A 40 million Euro cooperative agreement has been signed between the Brown Hotels Group and the Israir Group, in which properties in Greece will be purchased and transformed into hospitality properties, including boutique hotels in central Athens and beachfront resorts on the Greek Islands of Chania in Crete and Evia near Athens.

The joint investment will include the acquisition, renovation, enhancement, operation and marketing of the hotels, which will be operated under the Brown Hotels brand. Israir will have exclusivity over the sale of vacation packages and hotel rooms.

This is the first time that a real estate investment collaboration has taken place between Israir and the Brown Hotels Group, and the parties intend to further expand the partnership and invest in additional hotels in the future, both in Greece and in other locations.

The resort in Chania on the Greek island of Crete will open at the end of 2022, and will be called the Isla Brown. It will include 175 rooms overlooking the sea, private pools, helicopter pads, restaurants and more.

In Athens, the Group purchased three hotels:

The Brown Museum is a boutique 93-room hotel located next to the Archaeological Museum of Athens. The classic hotel will have a historic touch, with sculptures and art and a conference hall.

The Brown Kubic is adjacent to the National Theater of Greece with 112 rooms, a spa, a gym and conference halls. The hotel is already open to the public.

My Athens, located in the city’s center, has 56 rooms. The hotel will be renovated and will be open to the public in a year and a half as a boutique hotel under the Brown brand.

Another hotel that the companies purchased, which will open shortly, will be called Brown Beach Eretria, located on the Greek island of Evia, a 40-minute drive from Athens. The resort has 180 rooms, is located on the beachfront and is suitable for families.

The new hotels will be integrated into the international lifestyle hotel brand of the Brown Hotels chain.

After the crisis that the global tourism industry endured during the Coronavirus pandemic, with Greece particularly hard-hit, both sides are anticipating that the rapid recovery of the industry will help promote the Brown and Israir hotel collection through strategic marketing and sales efforts by both sides.

Rami Levy, the controlling owner of Rami Levy Hashikma Marketing and Israir, said: “We are pleased to sign the cooperation and synergy agreement between Israir and Brown Hotels. The combination of the companies’ strengths will reduce prices for the Israeli traveler and offer quality products at attractive prices to our customers”.

Uri Sirkis, CEO of Israir, said: “The partnership in hotel real estate with the Brown Hotels Group is part of Israir’s broad business strategy, which focuses on the tourism product, aimed at diversifying our customers’ vacation options in the destinations in which Israir fights travel. We are constantly working on the expansion of synergetic products, alongside the current activities of Israir Group, with the goal of providing our customers with the perfect experience”.

Leon Avigad, Founder and Co-Owner of the Brown Hotels Group, noted: “We are happy to collaborate with Israir Group, a leader in its industry, which creates strategic synergy and provides cutting edge, professional solutions to enhance the guests’ experience in our hotels. Israir’s marketing platform, not only as an airline but also as a professional tourism company, with high-quality leadership and management, will lead to reduced costs for the Israeli traveler alongside the top-of-the-line vacation experience provided by the Brown Hotels collection in central Athens and other locations on the sought-after Greek coastline”.

Nir Waizman, Co-Owner of the Brown Hotels Group, praised the signing of the deal and said: “We are witnessing a huge increase in the number of Israeli tourists traveling to Greece, and therefore, we created a significant infrastructure for travel packages which include both urban hotels and resorts with a combination of advanced and high-quality tourism and travel possibilities”.