In the early 1970’s Vaasa was the indisputable center of Ostrobothnia. It was the bilingual and cultural hub of the area with a rich business life, and of course hotels. At least three of them with a rich history were located right in the heart of the city.
Perhaps it was the proximity of the camping area, perhaps that of the seaport, Hotel Fenno was built near the tip of a cape on Vaskiluoto Island just outside town. It was a rather low budget hotel which was built around a square shaped courtyard. There was the main building with two wings and two separate buildings.
The hotel was in a pretty remote location and was extremely outdated in the first decade of the 2000’s. Despite still having the logo of the former operator Good Morning Hotels, the business had been sold to a small private operator, apparently Russian.
Bankrupcy followed in 2012, and the owners vanished. The estate negotiated with lots of buyers, but they couldn’t agree to a price. In the end the owner completely disappeared.
During my visit in late 2015 the place was still largely intact, yet clearly derelict. At that time the city no longer knew, who owned the hotel.
Vandals hadn’t yet found their way in. All doors and windows, even the outside lighting was intact. The city had already started eviction proceedings to do something to the place.
As there was no way in, the only thing I could do was take some photos through the windows. This is the restaurant, I think, with a buffet table at the back. Everything looks so perfectly vintage just like during the holidays in my childhood in the early 1990’s.
This is a look through the main door of one of the separate hotel buildings. Apart from the dirty plastic floor and being a little outdated, this would have made a fully functioning hotel.
Pretty soon after this the vandals found their way in. Everything was destroyed, and despite searching and searching, the city couldn’t find the owner. I never got the chance for another visit, before the city took control of the property and razed everything in 2019.