Aiming for wealthy guests
Real Estate group Grivalia Hospitality has its hands full developing high-end, luxury hospitality projects in Greece and beyond.
Three such projects are underway and nearing completion: One & Only Aesthesis, a complex of 128 luxury rooms, suites and villas in Glyfada; Voula Project, a private members club at Voula, a seaside Athens suburb next to Glyfada; and Avantmar, a beachfront hotel in Naoussa, on the island of Paros. Further ahead, there are two more planned projects, a residential/club complex at Megalonisos, the largest of the Petalioi, a group of 10 small islands and islets off the southern coast of the island of Evia; and Project Blue, 150 rooms and suites near Kalo Livadi beach, on the island of Mykonos.
Grivalia’s Chairman and CEO, George Chryssikos, tells Kathimerini he has three more projects in mind, but he is not rushing into them; he will await the completion of the above projects. It’s a matter of resource allocation, he says.
Outside Greece, Grivalia is developing a resort – eco-friendly, it says – on the Pearl Islands, off Panama’s Pacific coast.
Three Grivalia projects are already operating: Amanzoe, a luxury resort at Porto Heli, in the Peloponnese; On Residence, a hotel in Thessaloniki’s seaside promenade on a restored and upgraded listed building that also contains the iconic Olympus Naoussa restaurant; and Meli Palace, a resort on the island of Crete, near the Minoan palace of Malia.
When the five planned projects are completed, Grivalia’s value, currently nearly €1 billion, will reach €1.5 billion, says Chryssikos.
For the Grivalia CEO, there is a great market for 5- and 6-star resorts in Greece. Demand is high and, so far, supply is low. And the targeted cliented is high value: people with considerable disposable income who are going to spend large sums that will benefit the whole tourism ecosystem.
According to Chryssikos, the third projects under construction will open as pilot operations very soon; Avantmar in June; the Glyfada project in early August; and the Voula Project in early 2024. At the same time, Chryssikos is planning to diversify the company’s portfolio of associated brands, adding that the company that will partner with Grivalia on the Petalioi project will cause a stir. So far, Grivalia has partnered with Amanzoe in Porto Heli, and will also be joined by One & Only at Glyfada and Mandarin in Mykonos.
But improving the tourism product is not just the job of private developers, Chryssikos says. The state must also be actively involved, to improve infrastructure, upgrade and modernize archaeological sites and museums and, certainly, cut down on the red tape that hinders investment.
