New Hotel on Laugavegur

CenterHotel Laugavegur received its first guests on Friday. This new hotel, on the corner of Laugavegur and Snorrabraut in Reykjavík, is the seventh CenterHotel downtown. Its west wing is a new building, while its east wing is a renovated building. A formal opening will take place in the fall.

CenterHotels’ owner and CEO Kristófer Oliversson, tells Morgunblaðið that the hotel has been more than three years in the making, at the cost of about ISK 3 billion (USD 24 million; EUR 22 million). It has 102 rooms - making it the hotel chain’s fourth largest. The chain began operation in 1994 and has grown rapidly in recent years, currently counting 760 hotel rooms downtown, but growing to about a thousand when CenterHotel Grandi opens, which it will do in phases next year.

Kristófer states that despite a reduction in demand following the bankruptcy of WOW Air in the spring, the outlook in terms of bookings for CenterHotel Laugavegur is good.

On the hotel’s ground floor, there is a bar, and in mid-August, two restaurants are scheduled to open at the hotel. Three hotel room sizes are offered – all of them double rooms.

Ísey Gréta Þorgrímsdóttir is director of CenterHotel Laugavegur. She describes it as a modern quality hotel with a relaxed atmosphere. It is designed to look homey. “We want to introduce Icelandic literature and music in the lounge,” she explains. “At the restaurant, we offer first-rate Icelandic produce.”

The hotel will employ about 20 people - Icelandic and foreign. Those include students from Cesar-Ritz hotel management school in Switzerland, who come to complete a six-month internship.

Ísey emphasizes that the CenterHotel chain is a family business. “We’re proud of that,” she states.