phase of a&o Hostels’ growth strategy.
Harder will lead a&o’s digital agenda, focused on integrating cloud computing, artificial intelligence and mobile solutions to streamline operations and enhance the guest experience. He also will be responsible for finance, legal, organizational functions, business systems and processes, risk management and procurement.
Harder previously spent four years as CFO and a management board member at DeepL, where he oversaw 10x growth and led two unicorn funding rounds. He also served as CFO of Contentful, since acquired by Salesforce, and finance director at SoundCloud. He began his career in real estate investment banking at Morgan Stanley.
Earlier this year, a&o Hostels completed an €874 million refinancing with Apollo. Along with equity commitments from Proprium Capital Partners and StepStone Group, the financing will support the company’s strategy to double the size of its portfolio and expand its pan-European footprint.
Over the past 24 months, a&o Hostels has acquired approximately 11,500 beds, both operational and under development or refurbishment. The company has approximately 30,000 beds under management.
In 2025, a&o Hostels welcomed a record 2.8 million guests and had 6.6 million overnight stays.