Does partial conversion of iconic Hilton to ritzy residences mean Athens hotels have finally jumped the shark?
Probably! As elsewhere, you can mostly blame covid
You can tell an awful lot about the state of tourism in a given country by the buzz at its main airport—or lack thereof. Right now Ben-Gurion International in Tel Aviv’s a complete bust, thanks to the Israeli government’s wishful thinking that viral particles pay attention to travel bans. But over in the wild wild West, LAX isn’t faring much better: a recent hop through Bradley International Terminal turned up empty waiting areas, shuttered shops and eateries…a zombie state.
It’s a bit of a contradiction: you want your airport to be uncrowded, particularly during a pandemic, but a quiet airport is also something of a psychological letdown. Airports are supposed to be places outside of time (though they feed on it), they are meant to be builders of anticipation, not fodder for depression. Last few jaunts to Athens International didn’t leave much room for excitement either.
Then I read about all these new hotels cropping up—a press release crossed my desk about Brown Hotels, which has “built” too many hotels in Israel and now has some in the once sketchy, still pretty scruffy Omonia Square area of Athens and elsewhere, though as in Israel they tend to gut old buildings instead of erecting new ones, which would be a lot more interesting wouldn’t it? Anyway, back to the zombie airports and the question it begs: from New York to Tel Aviv by way of any other city who, exactly, is going to be filling all these hotel rooms?
Athens is an interesting case, for as one former tourism minister told me, in summer there are more flights from European cities to the Greek islands than to the Greek capital. Makes sense: why spend even one vacation day stuck in traffic when you can be partying like a Kardashian or shady Russian oligarch in Mykonos? Cities in general have lost their luster and not just for residents—I can no longer count the number of my New York friends who’ve fled Manhattan with approximately zero intention of ever coming back—so forget about all that ‘city break’ stuff. The thrill is gone and you shouldn't need Donald Trump, Peace Be Upon Him, to “thank” the Chinese/Covid for that.
One of the ripple effects of this mess is on how hotels fit into, or don’t fit into, the life and rhythm of a city. Speaking of Israel, you have places like the Ritz-Carlton Herzliya which calls itself a hotel but where people actually live too, in pricey condos in the same building that no one with a legitimate salary can afford. A property like that is completely divorced from its surrounding community, even if the community in question is like Herzliya mostly a soulless fount of high-tech greed and traffic (with excellent restaurants).
Et tu, Athena? For we learn via the Dutch HospitalityNet that the Hilton Athens is soon to be transformed into a dual branded Conrad and Waldorf Astoria property that will aim “to introduce an innovative mixed-use development model to the city and become a focal point of reference for both visitors and locals.” Kathimerini reports that there are plans for about 50 residences on the highest floors of the building which first saw light of day in 1963 and where Sinatra once sashayed and many an A-lister played. Price? Not known, but at the Waldorf Astoria Residences in Manhattan there reportedly wasn’t a single bolthole on the market for under $10 million. Which is fine, but if anyone thinks actual New Yorkers live in places like that, they probably also think that Kamala Harris is a model of competence.
There does come a point in the life of a city when things go so far in a certain direction that something is irrevocably lost. New York is big enough to brook the slings and arrows of the real estate market, but tourism ruined the Meatpacking District and destroyed the High Line while crime and covid have battered Broadway, sent real New Yorkers packing and frayed the city fabric beyond recognition. Athens is a lot older and more complex, but on the ground the traffic is already an unmitigated hell in places, including in the vicinity of the Hilton, the once robust nightlife scene has been largely felled and there’s really no telling when things will get back to normal.
And there’s no guarantee they will.
Stay small in Athens, not tall: One of my favorite hotels is always NEW.