Page 85 - MYCONIAN COLLECTION MAG 2021
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heritage




 besides a few visitors, the island was a well-guarded
 secret during the Sixties.





 private villas, the island was a well-guarded secret before the yachts and   was not uncommon for cash-strapped backpackers in the Eighties to
 cruise ships of the Sixties began to drop anchor on their way to view   be invited to open up their sleeping bags on private terraces under the
 PAST LIFE
 Mykonos during George Daktylides’s   the magnificent ancient ruins of Delos. Onassis and Jackie O were   stars. So, with his burgeoning contacts in trading and construction,
 youth was very different from that of   followed by Princess Soraya, Grace Kelly, Brando and Liz Taylor, to   George decided to undertake a development of his own, seeing an
 today. The island ran a barter economy   mention but a few, and Christian Dior famously crowned the town’s   opportunity to build the first hotel on Mykonos outside of town.
 well into the Fifties.
 tailor, Josef Salachas “le roi du pantalon” [“the king of trousers”],   Marios recounts: “He came home one day on a Caterpillar that he’d
 inspiring Givenchy to collaborate on a couture collection. The secret   picked up second-hand, and it remained his favourite set of wheels
 was out, and close on its heels came the boho chic of the Seventies.  long after he could have any car he wanted.” The well-worn but solid
 George Daktylides was a handsome young man in a hurry when he   920 four-cylinder diesel loader went on to dig the foundations of his
 married the beautiful young Eleftheria from Delos. On completing   first four hotels, starting with the 25-room Kohili in 1979. Set high
 his military duty, he had returned home with big dreams. He drove   above town and looking directly onto the seven famous 16th century
 a bus that carried men and materials from town to the barite mines,   windmills, the charming little hotel commanded sweeping views of   BROTHERS IN TIME
 and soon convinced his brothers to invest with him in a vehicle of   the Aegean by day and the glittering spectacle of the town by night.   George’s sons, remain as close to Mykonos today as they were as children: ˝There was
 their own. Before long, they were operating the only public transport   Kohili was the first private hotel on Mykonos outside Chora, and an   never a question in our minds whether this was what we wanted to do˝.
 on the island, with a fleet of twenty-five buses on which the four   instant hit, followed by Korali a year later to double the room count.
 boys cut their commercial milk teeth. “As kids, we sold tickets on   Their success was built on the back of hard work. Eleftheria made
 our dad’s buses, which was a little boy’s dream”, says Markos.  breakfast for all the guests and did the housekeeping and laundry,
 Concurrently, George started trading in cement, bricks and sand   as well as providing meals for the 40 construction workers who were   Villas, Utopia and Avaton. Throughout this time, the Collection
 that he was hauling to the mines and construction sites, and for ten   busy erecting the new hotel. She was also raising four sons, and   never lost the sense of family and organic growth. Informed by
 years mixed concrete and brought in coils of rebar used for structural   somehow still found the time to take her boys for a daily swim. “I can   the family’s managerial and operational philosophy, it pervades
 reinforcement. “I can still remember the ringing sound of both of my   still smell the cake she baked for the hotel in our kitchen”, Vangelis   the relationships between the Daktylides family, the island and the
 grandfathers hammering to uncoil the steel just below our house.   recalls. “She gets emotional when we talk about those times... My   staff – and flows into guests’ experience of warm and personalised
 Everything was done by hand.”  parents would sacrifice anything to create opportunities for us. Dad   service, as well as the privileged relationships that discreetly open
 Tourist accommodation on the island had grown modestly with the   worked from morning to night and invested all the profits back into   doors to the island’s best suppliers and services. The family remains
 state-funded construction and informal room and board offers, but   the business. My mother had one good pair of Sunday shoes which   firmly rooted in Mykonos. Their children go to school on the island.
 demand from visitors drawn to experience the warm hearts, rich   she would only wear before walking into church”.  And their dedication to give back to the island finds expression in
 culture and exceptional hospitality of the locals continued to grow. It   The personal touch and attention to detail that to this day defines the   environmental conservation initiatives, local sourcing and consistent
             Myconian Collection inspired a loyal clientele and a reputation that   support to the Cycladic communities: Waste is recycled, worn linen
             spread by word of mouth. Six years later, Kyma and Kalypso joined   is donated to old age homes, prisons and monasteries in the Cyclades,
             Kohili and Korali to form what became known as K-Hotels. In 1986,   seawater is desalinated.
             in anticipation of growing demand for luxury destinations, George   Even nowadays, five years after stepping down as CEO, George
             purchased a plot on the south coast, above the bay of Platys Gialos   Daktylides remains a busy man. His way of relaxing is getting
             and built the island’s first 5-star hotel, the Myconian Ambassador   involved in the new projects, as well as making sure that all nine
             Relais & Ch�teaux.                                       grandchildren have a steady supply of “real” food. He does his
             “By then, my parents had realised that we needed an education in   rounds to every home once a week in a Toyota Hilux, with trays of
             international management”, says Vangelis. All four sons attended   farm eggs on the passenger seat and home-bred lamb and goat meat
             in turn the premier establishment of its kind, the world-renowned   in the back, as well as cheese and cake made by Eleftheria. “As you
             hotel school in Lausanne. “There was never a question in our minds   see, I’ve got my retirement sorted out”, says Vangelis. “And it’s a
             whether this was what we wanted to do”. Once all four brothers   good thing that we are four brothers, because our parents’ shoes
             were back on the island, they were ready for a new challenge: the   are very big to fill”.
             conquest of Elia bay. If the seaside beaches around the peninsula   “Someone once asked me what advice our parents gave us along
             are the golden crown of Mykonos, few are said to gleam as brightly   the way. My answer was short: they led by example. In French, I
             as the broad swathe of fine sand on the south side of the island.   believe there is a term for it, “l’�ducation silencieuse”. We are each
             So, in securing the most scenic cliffs and gentle slope of fields that   other’s most honest critic, and we are loyal allies. When we balance
             joined them with the ocean, the family acquired the perfect setting   the pragmatic demands of a competitive business with deeply rooted
             for the new stars in the Myconian Collection’s luxury constellation:   emotions, we’re not just planning for the financial year, but also for
             the 5-Star Royal in 2000 and the Imperial in 2002, followed by the   the next generation”.

                               The personal touch and attention to detail that to this day
                                defines the Myconian Collection inspired a loyal clientele

                                      and a reputation that spread by word of mouth.



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