Savonlinna loses 500 beds as Casino spa hotel closes

Savonlinna’s Spahotel Casino, the Vuorilinna summer hotel and Wanha Kasino restaurant are closing this weekend, Yle reports. The closures will reduce the city’s hotel accommodation capacity by about one-fifth, or roughly 500 beds.

The properties’ operations are ending after Primehotels, the company that owned the spa hotel, was declared bankrupt last spring. Nemeko has operated Casino and Vuorilinna during the summer under a fixed-term lease. The company has the same owner as Primehotels.

“Many people find it hard to believe that Casino’s doors are now closing,” hotel manager Niina Pulkkinen says.

Future of the properties remains open

Spahotel Casino has 81 rooms and Vuorilinna has 102 rooms. The complex has employed 20 permanent staff and around 20 seasonal workers during the summer.

Vuorilinna is owned by Savonlinnan Vuokratalot, which is looking for a tenant to operate the summer hotel. Chief executive Hannu Kurki estimates that decisions will be made in October or November. Outside the summer season, the building operates as student housing.

The future of Wanha Kasino is also uncertain. The Savonlinnasali company is seeking a new operator for the restaurant, which has been open on public holidays, during events and during intervals at Savonlinna Theatre performances and Savonlinnasali concerts.

Bankruptcy administrator Klaus Majamäki considers it relatively likely that Casino will have a new owner during the autumn.

The spa hotel was completed in 1969 and needs extensive renovation, according to Pulkkinen. She says the spa section requires a complete renewal.

“The buyer must have the money to put the premises in order,” Pulkkinen says. “I think this is the spa’s last summer.”

City takes over marina maintenance

When Casino closes, maintenance of the adjacent guest marina will transfer from the spa hotel to the City of Savonlinna. The hotel has so far leased and maintained the marina, which has 55 berths. The spa has also been available to boaters.

“The aim is for the guest marina’s operations to continue as much as possible in their current form,” Miika Tapaninen, the city’s infrastructure manager, writes in an email response.

The city’s primary goal is to operate the marina in cooperation with a possible new Casino operator. During the winter, it will identify other suitable operators if necessary. If no operator is found, the city will take responsibility for the marina itself.

Timo Hakkarainen, a boater from Kuopio, says the marina in the centre of the city has provided everything boaters need. He says visitors spend considerable amounts on shopping, dining and activities such as visiting the spa and Olavinlinna.

Hakkarainen recalls that Savonlinna was an essential destination when his children were small in the early 2000s. He hopes the city and local businesses will quickly find ways to revitalise lake tourism.

The city says the Casino marina had a busy summer, although only individual boats were moored there in August.