A major hotel operator in Europe has filed for insolvency, casting doubt on the future of its hotels across the continent. Revo Hospitality Group, formerly known as HR Group, was founded in 2008 and is Europe's largest white-label hotel operator, a third-party management company that runs a hotel on behalf of the owner without using its own brand name

The group operates more than 260 hotels across 12 European countries and 146 cities. Last week, it announced it is to be restructured under self-administration by the summer but said hotels in two nations will remain open. It said in a statement: "Around 140 companies belonging to the Revo Hospitality Group have filed for insolvency under their own management at Charlottenburg District Court.

"The approximately 125 hotels in Germany and Austria will continue to operate with all 5,500 employees. The proceedings will be supervised by court-appointed administrators."

The group is made up of a mix of hotels under major franchise brands, such as Hilton and ibis Styles, as well as its own brands like Hyperion.

It has hotels in countries including Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Italy, Poland and Spain.

The majority of hotels part of Revo Hospitality are in Germany.

Revo Hospitality reported rising costs as a major burden on the group as it announced the insolvency process last week.

It said in a press release: "With the economic crisis, 140 companies, including the management and holding company, got into difficulties.

"In particular, increased wage costs and the sharp rise in minimum wages, but also higher costs for rent, energy and food, are weighing on the business. Above all, the strong expansion of the Revo Hospitality Group in recent years led to duplicate structures and integration problems."

The hotel group took over its first hotel in Leipzig, Germany, in 2008.

It had 51 hotels in 2020 but has rapidly expanded in the following years, generating €1.3billion (about £1.1billion) in annual revenue and employing around 8,300 staff across Europe, reports say.

The group said: "The acquisition of the new hotels involved considerable costs. On the other hand, the number of overnight stays did not increase as expected and the planned turnover for 2025 was not achieved."

Specialists have been appointed to stabilise operations and develop a restructuring plan.