Profile

Christoph Hoffmann

Founder
25hours Hotels

A consummate storyteller and hotel romantic, Christoph Hoffmann, founder of 25hours Hotels, oversees the development and expansion of the 25hours hotel group. He’s often seen zipping through airports with his elaborately stickered Rimowa in tow or buzzing through city streets on a bicycle en route to evaluate new hotel locations. With what he considers an “imperative collaboration of local partners,” he develops sharply tailored properties for city nomads, daydreamers and night owls with a penchant for urban landscapes and democratic hotel culture, while ensuring each project is full of soul. Hoffman grew up in a small town in southern Germany, and after graduating from secondary school, began a career in tourism at a New York-based incentive agency. “New York was my first education,” he says. Yet, knowing he had to hone his hospitality skills, he went on to study sales, marketing and strategic management at the Glion Institute (École Hotelière et de Tourisme Leysin) in Switzerland and Cornell University, and thus, his adoration for the hotel business truly began. Hoffmann’s initiation into the industry was at the American Colony Hotel in Jerusalem, where he immediately fell in love with the progressive Israeli culture. He then returned to New York for a stint at the Box Tree Hotel and a management position at New World Travel, Inc. Soon, the old-world sentimentality of Europe called him back, taking up positions at Kempinski Hotels, the Bürgenstock Hotels & Resorts in Switzerland and the Hotel Louis C. Jacob in Hamburg; he was hooked, and, in 2005, along with partners Stephan Gerhard, Ardi Goldman and Kai Hollmann, he founded the 25hours Hotel Company in order to expand the already successfully established Hamburg-based 25hours concept. Hoffmann was awarded German Hotelier of the Year in 2017 and named the Most Dynamic Hotelier by Monocle magazine in 2018. His affinity for the Cycladic islands, antique markets, red wine, real books, an incredible repertoire of musical interests, delicious food, the mountains, poetry, sunshine, and grand hotels, are his muse to develop forward-thinking, authentic hospitality concepts all over the world. About 25hours Hotels 25hours Hotels is part of Ennismore, a creative hospitality company rooted in culture and community, with a global collective of entrepreneurial and founder-built brands with purpose at their heart. Ennismore is a joint venture with Accor, formed in 2021. Christoph Hoffmann, Kai Hollmann, Ardi Goldman and Stephan Gerhard were the founders and creative minds behind the 25hours brand, that today operates 15 hotels in German speaking countries as well as Paris, Florence, Dubai and Copenhagen. 25hours is a smart, culturally resonant hotel idea characterised by provocative urban locations, irreverent yet functional aesthetic, and the romantic nostalgia of grand hotels. The brand focuses on individuality, authenticity and personality and, under the motto "If you know one, you know none", designs each of its hotels with different designers and unique style. Sydney, Jakarta, Trieste and Porto are among the future destinations.