Holiday Club Saariselkä Apartments

Bad management during check in. I book an Apartment for 2 nights for this stay but I got the room for 1 night each. Staff told me I have to change room tomorrow and check out at 12PM. So that mean first night I stay and tomorrow check out 12PM and wait for a new room. Also, the apartment is very far from reception. Luckily, I have a car. Imagine if I don't have a car, I have to carry big luggage from the apartment to reception to check out and wait for new room later and move my luggage to new room again, how was it? Moreover, when I check out at 12PM staff told me the room will ready for check in around 2 hours. Then came back to check in again for second at 3PM another staff told me the room is not ready yet and policy for the Apartment check in time is 6PM. ***!!! I said I need the room now because this is unacceptable. Then staff told me the room is ready and give me the key card. So, for this situation I waste the time for half day to pack my luggage, move a lot of luggage to my car with a lot of snow, check out, go to reception for check out, wait the new room, wait, wait, wait, and come back to check in and got very bad answer that she told the room is not ready, and go to check in again, move my luggage to new apartment with a lot of snow, and take a rest. VERY BAD!!!!!

Good and nice

We had to sweep the covered entrance walkways of our building ourselves, but otherwise had a great midnight sun experience in clean and exceptionally well equipped and efficient apartments with reindeer grazing outside and views of the nearby fell. Lovely resort with Netflix and YouTube on the TV, sauna in every room and lots of hiking/biking trails to explore.

We booked with Santas Lapland to stay over Christmas 2023. The accommodation with this holiday was a room at this hotel for us as grandparents and an apartment for the rest of the family. The apartment was good however the hotel itself although advertised as four star was, I would say two star. The corridors were delapidated as was our room, the shower head pointed sideways which you could alter, the room was not clean and when we arrived, as the bathroom floor had toilet paper and other bits stuck to it with blobs and had obviously not been cleaned, I ask reception to clean it which they did to a poor standard with water slopped up the tiles. At that point I decided not to pursue anything further as I didn’t want to take up our valuable time there. We decided to spend as little time in the room as possible. We are obviously older but we’re not told that our room was on the first floor (only realised this on our way to the room) and there was no lift and reception did not ask if we needed help, fortunately some other kind holiday makers helped us. When we went to the restaurant no one was monitoring people going in and it was so oversubscribed that people had got their breakfast/dinner standing in the restaurant with nowhere to sit, hovering over tables where they though people were leaving. The dining room staff were doing their best but standards of cleaning tables were slipping. We sat in the reception/“lounge area” for about an hour - the table was covered with food mess, plates, spilt drinks and glasses and when we left it was still there. It was obvious that they did not have enough staff and were not sufficiently equipped to have that amount people there. There are some redecorated corridors and rooms and that is what they show you on the website however the rest of it is awful and it did sadly take away some if the enjoyment of our holiday. So go to Saariselka but do not stay at this hotel. The rest of our holiday with Santas Lapland was good. I do not take any joy in writing such as sad review.

The two bedroom apartment was very spacious and comfortable and had everything one could wish for. Easily accessible by car and free parking in front of the building. Within walking distance from everything in beautiful Saariselkä village. Delicious breakfast available in the hotel restaurant. Good value for money. Highly recommended.

We were lucky enough to win a week in the Holiday Club in a draw from Inghams Holidays! My lady gave way to a silver-tongued salesperson at an event and gave her email address never believing it would ever be her that wins. Then she nearly deleted the notification email as it was probably a scam. And so we were off to lands well north of the Arctic Circle in the middle of January. Neither of us were skiers so we weren’t sure what to expect. And we are both in our mid-70s so we weren’t going to take many risks. It's a three-hour coach trip from Kittila Airport to Saariselka including a 20-minute rest stop. The first stop in Saariselka was to get issued with heavy overalls, snow boots and mittens which are vital for temperatures of around -25c to -30c which was what we experienced. The hotel is in the centre of town and most places are walkable. Temperatures indoors were pleasant, not hot, but to go outside needed around 20 minutes to put on the kit to go outside. While we were there the sun rose about 11 am and set around 2.30 pm but there was another hour or two of reasonable light. The rooms were basic with twin beds easily pushed together and the continental individual duvets. Bathroom was fine. Lighting in the room was OK but could have been brighter. There’s a TV but the only English programmes were subtitled. The rooms aren’t serviced during the stay but we asked the rep and he organised the cleaners to change towels and empty bins mid-week. We had half-board so breakfast and dinner were buffet service and the food was filling and plentiful. My lady is vegetarian and the rep told the kitchen and they provided a fresh-cooked vegetarian dish for every dinner just for her which was easily added to with the salads and vegetables on the buffet. Dinner was usually soup with two main meat or fish courses plus plentiful bread, vegetables and salads. There was usually just one choice of sweet plus endless hot drinks and an adjacent bar. During the week we were there large numbers of French came and went plus some oriental parties. A couple of times we encountered a rather full house but the turnover of tables is quick and the food doesn’t seem to run out. There is a swimming pool which seems to be for play rather than swimming plus a sauna and a spa but we didn’t try them. There’s no gym. Inghams offered excursions such as husky driving, reindeer farm visits, skiddoos plus there is a regular public bus service to the ski lifts. We found it delightful to walk the signed trails in the hills – a walking pole is useful. The silence in the woods is wonderful. Everyone wants to see the Northern Lights but that is entirely by luck. During our week there were plenty of sightings but the quality was not good. Enough to show you have seen them but not enough to be thrilled. Plenty of green but no reds or blues. I never knew that the vague wisps of white cloud can be seen as green by taking a picture! Amazing. One lesson we learned, don

The family-style accommodation was comfortable to stay in. We used a two-bedroom unit. It featured a kitchen, refrigerator, IH cooker, oven, microwave, sauna, terrace, BBQ equipment, cooking materials, etc. It was nice to live in.

We had a lovely week staying at the Holiday Club. Our room was nice, however a bit of a squeeze for 2 adults & 2 kids. There was not enough storage space to put all of our clothes unfortunately and so we had to leave our clothes in 1 of our large suitcases throughout our stay. The twin beds are pushed together and are VERY uncomfortable because the mattresses are VERY thin & placed on top of a hard divan base! The sofa bed is also VERY uncomfortable and sloped down toward the floor on one side, this meant having to put cushions on the floor incase one of the kids rolled out! The shower room is also very small! The food was good, a good choice of mains at dinner time, unfortunately only one boring desert everyday which was usually a mousse ( chocolate or strawberry) which left the kids disappointed. Come on Holiday Club, you can do better! Also the orange & apple juice wasn’t fresh , a syrup mixed with water at a help yourself machine. The staff were lovely, and it was fantastic having the pool and saunas to use from 2.30 -8.30 each day. Great to get back from a trip out and be able to take the kids for a swim. The pool also has swimming aids you can borrow. The hotel is situated in a great location very close to the forest walks. Only takes 20 mins to walk from the hotel up to the aurora hut.