Buying a hotel in Greece: island hotels, licences and the visa question in 2026

Greece is the hotel market that most private buyers have in mind when they imagine a small hotel on an island, and it is also the one where two pieces of news in 2026 are most easily misread. The new 15% transfer tax for non-EU buyers applies to homes, not to hotels. And the golden visa, which many people link to Greek property, does not offer a route for buying an operating hotel. This guide sets out what the numbers and the rules say, and what we could not confirm.

The market in numbers

The figures below come from a travel-planning site that quotes trade reports, not from the original reports, and different sources define investment differently.

• Hotel transactions in Greece reached about EUR 1.12 billion in 2025, fifth in Europe. Another source puts total hotel investment at about EUR 1.5 billion, up about half on 2024. The difference is most likely a matter of definition.
• The sale of one large Athens hotel at about EUR 235 million, about EUR 429,000 per key, is quoted as the urban price benchmark.
• Four luxury hotel deals in 2024 averaged about EUR 332,000 per key and about EUR 110 million per deal, the highest average deal size in Europe.
• 2026 brings the biggest wave of international-brand openings in modern Greek hospitality: more than 20 properties and well over 3,000 new rooms, concentrated in Athens, Crete and the Cyclades.

Price per key: benchmarks, not averages

These numbers describe large, branded, institutionally traded hotels. They tell you where the top of the market is, not what a 20-room hotel on a Cycladic island or a pension in Crete costs. We could not confirm reliable prices per key for the Cyclades, Crete or Rhodes and we do not quote any. In the small segment, the price follows the land, the view, the licence and the seller's accounts. As in other countries, check a price against profit, not against keys: see how to value a hotel.

Islands, Athens and the mainland

The Cyclades and Crete dominate the supply of island hotels, Halkidiki and the Ionian Islands lead the mainland resort supply, and Athens is the year-round urban and airport market. They behave differently:

• Athens: demand across most of the year, a business and city-break mix, the deepest buyer pool and the most institutional pricing.
• Cyclades (Mykonos, Santorini, Paros and others): very high prices at the top, a short season of about six months, strong dependence on flights and ferries.
• Crete: a longer season than the Cyclades and a broad mix of holiday-home and hotel demand.
• Rhodes, Corfu and the other large islands: package-holiday markets with mid-range hotels, where operator contracts matter most.

Short-term letting figures from trade press for 2026 put national occupancy at about 41% and top island areas at about 53% to 54%; see our article on rental yield in Greece. These are letting numbers, not hotel numbers, but they show how seasonal the market is.

Seasonality and what it means for a small hotel

A hotel on an island that earns most of its year in the months from May to October needs a different business plan from a city hotel. Check how many months the hotel is open, whether staff housing is part of the property, and how costs behave when it is closed. Ask for monthly figures for three years. The guide to management agreements and leases explains how an operator shares that seasonal risk with you, and how it can pass it on.

The golden visa and hotels: what the programme covers

Residence by investment is the most common reason people look at Greek property, so it is worth being clear. The 2026 thresholds reported by law-firm and advisory sites are:

• EUR 800,000 for Attica, Thessaloniki, Mykonos, Santorini and islands with more than 3,100 residents.
• EUR 400,000 for the rest of Greece.
• EUR 250,000 for a property converted from a commercial building to residential use, and for a lease of at least ten years of hotel accommodation in a tourist complex.
• A single property of at least 120 square metres, with no combining of several small ones.
• Short-term letting of a golden-visa property is banned, with a reported fine of EUR 50,000 and loss of the permit.

Two conclusions. The EUR 800,000 and EUR 400,000 tiers are for residential property you do not run as a business. The EUR 250,000 hotel route is a long lease of rooms in a tourist complex, not ownership of a hotel. We found no programme route that gives residence for buying a whole operating hotel, and we would not rely on any agent who says otherwise: ask a Greek lawyer for a written opinion before you pay anything. New applications fell from about 4,550 in the first half of 2025 to about 2,550 in the first half of 2026.

Transfer tax: the 15% headline and why hotels are outside it

In September 2026 the government announced a 15% transfer tax for non-EU buyers without long-term residence (15.45% with the municipal surcharge). Based on the reports we found, the tax applies to residential property bought by natural persons, and hotels, offices, shops, warehouses and land stay at the usual 3.09%. The start date was moved from 1 January to 1 July 2027. It is an announcement, not yet law as far as we found, and commentators say a new government could change course. Even so, for a hotel purchase you should assume 3.09% transfer tax plus notary, land registry and legal costs, and ask for the actual structure to be priced. See Greece property prices and buying costs for the residential picture.

Licences, classification and border zones

A Greek hotel is rated from one to five stars on a points system under a ministerial decision, and the rating is applied by the hotel chamber. The star rating is not the same as the operating licence. We did not confirm the current form of the operating licence from the national tourism organisation in this research, so we say only this: ask for the licence, check that it is valid, that it covers the number of rooms and the use, and that it passes with the property or the company. Have a Greek lawyer check it.

Some areas, including parts of the Dodecanese, the eastern Aegean, Thrace and certain small islands, are border zones where non-EU buyers need pre-approval from the Ministry of Defence, which an agent source says takes about four to eight weeks. We did not check whether EU citizens need the same approval. Add that time to your schedule if the island you are considering is on the list.

Athens short-term rental freeze: what it does not cover

Registration of new short-term rentals is frozen in central Athens districts and one Thessaloniki district until the end of 2026, and an extension to the end of 2027 has been announced but not, as far as we found, enacted. The freeze concerns apartments let through platforms, not licensed hotels. It does make a licensed hotel in a central area more valuable, because it is a way to offer short stays that apartments can no longer offer. See our article on short-term rental rules in Greece.

Who the Greek hotel market suits

• Budgets of about EUR 1 to 5 million: a small hotel or pension on an island or the mainland, run by you or a manager. See hotel investment from EUR 1 to 5 million.
• Buyers who see a building to convert in a central location: weigh it against an operating hotel in buying an operating hotel versus a building to convert.
• Investors who want income without operating: a hotel let to an operator, accepting that the operator is the real counterparty.
• Not suitable: anyone buying a hotel in the expectation of a golden visa, or expecting an island hotel to earn all year.

Checklist before you make an offer

• Ask for the operating licence and the star classification, check their validity, and have a Greek lawyer confirm what they cover.
• Check whether the property is in a border zone and, if you are a non-EU buyer, build the approval time into the schedule.
• Ask for monthly occupancy, ADR and RevPAR for three years, and the accounts.
• Ask whether a management contract or lease exists, with its term, rent and termination rights.
• Ask for a written tax quote on the real structure. See holding structures and taxes for hotel owners.
• Ask how the deal is financed. See hotel acquisition financing for foreign buyers.

How we help

We help you check, compare and negotiate: we read the licence and the accounts with you, set the numbers against comparable sales, and coordinate a Greek lawyer and tax adviser. See hotels in our catalogue, the Greece page and our general guide to hotel real estate investment. For residence by investment see our Greek golden visa guide.

This article is informational only and is not legal, tax or investment advice. Figures are indicative, come from market and professional sources and change over time; confirm current numbers and rules with a Greek lawyer and tax adviser before you buy.