Federico Salvetti - Hotels: a worthy business
Federico Salvetti, CEO of Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano, tells us why today the hotel brokerage market in Italy is growing rapidly and how, thanks to an adequate partner, it is possible to seize the unique opportunities that arise for those who want to sell a hotel

The next few years, for the Italian tourist market, will be very important, fundamental, we are confident about it. This is why our work can also be considered a consulting one: we want to be a reliable partner for those who want to get the most out of the sale of their tourism business, when maybe they do not have all the necessary competences or are not sufficiently up-to-date to be able to do it. It’s a historical moment in which there are many business opportunities in the hotel industry, both for sellers and for buyers, and we want to help them seize these opportunities. Thanks to Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano it is now possible to get in touch with reliable players of international calibre. It is really a shame to see, sometimes, in Italy, beautiful opportunities to go wasted, when they could, instead, lead to profitable businesses. The magic formula will increasingly be combining Italian beauty with global technical-entrepreneurial competences. Today is a perfect time to grow in Italy, and those who do business in tourism with an eye to the future, know it well». Clear ideas and goals by Federico Salvetti, CEO of Ebuyhouse Real Estate, a real estate group of promoters and general contractors that has been successfully working for many years in the real estate, residential, and commercial market of Italian-speaking Switzerland, that, recently, has decided to operate also in the field of hotel brokerage. In fact, for a year now, the Lugano-based company – which for ten years has been successfully and exclusively offering a wide portfolio of properties able to meet the needs of those looking for a good investment – has also entered the Italian market of hospitality. The reason? We asked Federico Salvetti, during an enlightening chat about the present and the future of the Italian tourism and hospitality industry. «In recent years», explains the CEO of Ebuyhouse Real Estate, «several opportunities for brokerage in the hotel industry have been arising in Italian-speaking Switzerland, but especially in Northern Italy. So, about a year ago, we have begun to fully work in the hospitality industry, counting on our know-how. The idea arose from the request of some of our clients who also have properties in this sector. We realized that the tourism and hospitality industry is in ferment and will continue to be so in the near future. Currently we are working on different properties in Milano and on an important development area in Versilia (Tuscany). The mission of the business unit of Ebuyhouse Real Estate is to exclusively follow the hotel market precisely and comprehensively, offering a personalized consultancy service that did not exist before. In fact, we have a network of qualified partners who have been successfully operating as brokers in this market for years. We are interested in dealing with few but interesting real estate operations: we want to give our clients the added value of a truly qualified professional relationship with immediate feedback. As CEO, I specifically take care of creating and strengthening an ad-hoc work network that is capable of effectively managing every step of the transaction. Our team is able to elaborate a precise analysis of the facility to be sold and then offer it to a wide audience of possible buyers».
A precise and concrete consultancy
«As a Swiss company», continues Salvetti, «we have a great added benefit to offer to those interested in buying and selling hotel facilities, and it is our geographical location. Compared to a traditional Italian brokerage agency, accustomed to operating in a smaller geographical context, Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano has in Switzerland a rich pool of potential investors, serious and discreet, and with international assets. Having more international investors available is certainly a big advantage today for those who want to sell a hotel in Italy: if, for example, I wanted to sell my hotel in Milano, I would not have to spread the news on the territory – which may not be advantageous to me – instead I could turn to impartial professionals able to get me in touch with entrepreneurial and investment companies that I would otherwise have difficulty reaching. Also, unlike real estate brokerage companies already on the market for many years, often very structured but with a predominantly analytical approach, we prefer a direct relationship with those family-run companies that, for various reasons, no longer intend to carry out the management of their hotel, which is sometimes even a big and important facility located in a prestigious location. Who no longer wants or has the ability to invest to keep up with the times of a market, constantly evolving and increasingly digital and marketing oriented, finds in us a tailored consultant able to solve the problem of ‘succession’. In short, we give the opportunity to ‘ferry’ a hotel business serenely and peacefully towards the acquisition by large groups or safe investors, drawing from our consolidated real estate know-how and our wide network of contacts. With a modus operandi that is ‘human to human’: we take the hoteliers by hand, we help them to understand, in the first place, if and how they really want to sell and then, in case, we put them in touch with really interested investors which would be hard to reach for them. I am thinking, for example, of a family that owns a small Italian hotel and a large investor, a possible interested buyer, who operates on a global scale. A tailored service like ours is able to understand the needs of those who are selling and, at the same time, to relate the value of the facility to the standards of an international and complex market, made of complicated dynamics and parameters. It is not easy for a small entrepreneur to confront with equal ‘strength’ the large and well-prepared management of a large multinational company and therefore concluding a negotiation with full satisfaction, perhaps after having given up the business of a lifetime or one that belonged to the family for generations».
Among marketing and digital competences
The strength of Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano is therefore proposing a service of consultancy and accompaniment to the sale that is perfect for those who perhaps do not know well who to contact or negotiate with or do not have the updated competences to do so. «The company Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano», says Salvetti, «has been active for almost ten years: it is from this solid base that our business unit specializing in hospitality is born, which, in addition to a dedicated team of professionals, also has a latest generation website ( www.ebuyhotel.ch). Since the beginning of our entrepreneurial adventure we have always believed in the value of marketing and communication. Not by chance, another of our added benefits is precisely the high technological and digital competence, superior to that offered by a traditional real estate brokerage agency: the Group includes, in fact, the Swiss Digital Strategies division, which deals with digital strategies consultancy and optimization of websites for search engines. It is an added value that serves to reach and intercept the demand on the web of these facilities that can be found more easily because their visibility is amplified on their target market. In an overcrowded web like the current one, it is essential to be able to interact directly with a targeted market, really interested in the proposed business. Our expertise in marketing and digital communication has increased, in a very short time, our web reputation in the field of hotel brokerage: despite being a young agency, Ebuyhouse Real Estate of Lugano is considered today a leading player: we are at the first place in the ranking of the most important search engines. In short, I can say, with pleasure, that the strategy is well defined, the competences are there, and now we are starting to make ourselves more and more known to the Italian market. A market that has great room for growth for the real estate brokerage, and not just because, the data says, today there are 33 thousand hotels on national soil, but also because we are living in a historical moment of general perspective change on an international level. The tourism industry and the numbers of Italian hospitality grow non-stop and it is thus a propitious time for those interested in this type of business. The trends tell us that Italy has been in the crosshairs of big international investors for some time now. Obviously the first ‘objectives’ of acquisition of these global companies are linked to the tourist destinations with more international appeal, such as the major art cities, Rome, Florence, Venice – but also more and more to cities like Milan. The Lombard capital, starting from the success of Expo 2015, is in fact building an increasingly important tourism reputation worldwide. But we are convinced that, slowly but surely, this trend will extend to the entire hotel world of the peninsula, which will make the hotel business in Italy even more attractive on a world scale».
Tourism grows, Italy grows
«The fact that the interest of foreign investors for ‘minor’ destinations is growing is also proven by the numerical indicators of tourist presences in places like Lake Como or in cities like Verona», continues the CEO, «and we are ready to intercept the commercial demands even in these destinations. There are interesting occasions, for example in Perugia, Lecce, Syracuse – but the list is almost infinite – that until now were not even taken into consideration because they were not able to offer themselves to the international market. I’ll tell you what: even if I’ve been working in Lugano for many years, I’m Italian, from Como, and promoting our beauty has always been a goal dear to me. I believe in Italy. Italy can grow a lot, and if national entrepreneurship is not able to take advantage of the opportunities for growth of the sector, then other large international companies able to valorize our tourism heritage should do it. After all, when a hotel facility is relaunched and works better, the territory and all the satellite activities also benefit from it. So I’ll repeat it: the next years will be very important for the Italian tourism market, and for this reason it is essential to take advantage of the opportunity and find the right counterpart to get the most out of the sale of these tourism businesses. There will be more and more business opportunities in the hospitality industry now and in the near future, and we want to help those involved in accommodation to seize these opportunities».