SOLLI PLASS, OSLO (Nettavisen): Like a rabbit hopping out of a magician’s floppy hat, the king of the hotel, Petter Stordalen, suddenly stands before us. A white linen suit jacket is dressed head to toe in black. It is impossible not to notice the golden tip on the shoe.
Watch enthusiast Stordelen give us a private tour:
The online newspaper notes that there are a lot of things left, and asks how he slept last night. In fact, we wonder if he’s nervous.
The day before the opening of Petter Stordalen’s new hotel adventure, Sommerro, on Solli plass in Oslo, the hotel is still surrounded by masonry walls and a lift. More than a dozen construction workers in protective gear stand by, materials still being cut.
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Turnover is high with the hotel king, but it’s where it’s at. The fact that he slept very little last night is due to the fact that he has opened two more hotels, in Harstad and Jönköping, in the last three days.
Hotel Stordalen’s new venture into Oslo’s old building cost Lysverker NOK 2.5 billion. The construction cost of each of the approximately 230 rooms averaged over 10 million apiece. Stordalen’s use of big words in his mouth is nothing new.
Sumeru is believed to be the most expensive hotel project in the Nordic region. Here, guests can choose between rooms for as little as a few thousand SEK and up to NOK 15,000 per night.
The hotel has suites, six restaurants, a jazz theatre, a restaurant with panoramic views of all of Oslo, a rooftop terrace with a pool, a bar and a cinema on the floors below..
It may seem a little strange that the couches are still being lifted by crane, and 350 workers are standing on their heads near the hatch. But it isn’t Stordalen’s first time opening a hotel. This is certainly usually the case before a hotel opens, we were told.
– You have to do it with passion
Stordalen says that with NOK 10 million per room, passion must come before money.
– We were going to create something that would put Oslo on the map internationally. Standing here, I think this hotel will put Norway and the Nordic countries on the world map for hotels in the world, he says.
Watch the video: Stordalen cost 2.5 billion – comes with a franchise
For a hotel king, ambitions can’t be too high. He told Nettavisen that what he can offer in hotel rooms and suites is something people have never seen before. The world’s leading interior architects have been employed here.
As I keep asking about costs, I’m bluntly told I’m only interested in money. I replied that it was all about the money.
– But we are here at Sommerro to create magic for visitors and guests, he says.
– This is the “shit” in the Nordic countries
– Look here, it’s magic, 360 degrees, it’s absolutely brutal, Stordalen exclaims as we enter the View restaurant with a panoramic view.
But hotel luxury isn’t just for guests. Most staying at the hotel, Stordalen says, will be visitors who can take advantage of everything the hotel has to offer. You can dine in the restaurants, go to the spa, watch historical films at the cinema, or relax on a sunbed on the rooftop terrace.
He confirms again that Sumeru is made of the heart, not the calculator.
– That’s the Nordic “shit” now, he says, before I say:
– You are full of joy and spin so high, how long can you keep up?
– I’ve been doing this for 25 years, so maybe I can manage another 25, says the hotel king before continuing.
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