The big investments in the hotels that catch a port in Crete

By Vicky Kourlimbini

In recent months, Crete has been a magnet for multi-million euro hotel investments, a destination with high tourist demand and always first on the list of organized tourist packages. After two difficult years for tourism due to the pandemic, the island is again attracting large investment funds and the attention of leading hospitality groups.

The placement of Accor

The Niko Seaside Resort MGallery in Agios Nikolaos has already started its operation and at the end of June the official opening of the luxury unit bearing the luxury mark of the MGallery Collection of the French hotel group Accor, which took over the management, is planned. This is the former Coral Hotel of the Mamidakis group, on the coastline of Mirabello Bay, which in 2019 passed to the American real estate development giant Hines.

This is the second time that the French giant trusts the MGallery Collection brand in a Greek hotel, after the placement of the Athens Capital Hotel-MGallery Collection of the LAMPSA group in Syntagma.

Niko Seaside Resort MGallery consists of 141 rooms and suites with private plunge pools. In the summer of 2020 it was announced that the European real estate investment platform Henderson Park and Hines had acquired a portfolio of five hotels in Crete.

The market included two separate transactions. The new market consisted of 1,094 rooms, 67,000 sq.m. Hermes and Coral, two adjacent hotels with 218 and 170 rooms respectively, located centrally in Agios Nikolaos.

Santa Marina and Apollonia, with 208 and 336 hotels respectively, in privileged seaside locations in Heraklion, just 5 km from the main airport of the island and near Knossos.

The entrance of InterContinental

The Hines-Henderson Park duo is taking another big step in collaboration with IHG Hotels & Resorts for the InterContinental Resort Crete, on the site of the old “Hermes” hotel.

Renovation work is in full swing and the new hotel will open its gates in 2023 with a capacity of 205 rooms. All rooms will have a private terrace (and half of them have a private jacuzzi), overlooking Mirabello Bay. It is located in a privileged location, right on the beach of Agios Nikolaos, offering easy and direct access to its guests.

Henderson Park and Hines also bought in 2020 the three Cyan Group hotels, Santa Marina and Apollonia, with 208 and 336 rooms respectively in Heraklion, and the 162-room Sitia Beach located in Sitia. The most recent acquisition of Hines in Crete, took place in 2021 and concerns the hotel complex Out of the Blue, which belonged to the Kapsis family, in Agia Pelagia in Heraklion.

The plans of the Mitsis group

The Mitsis Hotels group is also investing heavily in the island of Crete after the agreement with the Aldemar group for the acquisition of two units in Crete, the 5-star Aldemar Royal Mare with 435 rooms and the 4-star Aldemar Cretan Village with 322 rooms, located in the Hersonissos of Crete.

In the design of the group is the immediate renovation and modernization of these hotels where among other things there is one of the best spas in the world.

Investment of 125 million by Ikos

The Sani / Ikos group has acquired an area of ​​over 200 thousand sq.m. in the bay of Kissamos, Chania, with the aim of creating the first hotel complex under the brand of Ikos Resorts on the island. The new Ikos Kissamos will have a total of 400 rooms, bungalows and villas spanning a 600-meter-long seafront. Its construction will begin in 2023 and its operation is expected in May 2025. For the creation of the single area of ​​200 thousand sq.m., the group acquired and consolidated more than 30 individual plots. The total investment of the Sani / Ikos group in Crete will exceed 125 million euros while more than 750 new jobs will be created.

The great tourist performance of Crete in arrivals and revenues

The Region of Crete represents (2020 data) 16% of the units, 22% of the rooms and 22% of the beds in the country. It has a total of 1,638 units with 97,525 rooms and 190,714 beds. 5 * hotels, although they represent only 8% of the hotel units, nevertheless occupy 25% of the rooms and 26% of the beds.

It is characteristic that Crete represents in 2020 20% of the country’s international air arrivals. In the period 2015-2019, the airports of the Region recorded an increase in international arrivals by + 28% (from 3.5 million in 2015 to 4.5 million in 2019). Individually, all airports in the period 2015-2019 recorded an increase in international arrivals: Heraklion (+ 30%, from 2.5 million in 2015 to 3.3 million in 2019), Chania (+ 21%, from 940 thousand in 2015 to 1.1 million in 2019) and Sitia (+ 1.889%, from 611 arrivals in 2015 to 12 thousand in 2019).

It also represents 20% of the revenues recorded in Greece in 2020. In the period 2016-2019, the Region recorded an increase in revenues of + 16% (from 3.1 billion euros in 2016 to 3.6 billion euros in 2019). In the period 2016-2019 finally, the Region recorded an increase of visits by + 17% (from 4.5 million in 2016 to 5.3 million in 2019).