Original Sokos Hotel Royal, located in the heart of Vaasa, will be completely redesigned during 2023–2025. Guests will be delighted by themes such as light, energy, colour and surprise. The Torni part of the hotel, including its event facilities, will be completed in February 2024. This part of the hotel will feature a creative meeting room, an elegant banquet restaurant, as well as a tropical sauna on the top floor.

"We are creating a concept unique for Vaasa and the entire west coast. A visibly pleased General Manager, Max Hellqvist, points out that the hotel is introducing versatile banquet facilities, also suitable for very large events, previously not available in the city center.

"We will in the future, thanks to the transformable and varied facilities, be able to host everything from small meetings to gala events with several hundreds of guests. The possibilities are endless, and in addition to accessibility, we will offer fresh, redesigned hotel rooms and convenient parking," Hellqvist adds. "We are creating the most energy-efficient hotel in Finland – quite a sustainable project."

An entire event floor

The hotel's entrance floor features a comprehensive selection of event facilities. Restaurant Royal, Trattoria Puistikko, restaurant Babista as well as the Aurora facility, Trattoria cabinet and Lounge all surround the high-ceilinged Atrium lobby. Combining these facilities creates functional venues for various events for up to 1000 people. As the facilities are concentrated to one floor, accessibility as well as the multiple entrances guarantee smooth events.

Restaurant Royal is the main venue, and the adjacent Aurora-room can be utilised for welcome drinks. Guests attending meetings in Aurora can conveniently enter Restaurant Royal for breakfast or lunch service.

The in-house catering services focusing on local flavours and the festive menus are inspired by the hotel's long culinary tradition. General Manager Hellqvist describes the generous breakfast as an energizing experience, and welcomes the city's residents to try it out.

A stunning rooftop sauna, creative space and cinemas

The second floor of the hotel is the home of four meeting rooms for 12–60 guests and the rooftop floor features the tropical Huippu – Panoramic Sauna & Pool section, with views overlooking Vaasa.

"The luxurious sauna section on the top floor, equipped with swimming pools and terrace areas, is a high end sauna section, perfect for companies' planning meetings and recreational events, as well as management team meetings. Should the company wish to, they can book the entire section," says Emma Soininen-Strömman, manager of the Sales Service Center.

"We also cooperate with the cinema Bio Rex, located in the adjacent shopping centre, Espen, which also enables large meeting events with more than 200 guests. Both the cinema and shopping can be accessed through the gateway directly from the hotel," Soininen-Strömman adds.

The redesign of Original Sokos Hotel Royal is carried out in stages, and part of the hotel will remain open throughout the project. The Torni part of the hotel will be completed in February 2024, followed by the central part. The entire hotel will be completed in 2025.

The Torni part, to be completed in February 2024, will feature:

139 renovated rooms, including suites

A gym

An event floor

Breakfast and banquet restaurant Royal (200 guests)

Trattoria Puistikko (216 guests) and the Trattoria cabinet (12 guests)

Kebab restaurant Babista

The Aurora-room (80 guests)

A Working Lounge

The second floor is the home of meeting rooms Filmi (32 guests), Onni (max. 30 guests), Solar (max. 60 guests) and Tuuli (max. 60 guests)

Huippu – Panoramic Sauna & Pool on the 11th Floor

a tropical sauna with a rooftop pool and spectacular views overlooking Vaasa

Haapa, a bookable private sauna for 30 guests complete with a lounge, conference table, panoramic sauna and terrace

Guest saunas Vihta and Haapa, also available for private use

Inquiries and reservations:

Original Sokos Hotel Royal Vaasa Sales Service, tel. +358 20 780 8860, sales.vaasa@sok.fi

342 solar panels, 18 geothermal wells and 260 smart hotel rooms. The modernization of Original Sokos Hotel Royal in Vaasa focuses on energy efficiency.

Original Sokos Hotel Royal of the Cooperative Society KPO in the center of Vaasa is being transformed into a pioneering hotel for energy efficiency. Innovative technology solutions created by local companies and own energy sources ranging from geothermal to solar plant power are driving the change. The hotel will be modernized and renovated in stages during 2023–2025. The hotel’s 11-storey high tower section will be completed in February 2024.

Comprehensive energy efficiency

The modernized hotel will use renewable energy for heating. The main heating source will be geothermal, generated by 18 geothermal wells that have been drilled in the hotel basement.

Waste heat will be maximally utilized in the hotel. The waste heat of kitchen refrigeration equipment and the heat produced by the wastewater heat recovery system are utilized for heating the property with the help of a heat pump. During summer, waste heat is stored in the borehole field under the parking garage, to be used during the winter heating season.

Smart hotel rooms

Royal Vaasa's hotel rooms will in the future be operated with automation integrated into the booking system. The automation lets the hotel know when a guest is entering a room. Certain devices get their power supply 1–2 hours in advance, making ventilation and heating more efficient. When a guest enters the room, the lights are turned on.

“With this technology, energy savings can be maximized. Smart building automation of this scale is yet to be found in any other Finnish hotel – currently only in the ABB Strömberg Park’s KT-Building in Vaasa,” says ABB Vaasa's Area Sales Manager Oskar Järnefelt. "The system also collects data on temperatures and carbon dioxide concentration. Developing further energy-saving measures in the hotel are possible by analyzing this data,” Järnefelt continues.

The electrical renovation conducted by building technology company ARE, the 4,500 led luminaires and the lighting control system will also lead to substantial future energy savings. Motion and infrared sensors will prevent continuous lighting in hotel rooms, hotel public spaces, and parking garages.

A large part of the panels to be wall mounted

A total of 342 solar panels will be installed on the facade of the hotel's tower building and on the roof of the second floor. The solar electricity generated by these will cover 10% of the building's electricity needs, which equals annual savings of approximately €12,000 on the hotel's electricity bill.

"The solar panel field of Original Sokos Hotel Royal is our most extensive single hotel project. Panels are usually mounted on the roof, which constitutes a limited installation area. The Royal Hotel will also make use of its walls, as a considerable number of solar panels will be placed high on an exterior wall,” says Solnet Area Director Toni Hyytinen.

"Fire and electrical safety have also been taken into account in Original Sokos Hotel Royal's panel-optimized solar power plant, which is of paramount importance for the hotel. The voltage of the panel field can, if needed, be adjusted to a safe level,” Hyytinen continues.

More information:

Max Hellqvist, General Manager, Original Sokos Hotel Royal, Vaasa, tel. +358 40 529 3686, max.hellqvist@sok.fi

Original Sokos Hotel Royal is a sunny and lively hotel in the heart of Vaasa, about to undergo a full transformation during 2023–2025. The aim is to provide the Nordic energy capital one of the most energy-efficient hotels in the country, with the help of geothermal heating, its own solar energy plant and modern technology solutions.

When the renovation is completed in its entirety, in 2025, the hotel will have over 260 rooms, four restaurants, an event floor and a sauna section with a rooftop swimming pool and panoramic views of Vaasa. Part of the hotel will remain open throughout the renovation.