The new Radisson RED Mitropoleos Square, strategically located near Syntagma Square and Plaka is expected to open in the second half of 2023. It will feature 94 luxury apartments with kitchenettes, to be let as short term rentals (STRs), as well as a gym, a 150 sq. m. conference room, an all-day diner, and a roof top bar-restaurant with a celebrity chef, in an old, converted office building. However these very features have provoked the ire of Hoteliers: the size and location, the deep pockets of the developers and particularly the fact that it will indirectly offer recreation and food services to its customers, something expressly forbidden under the STR Legislation. Grigoris Tassios, President of the Hellenic Hoteliers Federation and a longtime critic of STRs, complains that the EUR 30m development would create unfair competition to nearby hotels burdened with higher VAT, Property and Municipal Taxes. He once more called for the regulation of the STR market and for the reduction of VAT for hotel stays to 6% from the current, pandemic era rate of 13% (the normal VAT rate was 24%).