Azora has acquired a majority stake in Donkey Hotels, marking a new joint venture with the Ioannou family to expand hospitality investment in Greece. The Spanish investment firm now owns 50.1% of Donkey Hotels S.A., with the remaining 49.9% retained by the Ioannou family, represented by Christos Ioannou, who will stay on as chairman.
Donkey Hotels currently operates five luxury properties in Greece totaling 834 rooms. Four of them are located in Athens—the Athenaeum Intercontinental, NEW Hotel, Semiramis, and Periscope—and one in Santorini, the NOUS Santorini. The company plans to expand its footprint by acquiring new assets across the country, with a focus on both leisure and business travel segments.
As part of the agreement, both parties will commit additional capital to upgrade existing properties, including the Athenaeum Intercontinental, and to pursue new acquisitions. According to the companies, the goal is to create an institutional-quality hospitality platform that generates long-term value for stakeholders while supporting local communities.
“This is an important moment for Donkey Hotels, as we evolve from a fully family-owned business into an institutional platform with Azora as our strategic partner. I want to thank our exiting shareholders for their trust and our entire team for their commitment and hard work. Together, we are opening a new chapter with strong foundations and even stronger prospects,” said Christos Ioannou, commenting on the transaction, Chairman of Donkey Hotels.
“Having entered the Greek hospitality market with the acquisition of the Sheraton Rhodes in 2022 and with Greece’s tourism market going from strength-to-strength, having seen almost 10% growth in international arrivals to over 36 million last year, we have been looking for the right opportunity to increase our presence in this important region. Our investment into Donkey Hotels provides us with that opportunity. Not only does it allow us to acquire a stake in a high quality portfolio of established hotels that are performing well, it also sees us establish a partnership with a like-minded local partner with a shared ambition to establish and grow a market leading hotels platform in one of Europe’s most important hospitality markets,” also commented Javier Arús and Gonzalo García-Lago, Azora’s Hospitality Partners.
The partnership comes amid continued strength in Greece’s tourism sector, which saw nearly 10% growth in international arrivals last year to more than 36 million. Greece was also ranked among the top five European destinations for investors in CBRE’s 2025 European Hotel Investor Intentions Survey.
Azora, which has invested more than €4.1 billion in the hospitality sector, manages over 14,500 rooms across Europe and the U.S. The firm first entered the Greek market with its 2022 acquisition of the Sheraton Rhodes. Its hospitality strategy targets everything from upscale hotels to urban hostels and repositioning opportunities.
AXIA Ventures Group advised Donkey Hotels and the Ioannou family, while Azora was supported by Xenios Investment Partners, Watson Farley & Williams, Uria Menendez, EY, and Arcadis.
