- 21% of Greek hotel rooms are branded
- tour operators in top positions
- 7 out of 10 rooms in 5* category are branded
The Hotel Brands Report of GBR Consulting (September 2013) incorporates branded chains which have at least two hotel properties in their portfolio and are branded as a group. Four brand types have been categorised and analysed:
According to the report, only 6 % of hotels in Greece is branded but, due to their comparatively larger size, they represent 21 % of the rooms.
The dominance of tour operators in the Greek hotel market is also reflected by the fact that the TUI and Thomas Cook are in the first and third position among all brands on the basis of room count, the former offering 9,211 rooms in 42 hotels and the latter 2,956 rooms in 23 hotels, most of which are 4* and 5* properties. The second place is taken by national brand Mitsis Hotels with 5,334 rooms, also mainly with 4* and 5* properties.
Top 10 brands in Greece
Brand name |
Type of brand |
Number of hotels |
Total rooms |
Avg. number of rooms |
| TUI | International |
42 |
9,211 |
219 |
| Mitsis Hotels | National |
18 |
5,334 |
296 |
| Thomas Cook | International |
23 |
2,956 |
129 |
| Bee Happy | Consortium |
45 |
2,632 |
58 |
| Aquis Hotels & Resorts | National |
12 |
2,616 |
218 |
| Aldemar Hotels & Spa | National |
7 |
2,587 |
370 |
| Starwood Hotels & Resort | International |
11 |
2,301 |
209 |
| Leading Hotels of the World | Consortium |
12 |
2,113 |
176 |
| Small Luxury Hotels of the World | Consortium |
45 |
2,094 |
47 |
| Tablet Hotels | Consortium |
38 |
2,026 |
53 |
Among non-tour operator brands, the stongest presence is by Starwood with 2,301 rooms in 11 hotels, all 5* properties, while international brands such as Hilton, Intercontinental, Marriott have very limited presence – while the last one recently announced its withdrawal from its only hotel in Greece. Other brands in the the top-10 include the national consortium Bee Happy with 45 hotels / 2,632 rooms, Aquis Hotels with 12 hotels / 2,616 rooms, Aldemar hotels with 7 / 2,587 rooms and the consortia Leading Hotels of the World with 12 hotels / 2113 rooms, Small Luxury Hotels of the World with 45 hotels / 2,094 rooms and Tablet Hotels with 38 hotels / 2,026 rooms.
Looking at the distribution of branded hotels per category, we notice that 34% of branded properties are 5*, 42% are 4*, 15% are 3*, 9% are 2* and 1% is 1*.
Branded Properties per hotel category
Category |
Number of branded hotels |
% |
Number of brands |
% |
| 5* | 204 |
34% |
262 |
37% |
| 4* | 253 |
42% |
282 |
40% |
| 3* | 89 |
15% |
92 |
13% |
| 2* | 57 |
9% |
60 |
9% |
| 1* | 4 |
1% |
4 |
1% |
| Total hotels | 607 |
100% |
700 |
100% |
| Non - hotel | 46 |
46 |
||
| Total units | 653 |
746 |
Considering the penetration of the various categories, 5* hotels / rooms are branded by 58 % / 69.7 %, the 4* hotels by 20.2% / 35.5 %, while penetration rates in the lower categories are considerably lower. It is also observed that international brands are particularly strong in the 5* segment, national brands in the 4* and local brands in the 3* and 2*.
Penetration of Branded Hotels per Category
Category |
% branded hotels |
% branded rooms |
| 5* | 58.0% |
69.7% |
| 4* | 20.2% |
35.5% |
| 3* | 3.8% |
7.5% |
| 2* | 1.3% |
2.0% |
| 1* | 0.3% |
0.5% |
| Total hotels | 6.3% |
21.1% |
The full study covers 489 pages and includes full details of which hotels belong to what brand (international, national, local, consortium) across the country and for each prefecture. It also includes an analytical presentation of the brands represented in Greece by specifying the branded hotels, their 'flag', the number of rooms and their respective category. Finally, the study includes details of the branded hotels by category and by prefecture and contains many tables, graphs and maps.