Cheaper to stay at the best Petter Stordalen hotels than rent two-bedroom apartments in Oslo: – Clean and cut the madness

– This is pure madness.

The reaction comes from Nils Henrik Geitle, director of the De Historiske hotel and restaurant chain, when he sees Petter A. Stordalen’s Nordic Choice campaign launched on Friday.

With the “unlimited nights” offer, two people can stay as long as they like in all Nordic Choice hotels between Saturday, June 19 and Sunday, August 16, that is, for 59 nights, for NOK 25,000, including breakfast. This gives a price per day of NOK 423. According to the ads on Finn.no, therefore, it is cheaper than renting a two-room apartment in the center of Oslo, where the price is usually NOK 14-16,000 per month. , Without food.

Clarion Collection hotels also include dinner.

The offer applies to all hotels with the Clarion, Clarion Collection, Comfort and Quality brands throughout the Nordic region. In addition, you can also choose between the independent hotels associated with the company; such as Farris Bad in Larvik or American Line in Oslo, the hotel that ranked first on DN’s hotel evidence list in 2019.

The only Norwegian hotel that is not included in the offer is the luxury hotel The Thief at Tjuvholmen in Oslo. And there is a limit of five consecutive nights in the same hotel.

Rejects price dumping

Torgeir Silseth, CEO of Nordic Choice Hotels, denies the chain is now lowering prices in hopes of filling the chain’s 200 Nordic hotels this summer.

– No, we are not lowering prices. This offer does not move a comma into anyone’s hotel accounts. Furthermore, only a few have so far purchased the unlimited stay offer for two months. But the second offer we launched at the same time, with a 10-clip card for NOK 8,000, sells well. Then we talk about NOK 800 at night, and it’s not far below what normal summer prices in Oslo have been, says Silseth.

– But the fact is, we see the contours of hotel occupancy in a city like Oslo at just 10-15 percent in July. I doubt we can fill more than that, unfortunately. Too much traffic is gone. So this offer doesn’t matter, he says.

– Are you offensive with new offers?

– We were the most offensive hotel company before the crisis and we will be the most offensive in and out of the crisis. And I think we will see many exciting and great deals from both us and others in the future.

– But does the hotel stay at the same price as renting two rooms?

– I don’t think any resident will take advantage of this offer, in which case they will have to change hotels multiple times. It is aimed at tourists, he says.

Do you want to hurt Norway as a destination?

Nils Henrik Geitle in The Historic is not reassured.

– They got really tight. Because when the foreign market comes back and they have to negotiate prices, they will really fight to get them back up again, he believes.

The article continues below the ad.

– We think completely different. We maintain prices and are now experiencing a true ketchup effect, where many of our member hotels are almost full in July. Like Union in the eye. People want to go and are willing to pay for it. So I don’t understand why they do this. Or so it is; I understand that; They desperately need cash. But in the long run, this will harm Norway as a destination more than it will benefit, Geitle believes.

Torgeir Silseth combines Geitle’s claim that Nordic Choice Hotels is desperate for cash with the following:

– We are well financed. These offers are made for the benefit of our guests and our hotels do not move a comma in our cash forecast. We hope to present new good offers for Norwegians on holiday.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We want you to share our cases using a link, which links directly to our pages. Copying or any other use of all or part of the content may only be made with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms see here.