Relieved Athens hoteliers reported peak capacity after a surge in last-minute bookings from tourists abroad, encouraged by slashed prices.
"We have reached 95 percent capacity," the president of Athens hotel owners' union EXA, Yiorgos Tsiakiris, told AFP.
"This may be normal for Olympics, but compared with where we stood last month, it is much, much better," Tsiakiris said.
An unfavourable mix of stagnating European economies, fear of terrorist attacks and Olympics-related construction delays that threatened to spoil the country's image had smashed Greeks' dream of busy, pre-Olympic tourist rush.
According to EXA figures for June, the average occupancy rates in the Greek capital's greater area hotels of three stars and above was only around 50 percent - the same level with the same month last year and 10 percent down from 2002.
"Many people decided to come in the last four weeks," Tsiakiris said. "The timely completion of Olympic projects and the shift of the negative attitude towards Athens in the foreign press helped," Tsiakiris said.
As if touched by a magic wand, the Greek capital's centre suddenly filled with foreigners on the eve of Friday's opening ceremony. Groups of Italian teenagers made the Mexican wave on Athens' central Syntagma square, reflecting the feverish anticipation in the countdown to Saturday.
Now Athens' hoteliers hope that the hundreds of millions of euros (dollars) they poured into upgrading their establishments will not be totally lost.
Many have given up plans of charging three times the normal rate for an overnight stay during the Olympics, instead slashing prices to fill their establishments.
"Prices are not engraved in stone. Offer was just greater than demand," Tsiakiris said.
"It was all so expensive at the beginning. But then we found something cheap with just 50 euros (60 dollars) for two people a night," said German Alexander Jung who booked rooms two months ago.
Sensing a golden business opportunity as the world's spotlight focussed on Athens, local hotel owners plunged their hands deep into their pockets to catapult outdated establishments into the digital age.