Three hotels for sale in Kristiinankaupung – owners hope new factories will attract buyers

Selling hotels has proved difficult. All three hotels would be retained, as there is demand for accommodation in Kristiinankaupung all year round.

There are currently three hotels for sale in Kristiinankaupung: Alma, Leila and Hotel Kristina.

– The trend is that we have a lot of retired entrepreneurs. At some point, they want to enjoy their retirement too.

The Business Development Agency of Kristiinankaupunki has been preparing for the current situation for years.

According to Irjala, they have a project with other development companies in Ostrobothnia where they think about what an entrepreneur should do when he wants to sell, buy or change a company.

– We are prepared. We offer very good material and coaching, and we also organize training for entrepreneurs, says Irjala.

Finding buyers can take years

– The sale will not take place in a couple of weeks, but will probably take a couple of years before a good buyer is found.

– We have been trying to sell the hotel for a couple of years. There have been interested buyer candidates, but financing is a problem, because the banks have tightened up the granting of loans, says Rouhiainen.

Both Rouhiainen and Wilén are still hopeful that a buyer will be found.

– I trust that there is someone in Southern Finland who wants to change careers and has had enough of the squirrel wheel, says Wilén.

Business travellers all year round

According to Asko Wilén, now is a good time to sell, because several factories are being established in Kristiinankaupunki, and that increases housing pressure.

During the winter months, almost all of Wilén’s hotel guests are itinerant workers, for example wind turbine installers.

– Travel workers are needed all year round. There is a lot of business activity and construction in the area.

Even if the profitability of hotels is at a reasonably good level, it can still be difficult to find buyers who are willing to adopt the lifestyle of a small town hotelier.

– It’s basically 24 hours a day and seven days a week. You can’t just sit and wait for things to happen, says Wilén.

According to Angelique Irjala, CEO of Business Kristiinankaupunki, it would be important to keep all the current hotels in the city because of tourism and possible industrial growth.

*The article is an adapted translation from Yle Österbotten editor Juho Teir’s text* *Tre hotell till salu i Kristinestad – hotellägare hopmas att nya industrietableringar ska locka köpare**. Artificial intelligence has been used in the translation, but the editor has checked the translation.*