Hospitality News

Last year 870 major hotel enterprises produced losses that reached some 79 million euros against profits of 61 million euros in 2007, according to a survey conducted by Stat Bank.

The historical Poseidonion, located in Dapia on Spetses Island, is in full operation as of July following a luxurious renovation that lasted five years.

The five-star Kresten Royal Villas & Spa in Rodos will begin operations on 20 April, 2010.

As of June, the Elysium Resort & Spa in Rodos offers spa treatments and products of the renowned international company ESPA.

Over the past years hotel brands in Greece have expanded although their share still remains low when compared with other European countries, says tourism and hospitality consultant, Dr. Dimitris Koutoulas.

Along with the side effects of the economic crisis Athenian hotels now must deal with criminal acts against tourists (hotel guests) and employees of certain hotels in the city center, the Athens-Attica Hotels Association recently stressed.

Greek hoteliers recently responded negatively to Health Minister Dimitris Avramopoulos’s proposal for the use of a room in each hotel complex to isolate a tourist that would develop H1N1 (swine) flu symptoms.

The demanding visitor is not interested exclusively in sun and sea but also expects top service and facilities and that is exactly what the Aquis all-inclusive package offers, “unique facilities,” said Andreas Antoniou, the hotel chain’s director of operations, at the recent grand opening of the Agios Gordios Beach Hotel on Kerkyra.

With a drop in the average hotel occupancy rate in the Athens Attica region by 26 percent in January, 13.1 percent in February and 15.7 percent in March, the Athens-Attica Hotels Association called for immediate measures to boost tourism in Greece’s capital.

Greek hotels are to maintain last year’s minimum prices for this season until 31 March 2010, according to a recent decision by Tourism Minister Kostas Markopoulos.