Many thanks, yet again
ksu, for an excellent inside view on the situation in Norway. This is where FT can be really helpful.
Hurtigruten control Spitsbergen Travel who in turn own ALL major hotels and tourism activities on the island. A sort of sick monopoly that infects the tourism health of the whole island. Maybe the Chinese bring some good medicine soon
The CEO of Hurtigruten was recently exchanged (not even on wikipedia yet) and the new chief immediately installed his old buddy, the new GM at Spitsbergen Travel & Radisson Hotel. While this one seems not a bad person per se, and google shows he has to sort out other legal problems, he has practically no hotel background, and in my case - probably out of inexperience - pressed the wrong buttons. He certainly didn't implement standard hotel procedures yet.
In regards to Hegnar, let's see who he "calls outside to teach a lesson"
I didn't know that they own that particular hotel. Hurtigruten is a fascinating company. Their main business is to run the costal steamer service of the same name, for which they are heavily subsidized. Officially: the governement buys transportation services after public tender, as a PSO-service, but no other company has a large fleet of ships available to fulfil the conditions of the tender. After they have won the tender, the usually demand more money from the government, and when this is refused, they threaten cutting sailings, which creates such a havoc in the many ports where Hurtigruten provides an essential service, which again leads to the government relenting.
This would be usual politicking, if it weren't for the fact that they run a commercial operation on the side (cruise ships, hotels etc) and board chairman and part owner of Hurtigruten is Trygve Hegnar, a maverick business man. He runs a business paper (Finansavisen) and an important business magazine (Kapital) where he routinely fights against government subsidies to farming and industries. Hegnar is routinely chastized for being hypocritical in being critical of subsidies and at the same time himself being a recipient of huge subsidies to Hurtigruten. He counters that by using the PSO-argument. His news webpage (
www.hegnar.no) is known for having one of the least-moderated comment fields in Norway.
Hegnar is - and this might be relevant - notorious for running smear campaigns against businessmen and others who have crossed him, Kristian Siem and Mona Høiness are two recent feuds I remember. (Note: I do not have any knowledge about who is right and wrong in these two feuds between Hegnar and the individuals named!). He is thus a man many would be wary of fighting - in one way a very Norwegian figure, in another a very unnorwegian figure!