Sokos Hotels to Leave Tallinn’s Viru Hotel in 2028 | Renovation Plans

The Sokos Hotel Viru in Tallinn, Estonia, will be able to continue hosting guests until September 2028, following the expiration of an agreement between the hotel operator, Sokotel, registered in Estonia, and the building’s owner, Pontos Group, both based in Finland.

According to reporting by Aripaev, the owner has been seeking to renovate the hotel, constructed more than 50 years ago and last updated in 2000, a move that would likely result in increased rental costs for Sokotel. Sokotel, however, maintains that it is already paying an excessive price.

The Original Sokos Hotel Viru, Estonia’s first high-rise building, is directly connected to the Viru Keskus shopping center, which underwent a significant renovation in 2023, just prior to Pontos Group’s sale of its stake, according to Pontos Group’s website.

The hotel, located near Tallinn’s Old Town, offers 516 rooms and includes a meeting center, restaurants, bars, a museum, a gym, and access to the Viru Keskus shopping mall. It is owned by Sokos Hotels, a Finnish hospitality group.

During the Soviet era, the 23rd floor of the hotel housed a KGB listening center, equipped with espionage devices in sixty rooms and some restaurant tables, used to monitor hotel guests. The secret rooms were not discovered until 1994, after Estonia’s independence in August 1991, and the former radio center is now a museum.

The hotel was initially constructed by the Finnish company Repo Oy in 1969, but a fire on the 10th floor led to the company’s bankruptcy. Construction was completed in May 1972 by another Finnish firm, Haka Oy, with the hotel officially opening on June 14, 1972.

The hotel currently holds both a Green Key certification and the Sustainable Travel Finland badge, demonstrating a commitment to environmental standards.