Photo: Sonder
Sonder concluded the negotiations for the management of a 22-tourist apartment building located at Calle Divino Pastor, in barrio de Malasaña in Madrid. The asset belongs to a family office which was represented by consultant Catella on this deal, according to newspaper Expansión.
For Sonder, this deal represents the beginning of its expansion in the country and in order to achieve it, the company has already named its representatives in Spain’s two largest cities: Guillermo Gual is the business director in Madrid and Leda Zanlungo is Sounder’s general manager in Barcelona. In a statement to the same newspaper, Guillermo Gual stated that «we have an ambitious growth plan for the two cities. At Sonder we consider Spain to be a strategic market», he remarked.
Amongst the new business opportunities in Madrid, Sonder is particularly focused on hotels, aparthotels and tourist apartments. In Barcelona, the company should be more focused on hotel units since it is more frequent to find full buildings of this type which fit the company’s requirements.
Investors interested in the deal
Just like the family office, other national and international investors showed interest in entering the hotel market, especially with the partnership of a hotel management company. The only thing missing is reaching an understanding concerning the right amount to pay for the assets.
Leda Zanlungo stated that «there is still a gap between what the investors want to pay and what the owners are willing to take. Despite everything we are not witnessing distressed operations and negotiations are constructive», she concluded.
Considering possible deals in the future, Sonder assumed the management model might be attractive to investors since it guarantees stable revenues on the long-term.
Proof of that is the portfolio with more than 4.000 tourist apartment and hotel rooms which the company manages in more than 30 cities from the United States, Canada, Mexico, Dubai, Ireland, Italy, United Kingdom and, now, Spain. The company headquartered in San Francisco is estimated at 10.722 million euro (13 billion dollars) and their investments are supported by international funds such as Blackstone.