Capital’s Hotels Struggle to Break Even

There is something really wrong in Athens. The country’s capital has been on the positive side of world news for months now, and almost everyone you talk to abroad say they want to visit the city, yet latest reports reveal that Athens hotel occupancy rates continue to fall to levels where it’s difficult for a unit to break even.

For the month of February, occupancy rates in all hotel categories are at dangerously low levels. The only category to post an increase was the five-star units, but even here overnight stays increased to around 47% from last February’s meager 44%.

Athens Hotel Association data shows that occupancy at four-star hotels dropped down to 45 percent from 67 percent when compared with the same month a year before, three-star units were down to 47 percent from 60 percent, and two-star units down to 36.2 percent from 39.8 percent.

Athens posted the greatest yearly decline in Europe that month, 7.8 percent, when most cities showed gains.

“Nothing shows that these hotels are in the city that staged the most successful Olympics seven months ago,“ said the association on releasing the latest occupancy data. “Something is not being done right. Hotels offer a product above prices and expectations; the government is trying but the synergies, the coordination and the efficiency are missing.”