Report: More International Hotel Brands Invest in Greece

The One&Only Aesthesis on the Glyfada seafront in Athens is one of the recent additions to the Greek hospitality scene. Photo source: One&Only Aesthesis

All the more international hotel brands are investing in Greece, with a focus on the Athenian Riviera and central Athens, found a report released recently by analytics firm GBR Consulting.

According to the “Greek Hospitality Industry Performance 2023 Q3 (third quarter)” report, investment activity in Greece by global hospitality giants increased by 80 percent in the last five years while room capacity grew by 78 percent.

Indicatively, in 2018 there were 89 hotels operated by international chains offering a total of 14,869 rooms.

Today there are 90 hotels with 20,360 rooms cooperating with major tour operators, including TUI and Der Touristik, and 160 hotels with 26,540 rooms on offer and part of 35 global hotel chains offering 68 brands while eight hotels are running under two international chains offering 1,118 rooms.

The map shows where hotels of international chains are located. Many of these hotels are located in established destinations such as Central Athens and Attica in general, Corfu, Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes and Halkidiki.

According to the GBR study, in the 5-star category, international hospitality chains account for 14 percent of the hotels in Greece and 18 percent of the rooms. In the 4-star category, global hotel chains account for 2 percent of all hotels and 6 percent of all rooms. There is no international hotel brand activity in the 3-star category.

Global hospitality giants active in Greece, include HIG Capital, Reggeborgh Invest,  Marriott International, One & Only, Banyan Tree, Six Senses, Rosewood, Conrad, Sani/Ikos Group, and Domes Resorts.

In the historic center of Athens, meanwhile, there are 350 hotels offering 30,000 rooms representing 72 percent of all hotels in the Attica Region. In the 2015-2022, the number of hotels in Athens increased by 19 percent.