The company that bought Hotel Punkaharju is managed by a businessman whose background is unclear. “I have no faith in the fact that this is going very well with its new owner,” says one local.
Many have The people of Punkaharju clearly had other things to think about than the new owner of the culturally historically valuable Hotel Punkaharju, when HS visited the municipality. However, the new owner does not seem to inspire confidence.
After various phases, the bankruptcy estate of the hotel was bought in January by the Kotka real estate company AK Properties. It is owned by an American businessman Artur Karamanwho is of Estonian-Russian background.
According to HS's report, Karaman was one of the three shareholders in Hotel Scandinavian oy, which was declared bankrupt at the end of 2022. Later, HS said that Karaman has been made an asset related to real estate investigation request To the Southeastern Finland police.
Punk ridge On a Tuesday in February, the driveway going up to the hotel from the northern end of Harjutie will not be plowed until mid-afternoon.
The hotel yard is deserted. There are no cars in the parking spaces, and no people from the renovation or construction industry can be seen there. Hotel Punkaharju seems like a bed of roses.
Let's move five kilometers to the center to ask what the locals think about the hotel's new owner. Kylänrait, or Kauppatie, is almost as quiet.
The tables of Pullaposki, the only cafe in Kauppatie, are filled with three customers. One of them is a pensioner Teijo Nikkanen. He says he is worried about the background of the hotel's buyer.
“Hotel Punkaharju is such a great place that it could stand to end up in hands that know how and want to manage it with the appreciation that the place deserves,” says Nikkanen.
“I have no faith in the fact that this will go very well with its new owner. But let's give him a chance now.”
The entrepreneur of Kahvila Pullaposki, Sari Kutvonen, presents the cafe's own rye bread, which is baked every Tuesday and Friday.
Chubby cheeks an entrepreneur who has been running for thirteen years Sari Kutvonen sighs deeply when the hotel is brought up.
“When I read in the newspaper about the new owner, I started to feel sad that this is how it has turned out.”
Kutvonen says that the former owner of the hotel Sami Hoyer has often been a customer of Pullaposki with his family. In addition, Kutvonen says that he has done catering gigs for Hoyer's private parties.
According to the coffee shop owner, the hotel is “a really nice bonus” to the beauty of the locality, but it does not affect people's everyday life in any way.
“The popularity of the hotel or the Retreat has not affected our cafe's summer season. Those places don't bring us customers.”
Entrepreneur Terhi Heiskanen in front of his flea market on Kauppatie.
Locally there is a constant stream of customers at the flea market.
“In principle, all the locals surely wish the hotel well, no matter who continues its operation,” says the flea market entrepreneur Terhi Heiskanen.
“It is such a beautiful and valuable place that we all want to give a chance to the new leader. It is good to hope that he uses his opportunity well. But the lives of us locals are in no way dependent on that hotel.”
The same is said by someone walking towards you on Kauppatie Heidi Massinen.
“There is no opinion.”
The Kohut related to the hotel have not been uppermost in the mind of Heidi Massinen from Punkaharju.
Massinen says that he is a single parent and that he has recently suffered from health concerns, which, however, are beginning to be behind him.
“That hotel has not been at the top of my mind.”
If Punkaharju needs something, it's more things to do and options for young people, says Massinen.
“Although it's nice that there's a hotel here as beautiful as the one on the ridge.”
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