A NUMBER of Scottish hotel companies have announced that they are now taking bookings for summer as the trade gears up for the indicative opening date of July 15.
The Crieff Hydro Family of Hotels, which includes Crieff Hydro, Peebles Hydro, Murraypark Hotel in Crieff, The Park Hotel in Peebles, The Isles of Glencoe, Kingshouse Hotel in Glencoe and Ballachulish Hotel, is hoping to welcome hotel guests on July 15, with self-catering accommodation at Crieff Hydro hoping to open on July 3 in line with the Scottish Government’s route map.
Chairman Stephen Leckie said the group has “utilised this time to refresh our facilities with repairs, deep cleans and fresh licks of paint, and we’ve elevated the food and beverage offering across the portfolio with several new menu items”.
In St Andrews, the Old Course Hotel will open its doors on August 1 with social distancing and hygiene measures in place and guests able to dine in their rooms.
Aberdeen hotel Siberia will open to guests on July 30 while elsewhere in the city the Chester Hotel has prepared for reopening with the installation of six igloo-style domes in its outside area.
The domes, which will be available for pre-booking, will allow groups of up to eight to dine together while being shielded from other groups.
General manager Stephen Gow said: “A high degree of customer service has always been important to The Chester Hotel and we’re having to look at how we serve food and drinks which keeps everyone involved safe, but which doesn’t depersonalise the interaction to the point where it’s uncomfortable.
“We’re looking at removing cruets and replacing with single use sachets and instead of laying cutlery for all of our guests individually, we’ll be sanitising it and placing it directly into wrapped napkins.
“If we’re going to do something at The Chester we always do it properly and in style.”
