Athens Seeing a Boom in 5-star Hotel Openings

The new rooftop of the Grand Hyatt Athens hotel. Photo source: Grand Hyatt Athens

Athens is seeing a boom in 5-star hotel openings with the number now double compared to 2015, found a recent study presented by the Athens – Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association in collaboration with GBR Consulting.

According to the annual benchmarking report, 31 five-star hotels are currently operating in Athens from 15 eight years ago.

In the 4-star category there are now 77 hotels from 41 in 2015 and in the 3-star group 69 hotels up from 51 eight years ago.

In the same period, the number of 2-star hotels dropped to 64 from 80 in 2015 while 53 one-star hotels are now operating in Athens.

Overall, there are 18,254 hotel rooms available in the Greek capital, which also offers 14,000 short-term tourist accommodation listings.

Athens in the last decade has attracted strong investor interest as more international travelers choose to stay in the Greek capital longer. According to the study, the top reason cited for visiting Athens was for its cultural offerings receiving a score of 9.1 out of 10.

Panoramic view of Omonia Square as seen from the the Lighthouse hotel of Brown Hotels.

In view of the growing demand, all the more international brands are setting up shop in Athens or expanding their operations. According to the findings, 82 percent of all 5-star hotels in Athens are operating under a hospitality chain brand, 40 percent in the 4-star category and 17 percent in the 3-star group.

Indicatively, 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.

Some global brands doing business in Athens and Attica include Brown, Four Seasons, Hyatt, Accor, Wyndham, Intercontinental, One & Only, Starwood, Hilton and Mandarin Oriental bringing the total number of brands to 34. Overall in Attica, 18 global hospitality groups and 34 brands are available.

Meanwhile, the number of hotels is also increasing in the wider Athens area which belongs to the Attica region. There are currently 55 (up from 32 in 2015) 5-star hotels in operation, 141 four-star facilities (up from 99), 168 three-star hotels (from 145). On the decline is the number of 2-star units currently 224 from 275 eight years ago and 1-star units now 109 from 113.

Lastly, according to the report, visitors to Athens and Attica were very satisfied with the value for money awarding a score of 8.8.

However, the Greek capital and the wider region is still lagging behind in safety which received a score of 7.4 out of 10, accessibility (6.6) and cleanliness (6.4).