Nordic Choice Hotels selected as hotel operator for Finland's largest hotel project

Next year, the construction of Finland's largest hotel project of all time begins. 711 new hotel rooms will be welcoming guests at Helsinki Airport in 2023. Today, the developer LAK Real Estate Oy can present Nordic Choice Hotels as the hotel operator for the two hotels.

The new hotel project will be the absolute largest ever in Finland. More than 700 rooms on 13 floors will be combined with both large-scale conference services, which the airport area has lacked so far, and a Sky Bar on the top floor, which will offer spectacular view for both plane spotters and other guests. From the hotel there will be a direct connection to the airport terminals and the train station.

– This will become a brand new airport city. The hotels are an important part of the project, and combined with new offices and apartments, this will serve both travellers and conference guests better than today. We want to contribute to the overall development of the airport area, and can’t wait to get started, says Tommi Vaisalo, CEO at LAK.

Nordic Choice Hotels, which has extensive experience in operating and developing hotels at airports in the Nordic countries, is looking forward to being a part of the new project at Vantaa.

– We have really fallen in love with Finland and Helsinki. To Nordic Choice Hotels, this is an exciting journey which has just started. These hotels will fit perfectly into our vision of exceeding people’s expectations. And by adding something new to the market, I am certain this will be another successful expansion of our products in the Finnish market, Petter Stordalen, founder of Nordic Choice Hotels, states.

The planning of the hotel project began in 2018. Negotiations were conducted with several parties, but Nordic Choice Hotel's strong brands and competence were convincing to the Finnish developers.

– Right from the start, we knew that we wanted two different hotel concepts to offer the widest possible range and services to the target groups of the place. Nordic Choice Hotels has a great deal of experience in this, and has, among other expertise, developed conference competence with great success at Arlanda Airport, says Tommi Vaisalo.

The area is developing at a rapid pace, and the new project is important to make the development more complete.

– This is a significant project on a national scale as well. The airport city of Aviapolis is one of Finland's fastest growing workplace areas. The new hotels will contribute to the area's development by offering high-quality accommodation and conference facilities based on high international requirements, says LAK’s Mikko Räsänen, Chairman of the Board.

– It is great to have a world-class hotel in Helsinki-Vantaa to complement the airport's service offering and support airport development as a significant European air hub, says Kimmo Mäki, CEO of Finavia.

The lease agreement was signed on September 16, 2019, and the hotel construction will begin next year, with an expected construction budget of more than € 120 million. The ambition is to open the hotels in 2023.

For more information, contact:
Tommi Vaisalo, LAK Oy, +358 50 366 9352
Daniel Stenbäck, Nordic Choice Hotels, +46701616806

Images related to the project can be found at: www.lak.fi/medialle