It all began in 1998, when Anett Gregorius was writing her undergraduate thesis in Berlin as part of her Business Administration degree (BA) on the topic: “Analysis and evaluation of trends in boarding houses within the German accommodation market based on structural and economic criteria”. Her professor had encouraged her to focus on this niche segment, which was still in its infancy in Germany. The potential of this type of accommodation quickly became apparent during her research, and the idea of exploring the subject further in a professional capacity began to take shape.

After graduating, Anett Gregorius first spent six months travelling through Australia, where the market for serviced apartments was already well established. Back in Germany, she initially wanted to gain practical experience and took on various roles in the Berlin hotel industry, including as director at the pioneer of aparthotels in Germany.

At the same time, the Berlin native founded her company in 1999, initially as Boardinghouse Consulting. This led to the creation of the first booking platform for serviced apartments in the D-A-CH region and a specialist consultancy firm for the sector. Anett Gregorius quickly became a sought-after point of contact for the young, at that time still very unstructured and fragmented sector, so that she went fully self-employed with her company on 1 June 2001.

Since the 2000s, the sector has grown significantly in Germany, with an increasing number of people entering the industry from other fields. The economic crisis of 2008–2009 proved to be the first real test. The sharp decline in travel resulted in significant losses for the agency and consultancy business. However, both sectors recovered quickly, and from 2010 onwards a number of new operators were established, bringing considerable dynamism to the fledgling sector. International brands increasingly established themselves in Germany.