Highland hotels in high demand

Property agent sells further two properties in north west

DEMAND for Highland hotels remains high, according to Colliers International, which has sold a further two properties in the north west in separate deals totalling more than £1 million.

• The Broadford Hotel on Skye is said to be the original home of whisky liqueur Drambuie.

The property agent brokered the sale of the Balmacara Hotel near Kyle of Lochalsh, and the Broadford Hotel on the neighbouring Isle of Skye.

The deals come soon after Colliers sold five Highland hotels – four which were part of the Highland Heritage group and the Newton Hotel in Nairn – to global chain MGM Muthu Hotels.

Said to be the original home of Drambuie liqueur, the Broadford Hotel on Skye is believed to be one of the oldest continuously operating hostelries in Scotland, with a history going back to the mid-seventeenth century.

We are seeing business people who have invested in Scotland being rewarded.

The 11-bedroom hotel was purchased by Bluebelt Hospitality, which owns the Sheildaig Inn near Gairloch as well as a number of inns and hotels in England, for an undisclosed sum said to have been “close to the asking price of £725,000”.

The 28-bedroom Balmacara Hotel, meanwhile, was sold to a Spanish-based company and will be operated by Different Roads Management, which is said to run tours in Scotland.

Alistair Letham of Colliers International, said the two sales are “further proof, if it were needed, of the ongoing attraction of Scotland’s Highlands and islands to the hospitality sector”.

“As with the Highland Heritage deal, we are seeing business people who have invested in Scotland being rewarded, and ambitious operators from further afield coming in with plans of their own,” he said.
“It will be exciting to see what they do with these wonderful properties.”