Sandblu reopened under LXR Hotels & Resorts on 8 April 2026, but the buildings above Kamari were already there. The next season brought 15 more rooms and suites. Its current 66-key plan therefore predates the Hilton affiliation, an important distinction when a changed flag can be mistaken for a new Santorini hotel.
The setting
The village occupies Santorini’s eastern shore, with black volcanic sand below and the steep mass of Mesa Vouno rising immediately to the south. The caldera villages are on the opposite side of the island. Sandblu’s white buildings step down the lower slope in several tiers, facing the open Aegean rather than the flooded volcanic basin.
That geography changes the daily pattern. The black-sand beach is about 10 minutes away on foot, while an evening on the caldera requires a road journey across the island. From the long central pool and the upper terraces, the dominant landmark is the bare ridge above the existing roofs; the famous western edge is absent from view.
The provenance
RMKA Private Company owns the hotel. It opened with 51 keys in 2024, then grew to 66 through the 2025 addition. The LXR change arrived after both phases of accommodation were complete and made Sandblu the collection’s first Greek property.
The sequence separates ownership, fabric and operation. The original design team remains credited; the room count and terraces did not begin again in April 2026. What changed was the affiliation under which the existing house trades and the international distribution attached to it.
The design
Rockwell Group worked with Christina Panagiotou of XKS Architects on the architecture and interiors. The massing is easy to read from above: compact white volumes descend around a curved common pool, with paths and planted roofs filling the gaps. None of the later brand language changes that physical response to a steep site.
Local stone, whitewashed oak, travertine, marble and plaster form the principal material range. Blue appears in textiles and the spa tiles; sage green marks parasols and planting. The restraint keeps attention on the relationship between the dry brown ridge and the ordered white terraces below it.
The rooms
The inventory comprises 36 standard keys, 27 suites and three villas. Twenty-nine carry private pools, so almost half of the keys can use water without using the main terrace. The two larger villas add outdoor living rooms, while the 15 rooms and suites introduced in 2025 continue the same material vocabulary as the first phase.
For guests arriving under the LXR name, the conversion chronology matters because they encounter accommodation developed across 2024 and 2025, not a redesign completed for the new flag. Category, position on the hillside and access to a private pool remain the useful decisions.
The table
Six dining settings allow the eastern address to function without a nightly crossing of the island. Nectar carries the contemporary Greek menu, Plateia spans the day, Aroma holds the wine cellar and Stari is the bakery. Blu is the revealing exception: an off-property terrace on the caldera side, giving guests access to the western view while keeping the hotel at its eastern address.
The wellness
Aurora Spa contains a heated indoor pool, sauna and steam room, with the two-storey Nous & Sóma fitness area alongside. These facilities also predate or accompany the wider hotel’s development; they should not be read as evidence of a ground-up LXR opening.
The ridge of Ancient Thira still rises above the same white roofs that opened before the badge changed. Below, the black shore remains the nearest beach. LXR alters the name beside Sandblu, while the useful argument for staying there—the eastern setting, 66 keys and the split between common and private water—belongs to the existing house.
