Brown Hotels, an international hotel collection founded in 2010 by hoteliers Leon Avigad (feature image) and Nitzan Perry, announced last week a new partnership with Israir Airlines. The partnership is based on an investment of approximately €40 million for Brown Hotels and Israir to co-purchase and co-own properties throughout Greece. According to the announcement, there will also be a launch of new packages combining hotel stays and flights at attractive rates.
Brown Hotels will provide unique vacation packages in Greece combining direct flights from Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International Airport to Athens International Airport via Israir Airlines with stays at Brown Hotel’s new collection of properties in Greece.
Israir is to retain airline exclusivity over the sale of vacation packages and Brown Hotels rooms, as well. Greece was particularly hard-hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, so the new partnership will enable both sides to participate in the rapid recovery of the industry, and to benefit from strategic marketing and sales initiatives by both sides. The select hotels are located in strategic tourist destinations throughout Greece, with various facilities for guests, including restaurants and bars, all in the modern design aesthetic of the Brown Hotels brand.
This cooperation marks the first time that a real estate investment collaboration has taken place between Israir and a hotel brand. The joint investment will include the purchase, renovation, improvement, operation, and marketing of the properties that will be operated by Brown Hotels. Amongst the first property to be opened under the partnership is a new Brown Hotel in Chania, Crete, one of the most coveted and sought-after destinations in the Mediterranean. The hotel, aptly named “Isla Brown Chania,” will open at the end of 2022 under the Brown Hotels Resorts label, and boast 175 rooms and suites, private pools, seaside restaurants, a helicopter pad, infinity pool and more.
Brown Hotels and Israir will also open several new hotels throughout Greece in collaboration with Israir Airlines, including:
- “Brown Museum”, is a classic boutique hotel featuring 93 rooms located next to the Archaeological Museum of Athens and combining historic sculpture and artistic motifs and a well-appointed conference complex.
- The Brown Cubic, a 112-room hotel in central Athens, adjacent to the Greek National Theater, boasts a spa and fitness complex and event halls.
- Mae Athens is a pre-existing structure that will be transformed into a Brown Hotel and boast 56-rooms.
- Another resort that the companies purchased and will open in mid-June 2022 is “Brown Beach Eretria,” a resort located on the island of Avia, the second largest island in Greece, just an hour’s drive from Athens. Brown Beach Eretria includes 180 rooms and suites, and family-friendly facilities located on the Mediterranean waterfront.
Israir will enjoy property improvements and exclusivity in the sale of vacation packages and the sale of hotel rooms to its customers. Both sides anticipate a rapid recovery of the tourism industry from the Corona crisis in general and Greece. Leon Avigad, Founder and Co-Owner of the Brown Hotel Group offered this:
“We are excited to partner with Israir, a leader in its field with whom we feel a strong strategic synergy. The professional platform of Israir not only as an airline but as a professional tourism company with quality leadership and management. The partnership will lead to a reduction in costs for the Israeli consumer along with a holiday experience at high standards of Brown Hotels, whether located in the center of Athens and has spectacular locations in the attractive islands of Greece.”
This news comes on the heels of Brown Hotels announcing the opening of several new properties in Greece in Q1 and Q2 2022, including Dave RED Athens, The Lighthouse Athens, Brown Acropol, and Isla Brown Corinthia (Insta share), among other new properties in Crete, Evia, and mainland Greece that will be unveiled throughout 2022.
Source: Travel Daily News International