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Habbo Hotel is a virtual chat room and online game, created by Sulake Corporation. Habbo Hotel started as a project by two Finnish twenty-somethings, Sampo Karjalainen and Aapo Kyrölä. The first project was named Mobiles Disco and it was intended to promote a rock band called Mobiles. The site soon gained popularity and Karjalainen and Kyrölä started to think if it would be possible for it to have financial success as well. They sold the idea to the Finnish telecom giant Elisa Oyj through advertising agency Taivas. The first real hotel, Hotelli Kultakala (Hotel Goldfish) was launched in August, 2000 as a part of Elisa's portal.
The first step abroad was to build a Hotel in Finland. The team decided that Hotel Goldfish wasn't a suitable name, but a more neutral name is needed. Someone came up with the name Habbo which was then chosen. The first member of the Habbo brand, Habbo Hotel UK, was launched in January of 2001. The third hotel was soon launched in Switzerland. Since then, the Hotel chain along with its user base has continued to grow, and right now Habbo Hotel is one of the "biggest non-violent online game communities on the internet", operating in 16 countries.