Hotel Haven, Helsinki, Finland

Hotel Haven

Hotel Haven is a unique five-star hotel I had the opportunity to visit with my sister in Helsinki, Finland. The hotel is located close to the Central Market of Helsinki, but we had a hard time trying to find the hotel. There are two doorways to the hotel, both quite hidden, and it is a little difficult to know which is the main entrance. The other door is on Unioninkatu and the other one is on Eteläranta. The latter felt more like the grand entrance in my opinion. Anyway, we managed to finally enter the hotel and immediately were pleased with the polite customer service, elegant décor, and the use of fresh flowers in the reception area. 

My Prime Superior Room

I always want to go to hotels where I like all the rooms they have – in case they give me the worst room they have. I definitely think that in this hotel I would have liked all the 137 rooms. They don't even call their lowest category of rooms standard but superior rooms, which in my opinion is quite clever. I was still pleased when I learned at the check-in that as a member of the Nordic Choice Club (which 05/2023 became part of Strawberry), I was entitled to a free room upgrade. So from a Superior room, I was moved to a Prime Superior room. This upgrade also applied to I Prefer Club -members and was done automatically if a suitable room was available.

I was very pleased with the room. It was spacious, beautiful, clean, and had a lot of storage. The bed was very big and comfortable. The bathroom had a bathtub and bathrobes, which was nice. I had brought my own bubble bath soap, just in case, and I was happy I packed it since they didn't offer one in the room. Also, they didn't have fresh flowers in the room like they had in the pictures on their web pages. So in this respect, the pictures didn't match the reality but everything else was perfect!

Sauna Missing from the Amenities

There is a gym, a bar, and three restaurants in the hotel. I feel that a sauna in Finland is a must-have in every hotel. But I was very surprised to learn that there isn't one here. I think that would be a great addition to the customer experience that they offer. The gym was small, but it had the equipment I was looking for, and the sauna after a workout would have felt wonderful.

The bar was very elegant and inviting – I think it is a great place to have an after-party or just enjoy the evening with friends. 

Restaurants of Hotel Haven 

Of the three restaurants that they have, we only visited Restaurant Haven, which offers a breakfast buffet. The restaurant is located in a historically significant building since it was built by Gustaf Wilhelm Sundman in 1817-1820 and designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, who is the main architect of the historical center of Helsinki. The restaurant has a lot of unique features and a beautiful view of the harbor and the sea. The space is so stunning that the breakfast feels super special in this location. Unfortunately, we slept so late that we almost missed breakfast time, but we managed to enjoy a perfect meal, thanks to the very patient and polite staff of the restaurant. 

The other two restaurants also seemed very inviting so I will be returning as soon as possible to this location! I could not recommend this place enough. The best thing about this hotel is the quality of the customer service, which was absolutely five-star worthy. For example, when at night my sister got hungry and could not sleep, I was able to get bananas and milk from the kind receptionist. That makes you feel like your experience matters and every customer is significant. I could not ask for more!