Cushman & Wakefield’s EMEA Hospitality team is expanding into Germany, with the recruitment from JLL of a team of four, led by Stefan Giesemann, who will be based in Munich.
Giesemann joins as a partner and head of Hospitality within the regional service line, reporting to Jonathan Hubbard, head of Hospitality EMEA. He joins from JLL’s Hotels & Hospitality team in Munich, where for the past eight years he has led the team focused on hospitality investment transactions.
Colleagues Josef Filser and Christian Kirchhoff have also joined Cushman & Wakefield as associate directors. Filser has been with JLL for eight years, initially based in London before relocating to Munich five years ago and has worked closely with Giesemann on transactions.
Kirchhoff joined the Munich team almost five years ago from EY and will head operator selection, contract negotiations and strategic hotel advisory. Nora Bruskowski completes the new team as senior consultant.
Together, they will focus on building a full service offering at Cushman & Wakefield in the German, Austrian and Swiss (DACH) markets for hotels, hostels and extended stay accommodation. This will include capital markets, buy-side advice, debt, strategic advisory as well as development and operator selection. They will work closely with the existing established Hospitality valuation team at Cushman & Wakefield Germany, led by Christine Mayer in Frankfurt.
Jonathan Hubbard, head of EMEA Hospitality, Cushman & Wakefield, said: 'The German hotel market has been one of the most dynamic in Europe over recent years and we are seeing continued strong investor and operator demand. These appointments complete our full-service hospitality offer in Germany and, working with our existing hospitality valuation team, allows us to fully service our clients in the region.'
This follows on from Cushman & Wakefield’s recruitment of partner, Katell Bourgeois, to head Cushman & Wakefield’s hospitality team in France in January 2019 and the recruitment of Albert Grau and Bruno Halle in March 2019 to lead the hospitality team in Spain. The expansion in France, Spain and Germany is the latest step since Jonathan Hubbard joined Cushman & Wakefield in 2017 as head of EMEA Hospitality with a remit to significantly grow its EMEA hospitality practice.