Investors to create 'Scotland's largest traditional hotel'

There is, of course, The Student Hotel under way in the Merchant City, also Glasgow, and this lists 500 rooms, although it is described as a "hybrid" model offering a mix of hotel accommodation and "co-living" spaces, and may not compare like-for-like with the "traditional" model.

So, extending the Hampton by Hilton at Edinburgh Airport by 240 rooms to a total of 480 pushes the plan out there and I am advised it would be expected to become Scotland’s largest traditional hotel if approved.

Such developments seem to be ushering in a new era of the superhotel.

The Hampton by Hilton proposal (Image: Leach Rhodes Walker)

However, there will still remain a requirement for rooms in some projected tourism models of the future.

Leach Rhodes Walker and Lichfields’ planning statement points to a 2019 Edinburgh Visitor Accommodation Sector Commercial Needs Study, produced by GVA, which "highlights an ever-increasing demand for hotel room provision, there are three scenarios of growth resulting in an estimated need for an additional 7,890 new hotel rooms in the city".

It all comes at a particularly active period in the large hotel market.

READ MORE: First look at key W Edinburgh offerings

I asked expert Roland Smyth, who is head of the Scottish Hotels & Leisure Group at international law firm CMS, about this, and he told me: "The appetite of operators and investors for Scottish hotels remains strong. 

"The success of Scotland’s hotels sector is being driven not just by the resurgence of business travel, but also by the country’s strong tourism offering. In August, the world still comes to Edinburgh.

"There has been a general trend globally post-Covid for those travelling to stay in their own region more. But Scotland is enjoying the best of both worlds.

"People from across the nation and the rest of the UK fell back in love with Scotland in Covid times, so domestic demand is strong. And Scotland, with its rich heritage and world class-tourism offering, recently bolstered by the 12 new galleries at the Scottish National Gallery, is again attracting strong numbers of international tourists, in particular from North America and China.

"There is a strong pipeline of new hotels, particularly in the capital. The W Edinburgh is due to open at St James Quarter next month, a new Resident hotel is scheduled to open next year, and Ruby Hotels have obtained planning approval for a 300 rooms hotel in Princes Street.

"However, I don’t believe these will have an adverse impact on existing Scottish hotels: for example, the W Edinburgh, which CMS acted for developer Nuveen on, is a luxury lifestyle brand hotel which will encourage a new type of traveller to visit Scotland."

In another part of the tourism chain, crucial new routes have brought welcome news for Scottish airports amid a new travel boom, business editor Ian McConnell wrote this week.

"Heading through summer and into autumn, in the grip of the UK’s economic malaise, it has been most heartening to see continued strong trading for package holiday companies and airlines."

Also this week, business correspondent Kristy Dorsey revealed a positive development in renewables as a new energy services business headed up by the Scottish team behind the blockbuster sale of EnerMech completed its first international acquisition with the takeover of Texas-based Cotech.