Crerar Hotels unveils £15m investment into ‘future of Scottish hospitality’

Crerar Hotels is “reinforcing its commitment to Scotland” by investing £15m to position its portfolio in the “top end of Scottish hospitality”. Crerar said the move is being made to meet the “growing demand” from affluent UK custom and to meet demand from the “significant growth in high value tourism from the emerging Asian markets”. To match demand, the group is in the final stages of phase one investments at a numbers of its hotels, including Oban Bay, Loch Fyne (Inveraray), Golf View (Nairn), Glencoe Inn (Glencoe) and Isle of Mull Hotel (Mull), with committed spend to date in the region of £10m. It added that each hotel noted is now at or set to achieve a minimum of high four-star status. The remaining retained hotels in its portfolio will follow the same investment route and market positioning, with phase two investment of £5m. The company revealed the investment so far has been self-financed by trading profits and profit from asset disposal. The final phase will also be funded from trading and, potentially, from the sale of up to three more hotels, which were announced last week. Controlling shareholder and chief executive, Paddy Crerar CBE, said: “This is one of the most exciting times in our history where we can plainly see a global market itching to discover what we locals already know about Scotland. We are so fortunate to live in such a brilliantly beautiful country and a country that remains steadfastly hospitable as well as inclusive. “It's simply our duty to put our heart and soul into giving every visitor as good an experience as we possibly can.We also recognise that the debacle of Brexit is a true and dangerous threat both to how others see our country, by association, and also who will or can join our workforce.” He added: “At a time when Scotland has record employment no one can afford to ignore the net negative impact that loss of freedom of movement will place on business and communities, particularly those in rural locations. “That’s another reason why investing in our business is so important - with an inevitable shortage of labour, skilled and unskilled, we have to be the employer of choice. We have to be more attractive as an employer than anyone else, hospitality people need more than good wages - they want and need to believe in the business they join. We are confident that with the best hotels in the best location we will attract and retain the best.”