During the Sydney and Salt Lake City Olympic Games less than 800 visitors rented private homes for the event. In Athens, however, with most hotels already booked, a much more extensive programme was needed to tackle the ‘Olympic’ accommodation issue.

In late November 2002, the Athens 2004 Organising Committee (ATHOC) named consortia Alpha Filoxenia and Hellenic Filoxenia (backed by the real estate branches of Alpha Bank and Eurobank , respectively) to manage the bulk of the Private Home Rental Programme. More specifically, Alpha Filoxenia consists of Alpha Astika Akinita (of Alpha Bank), Epathlon and ELPA-ALTIS. Hellenic Filoxenia is made up of EFG Eurobank Properties (of Eurobank), Ischis (a society of 100 tourist agents) and George Kourmouzis.

The resulting company, Filoxenia ’04 , now aims to make 6,000 apartments and houses available during the summer of the Olympics, servicing some 20,000 visitors a day. The biggest challenge remains getting the word out abroad, so that visitors can “feel at home in Athens”.

Tending to details
Between July 10 and September 10, 2004, individuals will be renting primarily Attika homes through the programme. Homeowners won’t interact directly with visitors. Instead, Filoxenia (Greek for “hospitality”) will take care of the cleaning, linens, insurance needs (of visitors and homeowners), trips to and from the airport plus a welcome drink. Filoxenia ’04 is also offering optional travel and ticket (primarily for EU guests) packages. There will be a 24-hour telephone hotline. No meals are provided.

The properties fall into four price categories, depending on location, age of building and quality. The rental prices range from 140 euros (‘C’ category) to 200 euros (‘A’ category) per bed per night per person. There is a six-day minimum for those renting A-C properties. Homeowners can make 40 euros on ‘C’ category homes, 90 euros on ‘A’ category homes (per bed/night/person, with a minimum guarantee of 12 days), while luxury home prices and profits vary. There are extra – up to 20% - fees for buildings located within a kilometre of major venues. Filoxenia covers the 10% state tax.

Filoxenia ’04 has received 25,000 homeowner applications. Their engineers have already approved over 1,500 properties says Filoxenia ’04 president Aristotelis Karytinos (of Eurobank’s EFG Properties). Only homes built after 1981 with furnished bedrooms, functioning/stocked bathrooms and kitchens with the proper safety/utility features can qualify. No basement flats are allowed.

Filoxenia ’04 managing director Constantinos Pallis (of Alpha Bank) is anxious over the Greek National Tourism Organisation’s February 24 deadline for certification. He believes more time is needed. He also disapproves of the 1981 cut-off, noting that there are choice properties in expensive areas like Kolonaki and Psychiko that are needlessly excluded from the programme.

Filoxenia ’04 is not alone. While individual homeowners cannot legally rent out their houses or flats by themselves, some private companies have paid a fee to provide Olympic rentals of private homes. Among them is the Athens Realtors Association , a six-month old organization of 100 realtors formed specifically to service private home rentals during the games. President Yannis Rebythis says they’ve enlisted over 3,500 Greek homeowners and 700-plus foreign visitors. He believes they are “doing well” and considers Filoxenia’s applications numbers as too high. He feels realtors are best equipped for the task: “We’re doing our job”.

Promoting ‘Filoxenia’
Meanwhile Filoxenia counts 3,500 future Athens visitors as having expressed serious interest in its programme. The most in-demand areas are near the Athens Olympic Sports Complex in Maroussi, the centre and in coastal areas. Pallis is not pleased with the turnout, “The demand from abroad is not as big as expected,” he says, blaming global instability and negative press for keeping people from deciding early to come to Athens. He is disappointed that wherever he travels people ask the same question about the upcoming Olympics: “Will you be ready?” He says, “It would be a great help if the Greek government turned this image around.”

Meanwhile ATHOC points all accommodation requests to Filoxenia ’04 and advertises the programme on its Internet site and at trade fairs. Filoxenia is also busy getting the word out to travel agents and national Olympic committees.

As far as profits go, Filoxenia ’04 leadership openly wonders if the company will cash in on its efforts. Pallis says other forces drive his company’s involvement in the programme, including a desire to “help out the organization of the Olympics” and “preserve the image (of Greece) as a tourist destination in the future”.

For his part, Karytinos says it was only natural for the real estate branches of the two major Greek banks to get involved, because they already had the necessary resources. He expects “very few profits”, thinks it’s almost guaranteed that Filoxenia ’04 will book 3,000 properties and break even, but wonders if they can book 5,000 homes (earning 10% profits) or more. ATHOC predicts that 100,000-150,000 visitors a day will require accommodation during the games.

About 500,000 visitors (not including the Olympic family) are expected to visit for an average of 4.5 days each. Other accommodation solutions include docked floating cruise liner “hotels” in Piraeus.

Info for homeowners: 49 Stadiou St, 105 59 Athens Tel.: +(30) 210 32 77 400 – 406 Fax: +(30) 210 32 77 414 E-mail: info@filoxenia2004.com
Info for visitors: 49 Stadiou St, 105 59 Athens Tel.: +(30) 210 32 77 407 - 410 Fax: +(30) 210 32 77 444 E-mail: info@filoxenia2004.com