Herranniemi Guesthouse

We spent Christmas among the family (14 people), staying in Herranniemi for 3 nights. The hosts were very friendly and helpful. The needs of small children were wonderfully taken into account, as were the special diets we announced. We spent the days relaxing in our lodge, and outside downhill and cross-country skiing on the lake. The Christmas meal was homemade and really delicious. The breakfast was also really plentiful and tasty, like the other meals. On Christmas Eve, we decorated the Christmas tree in the main building and in our own accommodation in Laurila. It was atmospheric to relax in the twilight of the evening in various saunas that were heated by the host, of which the smoke sauna was our favorite.

Yeah this was not an ideal B&B experience. Mainly because they have not understood that what they sell here is not just accommodation but mostly an experience. Upon arrival we were not welcomed at all and the check in was done quickly while letting us know that there was large - an more important - wedding party that they were just introducing the place to. Mistake no 1: never make your customer notice that they are not as important as some other customer. The breakfast is a big part of a B&B. Well, this time it was not good. When entering the breakfast area, the personnel said nothing but just basically tried to be as they never noticed us. No one even bothered to say good morning. The selection was very limited and they did not stack up quickly. A very small change would have made the breakfast much better: someone just simply saying good morning and asking if we would have wanted for example fried eggs. The beach has an outdoor toilet (why there, right in the middle of the beach??) and it has a lot of small ants. The sauna was under construction and the movable sauna does not really make up for it. Very minor changes could make this place much better: loose the beach toilet, some attention to customer service and easy and relatively unexpensive upgrades to the breakfast.