Hotels in Helsinki are already predicting that rooms will be in short supply in a year from now. However, conference guests will not be the only ones to be accommodated.
"A certain number of rooms will be reserved for tourists", promises Minna Mäkelä of Helsinki’s Hilton Hotels.
However, tourists might find themselves paying more for their rooms once the conference season gets in gear.
The meetings will naturally bring large numbers of customers to the hotels, but their arrangements will bring considerable, and at times amusing changes to routine.
For instance, during a corporate conference cleaners will be allowed into the meeting rooms only in the company of security personnel. The names or logos of companies must not be seen on any doors, or anywhere else, and companies or organisations in the same field of operations do not want to convene in the same locations.
Hotels and congress venues have also noticed that the time of belt-tightening is over. Companies and organisations are using much more money for a wide variety of hospitality than they did just a few years ago.
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 24.9.2004
