E11. Stordalen, Video: How Picking Strawberries Led To A Hospitality Empire, Managing Through A Crisis

Emilie and her father, Petter Stordalen, run Nordic Choice Hotels and the Strawberry Group, a real estate and investment group in the hospitality space. Petter has been called "Richard Branson of the Nordics" and started from humble beginnings to slowly build his business into a billion-dollar empire. As 100% of the business closed overnight when the pandemic hit, Emilie and Petter reveal their thoughts and challenges that followed in a vulnerable and honest conversation about what happens when your life's work risks to fail - and how they came back from it. Please like and subscribe if you enjoyed this episode - it helps the channel get more great guests! Emilie: https://www.instagram.com/emiliestordalen Petter: https://www.instagram.com/petterstordalen Sequel: http://instagram.com/sequelxyz Gustaf: http://instagram.com/gltore Topics 00:00 Intro 01:33 A Norwegian in a Swedish body 03:31 The hospitality industry got wiped out 07:35 From selling strawberries to billion-dollar net worth 13:16 How many hotel nights per year do you stay yourself? 12:14 Emilie's thinking about working at Strawberry 16:10 How are the companies up to now? 18:48 What is it like to run a family business? 20:41 Running the business as well-known personalities in Scandinavia 21:55 Water torture and jet ski crashing in front of 3,000 people 25:14 Lounges with American Express Platinum 26:25 Thoughts behind the social media presence32:18 Side hustling as booking agent 31:50 Emilie’s view of Petter 35:00: A hotelier’s favorite luxury hotels (and destinations) 42:30 How did you survive a two-year crisis? 44:10 How close was failure? 49:39 Living through the worst time of the business 52:35 What’s the future for you from here? 52:50 Virtual hotels About the American Express Platinum Card: http://bit.ly/3FsJVh1 Nom.ränta 17,99%. Eff.ränta 28,30% vid utnyttjad kredit om 140 000 kr / 12 mån. Tot: 172 870 kr. Medlemsavgift 650 kr/mån. (May 2023) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices