Next year, the first of around 20 hotels in the new hotel chain Stopover will open. The climate-smart hotels focus on electric car travelers and, in addition to a comfortable bed to sleep in, digital and efficient guest solutions, they also offer exciting services for both children and four-legged family members.
Domestic and intra-Nordic travel has increased significantly since 2019. In addition to accommodation at travelers' final destinations, the need to be able to stay well and conveniently on the way to and from their destination is also increasing. In response to this, Strawberry and Slättö are launching a completely new hotel chain. A hotel chain with a focus on those who travel by car and who value convenience and accessibility during their travels.
– The last time anyone had an original idea for a roadside hotel was when Henry Ford was alive. In other words, it has been 77 years since he and the innovation in roadside hotels fell asleep. Since then, society has fundamentally changed, but one of the things that is the same then as now, and has been strengthened, is the need to be able to move around. We have therefore chosen, with the legacy and inspiration from Henry Ford, to make an attempt to reinvent the roadside hotel anew through a completely new hotel chain that we have chosen to name Stopover. A chain built for a new era, new infrastructure, new technology and new demands from people who travel by car, says Petter Stordalen, owner of Strawberry.
Stopover will be a welcome addition for business travelers, families and sports teams, but also for those who need temporary housing during a transitional period. The 151-room hotels with electric car charging, gym, playroom, laundry room, meeting room/phone booth, dog run and the opportunity for something good to eat and drink will be built as wooden modules in Värmland and then assembled on the site of the hotel. The ambitions regarding the environment are great and therefore the profile of the buildings is characterized by renewable energy production with solar panels and geothermal heating and that digital solutions are used to a large extent to be resource-efficient both for people's time and for the climate.
– With Stopover, we want to create recognition among guests through the building while clearly demonstrating our ambition within sustainability. We focus on strategic road locations, quality and high sustainability. Our goal is for Stopover to become a common sight along the Nordic roads and fill a void in the Nordic hotel market, where domestic and intra-Nordic travel has increased significantly in recent years, says Erik Möller, Head of Hotels at Slättö.
The ambition is that within ten years Stopover will consist of at least 20 hotels, with the first opening in Falkenberg in late spring/summer 2025. In the first stage of Stopover's establishment, there is a shortlist of municipalities in Sweden where they are actively looking for buildable land outside city centers and preferably close to or in direct connection with exits to major roads.
– Stopover is about keeping an ear to the ground to capture the needs that exist around travel, delivering on them and also contributing to more people setting out on the Nordic roads to discover our part of the world. The Nordic region is unique and deserves to be explored. We have had a lot of fun creating Stopover and hope to contribute to creating curiosity and a desire to create memories not only from the final destination of the journey but from all the stops along the way, says Anna Spjuth, Senior Vice President Brand & Concept Hotel chain Strawberry.
Facts:
Hotel operator: Strawberry
Hotel chain name: Stopover
Property owners: Slättö and Strawberry Fields
Number of hotel rooms in the hotels: 151 (some of the rooms are studio apartments with kitchenettes and larger family rooms)
Short & long-term accommodation
Restaurant
Playroom
Laundry
Meeting room
Telephone booth
Dog park
Gym
Fast charging car
Geography: Outside city centers and close to or in direct connection with exits to major roads.
Property type: Only new wooden buildings manufactured in Värmland as building modules.
According to the press release.
