About
Room Republic
Meet the founders
Karin and Kjell Jakobsson met in Alcudia in Mallorca in 1979. They were working as tour guides for Fritidsresor. Working for Fritidsresor was a great learning experience to truly understand what quality hospitality really means.
Eleven years later they had the opportunity to open their first hotel, Plaza Hotel in Karlstad. It was a great success and in 1993 they received the Eurocard service award Emma with the motto "for service down to the last detail!" In 1996, the property owner of Plaza wanted them to take over the classic Grand Hotel in Helsingborg. During its eleven years, the hotel developed and regained its position as one of the leading hotels. During these years, the hotel was also expanded from 116 rooms to 164 rooms. In 2008, the hotel was sold to Choice Hotels.
From 1998 to 2000, they were responsible for developing the Garden Hotel on behalf of Skanska. Once the repositioning was complete, the business was sold to First Hotels.
Barfota by the Beach is a summer restaurant located on a sandy beach in central Helsingborg. The restaurant was acquired in 2008 and a new concept was created and already in the first year the turnover more than doubled.
Barfota Beach has sponsored a school in South Africa for three years through Star for Life. As a result of Rasmus Jakobsson volunteering for four months for Star for Life, we have now started our own charity project to help orphans in South Africa under the name - Dandelion Children in South Africa. Barfota was sold in February 2019.
Exactly thirty years after Kjell and Karin met, they acquired a hotel in Palma de Mallorca. A run-down gay hotel was transformed into a small personal boutique hotel. Hotel Feliz saw the light of day! During the ten years they have been running the hotel, they have been noticed. The Times named the hotel one of Mallorca's 20 coolest hotels and The Guardian newspaper named Feliz one of Palma's top ten hotels. Feliz is also ranked number one among bed & breakfast hotels on Trip Advisor.
A few years later, in 2014, Room Republic acquired the Hotel Viking. A major rejuvenation was started and all rooms were renovated. All are now unique with their own design. The whole entrance floor was redesigned and a restaurant was opened. In October 2016 the name was changed to V Hotel Helsingborg. It has since been highly praised on multiple travel and booking sites.
In June 2017, Room Republic acquired Hotel Statt in Hässleholm. For Karin, it was a bit special as it is her childhood town. Immediately, both a repositioning and total renovation of the entire hotel began. The entire hotel was completely renovated and plans are now being outlined to build an 800m2 themed spa.
Hotel Helsing in Helsingborg was acquired in 2018, renovated, and renamed The Vault Hotel, and is now sold to Ekman Hotels 2023.
Room Republic has signed a management agreement with RoosGruppen for the operation of Palma Suites in Palma de Mallorca. Room Republic has been running another hotel in Palma, Hotel Feliz, for ten years. The agreement came into effect on 1 March 2019.
After turbulent times during the world pandemic, the Room Republic group strengthen its position. In the beginning of 2023 acquires Åhus Seaside Hotel, Conference & Spa as sixths destination.
This was a short history up to now......... to be continued!
Our
Beliefs
Already at Fritidsresor, we learned the importance of seeing each guest as a unique person and doing everything we can to meet their needs.
It has shaped the way we run our operations. From comfortability to a warm interior, to dedicated hospitality. Our hospitality is what comes before everything else. We know from experience that it creates success.
A little to describe how we work, we talk internally about how we don't have ‘guests’, we just have friends visiting our home. This means that you should act just as you do when you have your own friends over.
With us, it should feel more like coming home to a friend.
We can see that it pays off. All our hotels are highly rated on TripAdvisor and have high ratings on all booking channels.
But it also shows in occupancy and profitability. That's why our staff is so important to us. We put a lot of focus on making sure everyone who works for us feels motivated and passionate about their hospitality. At the moment we are working on our corporate culture and gearing towards a motto of ‘always have fun’.
In other words, working for us should be fun. By embodying this motto, our ‘friends’ will enjoy themselves.
Feel Good Culture
Our Feel Good custom is the most important thing we embody regarding our employees. It´s how we want them to live up to the values we have to get happy and satisfied guests at our Hotels and Restaurants.
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Possibilities
We see only possibilities - everything is possible
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Celebrate
We always celebrate success
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Feeling Good
We create feel good moments that stand out
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Support
We lift each other up
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Winners
We are humble winners
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Laughter
We have fun
Work with us!
Our six hotels, Åhus Seaside, V Hotel, Hotel Statt, The Vault Hotel, Feliz Hotel, and Palma Suites, are always looking for the best and most committed people to help us develop our hotels further in line with our vision.
Are you the person who stands out and wants to make every day special and memorable?
Are you passionate about hospitality and a pro at seeing opportunities instead of problems?
Are you someone who strives for responsibility and great authority?
Well, then we'd love to know more about YOU!
Visit our career site for more info and available work opportunities