Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE: H) announced today that a Hyatt affiliate has entered into a franchise agreement with both Henderson Park and Hines for the first Grand Hyatt hotel in Greece, Grand Hyatt Athens. The opening is expected in Q3 2018. The hotel will be managed by Kokari Limited and will deliver bold and vibrant luxury for guests in this iconic destination.
Four Seasons veteran Sam Ioannidis has been named General Manager of Four Seasons Astir Palace Hotel Athens.
Tourism is booming in Greece. According to the World Tourism and Travel Council, the number of international tourist arrivals has grown more than 1.5 times in the past seven years. Euromonitor International has included Athens in the top three tourist destinations in European, and the number of tourists is growing faster than anywhere else. According to analysts, the number of tourist arrivals will grow by another 10% in 2017.
Christos has been working in the hospitality sector for the last 25 years and has served as a senior executive in major hotel units. “My presence at Meliá Athens Hotels is a pleasant challenge,” Christos said. “Our aim is to continue to satisfy our visitors every moment, by providing them with modern high-quality hospitality services,” he said. Christos holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing and hotel management and a master’s degree in strategic business administration from the Hellenic Management Association (EEDE).
The municipality of Athens and the local government of the massive and globally influential Chinese metropolis of Shanghai have renewed a memorandum of cooperation (MoU) envisioning closer cooperation, during a signing ceremony on Monday at the Greek capital's town hall.
With an average age of 36 years and an average experience in organizing conferences of 6.7 years, 50 executives from 18 countries participated in the IAPCO Edge Seminar which was held in Athens on 17-19 January 2017.
Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE: CHH) announced today it has signed a multi-unit development agreement with GVK Enterprises, a hospitality management and development firm, to introduce and establish a hotel portfolio in Greece.
Right after his successful and long-term career as Front Office Manager at The Romanos, A Luxury Collection Resort Messinia, Philippos Zambelis is now assuming the position of Hotel Manager at these three top notch city hotels.
Last week, in Athens, a cast of hospitality and travel tech experts gathered at the Digi.travel EMEA Conference & Expo. The conference was dedicated to online travel trends and developments, and to solutions for the most pressing challenges facing the industry. Here is a synopsis of the meet-up, and the high points from some of the world's most knowledgeable hospitality-tech experts.
International hotel chains such as Starwood, Hilton, InterContinental, Marriott, Wyndham Grand and Four Seasons are investing into the Greek hotel business. According to insiders, the recent successful completion of the sale of the iconicAstir Palace and Athens Hilton seem to generate a new "fair wind" for tourism industry investment in the Greek capital, which has seen around 90 hotels default during the last few years.
Marriott International (NASDAQ: MAR)'s new agreement with Chandris Hotels will mark the return of the Marriott Hotel brand to the vibrant city of Athens, following an absence of more than two years. Once the hotel completes its $15 million transformation, the Athens Marriott Hotel will debut in 2018 with 366 guestrooms and the welcoming service and world-class amenities that Marriott guests worldwide expect.
Narratives are powerful in moving, inspiring, making feeling unique, orchestrating emotional connections and qualifying a link between the most top-notch hotels and their guests. Today more and more hotels reconfigure their hospitality strategies towards the adoption of an experiential orientation through stories. They script namely unique, extraordinary narratives and stage escapist events, individually customized and personally meaningful for each guest persona.
A spectacular rise in properties officially rented through Airbnb in Athens has been recorded from 2013 to 2016 in Athens, according to data from its database. As you will see in the relevant growth curve, the number of rented homes in the Attica region of the Greek capital, takes off in 2016 and is almost four times more than 2013.
Athens-Attica & Argosaronic Hotel Association (AHA) announced that Athens hotels have been seeing their occupancy numbers deteriorating from last fall till February 2016.
International tourist arrivals at the main airports of Greece increased by 1.6 mn up to September 2014, representing an increase of 14.3%. The main contributor is Athens, as the city received 600,000 international tourists more than last year up to September; an increase of 28.3% and thus recovering –in terms of arrivals- in one year a decline of 5 years. The Athens Hotel Association, the Athens International Airport, Aegean Airlines and Marketing Greece are working together to further improve the city's performance.
After an exhaustive search, World Travel Awards has revealed the nominees for its Europe Gala Ceremony 2014. Hundreds of entrants have been whittled down to the few who will proceed to the voting stage of the annual event, with industry professionals and members of the travelling public now invited to vote for nominee companies of their choice.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide announced that the internationally-renowned King George Hotel in Athens will join The Luxury Collection Hotels & Resorts’ ensemble of the world’s finest hotels. In partnership with Lampsa Hellenic Hotels S.A, Starwood will open King George, a Luxury Collection Hotel, Athens later this year. The opening will mark The Luxury Collection’s eighth hotel in Greece, reinforcing the brand’s global growth as it remains on track to surpass 90 hotels by 2016.
The Rezidor Hotel Group, one of the fastest growing hotel companies worldwide, announces the Radisson Blu Hotel, Athens: The existing Athens Park Hotel will be rebranded as Radisson Blu Park Hotel Athens by mid December 2011. The property featuring 152 rooms is Rezidor's very first hotel in Greece - the company is now present in 65 countries across Europe, Middle East and Africa.