Greece’s hotel ratings are first among six tourism markets in the Mediterranean region based on customer satisfaction for the 2024 summer season, a report by the Institute of the Hellenic Tourism Business Association (INSETE) finds.
Greek hotels are rated higher than Cyprus, Spain, Italy, France, Spain, France, and Turkey, having improved their score compared to the previous year.
The report entitled “Evaluation of Hotel Customer Satisfaction in Greece and Competitor Countries”, says that overall guest satisfaction reflects Greece’s competitive advantage in the hotel experience, particularly in terms of service, cleanliness, breakfast, and location.
It adds that there is room for improvement in categories such as cleanliness, service, and management of infrastructure, public and private, during high-demand periods, and food and beverage.
The study focuses on the 2024 summer season (April-October), presenting Greece’s performance in hotel satisfaction compared to competitor countries with data from Shiji Review Pro, a company specializing in online hotel reputation.
Hotel ratings in Greece against competitors
Greece maintains a consistently high ranking, taking first place in most months of the period under review (April to October), followed by Cyprus, Spain and Italy. The alternation between these three markets is strong during the summer season. France and Turkey are in last place.
In particular, Greece with 87 percent retained the top position in the overall satisfaction index (GRI) during the 2024 summer season (April-October), an improvement on the 86 percent in 2023 and outperforming Cyprus (86 percent) and Italy/Spain (85 percent).
High performance in the categories of service (90 percent) and cleanliness (92 percent) are key elements of this distinction. However, Greece is lower in the categories of room (86 percent) and value for money (87 percent) compared to Turkey, which is a leader in these categories.
The positive experience of visitors is reflected in specific categories, with the following dominant ones:
- Food-Drink: The majority of the reports concern “breakfast”.
- Facilities and Staff: These are identified as elements that enhance the overall experience.
- Cleanliness: Despite positive reports, some comments raised hygiene issues.
In the negative reports, the main causes of dissatisfaction include the quality of drinks, technical issues such as air conditioning, but in some cases also cleanliness. In addition, challenges in managing the facilities and service during peak periods were highlighted.
Hotel Ratings by destination, category and market
The Cyclades and Epirus emerged as the top regions. Both of these regions are characterized by small hotels and a strong element of “authenticity”.
The Ionian Islands and Attica had the lowest scores but remained well above the threshold for a good score. In general, all regions had scores above 80 percent which is considered the threshold for a very good rating.
The Cyclades Islands stood out with the highest GRI (91 percent) and top performance in areas such as cleanliness (97 percent) and location (95 percent). In contrast, the Ionian Islands had the lowest performance (GRI 84 percent).
In terms of more specific destination categories, in the most luxurious, Mykonos and Santorini led the ratings, with Mykonos recording the highest GRI (92 percent) among international “premium” destinations. In the most mass destinations for the ” Sun & Sea” product, Paros, Naxos and Chalkidiki ranged significantly higher than domestic and international competition.
Greek hospitality
By star category, 5-star hotels in Greece stood out with the highest satisfaction index (89 percent), followed by 4-star (88 percent) and 3-star (87 percent). 1-2 star hotels, although lower in overall GRI (86 percent), recorded impressive performances in value for money (89 percent) and cleanliness (96 percent).
“Even during peak months, Greek hospitality confirms its ability to respond effectively to the needs of visitors in both popular and developing destinations such as Epirus and Western Macedonia,” Ilias Kikilias, Director General of INSETE said.
“The challenge, however, is to enhance the competitiveness of the overall experience in destinations by improving areas where we have been lagging such as destination management, cleanliness of public spaces, peripheral road networks, anarchic urbanism, ease of navigation, visitor information and the cultural experience on offer,” he added.
Related: The Top Ten Most Luxurious Hotels and Resorts in Greece