62 | TRADE NEWS
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April/May 2025 EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: THE IKOS WAY
KIRSTY Johnston, Editor-in-Chief at NI Travel News, caught up with Lee Barker, Regional Director Sales & Marketing at Sani/Ikos Group to hear more about the Ikos ethos, what makes them stand-out and plans for the 10th anniversary celebrations. Ikos Resorts are renowned for their luxurious accommodations and exceptional service,
offering guests a truly unforgettable holiday experience. Guests can indulge in world-class cuisine at a variety of restaurants, unwind in beautifully designed suites, or explore the stunning natural surroundings.
Whether
you’re lounging by the pool, enjoying a spa treatment, or participating in water sports, Ikos Resorts ensure a memorable stay for all.
Ikos opened the doors to their first resort, Ikos Oceania, on March 27, 2015 and now boasts breathtaking locations across Greece and Spain with upcoming expansions set to include new properties in Crete (2026), Marbella (2027), and Portugal (2028). Ikos is also enhancing family accommodations and introducing cultural passes. Speaking to NI Travel News, Lee Barker
said: “The Sani Ikos group has been around for a while, but Ikos opened its first hotel on 27th of March, 2015, the Ikos Oceania, and Thursday will be our 10th anniversary of the start of the Ikos brand. It’s quite mad really, because it doesn’t feel that long, but it also feels like it’s been around for ages as well. “It’s been 10 years of pioneering in ultra
luxury, all inclusive, and sort of breaking the mould of what’s expected from an all inclusive in Europe. That’s what we’ve been trying to do for, for many years, and we’ve done it very, very well. “I think, from an Ikos perspective, we like to say unconditional luxury, in the sense that there’s no restrictions from an Ikos perspective. We have, on average, six or seven restaurants in each resort. Only one of them’s a buffet. The rest are a la carte restaurants overseen by Michelin starred chefs. So you’ve got a really high end offering when it comes to the culinary of aspects of Ikos restaurants. “And there’s no restriction. So there’s many all inclusive resorts you might go to and you get one lunch, one one starter, and one main. That doesn’t exist in Ikos. If you want to try all of the starters on the menu you can. If you want to order every single main course you can. I wouldn’t advise it, because you’d be rolling down to the pool, but you can, we don’t restrict our guests from that perspective. All the drinks in the resort are branded drinks. So if you want a Tanqueray Gin and Fever Tree tonic, absolutely, no problem whatsoever. Freshly made cocktails as well. We don’t hinder the guests in any way. And there’s never a time when we turn around and say, ‘Oh, if you want that, you have to pay extra’. The offerings on the menu, lobsters, steak etc, it’s not going to be €20 on top, because you’re ordering something that that might be a bit more special. So that’s the really nice side of it. There’s no wristbands when you come into our properties either, no strap to say ‘I can drink this’ and ‘I can eat that’. That doesn’t exist,” he added. “We have 300 wines in the wine cellar,
so you have a choice of whatever wines you want,” Lee continued. “A fresh bottle is opened every time you order, so you can taste the wine. Is it to your liking? If it isn’t you can return it, you can order a new wine. That’s all part of the Ikos way. When it comes down to the activities they’re included too. The kids club is for ages four to 12 years and is included. You just need to book them in there. The non-water and motorised water-sports
are included as well. We also have amazing shows and entertainment throughout the resorts, all included, even the room service is included at no extra charge. You can order that 24/7, brought to your room. It’s only really when it comes down to spa treatments that you would pay an additional extra when it comes to Ikos and and that’s what makes it so special. “We have lots and lots of things in play to encourage our guests to experience the destination they’re in as well. So we’ve all been to a hotel and thought, ‘well, I’m on all inclusive, so I’m not going to go into town because I don’t want to spend money on lunch’ or ‘I don’t want to go and see somewhere for dinner’. We encourage our guests to leave the resort, and we do that in a number of ways. We have at least one or two restaurants on our all inclusive that are local restaurants in the local town. So you can go to a local Taverna in Corfu, you can have a beautiful meal, you can walk around Corfu town. You can have a meal. You can drink. And it’s all billed back to us, so it’s included on the all inclusive. So not only do we have the seven restaurants in resort. We also have two restaurants that are available outside of the resort for you to go and visit. All of our guests also get access to our fleet of Teslas that we have for our local drive adventures. We have a fleet of 20 Teslas,” he added. Lee continued: “I say, go out, fully insured, see the area, experience the destination you’re in. Find a beautiful little beach that’s only for locals, or go and have a drink in a nice, little, quaint town, all of that is available to our guests. And on top of that, we offer cultural passes. So we pre-purchase passes to local cultural attractions and museums etc. We also include green fees at the golf course in our package. So I think all of those aspects, plus this amazing service and Greek hospitality that we deliver through our staff makes us quite unique. And there isn’t really anybody in the market that competes with us head for head at the moment. I’m sure that will change, but at the moment, we’re always changing. We’re always adding new things to resorts. We’re always still top. And that’s quite an accolade for a company that’s only 10 years old, to be changing and evolving and moving with the times
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