Are you wondering what to expect in your Athens hotel ?
If this will be your first visit to Athens, our basic info about Greek hotels will tell you everything you need to know about choosing a hotel and what to expect once you arrive.
Greek Hotels - the basic info
Your choice of a Greek Hotel is conditioned by your personality, budget and the kind of experience you want to have while visiting Greece. You can even mix and match: stay at hotel in Athens for a few nights and then rent a villa in Mykonos, an airBnB in Delphi https://www.thedelphihotels.com/#panmap.
Whatever you choose Greeks are warm and welcoming hosts. For Greeks Philoxenia (literally a «friend to a stranger») translated by hospitality it is much deeper than that. It is an unspoken cultural law that shows generosity and courtesy to strangers.
The traditional choice when visiting any new place is a hotel. Greece has thousands of choices all over the country, which come in all shapes and sizes from a small family run hotel to a ultra-luxury hotel.
Most of Greece’s hotels are small, family-owned enterprises, but there are also outposts of international hotel groups like Marriot, Hilton and Starwood, Sofitel.
1) How the Greek star rating system works
4) Everything you need to know about tipping in Greek hotels
1) Hotels in Greece - What the Stars Can - And Can't - Tell You
The Greek National Tourism Organisation and the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels determines the star ratings of hotels according to the following guidelines:
Four or five stars hotels
- Must have personnel that speak at least two languages.
- They must provide breakfast areas and restaurants in-house,
- Have elevators
- Offer easy access to disabled persons
- Room service is required at hotels of three stars or more.
- Housekeeping is guaranteed once a day as well as an afternoon check on the room.
All three, four and five stars hotel rooms must be equiped with a telephone with direct external line. Two-star hotels must have phones in the rooms.
Linens are changed daily in four and five star hotels. Three-star hotels change their linens three times a week while two-stars, twice a week. One-star properties change linens at least once a week.
Bar service is available eight hours a day at two-star hotels, 12 hours at three-stars and 16 hours at four-and five-star hotels.
Breakfast. Nearly all hotels in Greece offer breakfast as part of the nightly room rate. Generally this includes a selection of pastries, bread, cheese, meats, yogurt and fruit.
Greek Breakfast is an ongoing project of the Hellenic Chamber of Hotels to connect the gastronomical wealth of the country with the Greek hotel guest experience. The Greek Breakfast promotes the regional culinary heritage of Greece in a program formulated to highlight local specialties and products.
WiFi. The majority of hotels in Greece offer -usually excellent- Wi-Fi for free.
2) My room is small!
The typical hotel room size in any given area can offer a great deal of insight into market trends as well as consumer demand. For example, as younger consumers begin to prioritize experience over hotel room dimensions, the average size gets smaller. Naturally, this differs depending on a number of factors.
Some factors that affect the average hotel room size include:
- Country or region
- Location (city / countryside / small town etc)
- The type of hotel (budget, motel, resort, boutique etc)
- Hotel star rating
- Price point
- Local attractions (for example, hotels close to theme parks may prioritize larger family rooms)
- Target demographic (business travelers, families, couples, over 50s etc)
- Hotel facilities and amenities
In Greece the minimum hotel room sizes are defined by the Greek National Tourism Organization as follows:
Single room
- five stars hotel 18sq.m. /194 sq.f.
- four stars hotel 16sq.m. / 172.sq.f.
- three stars hotel 13sq.m. / 140sq.f.
- two stars hotel 12sq.m. / 130sq.f.
- one star hotel 10sq.m. / 107sq.f.
- five stars hotel 20sq.m. / 215sq.f.
- four stars hotel 18sq.m. / 194sq.f.
- three stars hotel 15sq.m. / 162sq.f.
- two stars hotel 14sq.m. / 150sq.f.
- one star hotel 12sq.m. / 130sq.f.
Double / Twin room
- five stars hotel 24sq.m. / 258sq.f.
- four stars hotel 22sq.m. / 237sq.f.
- three stars hotel 18sq.m. / 194sq.f.
- two stars hotel 17sq.m. / 183sq.f.
- one star hotel 15sq.m. / 162sq.f.
Triple room
3) Tipping
Tipping is a common practice in Greece, especially in the hospitality industry. It is a way to show appreciation for good service. Tipping rules are not complicated, just follow this guide-lines:
- Always carry some cash and change to make tipping easy.
- Don’t drop coins of different currencies on the table as your servers are unlikely to be able to easily exchange or use them.
in hotels
- you are not expected or required to tip anyone in the hotel you stay in. However, it is considered the polite thing to do and will probably earn you dividends with the staff!
- a coin or two, or even a 5 euros bill is reasonable tip for the porter that carries your luggage to your room and to your car.
- leave a tip for the cleaning service on your bedside table, though in many establishments it may not be considered a tip, and the coins will be left there. This varies so if you want to make sure ask the concierge how to tip your cleaning service.
in restaurants
- you are not obligated to tip nor will you be asked for a tip
- tipping is a ‘thank you’ gesture to your server.
- a good tip is about 5 – 10% of your bill. Just leave it on your table with your bill as you leave.
Politeness and "thank you" is also a tip
Tipping is extremely appreciated but the real currency here is appreciation. Speaking to your server in a polite way, saying “thank you” and “please”, giving them a smile, and acknowledging them can go a long way even if you don’t tip.
