The owners of a Perthshire hotel have seen turnover more than triple as the luxury venue returned to profit.
The Hydropathic Hotel Pitlochry owns Atholl Palace Hotel and the Beaches Hotel in North Wales.
Newly published accounts show the firm’s turnover of £6.7m for the year to March 2022. That is up from £2m the previous year.
It also recorded a pre-tax profit of more than £617,055 compared to a pre-tax loss of £577,447 in 2021.
In his strategic report, company secretary Kevin Fingleton said: “We sell rooms and packages to the leisure market, corporates, groups operators, events and conferencing market as well as to the local market.
“We target each of these markets so as to have no reliance on one sector to generate our sales.”
Mr Fingleton added the firm has prepared a detailed sales and marketing plan to “drive the business forward”.
Over 100 staff for Perthshire hotel firm
He said the focus is to develop business through various sales channels, while continually monitoring the company’s cost base to achieve greater efficiencies and savings.
Mr Fingleton said: “This plan continues to be implemented and constantly updated to reflect the changing business environment.”
The firm made £4.7m of its turnover through accommodation sales – up from £1.5m in 2021.
It also made £1.2m through food sales, while the remainder were split between the bar (£724,075) and other sales of £14,854.
Over the two hotels, the group employs a total of 104 staff, a rise of 14 on the year before.
As a result, its wage bill for the reporting period topped £2.5m, up from £1.8m.
Competition from new and existing operators continues to be one of the primary challenges for the business to navigate, he added.
Mr Fingleton said this is achieved by maintaining the hotel’s “reputation for excellence”.
His report added: “The directors are confident the group and company will have sufficient resources to meet all ongoing working capital requirements.”
History of Atholl Palace
The landmark Atholl Palace took four years to build and opened its doors to guests in 1878, as the Athole Hydropathic, and was used to host evacuated school children during both world wars.
In 2001, the hotel was purchased by the Castle Collection and underwent extensive refurbishment.
The hotel was recreated in the iconic computer game Minecraft in 2016.
Its Scottish baronial architecture was captured using go-pro cameras combined with 360-degre photography.
The ultimate controlling party at the firm over the period was Mr Fionn MacCumhaill.
Conversation