Short rental is rubbing the hotel industry: Forenom thinks, resigning from the interest organization – Maran Timo Lappi describes the situation as exceptional

Short rental That is, renting furnished homes from days to a few weeks will rub the hotel and restaurant interest organization Tourism and restaurant services so badly that CEO Timo Lapland has already inquired about the willingness of one member company to continue in the union.

That member is Forenom. The company has hotels and hostels, but it is also the largest renter in Finland and the Nordic countries. In this role, its benefits are at odds with the overwhelming majority of Mara’s membership.

“I have stated (Forenom) CEO Jussi Saarinenthat they want to consider belonging to the union, ”Lapland says.

According to Saarinen, Forenom is now thinking about whether or not to resign from the union.

« Let’s look at the situation, have not yet been decided, » Saarinen says.

Conflicts of interest has brought to the surface with a change in law prepared by the Ministry of the Environment, which would regulate the highly widespread short rent in recent years. The draft law on the draft law ended in late April.

Mara refined her position on the draft law in meetings that Forenom had no matter.

« There was no couple of meetings, » Lapland confirms.

At the same time, Forenom independently prepared his own statement for the draft law. About the same content for the draft was also made by the Furnished Housing Actors (KAT). The chairman of its board of directors is the predecessor of Saarinen, Forenom’s ex-CEO and current advisor John.

The end result was statements where Mara and its regional organizations, on the other hand, Forenom and Kat are on a completely different line. Mara pursues stricter regulation compared to the Ministry’s draft, while Forenom and Kat clearly looser.

Maran Timo Lappi describes the situation in his career as completely exceptional.

« For a little over 20 years I have been CEO, and now is the first time that the majority of members and a few individual members, above all Forenom, are completely opposite, » he describes.

According to Lapland, Mara follows the « most important strategic idea » in the conflict. The organization is in favor of free competition, but when we compete for the same customers, we have to compete with the same rules, « Lapland outlines.

The contradiction is deep and extends to the name of the phenomenon.

« From our point of view, it is not about short rental, but about professional accommodation in apartment buildings. It competes directly with hotels, but with different rules of the game. Hotels and other accommodation buildings have their own areas, residential buildings, » Lapland says.

“It is also important for us to have the social license of tourism to accept and treat their guests well.

Formenom Saarinen and KAT’s fabric with Timo Lapland disagree with a direct competition setting. Saarinen says Forenom’s furnished apartments serve corporate customers and mobile workforce for which hotel accommodation is not suitable.

“We have hotels and hostels, and they are on the same line as Mara’s other hotel entrepreneurs. We offer furnished apartments to customers who are suitable for hotel accommodation,” says Saarinen.

« If this is seen as a threat, nothing can be done, » he says.

KAT’s fabric emphasizes the importance of furnished apartments for labor mobility.

« If an employee in Finland wants to go to another location in Finland, he or she cannot afford to pay for a hotel -level overnight stay or a restaurant dinner, let alone a laundry. This is needed and needed an apartment where you can live and cook, » he says.

He has a note on the fairness of the competition and the same rules of the game: hotels may have obligations that are different from apartment building, but in the shortest, day or two overnight stays, they also have a superior competitive advantage, for example in cleaning.

“Because of the physical limitations, it is different to clean the same number of hotel rooms as apartment blocks,” Kangas says.

Maran Timo Lappi is separately highlighted by the Forenom ex-catering director and current advisor, Kat, a competing interest organization, KAT.

« There may be different views, but the problem is that a Forenom representative is chairman of the furnished housing ry, » Lappi says. He says this was one of the reasons why he asked Forenom’s desires to continue in the union.

Saarinen says he does not quite understand the confrontation.

« There are a large number of others in Kat. Forenom is just one member, » he says.

In addition to Forenom, KAT members include Hiisi Homes, 2ndhomes, HVC Apartments, Comodo Apartments and Citykoti.com.