116-Room Waldorf Astoria Helsinki Opening Soon (Former Hotel Maria)

Several weeks ago, it was announced that Helsinki is getting an internationally branded luxury hotel, which I’d say is pretty exciting. We’ve just learned when the rebranding will happen, and the hotel is now bookable under its new “flag.”

Details of the new Waldorf Astoria Helsinki

The Waldorf Astoria Helsinki is accepting reservations for stays as of August 20, 2025. This property represents a rebranding of the Hotel Maria Helsinki, which is currently part of Preferred Hotels.

For context, the 116-room property opened in late 2023, and is considered to be the city’s best hotel. However, the property has had financial issues, and the hope is that belonging to a more global international hotel group will help with that.

The property is located in the historic Kruununhaka district, in a building designed in 1885 by architect Lagerspetz. The hotel will feature a signature restaurant, a bar, a fitness center, and a Nordic wellness spa with a traditional Finnish sauna.

Here’s how Patrick Fitzgibbon, Hilton’s SVP of Development for EMEA, describes this:

“We’re delighted to be collaborating with M&L Group to introduce the Waldorf Astoria brand to Finland. As we near 300 luxury hotels in EMEA, it’s fantastic to have signed our first in the Nordics. The Finnish capital has seen growing travel demand in recent years, and we look forward to serving an even wider range of traveller needs as we open our fourth property in the city.” 

Waldorf Astoria Helsinki rates & points requirements

With the Waldorf Astoria Helsinki now bookable, what are rates like? For those looking to pay cash, I currently see rates starting at a little over €300 per night, with fairly limited seasonal fluctuation.

If you’re booking a cash rate, I’d recommend doing so through the Hilton for Luxury program, which offers extra perks when booking through select travel advisors, including breakfast, a hotel credit, an upgrade subject to availability, and more.

For those looking to redeem Hilton Honors points, the hotel seems to be charging a minimum of 105,000 points per night, assuming there’s standard room availability. Hilton Honors elite members can stretch their points and get a fifth night free, which would bring down the average nightly cost to 84,000 points.

I value Hilton Honors points at 0.5 cents each, so I’d say that redemptions here represent quite a poor value — this isn’t a property at which I’d choose to redeem points.

This is a nice development for the Helsinki hotel scene

Helsinki doesn’t have much in the way of luxury properties, especially ones associated with major global hotel groups. Perhaps the other luxury property that some people like is Hotel Kämp, which is now part of Strawberry (formerly Nordic Choice Hotels), but used to be part of Marriott Luxury Collection.

I’m curious if Hotel Maria being associated with Waldorf Astoria helps its financial performance. One would certainly think it’ll at least give the property more exposure. The issue generally is that Helsinki isn’t exactly a huge tourist destination, and on top of that, there’s a seasonal element to it.

Like some other Nordic countries, the “base” cost of decent hotels is fairly high, but the range of costs is fairly limited. So it’s not surprising to see that this is one of the more affordable Waldorf Astoria properties out there.

Bottom line

The Waldorf Astoria brand will be making its debut in the Nordics, as a rebranding of the existing Hotel Maria Helsinki. This property is now accepting reservations under its new branding for stays as of August 20, 2025.

I’ve heard good things about Hotel Maria, so I’m delighted to see that this property will now belong to one of the world’s major hotel loyalty programs, so that we can earn and redeem points, and take advantage of elite perks, when staying here.

What do you make of the new Waldorf Astoria Helsinki?