Lapland Hotels develops meeting services in Lapland and cities – Companies are increasingly returning from remote meetings to traditional meetings

Press release | Mon Apr 08 15:51:00 2024

Meetings and corporate events have undergone a major transformation in recent years. The need to get together has increased since the coronavirus pandemic, and more effort is now being put into meeting arrangements than before. Lapland Hotels has developed its meeting services in northern Finland in particular, where there has been a shortage of high-quality meeting places. The unified meeting concept now covers all of the chain’s meeting services, from Helsinki to Kilpisjärvi.

In recent years, Lapland Hotels, Finland’s largest private hotel chain, has invested heavily in its meeting services and unified its meeting concept due to increased customer demand. Lapland Hotels has about twenty meeting places in the fells and cities that offer the perfect setting for organising both small meetings for less than ten people and larger events for up to 500 people. The diverse meeting facilities can be found in, for example, all Lapland Hotels’ city hotels and in Lapland in, for example, Olos, Pallas, Ylläs, Levi, Hetta and Saariselkä.

In Northern Finland, the supply of meeting services has been significantly lower than in the south, and the number of existing high-quality venues has not been sufficient. The tourism company has now invested in the development of meeting services, especially in its locations in Lapland. At the heart of the meeting concept are an excellent service experience and food product.

– “The range of hotels suitable for meetings has been made more accessible to customers, and the experience is now uniform regardless of the location and latitude. The different settings of our locations allow for a rich selection of choice: for example, the atmosphere of the Arena hotel in Tampere is very different from that of the Bear’s Lodge hotel in Rovaniemi. In other words, our customers have access to a wide variety of venues to choose from to ensure the ideal location and setting for every occasion,” says Leena Turunen, Area General Manager at Lapland Hotels.

International business travellers are slower to return

According to Turunen, today’s customers especially value quality, good food and the service experience when it comes to meeting services. In meetings and corporate events, service is the most important factor.

– “For several years now, we have invested in a personal service, which means that each of our units or regions has its own sales service, for instance. The sales service provides the customer with a personal service and a designated service representative. Many operators offer good and functional meeting places, so a personal service is an important distinguishing factor.”

Day meetings are most common in the south, whereas in Lapland, meetings often include an overnight stay.
At the moment, the demand for meetings is mainly comprised of domestic customers. Turunen estimates that the return of international business customers will still take some time, although the sector is starting to get back on its feet.

– “The post-coronavirus pandemic era and the general world situation affect the activity of international customers, and the delay is greater when compared to domestic customers. Northern experiences have become a very important differentiating factor for both domestic and international customers. Meetings can also be combined with our experiential services, including husky safaris as well as snowmobile, snowshoe and Northern Lights tours. Northern cuisine is also increasingly appreciated and seen as a source of pride. Northern Finland has the best air quality in the world, and it’s great to be able to say that our food is grown there,” Turunen says.

40% of overnight guests are business travellers

In addition to meetings, the entire business travel sector has continued to pick up speed. More than 40% of all overnight guests at Lapland Hotels are business travellers. The figure has clearly increased in the last couple of years, although the numbers have not yet returned to their pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.

– “The biggest change can be seen in the rhythm of business and leisure travel. Previously, business travel commonly took place from Monday to Friday, and leisure travellers booked hotel rooms from Friday to Sunday. Now leisure travel takes place throughout the week and year, while business travellers tend to favour Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The popularity of bleisure travel that combines work and leisure also continues to grow. Our concept, which is based on Nordic experiences, is well-suited to this trend,” Turunen says.

Image copyrights: Lapland Hotels & Safaris

For further information and interview requests, please contact:

Leena Turunen
Area General Manager
Helsinki-Oulu-Tampere-Kuopio-Rovaniemi-Porvoo
Lapland Hotels
+358 44 545 0545
leena.turunen@laplandhotels.com

Travel enterprise Lapland Hotels & Safaris offers Northern experiences for all the senses. It consists of Finland’s largest private hotel chain, Lapland Hotels, the largest experience service company in the Nordic countries, Lapland Safaris Group Oy, and Lapland Ski Resorts. The group has approximately 1,950 employees in total.

Lapland Hotels has 20 hotels, more than 2,400 rooms and apartments, as well as over 10,000 restaurant seats around Finland: in Ylläs, Levi, Saariselkä, Rovaniemi, Olos, Luosto, Kilpisjärvi, Pallas and Hetta, as well as Helsinki, Tampere, Oulu, Kuopio and the Haikko Manor in Porvoo.

Lapland Safaris offers unique outdoor activities in five destinations in Lapland: Rovaniemi, Ylläs, Saariselkä, Levi and Luosto.

Lapland Ski Resorts comprises five ski centres located in Ylläs, Luosto, Olos, Pallas and Rovaniemi. www.laplandhotels.com/en/, www.laplandsafaris.com/en/