OSLO, Norway—Petter A. Stordalen, owner and CEO of Home Invest Group and Nordic Choice Hotels, made headlines in August when he announced the company planned to remove pay-per-view adult movies from the 171 hotels it operates in Scandinavia and the Baltic countries. The move is just the tip of the iceberg of Stordalen’s commitment to environmental and social causes.
“The overconsumption of our planet is something that should engage people of all ages, regardless of income, color or geographical location,” he said via email. “We are the first generation with the knowledge, the power to act and the technology to do something. We are possibly the last generation capable of turning the current path into a sustainable and prosperous future for all.”
Stodalen said it was his wife who opened his eyes to social responsibility when she put her medical career on hold to devote herself full time to environmental causes.
“There is no secret she has pushed and pulled me in the right direction, but more importantly she opened my eyes to the fact that there are no businesses on a dead planet. It really is that simple,” Stordalen said.
Nordic Choice is a 23-year-old company that operates or franchises hotels under five Choice Hotels International brands and operates nine independent hotels. Home Properties, a sister company, manages 25 hotels in the region. The company’s operations span Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Lithuania and Latvia.
The company’s commitment to social causes runs deep. In 2006, it banned smoking in all guestrooms. Two years later, it launched a collaboration with the Rainforest Foundation. For every guest night sold, Nordic Choice pays the foundation to preserve 100 square meters of rainforest for one year.
In 2010, it introduced an ecological breakfast at all hotels, and by the end of that year, all properties were environmentally certified under ISO 14001.
The company’s work with UNICEF and its anti-child trafficking Free to Grow program led Stodalen to institute the ban on adult movies in his properties.
“We believe it is a natural part of our social responsibility to not support an industry that contributes to trafficking, which is why this decision (to remove adult movies) will be implemented with immediate effect,” he said. “Together with UNICEF, we want to give children who are victims of violence, abuse and sexual exploitation a safer everyday life. According to UNICEF, 132 million children are engaged in child labor, annually 1.2 million children are subjected to trafficking and millions of children have their childhoods destroyed as child soldiers or street children.”
From a business point of view, the decision should have little effect, Stordalen said, noting pay TV revenues for the company have been on steady decline in recent years.
“I believe pay TV will follow in the footsteps of Wi-Fi and become something all hotels offer their guests complimentary,” he said. “Adding to that our consumers are increasingly both eco- and socially conscious and we need to send a clear signal to them, which is that Nordic Choice Hotels does not condone the porn business.”
Boutique business
In addition to its roster of Choice-branded hotels under the Comfort, Quality, Clarion and Clarion Collection flags, the company has nine high-tech, design-oriented boutique hotels.
Flagship of this independent collection is The Thief, a 119-room waterfront boutique that opened earlier this year on Oslo’s Thief Island, an upscale district of shops, residences, restaurants and clubs. The neighborhood draws its name from its past reputation as a haven for criminals and street girls, Stodalen said.
“It always has been, and increasingly so these days, very important to stand out. But at the same time you want to reflect the history and specific qualities of your neighborhood,” he said. “When I was asked whether I wanted to develop a hotel on Thief Island, I knew it needed to be different from the majority of mid-size chain hotels that already existed in Oslo.”
While the hotel is laden with guest-facing technology (a smartphone and tablet app acts as concierge, for example) and environmentally conscious operating systems, The Thief’s primary diferentiator is its connection to art.
The hotel is sole sponsor of the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Contemporary Art, which is located next door. Some of the art pieces in the hotel are on loan from the museum, while others were commissioned specifically for The Thief or are part of Stordalen’s personal collection. The hotel has an art curator on staff.
“Overall, the general usage of 'hotel art' is associated with bad taste, mass production and random positioning, and this was something we wanted to avoid at all costs,” he said.
As a replacement for the now-banned adult entertainment, the hotel’s interactive TV system offers art on demand with a selection of contemporary video art.
The pipeline
The company has been growing aggressively during the past two years and has more projects in the pipeline. It opened four hotels in 2012: two Clarion hotels, one Quality and a Comfort. In addition to The Thief, this year it opened a Quality and a Clarion. For now, growth will be close to home.
“I am an adventurous person and don’t mind a challenge, but currently we have to focus our resources on ongoing projects,” Stordalen said. “We have 17 new hotel projects in the Nordic countries, which combined will offer 3,750 new rooms to our guests. These projects require all my attention.”
All of the new properties scheduled to open in the next two years will carry Choice flags. Included in the expansion plans are room additions at several existing hotels and the construction of an exhibition hall at the company’s Clarion Hotel at the Oslo Airport.