Hotel Arthur develops its sustainability in a holistic manner by paying attention to the environmental, economic, and social impacts of its operations and by taking responsibility for them. As a recognition of our valuable and long-term work towards sustainable tourism, we were awarded the Sustainable Travel Finland label by Visit Finland in December 2025. The Sustainable Travel Finland programme, managed by Business Finland, includes a seven-step development path for sustainable tourism. After completing these steps, a company may be granted the Sustainable Travel Finland sustainability label. The programme provides a solid foundation and a clear direction for developing sustainability, and companies awarded the STF label are committed to continuously improving sustainable tourism practices as responsibility requirements evolve.
In our own operations, responsibility is reflected both in major strategic choices and in many small actions of everyday life. Our background organisation, the YMCA of Helsinki (Young Men’s Christian Association), guides our operations through its ethical values, alongside our other core values: customer orientation, continuous development, profitability, a professional and well-being staff, privacy, and individuality. All profits from our hotel operations are directed to the support foundation of the YMCA of Helsinki, which owns Hotel Arthur and whose sole purpose, in accordance with its statutes, is to support activities for children and young people.
The cornerstones of our employees’ well-being are fair treatment of all staff members and equal appreciation of everyone’s skills and expertise. We actively involve our employees in developing our operations and in decision-making, and we communicate openly with them about both our sustainability initiatives and our financial performance.
We take environmental responsibility, among other things, by improving our recycling processes and striving to reduce the amount of waste generated. In our restaurant, guests are encouraged to pay attention to the amount of food they take, and information about the amount of food waste generated is also shared with guests. We use dispenser napkins, which reduces paper consumption by approximately 25 %, and in the future we will transition to unprinted napkins, further reducing emissions from incinerated waste. We use European electricity produced 100 % without fossil fuels and also aim to improve energy efficiency and reduce our overall energy consumption, for example by replacing the hotel building’s windows with energy-saving ones. We also seek to extend product life cycles by maintaining and repairing items whenever possible.
In our food procurement, we prioritise locally produced ingredients and locally sourced food. The eggs, dairy products, and oat milk we use are of domestic origin, and the majority of our meat and meat products are also sourced from Finland. Our morning porridge is cooked using organic oat flakes from the traditional local Kranni farm. For beverages, we favour products bottled in Finland, even when the brand itself is global. The tea and coffee we use carry the Rainforest Alliance certification.
Promoting sustainable tourism is a journey, and naturally not everything can be perfected at once. However, we are committed to continuously developing our operations and to communicating openly and transparently about our sustainable tourism actions, plans, and goals — including any shortcomings we identify and the steps we take to address them. Welcome to join us on our journey towards even more sustainable tourism!
