This is the first in a series of profiles examining the families deploying long-term private capital into hotels, covering owner-operators, investment holding companies and family-controlled enterprises, ahead of R&R. You can catch up on the whole series here.
Known today as Greece’s largest privately-owned hotels business, Mitsis Group has been in the hospitality trade since 1972. Founder Konstantinos Mitsis, who started out in the textiles industry in the 1950s, pivoted to hospitality after achieving success with his yarn factories.
The group’s first hotel, Mitsis Ramira, opened in 1976 on the island of Kos. Properties in Athens, Crete, Kamena Vourla, Kos and Rhodes followed. According to Konstantinos Mitsis: “We don’t just see clients; we see people seeking care and relaxation. This belief guides everything we do.”
Today the group operates 25 hotels, of which 16 are owned, four are leased, and five are managed for third parties. “The third-party sector is relatively new for us. We started in 2023, and in less than three years we have grown from zero third-party properties to five,” said Stavros Mitsis, son of Konstantinos and today group managing director. “This rapid expansion signals our group’s transition into a scalable management platform, leveraging our operational expertise beyond owned assets. We plan to expand that area of our business in the near future.”
Island ambitions
After the launch of Norida Beach on Kos in 1982, two decades of explosive growth followed. Properties including Rinela, Grand Hotel, Serita Beach, Rodos Maris, Summer Palace, Family Village and Rodos Village helped the group establish a strong presence in Kos, Rhodes and Crete.
According to the firm, the new millennium signalled a shift from regional growth to strategic diversification. La Vita opened in 2000, followed by Galini in Kamena Vourla and Lindos Memories in Rhodes. Other additions included Roda Beach in Corfu and Grand Serai in Ioannina, as well as Faliraki Beach in Rhodes. In this period, Mitsis also added the Sofitel at Athens International Airport to its stable, underlining an ability to operate at key infrastructure hubs and collaborate with global groups.
Between 2010 and 2020, Mitsis focused on strengthening its position in the five-star resort segment. Blue Domes in Kos, Laguna in Crete and Alila in Rhodes became flagship properties in the premium all-inclusive sector. In 2016, the group launched a €140 million renovation and repositioning programme across key hotels, focusing on sustainability, architectural enhancement and the modernisation of guest experiences. The acquisition of the Grand Hotel in Rhodes in 2018 followed.
In 2019, the group established Mitsis Filoxenia, a new management division, to drive its expansion strategy. This manages Mitsis-owned hotels, Bali Paradise in Crete, Radisson Blu Zaffron in Santorini (Fais Group), plus assets in Halkidiki and Corfu.
Strategic repositioning
The 2020s have seen further strategic repositioning. The group formalised its environmental, social and governance (ESG) strategy in 2021 through a new corporate social responsibility programme. Present sustainability goals include achieving carbon neutrality by 2030 and a plan to be plastic-free by 2030. This latter challenge is being pursued primarily with the elimination of single-use plastics, by establishing water stations in hotels that allow guests to refill containers throughout their stay.
In 2022, the group created a non-profit, the K. Mitsis Foundation, to drive philanthropy and community-focused initiatives.
“Today we are striving to maintain our status and positioning, but increasingly we are also focusing on the communities, both inside and outside the perimeter of our hotel premises,” said Stavros Mitsis. “If you manage to keep your employees, you are more performant and you can run your hotels more efficiently,” he added.
Key additions in Crete in 2022 – namely Mitsis Royal Mare and Mitsis Cretan Village – served to underline its dominance of the island. Management partnerships, meanwhile, have brought on board properties including Mitsis Bali Paradise in Crete and Radisson Blu Zaffron in Santorini as of 2023. In 2024, the group acquired Mitsis Messonghi in Corfu and the urban destination hotel Mitsis N’U Piraeus Port, while also adding Belvedere in Corfu and Alexander the Great in Chalkidiki.
Its principal brands include the newly developed four-star, all-inclusive Canvas flag, “to address different audiences with clear and distinct identities”, said Stavros Mitsis. “Our brands allow us to address different segments, from all-inclusive resorts to urban lifestyle hospitality and premium experience,” he noted, adding that the group remains keen on collaborating with “other major brands for targeted projects”.
In terms of hospitality trends, “the number one trend is sustainability, followed by individual experiences”, he said. “We need to come up with products that cater for the individual, instead of one-size-fits-all sort of products.”
Development schemes
Looking forward, the company is investing some €300 million in new developments shaped by sustainability, wellness and innovation. “Projects such as the upgrade of the Grand Hotel and Rodos Maris in Rhodes, Cretan Village in Crete, and the Schliemann-Mela Mansion in Athens are characteristic examples of this strategy,” Stavros Mitsis said.
The Afandou Project will see the Afandou Golf Course in Rhodes transformed with the construction of three hotels, a marina, shopping centre, tourist residences and modernised 18-hole golf course. In Athens, the historic Schliemann-Melas Mansion is set to undergo a sympathetic contemporary upgrade into a five-star hotel. Other designs for mainland Greece include a new five-star hotel in the Votanikos area, near Lake Pamvotida and plans for an ambitious redevelopment of the thermal spas at a property the group leases on Kamana Vourla. The group has also commenced on a new development in Kardamena in Kos, a new investment in Hersonissos in Crete, and is exploring a new five-star scheme in Mykonos.
He added: “The coming decade will be defined by the ability to create lasting value. With strategic discipline, consistent investment, and a clear vision, we believe we can contribute to a Greek tourism sector that not only follows developments but actively shapes them.”
For Mitsis, the hospitality business represents a clarion call that supersedes black swan events, even if the industry can’t entirely avoid their effects. He observed that the business survived the pandemic by working “hand-in-hand with the government to create guidelines”, allowing the sector to exploit Greece’s “untapped tourism potential” in the successive months and years.
While taking into account geopolitical factors, he said that “our tourism industry has for a large part remained unaffected by the nearby conflicts”. He concluded: “Inflation is still high, and yet people are still booking holidays.”