Athens 4-Star Hotels - Part II - Price Wars

by Victor Matsas • 20 Dec 2024

Location: Greece, Athens

We chose December 2, 2024, Monday, to do our shopping on booking. The weighted average (MM) of the category for this date is 112.7 €.
Athens 4-Star Hotels - Part II - Price Wars
Looking at the ranking of hotels based on the Competitiveness Index (CI), our first observation is that competition is fierce since there are minimum distances separating one hotel from another (see last column in the image).

Searching for the units that sell on MM in the first places (since this is what Revenue Management is looking for) we find The Zillers Athens (165 € - 1st place), AVA Hotel Athens (240 € - 3rd place), Niche Hotel Athens (155 € - 10th place), Royalty Hotel (164 € - 14th place), The Athens Gate Hotel (136 € - 17th place), Ergon House (201 € - 19th place) followed by B4B Athens Signature (135 € - 26th place), The Modernist (177 € - 29th place) and finally Athens Flair at 228 € (33rd place).

So it is no coincidence that all 9 of these hotels are in the TOP 15 of the starting list, and if we add the Electra Hotel that is closed due to renovation we would have 10 out of 15.

The 5 hotels that were in the TOP 15 and sell at prices below MM are: 1) Colors Hotel (88 € - 2nd place), 2) Athens Tower (98 € - 5th place), 3) B4B Athens 365 (83 € 6th place), 4) Amalia Hotel (109 € - 7th place) and 5) H&P Hotels Greece | Herodion & Philippos Hotels (101 € - 12th place).

One explanation for the low prices is that in 4 of these 5 hotels the sale prices are through a Partner Offer (marked as [PO] next to the room type) and here one understands the damage done by this situation that has now been established and there are very few who have taken their measures.

Wedges: The Athenaeum Group leads the way in wedges with the Eridanus and Grand dropping prices (62 € & 85 ) and climbing 19 and 12 places respectively from the initial ranking. In the dance of discounts and AtheSense and Abov Athens with jumps of 20 and 42(!) places respectively.

The next Case Study will concern the Niche Hotel and its pricing strategy.