Hotel U14 is a family boutique hotel welcoming its guests with a friendly atmosphere, coziness and creative ideas.
The hotel is part of the Autograph Collection series by the world famous Marriott chain.
What’s your Story?
The hotel was opened in March 2020 in the very center of Helsinki at Unioninkatu Street, 14, after which it was named Hotel U14. Its creators are Mia, Kasperi and Roni Saari together with the American hotel chain Marriott.
The location of the hotel is one of the best in the city: close to the sea, to Kauppatori market square, Esplanaadi park and the main city attractions. The hotel’s invigorating and welcoming atmosphere is feels from the first day of your stay. This is a place where is pleasant to be, communicate and get the best experience.
“When we were planning to open the hotel, it took a long time to decide with which partner to do it”, — says one of the U14 founders Roni Saari, “after thinking we came to the conclusion that it would be Autograph Collection by Marriott. It was really a good idea, since before that there’s been only two hotels of this chain in Finland — The Courtyard by Marriott in Tampere and Katajanokka in Helsinki. Hotel U14 became the third. And today we are the best Autograph Collection Hotel in Europe. It is a great honor and pride for us to receive such a high award during such a short period of our existence”.
In the photo: General Manager Janne Ant-Wuorinen
“In order to become a member of Autograph Collection, according to the terms of this chain you need to have some interesting story”, — continues the story Janne Ant-Wuorinen, Hotel U14 General Manager. — The whole team was curious to find something, what would distinguish us from other hotels. And suddenly we got an interesting idea: we found a design brand agency that helped us make it happen. They came to us, and as a result of negotiations and interviews inside our team, everyone came to the conclusion that we are all people, but each of us is a personality. From here our story was born”.
“With a specially created application for us, all our staff is depicted on the panels in the elevators, as well as on our branded cups, but our guests also appear here. While the guest is registering at the reception, using this special app on the iPad he can create his image, which within a few seconds gets on the key, and also automatically appears on a panel of the elevator as well as on a TV screen in the room. When the guest checking out, the image is deleted. Thus faces change, and the team itself constantly welcomes new guests to their friendly family” — tells Janne.
Another unique piece at the hotel is the Humans wall watches in the lobby near the reception, fascinating with its unique mechanism. There are only five copies of this watch in the world.
Pet-friendly
Hotel U14 is not only a cozy, but beautiful, creative and cheerful hotel, as the creators themselves and the entire hotel staff call it. And you can see it reflected in everything. Priority to vivid colors is given in the interior of the hotel while the peculiarity of its design is objects depicting plants, animals and birds (walls, decorative pillows, lamps etc.), which reflects hotel creators’ love for all living things on Earth.
“We love animals, our hotel is Pet-frendly and is always open to visitors with pets”, — continues Janne Ant-Wuorinen. — Animals are depicted not only in the main interior of the hotel, but also in the rooms, in each of which guests are greeted by a “cheerful and welcoming” hippo. Even bath accessories and slippers — all with images of various inhabitants of the animal world”.
Everything to Relax
In the photo: Hotel U14 patio
In addition to its cozy atmosphere and inspiring decor, the hotel offers high-quality leisure facilities.
The hotel has 117 rooms, comfortable conference rooms, a restaurant & the unique cocktail bar VERSION, sauna and gym.
The hotel room fund includes categories: Comfort, Trendy, Luxe, Corner, Mini Suite and Corner Suite. All rooms have comfortable extra-wide beds, TV, air conditioning, wireless high-speed Wi-Fi, minibar, safe, ironing board, iron, hairdryer, bathrobe, slippers, rain shower.
Rooms of higher categories are equipped with an electric kettle and a capsule coffee machine as well as a bath in addition to a shower. The popular Corner rooms or the Corner Suites also provide with beautiful sea views.
Meeting Place
For business meetings U14 has four conference rooms located on the ground floor of the hotel and can accommodate meetings of 10 to 50 people. All conference rooms are equipped with modern technical equipment and internet access. Conference lunches are served either directly in the meeting hall or in the VERSION Restaurant located in the hotel building.
Californian VERSION
VERSION Eatery & Drinkery was opened together with the restaurateurs and chefs Kari Aihinen, Olli Kolu and Arttu Salovaara, which serves creative Californian food and drinks and an international atmosphere.
“Once Roni Saari called me with an offer to open a restaurant in his new hotel, which caught my interest immediately”, — says Kari Aihinen, “the location also turned out to be one of the best in the city. The idea came up to create something unusual so that the concept of the restaurant would meet the requirements of the hotel. And after negotiations within a team, we decided to focus on Californian cuisine, which is as bright and creative as the U14 itself”.
“Of course, there are a lot of places to open a restaurant in Helsinki,”,— continues Olli Kolu, — but we accepted the offer from Roni and Kasperi with great enthusiasm. We have known each other for a long time, they are very competent and responsible people, and it’s always a pleasure to work with them. This is how our new project with joint efforts was born and very quickly won the hearts of the guests”.
In the mornings VERSION serves delicious and healthy buffet breakfast for the guests living in the hotel (included in room rate) as well as the ones coming for outside (additional charge).
You can always find cold and hot items, vegetables, fruits, berries, smoothies and juices.
Ingredients mostly come from Finnish producers and are ecologically clean: meat, fish, berries, bread, which is brought every morning from the famous Levain bakery, honey from Savoy restaurant, which has its own bees.
Daytime and in the evening the restaurant offers an a la carte menu while the bar impresses with its rich cocktail and wine list. On weekends VERSION offers “Slow Breakfast” buffet with family or friends: a rich assortment of appetizers, hot dishes and desserts, among which the most popular items are American pancakes with maple syrup and fresh energizing smoothies.
Privileges
On the -1 floor of the hotel is a small, but equipped with all the necessary items Gym, from which you can access to Finnish sauna immediately after a well-done workout.
For thrill-seekers a huge tub of ice-cold water hangs in one of the shower cubicles (full sensation of diving into an ice-hole). Sauna is Unisex so bathing suits are required.
“We have developed some more interesting options for our guests,” — says in addition Janne Ant-Wuorinen, general manager of Hotel U14. — For those who’s tired of the daily office routine, we suggest continuing their work at the hotel while simultaneously combining it with relaxation, using our “Work Anywhere Stay Pass”. It includes an early check-in from 06:00 with accommodation for one night and a late check-out at 18:00, all hotel services, gym, sauna, wireless Wi-Fi and also a 10 € voucher for our restaurant”.
“And another interesting offer for two “Better together”, — continues Janne — is accommodation in a room of choice, delivery of a bottle of champagne to the room, a delicious breakfast for two and late check-out at 14:00”.
Shuttle Service: For hotel guests could be organized a personal transfer to any place in the city. U14 has at its disposal the latest BMW 745 LE car model. All transfer issues can be resolved at the reception.
Whatever brings you to Helsinki, the hotel team promises that you will get the most out of visiting the capital of beautiful Finland, feeling its lively rhythm and heartbeat, and will definitely introduce you to the best hidden gems of the city. “We inspire each other with fresh ideas and new ways of thinking, making sure that every guest remembers their stay at U14”, — concludes Janne Ant-Wuorinen.
Hotel U14
Address: Unioninkatu, 14, 00130 Helsinki
Contacts: +358 29 314 1414; info@hotelu14.fi
Reservation of rooms and all offered services by phone or e-mail sales@hotelu14.fi
Instagram: @hotelu14
Editor-in-chief: Patricia Kolari
Technical Director: Evgeny Fedorov
Text writer: Marina Timoshevskaya Photos: EATWEEK
