Study: 10% of All Hotels in Greece are Branded

Destino Pacha Mykonos – Pacha Group.

Ten percent of all hotels and 32 percent of all hotel rooms in Greece are branded, new research by GBR Consulting on the hotel brand landscape in the country has revealed.

According to GBR, the research shows that a hotel is part of an international brand with properties in more than one country; a hotel is part of a national brand with a presence in various geographic regions within Greece; a hotel is part of a local brand with a presence of more than 1 property in only one geographic area and / or a consortium, covering hotels that are part of a marketing partnership.

More into the data, GBR revealed that:

– the brand penetration rate of 10 percent (mentioned above) represents 1,022 hotels that carry 1,479 brands. Many hotels carry multiple brands, even up to 6 brands. The marketing consortia have the largest market share with 45 percent, followed by international and national brands with 19 percent each and local brands with 17 percent
– a 198 distinct brands of all mentioned types have a presence in Greece currently, of which 63 are international
-in the 5-star sector about 73 percent of the hotels and 83 percent of the hotel rooms are branded, while in the 4-star category these rates are 23 percent and 40 percent respectively.

Hotel brands are on the rise

The Dolce Athens Attica Riviera – Wyndham Hotel Group.

GBR’s research shows that compared to 2016, the number of branded hotels in Greece increased by 65 percent and branded hotel rooms by 59 percent. The overall brand penetration rate at hotels in 2016 was 6 percent compared to 10 percent in 2021, while penetration rate of hotel rooms was 21 percent in 2016 compared to 32 percent in 2021.

Other key findings reveal:

– In 2016 GBR had 137 distinct hotel brands registered in its database, compared to 198 in 2021, an increase of 45 percent
– Internationally branded hotels showed the largest growth of 95 percent comparing 2016 to 2021. The 5-star sector increased their brand penetration from 53 percent in 2016 to 73 percent in 2021 in terms of hotels and from 65 percent in 2016 to 83 percent in 2021 in terms of hotels rooms.

Most recent international brands that entered Greece

Αthens Capital Hotel – MGallery – Accor

Some of the international brands that entered the Greek market during the last 5 years are brands of Marriott International (entered with Autograph Collection Hotels, Marriott Hotels and Moxy), Brown Hotels, Cook & Cook’s Club (both former Thomas Cook), Hilton Worldwide (entered with Curio Collection), Four Seasons, Wyndham Hotel Group (entered with Dolce Hotels & Resorts, Ramada, Wyndham Grand and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts), Accor (entered with Angsana, Ibis Styles and MGallery), Labranda Hotels & Resorts (FTI), OKU Hotels and Pacha Group.

Hotel brand landscape per prefecture

On the hotel brand landscape per prefecture in Greece, GBR found that:

– in 2016 Athens, Lassithi (Crete) and Ilia (west Peloponnese) were the only regions with a brand penetration of more than 40 percent in terms of hotel rooms. In 2021 the Dodecanese and Iraklio (Crete) were added to this category.

– the prefecture with the most branded hotel rooms by far is the Dodecanese with nearly 40,000 rooms, followed at a distance by Iraklio in Crete with nearly 19,000 rooms and Halkidiki with about 9,500 rooms categorized below in a bracket of between 5,000 – 10,000 hotel rooms.

GBR Consulting is the leading hospitality and tourism consultancy in Greece. Its experience includes market and financial feasibility studies as well as valuations and development plans for hotels, resorts, spas, marinas, casinos & gaming, conference centers & venues, theme parks, golf courses etc.