Large multinational hotel chains are increasing their activity in Greece. The low penetration compared to the country’s hotel potential, which is far below that of other tourism destinations such as Spain or Italy, combined with the excellent prospects of tourism, are motivating the largest groups. They are constantly looking for partnerships with hotel property owners and their presence has been steadily increasing in recent years, although it still remains below the European average.
In the last month and a half alone, four new partnerships have been announced: After Four Seasons, which in collaboration with AGC Equity Partners will open the Four Seasons Resort Mykonos in 2025, and Accor, which will inaugurate the first Handwritten Collection in Greece (in Iraklio) and the first Movenpick in Greece, at Sivota, Wyndham Hotels & Resorts has announced it is in discussions for its further expansion in the Greek tourism market in the coming years, both at popular destinations in the country and in areas with a smaller foreign tourism footprint.
The interest of foreign chains in Greece was also confirmed during the international forum Resort & Residential Hospitality 2024, currently taking place in Athens with the participation of hotel realty owners, property development companies, hoteliers and foreign hotel management chains.
The prospects for the further development of their presence in Greece are made clear by the size of the hotel stock. A total of 10,047 hotels operated 444,389 rooms with a total of 887,748 beds at end-2023, according to the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels. However, only 205 hotels, with 29,204 rooms, were operated by a total of 39 international hotel chains, per data from GBR Consulting.
In the last few years, the presence of foreign chains has been increasing, led by some of the very large luxury chains such as Mandarin, One&Only, Hilton Worldwide, Six Senses and others. According to experts, this development is the country’s adaptation to the international hotel operating model, which now separates the ownership of the property from the management of the hotel and its branding. The protagonists in this process are the hotels with the highest ratings. According to GBR Consulting, 20% of five-star hotels either collaborate with international chains or in some cases are already controlled by them.