Page 4 - Hotel Tunnel's 100 Years of History

At the hotel, we were greeted by the owner, Björn Westerlund, who showed up in Bermuda shorts and a colorful T-shirt. After the ferry, this was almost too much, but Bjom was very friendly and seemed happy - in fäet way too happy - that he was about to sell the hotel.
Then, smiling broadly, he handed over the largest bundle of keys I have ever seen. And that done, he headed for the airport - I imagined him running, perhaps skipping, certainly laughing all the way. Now, that would not have been so bad if it was not that almost all
his staff left too.
In the days to come, everybody we came across from the Malmö hotel industry told us we had bought the worst property possible. A hotel with a very poor reputation - in fäet, a reputation that suggested only easy women and humongous sewer rats would willingly stay there.
So that was it. We had a building that dated back to the 14th century, and whose infrastructure and services had not been planned in any way but had accreted over centuries. I had absolutely no clue where the master switches for the lights, the fire alarms, water, heating, nor what were the local bylaws, rules regulations - nothing - and, what was worse, there was no one in Malmö who knew more than I did. And all this in a hotel called the Tunneln. Who calls a hotel ”The Tunneln”? Forget about the ferry - the real joumey was just about to begin.
Well, thatjoumey took quite some time and many sleepless nights, but with the help of Marianne Laiderz, Per Möller, Gunnar Kjems, and some of the most dedicated employees I have ever come across, we slowly but surely moved in the right direction.
In 2003, Marianne left, and I became General Manager.
We expanded the hotel. We tore down walls, we took over part ofthe adjacent building, we discovered hidden spaces - and we grew. By 2005, we had added another 20 rooms, and by 2022, we had a total of 82 rooms, 1 apartment, 3 restaurants, 1 hairdresser salon, and 1 soup kitchen, all under the same roof.
It has been a long and wonderful joumey and a great pleasure to have been involved in the preservation of the building’s history combined with the memory of so many happy and satisfied guests.
My staff and I hope that Mayfäir Rotel Tunneln will continue its success in the many years to come.
Ull Storm GeneralManager