7 of January 2020 is the day when the first Courtyard by Marriott hotel was opened in Finland, i.e. in the town of Tampere. Notably, Marriott has not had much presence in Finland until now, mainly having members of Design Hotels (Hotel St. George, Helsinki) and Tribute Portfolio hotel (Hotel Katajanokka, Helsinki) in its Finnish portfolio. From now on Marriott has one of its most recognisable brands established in Finland with the Courtyard brand.

• Name of the hotel: Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City
• Address: Yliopistonkatu 57, 33100, Tampere, Finland
• District: Kalevanrinne
• Date of opening: 7 January 2020

Tampere was chosen as the location to open this hotel for several reasons. First of all, the town is undergoing a massive change due to its rapid growth; the upcoming 2022 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship with the final game taking place in Tampere has become the reason to start the construction of a new Tampere Arena, which will host the event. At the same time the tram system is scheduled to be completed in 2021, which never existed in the town, and it makes Tampere a more attractive place to visit, make business, study or live in. Moreover, the town has had lots of attempts to bring businesses from the capital region; now the infrastructure is well developed and more inviting. All these in combination with other factors made Tampere a perfect choice.

As a matter of fact, the Courtyard brand was created in 1983 to target business travellers, who were not satisfied with the choice of Marriott offers. Having reached the desired goal, the well-established Courtyard brand was supposed to compete with other brands, such as Holiday Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, and to attract their clientele in order to bring them to Courtyard.

The main characteristics of the Courtyard brand are its price range (targeting the middle), desk in each room, free Internet access and 24-hour “mini-marts”.

When it comes to the Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City, beside the above mentioned features, the hotel has direct access to Tampere Hall, which is hosting various events, for instance, Opera festival or exhibitions. Being one of the largest concert and conference centres in the Nordic countries, Tampere Hall complements the Courtyard hotel perfectly. According to the official website, it hosts more than 900 events and has more than 600 000 visitors annually. Therefore, the focus of this property is clearly visible and easily perceivable.

The opening ceremony felt more like homey and in a relaxed pace; the personnel were taking group pictures and arranging the workplace.

At 11:00 a.m. the official part started with the speech of the General Manager of Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City, Ville Virkki. In a few minutes the turn was passed onto Marriott representatives and some of the key personnel of the hotel, for example, Food and Beverage Manager, Aleksi Hell; Sales Manager, Kiki Koskinen; and Head Chef, Sakari Savolainen. With the glass of champagne the official part was over and the hotel tour was organised.

Fact sheet of Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City

• The first completely newly built Marriott property in Finland
• Operated by Odyssey Hotel Group
• 229 rooms in total (including 1 Suite)
• 11 floors
• Laundry service
• 23 pet-friendly rooms
• 24-hour room service
• Business centre
• Fitness centre
• Proximity to the railway station and city centre

The hotel tour started with the Suite King room category. The room is spacious and functional, tailored to meet the business travellers’ needs to bring the delightful comfort and joy. The bed is soft and made of high quality materials.

Another category is Standard Room King, which is the same functional and similarly aimed to satisfy a business person’s needs during the trip, but different in size. The room provides all the necessary amenities to help focus on the business and to leave the worries behind.

Fitness centre is good enough to fit a fair number of people at the same time.

Business centre is spacious, bright and modern; it has plugs for your devices, as well as work stations available to the guests. The corridor leads to the Tampere Hall with all the signs and clear visibility.

Reception desk is very welcoming and light; it is right in front of the entrance so that the guests could easily find it to check in, settle the bill or take care of other aspects of the stay and to enjoy the food at the restaurant, which is very spacious with a choice of the side and tables to sit at. The breakfast area is nicely hidden behind the wooden doors to not disturb the customers during dinner and to create more relaxed and romantic atmosphere.

As for the design, the hotel comprised all the latest Finnish and European trends with an aspect of environmentally friendly and close-to-nature approach.

Undoubtedly, it is fairly simple to notice the respect for the international Marriott standards with a strong emphasise on the Finnish DNA, which can be read in every little detail.

To conclude this review, it is worth to mention that being the first completely new property from the Marriott portfolio is a challenging thing as there is no other hotel to look at and get advice from, but the management and the whole team of employees of Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City made a good job to put this hotel on a map of Tampere and wrote the opening page of its own story.

To book a room at Courtyard by Marriott Tampere City get the hotel's official website.