Sustainability and innovation describe the novel concept of one of the newest hotels in Iceland.
The Greenhouse Hotel in Hveragerði, a town and municipality in the southwest of Iceland, would be the first hotel venture for founders and old school friends, Brynjolfur Baldursson and Vatard Sorensen. Combining their expertise in brand management and finance, Vatard and Brynjolfur ceased the opportunity for collaboration during the height of the tourist boom to build an experiential hotel in the greenhouse town of Hveragerði.
The town sits at the gateway of Southern Iceland with the highest concentration of greenhouses on the island. In close proximity to a large geothermal area, the aim was to build an accommodation where consumer experience was at the centre of the stay. I spoke with the founders while sitting in their newest building, The Lodge, about the concept and their future plans for expansion.
What are your business backgrounds, and how did this collaborative venture begin?
Vatard: Brynjolfur went to work in the banking industry, and I went into more of the marketing side. I was working as a brand manager with a big company called Diageo – a global giant who owns all of the major alcohol brands. Through this, I got into owning clubs, restaurants and cafés. I always rented places for my businesses and with this project, I wanted to be on the other side collecting rent as an owner.
Brynjolfur: I went into the finance industry straight out of school, working for local banks, then founded my own corporate finance boutique in partnership with one of the global banks. I then sold that in 2011 when the difficulties hit, and then started merging into more real estate and development. It was perfect timing when Vatard called me up as I was working with my investors on different real estate projects and that’s how we got into this.
Vatard: He is more in the corporate finance side of it and I am more in the operation and construction side which is actually a good match.
How did you come up with the concept for the Greenhouse hotel?
Vatard: Well, it started probably four or five years ago. I used to work in the UK, in 2015/16, and when I came back, I saw this tourist boom that was in Iceland, and the traffic and flow of people in this area. I then acquired land in the area of Hveragerði, and soon after called up Brynjolfur to join me on this journey. We started to work together on the concept and the hotel and see how we would make the most of this small piece of land. Within a year, we acquired more land in Reykjadalur, within walking distance of the hot springs which works very well with our hotel concept.
How would you describe this hotel to new prospective customers?
Brynjolfur: The Greenhouse Hotel is a boutique hotel offering a food and beverage hall, retail, and activities all together in one place. The greenhouse idea came as a result of the greenhouses in this town, which are powered by geothermal energy. This town was built by artists after WWII and this is one of the youngest municipalities in Iceland. The settlers built this town from geothermal energy and hot water. They started growing vegetables and flowers in the greenhouses and with this history, we thought it would be a good concept to build on, and it also promotes the green and sustainable vision we had.
Did Covid-19 impact the development process?
Brynjolfur: We planned to open the hotel in 12-18 months but it ended up taking 20 months because we kept stepping on the brakes because Covid-19 was very unpredictable.
Did you have a type of customer in mind when building the hotel and how have the town locals reacted to the hotel?
Vatard: Yes, we targeted the local people in this small town first as we wanted them to feel welcome like a home away from home. We also looked at the Icelander on the move, driving past this place on the weekend and holidays going to their summer houses, as there is a large number of summer houses behind us. Then the tourists of course. We knew that if the local people approved it, the tourists would come, so we kept the prices reasonable and ensured they would get their value for money.
Brynjolfur: We have some local people coming here just for the food or coffee, and other people are coming to stay, but it was really important that they were the first in and they have to like it. It had to be authentic for them, then the Icelanders as well. Now we have a good mix of Icelandic people coming here for the weekend trips and then foreigners coming all year round.
Vatard: There is a little magic having these different activities under one roof. The food hall, the shops, they all bring a different type of customer and the locals love meeting new guests and they can socialise under one roof. So you have this life brings life which is a magic formula to make this happen outside of Reykjavik in a small town.
Are there any plans for future expansion this year?
Brynjolfur: We have expanded into the Reykjadalur Valley with our river lodge which was the first part of our journey in this area and we are now expanding further. This year, we will expand this lodge a little bit further into an outside area for groups with fire pits for people to come and relax after hiking. Then we are also building a structure for a zipline orientation, and the zipline will also be built this year.
Factbox
Address: Austurmörk 6, 810 Hveragerði, Iceland
Phone: +354 464 7336
Website: thegreenhouse.is
All imagery used in this article credit: Patch Media
