Hotel Grande Bretagne

The Hotel Grande Bretagne is a grand, historic hotel on Syntagma Square in Athens. It is now part of the Luxury Collection of Starwood group.

History

The hotel was opened in 1842 by Antonios Dimitrios, 1874 it took over Evstathios Lampsas. It was an important transit station for the colonial officials on the way to the East and to the Far East in the 19th century. 1896 used the IOC hotel for banquets during the Olympic Games.

Originally, the hotel was designed around 1862 by the architect Theophil Hansen and realized by his site manager, the architect Ernst Ziller. In the 1950s, major structural changes took place: the hotel was almost completely demolished and rebuilt with stronger walls again, the appearance is the same. Then it was increased in the same formal language, this " deception " often escapes even historians, so that the whole structure (including the increase ) is considered as a building of 1874.

The list of prominent guests is long and includes artists such as Sophia Loren, Ingrid Bergman and Maria Callas, writers such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal and Truman Capote, entrepreneurs like the Krupps, Kennedys and the Rockefellers. as well as heads of state. Mary Pickford should have booked a room just for the accommodation of their shoes. The hotel was a popular haven in times of crisis, Grand Duchess Elena of Russia chose it after their escape from the Bolsheviks even as permanent accommodation. In 1974 it was expanded to 31 rooms, the famous bar GB Corner was opened in 1976. In the late 1990s were negotiated an administrative merger with the adjoining also historic Grand Hotel King George, this did not materialize, so the Grande Bretagne has been taken over by the Hyatt chain in 2000, which it renovated from 2001 to 2003 for € 82 million allowed. 2005 Hyatt separated from all historic luxury hotels and the Grande Bretagne since heard of the Starwood Luxury Collection and the shipping company Laskaridis.

Operation

It work 450 employees in the hotel, it has 290 rooms and 31 suites. In addition to the three restaurants it has two swimming pools and a spa area. The best suite of the hotel is the 400 square meter Royal Suite. This has its own wine cellar and a gold -clad bathroom and costs € 12,000 per night. The book the suite includes people like David Bowie, Francis Ford Coppola and Giorgio Armani. Easier room of the Grande Bretagne charge in low season from 300 € (2008 ). Since the establishment of operating valuable items such as furniture and works of art are collected, the oldest carpets are over 300 years old.