The renovation was designed so as to update the facade, increase the number of elevators, and provide space for boutiques, cafes, and restaurants.

The utilities were to be updated, the outdated fire safety systems was to be replaced, and the average room size was to be increased to 80 square metres (860 sq ft).

[15] Various persons of note stayed at the old or new Arctic, including the Soviet physicist Sergei Vavilov, the arctic explorers Vladimir Wiese, Otto Schmidt, and Ivan Papanin, the Soviet writers Veniamin Kaverin, Konstantin Simonov, and Valentin Kataev, and the Russian/Soviet zoologist Nikolai Knipovich.

The hotel provides accommodation for participants in the Northern Festival (the "Polar Olympics") which is held in Murmansk.

[2] The Arctic is mentioned in the poem "A Toast to Zhenya" by Yuri Vizbor:[16] Well now, citizen, look at yourself.You've stayed 'til one.Now it's closing time!Paid your tab?Better tote it up.Or are you planning to stay 'til dawn?Damn.With a face that has forgotten how to smileI walked away from the past...From the Hotel ArcticInto a darkness untouched by any god:The blind polar night.