Tinos is known in Greece for the Evangelistria pilgrimage and in the art world for its marble carvers. More than 700 Orthodox and Catholic churches stand among some 60 villages. What the island did not have before 2024 was a house on this scale.
Odera, Tinos, Autograph Collection was announced on 3 June 2024 as the first hotel of its kind on the island, and it is the first resort of this scale on Tinos. It sits in a secluded bay with a private beach, and it has 77 rooms and suites, among them suites with their own pools. The house belongs to the Autograph Collection, Marriott’s set of hotels picked one at a time for a founder’s intent, a design and a place.
The project was raised by the Greek private equity fund Tethys, with Tconstructions. Panos Nikolaidis, T Constructions, holds the architectural credit; the interiors are Studio Bonarchi’s and the grounds are archetopo’s. The house stands on a site of 20,000 sqm at Vourni, completed 2024.
The largest unit is The Residence, 170 sqm, two terraces and the sea in front of it, sleeping up to six. Below it the State Suite is 110 sqm with its own pool, for up to three. The house keeps two pools, three bars and two restaurants.
The island read back into the walls
The name is made from two Greek words, ᾠδή, ode, and αέρας, wind. The interiors were drawn to a Doric brief: materials in their purest form, few architectural gestures, discreet furniture, all of it taken from the monastic fabric of the island. The run of arches off the lobby answers the Ursulines monastery on Tinos. The geometry of the island’s dovecotes is engraved into the stone headboards in the rooms. In the dining area, custom plate racks carry the marble ornaments that sit over the main entrances of Tinian houses. The rest runs the same way, from traditional Tinian stonework and pigeonholes to marble furnishings cut for the building.
What the excavation turned up
Digging for the hotel uncovered the remains of a classical-era tower, built at about the same time as the Parthenon. Further up the slope, archaeologists found a late Byzantine cellar and scattered Ottoman-era structures. The plan laid over them follows how a Cycladic village is built, in tight clusters with narrow lanes running between them.
Planting against the wind
The grounds are phrygana species, the low aromatic scrub of the Greek hillsides, with herbs, Mediterranean shrubs and hardy trees, a garden that asks for little water and changes of its own accord over the years. The green roofs were planted with low-growing species placed according to the prevailing wind, so the plants survive what blows across the island.
The spa and the table
O Spa, four treatment rooms, hammam, Zerobody float bed and a hydrogen room, is built around an indoor swimming pool with a relaxation area. The hammam is the old bathhouse ritual of heat and water. The Zerobody holds a body weightless. Treatments draw on Dr Barbara Sturm’s cosmeceutical techniques, Germaine de Capuccini’s formulas and 10AM apotheke’s organic products.
The opening menus at Eos were curated by the Greek chef Dimitris Skarmoutsos, who works to the art of “simple done well” and puts local suppliers and produce first. Executive chef Stamatis Marmarinos runs the kitchen, setting Greek and Cycladic dishes beside hand-picked Tinian wines.
Arrival, and the water
Vourni beach is private, with Nosti beach bar at the sand, and it is a short stroll from the rooms. Guests can take the hotel’s own boat along the coastline. The helipad has a 13m landing area with 2m of safety clearance, and landing is by approval. Tinos town is 5 kilometres away.
Who is this for
It suits a family or a couple who want a quiet bay with the island itself within reach: a slope of terraces above the water, and the stone interior of Tinos beyond it. Days run to hiking the old paths, fishing, village tours and marble carving workshops with the craftsmen who keep the island’s trade. Guests can also make their own aromatic candle at the house, guided by a local candle artisan.
