A Family Affair

How the Daktylides dynasty built a hotel empire that put modern Mykonos on the map

Words: Ellen Alpsten

‘Children are a poor man’s riches,’ as the proverb says. From their humble beginnings, surely George and Eleftheria Daktylides could not have imagined the riches in store for them and their four sons on Mykonos, the small island in the vast Mediterranean they call home.

“My brothers and I are very proud of our roots,” says Vangelis Daktylides, who, together with his brothers, oversees the Myconian Collection of nine luxury hotels – three of which are endorsed by Relais & Châteaux, a luxury hotel fellowship dedicated to championing individually owned properties.

The Mykonos of Vangelis Daktylides’ youth was a very different place than it is today. The island ran a barter economy until well into the 1950s – people traded their cheese, sausages and cured fish for imports such as sugar, rice, spaghetti and cigarettes, a crucial luxury.

Back then, Mykonos was little more than a gateway to uninhabited Delos, a small, uninhabited island that was the birthplace, according to Greek mythology, of Apollo, god of the sun, and his twin sister Artemis, goddess of the moon. During the 50s and 60s, archaeologists uncovered ruins and remains of ancient Greek civilisation, such as the glorious Terrace of the Lions, the amphitheatre and parts of a colossal statue of Apollo, which started attracting tourists who needed a place to stay.

Identifying an opportunity, Vangelis Daktylides’ father George, a driver on building sites, took out a loan and bought a bus, an initiative which grew into the island’s first public transport system, with over two dozen vehicles.

“As children, we sold tickets on the buses after school,” remembers Markos Daktylides. At the same time, George Daktylides started trading bricks and cement, which he used to build the family’s first hotels. “He came home one day on a Caterpillar 920 that he had picked up second-hand,” recounts his son. “It dug the foundations to our first four hotels and was his favourite set of wheels, long after he could have any car he wanted.”

The Daktylides family have undoubtedly gained a lot from the island, but they also give a lot back

The four-cylinder diesel loader also dug the foundations for the Kohili, the island’s first hotel outside its main town of Chora (also known as Mykonos Town), which offered stunning views over the famous windmills. Eleftheria Daktylides made breakfast for all the guests, did the housekeeping and laundry, and provided meals for the 40 construction workers still busy erecting the new hotel – all while raising four sons. Yet she always took her boys for a daily swim, walking barefoot as she only had one pair of good Sunday shoes which she wore to church. “My parents would sacrifice anything to create opportunities for us,” recalls Vangelis Daktylides, who, like his brothers, went on to study high-end hospitality at École Hôtelière de Lausanne. “Dad worked from morning to night and invested all the profits back into business,” he says. “There was never a moment of doubt of what else we would like to do.” Today, Mykonos is an island of contrasts. Celebrities arrive by helicopter; college students backpack round the Cyclades; families with young children armed with bucket and spades mingle in the winding streets of Chora; small, colourful fishing boats dance on impossibly blue waters, still ready for action early every morning, ignoring the fleet of superyachts anchored at a discreet distance. Old ladies dressed in black sit on chairs beneath showers of purple bougainvillea blossom, outside their quaint white-washed houses, facing hordes of modernday holidaymakers – the luckiest of whom will be staying in a property run by the Daktylides.

The Daktylides brothers

The Relais & Châteaux-endorsed Ambassador hotel, overlooking the splendid Platis Gialos beach, was the first to be awarded five stars on the island, in 1992. A second fivestar hotel, the Royal, arrived in 2000, followed by the Imperial in 2002, the Villa Collection in 2012, Utopia in 2013 and Avaton in 2014. The Myconian Collection now boasts more than a dozen gourmet restaurants, ranging from traditional Greek cuisine to classic Mediterranean and Asian-fusion dishes.

The Daktylides family have undoubtedly gained a lot from the island, but they also give a lot back. Their children go to school on Mykonos, where the family plans to build a new high school, and many stories are told of generous donations or quick, unbureaucratic help for others in need. They also try to maintain the island’s ecological balance, which, with 200,000 visitors a day in high season, is a tall order.

Produce served within the 10 Myconian Collection properties is sourced as locally as possible; waste is recycled; worn linen is donated to nursing homes, prisons and the many monasteries in the Cyclades; seawater is desalinated. George Daktylides might have officially retired, but he still does his weekly rounds to his sons’ houses, his car stuffed with food, such as home-baked bread, fresh feta cheese and lamb and goat meat, for his grandchildren.

“It’s good that there are four of us, as his shoes are pretty big to fill,” says Vangelis Daktylides about his father. “We are each other’s most honest critics and loyal allies. There are many pragmatic demands that a competitive business places on us. We never plan for the next financial year, but for the next generation.”