Claus was a part-owner (with Hans Peter Knodler and Oliver Jamitzky) of German full-service travel agency CO-ORDINATES GmbH, based in Augsburg.

The two firms, and several others, consolidated in 1998 under the holding company lebensart.net GmbH, subsequently known as lebensart Global Networks AG in 1999.

[citation needed] In 2000 lebensart Global Networks AG, with Daniel Adams as the CFO raised sufficient capital to transfer trading from the over-the-counter (OTC) markets to the Börse München.

That same year the firm completed the corporate merger of wholly owned subsidiaries ResExpress, Inc., Younger Direct Marketing, Inc., and lebensart technology, Inc.

[citation needed] While there are over 300 members of Design Hotels worldwide, only a select few have decided to participate in the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program.