Hans Kortlevers: entrepreneur and founder of LMEY Investments AG
Hans Kortlevers is a Dutch entrepreneur and the founder of LMEY Investments AG, a private investment company headquartered in Switzerland, specialising in exclusive leisure and hospitality real estate. With a portfolio of 22 hotels across 11 countries and four continents, representing nearly 5,000 rooms and more than 4,000 employees, Hans has built one of Europe’s most dynamic hotel investment platforms from the ground up.
From construction to global hospitality
Hans Kortlevers was born on 1 April 1970 in Amsterdam, where he grew up, attended school, and went on to study at the HTS (Hogere Technische School), specialising in building engineering. From an early age, he was no stranger to hard work: alongside his studies, he worked extensively at his father’s construction company, taking on significant responsibilities well before graduating.
When his father fell seriously ill, Hans stepped up and took over the business entirely, completing his degree while simultaneously running the company. It was a defining moment that revealed both his resilience and his entrepreneurial instincts. He has never worked for an employer. Since the age of 18, he has charted his own course.
Once fully at the helm, Hans identified that property development offered far greater margins than construction work alone. Gradually, he shifted his focus — taking on more development projects until, after nearly a decade, he left the construction business behind to devote himself entirely to real estate development.
A pivot that proved prescient
When the 2008 financial crisis hit and residential property markets collapsed across Europe, Hans saw the opportunity where others saw only risk. He recognised that tourist and leisure real estate remained one of the few genuinely stable asset classes, a conviction that would shape the next chapter of his career.
In 2012, Hans founded LMEY Investments AG, a Dutch-Swiss real estate company with a clear and focused mandate: to invest in high-quality hotel and leisure real estate. The company has grown steadily and ambitiously ever since. Among LMEY’s notable achievements is the creation of a premium German hotel brand, successfully serving the German, Austrian and Swiss markets. Equally impressive is the turnaround of a German hospitality business that had accumulated millions in losses over the previous decade. Hans and his team returned it to profitability within just two years.
“I’m proud of that,” he says simply. “With the team at LMEY Investments, we have the knowledge and the creativity to make the right decisions.”
Partnerships built for scale
LMEY Investments works alongside some of the most respected names in European travel and hospitality, including Thomas Cook, Van der Valk, TUI and Robinson. A landmark partnership with Thomas Cook, signed in 2017, sees both companies co-developing a joint hotel investment platform to establish at least five wholly owned hotels together and accelerate the growth of the overall portfolio.
Currently active in 11 countries across Europe, the Americas, the Caribbean and beyond, Hans continues to drive the company’s acquisition strategy personally, spending two to three days a week travelling internationally to identify and secure new opportunities.
Leadership grounded in self-knowledge
Hans is candid about the lessons that three decades of entrepreneurship have taught him. “In all those years, you learn a great deal, but you also make mistakes. The mistakes cost money, but you only make them once.” His most valuable insight has been recognising his own limitations. “I used to think I could handle everything myself. I’ve learned that I need a strong team around me to be successful.”
This philosophy, combining vision and drive with trust in the people around him, is central to how LMEY Investments operates. Hans does not see his work as a series of victories, but as a continuous journey to build something truly worthwhile.
Life beyond business
Hans lives in Amstelveen with his wife and their five children, four daughters and a son. When he is not travelling the world from the Caribbean to the Alps in search of the next great property, he is happiest spending time with his family, sailing, or taking his children along on his adventures abroad.
“I have the most wonderful profession imaginable,” he says. “I travel the world to buy real estate and build businesses. I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”