Grivalia opens ultra-lux resort
Grivalia Hospitality’s new ultra-luxury resort is opening its doors on November 11, after its formal launch on Monday afternoon in Glyfada, southern Athens, in the presence of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Prem Watsa, head of Fairfax Financial and one of the largest investors in Greece.
The €300 million investment adds a flagship hotel to the Athenian Riviera that will help to attract high-income travelers. Over an area of 278,000 square meters of protected forestland and with a coastline of 2.2 kilometers, One&Only Aesthesis has 127 luxury rooms and bungalows and an additional 14 private residences. The complex will operate all year round with an emphasis on privacy, while it has been certified for its environmentally responsible operation.
This particular investment, the prime minister said, highlights “everything we are trying to achieve in tourism: our strategic decision to upgrade our product, the emphasis on sustainability, and the shift of the city toward the sea.”
He added that from the government’s point of view, “the most important thing is to create many well-paid jobs. The higher your rates, the more you will be able to pay your staff, the more training will be required, and the more young people working here will see that a career in the hospitality industry is a career worth pursuing. In that sense, what you do here is very important.” Over 500 new jobs have already been created for the resort’s operational needs, 80% of which have been undertaken by Greeks.
For his part, Watsa praised Mitsotakis for the business-friendly environment that the government has created, noting that “this unique complex, which was the vision of the head of Grivalia Hospitality, George Chryssikos, could not have been realized otherwise.”
Chryssikos said he was proud that “another project of ours and of this scope has been completed and will start operating in the coming period, being a milestone for our industry and the Athenian Riviera as a whole. We are honored to partner with Kerzner International, a global leader in ultra-luxury hospitality, and bring the first One&Only to this country.”
