By Ian McConnell
Business Editor
The owners of a hotel in Highland Perthshire have unveiled a further £1.25 million development, highlighting their belief that “buoyancy will return to the Scottish tourism market post-Covid”.
McKays Hotel in Pitlochry, owned by the J and R Group vehicle of hoteliers Richard Drummond and Jon Erasmus, has seen the addition of 12 new, contemporary bedrooms and the creation of a “reimagined 100-seat function suite”.
The latest investment, enabled by business and bank finance, takes J and R Group’s investment in McKays to around £3 million and increases the number of guest rooms to 39.
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The hotel’s owners noted cost pressures facing the sector but underlined their confidence in the outlook.
They said construction was undertaken as a “live project” by Dundee building company Alpha Projects, which worked alongside architecture and design consultants Dave Phillip and Steve Gibson.
This enabled McKays to continue to trade as work progressed during the busy summer months.
The development had been financed prior to the coronavirus pandemic but had to be curtailed as a result of lockdowns.
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Mr Drummond said: “We have confidence in what we have created here as a product. Our approach has been to continually reinvest in the business, to improve the quality for customers. We grew sales through the last financial crash of 2007/2008 and we have grown the business since then. That gave the bank confidence in us, as operators, and they also saw the impact when we began to build up our portfolio of rooms.
“We are a hotel, restaurant and bar. We also support live music across Scotland and artists locally through things like the ‘March Into Pitlochry’ boutique music festival. When guests come here, they are coming for a number of different reasons. We genuinely believe we are offering something that not every hotel has.”
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