Big hotel chains have plans

As tourism expands in Greece, so does the interest of international hotel chains to strengthen their presence in the country.

Currently, this presence is limited, especially compared with other countries, and is concentrated mostly on the high end (4- and 5-stars).

According to the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels, at the end of 2023 there were 10,047 hotels with 444,389 rooms. Of those, 205 with 29,204 rooms were operated by 39 international hotel chains, according to sector consultants GBR Consulting.

But things are changing: Global chains such as Mandarin, One&Only, Hilton Worldwide and Six Senses, among others, have either concluded, or are negotiating, deals with highly rated Greek hotels. This is part of the country’s adoption of the globally prevalent trend that decouples property ownership from property management and branding by a big hospitality corporation. The model contrasts with Greece’s family ownership tradition, which remains strong even in internationally known Greek brands such as Grecotel and Mitsis Hotels, and even chains active abroad, such as the Sani/Ikos group, which already operates two units abroad and will soon add another two, all in the Western Mediterranean. Sani/Ikos’ international presence puts it, for our statistical purposes, among the global hotel chains.

According to GBR Consulting data, 20% of Greece’s 5-star hotels, which have 26% of the rooms, are either owned by international brands or have deals with them. Among 4-star hotels, the numbers are 4% and 11%, respectively.

Only last month, Hilton announced that it had added 25 units to its Greek portfolio, raising its presence to 34 units, with over 2,000 rooms. The additional 25 units come from the Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) collection, which can now be booked through Hilton’s system.

Still, with a 7% share of rooms among hotel chains, Hilton Worldwide trails Marriott International (19%), Sani/Ikos and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts (9% each), while Spain’s Melia Hotels International and InterContinental Hotels Group have a share around 4% each. There are also 29 more global chains that, collectively, operate 28% of the rooms managed by those chains.