Success Story

B&B Hotels, a successful transformation

Spurred by Eurazeo, B&B Hotels has, in only five years, asserted itself as a brand name reference for budget hotels. This success is a concrete illustration of the Eurazeo’s added value for its shareholdings, to which it contributes to accelerating transformation.

In July of 2010, Eurazeo announced the sale of its investment in B&B Hotels. After five years of investments, success has been achieved and all indicators have almost doubled: The B&B network now includes 223 hotels as compared to 117 in 2005. Revenues amounted to 178 million euros in 2009 versus 82 million euros in 2005.
Profitability has improved with EBITDAR(1) increasing from 31.6 million euros in 2005 to 71.2 million euros in 2009. B&B has thus become the number 3 player in budget hotels in France with 13,200 rooms and 183 hotels. It is also now the second network of budget hotels in Germany and its presence now extends into new markets such as Italy, Poland, Portugal and Hungary.

A lovely transformation story

The first step was highlighted by putting in place an ambitious management team. Key recruitments were made, of which the Marketing Director, the Director of Development, the Director of Human Resources, the Technical Director and the Director of the Legal Department.
The second step: the modernization of the B&B concept to heighten the brand power. Result: whereas only one French out of four knew B&B in 2005, the brand is now known by 3 out of 4 French (2).

Financial resources for implementation

Several investments were made to renovate a large portion of the existing hotel capacity and to increase the density of its network.
Eurazeo brought B&B hotels financial resources.

  • By facilitating the sale of the B&B hotel buildings to ANF Immobilier. ANF invested 66 million euros towards the opening of new hotels.
  • By providing 23 million euros of additional capital, which permitted the opening of hotels in Germany, Italy, Poland and Hungary, and gaining new market share.


(1) EBITDA before rental expense.
(2) Source BDRC.