Athens’ Hotels See Ups And Downs In February

Athens’ hotel occupancy in February caused optimism, but also concern, to hoteliers as overnights in five- and four-star hotels recorded an increase while two- and three-star hotels saw a significant decrease.

According to figures released last month by the Athens-Attica Hotel Association, five-star hotels recorded an 11.2 percent increase in bookings and reached 50 percent in occupancy and four-star hotels saw an 11.4 percent rise and reached 62 percent in occupancy.

In contrast, two- and three-star hotels saw a 10.5 percent drop in bookings in February and saw an occupancy decrease of 53.8 percent.

The association announced its new initiative to cooperate with Expedia.com to strengthen Athens as a destination and attract customers who do not have the Greek capital as their first choice to visit.

Under this partnership, Expedia has compiled for the association a targeted promotion plan through five different channels: Expedia.com (U.S.), Expedia.ca (Canada), Expedia.aus (Australia) and Hotels.com (Sweden and Norway). The promotion was put into effect as of last month.

GBR Consulting said hotels in Athens, compared with units of 11 other European cities, saw a 4.3 percent decrease on the average price per room rates in February over the same month last year.