Background: A Changing travel market prompted Lomarengas to sharpen its own story
Lomarengas has a 60-year history as a trusted, well-known holiday home rental agency in Finland. It currently manages close to 4,500 holiday homes across the country and is Finland’s largest agency in the sector, renting out properties on owners’ behalf for a commission.
The travel market has changed significantly in recent years. The pandemic boosted domestic demand for cottage rentals but caused international visitor numbers to collapse. These have since recovered gradually, and in 2025 international visitor numbers even exceeded pre-pandemic levels. Most international visitors to Finland come from Germany, Switzerland, the UK and Sweden, with trips concentrated especially in Lapland. Lomarengas sees continued potential for international growth.
At the same time, global platforms such as Airbnb and Booking.com compete against domestic players on volume and brand – a scale no single local operator can match. Lomarengas’s answer has always been service, for both consumer and owner customers. It wanted to build its next phase of growth on this strength, and Spring Advisor supported the company in developing its new strategy.
The Strategy was built together with owners and staff
The strategy process began by mapping owners’ wishes and objectives. Lomarengas has over 200 owners – a broad group whose shared direction needed to be clarified. Owners are mainly private individuals, companies and associations that own holiday homes or operate in the hospitality sector. Owners’ view was mapped through an online survey and interviews with the largest owners, covering both Lomarengas’s historical performance and the company’s future development.
This clarified intent gave management a mandate to pursue managed growth around the core business – a long-term owner looks to the future and, where needed, accepts short-term flexibility on distributions.
The strategy was developed closely with Lomarengas staff across four working groups and themes, each tackling key questions and setting strategic direction based on analysis:
- Customer experience – defined the direction for a trusted service experience that sets Lomarengas apart from international platforms, and for a digital journey that matches platform standards
- Owner experience – developed a superior service experience for property owners and explored how to grow the holiday home portfolio further
- Digital platform – mapped out a path for digital tools and self-service capabilities that will make life easier for consumers, property owners and our own staff
- Operational capability – built an efficient and agile operating model that adapts to changes in the business
Findings were brought together at a two-day workshop in Rovaniemi, where theme leads presented their analyses and key strategic choices for discussion with the whole staff. Enthusiasm was high, and building Lomarengas’s future together felt meaningful.
Based on these discussions and decisions, strategic initiatives and actions were defined, with metrics and targets set to track progress against the strategy.
Results: An ambitious growth plan through 2030
The strategy process delivered:
- A growth strategy through 2030 that creates value for owners
- A clear growth path and actions to deliver the plan
- Concrete metrics and targets to track progress
- A financial model demonstrating the plan’s feasibility in numbers
Travelling will remain popular, and Finland will continue to be an attractive destination for its nature. With its strong service and local expertise, Lomarengas is well placed to continue growing alongside the global giants.
“Spring Advisor’s professional team helped us run the strategy process consistently and smoothly. All the key areas were properly documented along the way, and having an outside sparring partner challenged our own industry experts in a constructive way. When you build something together, the result can only be good!“
– Eva Kohonen, CEO, Lomarengas (translated from Finnish)
