Hundreds of Small Family-owned Hotels in Greece Up for Grabs

More than 200 three- and four-star mostly family-owned hotels in Greece are being sold off to the best bidders as owners are unable to cope with rising costs, found a report released by E- Real Estates Panhellenic Network of Real Estate.

More specifically over the last 30 days, 204 hotels have been listed in property classifieds online. The majority of hotels up for grabs are family-owned businesses in lower star categories with a 10 to 30 room capacity, said E- Real Estates.

Themistoklis Bakas, E-Real Estates president, attributes the increase in sales of mostly SMEs to the inability of entrepreneurs to keep up with successive crises, loans, changing regulations, soaring energy costs, inflation, the rising cost of goods in the supply chain, “which have reduced incomes and increased expenses“.

Indicative of the grim situation: from the beginning of the year to May 31, a total of 111 hotel auctions were posted and 323 in 2022 based on the eauction.gr platform.

So who’s buying? According to E-Real Estates, foreign funds and local interests are purchasing large hotel units and acquiring real estate and hotel units that are unable to withstand their debt. Indicative of the situation, last year, a consortium of companies was selected as the preferred investor for the sale of a red loan portfolio of hotels (with a legal claim of 254 million euros), known as “Project Tethys”. The deal was finalized in March 2023.

Areas with the most hotels being sold off include Attica with units dating as far back as 1930 in areas such as Kifissia, Votanikos, Plaka, Gazi, Omonia and Victoria squares, and Psyri.

Crete and the Peloponnese with starting prices at 500,000 euros and in popular tourist areas such as Tolo, Loutraki, Nafplio, Ermioni, Kiato and Xylokastro.

On the islands of Paros, Zakynthos, Santorini, Skiathos, Mykonos, Spetses, Kefalonia, Rhodes, Naxos, Skopelos, Syros and Sifnos, to name a few, with starting prices 620,000 euros.

And lastly, in mainland Greece, in areas such as Evia which suffered massive fires in the summer of 2021, Halkidiki, Kamena Vourla, Ioannina, and Arachova with starting prices at 650,000 euros. In March, Greek hospitality group Mitsis Hotels said it would be moving ahead with an ambitious plan to redevelop the thermal springs in the coastal town of Kamena Vourla located in Central Greece.

Over the last few months, dozens of hotels in Greece worth a total of 320 million euros exchanged hands demonstrating a growing demand among local and international investors for tourist properties.