Hospitality News

The long awaited star system for Greek hotels may finally get off the ground later this year. The Hellenic Tourism Organization has called for an international advisor to assist in the implementation of hotel categorization through an international star system it has partially developed with the cooperation of the Greek hotel sector.

Elaborate renovations of Rodos Palace Resort Hotel were successfully completed recently after two years of design and intensive construction work. The project cost owners some 3.5 billion drachmas.

The Rodian Beach Resort on Rodos, the ex-Rodos Bay, late this fall begins phase three of its renovation and expansion program with new luxury rooms, another large pool, a gym and a health and beauty center. During the first two phases, the Cypriot-based Lanitis group and its hotel partners spent more than four billion drachmas to expand and upgrade the 11-story hotel complex.

With the recent agreement between the Chandris hotel group and the French hotel group Accor, whereby Accor takes over the management of the Chandris group, the Greek capital’s major hotels are for the most part managed by multi-national hotel units. This is in stark difference to Greek hotels outside of Athens that are family-owned and family-run units.

After promises by government quarters to hold off on any new hotels other than those already approved or being approved (4,500 rooms), the Athens Hoteliers Association agreed to book another 10% of available rooms in luxury hotel units for officials of the 2004 Olympic Games. That leaves another 10% yet to be covered in order to host the Olympic family.

Some 20 new hotels with a total capacity of some 5.000 beds and costing an estimated 100 billion drachmas are expected to be built in Attica over the years leading up to the 2004 Olympics, Development Minister Nikos Christodoulakis said last month.

On the average, hotels in Greece’s northern capital, Thessaloniki, during the first eight months of this year posted a occupancy rate of 52%. Hoteliers say they are hardly satisfied with the result, but they say at least they have managed to increase the number of foreign overnights from last year’s 28% to 36% this year.

The Candia Maris on Crete, the first hotel in Greece and the third in the Mediterranean (and among only 100 units internationally) to possess the coveted ISO 14001 environmental management certification, has created a “Green Team” to help clean up Greece. All members of the team are hotel employees who volunteered for the task.

Patra’s Porto Rio Hotel celebrated its rejuvenation last month. Owners spent some two billion drachmas to give the unit a complete new image, not just a facelift. The only thing familiar to previous hotel guests is the unique view to the sea.

The Athenaeum Inter-Continental Athens has reopened its ballroom following a 950-million drachma renovation of what is considered one of the largest conference venues in Greece.