Covid-19, Estonia, Latvia, Real Estate, Tourism

However, should the virus situation improve earlier, this decision will be reviewed sooner, and the hotel re-opened before spring 2021, Tallink said in a press release.

It said that while the hotel operations are suspended, the services, concepts and processes of the hotel will be reviewed and updated to meet all the new safety requirements in the post-COVID world and the down time will be used practically to identify and develop even greener and more sustainable accommodation services for the future.

"With hotel occupancy levels in all hotels being below optimum occupancy levels for several months now and travel restrictions due to increasing infection rates once again in place and preventing travel, it is impossible to keep the operations running without incurring losses every day we are open for business," Ave Svarts, management board member of Tallink Hotels, said.

She said they have decided to suspend their activities temporarily and wait for the storm to pass. Tallink Hotels has already had to let the majority of its staff go through collective redundancies and will now need to shut down and conserve as much as possible for the months ahead. 

Out of the four hotels of Tallink Hotels, two -- the Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel and the Tallink Express Hotel in Tallinn -- will currently still remain open. The company’s fourth hotel, the Tallink City Hotel in Tallinn, shut its doors for a major refurbishment already this summer and will reopen after the revamp in spring 2021.