Who this is
Dr. Patrick Andrae is co-founder and CEO of HomeToGo, the marketplace that claims the world's largest selection of vacation rentals. He studied law and business, holds a doctorate in law and started building websites at the age of twelve. Before founding the company he worked at Rocket Internet and Home24. In 2014 he launched HomeToGo in Berlin together with Wolfgang Heigl as a metasearch engine for vacation rentals. Today the group consists of the marketplace and the B2B segment HomeToGo_PRO, with software such as Smoobu and the vacation rental manager Interhome, which HomeToGo acquired in 2025 for 250 million euros. HomeToGo SE has been listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange since 2021 (ticker HTG). The company has around 1,500 employees and is guiding for 2026 revenues of 400 to 410 million euros and adjusted EBITDA of 45 to 47 million euros.
Episodes
Numbers from the episode
FAQ
What does HomeToGo do?
HomeToGo runs a marketplace that claims the world's largest selection of vacation rentals, where you can book directly or get forwarded to partners such as Booking and Vrbo. Alongside it sits the B2B segment HomeToGo Pro with software (for example Smoobu for private hosts and the white-label product Doppelgänger that powers TUI's vacation rental search) and services via the property manager Interhome with more than 200 local offices. Since the Interhome acquisition, B2B makes up almost two thirds of the business, which is why Patrick now calls HomeToGo a B2B company. To the episode →
How many companies has HomeToGo acquired and what did it cost?
According to the episode, HomeToGo has bought 15 companies and spent more than 300 million euros in total, 250 million of which went to Interhome alone. Not all purchase prices were disclosed. Almost all deals happened outside of auction processes, with companies that were already partners of the marketplace. To the episode →
How did HomeToGo go public?
Through a SPAC, an empty listed shell that acquires a private company. After the Airbnb IPO in late 2020, countless SPAC sponsors, mostly from the US, got in touch; HomeToGo had Morgan Stanley run a process and chose Klaus Hommels' Lakestar SPAC, which had already been an investor. Just under 30 percent of the SPAC investors used their redemption right, an additional investment brought in another 100 million euros, and in the end about 250 million euros were raised. The listing is in Frankfurt, the ticker is HTG. To the episode →
Why has HomeToGo's share price fallen even though the company has grown?
At the listing the valuation was above 1.2 billion euros, today it is 200 to 250 million, although HomeToGo is about six times the size it was in 2019 and has hit its targets (profitability in 2023, a 20 percent B2B share). Patrick's explanation: HomeToGo went public as a metasearch engine with a small software part and is now a B2B business, a story the market still has to understand. Interhome has also only been in the statutory figures since the last quarter of the previous year. Add to that the small market cap that rules out some investors; HomeToGo has increased trading liquidity seven- to eightfold by bringing in new institutional investors. To the episode →
Quotes
„Wir haben vor allen Dingen ein Credo für uns, dass wir generell eigentlich nur Firmen kaufen, die schon profitabel sind.““Above all we have a credo: we generally only buy companies that are already profitable.”
„… selbst in dem Szenario, wo ich selber nicht dran glaube, dass alles von AI gebucht wird. Muss die AI ja irgendwas buchen.““Even in the scenario I don't believe in myself, where everything gets booked by AI, the AI still has to book something.”
„… wir haben uns ein bisschen gefühlt wie Dänemark bei der EM 92. … wir sind nur so halb eingeladen, weil uns die Leute das vielleicht nicht zutrauen, dass wir das hinbekommen.““We felt a bit like Denmark at Euro 92. We were only half invited, because people perhaps didn't believe we could pull it off.”
„Mein Ego braucht es nicht. Ich finde es viel geiler, wenn die ganzen Leute, die halt irgendwie daran mitgewirkt haben, auch ein Teil davon sind.““My ego doesn't need it. I think it's far cooler when all the people who contributed get to be part of it too.”
„… so ein Rat zu erteilen, also dass dir jemand einen Rat erteilt, ist ja, ist ja super einfach. Aber was eigentlich viel interessanter ist, hat jemand relevante Erfahrungen.““Giving advice, someone handing you advice, is super easy. What's far more interesting is whether that person has relevant experience.”