Ponsse truly values its cus­to­mers and wants them to enjoy them­sel­ves. An indica­tion of this is the Ponsse Club, a small accom­mo­da­tion buil­ding near the fac­tory in the centre of Vie­remä. Some 4,000 guests visit the Ponsse Club each year, who are loo­ked after by a staff of four, who bake, clean, cook, heat up the chim­ney­less sauna and even reno­vate the spaces them­sel­ves.

Home­li­ness is a keyword at the Ponsse Club. At the Ponsse Club, guests can stay and eat like at a hotel, but the hotel staff will hardly know their guests by name, come to the door with a hug, bake their own bread, or help their guests with eve­ryt­hing – even if a guest has misplaced their lug­gage after their flight, lost their medicine, needs an adap­ter for their char­ger, or simply needs someone who lis­tens.

“We want our guests to feel like they are coming to visit a nice rela­tive. Here they can feel at peace and can concent­rate on their visit. Our goal is for each guest to leave here in a bet­ter mood than when they arri­ved,” says Ulla Heik­ki­nen, Ponsse Club Super­vi­sor.

“We want our handprint to be seen at the Ponsse Club. By doing pretty much eve­ryt­hing our­sel­ves, our ope­ra­tions are also cost-effec­tive and tai­lo­red to our needs.”

Ulla Heik­ki­nen star­ted as the hos­tess of the Ponsse Club on April Fool’s Day in 2008. In addi­tion to her, Kaisa Säisä and Mira Jaa­ti­nen work at the Ponsse Club. Along­side his work at the fac­tory, pro­perty mana­ger Lasse Heik­ki­nen takes care of, for
example, the main­te­nance of the Ponsse Club buil­dings, repairs, out­door work and
the hea­ting of the chim­ney­less sauna. The quar­tet works smoothly toget­her.

“Lasse’s posi­tion was ori­gi­nally adver­ti­sed on April Fool’s Day. People asked me if this
was some kind of a joke when Ponsse applied for a chim­ney­less sauna hea­ter on April
Fool’s Day, who was sup­po­sed to unders­tand the Savo dia­lect, know all the types of
firewood and be nice to foreign guests. In the end, we recei­ved a huge num­ber of applica­tions,” Ulla recalls.

From dawn to dusk

The Ponsse Club hosts guests almost all year round accor­ding to the factory’s needs; there is usually a few weeks’ main­te­nance break in July. The Ponsse Club is nor­mally open from Mon­day to Fri­day. Some 90 per cent of guests come from other count­ries.

“Groups are pic­ked up at the air­port and usually arrive at the Ponsse Club in the
after­noon or early eve­ning. They are warmly welco­med, whet­her they are here for the first or fif­tieth time. Guests are shown to their rooms, and many want to take a little rest before din­ner. At din­ner, we offer home-coo­ked food such as elk from a local hun­ting club or freshly caught fish. After din­ner, guests can relax in the sauna and enjoy their time toget­her. No guest is left alone, as each group of guests has a dedica­ted super­vi­sor who is with the group and takes care of a smooth visit. Even before a group arri­ves, we do a lot of background work and coo­pe­rate with dif­fe­rent depart­ments,” says Ulla.

In the mor­ning, the wor­king day of the Ponsse Club team starts already at five or half
past five by making break­fast, clea­ning the sauna and other spaces, visi­ting the who­le­sale store, etc. After break­fast, the group heads to the fac­tory, but comes back in the early after­noon, when guests are dres­sed in safe and warm clot­hes before visi­ting a log­ging site. Typically, guests come back from the log­ging site with their cheeks red at around three o’clock, after which they start pre­pa­ring for the next din­ner, which is hand­led by the eve­ning shift.

“We always have time to talk to guests. Whe­ne­ver a guest wants to chat, our clock stops, even if the kettle was boi­ling over. And some­ti­mes it does because the con­ver­sa­tions are so inte­res­ting.”

Bet­ter option for a hotel

Of course, a hotel and its res­tau­rant would be an alter­na­tive for the Ponsse Club. The
nea­rest hotel would be far away in Iisalmi, costs would be hig­her and the hotel can­not
offer the same Ponsse spi­rit as the Ponsse Club. Many guests tra­vel frequently, and they truly appreciate the Ponsse Club’s home­li­ness. The occu­pancy rate of the Ponsse Club, with room for 25 guests, is almost 100 per cent on week­days. In addi­tion to the Ponsse club, the team runs the Ponsse Talo (Ponsse House) in Iisalmi, which is mainly an accom­mo­da­tion buil­ding for busi­ness tra­vel­lers staying the night oppo­site the logis­tics centre.

“We do much our­sel­ves by our a skil­led staff, and if we purc­hase somet­hing from out­side, we want to sup­port local busi­nes­ses. For example, a few major reno­va­tions have been car­ried out here, in which we Ponsse Club emplo­yees par­tici­pa­ted: we took care of clea­ning, broke up old struc­tu­res, did some pain­ting and san­ding, and car­ried buil­ding mate­rials. We are also enga­ged in close coo­pe­ra­tion with local buil­ding cont­rac­tors and our pro­perty and faci­lity main­te­nance ser­vices to ensure that we
can take good care of the Ponsse home. For us, being part of Ponsse is pretty much a way of life,” says Ulla.

In the begin­ning, there were mat­res­ses on the floor and self-made cur­tains

The Ponsse Club has grown from humble begin­nings to its pre­sent glory. Ori­gi­nally,
the Club buil­ding was Einari Vidgren’s family home. After the Vidgrens moved to Iisalmi, the home was empty for a few years until 1993, when the num­ber of guest groups star­ted to grow. Einari came up with the idea that guests could be accom­mo­da­ted in their old home.

“I had already hel­ped Einari’s wife Liisa with coo­king when guests visi­ted his home. In 1993, I was asked if I would like to take care of guests maybe once or twice a week. The house was comple­tely empty at the time. I sewed the cur­tains myself, we bought a few beds, and I did the laundry at home. For example, when there were more Norwe­gian guests than there were beds, some of the guests slept on the floor. No-one told me how to run the house, I could do eve­ryt­hing like I saw best,” Maritta Kelppe says.

Maritta is the spouse of Jouko Kelppe, who joi­ned Ponsse as an engi­neer in 1971. She was a housewife rai­sing four children until she was asked to care for guests, first part­time and then full-time.

In the begin­ning, there were only four bedrooms, most of which had two beds. There was a swim­ming pool downs­tairs, which has been remo­ved in later reno­va­tions. Des­pite the expan­sion, the Ponsse Club’s kitc­hen has retai­ned its cosi­ness.

“Let’s build a second floor”

The num­ber of guests inc­rea­sed, and at some point Einari deci­ded to build a second floor. After it was built, it housed ten more bedrooms. Par­ti­tions were knoc­ked down on the lower floors to create a single large dining room.

“I coo­ked meals and did the laundry alone for more than a thousand guests a year. I always ser­ved three meals to tables, we had no buf­fet. My wor­king days star­ted to extend to 16 hours. Luc­kily, my home was only 500 met­res away, and even my youn­gest child was already over 10 years old. In 2000, Terttu Ceder­berg was hired to help.”

Later, there was a major water leak at the Ponsse Club, after which the buil­ding underwent anot­her major reno­va­tion. At the begin­ning of the 2000s, the cur­rent chim­ney­less sauna was also built, which is an impor­tant part of the Ponsse Club expe­rience. The cur­rent white three-sto­rey house on a slope bears little resemblance to the ori­gi­nal yel­low brick and flat-roo­fed Vidgren home. While ope­ra­tions have also
expan­ded and become more pro­fes­sio­nal, the cosy atmosp­here is still the same.

“Many of the guests became good acquain­tances, and we even had pro­found con­ver­sa­tions. We still live between the fac­tory and the Ponsse Club buil­ding, and when fami­liar guests pass by, they always say hello. The last time I visi­ted the Club was six months ago at the party of the Ger­man dea­ler Wah­lers. This time I did not have to bake or cook, but I got to eat at a ready-made table,” Maritta remem­bers.

Maritta wor­ked as a Ponsse Club hos­tess for 16 years and left her posi­tion in 2009. She was succee­ded by cur­rent hos­tess Ulla Heik­ki­nen