Restaurateur Bengt came across the “springnote” gang

“They took away my trust in other people”

The party came to the inn on a Friday in March this year.

They ate and drank and ravaged. Then they disappeared without paying for themselves.

– The money can always be put up with fighting together again. The worst thing is that they took away my trust in other people, says restaurateur Bengt Mårtensson, 65, in the podcast Aftonbladet Krim.

Five people have now been sentenced to prison, for, among other things, gross fraud.

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Bengt Mårtensson has been running Höör’s inn for four years.

There is a hotel, spa, conference facility and restaurant here. The inn dates back to the 17th century.

It is a newly renovated and well-maintained facility that Mårtensson is proud to show off.

– I came here just before the pandemic. So I’ve had a few tough years, he says.

Full and unpleasant

Last spring, a group, which introduced itself as the association “Life is good Sweden”, contacted the inn. They were supposed to have a conference and were promised to pay on invoice.

When the party arrives, the inn’s staff begin to suspect trouble.

– It wasn’t a conference. There were families with children.

Bengt Mårtensson describes the guests as unpleasant and messy. They were loud and drank a lot of alcohol.

– They behaved the same in the spa department. They ordered drinks, shouted and jumped in the pool. You don’t do that at a spa.

When one of the men wanted to invite the whole pub to shots, the staff finally said no.

Snood interior design

The ruckus continued through the night. Other guests complained, the staff had to ask the group to calm down and not to smoke in the rooms.

In the morning they were gone. And with them parts of the interior from the hotel rooms.

The invoice of SEK 41,870 has still not been paid.

Bengt Mårtensson is angry and disappointed.

– They had decided that here we should drink and eat as much as possible. And then we’ll go.

– You want to trust people. You get pissed off, you get disappointed, you get angry with yourself. You start to analyse, why did we let this go this far. Why didn’t we stop? It is very easy to be a hindsight.

Five were jailed

The guests that Höörs gästgivaregård encountered are part of the party that took the nationally-known top score at the Michelin restaurant Atmosfär in Malmö on Christmas Day last year.

Five people have now been sentenced for a long series of frauds to between one and two years in prison. Bengt Mårtensson is not completely satisfied.

– I think it is very good that they were convicted, but I think they got away quite easily, he says. They’re basically out for New Year’s. It’s a low punishment considering how much crap they did. Many people have suffered, many small businesses have been hit hard. But such is the law.