Gigi de Groot

The header “Swedish authorities made the Ice hotel install fire alarms” caught my attention.  This famous hotel rebuilt every winter in northern Sweden using only ice, will this year for the first time install fire alarms. The Ice Hotel is following a request by authorities to guarantee the safety of its guests.Hotel spokeswoman Beatrice Karlsson said the hotel was a little surprised at first, but understood as “there are things that can actually catch fire, like pillows, sleeping bags or reindeer skins”. “To us the most important concern is the safety of our clients, so we will comply,” she said. So probably to the surprise they just followed what the Swedish authorities asked them to do and are now building the fire alarms into their ice rooms. This is a good example of how much trust Swedish people have in their authorities, one that often goes much further than any other citizen in any other country in the world would have. If you want a cultural explanation according to Hofstede’s dimension I would say a combination of low PDI, FEM and low UAI (the few rules we have should be followed).