PrimeHotels will contribute more than 400 rooms with two openings this year in Helsinki.

Hotel Mestari is opening in downtown Helsinki in March 2022. The Master Builders’ House will soon contain a new lifestyle hotel with 237 rooms and a stylish urban block in the centre of Helsinki. The block will contain a hotel with a rugged style, with lively restaurants and diverse meeting and event facilities offering excellent settings for all types of meetings, events and celebrations, large or small, in addition to accommodation.

The building exudes a unique atmosphere and robust design, welcoming guests for enjoyable visits time after time. Restaurant caters for 220 persons. Hotel has several innovative rooms for meetings and events. Biggest of them can take 140 persons and has a 33 m2 screen.

Hotel AX, the Nordic region’s first art hotel, will be based in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The name comes from the words ‘Art Experience’. In addition to a diverse collection of works inside and outside the building, Hotel AX is an art experience in itself, but it is also a gateway to Helsinki’s artistic offerings and events, as well as the latest phenomena in urban culture. The hotel will be created in collaboration with Finland’s most renowned artists boosting 173 rooms and a unique art gallery bar & restaurant due to welcome its guests in April this year.

When the pandemic hit, congress and event organizers in Finland did not sit still but looked for new ways of working. Now, Finland Convention Bureau tells the inspiring stories of these heroes and shows how they managed to combine innovative event solutions and experiences with health safety.

The Jukola Relay is the world’s largest orienteering relay race. The start time is around 11 pm, so the race goes on through the night. Jukola coincides with the women’s race, the Venla Relay. On an average year, more than 18 000 orienteers take part, making it Finland’s largest amateur sporting event. When you include the companions, carers, media and spectators who stay up all night with the contestants, Jukola attracts a crowd upwards of 50 000 people.

Sami Leinonen, Secretary General, Jukola Relay: “Jukola is held in a different location each year. We’ve had the event in Rovaniemi once before, in 1980. This time, the corona pandemic extended the preparations to a whopping eight years. Originally, the race was slated for June 2020, but we pushed it back a year and then postponed further until August 2021. This may have been the first autumn race we’ve ever had. We had a total of 12 500 participants from around the world this year. There were teams from Denmark, Sweden and Germany, among others.”

Read the story here and watch the video.

Originally inaugurated in 1986, Original Sokos Hotel Ilves has been renovated and it will open in March in Tampere. At its’ launch Finland’s tallest hotel and for years a legendary centre of Tampere’s night life, the property on the shores of the Tammerkoski river has undergone a complete renovation. All 336 rooms, the 5 restaurants and the top-floor Maisema cabinet with a sauna and splendid views have been updated.

Rising from the midst of the white waters of Tampere’s rapids, this landmark is an event hotspot. Their largest conference room, Ballroom, provides space for events of up to 450 people, depending on the type of event and the spatial arrangements. The room’s eye-catching centrepieces are its gorgeous Italian crystal chandeliers. The modern technology and fully renovated facilities guarantee a high-quality event. The Ballroom can also be divided into three sections. There are also other Scandinavian style conference rooms for 10-70 people.

Cahkal Hotel

Will open in June 2022 in Kilpisjärvi, one of the northernmost villages in Finnish Lapland. The backyard of the hotel opens to an astonishing Arctic scenery of wilderness. The Cahkal River flows nearby, bringing pure water from the fells down to the valley.

With just 23 modern hotel rooms, Cahkal Hotel offers intimate and unique accommodation in the middle of the Arctic wilderness. All rooms have exquisite views of the fells. Hotel restaurant Aika Kitchen & Bar will focus on local produce.

Kilpisjärvi is only a few hours by car from the main airports of the Arctic Europe, Tromsø and Kittilä. Kilpisjärvi is one of the best places in Finland to see the northern lights. You could visit Three Nation’s Border Point, where borderlines of Finland, Norway and Sweden meet. The Arctic Ocean is only 50 kilometres from Kilpisjärvi. Winter activities include snowmobile and husky safaris, reindeer experiences, snowshoe walks, and of course Northern Lights watching. In summertime you can enjoy mountain biking, canoeing, fishing and hiking.

Kilpisjärvi is part of Enontekiö area. Explore it here.

Santa’s Hotel Rakka

Santa’s Hotels will build a new design hotel to Kilpisjärvi, the far corner of Lapland. The wood-built Santa’s Hotel Rakka draws its inspiration from the surrounding arctic nature and highlights modern Scandinavian design and Nordic elements in its year-round hotel and restaurant. The new build compliments the existing modern Santa’s Chalets Rakka resort. The hotel will open in February 2023.

The new Santa’s Hotel Rakka, located in the landscapes of the vast wilderness areas, will feature 42 premium hotel rooms and a 200-seat restaurant. The high-quality Nordic design in the hotel rooms and the rugged scenery of the Saana fell opening from the large windows, create a stunning contrast. The specialty of the restaurant is an underground wine and root cellar. The new buildings will be located between Saana fell and the existing chalets.

Read more about Cahkal Hotel

Read more about Santa’s Hotel Rakka

Malva, the brand new museum of visual arts in Lahti, is opening to the public on the 29th of April. In Malva, the Lahti Art Museum and the Lahti Poster Museum are merged under the same roof, and the first three exhibitions will provide examples of both the permanent collection of the museum and a fresh view of modern art. The first international exhibition, Hide and Seek, showcases the Dutch artist and designer Maarten Baas, who is known for his playful and intellectual work. The third exhibition, the Lahti International Poster Triennial, will display 350 posters, selected from over 2,500 applications from 51 different countries.

Malva is situated in Malski, an old brewery building which has been renovated into a lively meeting place of people and art. Besides the new museum, Malski hosts a restaurant, café, bar and a museum shop and also provides meeting facilities. The Café, Kahiwa Coffee Roasters, is a local coffee roastery, importer of raw coffee and a wine café. There is also brewery pub Panimopub Ant Brew Malski offering tasty beer.

Read more about Malva
Business events destination Lahti

In the Saimaa Lake region in eastern Finland, the adult-only Kuru Resort in Rantasalmi opened eight villas in December 2021. Each villa is designed with natural elements and breathtaking scenery window. Set in the middle of a peaceful pine forest, the luxury retreat offers relaxing spa treatments, delicious food and guided relaxation classes.

The guests stay at private lake villas with breathtaking views to the lake and a private Spa & Sauna in each unit. Further eight villas will open during winter 2022. The breakfast is delivered to the villa to enjoy slow mornings. As the owners describe: “Kuru is designed to be a place where the most important thing to do is nothing.”

Read more about Kuru Resort

Finland Convention Bureau provides complimentary information, consultation and assistance to all event organizers and meeting planners.
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