Hotel is open after nearly 4 weeks of strike

Oslo.Hotel director Tarje Hellebust.Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Oslo.Photo: Jon Olav Nesvold / NTB scanpix

Saturday afternoon, a happy hotel manager was able to receive the first guests at the Radisson Blu Plaza Hotel in Oslo after it had been closed for almost four weeks.

 

– I am very pleased that we now can open the doors again and take care of our guests. The strike has not been a desirable situation for neither our guests nor employees, says hotel director Tarje Hellebust to the news agency NTB.

He has been working overtime to accommodate guests after the strike was formally called off at 12 noon Saturday, and three hours later checked the first guests into the almost empty hotel. They will be offered breakfast Sunday morning, but the ordinary course of business will not be in place until Monday.

The hotel manager does not want to estimate how much the hotel has lost by being closed.

– We need to sit down afterwards and look at the economic impact, but it is significant, there is no doubt.

Checked in

Espen Kaarikstad from Kristiansand was one of the first who checked into the hotel on Saturday afternoon. He will be at the hotel for one night.

– I originally booked our stay through an external website, but had arranged it privately now at the forefront because of the strike. When I heard that the strike was called off, I contacted the hotel and decided to check in anyway.

The hotel guest says that the important thing was that the parties reached an agreement. He does not think it is a big matter, that the restaurants are not open yet.

– I get the breakfast, so it does not matter that there is no regular operation. The most important thing is that the situation has been resolved for the employees, says Kaarikstad.

Back to work

About half of the employees have been affected by the strike, while the unorganized were temporarily laid off.

One employee who returned to work Saturday afternoon, is service manager Marcus Grundy. He is happy to be back at work after being home for almost four weeks.

– I was temporarily laid off because the hotel was closed. We were aware that it was going to happen in advance, but it is of course silly when it happens. It is lovely to get done something little again, and not just go home and wait for it to finish, he says.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today