Rugged Santorini, one of Greece’s Cyclades islands, is the starting point of Empiria Group’s serendipitous hospitality journey. In the late 1980s, cofounder Antonis Eliopoulos purchased a neoclassical mansion and centuries-old winery in the quiet village of Megalochori. Originally, the site was intended as a retreat, somewhere to gather with loved ones. “But the stone walls, the vineyards, the history, they whispered an invitation. It felt almost destined to evolve into something more,” he recalls. “So, we transformed it into Vedema, Santorini’s first 5-Star hotel, a place not just to stay, but to feel rooted.”
Parōn restaurant at Parīlio overlooks the hotel’s central pool
Vedema, part of Marriott’s Luxury Collection, debuted in 1993, and the 74-key resort by Interior Design Laboratorium felt magical from the beginning. (The Athens-based firm is also responsible for Empiria Group hotels Mystique, Istoria, Parīlio, and Cosme.) It “created an emotional foundation,” says cofounder and Eliopoulos’ wife Kalia Konstantinidou. From that moment on, the couple was inspired to conceive more hotels “born of honesty and heart,” she adds. “It wasn’t a business plan, it was an impulse to share space for joy.”
Empiria Group—rebranded from Kanava Hotels & Resorts in 2023—is guided by an ethos directly reflective of its founders’ values. Community has long fueled Konstantinidou, who previously worked in public relations for a think tank. “I am captivated by human connection—how a smile, a scent, a moment can convey more than words. My childhood was defined by stories and how travel can shape them: the warmth of shared meals, the power of presence, the comfort of home-like spaces built with intention,” she says.
Working in the shipping industry, Eliopoulos excelled at logistics. But his travels were even more impactful, unleashing a curiosity that led him to realize that “hospitality—welcoming, caring, sharing—was my true north,” he says. “Though the maritime world taught me discipline and scale, travel opened the soul. On ships and ports, I glimpsed the vastness of human experience.”
Clean, Cycladic lines define Cosme, a Luxury Collection Resort on Paros
Eliopoulos and Konstantinidou continued to leave their imprint on Santorini with Mystique, another Luxury Collection hotel, in 2007, and Istoria, a member of Design Hotels, in 2018. Both are markedly different from Vedema but anchor guests in poetic settings. The 41 suites and villas at Mystique, in buzzy Oia, are carved into steep cliffs, and the 12-suite Istoria, a revitalized mansion, sits across from Perivolos Beach, beckoning with its swath of volcanic black sand.
Paros, another of the Cycladic isles, has also been enlivened by Empiria Group’s presence. Parīlio, part of Design Hotels, and Cosme, a Luxury Collection resort, arrived in 2019 and 2022, respectively. In 2025, the 46-room Parīlio unveiled 13 new suites and villas as well as the group’s signature Elios Spa, complete with an outdoor heated jacuzzi, to deepen its ties to the surroundings. Also on Paros is the in-house designed Acron Villas, Empiria Group’s collection of 24 private pool-adorned abodes highlighting views of Naoussa Bay. Rounding out the portfolio is the 10-suite Korona Boutique Hotel, designed by Sofia Apergi, in Peloponnese.
Each hotel has its own personality, but there is a soothing minimalism—expressed through elements like whitewashed façades, elegant arches, and artisanal ceramics—that unite them.
Opening this June on Milos, the 41‑suite Eréma features private pools and uninterrupted views across the Aegean Sea
This summer, Eréma, another Design Hotels addition, will join the Empiria Group fold on the southeastern coast of Milos, close to Provatas Beach. Designed to achieve LEED Gold certification by Interior Design Laboratorium once again, its 41 suites, spa, and two restaurants will celebrate the indoor-outdoor living that pervades the Cycladic island. Eréma’s design, Eliopoulos says, “is drawn from the moonlit contours of Kleftiko Bay, from sulfur-hued stone, and the mineral palette of the Aegean. We are crafting spaces where landscape and architecture breathe as one.”
As Empiria Group plunges ahead—in 2027 it is slated to introduce its first urban hotel in Athens—Eliopoulos and Konstantinidou remain true to their vision.
“We are custodians of a narrative, one that seeks to redefine Greece for today’s traveler. Here, architecture honors tradition yet speaks modern sensibility; cuisine honors origin yet surprises,” points out Konstantinidou. “We believe our hotels are chapters in a larger story of Greece.”
Soft wood tones and natural sunlight lend the villas at Parīlio a serene, coastal warmth
This article originally appeared in HD’s January 2026 issue.
