Next year, the first of around 20 hotels in the new Stopover hotel chain will open. These climate-smart hotels focus on electric vehicle travellers and, in addition to a comfortable bed, digital and efficient guest solutions, also offer exciting services for both children and four-legged family members.
Domestic and intra-Nordic travel has increased significantly since 2019. In addition to accommodation at travellers’ final destinations, the need to stay well and conveniently on the way to and from the destination is also increasing. In response to this, Strawberry and property investor Slättö are launching a brand new hotel chain. A hotel chain focused on those who travel by car and value comfort and accessibility during their travels.
The last time anyone had an original thought about roadside hotels, Henry Ford was alive. In other words, it’s been 77 years since he and innovation in roadside hotels fell asleep. Since then, society has fundamentally changed, but one of the things that remains the same then as now, and has been reinforced, is the need to be able to move. We have therefore, with the legacy and inspiration from Henry Ford, chosen to reinvent roadside hotels through a brand new hotel chain that we have chosen to call Stopover. A chain built for a new era, new infrastructure, new technology, and new demands from people who travel by car, says Petter Stordalen, owner of Strawberry.
Stopover will be a welcome addition for business travellers, families, and sports teams, but also for those who need temporary housing during a transitional period. The 151-room hotel with electric vehicle charging, gym, playroom, laundry room, meeting room/phone booths, dog park, and the opportunity for something good to eat and drink will be built as wooden modules in Värmland and then assembled at the hotel site. The ambitions for the environment are great, and therefore the buildings’ profile is characterized by renewable energy production with solar panels and geothermal heating, and by using digital solutions to a high degree to be resource-efficient both for people’s time and for the climate.
With Stopover, we want to create recognition among guests through the building while clearly showcasing our ambition in sustainability. We focus on strategic road locations, quality, and high sustainability. Our goal is for Stopover to become a common sight along the Nordic roads and fill a void in the Nordic hotel market, where domestic travel and travel within the Nordic region have increased significantly in recent years, says Erik Möller, Head of Hotels at Slättö.
The ambition is that Stopover will consist of at least 20 hotels within ten years, with the first opening in Falkenberg during late spring/summer of 2025. In the first phase of Stopover’s establishment, there is a shortlist of municipalities in Sweden where they are actively looking for building land outside city centres and preferably near or in direct connection with exits to the major roads.
Stopover is about catching the needs that exist around travel with an ear to the ground, delivering on them and also contributing to more people setting out on the Nordic roads to discover our part of the world. The Nordic region is unique and deserves to be explored. We had a lot of fun creating Stopover and hope to contribute to creating curiosity and the desire to create memories not only from the final destination of the trip but from all the stops along the way, says Anna Spjuth, Senior Vice President Brand & Concept Hotel chain Strawberry.