Practical Training at Hotel Oscar

My name is Rita Miettinen. I did my practical training in Hotel Oscar in Varkaus. I have worked in this hotel the summer before I started my studies at JAMK more specifically summer 2019. I had one month worth of previous work experience therefore I accredited that experience in this practical training and now worked for one and a half months in there.

Hotel Oscar is a hotel located in the centre of Varkaus. The location is relevant because it is located perfectly in the mid-way of famous Finnish ‘summer cities’ such as Savonlinna and Kuopio. Hotel Oscar is linked to Warkaus Sali which is quite a big music hall with seats for a bit over 200 people. Warkaus Sali holds events such as concerts, musicals, and other kind of performances. It can also be rented for private occasions such as memorials because of their catering services that are organized in co-operation with restaurant Oscar. The hotel restaurant is called restaurant Oscar and it is known for the delicious dishes and it very popular among the locals.

The hotel itself consists of three different sides as the hotel has been extended during the years. The oldest side of the hotel consists of the rooms that are located in the same building with Warkaus Sali. These rooms are old fashioned and considered to be the ‘retro rooms’ of the hotel since they are pretty much in the original form that they have been since the 80s. The second part of the hotel is located right above the reception and restaurant and these rooms are renovated and more modern. The last part of the hotel is located on the spaces of the original ‘keskushotelli’. However, unlike the ‘retro rooms’ these rooms are renovated and most of the rooms are big family rooms or suites. In total the hotel has around 160 rooms.

Hotel Oscar is a business hotel, and they have a lot of congress and meeting spaces as well. The reason why the hotel mostly serves business customers is because Varkaus as a city is an industrial area and has a big paper mill. Hotel Oscar used to be part of the Scandic chain but that was before I worked there. Currently Hotel Oscar is part of Prime hotels chain. Prime hotels as a chain is quite a small chain. Other Prime hotels can be found in Helsinki, Hyvinkää and Savonlinna.

I worked mostly in the reception as a receptionist, but my job duties varied from day to day and none of the workdays was comparable to the previous one. Overall, my experience was good, and I would definitely recommend working there!

Written by Rita Miettinen

Bachelor’s Degree Programme in Tourism Management